Series: The Princess’s Guard is the Assassin Aiming for Her Life
“Good night, Princess Iberis.”
“……”
That boy was standing by my door in my bedroom, like usual. I didn’t reply or even acknowledge him.
The ball was tomorrow. In other words, I’ve been acting this way towards him for around a week.
…I kept missing the timing to apologize to him.
Al said some things that made me upset, but I was completely in the wrong for acting so childish towards him. Ignoring him really was horrible of me.
But even though I thought that, I didn’t know how to stop. I’ve never had a fight like this in my current life, and though I did in my past life, I couldn’t remember how I made up with them. My past wasn’t helping me figure out what I should do.
I collapsed on my bed, biting my lip.
I knew we couldn’t go to the ball together, but I wanted him to at least compliment me when I’m all dressed up. I didn’t have high hopes that Al would, but the possibility was still there.
I’ve decided. I’ll apologize first thing tomorrow. It might be better to apologize now, but there was always a chance we would start fighting again when it’s just the two of us, so I should apologize in front of Maia and Dahlia.
…Will Al forgive me?
He hasn’t really changed the way he’s treated me, so I couldn’t tell if he was angry or not. The reason I haven’t apologized yet is partly because I was worried about that.
After I started acting stubborn, Al hasn’t tried to touch me at all. He probably wasn’t in the mood to hold someone who was sulking. Maybe he’s just lost all interest in me?
But, if he really was angry and really has lost all interest in me… would he quit working as my guard? He probably wouldn’t kill me. It seemed like he didn’t tend to want to kill the people he didn’t like.
…That would have made my life way more peaceful, but all I could feel was sad. I didn’t want him to kill me, but still…
These thoughts have been filling my head every night. I closed my eyes.
I’ve also kept pushing apologizing off to the next day as well.
Okay, but tomorrow I would apologize for sure.
Unfortunately, no matter how much I thought that, I never seemed to pull through.
I had a feeling I was going to see a nightmare tonight. I didn’t know if Al was waking me up, but I didn’t feel like my nightmares have been long lately. But I wasn’t certain because I couldn’t remember. Maybe if I could remember him waking me up, I would know he wasn’t angry with me.
I slowly fell to sleep, my head filled with such thoughts.
“…Princess Iberis…”
The girl in front of him was gasping strangely. Albert called her name, shaking her shoulders gently.
She has nightmares occasionally, just like when he first met her. This past week, he has been having to wake her up every day.
Even though the frequency of those nightmares used to be decreasing…
Albert smiled when he wondered if it was because of him. Normal people would likely think he was malicious for it, but seeing her worrying because of him made him happy.
But of course he couldn’t bear to watch her struggle for breath, so he gently woke her up every night.
After a few shakes, Iberis’s eyes started to open. Her soft red eyes were like fully-bloomed poppy flowers in the spring.
When he saw the tears in her eyes, Albert planted kisses on her eyelids to make them disappear.
“Mn…”
“…Princess Iberis…”
When Iberis let out a faint exhale, Albert took it as invitation to kiss her on the mouth as well. She opened her mouth obediently. But before he could wrap his arms around her…
“I’m sorry, Al…”
“…You’ve already said that so many times.”
She let out that apology with a sigh, her words faint enough to be carried away by the wind. She said the same thing every time he woke her. But…
“…Are you asleep again?”
Albert’s shoulders dropped after hearing her rhythmic breathing.
For some reason, she couldn’t remember these times. Every morning, it seemed like she went back to worrying about how to apologize to him and looking at him nervously.
Every time, he would grimace and wonder what to do about his hands that couldn’t reach her. He didn’t know how many times he’s considered waking her up to get her to accept this uncontrollable urge, but if he did that, her mood would likely improve.
Since he didn’t want to waste his opportunity to watch her fret over him, he endured his urges.
“You’re not the only one worried, you know.”
After whispering that, Albert moved back to his usual position by the door.
I’ll apologize when Maia and Dahlia show up. This time for sure. That way, he might compliment how I look. I knew I was naïve for thinking such things, but…
I needed to get scrubbed down, memorize who was attending the ball, change into my dress and get my hair done. Because Dahlia was also attending, we were extremely busy since the morning.
