Vol 2 Chapter 1 (2/2)

“Your highness, are you feeling all right? Do you feel dizzy or

nauseated?”

“No I aht,” Leti calmly answered Duke’s worried

question

Leti, fortunately or unfortunately, was not delicate enough to

faint upon the sight and scent of blood She was rather busy

thinking about ould do such a thing and why

This was prepared beforehand and not that difficult to do Is this just a

si else…Leti pondered But sadly, she did not

have the time to think about it calmly The news about the

incident was already spreading out and people were starting to

gather around their tent Guido went out to disperse the people

and Friedhelm examined the lamp and the bird

“Take out the lamp and then the chair and carpet stained with

blood Leticia, don’t cos worse Not

until you’ve wiped the blood that can be seen”

The knights immediately followed Friedhelm’s orders and took

out the lamp, the bloodstained chair, and finally the carpet,

revealing the ground

- 30 -

“Wait a minute, this is…” murmured Friedhelm

Everyone inside the tent gasped because beneath the carpet

was a georound where Leti's chair

had been

“Oi! Someone call Leonhardt! Sir Scholar is familiar with this,

isn’t he? I knohat this is for, but I don’t know that much,” said

Friedhelm

The pattern draas a pentagram – a five-pointed star that

was a symbol of instability and unknown characters surrounded it

Anyone who saw it could conclude that it was a ic circle drawn

to curse soe Leti

burned into her mind

“‘I knoho you truly are’” Leti read the e out loud

This certainly refers to ht

King Leti sighed; foreseeing how much trouble this would be if it

were true As if on cue, Astrid came back with the tashcloths

“Your highness! I have returned with the cloth!”

“Thank you” Leti said and took the wet cloth first to wipe out

the drying blood on her face and hair but the blood on her dress

had stained already and would not be taken off with a normal

washi+ng

And one of ot ruined in the rain recently…aah,

this is the worst Leti decided to leave the rest to her two brothers

- 31 -

and the Knights of the Round If only she was aaway

the blood would be enough and she could continue investigating

the incident But no, she was a princess with a reputation to

protect It was during these types of situations that Leti found

being a princess inconvenient

“Duke, we are leaving”

“Wait” Guido called out He took off his coat and then

handed it to a surprised Leti Leti was suspicious of him so Guido

added a feords

“Put that on I can’t just let a lady stained with blood walk

around exposing herself”

“Thank you, but there is no need Today is cold But if you

insist on it, I shall take ht’s,” refused Leti

“Treat this ascare of Cornelia’s birthday

Thank you for doing that in place of Mother”

Leti had taken over the preparations for Cornelia’s – Guido’s

full younger sister – birthday in place of their mother who had

passed away

“Well then, I shall return it afterwards…and one ,

Bishop to G2”

“Got it”

- 32 -

After that Leti signalled to Duke with her eyes and went out of

the tent It had been a long time since Leti had received that kind

of brotherly treatment and she knew not how to react She was

conscious of the slight war in her brother’s jacket

Outside the tent, knights had already gathered around it,

curiously trying to find out what had happened inside Leti

thought that the person who pulled off the prank ht be around

so she carefully exa

the Sword of Gale Wind, she gathered the speaking voices around

her

The murmurs reached Leti's ears and she concentrated on

filtering out any useful information from the swarm of confused

and curious “what happened?”, “how ‘bout the tournament?” and

“looks like it’s cancelled”

The cri that does not fit into this current

situation, considered Leti

“…earlier than planned…”

Leti stopped walking upon hearing those words The utterance

was out of context She turned to identify the speaker but the

- 33 -

voice itself was already muffled and it was impossible to know to

whoed to

“Your highness?”

“…Let us talk as alk First, remember the people who are

here at this moment,” commanded Leti When they reached a

place with no people, she started explaining her thoughts to Duke

“I heard a whisper a while ago saying ‘earlier than planned’ I

wonder what happened earlier than planned”

“The tourna that

happened earlier than planned,” replied Duke

“I agree, I was thinking the sa Maybe the discovery of

that lantern was supposed to happen after the tournament”

