What Happened at the Royal Villa (1)

Although the carriage was broken, there was no major hindrance to future travel. Thanks to the twenty knights who all appeared on horseback, there were plenty of useful steeds raised at the Royal Palace.

First, as Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot is the Hero, he naturally would have learned horsemanship, and Natalie and Thomas, who are from the frontier, also know how to ride or handle horses. The same goes for me, who learned horsemanship from Lidiana Dietmayer, Princess Rainy’s escort maid.

Among them, there were still four people who couldn’t ride a horse on their own, but a horse of this caliber would probably be enough to carry two people at once.

“Hero-nim, Natalie-yang, Thomas-ssi, and Lydia-yang, you’ve learned horsemanship, haven’t you?”

“Yeah. It’s essential when traveling long distances without a carriage.”

“Ah, yes! I also learned it when I was young.”

“It’s the same for me as for Natalie.”

“Even for Princess Rainy-nim’s escort, it was a skill I absolutely had to learn.”

“That’s a relief. Since I can also ride a horse, we can each take one person who can’t ride a horse and move. First, Princess Rainy-nim should naturally be led by Lydia-yang, and Agnes-yang…”

Just like when we traveled in the cramped carriage, each person can take one other person. Agnes would be taken by Natalie, who is the same gender, Silena, being a heroine with a budding romance, would be taken by the Hero, and Ethan would be taken by me.

It was a shame, but we had no choice but to leave the remaining horses behind. What I learned was horsemanship, not the skill of handling multiple horses at once. Besides, there wasn’t even time to move with so many horses.

“Then, we’ll depart. Ethan Young Master, please hold tightly onto my waist.”

“Ah, okay.”

-Tap.

“No, I didn’t mean for you to hold it so vaguely with your hand, but to wrap your arm around my waist and hold on.”

“…Won’t it be uncomfortable if you stick so close?”

“On the contrary, if you hold on vaguely, I’ll be more uncomfortable thinking that Ethan Young Master might fall off.”

“…Got it.”

-Squeeze!

“…This is enough.”

Ethan’s body pressed tightly against mine from behind, and after confirming that the others were also holding onto the back of their respective riders, we set off once again towards Princess Rainy’s Royal Villa.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Although we now had horses that could run at high speeds, we couldn’t run at maximum speed.

In the current situation, if we carelessly pushed the speed, the horse Princess Rainy was riding might suddenly collapse or break an ankle and fall, leading to misfortune.

If we just reduced our speed, we could reduce such safety accidents, and even if an accident occurred, we could minimize injuries.

At a moderate pace, not too fast, yet not too slow, the group moved forward on horseback.

Even so, perhaps thanks to having ridden slowly since dawn, we managed to arrive at the Royal Villa before sunset.

“The building visible over there is the place where Princess Rainy-nim originally resided, the Royal Villa of the Kingdom of Defrin.”

“The meaning of ‘originally resided’ is…”

“Queen Veronica-nim was wary of Princess Rainy-nim’s influence remaining within the Royal Palace. Therefore, she took measures for Princess Rainy-nim to live in this Royal Villa from the time she turned ten, claiming that the princess’s unlucky constitution might affect the nation’s fortune.”

“…….”

…Well, in reality, the one most affecting the nation’s fortune would be Queen Veronica herself.

As regent, she had thoroughly excluded anything that might even slightly affect the royal authority. Of course, all those desperate efforts would become meaningless in a few days.

Even if, by some chance, Queen Veronica truly succeeded in breaking through us and assassinating Princess Rainy, her power would soon come to an end. The reason Queen Veronica could currently control the Kingdom of Defrin like a monarch was solely because she was Princess Rainy’s regent.

Keeping Princess Rainy alive, in any way, was her method of maintaining power, and the moment the princess died, Queen Veronica, who would lose her justification for rule, would instead lose her life to rebellion.

At the very least, if she had led the kingdom well while acting as regent, she might have had some supporting factions, but she had none of that.

‘That doesn’t mean there’s no need to protect Princess Rainy, though.’

