Series: The Princess’s Guard is the Assassin Aiming for Her Life
It was the day after Al disappeared. Not long after lunch, I was called for an urgent summons. So I kneeled down in the audience hall.
“Princess Iberis, you will be in the care of the Garnet Dukedom for the time being.”
A large velvet rug ran straight through the room all the way to where the king sat on his throne.
He had a magnificent beard and black eyes. Even though he had to have been over fifty, his beautiful blond hair hadn’t faded at all. Thinking about it, Cattleya must have gotten her hair and eye color from our father. That meant I got mine from my mother.
It was then that I realized I was trailing off in my head, as if trying to escape from reality.
“…You want me to go to the Garnet Dukedom?” I asked, not moving from my kneeling position. My voice was more feeble than a whisper, but the king still heard me.
“Celosia Garnet has made me an offer. He told me that you’ve been in danger lately, but you can’t rest easy with knights around you. I also heard that the boy we hired as your guard quit yesterday. The Garnet Dukedom has quite a few female knights in their employ.”
It seemed like Lord Celosia moved quickly after hearing that Al had quit. I was a bit suspicious about how he was able to find out so quickly, but the connection between the dukedom and the royal family ran deep. He probably had his own information network inside of the castle.
But I didn’t need their concern. I was already planning on meeting with the king today. I was surprised that he called for me, but I had already decided on what I was going to ask. I was going to tell him that I didn’t need to go to the dukedom, and to ask for my personal squadron of knights to be reinstated.
…I was going to, but…
If I said that, then that boy wouldn’t be needed any more. My guard wouldn’t have a place to come back to.
I couldn’t get those thoughts out of my head.
“They are already ready to welcome you. Head there now,” The king said.
“Understood,” I replied.
…I’m such a fool.
Al was probably not coming back anymore, and if he was, it would be as an assassin. He would be coming to kill me.
Why would I think about welcoming him back?
And if I went to live at the Garnet residence, it would be announcing to everyone that I was a fiancé candidate of his. It would become common knowledge.
But it was already too late for regrets.
We didn’t have the kind of father-daughter relationship where I could ask something like, “I changed my mind Daddy, can I just stay home?”
The only thing I could do was hurry and leave before the news reached Cattleya’s ears.
“I’ve already finished packing!”
When I returned to my room, Maia seemed oddly cheery. It seemed like she got the order to pack before I did.
“I’ve been waiting for this day! Let’s make haste to the duke’s residence! That way all your burdens will disappear, Your Highness!”
“…Right.”
I’ve been relying on Maia for everything for too long. Once we got to the duke’s residence, I would probably get a lot more servants. Then Maia would get to be my head maid.
Not wanting to rain on her parade, I swallowed down my unease.
Thanks to Maia’s fast packing, we were able to leave the castle before Cattleya found us. We just brought the bare necessities of clothes and cosmetics, and some other servants would bring the rest at a later date.
Lord Celosia, who I had just seen yesterday, was waiting in front of the residence. He held his hand out for me to step out of the carriage and politely invited me inside.
“Welcome to our residence, Your Highness Princess Iberis. Please forgive my father for being unable to greet you at this time. He’s been away on business since last night.”
“You do not need to worry, I am aware that the duke is quite busy. Please forgive me for encroaching on your care yesterday and today.”
“Nonsense, I’m the one who offered, after all. It’s my family’s honor to be able to welcome you into our house, Your Highness Princess Iberis.”
By “welcome”, he was also probably referring to his marriage proposal. My stomach felt like it was in knots.
“Please, think of this house as your own and relax.”
“Thank you very much.”
Lord Celosia smiled kindly, as if he could tell how nervous I was.
I could tell from the introductions the cheerful female knights gave me that they were all trying to encourage me, a princess who must have been scared from all the attempts on my life. Even I, who had been feeling quite depressed, couldn’t help cracking a smile.
If I married into this house, I was sure they would all treat me kindly.
I could feel that.