The perpetrator probably did not expect blood to leak out of

the laht have planned to be discovered

when the training ground was being cleaned

“But if I were the one who did it, I’d prefer the blood to leak

out It’d beyou

were sitting in a cursed chair,” said Duke

“Yes, I see your point…” whispered Leti

So did they want to stop the tournaood I

a for a reason for the conclusion Leti, calm

down and think of it in the right order, Leti scolded herself

- 34 -

Leti immediately asked her maid to prepare a pen and some

papers as soon as they reached her roo

she had to ask Duke to do before he forgot

“Write dohat I requested of you a while ago”

Leti asked Duke to write the names of the people that were

around the scene Duke followed her order and started writing on

the paper

“…eh? In a sequence? No? …Are you…” murmured Leti

Duke’s hand smoothly wrote onto the paper the names of the

people in the area, but he was not writing it like a list He had used

so much paper that some fell down onto the floor

Leti thought he would be writing the names as he remembered

the when he

started drawing lines andthe paper with landmarks

“…Did you remember the people ere there and their

respective positions in that short span of time?”

“I learned how to due to the demands of the job I probably

overlooked someone so don’t trust this too much”

Duke wrote onto the paper the names of the people ere

there—knights ere helping out for the tournament,

honorary knights who participated in the battle, and the nobles

- 35 -

who came to watch, and these names ritten on where they

had stood at that moment He wrote landmarks like, where the

tents were to make it easier to visualize In other words, he

remembered not only who, but also where the people hen

Leti asked him to remember them

“This is certainly convenient It would be of great help if I can

have another one of you”

“Don’t ask for the impossible Anyway, does this mean the

people here are suspects?”

“Yes I am not sure what happened earlier than planned but it

will not hurt to consider this as one of the possibilities,” concluded

Leti

The criminal was still on the loose There were people in the

Royal Villa and guards were already stationed around it but Duke,

thinking of the worst possible scenario, said, “I’ll bring Astrid here

Don’t go wandering around anywhere until he has arrived”

“I understand Let us have hiht for a

while longer And oneDuke…”

Leti stopped Duke as already hurrying back to the

Order’s Camp to call Astrid

“I saw your

that you were number one or tithin the Order but I did not

believe it was true”

- 36 -

Astrid’s unbelievable strength somehow overshadowed Duke’s

strength but Duke was also strong enough to be included in the

saory Leti felt a little frustrated with herself for

underesti he

was until now

“As a knight, yes But if it’s a fight to the death with Astrid, it’ll

be my complete defeat”

Duke thought that even if he was strong as a knight, it would

be less if he could not protect his master when it came

down to a real fight But Leti thought otherwise

“I do not expect and will not ask that kind of strength from

you If I had to face Astrid, I can kill him instantly,” Leti said

plainly

“…You won’t tell me how even if I ask, will you?”

Duke did not dare step on Leti's secret He never forced her to

tell hi to

listen That was it for Duke

And you act so hed in her heart

Duke’s inferiority complex, in a as connected to his

desire to iet to him and

he would end up looking down on himself This would be bad for

both Leti and Duke so she decided to breach onto his complex

- 37 -

“Yes, I will not tell you But look, even if I can kill Astrid, I

cannot win in the tournaht You can That is your

value Next time I shall order you to win If you remember, I said I

do not have any intentions of de the impossible from you”

“True That is not impossible for me Then, I shall do as you

wish”

Leti, satisfied with Duke’s answer, finished the conversation,

but Duke gave her one final warning

“Don’t go anywhere until Astrid arrives”

“I cannot possibly go out even if I wanted to I still have to

wash e my clothes You do not have to worry

Now go”

Duke took his leave and hurried back to the Order’s Camp,

but on his way back, he glanced back at the Royal Villa where Leti

was

“…I feel like she has seen right through me,” whispered Duke

Leti did not give Duke an obvious compliment She did not

tell hireat She simply told him

that she would order him to win since she no he could do

it

Duke knew himself well He knew that if he received any

straight compliments, he would simply be embarrassed and put on

a cold face but what Leti did fit more to his personality – to

- 38 -

de that he could do This

would probably motivate him more

“This ability to make people dance to their rhythm is very

si’s blood?

damn it”

Friedhelm’s and Leti's mothers were different so this ability

was most likely from their father Duke felt defeated and

unconsciously uttered a sord

Leti immediately threay her bloodstained dress and

washed her hair and face with hot water and changed clothes

After that, the only thing left for her to do was to wait for the

report With nothing else to do, she sat in front of the chessboard

and moved the white bishop, and then stared seriously at the

board

“I am certain his next move will be this, so…” Leti murmured

as she tapped on the black rook when she felt a presence in her

room She looked at theand…

“Your highness! I’ve couard in place of Senpai!”

