Ch.125Chapter 125. Selfish and Uncomfortable Cohabitation

Rinasien forgot how to speak.

She stared blankly at Lin’s handcuffs, barely managing to stammer out a question.

“You… you were captured…?”

“Yeah. As you can see?”

While Rinasien was dumbfounded, Lin simultaneously activated two skills through Cosmos: Presence Detection and Trap Detection.

After taking time to carefully examine the room, she found no surveillance devices or magic spells.

So they’ve only assigned common soldiers to guard the most important person in the imperial succession, even though she’s been deposed?

Even after imprisoning Lin, who had distinguished herself on the demon front, this level of carelessness made her smirk at the Shield Knight’s overconfidence.

“What’s so funny? Don’t you understand the situation we’re in?”

“Calm down, Rina. Getting worked up will only make your wounds hurt more.”

“How can I possibly calm down in this situation!”

Rinasien suddenly shouted.

She was still as shrill as ever.

Despite meeting as Lin without her mask for the first time in ages, Rinasien didn’t ask how she’d been or why she was here.

She was just screaming at Lin to be her stepping stone again.

“If you’re not going to help, why did you even show up here!”

However, the heat in her cheek made her head ring, and as if all her energy had drained away, her outburst didn’t last long. Rinasien fell to her knees, hanging her head and panting heavily.

“Why don’t you try putting some ice on that cheek?”

“Where would I get ice… And even if there was some, what could you do with those handcuffs on?”

Why would I do it? You should do it yourself.

But Lin had no intention of playing along with the handcuffs.

CRACK!

She pulled the handcuffs apart, breaking them.

She snapped the chain in the middle and then tore off the parts still attached to her wrists.

With her improved abilities after becoming an Item Master, this much was easy.

Lucia could devastate an entire area with just a leap, so this was nothing.

Casually pushing the handcuff fragments aside with her foot, Lin took out ice and cloth from Cosmos.

She carefully wrapped the ice in several layers of cloth, tied it securely, and handed it to Rinasien.

“Here, hold this against your cheek.”

“……”

Surprisingly, she quietly accepted it and pressed it to her cheek.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

Lin wasn’t asking out of concern.

She was genuinely curious about how much it hurt.

She wondered how someone who had never been hit like this before would feel.

That’s how dry Lin’s emotions were toward Rinasien.

“It feels much better now that you’ve given me this ice pack.”

You just put it on, you idiot.

Why is her tone softening?

Regardless, Lin kept her mouth shut.

This time, she took out firewood and a pot from Cosmos.

She easily lit a fire and placed the pot on top.

She poured in some broth she kept prepared, then continued taking out crab meat, various vegetables, and meat from Cosmos, adding them all to the pot before slowly stirring.

Having eaten nothing during the days of her transport, Lin was very hungry.

Not wanting to wait until the stew was fully cooked, Lin went ahead and took out sous-vide steak, lit another fire, and placed a pan on it.

The meat cooked quickly.

While it was resting, Lin took out milk, butter, and morning rolls from Cosmos.

As she was heating the milk, Lin noticed Rinasien staring intently at her.

With the aroma of stew, steak, and now the rich smell of milk, Rinasien was endlessly swallowing her saliva.

Finally, Lin sighed, buttered a pan, rolled the morning rolls in it, transferred them to a dish, and poured milk into a cup.

“Want some?”

Before she could finish speaking, Rinasien tried to snatch it, so Lin quickly raised the dish and wagged her index finger.

“It’s hot. You need to be careful when eating. Otherwise, your stomach will turn after you eat.”

Only after seeing Rinasien nod did Lin hand over the dish.

Rinasien began eating frantically.

She soaked the morning rolls in the warm milk before eating them, instinctively consuming them in a way that wouldn’t upset her stomach.

When Lin offered strawberry jam, she tore the rolls apart and spread it between the pieces.

As she chewed the bread greedily without any concern for dignity, sobs began to escape from Rinasien’s mouth.

She was pitiful about her situation that had collapsed in an instant.

Yet she also felt sad from the relief and joy of having a proper meal.

Lin shrugged once and placed a soft cloth beside her.

—

Having been starved for quite some time, Rinasien ate frantically.

She didn’t care about getting sauce or meat juices on her hands, grabbing whatever she could and stuffing it into her mouth, tearing at the food and gulping down the stew straight from the bowl.

Her behavior was so undignified that Lin, who was eating slowly beside her, looked elegant by comparison—it was impossible to fully describe how unseemly she appeared.

“No one was on my side…”

After finishing her food and feeling satisfied, Rinasien let out a contented sigh.

Then, without Lin even asking, she began to explain what had happened.

She told of how Ganal had suddenly appeared beside Rainford when he returned from the Zramun Archipelago, and how it turned out that Ganal was the Emperor’s illegitimate child, just like herself.