If she is kept alive, Princess Rainy’s luck will be of no small help to the Hero Party.

Of course, since it’s a power that only activates when Princess Rainy truly wishes it, it’s difficult to use it to instantly prevent the Demon King’s resurrection or for similar purposes, but at the very least, it can provide enough protection to prevent losing one’s life by accident on the battlefield.

Putting everything else aside, the biggest reason is also that I want to see her happy ending.

“…I’m hungry.”

“We’ve been running since dawn without eating anything. And since the carriage broke, we had no choice but to leave the food supplies behind as well.”

“Still, since it’s a Royal Villa, won’t there be something? No matter how much Princess Rainy-nim was persecuted by Queen Veronica, you can’t be the only maid serving the princess in this vast palace, can you?”

“That’s right. Besides me, there were two other maids serving Princess Rainy-nim, so they must have been cleaning and maintaining the mansion all this time.”

“…Are those maids trustworthy?”

“Yes. They are children who have served Princess Rainy-nim since childhood, just like me, so they can be fully trusted.”

Lydia answered with a confident gaze, stating that they were trustworthy people. However, as someone who knew the future that would soon unfold, I could only remain silent and observe the situation.

…Because the situation inside the Royal Villa that we were about to face was clearly going to be a very unpleasant memory for Princess Rainy and Lydia.

-Ring!

“Lora, Neris, are you inside!”

“…….”

-Ring!

“Lora! Neris!”

“…….”

Lydia rang the bell in front of the mansion, calling out to the maids inside the Royal Villa, but no answer came from within.

Along with that, Lydia’s expression, as she called out to her colleagues, slightly stiffened. She must have also guessed that the possibility of both maids, who were supposed to always guard the Royal Villa, having left the mansion and gone somewhere was extremely low.

“…I think they might have gone out to the village for something like shopping. Fortunately, I also have a spare key, so I will guide you in.”

“Really?”

“Alright, let’s go in quickly. I’m cold, hungry, and sleepy…”

With those words, we unlocked the main gate leading to the Royal Villa’s garden and moved towards the mansion inside.

Before Lydia could open the mansion door and step inside, Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot gently grabbed her wrist and suggested.

“Just in case, I’ll open the door and go in here.”

“Huh?”

“Queen Veronica is the kind of person who attempted to assassinate Princess Rainy-nim as soon as she returned to the Kingdom of Defrin. She might have already made arrangements in the Royal Villa even before Princess Rainy-nim arrived in the Kingdom of Defrin.”

“…….”

“It’s just a ‘one in a million’ possibility. However, considering Princess Rainy-nim’s constitution right now…”

“…I understand. If the ‘Hero of Prophecy’-nim says so, it seems right to be careful.”

With those words, Lydia carefully inserted the key into the lock and stepped back.

Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot, taking over her role, carefully opened the door and stepped inside, to find the interior of the mansion in a terrible state, as if a storm had already passed through.

A chandelier lay shattered on the floor, having fallen from the ceiling and left abandoned. Similarly, the railing of the central staircase was broken and discarded.

In addition, dozens of muddy footprints from strong men were spread throughout the mansion, and that immediately meant that the ‘one in a million’ possibility Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot had mentioned had occurred.

“……Huh?”

“……!!!”

Unlike its relatively intact exterior, Lydia and Princess Rainy were flustered upon seeing the mansion, which was in complete disarray.

The other members who entered afterward, as soon as they confirmed the messy state of the mansion, cautiously uttered words of concern, one by one.

“Ah, ahhh…. W-When did this happen, exactly…?”

“Th-This is…”

“Surely not, as Hero-nim said…”

“…What a meticulous woman. Indeed, she probably never intended to let the princess live from the moment she sent her to the Royal Villa.”

“But, shouldn’t we first check if the maids you mentioned earlier are safe? Was it Neris and Lora?”

“Ah, ah! Lora!! Neris!!”

Lydia, who had been kneeling on the floor in despair, hurriedly ran up the mansion’s central staircase.

Calling out the names of the two maids who must have remained behind to guard the Royal Villa while Princess Rainy had left for the Academy.