🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 15
Neril’s eyes widened, then she soon nodded firmly.
“Let them fall into their own trap. No matter how they try to twist this, they won’t be able to target Your Highness.”
“This way, Your Highness.”
On the western training grounds of the Valdina royal palace, there was a small hidden door in the warehouse wall.
“This is a tunnel the troops used when going out on unofficial missions. It connects directly to the city.”
It was said that the royal guard, exhausted from harsh training within the palace, had dug it themselves with their own bodies. Even the royal family didn’t know of its existence.
Considering it had been dug without proper equipment, it was surprisingly well-organized. Medeia could almost feel the madness of the former soldiers who created it.
At the end of the tunnel, an ordinary four-wheeled carriage was waiting.
“Neril, you’re finally here. I thought you dug a new tunnel or something.”
A young coachman, idly flicking his whip, joked casually. His round eyes quickly took in Medeia standing behind Neril.
“Hello, Princess.”
“Tom, show proper respect to Her Highness.”
“Hm, go easy on me. A lowborn like me wasn’t raised with manners.”
The freckled young man greeted cheerfully, but Neril warned him coldly.
“My apologies, Your Highness. I told him in advance to be careful.”
“It’s fine. Hello.”
Medeia responded calmly. Tom hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
‘An archer.’
She could tell from the way he sat and how he held the whip.
He was likely a disciple of the former captain of the royal guard.
‘He dislikes me.’
Medeia read the clear hostility hidden behind his smile.
He probably thought he had concealed it well—but that fleeting emotion had already been caught by her.
Given the widespread rumors painting her as a foolish princess, the coachman likely saw her the same way.
‘Still, this is mild.’
Compared to the colorless contempt and scorn she endured in her previous life, this was almost cute.
“Hyah! Hyah!”
With a rattling noise and a cloud of dust, the carriage set off.
Her prediction about the coachman proved correct.
“Your Highness, hold onto me here.”
The road grew rougher the farther they moved from the city center.
Once they entered an unpaved road, the carriage began to shake violently—whether it couldn’t move smoothly, or simply wouldn’t.
“Hyah! Hyah!”
The excited shouts urged the horse faster. The wheels felt like they might fly off.
“That bastard…”
Neril clenched her teeth, steadying Medeia before tightening her fist.
“I’ll go say something to him.”
“We’re definitely heading to your master, right?”
“Yes, but…”
“Then it’s fine.”
Medeia leaned back with a bored expression.
She paid no attention to the coachman’s petty malice or the violent shaking.
‘They think I’m a princess who’s never stepped in mud.’
But in her past life, traveling on expeditions with Iason, comfort had been rare.
On unstable ground where monsters could burst out at any moment, even this uneven terrain would have been enough for a peaceful sleep.
Medeia pulled back the curtain.
“Dust will come in and dirty your clothes.”
“It’s fine.”
She didn’t take her eyes off the view outside.
The carriage had left the royal castle.
‘There’s no smoke from cooking fires.’
A desolate plain. Crumbling houses scattered about, looking ready to collapse at any moment.
‘This is reality. This is the true Valdina.’
The truth the Regent Duke wanted to hide from her.
It was nothing like the clean, glamorous royal palace. This was the reality of a kingdom that had endured ten years of war.
‘Even after victory, it wasn’t easy.’
While Pelleus was away, the Regent Duke’s power had grown too large. Rebellions followed.
And the king’s only sister—lost in luxury and pleasure—was eventually captured by rebels, becoming a disgrace to the royal family.
Yet her brother had never once blamed her.
‘Pelleus… this time, I won’t let that happen.’
At that moment, Tom shouted from outside:
“Hyah! We’re almost there. You see that? That’s Lord Gilipos’s estate.”
In the distance, a red-brick mansion came into view.
But tiny dots—like ants—were clustered around it.
‘What is that?’
As the carriage crossed a hill and approached, the identity of the crowd became clear.
“They’re retired soldiers and their families. As the war drags on, their numbers keep increasing.”
Tom spoke loudly enough for Medeia to hear.
Most of them had lost their homes or become disabled, unable to return, wandering near the capital.
“They fought for the country and ended up like that. Heh… instead of being rewarded, they’re not even allowed inside the royal city.”
His laugh was sharp.
“My master couldn’t ignore them, so he took them in. But now the estate is full, so he feeds them outside instead.”
“……”
“Hyah~”
After driving wildly the whole way, he suddenly slowed down.
As the carriage passed the group—
Clunk.
The carriage tilted.
“Oh dear. The wheel came off! And something else broke too?”
Tom’s cheerful voice rang out, and soon his grinning face appeared at the window.
“What should we do? We’ll have to fix it here. It won’t take long!”
“You…”
Neril stood up, her face stiff.
“Going to hit me? Even so, a broken wheel can’t be fixed instantly. I’m not a mage.”
His mocking face disappeared.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
“It’s fine.”
Medeia’s expression remained calm.
Meanwhile, the stopped carriage drew attention.
“Who is it? Who’s inside?”
“Someone visiting the marquis? Haven’t seen anyone from the palace in a while.”
Someone replied bluntly:
“What does it matter? Don’t drop your food. Do you think the royal family cares if we starve?”
Cold and hunger had made them sharp.
With the long war, the treasury was empty.
Taxes and forced labor only increased.
Valdina, in the harsh north, was never a land of abundance.
“We live like this, and yet they say there are banquets every day in the palace. Wine like water, tables full of meat.”
“Wow… I could live a week on just one piece of meat.”
“And that cursed princess—covered head to toe in jewels.”
They didn’t know royal lineage well, but they knew one thing clearly—the princess.
“Aren’t those jewels bought with our blood? A greedy leech. A parasite of the royal family!”
Voices rose one after another.
They cursed the king’s sister—lost in luxury, ignoring her people.
The retired soldiers had set up tents nearby.
Their angry voices carried clearly.
Medeia listened quietly to the insults directed at her.
‘So this is meant for me to hear.’
She understood the intent—whether Tom’s or Marquis Gilipos’s.
“Your Highness…”
Neril fidgeted anxiously.
Then someone spoke up in rebuttal:
“You people should know before you speak. What jewels are you talking about?”
“Huh?”
“Haven’t you heard what happened to the princess in the palace? You lot are slow with news!”
