Chapter 58

I wish she wouldn’t call me that.

Ide and Ayla didn’t leave, saying they were worried about us.

Perhaps because we had been living like ordinary country folk with them, being called “Princess” in their presence felt somewhat awkward.

However, Theodora wasn’t someone who would listen just because I said so, and I also had things to say. So I turned to Ide and the children and said:

“Could you give us some privacy for a moment?”

“No! I’m staying with Mom!”

Right, it wouldn’t be Aslan if she quietly withdrew here.

But I didn’t want Aslan to hear what we were about to discuss, so I firmly shook my head.

“No, Aslan.”

“No, no! I’ll stay with Mom…!”

“I’ll take her, my lady.”

Aslan, who was about to throw herself on the floor, couldn’t finish her sentence before Ide picked her up.

Aslan looked at Ide with a betrayed expression.

Pretending not to see that, Ide hurriedly left the room with Aslan tucked under his arm before she could cause a scene.

I quickly expressed my gratitude to his retreating figure.

“Thank you, Lord Mente.”

“It’s nothing.”

Ide said that through the closing door.

Click.

In the finally quiet room, Theodora and I made eye contact.

“Let me ask first, Lady Theodora.”

“Please inquire, Your Highness.”

Theodora bowed her head and waited for my question.

With a complicated expression, I asked, using a name I never thought I’d have to utter again:

“You’re saying the Empress Dowager sent you to me because Mars might make a move?”

“Yes. I believe Your Highness has already noticed. The identity of that assassination group.”

I quietly nodded.

The group that came to mind when thinking of an assassination squad that returns proof was the Kaihel Assassination Squad.

They had one peculiar trait.

While there are occasionally assassins who demand information about their clients, Kaihel went further.

They demanded not just the client’s personal information, but also an item stamped with the family seal.

While personal information alone might be understandable, handing over the family name was an extremely disadvantageous deal for nobles.

Nevertheless, there was a good reason nobles requested Kaihel’s services.

Kaihel had never failed an assassination.

They had never been implicated in a murder trial, and the family seals entrusted to them always returned intact.

It wasn’t high risk, high return, but low risk, high return.

Although it cost an enormous amount of money and required entrusting the family’s honor, there was no reason not to use them if the chance of failure was zero.

Of course, things would be different if the opponent was the Imperial Knights led by Lady Theodora.

However…

“Wasn’t sending you too late? If it weren’t for Lord Mente, you’d be looking at my corpse right now instead of me.”

“We departed around the same time as them. However, due to their interference…”

Theodora had accidentally witnessed Mars dealing with Kaihel, and she tried to find evidence that Mars had attempted to harm me before I was attacked by them.

However, proving why they weren’t first-class assassins for nothing, they easily noticed they were being tailed and interfered with the Imperial Knights.

Blocking their path to force detours, or attacking passing civilians to create incidents that those bearing the Imperial seal couldn’t ignore.

‘As expected of bastards who make a living off others’ lives, how petty…’

Seeing my disgusted expression, Theodora also gritted her teeth, seemingly still upset at the memory.

“Preventing it in advance would have been best, but I thought you could hold out to some extent, given your excellent swordsmanship skills and your knights. It turned out to be a miscalculation. Your strongest force, Luisa, was gone, and you were already in a terrible state when we arrived…”

“…”

My conscience stung a little.

Even setting aside Aslan, if I hadn’t completely abandoned the sword unlike the original Minerva, I could have bought time until Theodora arrived.

Honestly, it was a miracle I held out that long with a body that had turned into a limp slime.

“And suddenly a daughter? There was no sign of this the last time I saw you. Whose child is she?”

Theodora asked with an incredulous face, seemingly unable to raise her voice despite still not believing it.

I avoided Theodora’s gaze with a frivolous wordplay.

“Whose child? She’s my child, of course.”

At that, Theodora finally raised her voice that she had been suppressing.

“That’s not what I meant! Who is the father?”

Ah, this has become troublesome.

How on earth should I explain this?

But I couldn’t answer that I had picked up Aslan.

Partly because I didn’t want Aslan to hear such things, but also because she looked too much like me for anyone to believe it.

As I avoided answering with an annoyed face, Theodora frowned strangely and asked:

“Surely it’s not that Ide Mente fellow?”

“Why is Lord Mente suddenly involved?”

“It’s strange no matter how I think about it! Your Highness interacting with a noble from a neighboring territory? And teaching his daughter? Is even Miss Ayla your daughter?”

I burst out at her ridiculous delusion.

“What nonsense is that!”

Me having Aslan and Ayla with Ide?

Write a novel instead!

Even if I could gloss over Aslan’s identity, this misunderstanding had to be cleared up.

I reluctantly gave Theodora an explanation that wasn’t really an explanation.

“…We somehow became close. I almost lost Aslan before, and it was Lord Mente and Ayla who found her. That’s when we first met.”

Even though I told the truth, Theodora’s suspicion wasn’t easily dispelled.

“Your Highness.”

“What.”

Theodora’s brown eyes narrowed.

I met her gaze, pretending not to be intimidated, and retorted curtly.

Whenever Theodora made that expression, a sharp question always followed.

This time was no different, as Theodora immediately voiced her suspicion about Ide.

“Your Highness. That Ide Mente fellow is suspicious.”

With a face showing I had fully expected this, I asked disinterestedly:

“Are you suggesting Lord Mente might be Mars’ pawn?”

“Half right and half wrong.”

Theodora answered promptly.

Well, while the idea of Ide being Ayla’s biological father was nonsense, it was within the realm of reasonable suspicion up to that point.

But the Ide I had observed was, by all appearances, not Mars’ man.

I sighed and waved my hand dismissively.

“You think I didn’t suspect that? I watched him suspiciously at first too. But he wasn’t.”

“How can you be so sure?”

At Theodora’s question, my lips tightened.

There was no concrete evidence, after all.

Catching onto this, Theodora let out a faint sigh and pulled something out from her bosom, holding it out to me.

“This isn’t something you can be so easily certain about. Look at this.”

“What is it now…”

The moment I confirmed what I had reluctantly taken from her, my eyes widened.

“This is…”

“Yes. It’s a ring bearing the Imperial seal. It belongs to Prince Mars.”

It was what I had tried to find from the Kaihel leader yesterday.

Evidence that Mars had tried to kill me.

But why is this connected to the story of Ide being suspicious?

When I looked at Theodora with such eyes, she said with an unsettled expression:

“Ide Mente found this. As if he knew their identity, he searched for it deliberately.”

“No, Lord Mente is much more meticulous than he appears. He might have stumbled upon it while searching thoroughly just in case.”

Honestly, after nearly being assassinated, isn’t rummaging through their pockets just common sense?

At this, Theodora let out a strange, deflated chuckle and asked me:

“I wish that were the case. But do you know where this ring was found?”

Theodora is a knight who has been through thick and thin.

For her to show this kind of reaction…

Gulp. I swallowed dry saliva.

“…Where?”

“Inside the man’s thigh.”