The Princess in the Chicken Coop - Chapter 1.2
“Was I deceived after all? Damn it. What did the sacrificed knights die for……”
[How insolent!]
The voice that interrupted Renok’s lament came from below.
More precisely, from the chicken that had puffed itself up as much as possible.
[O warrior who has made it here through the tall thorny vines, how dare you not reveal your identity!]
Renok’s red eyes widened.
“The chicken……”
“Your Majesty!! How could you go ahead alone! We don’t know what dangers might……”
Renok looked at his knight who had burst through the door. Then his head moved heavily back towards the chicken.
Knight.
Chicken.
Knight.
Chicken.
With a pale face, he said to his knight.
“Sir Paul. Give me your sword.”
“Pardon?”
“There’s a cursed chicken. I must cut off its head and offer it to the Goddess.”
“……Pardon?”
“Didn’t I say there’s a cursed chicken! Quickly, give me that sword─.”
Soria, who had been quietly listening to those words, fluttered up. Even her long, long patience had reached its limit.
Soria kicked off the bed and perched on the round rod that held the canopy. Then she looked down at the two astonished men.
Her bright yellow eyes were now filled with anger. It had been 147 years since she believed that a hero would appear and save her, as the magician had said.
She had never seriously believed it, but at least she had believed it just now. She was even surprised that the damned magician hadn’t lied after all.
But now!
As her momentary hope crumbled, her anger rose beyond imagination.
She gritted her beak. It was such fierce anger that all the years she had endured dreaming of the revival of the Kingdom of Syenn now seemed useless.
[How insolent! To behave so rudely towards me, the sole heir of the Kingdom of Syenn!!]
Along with the resounding voice, snow-white wings spread out.
Flutter─.
A couple of white feathers floated down following the flapping of wings.
She stretched one foot forward and exclaimed in a voice full of dignity.
[You shall be punished for your crimes!!]
Renok, looking at her, thought.
‘The chicken has gone mad.’
A talking chicken… well, fine, let’s say it’s a cursed chicken and leave it at that. It would have been over if he had just cleanly cut off its head and offered it to the Goddess Laela’s temple. But if that chicken suddenly flaps its wings, kicks off the cushion it was buried in, and flies up to the canopy, that’s a different story.
Lenok, frozen by the chicken’s sudden outcry, immediately drew the sword from his knight’s waist.
He never thought he would regret so much having sheathed his sword on the way to fetch a princess of a fallen country.
He gripped the sword firmly and strode forward. His crimson eyes settled heavily. One strike. That’s all it would take to behead the chicken.
Just as he thought that.
Drip, drip, swoosh─.
“What in the world……”
[To fail again! That damned magician…!]
He quietly thought to himself as the light rain dampened his hair.
To hell with princesses and everything else.
***
The Muo Continent.
For hundreds of years, numerous countries had repeatedly conquered and disappeared from the continent. However, the Kingdom of Syenn was special among them, because it was truly ambiguous whether it had fallen or not.
In the historical records of the Muo Continent, which were said to have recorded all dynasties that existed on the continent, the Kingdom of Syenn was described like this:
A country that reached its peak about 200 years ago, small in size but situated along the largest river in the Muo Continent. A prosperous place with fertile territory and an easy location to expand in all directions, where both agriculture and commerce flourished.
The continental historical records highly praised the Kingdom of Syenn, saying that although it didn’t become a great power, it achieved the miracle of feeding all its people well. It was an assessment close to the truth.
The Kingdom of Syenn was peaceful, and since royal bloodlines were rare, there wasn’t even a single struggle for the throne, which was common elsewhere.
However, the peacefulness of the Kingdom of Syenn rushed downhill at an unexpected moment…
[Yes! I am Syenn Brianne V. Soria.]
“Hey, Owell. Didn’t you say she was a sleeping princess?” It was precisely the curse of a corrupted magician. Because of that curse, the Kingdom of Syenn transformed into a land where no one could live, but at the same time, it was not conquered by anyone.
Even when large thorny vines covered the borders, preventing anyone from approaching, rumors endlessly circulated that a princess was sleeping somewhere in the castle, so the dynasty hadn’t been cut off.
Therefore, it would be more accurate to say that the Kingdom of Syenn had its functions as a kingdom suspended rather than saying it had fallen.
Just like the princess who was said to have been sleeping alone for over 100 years in a palace that no one visited.
However, as the saying goes, rumors can’t be trusted and half of old stories are made up, half of what was said about Soria was also false.
“Owell Diorwell!”
Lenok kicked the shin of his friend and imperial magician, who was slightly averting his gaze.
At his action, dozens of knights turned their eyes away as if by agreement. Their quick aversion of gazes was imbued with the will to not see any actions that could become the emperor’s shame in the first place. And Soria, standing at the center of all this commotion, couldn’t believe her eyes.
The moment Lenok kicked Owell’s shin, she fluttered with all her might and fled onto the bed. Even so, she was still within arm’s reach.
Lenok looked at her with an astonished expression, but what could he do?
‘Goodness! That’s supposed to be an emperor?’
No matter how she looked at him, he was a man devoid of dignity.
Soria was shocked by the fact that such a man was the emperor of a vast empire. However, Lenok had no intention of waiting for her to come to her senses.
“Sigh, alright. It doesn’t matter. Whether it’s a sleeping princess or a chicken, what’s important is that a princess with the blood of the Syenn dynasty is here right now.”
Lenok’s gaze turned to Soria.
He looked at the flinching white chicken with mixed feelings.
The red comb, yellow eyes, a beak slightly paler than that, and plump flesh covered with snow-white feathers, as if it had been not only well-fed but even given treats. No matter how he looked at it, she didn’t seem like a kingdom’s princess at all.
Where in that appearance was there any sign of distress? It was easier to imagine her leisurely wandering around a grassy field, pecking at small insects.
Lenok tried to see the chicken as the princess in the portrait but soon gave up.
‘This is maddening.’
He muttered with a sigh.
“…Even if it’s a chicken.”
At his sigh-mixed muttering, Soria clenched her beak. It wasn’t wrong. She was a chicken. For over 100 years, no less.
Dejected, she lowered her gaze. She saw her feet, split into three toes, with sharply raised claws.
[…So what are you trying to say?]
“What?”
She raised her head that she had dropped.
One hundred and forty-seven years. Plus three days. That’s how long she had been under the curse, fallen. So she couldn’t miss this opportunity that had come so close, even if they sighed at her being a chicken.