“Princess, please hire one more… actually, make that two more maids…” Maia pleaded with me, completely serious. All I could do was quietly nod.
I felt sorry. It’s been a while since I went to a ball, and Maia’s burden was doubled with the addition of getting Dahlia ready too.
“When my father comes to the capital next month, I’ll ask him to bring some maids with,” Dahlia said, also feeling quite overwhelmed.
We were busy enough that Maia was even making Al help out. Because he couldn’t stay far away from me as a guard, Al stayed in the same room, running about. He was the only one who didn’t seem tired, but of course his physical abilities were on a whole different level than us.
After Dahlia went off to the ball ahead of me, I put on my final accessory and cleared Maia’s check for any loose threads or hair. Then, without ever being given an opportunity to apologize to Al or even ask him how I looked, a knight showed up to bring me to the venue. I left my room, making sure to thank Tairent who stood watch outside of my door.
The knight who came to bring me to the ball was someone who had accompanied me to the eastern spring. His name was Raymond. It seemed like he had a good impression of me after that incident and since then, we started greeting each other with a smile. He was one of the few knights I had grown to befriend, so it was decided that he would escort me to the ballroom. It seemed like it was improper for a princess to walk to a ball alone.
I glanced behind me to make sure that Al was okay with me holding onto another man’s arm. He was dressed in formal attire prepared by Traine so he wouldn’t look out of place at the ball. His tailcoat fluttered as he walked, and the blue tie he was wearing matched his true eye color. He was always a pretty boy, but now he was beautiful enough to make young girls swoon on the spot.
…And he looked the same as usual.
I was feeling pretty bitter about the thought of Al talking with other girls at the ball, but it looked like he didn’t care about me being arm in arm with another man.
I stopped my eyebrows from scrunching up by some miracle, but I remained distracted until Raymond spoke up.
“Your Highness?”
“Oh, uh, yes?”
“…We’ve arrived.”
“Oh…”
We arrived at the venue while I was lost in my thoughts. I could hear the crowd of people just beyond the large doors in front of me. Since those of lower ranks entered into the ball first, all the attendants were probably already inside.
It was a little late for it, but I was starting to get really nervous.
“Second Princess Iberis has arrived!” The voice announced from inside the ballroom as the doors slowly opened. At the same time, Raymond lowered his arm and stepped away from me. His job was done now. If he entered with me, a misunderstanding that he was my potential fiancé might spread.
A marvelous chandelier brightly illuminated the large venue, and every eye in the crowd was turned towards me. It’s been a while since I’ve been to such a public place.
I was a member of the royal family who has been treated with suspicion lately. I already knew that not everyone would look at me kindly, but my feet still paused.
…W-what should I do? My feet wouldn’t move…
Royalty should move in a dignified and relaxed manner, but of course people would think something was wrong if I didn’t move for an extended period of time. But, almost like I had a stick stuck in my legs, I couldn’t bend my knees.
“Jeez, you really are troublesome.”
As soon as I heard that whisper, I felt something push against my back. That forced me to take a step forward and then, as if shackles had fallen off my feet, I could walk again.
“I’m right behind you.”
I didn’t have a prince to stand right next to me, but I had a guard to support me from behind.
It felt like such a long time since I heard his scolding tone, which sounded like he was admonishing a troublesome child – but had a tinge of sweetness to it.
That was enough to bring tears to my eyes, but I blinked them away as I stepped into the venue. Then, everyone bowed to me.
…It was silent enough to hear a pin drop.
It was the sight of everyone bowing to me that reminded me that I really was royalty.
I also curtsied, thanking everyone for coming.
Of the royalty attending this party, I was the lowest rank. Arriving after me were my brothers – the potential heirs to the throne, their wives, the king’s concubines, and finally the king himself.
I had to wait in this position the entire time. I was guessing it would take at least fifteen minutes for everyone to arrive.
…My back was killing me.
No one complained aloud though, and the only thing that could be heard was elegant music. Of course, it was because everyone was aware that complaining was the same as asking for your head to get separated from your body.