“Haven’t I told you not to enter through the ? Do that

again and I shall kick you out”

Astrid silently opened the lockedand went inside the

rooh the , it would

- 39 -

definitely cause unpleasant rumours to circulate around the castle

For Leti, it was still too early for her to take the first step in

beco the Heartbreaker Queen

“Any progress on the ic circle?” asked Leti

“None yet, your highness The Knights of the Round are

currently asking the knights who prepared the area,” reported

Astrid as he ju was

strange with Leti

“Hmmm?” Astrid curiously looked at Leti and went close to

her and the strangeness increased as he got closer Before he could

even think about the reason behind it, his body moved first He

bent down and brought his face near Leti's beautiful, golden locks

and breathed in its scent

The gesture Astrid did was so dog-like that even Leti forgot to

scold hi too close to her

“What’s this smell…?”

“Blood? But I already washed my hair Does it still smell?”

“No, it doesn’t smell like blood…it’s more like…a black

scent…” Astrid said He was feeling frustrated at finding the right

word to describe the strangeness he felt when, his gaze slowly

went down and

for his next words

- 40 -

Aaah…the colour of her highness’s eyes are so beautiful… Astrid

thought as he was drawn in by Leti's steel blue eyes reminiscent of

Sommevesle’s winter skies, he moved closer and …

“Ouch!”

“You rel!” cried Leti

Astrid’s head shook and firecrackers exploded in front of his

eyes He tightly held the back of his head, the spot where Leti

ht Sword

“This is why I am sick of men! You are too materialistic! Do

that again and I will pierce you with my twelve swords! Remember

that!” scolded Leti

“Huhuhu…Please forgive hness is so

beautiful and…but I’m serious!”

“No one is asking that! Shall I tell you what it means to be a

guard!? The guard is supposed to protect the master so it will be

uard attacked the master he was supposed to

protect!’

“Ah, that’s right!”

Leti thought of the nickname for Astrid she heard from Duke

and swore, this stupid naïve knight! She said to herself that her hot

cheeks were because of anger and not because she was blushi+ng

- 41 -

“Anyway, it is done and over Now go outside and guard there

Switch with Duke when he arrives,” ordered Leti

“…Is Duke-Senpai allowed inside your roohness?”

“Yes Duke is not a o” Leti said as she

pointed out the door for Astrid to go out

Astrid obediently said yes and went out of Leti's room

“Did I hness cautious of me? I’d better be careful

next time”

Now, back to work! Astrid switched back to work mode when he

finally reo

“It’s impurity!”

The Sword of White Light held purification abilities and that

responded to the impurities in Leti's hair She already washed out

the blood but the impurities were still there

“That suess

it’s fine but…will her highness allow me to touch her hair if I said I’ll purify

it? Probably not…not after what I tried to do Astrid sighed dejectedly

Later in the afternoon, just when Leti's anger towards Astrid’s

action had subsided, Leonhardt, as called to investigate the

ic circle, and Duke came to the Royal Villa

- 42 -

For reports like this, there was a proper order on how it

should be done The first person who should give the report was

the leader of the investigation, which in this case was Duke, a

knight fro the

investigation, but Leonhardt ignored this protocol and proceeded

to report the information to his older sister Leti

“First, the ic

circles drawn in some old book on curses”

Leonhardt handed a paper with an identical copy of the circle

to Leti She took a look and agreed that it was, obviously A star of

instability draith blood was so cliché that it lost the ability to

be scary at all

“There are still books about the lost arts of the past, books on

iously does

not guarantee it will give the desired effect I know, for I’ve been

trying these out day and night”

Leon believed that there would always be an occult belief that

would persist no

about the past as the Knight King’s reincarnation, had a different

opinion

In the past, there existed not a God but Gods and together with

theic, a

hout the lands But that

was then Magic and anything related to it had long since gone that

- 43 -

even the fact that it once existed was forgotten and the only traces

left were fairy tales, myths, and pointless superstitions

The source of ic, the Gods, had abandoned this world The final God

left wanted to be huht Leti

Huic from history but

there were still soet rid

of it completely

“Next is this one The characters written round the pentagram

is ‘Archaic hellas’, or e older than

archaic hellas, archaic hellas’ e And the person

rote this is most likely not familiar with it”

