What’s up? Estelia here. I had a terrible day yesterday. Very terrible. Poor me. Couldn’t believe he could do something as stupidly daring as that. Who the fuck does that to a princess? Fucking piece of shit, fucking scumbag, limp dick asshole. He seriously gonna jeopardize their entire political reason for being here?

He’s fucking dead! I’ll kill him. I’ll fucking kill him.

I didn’t even want to look at him right now. So I’m just going to avoid him. Him and his stupid little brother. Keep the fuck away from me.

I didn’t tell anyone what happened, and I’m not planning to. That would ruin everything.

In any case, I have something else to do. My own preparations. And thus, after having a casual breakfast with my family, I made my way back to my office. While making sure I didn’t see anyone from the empire.

Okay, I can face them, I just didn’t want to… Not yet. I still have this little repulsed feeling in my heart. Ugh.

On the way to my office, though, I came across someone I didn’t quite expect to see here. It was Lucious. I have not talked to him for a while. He kindly smiled as he greeted me.

“Good morning, Estelia.”

“Good morning, Lucious. What were you doing?”

“Just checking essential supplies. I need to update the logistics.”

“You’re quite busy.”

“Not that too busy.” He chuckled. “What about you?”

“A bit.”

“I see. I hope you’re not working yourself too hard.”

“I should be the one saying that to you.”

He wryly smiled. “I guess… So, um, Estelia, I heard you’ve been friends with the two envoys.”

I blinked. “... Who told you?”

“Words travel around, you know. And I also asked Eleden. You’re close, I heard.”

“... I suppose we often talk.”

“Then… I also heard that you and — no, never mind.”

Wow, everyone has been gossiping? I was not intending for that to happen. But I guess in the palace rumors or gossip that involves me still happen, huh? But why haven’t my servants mentioned anything? Nor anyone? Well, I don’t really care much about that gossip, but still… would be nice to know…?

“What do you want to say, Lucious?” I asked with wide, curious eyes.

He looked away, hesitating. “... There’s saying that you are, in a word, enamored with the eldest imperial prince.”

Okay… Um, well. That sucks.

“You shouldn’t trust rumors and gossip too easily, Lucious.”

“So it isn’t true?”

With a pursed smile, I answered. “... There may be instances. But nothing really happened that was too serious.”

He looked like he choked when he heard my answer. “I-Instances? So it’s true…”

“Brief instances. So that really shouldn’t be taken to heart. Word of mouth tends to exaggerate.”

“So it’s not true?”

He was more confused than before. Looks like I didn’t make myself clear. No wait, I did act all lovey dovey. So that’s not exactly wrong either? Hmmm. Okay, sorry Lucious. Guess you gonna have to be hurt by this one.

“... Sort of…?”

He lowered his eyes, visibly sad. “I see… But, Estelia,” he raised his eyes back at me. “Don’t take this badly. But be careful around them. They cannot be trusted. They could be playing you for all we know.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes,” he said with serious eyes.

“... Okay…” I faintly nodded.

“... Good… Uh, so, I’m going then. I don’t want to hold you in your way.”

“... Later then, Lucious.”

“Later.”

With that, he continued on his way.

As I made my way to my office, I glanced at my servants.

“Have you heard of these gossips?”

The three of them looked at each other.

“I heard about it,” Vernon admitted first.

Rogan awkwardly smiled. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Y-Yes, I did.” Mera lowered her head.

I sighed.

I entered the office upon arrival. “Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

“I didn’t think it would be necessary to tell when it’s apparently what you want,” said Vernon.

“I just heard it from the guys. Well, yeah, it was pretty obvious.”

“Everyone in the maid quarters talked about it. But I didn’t think you would want to hear it.”

Huh, can’t argue with that. “Oh, okay.” But hey Mera, I don’t think that reason’s true. You just didn’t want to hear it yourself, did you? Whatever. It’s not that important, anyway.

I sat down on my couch. “Lock the door.” Once it was locked, I continued. “There’s something I have to ask of you two, Vernon and Rogan.”

The two looked at each other, staying silent and waiting for my words.

“Soon, in a couple of days perhaps, there may come an incident here in the palace.”

“Incident? What do you mean, Your Highness?” Vernon asked.

“I can’t say precisely. But, likely when my father leaves to fight a powerful monster. Once that happens, I want you to be prepared, especially at night.”

“What is exactly going to happen?” Rogan warily asked.

“You’ll know. So firstly, Rogan, the night my father is absent, I want you to stay here in the palace.”

“Yes…?”

“Once you have heard of any trouble, big trouble, go to my brother Eleden. Protect him.”

“Wait?” He shook his head. “Not you? I’m your knight, shouldn’t I protect you if something happens?”

“I’ll be fine. Once you have secured Eleden, try reaching for Estevan. He should be able to hold enemies out. But retrieve him, just in case.”

“But Princess…”

“There’s no need to worry about me in the early phases of the event.” I shifted towards my butler. “Vernon, I will need you to protect my mother. Go directly to her room and secure her.”

“Her Majesty?”

“Protect her with your life. Do not let her be harmed.”

“... Understood.”

“Once your VIPs are secured, rendezvous with the knights outside. The inside of the palace will be more dangerous than the outside. We will meet at the side palace entryways.”

They nodded in affirmation.

