The Lady is a Stalker

She knew that the knight attached to the Baron was unreasonable, but he said it as if he was asking for her understanding.

 

“My master seems to have a bit of an eccentric personality. If you don’t really know him, please hand him over to me. I’ll be scolded. If you need money, I’ll give you something in return. You caught a child who was trying to run away.”

 

“…”

 

The child raised his trembling hand and squeezed the hem of her hoodie. It seemed like he thought I was going to sell him out. She looked worried for a moment and then opened her mouth.

 

“I don’t need money. I’m not really interested in material things…”

 

“Then the child…?

 

“I don’t like that either….”

 

“If you do this, it will be really difficult. Then I will have no choice but to take it by force.” 

 

As he was walking around in a circle, repeating the same conversation over and over again, a man named the Baron could not stand it any longer and came striding towards her. The Baron, who appeared to be in his 30s, immediately shouted and spoke in a voice full of nerves.

 

“Why are you still sitting here procrastinating?! Why don’t you hurry and bring back my slave who ran away!”

 

“Is he a slave? Really? Since when?”

 

“Just now!”

 

“Are you talking about the carriage accident that happened just now?”

 

“Yes! That guy blocked my path on purpose and caused an accident. Thanks to that, the carriage was damaged and I couldn’t do anything.”

 

“That’s too bad.”

 

She said in a voice that felt really pitiful. However, she did not hand over the commoner child he had hidden behind her. The Baron’s face was strangely distorted.

 

“But why do you say this child is your slave? It looks like he and his legs are hurt a lot. Can’t you just pretend it never happened?”

 

“Regardless of the reason, a mistake is a mistake, and if you can’t pay for repairs, it’s natural to make you a slave!”

 

“But why do you keep talking to me informally? Do you know me?”

 

“Of course you are of lower status than me!”

 

He must have concluded that she was a noble from the outskirts of the country, not from the capital, as she was walking around without a single attendant and wearing a hooded hood. She said in a surprised tone.

 

“Huh? Is it polite for nobles to use informal language to people of lower status? Not in order of age?”

 

“Yes!”

 

“I had no idea. I’m sorry.”

 

It hasn’t been long since she came here, so she started doing something rude. By not giving a compliment, it was like ignoring the baron. She apologized sincerely and informally. Then the Baron, who had been running wild just moments ago, suddenly looked at her with a relaxed expression. It was as if he was wondering if there were all these guys who didn’t have this situation.

 

“Why are you speaking informally?”

 

Why did he keep saying this and that?

 

“Are you saying I’m treating someone of low status poorly?” She said with a truly incomprehensible expression. 

 

She just corrected her behavior because it was against etiquette until now… Ignoring the Baron, who was still standing there with a dumb expression on his face, she spoke to the Baron’s knight.

 

“Then, please put the repair fee in my family’s name. Oh, my name is…”

 

“What are you? Are you trying to insult me on purpose?”

 

“What?”

 

She had been doing as the Baron said earlier, but why was his face so bright red that he was about to explode?

 

“If you don’t mean to insult me when you use an honorific to my knight while talking down to me, what’s the point?”

 

“I don’t know what the problem is. Do you feel bad for being treated poorly, or do you feel bad for using honorifics with the knight?”

 

Why on earth was he so obsessed with honorifics in the first place? She ignored the Baron who was running wild and continued talking to his knight.

 

“Anyway, please send the request for repair costs to the Duke of Prineus. I am Seravi de Prineus. If you make a request in my name, the duchy will take care of it… Probably.”

 

When the Duke’s name was mentioned, the Baron looked embarrassed for a moment, but his expression hardened again. The name of Seravi de Prineus was widely known in this empire. However, she was a completely different person from her in her way of speaking, accent, and demeanor. The face was the same, but it is now covered with a hood, so it would be difficult to think of her as the same person. Moreover, above all else, there was no way that Princess Serabi would act like this to save a child of a commoner whom she had never met.

 

The Baron spoke with a confident expression that could be easily read.

 

“It seems like you are planning to get away with it now, but the crime of impersonating a nobleman is.”

 

She ignored the Baron’s mutterings and took off her hood, immediately revealing her bare face. The Baron’s face instantly turned white as if he had seen a ghost. He wouldn’t be that surprised just because she was of a higher status than himself. She had forgotten, but Princess Seravi was a wicked person with a record of killing people. She had no idea that the title of the worst villain in the Empire would help her save people. It’s ironic.

