Volume 5, Chapter 1 – The Growth of The Flame Princess, Part 4
“Your Highness, Hiro, we have arrived at the Kelheit family mansion.”
As soon as he heard the coachman’s words, the carriage came to a slow stop. He looked at the passengers in the carriage again and then put his hand on the door.
“Now, let’s be happy to see Rosa again. She’s been looking forward to it, I’m sure.”
He then opened the door of the carriage and was confronted by a pair of large breasts.
“Buh!”
In an instant, the air in front of his eyes dispersed, and darkness took over. But, as always, the welcome was enthusiastic.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re okay! It’s good to see you!”
A gentle, pleasant tone of voice touched his ear.
Hiro smiled.
“I’m glad to see you too, Rosa. And I’m glad to hear that everything is okay with you too.”
Hiro felt the warm embrace that enveloped his whole body ― the sweet scent of which he regretted, but he slowly pulled away and looked at her again.
“Fufufu, how are you doing? Have you been eating properly?”
Myste Cagliara Rosa von Kelheit.
She’s the acting head of the five major noble families, the Kelheit family, which has a great deal of influence in the Grantz Empire.
She is also the former third imperial princess, and her distinctive blond hair and blue eyes remind one of her strong Grantz bloodlines. In addition, her seductive limbs and the curvaceous figure will make women forget their jealousy, while men will be captivated by her eyes.
“But isn’t it too late? I was waiting for you to arrive.”
“We’re still ahead of schedule, though.”
“That’s not the point…”
But when she saw the person who came down after Hiro, she choked on her words. Then, when he looked at her, her blue eyes began to moisten rapidly.
“Oh! Liz!”
“Heh ― whoaa!”
She couldn’t avoid the sudden attack and was trapped in the darkness of the embrace.
“I’ve never been able to sleep a day after hearing that the Grand Duchy of Dral captured you!”
She must have been relieved to see Liz safe and sound. Rosa’s tears were in the corners of her eyes.
“Ane-sama… I’m sorry for making you worry.”
“It’s okay. I’m glad you’re okay. Kiork-dono was also worried about you.”
The sisters are happy to see each other again, and Cerberus appears at their feet.
“Cerberus… I’ve heard about you, too. You’ve done well.”
Rosa stroked the bandages wrapped around Cerberus’s body and gave her a word of encouragement.
“Oh yeah, Ane-sama, Aura is going to be on our side!”
“Oh… Lady Bunadhara is also here?”
“…Nice to meet you.”
“Umu. You’re welcome. I hope you can teach Liz a thing or two.”
Rosa held out her hand, and Aura tried to respond.
“Leave it to me ― whoa!”
Aura’s face is buried in her ample breasts as her wrists are pulled.
“Mmm, mmm!”
Aura’s arms and legs are short for her age, and the way she jiggles and flails around is something that makes one smile. And unfortunately, her power could not escape the darkness of Rosa’s embrace.
“I’ve always thought you were cute. You’re making me want to be like a sister that pranks her little sister.”
Hiro was tempted to say that it wasn’t much different now, but he closed his mouth and watched as Liz moved again out of the corner of his eye.
“Ane-sama, and this is… err… a mysterious woman.”
She tried to introduce the hooded woman, Skaaha, but with the guards’ eyes on her, her words were stilted, and the end of the sentence was small and faded into the wind.
“No, it’s okay. I know who she is. I’ve heard so much about her from my lord’s letters.”
Rosa released Aura and quietly walked over to Skaaha.
Everyone was rendered speechless by the calmness ― or rather, the anger ― of her appearance. Skaaha is the woman who is partly responsible for Liz’s injury. It is easy for those who know why this is to guess what kind of action Rosa will take.
“Ane-sama, wait――!?”
Liz tried to intervene between the two, but Rosa’s glare halted her steps. Skaaha didn’t move a muscle and just waited for Rosa to do what she would do.
But…
“You can take your time.”
She hugged her, saying only that.
“Wa…”
Although Skaaha’s expression couldn’t be seen, it’s obvious that she was feeling unconcealed agitation.
(You are that kind of person, aren’t you?)
After losing her husband at a young age, she took over a huge family of five noble families. Despite being a woman, she has been able to cross into male society. Therefore, she knows the consequences of hatred. She knows what kind of results grief can produce.
In other words, Rosa’s own apology as a member of the royal family. No matter what words she threw at him, they would be meaningless to Skaaha. That’s why she thought she had no choice but to show it through her actions.
After a while, Rosa left Skaaha and smiled calmly.
“Now, it’s getting cold. The meal is ready, so let’s go into the mansion.”
The audience will take place tomorrow around noon, she added, pointing her hand toward the mansion entrance and urging them to enter with a graceful motion.
“What’s for dinner today, Ane-sama?”
“Hmm, it’s a secret. You can look forward to it.”
“…I want something sweet.”
“Of course, I’ve prepared a lot of things for you, so don’t worry.”
