The Princess in the Chicken Coop - Chapter 1.11
***
The reason Lenok hadn’t found her until then was simple.
Even an emperor had a limited number of people he could deploy secretly. When the order was to catch one white chicken completely intact, that number became even smaller.
So while they were thoroughly searching the chicken coops, walls, and imperial kitchen, Soria was able to circle the knights’ building exterior without much difficulty.
While infiltrating the Crotia Imperial Palace might be difficult, getting into the knights’ building wasn’t particularly challenging. The first-floor windows were wide open for ventilation, and the sill wasn’t too high, so Soria could easily slip inside when the corridor was empty.
‘It’s huge.’
Soria couldn’t help but marvel at the corridor width that could easily accommodate four grown men walking side by side. Her small steps crossed the corridor quickly.
‘All marble and all the windows are glass? Is there royalty here or something?’
She advanced carefully while surveying her surroundings. The large planters and suits of armor placed between the corridors provided her cover.
It took Soria only half a day to familiarize herself with the knights’ building’s interior. Not only that, but she also found the perfect place to hide herself.
It was the beginning of a counterattack – an infiltration no one had expected.
***
Three days after Soria’s escape.
Strange rumors began circulating in the Hawk Knights, who guarded the emperor most closely.
“Did you hear that rumor? You know, quite a few knights have been targeted.”
“May told me. Someone pulls at their lips in the middle of the night and runs away? What kind of pervert would do such a thing?”
The maids would gather in small groups to whisper, then scatter pretending nothing happened when knights appeared. However, they couldn’t hide the fact that rumors were spreading.
An intruder in the Hawk Knights, widely known as the most skilled among the imperial knight orders? It might have been easier to explain if they’d found daggers at their bedsides. After all, there wasn’t a single knight in the Hawk Knights so careless they wouldn’t react to killing intent, even when deep in sleep.
But pulling at lips and running away? Despite more than ten people being targeted, no one had seen the culprit’s face.
At least it wasn’t aimed at the knights’ lives. However, the situation was reaching its limit, with the knight order being thrown into chaos every dawn by bizarre screams.
If it were an enemy infiltration, they could at least strengthen security, but the higher-ups kept insisting it must be insect bites.
Because of this, both the targeted knights and those not yet targeted could only grit their teeth while blushing.
Despite everyone trying to keep it quiet, it didn’t take long for these strange rumors to reach Lenok’s ears.
“…Princess Soria.”
“It seems so. All the targeted knights participated in the Syenn Palace operation, so she must be placing her hopes in them.”
While Owell looked somewhat disgruntled, Lenok was different. He shook his head with a grieved expression.
“No, forget about that – pulling at lips and running away? How did kissing become so distorted? Where did the beautiful fairy tale go?”
“Well, she is a chicken, after all.”
Lenok’s expression soured at Owell’s refreshingly straightforward answer.
Chicken. That word had been practically taboo for Lenok these past few days. What had he been forced to do because Soria disappeared?
He recalled the days he had to pretend that a completely ordinary chicken he gripped with all his might was the princess.
“A chicken…”
Lenok had been through all sorts of experiences. However, never had cold sweat drenched his back quite like when he had to proclaim that a squawking chicken in his hands was the princess of the Kingdom of Syenn.
Lenok ground his teeth and kicked his chair.
“Owell, we need to set a trap.”
“…Pardon?”
Owell swallowed the ‘is that necessary’ that almost escaped his lips. Lenok’s flashing eyes warned that one more word would not be tolerated.
“…I’ll make the preparations.”
He quietly expressed his condolences to the chicken who might be Princess Soria, or possibly the magician.
At that moment, Soria wasn’t having an easy time either.
She stared blankly at the sky to hide her anxiety. She used to pass time like this in the palace too. However, there was a vast difference between passing time with nothing to do and having an urgent task at hand. A seriously vast difference.
“It’s chaos! I heard the knights will now stand guard even inside their rooms starting today.”
“My goodness. And they won’t even get extra pay for it?”
“Pay isn’t the issue. Haven’t you heard the rumors are spreading to other knight orders too? They’re saying the Hawk Knights’ prestige might fall at this rate.”
“Oh my! What’s going on? This is serious indeed. At this rate, becoming a laughingstock is just a matter of time.”
The maids who had been chattering non-stop rushed out to find their work when the bell rang.
Having heard all this, Soria swallowed a sigh.
[Sigh.]
Though she was barely hanging on, she could clearly see she was reaching her limit. She rose from her spot, feeling anxious.
“Cluck!”
Her small eyes widened at the cry that involuntarily escaped her beak. Her yellow eyes quickly scanned the surroundings. Through the gaps in the roughly woven basket, she could see scattered laundry and tightly closed doors.
Soria checked several times to make sure no one was around. After confirming, she let out a relieved sigh and shook off the cloth covering her head.
This was how Soria had managed to hide in the Hawk Knights’ building for days without being discovered.
She had hidden in a place with little human traffic. A room where dirty clothes were piled up, where laundry passed through. That was the hiding place Soria had chosen.
She grumbled that somehow the knights’ sweat seemed to be seeping into her feathers as she took flight.
Flutter─.
‘Surely the Emperor of Crotia isn’t really the hero who can break the curse.’
She who had used the laundry as a stepping stone to fly high, landed in perfect form. Though there was no one to see, if scored, it would definitely have earned a perfect 10 out of 10.
After meticulously arranging her protruding feathers, Soria hopped onto the windowsill leading to the backyard. The sunset sky was incomparably clearer than when viewed from hiding in the basket.
The sun was setting and another opportunity was approaching, but she was rotting inside.
‘Sigh… If it really is the emperor, things will get complicated.’
Soria’s expression grew more serious. Even sneaking into the knights’ building had been quite an adventure for her. But if the emperor was the one who could break the curse, things would become really serious.
Soria swallowed a sigh and lifted her head to stare at the ceiling.
‘The emperor… How could I sneak into the emperor’s chambers?’
Compared to the knights’ building, it was nearly impossible. But she couldn’t give up after coming this far. Soria stretched her body while making a firm resolution.
‘First, check all the knights completely, and if the curse isn’t broken, then, then I’ll figure something out. Right now, the knights come first. You can do it, Soria! You can do it!!’
With a determined expression, she nodded firmly, then immediately pushed the window open with her whole body and jumped outside. It was a straight line of about a hundred meters to the dormitory windows. The white chicken dashed through the grass.
