Chapter 5
“H-huh?” I was so flustered by Charlotte’s sudden words that all I could manage was a stammered response.
The princess was already aware that her life was in grave danger. Her calm and steady gaze was proof that she wasn’t joking around and had recognized the dire circumstances. She had seemed completely distracted and absorbed in eating until just a few moments ago, but it had disappeared entirely and was now replaced by a somber look.
“I can’t explain everything in detail right now,” she began, her eyes locked on me, “but my stepbrother, Vertus, is probably eagerly waiting for me to die. He’d be absolutely furious if he found out that I was alive.”
The girl who’d clung to her mother’s lifeless body and wept bitterly in the prison cell was nowhere to be found. She was calm and composed as if she had suddenly become aware of her position in the royal family.
It was true that Vertus had a substantial amount of followers on his side. He was a villain, but by no means was he incompetent.
“But I have no idea how they’re going to try and kill me. It could be anyone and it’s only a matter of time,” she continued.
The threat from Vertus and his associates remained uncertain and Charlotte had no one to trust; especially in the aftermath of the recent war, where turmoil was still rampant and all of her close associates were on a search mission inside the Demon King’s castle.
“There isn’t a single person I can trust here, either. It almost feels like this was intentional.”
Charlotte quickly realized that she couldn’t trust anyone among the people present.
Realization hit me. “So when you told everyone else to leave, was that because...”
“Yes.” She nodded.
The reason she’d told everyone to leave the barracks was because she was worried that, without me there, someone would try to do something to her.
Ironically, Charlotte appeared to be even more cautious than I was.
Given the potential threats she faced, she was unsure of whom to trust and was on her toes at all times. It wouldn’t have been surprising if the food she had just eaten had also been tampered with.
“Uh... Couldn’t there have been poison in the food you just ate?” I hesitantly suggested.
In response to my comment, the princess chuckled.
“I enjoyed that meal so much that I’d be fine with dying if it was poisoned.”
Clearly, she had been extremely hungry, so much so that she’d prefer to eat potentially poisonous food than remain famished. Fortunately, the food did not seem poisoned.
“I think most people in this camp are enemies of mine,” she continued.
“I-is that so?”
She seemed convinced that her foes weren’t restricted to just a few, but rather the majority of the camp.
“I tried to leave the camp a few times earlier, but they stopped me every time. They kept saying I needed to stay put and get some rest. It seems as if they’re determined to confine me here.”
Charlotte’s voice became quieter and quieter as she continued with her explanation.
“No one outside this camp knows I’ve been rescued yet, and it seems they’re planning to keep it that way.”
That made sense.
Even during the rescue, she was wrapped in a thick coat whilst being escorted out. Charlotte was confident that they were trying to hide the fact that there had been survivors within the Demon King’s castle.
“They’re probably waiting for instructions on what to do with me right now, and that’s why they’re making sure that my survival remains a secret. They will most likely kill me here and cover it up as if I had died within the castle with the other prisoners.”
Since news of her survival had not leaked out yet, it was highly possible that they could kill her in the barracks and pretend that they had found her body in the castle. Charlotte was being rational and was considering numerous possibilities.
Though it may have seemed like the princess was receiving the utmost care from the people in the barracks, in reality, it was their way of keeping an eye on the princess and imprisoning her. It made me shudder with fear to think that all of the actions taken by the people in the barracks so far had been carried out with such vicious intent. Especially because all of their actions had appeared genuine and without malice. To me, at least.
However, it seemed as if Charlotte had already seen through their intentions.
“So, your life is also in danger, since you were rescued with me.” Charlotte continued.
Did I hear her correctly? She definitely said that my life was also in danger.
Being outed as a demon wasn’t the only thing concerning me now. I had to consider Vertus and his men as well, because they were going to kill everyone who knew about the princess’s survival.
I was ultimately in a position where I had to do everything to save Charlotte.
“Listen carefully. We’re going to escape from the barracks,” Charlotte said.
Princess Charlotte knew that staying in the barracks and being “rescued” meant that she was putting her life even more at risk. Thus, she intended to break through the surveillance and make an escape.
“Do you think it’s possible?” I asked.
Given the troops stationed all around, a successful escape seemed almost hopeless.
“It’s unlikely I’ll make it out of here. But that’s not the important part,” Charlotte said as she chuckled. “What is important is that a large number of people must know that I’m alive.”
The goal was not to escape, but rather to let the ordinary soldiers know about her survival.
Hold on.
‘Why does it feel like she’s the wiser one when I’m way older than her?’
With a strange sense of defeat, Charlotte stood up.
Mealtime was over.
