Weeping Men: The Innocent Princess's Secret Delight - Chapter 2.16
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Meanwhile, Judith rummaged through the belt pouch at her waist. Though it would normally be used for ammunition or a dagger, what came out was a hand mirror.
Neither Kaizen, who didn’t expect much performance from Judith, nor Judith, who never intended to take it seriously in the first place, cared about using the bag for its original purpose.
Judith puckered her lips as if checking her makeup in the mirror. But the mirror was tilted towards the sky, unlike for makeup.
Kaizen instinctively lowered his head to check the forest reflected in the mirror. In an instant, his gaze focused on one point. His aura changed sharply, like a single sword.
Feeling this, Judith smiled slightly.
‘Now that I’ve shown you, shall we get to work?’
“Your Highness. I think you should step out of the forest for a moment.”
Kaizen spoke straightforwardly, without the tact to make up an excuse.
‘If you just leave abruptly like that, anyone would realize you’ve noticed them and not follow.’
Is he surprised? He can’t think through the small details. Judith quickly attached a pretext on his behalf.
“You mean it’s time for tea? Thank you for remembering that my favorite tea is being served at the Marchioness’s table.”
“? …Yes.”
Kaizen blinked like a cow and played along without understanding. Judith chuckled and snuggled deeper into his arms.
“I’ve walked too much and don’t want to walk on my own feet anymore. You carry me.”
Even in urgent situations, one should enjoy what can be enjoyed. Judith was the type to thoroughly secure her own benefits.
The assassin, who had been lost in his vulgar fantasies, was startled back to his senses when Kaizen suddenly picked up the woman and started moving quickly.
‘Why are they suddenly going for tea in the middle of hunting!’
Having not yet achieved his goal, he had no choice but to follow them, even knowing they were heading towards the edge of the forest.
‘I waited too long for the right timing!’
Once they left the forest, there would be no cover, greatly increasing the chances of the plan failing. It would also disrupt his companions’ plan to attack using the dogs.
He considered taking a shot even now, checking the timing several times, but acting hastily would be worse than not acting at all. He repeatedly drew and resheathed his flying knife.
To make matters worse, Kaizen deliberately ran through clearings with no nearby trees. When he tried to detour to find branches to move to, their figures quickly disappeared from sight.
“…Where did you go, you bastard!”
Even after coming down and looking around on flat ground, not even a shadow was visible. They had gone too far to trace their presence.
The assassin, who had been searching for the two, was about to return to his companions, spewing curses, unable to leave the forest.
“Are you looking for me?”
A sword was pressed against his neck. His limbs stiffened with killing intent, barely able to turn his head.
Beastlike black eyes were glaring at him from close range.
‘There was no presence at all, when did he…!’
Could it be that he knew everything from the start and just pretended not to? Was he toying with us, waiting to catch us off guard?
He raised both arms and trembled slightly.
***
“What on earth is going on… Do you know anything, Your Highness?”
Although Marchioness Lee is strong-hearted enough to hold a tea party in the hunting competition tent, she seems scared and confused by the current situation. Judith put down her teacup and replied nonchalantly.
“Well. To borrow the words of our Sir Kaizen—.”
“……”
“It’s become a human hunt rather than an animal hunt, perhaps?”
At these terrifying words, the faces of the young ladies seated around turned ashen. They wanted to laugh it off as a joke, but
“There they are! Drag them out!”
The chaos visible through the open tent flap behind the Imperial Princess proved that expression to be true, so they couldn’t even do that.
“We’ve captured Northern remnants who were trying to assassinate the Imperial family from the forest.”
With this single statement, Kaizen reported to the Emperor, the competition was suspended.
The dispatched Imperial Knights scattered throughout the forest, rooting out hidden Northerners one by one. Where animal carcasses should have been placed, people were now kneeling, bound.
The dogs they had brought were muzzled and moved elsewhere. Judging by their sharp teeth and claws, it was clear they had intended to release the dogs to attack.
Judith glanced sideways at Froyzen.
“Search thoroughly and find clues about the mastermind.”
“Yes!”
He was even mobilizing his family’s knights to conduct body searches.
‘To volunteer to find evidence that would implicate himself. He must be quite confident he won’t be caught.’
Pretending to sip her tea, she clicked her tongue.
She had expected that while catching the remnants wouldn’t be difficult, finding the mastermind wouldn’t be easy, but it was unsatisfying to see her prediction come true so accurately.
It was almost certain that Froyzen was behind this. Given that the means of attack were hunting dogs, it seems the target was indeed Kaizen, not Judith.
Someone who knows that dogs are Kaizen’s weakness and simultaneously wants to remove Kaizen from her side.
‘If it’s not Froyzen, who else could it be?’
But as mentioned, without evidence, she couldn’t accuse him.
Just in case he might show any suspicious circumstances or behavior, she was secretly focusing on him when.
“You bastard…!”
One of the captured Northern attackers, trudging along, saw Froyzen and drew a knife, grinding his teeth. It was a small dagger that hadn’t been confiscated during the suppression.
“Young Duke!”
Despite the knights’ cries, Froyzen calmly watched the charging Northerner,
Thwack! Squelch—!
He swiftly subdued the situation. He struck the wrist to make him drop the dagger, grabbed the shoulder to turn the opponent’s back towards him, and then…
He drew the sword at his waist and thrust it in. The blade penetrated the body, piercing through the solar plexus.
“Guhk…!”
The opponent coughed up blood without even being able to scream. That became his last action in life.
The sword was pulled out without a moment’s hesitation. He spurted blood like a fountain and fell forward, dead.
“Kyaaah!”
The tea table became a scene of pandemonium. The young ladies, terrified by the sudden murder before their eyes, threw their teacups and fled.
Amidst the situation where tea was spilled and desserts scattered everywhere, only Judith didn’t stand up. She stared at Froyzen, frozen stiff.
He swung his sword to shake off the blood. He looked so nonchalant that it was even more threatening. Even the surrounding knights were frozen stiff.
He calmly walked towards the Emperor.
“I apologize for the unsightly scene. Fearing that the Sun of the Empire might get caught up in a ruffian’s blade-wielding, I used harsh measures.”
It was a clean apology. The Emperor, who belatedly came to his senses, seemed rather satisfied.
“The Young Duke has protected Us.”
Because of Froyzen’s words, he misunderstood the situation, thinking that the Northerner’s blade had almost been swung towards him.
Others similarly had their remaining impressions subtly manipulated, accepting Froyzen’s actions.
“Ugh…”
The Northerners trembled with anger. Some lowered their heads, trying not to look at the corpse of their fallen comrade.
Froyzen, about to resume the body search, suddenly met Judith’s gaze.
“Oh my.”
He smiled sweetly. The moment that smile was directed at her, Judith felt as if a spider was crawling on top of her head.
He approached with large strides, grabbed the tent’s door part, and spoke in a coaxing tone.
“This is not a sight suitable for Your Highness to see.”
Then the door closed. In the tent where not a single ray of light entered, Judith continued to stare at where Froyzen had been standing.
