TPVSR 47

Chapter 47

By sunset, we arrived at a village.

It was a small village called Belton.
It looked quiet and peaceful.
Houses were gathered close together, and there was a well in the square.
Smoke was rising from chimneys as people prepared dinner.

“Lorea, your necklace.”
“Oh, right.”

Inside the carriage, I put the artifact necklace back on.
My silver hair and red eyes changed into ordinary brown hair and brown eyes.

At this level, no one would recognize me as the princess immediately.

Carlos looked over my changed appearance without emotion and stepped off the carriage first.
Sion was the one who held my hand to help me down.

“That look is pretty too.”
“…Yes, thank you.”
“I mean it.”

Somehow, whenever I watched Carlos carefully, Sion always seemed to take my side with a small comment.

After getting down, I slowly looked around the village.

Maybe because it’s a decent-sized village, there seems to be a basic barrier blocking demonic energy.

We just needed to find a place to stay and rest for one night.

If I checked Carlos’s condition and purified the demonic energy with refined stones as needed, he would be much better than now.

I wonder how many refined stones I can make…

Just as I was thinking that and about to pass the square—

Rumble, rumble.

Suddenly, the sound of hooves came from the village entrance.

It wasn’t just one horse.
The ground itself trembled.

I reflexively turned my head.

And the next moment, I doubted my eyes.

“…What?”

It was soldiers.

Knights carrying flags with the Imperial crest were rushing into the village.
Ten? Twenty? No—more.
In an instant, they surrounded the square.

They were really following us?

I had guessed after hearing Sion, but I didn’t expect them to appear so quickly.

While I stood frozen in confusion—

“Her Highness the Princess is in this village!”

The leading knight shouted loudly, his voice echoing through the entire village.

“Search every corner!”

Villagers rushed out of their homes in shock.
Some even ran out while eating dinner.

In an instant, the square filled with people.

“What’s going on?”
“It’s the Imperial army!”
“The princess? Her Highness is here?”
“What are you talking about… all of a sudden…”

Murmurs spread everywhere.

“The Imperial family is really annoying, right?”

Sion whispered and hid me behind his back.

Carlos, who I thought had walked ahead, had returned without me noticing and stood in front of me as well.

I hid behind them and held my breath.
I was disguised. It would be fine.
They wouldn’t find me.

Meanwhile, the Imperial soldiers swarmed around the village, pretending to search—
looking into houses, checking passersby, grabbing women to examine their faces.

“Search everywhere!”
“We must not lose Her Highness!”
“Search those houses!”

But something was strange.

They only acted like they were searching.
Their eyes were looking elsewhere—
as if they already knew the answer.

Then—

The leading knight walked straight toward us.
Without hesitation. Exactly.

My heart sank.

They had known from the beginning.
Where I was. What I looked like.
This whole show was meant to point me out publicly.

That’s why they followed immediately.
To gather people in the square and draw attention on purpose.

The knight stopped in front of Carlos, who was shielding me.

“Please step aside.”
“What is this?”
“We must escort Her Highness the Princess.”

Because I was crouched behind Carlos, I could only hear his voice.
But even that made my heart pound uncontrollably.

“Who said the princess you seek is here?”
“Step aside!”

The standoff continued.

When Carlos showed no sign of moving, the knight suddenly dropped to one knee.

“Your Highness the Princess!”

His booming voice rang across the square.

My body froze stiff.

“So you were here!”

Since Carlos wouldn’t move, he was forcing everyone’s attention onto me.

All the villagers’ eyes turned toward me at once.

It felt like my heart stopped.

“Is the princess really here?”
“There is a brown-haired girl over there…”
“That child is the princess?”
“But the princess—”
“Oh my…”

I quickly pulled my hood down, but it was useless.
Their eyes were already full of suspicion.

“She kind of looks like the portrait…”
“Maybe she’s disguised? There’s magic like that, right?”
“Wait, but the person next to her… could it be—”
“Isn’t that Archduke Carter?”
“The Archduke? The one said to be like a demon…!”
“Black hair and red eyes…”

Soon their gaze shifted to Carlos as well, and the whispers grew louder.
More and more people gathered until the square was full of spectators.

The knight lifted his head.
His eyes were polite—yet coercive.

“I have come under His Majesty’s command to escort you.”

“……”

“His Majesty was greatly concerned upon hearing that Archduke Carter was forcing Your Highness to remain in the Grand Duchy.”

So this was what Sion meant.

They were tying Carlos and me together—
turning him into a demon and taking me away.
There was no noble family more despised across the Empire than the Carter house.

A cursed family.
Demons.
Monsters.

Because of the Emperor’s careful manipulation, even common citizens trembled at the name Carter.

At this rate, the situation won’t be resolved.

In the end, what they wanted was for me to step forward.

Slowly, I revealed myself from behind Carlos and stood before the knight.

His gaze fixed clearly on me.

“…I am not here by force.”

My voice trembled, but I spoke clearly.

“I came here of my own will.”

The knight frowned with exaggerated pity.

“Good heavens, Your Highness.”

He bowed his head again.

“You must have suffered greatly, being imprisoned for so long.”

He was completely ignoring my words.

“You may rest easy now, Your Highness.
Archduke Carter can no longer threaten you.”

As he said that, a silent crooked smile appeared.

His eyes looked at me with cold amusement.

The villagers whispered.

“Imprisoned? Archduke Carter imprisoned the princess?”
“He even dared oppose the Imperial family!”
“How frightened the young princess must have been.”

Sympathetic gazes turned toward me.
Hostile ones toward Carlos.

“As rumored.”
“To lock up Her Highness…”
“A man like that being an Archduke is a disgrace to the Empire.”

Listening to the voices from all sides, I slowly narrowed my eyes.

Mobilizing forces of this size means…
if we hadn’t entered the village, they intended to subdue us by force.

Carlos and Sion had been right.

They would take me away no matter what.

How cowardly.

Being turned into the victim while Carlos became the perpetrator in front of countless witnesses—
this situation was truly the worst.

But as the two had said,
it was still better than being overpowered by force.

No matter how powerful Sion was as the Mage Tower Master,
facing that many people in the demonic-filled East could cause unknown consequences.

It’s sad that this has to be called the better situation.

Before I could finish thinking—

The knight suddenly grabbed my wrist roughly.

“Come, Your Highness. Please come with us.”

At that moment—

Grab.

Someone seized the knight’s wrist.

It was Carlos.

“Do not touch her.”

His voice was low and cold.