***
No one would have ever imagined that Charlotte de Gradias would still be alive. Therefore, there were no surveillance devices in the barracks where Charlotte and I were located. The troops were currently waiting for orders from above, and it seemed that they hadn’t considered the possibility of us trying to escape.
The barracks were just a tent, after all.
Hence, the escape plan was rather simple.
I used the knife I was provided for the meal to gently cut through the back of the tent and assessed the situation outside.
After cutting out a bigger piece from the rear of the tent, we crawled outside. Only a few soldiers were on patrol, probably because we escaped through the back of the tent. Most of them were concentrated facing the Demon King’s castle rather than the base, so it made sense for the area around the barracks to be relatively empty.
It seemed that no one had anticipated that Princess Charlotte would feel the sudden urge to attempt an escape from the base right after she had been rescued.
Well, of course, that made sense. Even I was still surprised by her actions.
But we couldn’t stay out here for long. They would soon find out that we were missing. It appeared that Charlotte knew that too.
“Alright, I’m going to get caught soon,” Charlotte said.
You might wonder why she’d left in the first place if she were to be caught so soon, but again, Charlotte’s goal was to make her survival known to as many people as possible, rather than actually escaping.
Being able to spread the news that she was still alive would be enough to buy Charlotte some more time. The news of her survival would quickly circulate among the ordinary soldiers and thus eliminate the possibility of anyone claiming she had died in the castle.
That might buy her a little longer to live until she could come up with a different plan.
That was her goal.
“You should go,” Charlotte suggested.
“Okay,” I responded.
The look in Charlotte’s eyes as she gazed at me wavered slightly.
“Please come back to me as soon as possible!”
It was only then that I glimpsed the fear of death Charlotte was facing once more.
‘Yeah, no matter what I have to do, I’ll make sure you survive.’
Leaving Charlotte behind, I began to sprint through the camp.
—H-H-Her, Her Highness Charlotte?
—Her Highness Charlotte is alive!
Not long after, the shouts of the troops began to echo around the camp.
Charlotte would probably be dragged back inside the barracks, but that was ultimately a way to allow me to move more freely.
“If they find out you’re gone, they’ll try to find you. Get as far away as possible. They won’t kill me right away, but they will kill you. Find Sir William. You have to bring him back with you. Find him and appoint him as my guard.”
Charlotte had said all this just before we’d cut our way out of the tent.
Sir William Francis....
Charlotte said that she had no clue who her allies were, but there was one person who absolutely couldn’t be her enemy.
The knight who’d rescued us, William Francis.
If he had been one of Vertus’s men, he would have killed us on the spot as soon as he found us. But instead, he’d rescued us, and therefore, he couldn’t be one of Vertus’s associates.
From the moment of our rescue, Charlotte had had a gut feeling that another crisis would be upon her before she even had the chance to celebrate being rescued. In the original story, Charlotte would have been assassinated regardless of her knowledge that she was in danger, which meant Charlotte hadn’t made the right choices no matter how clever she was.
So, in the end, whether I succeeded in my part or not would determine the fate of Charlotte’s life. Charlotte would not have been able to find Sir William on her own. Perhaps she could have given instructions to have him summoned to her, but those instructions would have simply been ignored. Alas, I had to find him myself and bring him to her.
The soldiers who were strolling around the barracks glanced at me as I ran past, but they did not approach me. It was probably because they knew what Charlotte looked like, but had no clue who I was, which was a fortunate thing.
I approached a man who looked like an officer among the passing soldiers.
“Do you know where William, Sir William is?” I asked.
“Hm? What’s going on?” He looked down at me and raised an eyebrow.
“There’s an urgent message from the Supreme Commander I need to deliver.”
I had to lie to him because mentioning the princess would only cause delays by requiring me to explain the situation. The officer scanned my attire from top to bottom. Luckily, I was dressed in fine clothes, so it seemed he didn’t look down on me. If I had been wearing rags, he probably would have thought I was a lunatic and told me to get lost.
“I don’t know Sir William well, but he’s probably searching the castle. I heard most of the knights were deployed over there.”
That was just great.
It seemed that he had been redeployed to his original mission of searching the castle right after rescuing us.
‘Wait, no. Hold on a second.’
Vertus’s men would kill everyone who knew that Charlotte was alive. That meant that Sir William’s life was also in danger. Vertus would also consider saving the princess to be an act of rebellion against him, so there was no doubt that Sir William’s life was at risk. I wasn’t the only one whose life was hanging by a thread that was dependent on Charlotte.
“I must go to Sir William right now! His life is in danger!” I exclaimed.
“What, what do you mean?!”
I had no choice but to urgently yell at an officer I had just met.
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