“Her Highness Princess Rinasien Karlun has conducted state affairs independently, but after a month, not a single matter has been resolved, and furthermore, she has shown immaturity by shifting responsibility to her ministers. As the Emperor and the Empire need a capable successor, we have concluded that the future of the Empire cannot be entrusted to Rinasien Karlun.”

Rainford had declared this before the ministers at an emergency assembly.

“This lady here is Princess Ganal Karlun, of the Emperor’s bloodline. His Majesty entrusted her protection to Duke Airan Dekarlun, and she has been living away from the public eye in the Zramun Archipelago. Here is the certificate with the Emperor’s personal seal as proof.”

The ministers were surprised to see the imperial seal on the certificate that the Shield Knight presented, but they held their breath, waiting for what would come next.

“Furthermore! His Majesty has issued an edict to depose Princess Rinasien Karlun from her position as Crown Princess and to appoint Princess Ganal Karlun as the new Crown Princess.”

Both the certificate and the edict—the seals on those documents—had been written by Rainford and forcibly stamped by Ganal.

And to hide the seal ring, Ganal wore thick, long gloves.

“Is there anyone who objects?”

At that time, Rinasien had stood proudly, showing her face swollen from Rainford’s beating.

But no one asked what had happened to her or how things had come to this.

The pro-Duke faction had already turned their backs on Rinasien, and since Ganal was said to have grown up under Airan’s protection, they couldn’t immediately refute the claim.

The pro-Rinasien faction had been greatly disappointed by her recent handling of state affairs and were already discussing alternatives.

“I ask once more. Is there no one who objects?”

There wasn’t.

No one at all.

Rinasien had held a faint hope that her supporters would rise up for her at this moment.

But no one stood up for her.

The expressions of all the ministers showed relief.

Shocked, the former Crown Princess couldn’t even rebuke them as she usually would, doing her best just to stand there while calming her trembling body.

The Shield Knight didn’t even glance at her, and Ganal was only watching nervously, wondering if she should support Rinasien.

From that day on, Rinasien disappeared from the official scene.

Immediately after the emergency assembly, she was seized by soldiers, confined to this room, and left without meals for several days.

“……”

After hearing everything, Lin’s reaction was essentially, “So what?”

Moreover, having just met with Rainford before encountering Rinasien, his mood was steadily declining.

However, there was no need to cause trouble with his roommate before the public trial date.

Simply because it looked dirty, Lin took a wet cloth and wiped Rinasien’s hands.

“You must have had a hard time.”

At these warm words and touch—who knows how long it had been since she’d experienced such kindness—Rinasien grabbed Lin’s arm and wept.

Lin felt bitter.

To emphasize again, it wasn’t because she felt sorry for Rinasien.

When Lucia cried, Lin felt sympathy and even a small amount of frustration, thinking “why can’t you just behave?”

But for Rinasien, Lin felt nothing at all.

The reason for treating her wounds and feeding her was simple.

She wasn’t the only one who needed to take revenge on Rinasien.

It was like carefully raising livestock for slaughter.

But Lin was still human, and the stress had been building up.

“What’s that smell!”

“How dare these criminals!”

Soldiers who smelled the food opened the door and looked inside.

Seeing traces of fire and various dishes, they rushed toward Lin out of misplaced indignation.

“No, stop! This person is my attendant!”

“You think we’ll listen to a deposed nobody with no backing?”

Rinasien tried to intervene but cowered at the soldier’s shout.

Lin looked around the room.

There was a bookshelf along one wall.

That’ll do.

“Yeah, come on. I’ll beat you right—gack!”

Her mood had already hit rock bottom.

Lin grabbed one soldier by the throat and dragged him between the bookshelves.

The soldier struggled, but Lin walked steadily, unfazed.

And after going between the bookshelves,

“Kugh… huk!”

“Scream if you want to. Actually, keep your mouth shut and you’ll lose your teeth.”

“Ugh… ugh… UWAAAAAH!!!”

At first, the soldier tried to resist.

But as Lin grabbed and twisted his pressure points all over his body, he could only shake his head frantically and beg for his life through the pain.

After the terrible screams ended, Lin threw the soldier, now foaming blood at the mouth, out from behind the bookshelf.

Wiping the blood from her hands, the porter asked the remaining soldier:

“Will you take him out? Or should I throw you out personally as well?”

“I-I’ll leave!”

“From now on, if you come in without permission, at least one of you will definitely leave dead.”

“I understand!”

With trembling legs, the soldier dragged his foaming colleague out the door.

Looking at the blood-splattered floor by the bookshelf, Lin considered cleaning it but decided to leave it since they would only be staying for a few days.

The place where he served and worked was the Hero’s party, not the imperial palace.

“Lin, are you hurt anywhere?”

Contrary to Lin’s intention of simply venting her frustration, Rinasien’s tone when addressing him had become gentle and sweet.

“Thank you for saving me.”

I hope the public trial date comes quickly.

Lin clenched her molars tightly.