Chapter 174: Countdown (1) (1/2)
Jude and Cordelia sat next to each other as they looked at the invitation with fancy handwriting. The invitation was made from a very high-quality paper and sealed with the royal family’s seal.
“Uh… Does that mean we’ll all be taking a bath together?”
“I think so. The contents are a bit different from what we first heard.”
An hour or so after their tea party with Princess Daphne.
If he summarized the contents of the new invitation that Maja brought to them, it was as follows:
Let’s play in the water together two nights later.
Together with Jude, Dion and Darianne.
‘Hey, isn’t this a bit too much for a bath?’
Since it was an act of revealing their naked bodies, he didn’t want others to see Cordelia’s naked body, even if they were of the same sex as her.
“The place remains to be the same… Perhaps we’ll be wearing swimwear in something like a hot spring. Or is this kind of like a night pool?”
When Jude muttered to himself, Cordelia’s eyes widened before she asked.
“Night pool? What’s that?”
“It’s literally a swimming pool that you go to at night. That is, if the pool in broad daylight is a playground for the whole family, the night pool is like a playground for adults.”
Because no kids would be there.
At Jude’s vague explanation, Cordelia frowned and began to think before she asked again with a curious face.
“Is it like a club then?”
“There are places like that in clubs, and there are places like swimming pools in hotels that are only open at night.”
Having said that, Jude stared off into the distance for a while as if he was recalling something.
Cordelia then asked in an unexpectedly fast tone.
“Had you gone there in the past? Who did you go with? A woman? A girlfriend?”
“Eh?”
“Who did you go with?”
Cordelia’s face drew closer.
So Jude’s shoulders flinched in reflex, and he unconsciously said as if he was making an excuse.
“That… I’ve never gone there to play, I just happened to know about it.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Why would I pretend to have been there, or lie about never going there…right?”
“Hmmmmmm…”
Cordelia narrowed her eyes and Jude spontaneously gulped in nervousness before she soon smiled. She couldn’t help it.
“What? Why are you smiling all of a sudden?”
“Why? I just want to smile.”
Jude narrowed his eyes like Cordelia did before he slyly smiled. Cordelia somehow got annoyed and pinched the back of Jude’s hand. It didn’t hurt much though.
“Moving on, we’ll have to get prepared.”
“Prepared?”
“We have to buy swimwear. We didn’t bring any swimwear.”
Because it was winter now.
No, even if it was summer, they wouldn’t have brought swimwear.
How could anyone even imagine that they would be swimming and playing with the princess in the future?
“I’ll cash the cheque we got into easy money. We need to prepare for the other events too.”
As Jude enumerated the other events one by one, Cordelia looked at the invitation again before raising her head.
“What about the preparations for the ball?”
“There is that too… but we really have little time left before that day arrives. We have so much to prepare.”
Their plan to foil the plans of the Black Moon, which was the limbs of the Lord Protector in the royal capital, was not yet perfect.
The political position of the Lord Protector had been somewhat weakened due to the attacks of the aristocrats, but the attack time itself was too short in the first place, and Black Moon and the Lord Protector wouldn’t just collapse from a few of their corruption cases being revealed.
They needed a stronger shot.
“Are we doing that for the third time?”
“Yes, it will be the third and last notice of Phantom Thief Pink Bomb.”
The third target for their crime had been decided a long time ago.
Including what they had decided to steal.
“In addition to that… there are other things to prepare, right?”
“Yes, I have to plan an escape route… and there are a lot more people to protect here than in Langesthei.”
At that time, only Lucas and Cordelia needed to be protected.
But this time, the number of royalty they needed to protect far exceeded 10 people.
‘Of course… if we’re just going to prevent the destruction of the barrier, protecting Princess Daphne only will be enough.’
But that was really the worst case scenario.
‘We need to save as many royalty as possible. No, we need to make sure no one dies.’
It would be best to make sure that there were no victims.
Cordelia would wish for that too.
“One way or another… it will be a big fight in the end, right?”
Cordelia said with gloomy face.
Even if they succeeded in protecting all the royalty, it would be impossible to completely ensure that there would be no casualties.
‘A bloody uprising.’
The Lord Protector’s side would be fighting to the death, so damage was inevitable among those who guarded the royal capital, such as the patrol guards and guard knights, as they would be stopping the enemies.
‘What we can only do is to minimize the casualties.’
Destroying the Black Moon was also just to reduce the damage.
“Eueue… I feel a bit frustrated at times like this. I wish I could just tell them everything and make them understand.”
If they could inform the royal family in advance of the plan to annihilate them, they could detain or execute the Lord Protector.
But that was impossible.
People wouldn’t believe what Jude and Cordelia would say.
Who would believe that the Lord Protector, the hero who saved the country, was plotting to annihilate the royal family just because the two recalled the memories of their previous lives?
Rather, they would imprison Jude and Cordelia or send them to a mental health facility.
Jude nodded in agreement to Cordelia’s words, and he placed his hand over her hand.
“Aren’t we lucky though?”
“What?”
“Because we’re together in this.”
At Jude’s words, Cordelia was puzzled as her eyes widened before she giggled and said.
“Hey, you too?”
Are you happy to have me? Are you relieved that I’m here?
Jude nodded his head at her cute look.
“Yes, me too.”
If I was alone, I would have to do all of these things by myself, so it would be much harder and lonely than now.
“I would have become Pink Bomb if I was alone.”
“It’s not too late for that, Mister Black-hearted Black Cloak.”
“Yes, Miss White-hearted Pink Bomb. I am satisfied with just being Black Cloak, your sidekick.”
Jude smirked like always before he stood up and said.
“Anyway, let’s go. It’s shopping time, shopping time. Shouldn’t we spend the money we earned?”
“Hmm… well, that’s fine. We came to the royal capital, but we didn’t have the time to properly tour the royal capital’s weapon stores. I was thinking of getting a whip.”
As Cordelia grinned and answered, Jude had a bitter smile.
What kind of girl would be thinking of a weapon store first when going shopping?
“Why? Did I say something weird?”
“No, Princess. You said it very well. Let’s hurry while we’re at it.”
“We’re going now?”
“Is there a problem? It’s not even dinner time yet. Shall we go to a restaurant this time? We’re in the royal capital, but we haven’t eaten much from the restaurants here.”
Cordelia turned and looked out the window after hearing Jude’s words.
It was late in the afternoon, but there was still some time left before the sun sets.
“Let’s go shopping, have dinner, go to a bridge or something, and see the night view.”
“And eat parfait?”
“If my princess wants it.”
As Jude laughed, Cordelia slightly nodded in agreement to the plan.
But it was at that moment.
‘Uh, wait a minute.’
Go shopping, have dinner, and see the night view?
Just the two of us?
No, of course, we’re almost stuck together every day.
Even so.
To do something like that.
Isn’t that a bit different from what we’ve been doing together so far?
As if we are going on a…
‘D-date?’
At the word that came to her mind, Cordelia raised her head and met eyes with Jude who looked at her as he tilted his head.
“Cordelia?”
“Eh? Uh…yes. That, yes, yes.”
What’s wrong with a date?
I can do it.
‘That’s right. We’re engaged.’
It’s natural for us to d-date.
It’s not weird at all.
Rather, it’s strange that we haven’t done that so far.