…I could, but…
The more the room filled with peaceful laughter, the more the blue color that I was yearning for, shining beautifully in the cold darkness, seemed to escape further away.
“I was thinking of having someone stationed in your room at night,” a knight said, but I shook my head after a few seconds of thought.
“I’m sorry. I know security is important, but I haven’t been able to sleep when there are people nearby lately.”
“I see…”
Her concerned expression made my chest squeeze.
It wasn’t a lie. It was sure that if they were in my room, I wouldn’t be able to sleep, and when I got nightmares, they would be concerned.
And… if a visitor came for me, there would be a huge fuss.
“…But, what would I do if that happened…?”
“Did you say something?”
“No, I didn’t say anything.”
I kept asking myself questions like that with a large amount of self loathing all night long. The door and windows, oblivious to my feelings, didn’t invite any late-night visitors inside that night.
Several days passed, and I grew bothered by the fact that nothing had happened. Al’s time limit was just three days away.
“What’s wrong?” Lord Celosia asked, snapping me out of my staring contest with the garden scenery.
Oh, that’s right. I was supposed to be enjoying some tea.
“My deepest apologies. I seem to have gotten a little spaced out.”
“It must be because it’s so warm. I understand how you feel.” A girl, about twelve years old, said with a smile.
Her name was Dahlia Spathiphyllum. She was an adorable girl with silver hair and wide orange eyes. She was the daughter of Margrave Spathiphyllum, who had just arrived in the capital for a regular report. Today, she was a guest at our daily tea session.
Lord Celosia has been taking care of me since I arrived at this mansion. He started holding tea sessions every day to entertain me. Since he said it must be boring for me when it’s just the two of us, he invited a guest today.
“The country Margrave Spathiphyllum’s land borders is Gentian, correct?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
I inquired about some of the knowledge I had gained as Princess Iberis.
Gentian was, quite honestly, pretty similar to Japan. The reason why there was such a huge cultural gap between us neighboring countries was because Gentian was originally an island nation located far away. That island nation was closer to a different continent and got a lot of their culture from there.
But after a huge volcano erupted on that island, many of the citizens came to this continent in search of new land. The land where Gentian now resides was formerly the land of a different country. And our country used to have an alliance with them. Gentian attacked and made it their own country.
Well, it’s already been a hundred years or so since that happened.
“How has Gentian been acting lately?”
“They have been behaving. But the citizens of Gentian are famously quick to fight. We can’t rest easy until diplomatic relations have been established.”
After they invaded a hundred years ago, our country attacked them to try and support our allies. But despite being from a small island nation, the Gentian people were very strong and were able to force a ceasefire. Many of the people in the small country fled to other countries and gave up their land. I heard the situation was so bad, that the land in our country was at risk of being taken away. I guess that’s what they mean by people who are cornered are the strongest?
The Spathiphyllum family were originally from that small country that was invaded.
Because of what happened in the past, relations between my country and Gentian remained delicate. Despite our country wanting to enter into diplomatic relations, even just for show, Gentian remained stubborn.
They would need supplies after immigrating here, but they only traded with countries on other continents who they originally had friendly relations with. The surrounding countries were worried that the countries friendly with Gentian would use that country to attack them.
…Man, I missed how peaceful things were in my past life…
“I’m guessing they’re waiting for us to make a wrong move.”
“There is still a bit of trading going on. Because items from that country are new and rare, I hear there have been a few collectors here.”
“Right now, it seems to just be merchants, but it’s tricky when it comes to the nobility.”
“There’s rumors that some nobles had already bought some. It would be dangerous if influential nobles got a hold of the goods.”
Despite being young, Lady Dahlia could easily keep up with Lord Celosia. I thought she was amazing. All I could do was nod here and there. I had knowledge, but I didn’t know how to apply any of it. I suppose that didn’t make me very princess-like. I should probably study more and talk with more people.
…I was going to try my best if I was still alive three days from now.