 

She asked the Baron’s knight, who was standing stiffly next to the Baron, to check.

 

“So?”

 

“…”

 

The Baron’s knight, who had been mesmerized by the appearance of an unexpected person, nodded his head as if fascinated.

 

“Then the repair cost…”

 

It’s not even possible. Repair costs!

 

“Ha, ahaha. It’s not something the princess should worry about!”

 

“…”

 

The Baron suddenly spoke, using an extremely honorific title in his mouth. She was so dumbfounded that she stared at his face. He was putting on his best facial expression. Wasn’t behavior change too fast? She would believe it even if he were someone else entirely.

 

“Can I just take a step back?”

 

“Please.”

 

As soon as her permission was given, the frightened Baron stormed off without looking back, leaving her and the child alone. The Baron’s knight who was chasing him glanced at her. He clearly knew her face, but he seemed to be doubting whether what he was seeing was real. It was clearly their fault, but for some reason it felt like she was harassing that nobleman.

 

“…”

 

So what could she say about this child who was now looking up at her with shining eyes?

 

* * *

 

At the same time, Crown Prince Raven Sequoia Seirakia was on a rare outing. This was done by taking extra time to inspect the lives of the people of the empire. Originally, the current Emperor should have sent someone to do the job, but the Emperor was incompetent, and the nobles under the Emperor could not be trusted. Since he was young, Raven had been taking charge of various affairs of the empire on behalf of his incompetent father. And he was gnashing his teeth, saying that the day he became a saint, he would immediately ascend to the throne as emperor and eliminate the nobles. It’s a plan Raven has been thinking about ever since he was young. The first thing that must be eliminated for the development of the empire was the nobles.

 

To Prince Raven, they all were arrogant, cunning, lazy, and incompetent. And that was almost true. The crucial reason why Raven decided to get rid of the nobles was because his mother became a victim of a royal feud because of them. In any case, Raven’s blond hair and golden eyes stood out among the commoners, so he was currently wearing his hood down to hide his identity. As Raven was walking like that, something suddenly caught his eye.

 

“You damn commoner!”

 

There was a man who looked like a nobleman and a child who looked like a commoner being trampled by him. Raven immediately remembered the identity of the noble man. He was a baron whom he remembered encountering several times before in the imperial castle. Raven, recalling the image of him making breakfast for him, furrowed his brows. Even then, he thought he didn’t have a good impression, but still.

 

Raven sighed and tried to walk towards him. At that time, a child who looked like a commoner suddenly got up and started running away. Raven was also startled and started running after the child. If he does something wrong and runs away and gets caught, it is an aggravated punishment. Even if the Baron had to cut off the child’s limbs, he could not help it. He said that he was the only one who could save such a commoner child. However, the salvation that the commoner child chose was not Raven, but someone else.

 

“…?”

 

Raven, who was following the child, suddenly stopped. And he slowly looked at the woman with the child hanging like a rope from her side. Although she had a hood covering her face, she seemed to be a noblewoman based on the clothes she was wearing and the way she looked. Raven ruffled his hair in frustration.

 

“Why did he go to a noble? He now has two enemies.”

 

The commoner child made the wrong choice. Raven expected that the noblewoman would immediately throw away the commoner child as if she had touched something dirty. And she will come to accuse him of daring to touch her noble body. A pattern could be drawn before his eyes.

 

“…?”

 

But she did not reject the commoner child. Even though she was arguing with the knight, she did not give up the child she was hiding behind her. Although she seemed reluctant, she seemed like she really wanted to protect the child.

 

Raven’s eyebrows were strangely distorted.

 

‘Nonsense.’

 

Oh, maybe… she could have come out strong because the person who came to find the commoner child was a knight. If a noble of higher status appeared and questioned her, she would give up the child without hesitation. Raven concluded that. To a noble, it didn’t really matter what happens to the life of a commoner’s child.

 

Raven decided to observe the situation for a while. It was uncharacteristic of Raven to decide to observe the situation rather than rush out right away. When the child’s life was at stake, he hesitated to act because he was curious about how an unknown noble would act. However, Raven himself still did not notice that he was acting strangely.

 

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Translator Note: