chapter_0014

13 – The Princess’s Delusion is Free

13 – The Princess’s Delusion is Free

After running and running for a long time, I arrived at a clearing in the forest.

Leaving footprints on the pure white ground, I walked to the center of the clearing, bent over, and placed my hands on my knees.

Hot breaths escaped my mouth in rapid succession.

‘I feel like I’m going to throw up…’

Running at full speed for several minutes made my head spin.

I didn’t want to run this much, but I had no choice.

I thought it was a matter of utmost urgency to put as much distance as possible between myself and Selvia.

‘It would be a disaster if the Princess found out I was applying for asylum…’

It is the Princess’s nature to punish traitors no matter what.

Therefore, the best course of action was to disappear like a ghost without the Princess knowing.

“Where do you think you’re running off to, you ba…”

“Haa…”

As I was catching my breath, I heard the voice of an Allied Nations soldier.

Turning around calmly, I saw the six soldiers I had seen earlier approaching, panting.

The fact that they weren’t pointing their guns at me suggested they were willing to talk.

I didn’t want to fight either, so I raised both hands, gasping for air.

“…Let’s calm down and have a conversation. I am Lieutenant Daniel Steiner, Acting Operations Staff Officer of the Imperial General Staff. State your affiliation and names.”

Good. I introduced myself, naturally mentioning my affiliation and rank.

Having heard that I was an Operations Staff Officer of the General Staff, anyone who wasn’t an idiot would realize that I was a person of strategic value.

“Do you think we don’t know who you are?”

However, strangely, the Allied Nations soldiers merely frowned as if they were annoyed.

“Enough. Where is the Princess? Depending on your answer, we might spare your life, so speak carefully.”

“…The Princess?”

My mind went blank at the word “Princess” coming from the Allied Nations soldier’s mouth.

How did that guy know that the person accompanying me was the Princess?

Selvia isn’t stupid. She wouldn’t have gone around blabbing that she had disguised herself as a war correspondent and come to the northern front.

Therefore, only a few people know that Selvia has come to this northern front.

Those few are the people Selvia has judged to be ‘trustworthy.’

Given Selvia’s character, which involves taking great care in selecting personnel, it was unlikely that they were acting as spies.

So, who used this information to launch the attack?

As I racked my brain, I had a vague realization and groaned softly.

‘The Prince.’

If it’s family, that’s a different story.

They can observe Selvia’s every move from the closest possible position.

In fact, Prince Arno von Amberg is known to have had several major disputes with his younger sister, Selvia, over the succession to the throne.

It seemed that the conflict between the two was not just on the surface.

‘Trying to assassinate his own sister. What a crazy bastard.’

I clicked my tongue and lowered my hands.

Now that I knew the truth, there was no need to surrender anymore.

The soldiers in front of me were not affiliated with the Allied Nations.

The soldiers in front of me were assassins of the Prince, disguised to make it look like the Princess had been attacked by the Allied Nations.

The thought that all of this was the Prince’s scheme made my head grow cold.

“Did the Prince order this?”

The soldiers paused at my words. Thanks to that, my guess became clearer.

“Now that I look at it, your Allied Nations uniforms are very clean.”

“…So what if they are?”

“Usually, veteran soldiers are sent for guerrilla warfare aimed at surprise attacks. Sending new recruits drastically reduces the success rate of the operation. But you guys are wearing new uniforms like new recruits. Do you think that makes sense?”

If they wanted to disguise themselves properly, they should have made their uniforms look like those of battle-hardened veterans.

The soldiers couldn’t refute my point and soon let out a hollow laugh.

One of them, who appeared to be a squad leader, stepped forward.

“It seems you really are an elite, just like the rumors say, to notice that right away. Then you must know the situation well, right? Join us. We’ll guarantee you a path to success.”

“Us? Are you talking about the Prince?”

“…Use honorifics. His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Seeing the soldier growl, I couldn’t help but laugh in absurdity.

The soldier frowned at the sight.

“What’s so funny?”

“I’m just feeling sorry for you for clinging to a rotten rope. Crown Prince? He’s not fit to be Emperor. It’s the Princess who will become Emperor. Not that dimwit.”

I was giving them sincere advice from the perspective of someone who knew the future, but the soldiers didn’t seem to like it, as they frowned and gripped their guns.

“Thanks for being honest. There’s no need to talk anymore…”

From now on, it’s a speed battle. While the soldier was talking, I pulled out my revolver from its holster.

At the same time, I concentrated Mana in my central nervous system to accelerate my nerves.

In an instant, my vision expanded greatly, and my pupils contracted.

What I saw in my vision was a world moving in slow motion.

The panicked soldier trying to raise his gun, opening his mouth to curse, and some running towards me were all visible like a slow-motion screen.

I took a deep breath, raised my revolver, aimed it at their heads, and pulled the trigger.

The shape of the gunpowder exploding and the bullets being fired seemed unreal, like floating in a zero-gravity space.

However, the bullets were steadily heading towards the soldiers’ heads.

The moment I moved the revolver’s muzzle to finish off the last soldier, Neural acceleration was released, and the world regained its original speed.

Bang!

Five gunshots rang out almost simultaneously, blowing the soldiers’ heads one after another.

Without even letting out a proper scream, the soldiers fell to the ground with a thud.

But the last one. The soldier I faced the moment Neural acceleration was released was still running towards me.

“You son of a bitch!”

I wanted to aim, but my hand was shaking violently.

The backlash from using Neural acceleration was putting a strain on my body.

This was a useful ability that allowed me to graduate at the top of my class at the academy, but it had a clear disadvantage in that the strain on my body immediately after use was severe.

Moreover, I was able to take down five people at once because I had a Mana Cylinder; otherwise, Neural acceleration would have been released in the middle, and I would have been the one to get hit.

That’s how extreme the Mana consumption was.

‘Damn it…’

My head was throbbing, and my body wouldn’t listen as if it were stuck in a swamp.

But if I didn’t kill that guy, I would die. I focused my mind and pulled the trigger.

Bang! A gunshot rang out high in the sky, and the soldier’s arm running towards me exploded.

It was a failed shot. The soldier screamed as his arm flew off, but he didn’t stop running towards me.

Immediately afterward, the soldier who approached me put his weight on me and pushed me.

“Ugh!”

I fell backward and was buried in the snow.

The soldier who climbed on top of me took out a military knife and tried to strike my head.

Judging it was dangerous, I reflexively grabbed the soldier’s wrist.

“Damn it! You bastard! You devil! Die!”

The soldier spat and spewed out random curses.

But I didn’t have the strength to respond to those curses.

All I could do was grab the soldier’s wrist with both hands and push it away.

“Kuh…!”

But it wasn’t working properly. I couldn’t put strength into my hands.

I could see the tip of the knife approaching my eyes every moment, but I couldn’t stop it.

A sense of fear ran down my spine.

‘…What? Am I going to die like this?’

I usually hear that people experience a panorama of their lives before they die, but all I felt was a sense of futility.

I wanted to deny death, but the strength in my hands was gradually fading.

It was then.

Bang!

Along with the gunshot, the side of the head of the soldier who was pressing down on me exploded.

The soldier soon collapsed forward and hugged me.

I quickly snatched the dagger and stabbed the soldier’s neck deeply.

I did a confirmation kill just in case.

After that, I pushed the soldier aside and slowly raised my upper body.

After catching my rough breath, I turned to the side and saw a group of people wearing gas masks and Imperial army uniforms.

‘The Imperial Central Army… or rather, the Imperial Guard.’

If it was the Imperial Guard, I could roughly guess who sent them.

Sure enough, Selvia was running up from behind them, a step late.

Looking at her worried face, I felt a pang of conscience as if I had done something unnecessary.

Selvia, who had no way of knowing my feelings, approached me closely and knelt down.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

I nodded.

“I’m not hurt. Thanks to the Imperial Guards for helping me. So…”

As I trailed off, Selvia lowered her gaze as if she had noticed.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to deceive you. I just thought I wouldn’t be able to know what kind of person you were with the status of a royal, so I disguised myself as a war correspondent.”

I’m sorry, but I already knew. But let’s pretend I don’t know for now.

“So, did you learn a lot about me?”

It was a word to ease the sinking atmosphere.

“Of course.”

However, Selvia seemed to have taken my words seriously.

“First of all, at the planning stage of the operation, you denied the opinion of your superior, Captain Heinz, and established a new logic. Judging from the fact that it was reasonable, you have a firm mind that does not succumb to power and an eye that penetrates the battlefield.”

That was just something I blurted out randomly because I wanted to be dishonorably discharged.

“You also quickly identified Colonel Jeremy, who was disguised as a soldier, in Edelkrall Canyon. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense that you succeeded in killing Colonel Jeremy with the first shot.”

It doesn’t make sense. I shot a soldier and saw that it was Colonel Jeremy.

“Finally, you have a spirit of sacrifice to the extent that you can dedicate yourself to the people of the Empire at any time. You risked your life to save a mere war correspondent.”

I thought it was an opportunity to defect, so I made up an excuse and ran away. What are you talking about?

None of it was true, but looking at Selvia’s serious eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to say no.

In the first place, the moment I tell the truth, I’m a dead man.

“Lieutenant Daniel Steiner.”

Selvia, who grabbed my hand, solemnly declared.

“I dare to say on behalf of the Imperial Family, you are a treasure born of the Empire.”

I really felt like I was going to die from the pressure.