The Princess in the Chicken Coop - Chapter 1.10
The blue sky, those pure white wings spread straight toward it, and even the echoing shout beyond.
Lenok heaved a deep sigh.
“…You didn’t hear it.”
Return on her own?
He was certain. No matter what happened, she would never return voluntarily.
“What did the princess say?”
“Ah, as she soared into the sky, she shouted with all her might. She told me to keep my nonsense in check.”
Owell doubted his ears. However, there wasn’t a trace of playfulness in Lenok’s empty laugh.
He shrugged and continued.
“They said she was the only heir to the Kingdom of Syenn, but it seems she’s not just a delicately raised princess.”
At Lenok’s mumbling words, Owell finally guessed at the conversation that had passed between them and pressed his forehead.
“Your Majesty, she is the heir to the Kingdom of Syenn.”
“I thought it was just symbolic.”
“Do you know how many books on kingship were in the princess’s palace?”
“…I didn’t.”
“No wonder she ran away when you offered to recognize the Kingdom of Syenn as a completely independent nation without any conditions.”
Lenok quietly listened to the bitter words. He admitted his mistake by banging his forehead on the desk.
Despite years of learning not to judge by appearances, he was still lacking. He had underestimated her just because she had changed from human to chicken.
Watching him silently, Owell swallowed a sigh and brought up a hypothesis that might lift the emperor’s mood.
“Of course, this is all assuming that chicken is really Princess Soria.”
Owell continued.
“I was going to tell you slowly, but given how things have turned out, now might be the most appropriate time. Your Majesty, are you certain that chicken is really Princess Soria?”
Lenok slightly raised his head.
He looked at his old friend with eyes full of doubt.
He thought it might be a joke. But seeing Owell’s completely serious expression, Lenok frowned and urged him to continue.
“What do you mean?”
“When she stepped forward, the thorny vines stopped attacking. Your Majesty, isn’t that known to be the work of the magician who cursed the Kingdom of Syenn? Think about it. The magician created both the curse and the thorny vines to imprison her in the palace. Then today, why did those vines make way for the princess?”
“So you’re saying that chicken might be the one who cast the curse? Are you suggesting they’re impersonating Princess Soria?”
“We shouldn’t completely rule out the possibility.”
“Trapped in their own curse? For over a hundred years?”
“Your Majesty, magic sometimes produces results different from what the caster intended. Besides, apart from her word, there’s no evidence that chicken is Princess Soria.”
Owell was right. Even trying to judge by appearance, all one could see were white feathers, so how could anyone know who was inside?
“This is maddening.”
Lenok swallowed a groan.
One more thing to think about.
Clicking his tongue, Lenok lifted himself from the desk he had been practically melded to.
No matter how many hypotheses they made about Soria, they couldn’t solve anything right now. The main person in question had run away. More urgent were the nobles.
‘Their patience must be reaching its limit.’
Lenok put on his outer coat hanging on the wall.
“Anyway, that’s not what’s important right now. Owell, go and catch just one white chicken immediately.”
“…Your Majesty, are you serious?”
Owell worriedly asked his lord, who seemed to have made some firm resolution.
No matter how similar they might look on the outside, there was a world of difference between a chicken with a person inside and one without.
How well could Lenok possibly control a completely normal chicken?
Guessing that future wouldn’t be very bright, Owell continued.
“Perhaps we should send the nobles home today and…”
“Owell.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Half a year’s budget, and an emperor without even an empress, let alone an heir, personally set out. I know you understand how grave this matter is. Yet can you tell them to just go home for now?”
Lenok looked at his old friend who lowered his head with a shadowed expression, then smiled wryly. He had pushed quite hard, even though it wasn’t his fault.
He patted Owell’s shoulder and said.
If you understand, hurry and get me one white chicken.
***
At that moment.
The white chicken at the center of all this chaos, Soria, was busy calming her pounding heart while hiding in the bushes.
‘There’s a limit to treating people like fools, offering to recognize a land sitting right in the middle of imperial territory as an independent nation without any compensation? Who would believe that?’
She vented her unsubsided anger by pecking at the grass that tickled her nose.
While she didn’t know how the Crotia Empire operated, at least in the Kingdom of Syenn, women could inherit the throne.
Children were so rare in the royal family that Soria had been marked as the next queen from birth and had learned everything befitting that position.
This background was what allowed her to immediately recognize how unrealistic Lenok’s words were.
‘People should have some sense of shame.’
Thinking he was truly an emperor she couldn’t associate with, she shuddered all over.
Escaping was all well and good. The problem was that she knew absolutely nothing about the Crotia Imperial Palace.
Through gaps in the bushes, she observed the people bustling about.
‘Servants, knights, knights, nobles, nobles…’
But she was looking for specific people. Knights wearing emblems with golden hawks. The ones who had escorted the emperor to Syenn Palace.
It wasn’t particularly appealing, but without proper clues, she had no choice but to cling to the words of the magician who had cursed her.
‘With no heroes or warriors around, what else can I do? I’ll have to try my luck with these somewhat similar knights.’
Her current plan was utterly simple.
Try to kiss each of the knights who had participated in the journey!
It wasn’t exactly a great plan, but it was the only thing she could do right now. Her golden eyes, which had been darting left and right busily, suddenly stopped at one spot.
‘A hawk!’
She rose happily from her spot. Her steps were hurried as she followed the knight, hiding her body between the rows of low boxwood hedges.
Occasionally, young nobles admiring the garden would tilt their heads at the yellow feet protruding from between the trees, but fortunately, the knight Soria was tailing didn’t notice even that much.
Following closely behind the knight like this, Soria stopped at the sight of the magnificent building before her.
One flag seemed to be that of the Crotia Empire, and another had a golden hawk and sword. Soria’s eyes sparkled at the two flags hanging crossed.
‘The knights’ building!’
A smile spread across Soria’s face as she found her target.
