Series: The Princess’s Guard is the Assassin Aiming for Her Life
“Apologies for visiting you when you’re busy, Your Highness Princess Iberis,” Lord Celosia said, standing as soon as I walked into the guest room he was waiting in.
He was beaming even though I made him wait for over half an hour as I was getting ready. Although, I suppose since he came without warning, he was expecting to be left waiting.
“Not at all… You’re probably much more busy than I, Lord Celosia.” I said, sitting across from him and gesturing for him to sit as well. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to offer my gratitude for how much you have taken care of me before I left… Truly, thank you so much.”
“No need to be sorry, it was just how circumstances ended up… I just did what I wanted to do because I wanted to protect you, even more than I wanted to obey His Majesty the King. And he has already rewarded me plenty,” he said with a smile.
Although, maybe I was thinking about it too deeply, but it kind of seemed like his words were thorny.
I couldn’t help breaking out in cold sweat.
No, it only makes sense that he would hate me a little after what I did. After all, I just went along with the king’s suggestion and played around with his feelings. If I had been able to firmly hold my ground as a princess, maybe even the assassination attempts wouldn’t have happened.
I should apologize.
I knew that royalty shouldn’t bow down easily, but I was completely in the wrong here.
“I’m deeply sorry. Because of my immaturity, I caused you no small amount of trouble.”
“What are you referring to?”
“…Well, everything, I suppose.”
“Please raise your head, Princess Iberis.” There was no way I could deny his request after hearing his firm tone. Lord Celosia let out a small laugh. “I’m sorry. I never meant to trouble you.”
“……”
“I have nothing against you, but of course I have my own feelings about a certain prince from a certain country. You’ve treated me well, but I guess I can’t help my emotions.”
“That’s…”
I felt like bowing my head again.
“Shall we move on to the main topic? The reason I came here today was because I had someone I want you to meet.”
“Someone you want me to meet?”
As soon as I saw the person Lord Celosia brought with him… my jaw dropped and I was at a loss for words for a while.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
It was late at night. I was back in my bedroom.
I wrapped my head in my hands as I stared at the boy standing by my door. He had black hair and green eyes. He was standing watch, as usual.
“Why!? Why have you gone back to being my guard!?”
All the comebacks I held back in front of Maia and the others with all my willpower came rushing out at my lover… or more accurately, at the boy who was supposed to be my lover.
“Because I reunited with you through the help of Lord Celosia.”
“You don’t have to be in that form anymore!”
“Princess Cattleya and the queen can’t do anything anymore, but the queen’s faction hasn’t been completely taken care of yet. The assassin’s guild probably won’t bite anymore, but there’s plenty of people in the mercenary’s guild with nothing to lose, and they may even use children as covert spies too. You need a guard, Princess Iberis.”
“That’s not what I’m trying to say!”
I knew I was still in danger. That’s why I had originally planned on asking my father for some royal guards tonight. And yet, this boyish guard came before I could ask that.
With the help of Lord Celosia, Al snuck into the castle again. There was no way that gentle lord wouldn’t have said something thorny. I wonder what sort of face he had when Al asked him to be the go-between?
It was probably pretty similar to the face I was making now!
“It’s because you’re still too scared to be surrounded by strong men, Princess Iberis. That’s why you need a guard like me, right?”
In countrast to my inner turmoil, that boy seemed to be in a very good mood.
“I’m not scared anymore!”
“Haha, I know that. But please set that aside. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to stay with you, you know?”
I felt my anger deflate at that.
“…I thought you were going to take me to the altar…”
“Huh?”
He looked genuinely shocked. It wasn’t as if he didn’t hear me, it just seemed like he didn’t know what I was trying to say.
I glared at him.
“Because you’re a prince! I thought you were going to whisk me to the altar!”
You know, isn’t that normal!?
There was no way a simple guard could be married to a princess. Then, he came back as the prince of Gentian, as if to solve everything.
From my country’s standpoint, it would be difficult for them to marry me off, since it could be misunderstood that Gentian was holding something against us. But if the prince of that country came to this country to be wed, then the king would surely approve. Even if it was just for show, it would be a way of tying the two countries together.
So Al getting that title blew away most of my worries. And yet…
“…So why are you back to being my guard?”
I cradled my head between my legs. I felt something touch the top of my head and wondered when Al had come so close.
“…Did you want me to propose to you as a prince?”
“You mean you never intended to?”
I don’t knew why my voice sounded so thick, like I was going to cry. He held me tightly, as if flustered.
“I’m sorry, I just never imagined it.”
“…Eh…?”
What did he mean?
“At the time, I was just searching for a way to get you away from Lord Celosia.”
“You went all the way to Gentian just for that?”
“Please think for a moment. Do you think I could be a proper prince?”
“…Well, uh…”
That’s quite the thing to say after all this.
“Well, I was told by Gentian that if I really wanted to join them, I could stand as their ruler.”
“Why are they willing to give you that much…?”
Just what had this man done in such a short time?
“That country values military might. When I snuck into the king’s -the shogun’s– bedroom to ask for a position as prince, five hundred soldiers surrounded me.”