“As for you Mera, at night you will be with your fellow maids… there will be knights on patrol, rely on them. Or you come to me.”

“M-Milady… it sounds like it's something dangerous… Will… Will my friends be harmed?”

“Better think about yourself first.”

“But…”

Vernon chimed in. “If it comes to it, I am aware of a few maids capable of using magic. I imagine they’ll be able to fight back when needed.”

Wow. I expected no less from daughters of nobles. Huh, thinking about it, we may have more firepower in the palace than I initially thought. They could help somewhat.

I nodded. “Mera, if you decide to come with me, come alone. It will be hard for me to protect others.”

Me? Protecting a bunch? No way. You should protect me in the first place. Plus, Mera would be a good… um, what’s the word? Canary? To lead the enemies coming at me in the open. Besides, Mera was capable of Physical Enhancement technique, she should be fine.

“Now then you two, make sure to act quickly at the first sign of any danger or trouble. Protect the family member you are assigned to protect.”

“I’m still worried about you, though.”

“It’s alright, my knight. A group of nobodies can’t do me in.”

He frowned deeply, apparently hesitant. But not like he had a choice. “... Very well. Don’t die, alright? Your family’s going to kill me if I abandoned you in times of danger.”

I smiled. “You exaggerate.”

“Princess, if something is going to happen, shouldn’t you suggest more security in the palace?” asked Vernon.

“I don’t want to give the suggestion that we know something. I want to keep it normal.”

“When you mentioned the King going to a monster hunt,” said Rogan. “Wouldn’t that mean he would take some knights from the palace?”

“If we get reduced to half of what we currently have, it should be fine. But Father wouldn’t likely take all of it. We have other places to get knights from.”

He wouldn’t strip all of our security when the Empire’s people were here. There should be other knights all over the city, not just sent to the secret operation. He could get more arms from them.

“Understood.”

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. “There’s another I would like you to do for today, Sir Rogan.”

“Sure. What?”

“There’s something I want you to tell Sir Elson tonight. He will likely also be coming to the hunt, right?”

“Yes… Likely.”

“Just in case, make sure he joins. Then, tell him to protect my father, the King…”

“... I see. Of course, I’ll tell him.”

“Make sure he—” the knocks on the door interrupted me.

No one should be able to hear us on the other side, we weren’t talking loudly or anything. Plus, rooms like mine were not easy to eavesdrop. So we should be fine.

I gestured for Vernon to open it. Turned out, it was the younger Imperial Prince, Cilas. In his hand was my book that I let him borrow.

“Good morning, Princess. I hope I didn’t disturb you.”

I forced a smile. “Not at all, Prince Cilas. Have you come to return the book? Oh, please come in.”

“Thanks.” He stepped inside. “Yes, I came to return it.”

Ugh, I’m not really not in the mood to work on these guys right now. But he’s already here, so there’s no avoiding this. Stop your procrastinations everybody! It ain’t gonna get the job done. Yeah, I’m mainly saying that to myself. Dammit.

I rose from my seat and walked towards him to receive my book. With a happy nod, I asked him a question.

“Did you like it?”

“I loved it. I can see why it’s one of your favorites.”

It was true, it was one of my recent favorites. I couldn’t just make some bullshit that I loved one thing. Some truth is fine in a deception. It makes it more genuine. Ironic.

“See? It is amazing. What do you think of the main protagonist?”

“He’s amazing. And very heroic. His struggles during his journey were so meaningful.”

“Indeed. It’s so emotional. And every time he meets new people and goes, it makes me so emotional.”

That’s bullshit on my side, of course. I didn’t really cry, just found it fascinating. But it’s still a good story. Oh, so not entirely bullshit, but hyperbolic.

“Indeed, it is. I liked the archer he met halfway. She’s so kind.”

“Really? I suppose she was a great character.” I urged him to sit down with me, and we sat down on the same couch. Heh, Aliscuck would be steaming right now if he saw this. “What do you think of the ending?”

“At least it was a good ending. I would dread an ending where he dies.”

“I agree.” Fuck them bad and sad, and heroic sacrifice endings.

“I like these kinds of stories.”

“Me too.”

Would also be nice to read a story where a girl gets suddenly transferred into the body of an incredibly beautiful princess. Where she needs to act to be all innocent and pure. Yeah, that would be cool. Hehehehe.

Oh! And where she gets to be a goddess! Where she becomes the strongest in the whole world. Where she destroys everything in her way! Yeah! Awesome.

Alright, that’s enough jokes for now…

In the passing moments, we talked about parts of the book we liked. Until, eventually, when the topic died down, I asked him something I was curious about.

“Say, where is Prince Alistor right now?”

He paused for a moment. “... Why do you want to know?”

“I’m just curious.”

“Well… I don’t really know. But I heard he’s going around the place.”

“I see. So I guess the best option is for me to stay here for the time being…” I smiled slightly, but subtly indicating that there was something else going on.

“Stay here? Why? What happened?”

“... Nothing…” I placed a hand on my arm, while the other on my knee. “J-Just avoiding him, that’s all.”

He closely observed my subtle actions.

“Why? Did he do something?”

I forced a smile. “Nothing you have to be troubled about, Prince Cilas.”

He narrowed his eyes a little. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“... If you say so.”

“... How about I show you more books? I have a couple more I can recommend.”

“Mm.”

The power of suggestion is often a frightening thing.