Talot grinned, “He hasn’t said anything, but we all know. Our brother has someone he loves. Your Highness has an expression like you don’t believe me. Or maybe you don’t want to believe it?”
‘Was I making such a face?’
I absentmindedly touched my cheek. I felt my facial muscles stiffen.
Seeing this, Talot smiled knowingly.
“Does the Princess have feelings for our brother too?”
My face flushed instantly.
“N-no!”
I hastily denied it. My cheeks were flushed and my heart pounded, but it was probably just because Talot misunderstood me.
However, Talot didn’t seem to believe my denial.
“Even if you have feelings for him, it’s best to give up. My brother is completely devoted to the person he loves.”
Talot spoke with a look that left no room for doubt.
For some reason, I felt really irritated.
“I’m not interested in that.”
I turned my head away haughtily. But Talot continued talking about things I didn’t want to hear.
“Every time he went out to a dangerous battle, he would write a letter to that woman. He asked me to send the letter if he died. If he came back alive, he would burn the letter.”
“Burned it?” Even though I wasn’t curious, I asked Talot.
“Yes. I think it was not just a letter, but a will.”
“A will…”
Brantley, you’ve been fighting with such a grim resolve? It felt like my chest was being slashed.
“There was one time when he was severely injured. While in a coma, he muttered a woman’s name. Something like ‘Han’ or ‘Ha’. When I told him she was coming, he woke up the next day as if it were a miracle.”
Any feelings of jealousy vanished.
Instead, I felt sorry for him, enduring everything while holding on to something.
“He doesn’t talk about her normally. But when he was drunk, I asked him subtly, and he said he would go back to her someday. She’s a noble lady in the capital, with brilliant golden hair and sweet strawberry-pink eyes…”
Talot, who was grinning as he spoke, suddenly looked at me.
He stared at my golden hair and pink eyes and looked as if he had been smacked on the back of the head.
“C-could it be Her Highness?”
I couldn’t answer. I was at a loss for words, too.
I was out of breath, my chest felt tight, and I couldn’t say anything.
Knowing that Brantley had endured many hardships thinking of me made my mind go blank.
Only one thought came to mind.
“I need to see Sir Knight right now.”
I ran towards where Brantley had disappeared. I wanted to see the face of the boy who had endured while thinking of me. I wanted to comfort his aching heart.
“Your Highness!” I heard Talot chasing after me from behind.
I knew that I would be caught soon anyway, but I kept running.
But as I turned the corner, a familiar smell hit my nostrils.
“Ugh…”
It was a disturbingly sweet scent.
‘The scent of the hybrid Morning Glory Flower, the .’
But unlike when I smelled it in the morning, it was too strong.
My head felt like it was splitting. I held my head and collapsed. As my strength faded and my consciousness began to slip away, someone quickly caught me.
***
Blue petals fluttered before my eyes. Shiny blue petals with black spots.
The one holding the flower was Duke Eisen.
Suddenly, an overwhelmingly sweet scent flooded my head. A dangerous scent disguised as a flower’s fragrance.
‘This is not just a floral scent. It’s an anesthetic.’
I had heard that there were such things in the Eastern Continent.
‘If you get steadily exposed and become addicted, later just a brief exposure can make you pass out.’
But I had only smelled it for a few minutes, could it have such a strong effect?
‘The strong smell I encountered when I turned the corner.’
That was the cause.
I had suddenly inhaled a large amount of the anesthetic, leading to acute intoxication. In this case, detoxification is easier than when exposed continuously.
‘If Duke Eisen exposed me to the scent to get me addicted.’
There must have been a reason to suddenly push me into intoxication.
‘Gallota! He must have gotten desperate upon finding out I was meeting with Palleta, and took this drastic step.’
Did Duke Eisen and Gallota join hands?
‘I’ll figure that out later. Right now, the important thing is to wake up.’
I struggled to lift my eyelids. Just lifting my eyelids felt like lifting a huge stone.
Moreover, using magic was difficult. I spread divine power throughout my body to purify myself.
Then, I heard rustling above my head.
“Are you awake?”
A handsome man with a sharp profile appeared in my field of vision.
“Ga…llota.”
“Oh. The Princess recovered very quickly. You can already speak.”
Gallota frowned and said. He then opened a small pouch and poured its contents onto my face. Tsweet anesthetic scent poured out like mist.
