"D-Damn it!"
Lucrezia's cheeks flushed a bright red, as if only now realizing how shameful her movements had been.
She jerked away as if she had been burned, stammering out an excuse: "I—I only did that for my own safety! I was afraid there might be bad people in the middle of the night! D-Don't get the wrong idea! You small fry!"
"Don't move."
Leo's palm suddenly tightened, gripping her slender wrist to stop her from squirming.
"It’s good that you have that kind of awareness. It’s worth commending."
Ignoring the girl's embarrassment and struggle, he closed his eyes.
A faint thread of mana, carrying a scorching dragonic pressure, flowed from the point of contact into Leo's parched mana source like a trickling stream.
After drawing enough mana to set up a warning spell, Leo used his other hand to trace patterns rapidly in the air.
Several nearly invisible 【Mana Threads】 covered the doors and windows silently like a spiderweb.
"Get some rest. We have a lot to do tomorrow," Leo said in a flat tone while he worked. "This place is a melting pot of all sorts of people, and it doesn't seem very peaceful. We need to leave as soon as possible."
The setup was complete.
"There."
Leo suddenly let go of her hand.
Lucrezia had been pulling back with all her might to resist him; with the resistance suddenly gone, she was caught completely off guard.
"Eh?!"
She lost her balance instantly, letting out a cry as she fell straight backward.
Thud!
A dull sound echoed.
Her small head hit the hard wooden bed frame with a solid crack. The mat, thin as paper, offered no cushioning whatsoever.
"Ugh..."
The sudden, sharp pain, mixed with all the grievances, embarrassment, and fear of the night—not to mention her limping, injured foot...
In that moment, it was the straw that broke the camel's back, completely shattering the displaced princess's fragile psychological defenses.
Lucrezia's ruby-red eyes instantly filled with moisture. She clutched the back of her head, her mouth trembling.
Little pearly tears began to fall, pit-a-pat.
"Waaaaah! You’re a bully! Waaaaah..."
She began to sob uncontrollably, as if letting out every bit of suffering she had endured over the past few days.
"Tch!"
This was what Leo feared most.
A crying woman was trouble. A crying princess was even more trouble.
He scratched his hair in frustration, scanned the room, and finally rested his eyes on his personal coin purse.
He skillfully fished out two copper coins and flicked them with his thumb.
Clink.
The two copper coins traced a graceful arc through the air, landing precisely in front of Lucrezia and making a crisp, pleasant sound against the wooden bed.
"Stop crying and go to sleep. I'll buy you sweets tomorrow."
That crisp sound caused Lucrezia’s wailing, which was about to reach a crescendo, to stop abruptly.
Her eyes, still wet with tears, locked onto the two copper coins with startling dynamic vision.
In the next second, she reached out with lightning speed, snatching the two copper coins and clutching them tightly in her palm, terrified that Leo might change his mind.
She sniffled, wiped her tears with the back of her hand, and rubbed the back of her head, which still hurt a little.
"Hmph!"
With a heavy nasal tone, she tried to reclaim some dignity. "F-For the sake of these two copper coins... I shall reluctantly forgive you!"
She carefully tucked the copper coins into her small pocket and added fiercely, "But... it still hurt a lot! If you do this again... it won't be settled for just two copper coins! At least... at least five!"
Leo rolled over, turning his back to her, his lips twitching involuntarily.
Perhaps because the journey of the past few days had been so exhausting, the two of them slept until the sun was high in the sky.
When Leo opened his eyes, harsh sunlight was already streaming through the cracks in the window, cutting bright pillars of light through the dusty air.
Did they dissipate by morning?
He sat up and sensed the threads on the door and window, which had long since lost their mana reaction.
I’ll have to inject a bit more next time...
After the two had finished washing up, they went downstairs for a simple meal that was somewhere between breakfast and lunch, then stepped out onto the still-crowded and noisy streets.