Leon pointed out one character written around the pentagram

“Take, for example, this word There should be a full stop in

writing this at the upper right section but the writer did not stop

and continued the stroke This shows that the person rote

this did not know it’ll be a different word if the stroke was

continuous and curved This is what happens when people simply

try to copy what they see”

Archaic hellas was a dead language with only the writing

systee was sometimes used in old

scriptures and a handful of scholars studied it to use for research

Leonhardt was one of them

- 44 -

“‘Severed from the Cycle of Life; forbidden to enter the

Kingdo

over this land for all eternity’ was probably what this would mean

if it ritten correctly It was probably a curse to make

soless due to the

incorrect strokes How unfortunate…ahahaha Anyway, I shall

confirain,” said

Leonhardt

“So the crihed,

feeling relieved that the criminal was from present time and not a

ghost energy ould definitely know archaic hellas for it

existed long ago in the past But there were still questions left

unanswered

I knoho you truly are

Leti thought this ht

King so the criminal was someone who knew her secret But how?

And as the reason behind the curse? Now that she was

certain the criy, the answers to these

questions became harder to find

“So to summarise, based on the current information, we can

say that the criminal is someone who has access to an old book

about ic and curses and is not familiar with archaic hellas

Hahaha…There’s too many who can fit this description Any noble

can enter and borrow a book frohts of

- 45 -

the Order and Scholars can as well as long as they have permission

or it can also be anyone working for a noble family and was sent

for an errand,” Leonhardt summed up

It was like saying everyone inside the castle grounds were

suspects It would be impossible to interview the suspects even if

every Knight in the Order was deployed

“Anything else?” asked Leti

“One last thing I’m curious about this number ‘I’ If it was

written there intentionally, then it means there’d be a number ‘II’

or even ‘III’”

“So are you saying that there will be another one?”

“Yes The et So for the

sake of catching the criminal, let’s hope there is another one

Besides, curses cannot kill anyone Even intricate ones like this”

Anyone who saw the circle would only feel unpleasant or

uneasy, nothingless So the best course of action

for noas to wait for the enemy’s next move, just as what

Leonhardt had said

“Do you have any idea who is the target, your highness?”

asked Duke who had not uttered a word since his return

Any one of the three eldest royal children was a possible target

of the curse But Leonhardt had a different idea Maybe the curse

was not for a particular person but a certain group of people

- 46 -

“How about considering someone who hates the ‘Royal

Family’?”

The ter, his

immediate family, and his relatives – the Dukes and their

respective fahts to

the throne, regardless of their sex However, there is no clear order

of succession established within the kingdom

“If we trace the roots of the current bloodline, we shall arrive

to The Revolution King Julius’ line It is true that the current line

is not directly connected to the Knight King, but not wholly

unrelated…That is not a bad idea Let us consider that possibility

as well,” said Leti

There were foolish nobles who thought their bloodlines were

closer to the Knight King’s than the current line

Now that they had decided to wait for the next move,

Leonhardt excused hi that he also had to report to the

Order as well

“Your highness, did so happen with Astrid?”

“What is the matter?”

“He looked dejected”

Leti was impressed at how observant Duke was

- 47 -

“He did sorel You

should discipline your junior properly For his first lesson, maybe

you should teach him ‘stay’”

Leti ended the conversation there and Duke did not ask

anything else

The conversation about the incident was over but not for Leti

who sneaked out of her rooht came

Leti secretly dropped one of her earrings at the scene during

the day before she left to change her clothes With this, the

preparation for her perfect excuse was now complete If anyone

found her there, she could easily tell them that she went there to

search for the pair of her favourite earring

Leti, with her night vision thanks to the Sword of Black

Darkness, did not need a lamp However, it was too unnatural to

walk outside in the dark without it so she simply carried one

without lighting it up Besides, the light would only call attention

“…I see it was erased already,” sighed Leti as she reached the

training ground where the circle was drawn The remains of the

sacrificial bird and the ic circle draith blood were already

cleaned up She wanted to see the e ‘I knoho you truly

are’ again personally, but it was no longer possible

- 48 -

“Well then, let us go home I feel like Duke will find me here if

I stay any longer,” Leti said as she slowly stood up, feeling a little

bit disappointed The she saw light co closer to her direction

Leti gulped The person approachingin

the castle or a Knight of the Order going on patrol Whichever it

ht be, both meant trouble for her

“…Leticia!?”