“Ugh, cough!”
My body, which had been purifying itself with divine power, became stiff again. I gritted my teeth and continued the purification. Fortunately, it seemed Gallota hadn’t noticed my state.
“If you sleep quietly, everything will be over soon, Princess.”
Galota said with a hint of a smile in his voice.
I looked at him with suspicion as he ran his hand over the floor where I lay.
My eyes followed his hand.
On the floor was a magic circle. And I was lying right in the middle of it.
‘The dark circle was a medium of black magic.’
Another reason why my grandfather wanted to avoid war with the Eastern Continent. Because they frequently used black magic. Unlike in Berg, where black magic was forbidden.
‘Even though Berg would win due to the difference in power, the people would suffer severe casualties.’
Even if it was only a few, my grandfather didn’t want to sacrifice them.
He had even inscribed seals preventing the use of black magic on the delegation before allowing them to step on Berg’s soil.
These seals were only to be removed when they boarded the ship back to the Eastern Continent.
‘These seals were inscribed by the Empire’s top magicians. How did Galota remove them?’
Had he read my mind as I glared at him?
Galota stroked my golden hair and spoke.
“A benefactor with holy power removed the seal for me. Thanks to that, I could execute this plan.”
A benefactor with holy power.
“Ye..nna…?” Even at my barely uttered question, Gallota only smiled.
As struggled to move, Gallota, looking at me pitifully, bent down.
His voice poured into my ear, making me flinch in shock.
“Stop doing unnecessary things. In a few minutes, the magic circle will completely take over your body. Then, you will be my sl*ve, doing whatever I command.”
“!”
“I will get what I want and return to the Eastern Continent.”
As I trembled, Galota laughed mockingly.
“Don’t be too afraid. Once you become a doll without self-awareness or memory, you won’t feel any pain.”
“!”
“It would have been better if you had obediently complied from the beginning.”
I gritted my teeth and grabbed Galota’s collar.
He laughed condescendingly and firmly grasped my hand instead.
“When I become emperor, you will be the empress, so there is no need to be so scared.”
“…ca..n….”
“What?”
Galota frowned and asked again as I tried to speak. I was focusing all my divine power on my mouth to free my tongue from paralysis and spoke, “I can give you something, better.”
“Something better? What could be better than you? Even if there was something, do you think you have the ability to give it to me?”
Gallota openly mocked me.
I barely managed to curl one corner of my mouth into a smile.
“You want it, don’t you? The evidence that the fourth prince killed the crown prince.”
***
The argument between Gallota and Palleta ended quickly.
Gallota, who seemed ready to grab Palleta by the collar, suddenly regained his composure.
“I forgot that we are here in Berg on an important mission as envoys. We cannot make a fool of ourselves in front of the knights of Berg.”
His sudden change was strange.
On the other hand, Palleta was still agitated.
While Brantley restrained the furious Palleta, Gallota slipped away as if to avoid the situation. It seemed like he had only intended to pretend to fight with Palleta from the start.
A sense of foreboding struck me then.
‘Pretending to fight with Palleta was just a deviation. Gallota has another plan!’
Brantley, after knocking out the rampaging Palleta by pressing a vital point, hurried back to Hanelope.
But by then, Hanelope had already disappeared.
“Talot is chasing after him. Benji, who was also monitoring him on your orders, is also in pursuit. But they disappeared so quickly…”
Brantley felt as if the sky was falling upon hearing the report from one of his mercenary subordinates.
“It seems they didn’t use ordinary magic to kidnap the Princess. It might have been black magic,” Another subordinate said.
In front of Hanelope, only Talot had shown himself. But in reality, there were many more mercenaries following Hanelope and Brantley.
Brantley had ordered some of them to monitor Gallota.
‘Then why!’
With so many people, how could they not prevent Hanelope from being kidnapped?
Anger surged within him.
“I let you follow me because I thought it would help protect the princess.”
“I’m sorry, Brother.”
“We have no excuses,” The subordinates trembled and bowed their heads.
It was the first time Brantley, usually lenient with his subordinates, had been so furious.
He glared at them as if he would kill them.
“Go find the Princess immediately. If anything happens to her, I will punish you and then take my own life. But if you rescue her safely…”
Brantley closed his eyes tightly and spoke, “I will become the leader you desire.”