At a tobacco stall on a street corner, Leo spent 5 copper coins to buy the latest newspaper published by the Adventurer's Guild.
The two found a quiet corner against a wall and spread out the rough paper, which still smelled strongly of fresh ink.
"Extra! Extra! The rising palace-rank adventurer, 'Son of the Wind' Alena! The embodiment of beauty and strength, rumored to be involved with... the Branch Manager?"
Leo automatically skipped over these sensationalist gossip pieces, his gaze falling on the headline that took up nearly half the page in bold, black letters.
【Shocking! Sylvania Kingdom Completely Destroyed! Holy Light Church Declares Responsibility!】
【The Church claims: The Sylvania royal family colluded with the 'Ever-Devouring Abyss' in an attempt to subvert the world! All royal family members have been executed!】
Beneath this startling headline was an extremely blurry black-and-white magic print illustration.
It showed a charred wasteland of ruins where several "corpses," burned beyond recognition, lay twisted and gruesome.
Standing beside the "corpses" were several Inquisitors in white Church robes, holding scepters with solemn expressions.
Next to the illustration was a small line of text, specifically identifying one small "corpse"—
"Confirmed: This is the last princess, Lucrezia Sylvania."
"What!?"
Lucrezia snatched the newspaper away, her ruby eyes staring fixedly at that small line of text and the charred "corpse." Her fingers were trembling.
"I... I'm actually dead?!"
She touched her own face, then looked at the newspaper again, her face a mask of disbelief.
"Ho!? Now this is interesting."
Leo leaned in, carefully examining the blurry illustration, then turned to look at the very much alive Lucrezia beside him. He stroked his chin, his tone teasing.
"Are you sure... you’re actually that princess?"
He pointed at the picture. "Looking at the degree of charring... though it's a bit blurry, that flat chest... it really does look like you. Maybe it really is you?"
"How dare you doubt me! And who are you calling flat!"
Lucrezia's fur stood on end instantly, like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on. She glared at him fiercely, looking ready to pounce and bite.
But then, she calmed down, staring at the newspaper and falling into thought.
"Hmph!"
She suddenly let out a soft snort and crossed her arms, putting on a smug expression as if everything was under control.
"Actually, this is good! Since they published a newspaper saying I’m dead, then let them think I’m dead! This way, no one will come hunting a dead person. It saves me from worrying every day."
"Naive."
Leo’s brow furrowed suddenly. He snatched the newspaper back from Lucrezia, his expression becoming incredibly grave.
"This is actually much worse."
"Why?" Lucrezia asked, puzzled.
"Moving from the light into the shadows."
Leo lowered his voice, his eyes scanning the surrounding crowd as he analyzed the situation rapidly. "If they were just putting a bounty on you, it would mean they still cared about appearances. But now they’ve declared you dead and slapped an 'Abyss collaborator' label on you."
"This means what they want is far more than we imagined. They will never allow a 'dead remnant of the Abyss' to actually walk this world."
"From now on, they will only invest more power to search for you in the shadows at any cost, and then make sure you... truly become that corpse."
Leo crumpled the newspaper into a ball and tossed it into the gutter by the road, his eyes cold.
"To cover up the truth, they might even kill everyone who has ever seen you. We’re in trouble."
Lucrezia's smugness froze on her face, which turned pale.
"Then... then what do we do?"
"We deal with it!" Leo said succinctly.
"However," he looked around, "they won't be able to influence a border town like this in the short term. We must get money as soon as possible and head to that Floating City you mentioned. As long as I solve the problem with my own body, a mere Church is nothing to worry about!"
He grabbed her small, trembling wrist and pulled her into the crowd.
"Come on, let's go get some money first."
To avoid being recognized, they first went to a general store and spent a silver coin on two cheap, coarse cloth cloaks that could cover their entire bodies.
Dressed in these, they followed the information they had gathered at the tavern and headed toward the only pawnshop in town.
Rate on N.U.