I reflected quietly. But the two seemed to take my reaction as an indication of boredom.
“I’m very sorry. This isn’t the conversation for tea time.”
“I’m sorry for not considering this sooner. Since Miss Dahlia came all this way, you girls should chat amongst yourselves.”
“Eh, you don’t have to…”
Lord Celosia excused himself from his seat, laughing off my modest denial.
I wasn’t as introverted as Iberis was, but I wasn’t that good at dealing with people I just met. And I wasn’t a social butterfly.
What was I supposed to say to Lady Dahlia, who was not only younger than me, but was also a noble to her core?
In contrast to my nervousness, Lady Dahlia didn’t seem to mind suddenly being left alone with a princess… Actually, she looked rather delighted.
“Is it okay if I call you, ‘Princess Iberis’?”
“Sure, I don’t mind.”
“Thank you very much! Will you be marrying Lord Celosia, Princess Iberis!?”
That was rather straight-forward. I felt like a batter who was nailed in the face with a fastball.
I suddenly had to start thinking about the thing I was avoiding.
Seeing how frozen I had become, Lady Dahlia looked confused.
“Am I wrong?”
“Umm…”
“Because you’re unmarried, I thought he was welcoming you here as a bride.”
“…Yes. I suppose so.”
It was obvious she would think that. Anyone else that knew I was here would think that as well. And the king and Lord Celosia even planned for that themselves. When I came here, it was probably seen as me accepting his proposal.
…I knew that, but…
“Yes, I suppose that would be normal to think.”
Still, that blue flickered in my head.
Why blue?
During the most pleasant conversations I had with Al, his eyes were green. There weren’t many good memories I had of him with blue eyes. Because they were times I thought he wanted to kill me.
But every time I thought about him since I came here, he has had blue eyes.
“Is there someone else you are interested in, Princess Iberis?” Lady Dahlia asked, as if she could see through me.
It would probably be best if I denied it right away. I shouldn’t stir things up. I shouldn’t give strange information to a girl I wasn’t close to.
But, I closed my mouth. Immediately, the girl’s eyes started sparkling.
“Oh my! Whoever is it!?”
“L-Lady Dahlia, please…”
“Oh, I’m very sorry. It would be very bad if Lord Celosia heard… It’s surely a forbidden love, right?”
It wasn’t so much forbidden as it was risking my life.
But as soon as I thought that, I wanted to hold my head in my hands.
Why was that the part I wanted to correct?
My answer was the fact that I didn’t deny the word “love” right away.
I pretended I didn’t notice. I put a lid on my feelings. But it was already too late now. My head’s full of these feelings.
I… loved Al.
He was the assassin targeting my life. A crazy person who wanted to kill the girls he was interested in.
The worst kind of man who left after kissing me!
“…Lady Dahlia.”
“Yes?”
“Please, keep this a secret.”
“Oh my! Of course!”
Lady Dahlia left after that, reassuring me that I could consult with her whenever.
She was a smart girl, so I didn’t think that she would spread the news around. But… it didn’t seem right to go to a twelve year old girl for romantic advice. I couldn’t even explain the details to her. Lady Dahlia would probably be shocked if she saw who I liked. In the form he usually took, he was a boy who looked much closer in age to her.
It was late at night. I saw another nightmare. Although it was decreasing in frequency, I still saw that water nightmare from time to time. It wasn’t that surprising, considering it was what killed me in my past life and what almost ended my life here.
Lately, I’ve been having dreams about Al too. After I saw him in my dreams, I wanted to cry, but I still preferred that dream because I got to see him.
But unfortunately, today I had the drowning nightmare. Because there was no one to wake me up, that dream was usually very long. But today, someone shook me awake.
“Are you okay?”
“…You…”
The one who pulled me out of my dream after I stopped breathing wasn’t a boy with green eyes or a man with blue.
She was a beautiful woman with rich black hair and eyes, covered in tight black clothing.
“…Who are you?”
Merry Bad End Translations 
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