When the king finally arrived, he presented a speech and I was reminded of the assemblies our principal would have us sit through back in high school. I also couldn’t really remember what he looked like, but… I remember wondering if he was wearing a wig.
It turns out that a castle ball wasn’t as dreamy as I thought it was.
After the long speech was over, people started lining up in front of me to offer their greetings. Nobles streamed in line after wondering which royal to greet first. It was something I hadn’t experienced in a while.
“You look simply exquisite tonight.”
It was usually men who offered those compliments. I stamped down my urge to mention that I saw them ogling my boobs. It’s not like I dressed up for them anyways.
“It’s been a while since you’ve graced us with your presence, so we were quite concerned.”
That insult dressed as concern was offered by an influential middle-aged noble who was accompanied by a younger lady smelling like she dropped her whole bottle of perfume on her.
Occasionally there were a few people who seemed to be genuinely concerned about me, but most just seemed to want to sneer at me.
…Man, my dream was completely shattered…
I wanted to slap myself for being so excited about a castle ball just a little while ago. No wonder why I was so timid before I regained my memories.
Thankfully, I was someone who hated to lose in my past life, so even though I didn’t have much life experience, I was able to properly respond to everyone.
“After I heard talks of your engagement disappear, I became concerned, thinking that you must have been heartbroken, Your Highness.”
“My, I do appreciate your concern, but it isn’t necessary. I already have someone my heart is set on.”
Those around me grew excited at my words. Traine and the king were probably going to be mad at me after this. But I couldn’t just miserably keep my mouth shut and let them continue making a fool out of me.
“Is that… true? Whoever could it be?”
“I don’t want to cause you any further concern, but I’ll just say that he’s a proper gentleman. There are a few people in the know, but we’re still keeping these talks discreet. I would appreciate your kind support.”
I smiled, heavily implying that she didn’t have the rank to know such things.
The truth was that I heard from Dahlia about a section of nobles that knew the Gentian prince came to the castle and that he seemed interested in me. Although my acknowledgement would only serve to spread the rumor more. Because that prince hadn’t said anything since he first showed up, the king was trying to keep it all under wraps.
“Heh…”
I heard a quiet voice from behind me.
…Was he laughing?
I had to fight this lone battle because you were the one who refused to marry me!
But of course, I couldn’t say that here.
I realized the pointlessness of bragging about a lover who wasn’t actually going to marry me, but forgive me for putting up a brave front.
After that vexed noble lady left, the line of greetings continued. I felt deeply exhausted. If I had to deal with all these people, it wasn’t like I was going to have time to dance anyways.
“Princess Iberis.” The boy behind me spoke up, as if he realized what I was thinking. “You look like you’re not feeling well. How about taking leave now to rest?”
The young man in front who was about to speak to me looked at Al with annoyance but kept his mouth shut, seemingly pressured by his beautiful appearance. Even with the sudden attention of everyone around us, the boy’s smile didn’t even twitch.
…He said he wasn’t cut out for royalty, but he seemed to be a better royal than I.
“Your Highness, this boy is…?”
“He is Albert, my guard. Though he might be young, he is extraordinarily talented.”
“Right…” His reply betrayed his disbelief. “So it’s true that you returned your knight squadron to His Majesty the King?”
“The royal guard was always the king’s. I am not in so much danger that I need protection from His Majesty, so this small guard is enough for me.”
That was what Traine told me to say. I couldn’t let my fear of men be known, and this way I could show confidence in the security of the castle. In reality, I thought the complete opposite since several assassins had already snuck into the castle, but there was nothing wrong with putting up a public front. Anyways, Traine said that he didn’t know how many people would accept it at face value, so it was important for me to say it with a big smile.
High society was so annoying.
“Unfortunately, the rest of my greetings will have to wait until next time, everyone. I’m feeling tired, so I’ll call it a day here and get some rest,” I said and left the ballroom.
I asked the king before I left and he silently nodded, so I guess I did a good enough job. He originally told me I only needed to show my face a little, after all.
Merry Bad End Translations 
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