Then Rosa turned her body to Skaaha, who still could not hide her surprise.
“What do you want to eat?”
“…..Anything warm is fine.”
“I see… Then let’s all eat together before the food gets cold.”
Then Rosa looked at Hiro sideways.
“What about you?”
“I’d like you to go ahead; I need to talk to my subordinates.”
“Understood. Come on, before Cerberus eats everything.”
With a hand wave behind her back, Rosa took the three girls and one dog into the mansion. After watching their backs, Hiro turned around to look behind him.
There, the three of his subordinates, Ghada, Munin, and Hugin, stood quietly waiting. Except for Spitz, the rest of Aura’s aides are also accompanying her on this journey, and they will be sleeping with Tris at the Bunadhara mansion ― in other words, Aura’s mansion.
“One-Eyed Dragon, I’ll be on guard duty here with Munin.”
“All right. Then let’s set up a camp in the garden of the mansion so that we can deal with any problems that may arise.”
“Understood.”
Next to Ghada, Munin looked uncomfortable, but he did not seem to have a single complaint in front of Ghada. Hiro smiled at his reaction and turned his attention to Hugin.
“Hugin should stay at Rosa’s mansion.”
“Eh, no, no, I’ll stay with my big brothers.”
Hiro could see that she was trying to be tough. Although she’s a skilled archer who can overwhelm men with her archery skills, she has reached her limit of exhaustion due to repeated battles. Besides, Hugin is a hard worker. She never misses a day of training, no matter how tired she is, because she doesn’t want to be outdone by men. Therefore, it was the wish of Hiro, Ghada, and her own brother, Munin, that she should take it easy this time.
He knew that she would refuse, so he prepared a good reason.
“I want Hugin to be Rosa’s bodyguard.”
“A bodyguard?”
“Yes. There is no safe place in the Great Imperial Capital nowadays. An assassin could appear anywhere. That’s why I want Hugin to make sure that Rosa is safe. Especially in mansions or banquet halls where people get loose.”
“…I understand. If wise brother says so, then I will be in charge of the protection.”
“You can leave the guarding of the outside to your brother… and the younger sister can stay in the house and have hot soup. It’s really enviable, isn’t it?”
Munin is about to start messing around with Hugin with a grin on his face, looking like a little boy who has just thought of a trick. Hugin frowned in annoyance as if she had sensed her brother’s attitude.
“Wise brother gave me a job as a guard because of my skills! So if you’re frustrated, you can dress up as a woman and run around town!”
“Eh… isn’t that just plain perverted?”
“Hmph, brother is a pervert in his own right. He’s a pervert who takes pleasure in teasing his sister.”
“So, the perverted brother will show you one of his sister’s habits. The sublime little sister-sama watches Hiro-sama’s sleeping face at night ― Gofuh!?”.
“I-if you say anything else, I’ll punch you!”
“Y-you already punched me…”
“Shut up!”
Hiro took his eyes off the little sister, who was arguing with her brother, no, in fact, beating him unilaterally, and approached Ghada, who was staring at them as if in a daze.
“Ghada, about the future…”
“Mmm, what is it?”
“I want you to have Munin sneak into the central nobleman’s mansion. There are several nobleman’s mansions that I want you to break into… The list is on this piece of paper.”
Hiro held out the paper, but as expected, Ghada’s mouth curved into a grimace of dissatisfaction.
“The security is tight everywhere. Isn’t it too dangerous?”
“All I want is for you to leave a trace that there was an intruder ― although that doesn’t mean there isn’t a risk to life.”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you aware that there are many members of the central nobility who are dissatisfied with the Krone family?”
“Yeah, it’s no wonder there are some of them among the nobility, seeing as how the people were protesting earlier.”
“So what would happen if there were intruders only in the homes of disgruntled nobles?”
With that explanation, Ghada’s smile deepened in amusement as he accepted the paper from Hiro.
“You want to make them aware that the Krone family is on the lookout for betrayal?”
“That’s right, the people on the paper are central nobles who are complaining about the Krone family ― so what happens if there’s a string of intruders?”
“I see. That’s an interesting thought. I understand well. I’ll let Munin know about it.”
And then, Ghada continued.
“What do you want me to do?”
“That depends on what happens next. You will have to do a lot of work, I think. I’ll tell you more when the time is right. In the meantime, I want you to concentrate on security for today.”
“Understood.”
Then Hiro turned to Hugin, who was still arguing with Munin.
“Hugin, shall we go into the mansion now?”
“Yes! Let’s leave my brother alone and go to the mansion!”
Hugin smiled cheerfully at Hiro but bared her white teeth menacingly at her brother, Munin. In contrast, Munin also countered with a joking expression.
Hiro smiled at the exchange between the two.
“Haha… Well then, let’s go.”
Then he turned to Ghada and the others again.
“Ghada, Munin, take care of the rest.”
After telling them that he would bring them some food later, Hiro took Hugin into the mansion.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