But the person was neither of the two

“Prince Guido!? Why are you here?” said a surprised Leti

“I should ask you the sa here alone at this

tiht?” said Guido

“I just noticed I lostso I am in the middle

of searching for it But the la

to go back” Leti smoothly said her prepared excuse

“You should’ve just asked your maid to do it for you Go

home now”

“I cannot possibly ask her to go to the place where a ic

circle drawn in blood was at this tiht…But how

about you? What are you doing here alone? Did you also lose an

earring?”

“No ‘Tis because of a different matter Come, I’ll walk you to

the Royal Villa” Guido said He clearly did not have any plans on

sharing

- 49 -

Leti decided to let it pass and go back home when,

“Who’s there!” shouted a voice

Leti and Guido looked at each other when they heard the

sharp voice They were thinking of the sa If someone saw

them, the most likely reason they would come up as that

Princess Leticia and Prince Guido had so to talk about and

no one should know about it Now, if this information reached the

Lauensteins, they ht think the worse and the world would

siether the next

“Stay still” Guido said to Leti as he quickly took off his coat,

used it cover Leti’s head, and then embraced her

Ah, I see But if he does this…Leti thought Bad rumours would

definitely go around about Guido

“Who’s there? Answer me!” The voice and the sound of

footsteps came closer

“…P-prince Guido!?” The person calling out was a knight

from the Order as on patrol and could not hide his surprise

at finding as there

Leti, who could not see anything, deduced that there were two

knights based on the footsteps but only one of them had spoken

“Go! And do not tell anyone about this,” warned Guido

- 50 -

“Yes, your highness!”

A prince e a lady, most likely not his fiancée—what

the knights saw as a clear act of an affair While Leti was thinking

they were doing injustice to Guido’s fiancée, the other knight

spoke

“Prince Guido, please pardon me But would you be so kind as

to escort the young lady back to her home? Please do not let her out of

your sight”

Leti sed her shock

The voice belonged to Duke and it was a tone lower than his

normal voice He already knew that Guido’s fake lover was none

other than his h he had not seen her face

The knights left the prince and his lady and the two separated

once they could no longer hear the footsteps of the knights

“Looks like Duke noticed”

“…He is…unnecessarily sharp I aet a

scolding tohed as she was already desperately

thinking of an excuse to tell Duke He ht believe her if she told

hi to discuss privately with Guido but that

was not the point Duke would not scold her for that He would

be scolding her for going out alone

“Leticia, are you…” Guido hesitantly called out to Leti who

was still looking down, busy co up with her excuse But when

- 51 -

she looked up, Guido decided not to continue what he was about

to say and simply said, “I alk you home”

When they reached the Royal Villa, Guido finally spoke and

asked Leti if Leonhardt was home

“Do you need soet

hi me home, finished Leti

Leti went to get Leonhardt and persuaded him to meet Guido

and passed her younger brother to her older brother

But if he originally meant to meet with Leon, there was no need for him to

pass through the Order’s Cao alone? Leti

wondered at Guido’s actions

This onlyhe did not

want even his knights, Valkyrie, to know about

An affair? No, no, no That is the most unlikely reason for him

What about the person who drew the circle?

Maybe he cahed at how

foolish her thoughts were

“Ane’ue2

, there is no need to prepare for a room We shall talk

here”

2 Ane'ue: A japanese honorific for calling one’s older sister (More formal and

old-fashi+oned than the normal Onee-san)

- 52 -

Leti’s thoughts were interrupted by Leonhardt’s obviously

irritated voice

“Is that so?” asked Leti, looking at Guido for confirmation He

nodded and Leti left them alone

As soon as Leti’s footsteps could no longer be heard,

Leonhardt directly asked Guido what his purpose was

“I caic circle”

“Could you not wait for the report from the Order tomorrow?

I’m surprised Valkyrie even allowed you to come here alone

Ahaha”

Leonhardt brought out a copy of the report for Guido to read

Guido scanned the report and asked if they had any particular

suspects

“Someone who hates the royal family? I mean the three eldest

royal children were targeted so I