Of course they did…
“After I cleaned them up, the shogun threw himself down on the ground.”
…The two hundred knights that he was surrounded by at Lord Celosia’s residence was probably nothing compared to that. Al must really struggle to protect things since he got hurt against the magical tigers while defending those flowers.
“The shogun surrendered in a position like this, with his head to the ground.”
“Dogeza…?”
“Yeah, just like that. He complimented my skill while in that dogeza position.”
Why would he praise an intruder for his violent actions? What kind of muscle-brained country would pander to the strong without question?
“Then he tried to give me the position of shogun, but I told him I didn’t need it and asked for a position of prince instead. He was insistent about it for a while, but he behaved after I carved a cross-shaped scar on his face.”
That went beyond problematic and was just straight-up villain behavior. I had no idea why he was so brazen about it either. Reminder that this was the same guy who insisted that he believed in peaceful solutions.
“…You didn’t want to come for me as a prince after all that?”
“…I’m sorry, but I can’t become royalty.”
“Then what is that title for?”
“It’s just for show when I need it, and I don’t really plan on going public with it.”
He was using it around the king and Lord Celosia though…
But, well, after I heard the details, it seemed like a position he forced into existence.
“…Will you continue working as an assassin?”
“If you wish me to, then yes.”
“Do you think I do?”
“Definitely not. You wanted me to be a prince, after all.”
“……”
I kinda felt like he was making fun of me.
“I’ll become your guard. This is my new way of life.”
I couldn’t turn him down when he was looking so satisfied.
“I’m not good at protecting people, so this will be practice. Let’s see if even I can learn a few new tricks.”
“You sound like an old man when you put it like that.”
“Of course I do. I’m about that age on the inside, after all.” He smiled, his blue eyes shining. “…You know I’m not going to let you go even if you say you hate old men, right?”
“I think you being an old man on the inside is the least of my hurdles when it comes to you…”
I collapsed back on the bed, and Al slipped in naturally next to me.
“…I thought you said you wouldn’t come on my bed?”
“Well now you’re my first love.”
“…I’m not your first love though.”
I knew about his romances from his past life.
I gave him that uncute response, but Al just laughed with delight. “It’s not bad to see you get jealous.”
“Hey…”
“You’re my first love in this life. It’s been dozens of years in my past life too.”
“……”
“I love you enough to go to another country and take the title of prince. You’re the only one I’ve gone so far for. Please believe me.”
Even though he kissed my forehead, I pinched my lips together.
“…What do you want from me, Al?”
Despite the sweet atmosphere, it didn’t seem like he had any intention of marrying me.
Al chuckled when he saw me pout. “You’re better off as a princess. A commoner lifestyle doesn’t really suit you. It’s just a guess, but you probably had a comfy lifestyle in your past life as well. You probably never struggled for food or shelter. Am I wrong?”
“…You’re not wrong.”
I was thinking the same thing. Considering the state of commoners’ lives in this world, it would probably be very painful for me.
Now that I thought about it, my past life had a lot of luxuries that only royalty and nobles had in this life.
“That’s why I’ll stay by your side always and protect your peaceful life.”
“…What about when I get married off somewhere?”
The king was probably expecting the prince of Gentian to propose. Especially because my engagement with Lord Celosia was dissolved. But when he realized that proposal won’t come, he would try to marry me off somewhere again.
But even then, Al’s smile didn’t crumble. “I’ll protect you from marriage proposals as well.”
“What, are you going to make sure I stay single my whole life!?”
“Are you disatisfied with that?”
“Huh!?“
“I see… Well then, let me think about it for a bit.”
“So light…”
He really said he was going to think about marriage “a bit”… Did I maybe choose the wrong man?
While belated regrets hugged my mind, the boy in front of me hugged my body.
“I love you, Princess Iberis.”
“……”
“Do you not believe me?”
“……”
“I love you so much that I would kill you and them if you fell for someone else.”
“So heavy…”
His balance was way off.
“Don’t worry, I’ll devise a way to match your ideals so you don’t get sick of me.”
“…Why are you untying my nightgown?”
“I also have a lot of confidence in my stamina.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m referring to attending to you throughout the night, of course.”
“Again, what are you… W-wait a second!”
“I see, so this is as far as you want me to strip you. Well, this is definitely more intriguing than being completely naked.”
“That’s not it! Shut up for a little bit!”
“Oh, is that how you want to play tonight? Understood, shutting up.”
“Jeez! Idiot!”
Well, it seemed like marrying a prince was something that was only in my dreams. Instead, I continued to be thrown around by my odd guard…
It would be another five years before I finally chained him down and got a ring on my finger.
This is the end of the first part’s story. After this will be a three chapter bonus story. Like I mentioned at the beginning of the first chapter, there is a second part to this story, but I don’t have the time to translate it at the moment. I have been (very slowly) working on it, but no guarantee as to when/if I finish. Either way, thank you all for reading this far and please be sure to support the original author if you can.
-Merry Kii
Merry Bad End Translations 
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