CH 7

Translator: Keeez

Important note: Since Kumahachi talks in samurai-ly way, but that can’t be properly translated to English and make him seems distinctive, so I’ve decided that from now on he’ll use the word ‘indeed’ in his every speech (or as much as possible) so that you all would know when he’s the one talking.

Chapter 7: A Certain Clear Early Afternoon.

On the gleaming golden throne, Milano is sitting cross-legged with a lavicious smile on his face. In his hand is a crude-looking chain, a stark contrast to gold-decorated furnishings around him that seems to cost a lot of money. At the end of the chain is a collar made of iron, it is tightly wrapped around Selene’s delicate neck, making her look like a dog on a leash.

“What the hell are you doing. Come here and kneel down before me, you trash.”

“……Yes.”

Selene glares at Milano above her. Selene was forced to wear a maid outfit that exposed so much skin that it look more like a prostitute outfit rather than a maid, and she’s treated like a slave. However, she can’t go against him.

“That’s quite a pair of rebellious eyes you got there. Who is the one who rescued you from your prison hmm? Answer me.”

“……It’s……Milano, -sama. Thank you, very much.”

Selene’s body trembles as she is forced to say the humiliating words of gratitude. She didn’t want to be here in the first place. Seeing Selene’s hateful expression, Milano is rather entertained by it, he reaches his hand to the table next to his throne and picks up a cup of tea. Then, he slowly tilts the cup, letting the tea flow to the carpet near his feet, a luxurious stain-free carpet that is paid with tax from the citizens who put their blood, toil, tears, and sweat into paying it.

“Whoops, the floor got dirty. Look like we gotta clean it fast.”

Milano’s mouth curves upward in amusement, he lightly tugs the chain in his hand. With just that one motion, Selene whose body is petite topples forward, her face buried in the stained carpet.

“Now, lick that carpet clean. If you don’t want to that’s fine by me too you know? I’ll just let your older sister do it instead. Mwaーhahahaha!!”

◆◇◆◇◆

“Go die.”

Selene spits curses at the trashy prince in her imagination. It seems like she hasn’t realized yet that she herself who had such an imagination is the trashy one. It’s been three days since her departure to Helifalte Kingdom. Everyday, Selene let her wings of twisted imagination fly freely while inside the carriage.

Selene’s head is full of false prejudices that rich people inherently evil, often conducts perverted act in the shadows, the thought of her life ahead made her body trembles with disgust, she even think up of ways to escape. However, the chances of her escaping by herself and made it out alive is very unlikely, she also doesn’t want to escape alone and sacrifice her sister to the Prince. Selene’s current feelings are exactly like that of a calf about to be sold at the market. If only she had a pair of wings, she could fly freely and go back that happy merry prison of hers.

While Selene’s deep in her evil imaginations, degrading herself over and over. The coachman, and of course Milano and Kumahachi as well, the three of them look at the listless expression on the young princess’s face with worry.

Normally, the carriage Selene’s riding on is supposed to for Milano the prince. However, seeing that Selene’s eyes that are akin to that of a lamb being sent to the slaughterhouse after she was separated from Arue, Milano and Kumahachi decided to ride along on the same carriage together with her to reassure her.

“Seeing the Prince cares so much about the robbed tribute is truly a rare sight indeed.” (Kumahachi)

“She’s not used to people. Let her be alone for now.”

Although his seat in the carriage has been taken away by Selene, but Milano never complained, instead he rides in the front, the coach seat, together with Kumahachi. She had to go on a travel alone to a foreign country, away from her big sister who’s her only supporter. Though he had already explained the situation to her, but there’s no way for her to not feel lonely. Milano wants to make this pitiful girl as happy as possible.

Normally, any girl of around Selene’s age should at least feel happy, though mixed with a little bit of worry, about being able to go and live in the gorgeous metropolis of Helifalte Kingdom. But during this whole travel, Selene’s eyes are like that of a dead fish, only lying listlessly in the carriage. Surely, she sees this world as something frightening that would only causes harm to her. Thinking about this, Milano felt so angry that if possible, he wants to condemn the queen, who drives Selene to the edge like this, to damnation.

“But still, the Queen of Aquila agrees to our conditions surprisingly easy indeed. Though that’s a good thing on our part, but when considering their relationship as mother-daughter, that sure gives me mixed feelings indeed.”

“The other party are probably be laughing their arse off at us, they finally be able to get rid of the trash in their inventory afterall.”

Milano recalls the moment he’s at the negotiating table. The thought of the queen’s and their disgusting smiles at the time made him feels unpleasant. The only redeemable person there is Arue with her complicated expression on her face which helps him lighten his mood, but to Selene that’s probably not very helpful for her.

The moment Milano asks for Selene’s guardianship, the Queen of Aquila presented him two conditions.

First, the fact that Selene is the Second Princess of Aquila must not be announced to the public, only Helifalte’s upper echelons may know about this. This condition is quite questionable, but it’s probably because the head of the state doesn’t want anyone to know that they’ve been hiding the existence of the Second Princess up until now. The second condition is that Arue must be able to study abroad at Helifalte’s educational institution, and that Helifalte Kingdom must bear any responsibilities regarding Arue’s education expenses as well.

University of Helifalte Kingdom is the place yearned by many intellectuals throughout the continent. Just by being able to enroll there gives you great prestige. So naturally people of high status in each country will want to send their children to study abroad there. Of course Aquila Kingdom is one of them too, but this country is small, too small even when compared to other small countries. So if anyone from this country wants to enroll there, you won’t be able to even if you give it all you got.

That’s where Prince Milano’s offer for Selene comes in. The Queen of Aquila who normally treats Selene as a nuisance suddenly recognizes her as the Second Princess, thus used her as a bargaining chip on the negotiation table. She hoped to get a letter of recommendation for Arue the First Princess in exchange for Selene. It’s probably that she wants to increase her favorite First Princess’s prestige even more. It’s really ironic that the Queen said and treated Selene as the rightful Second Princess while also demanding that he musn’t annouce to the public that she’s the Princess of Aquila.

” 『Though she is not very noble, but she does show a glimpse of unique talents. I present her to our dear Helifalte Kingdom, may her talents bloom brightly, we hoped that she will prove useful in your country.』huh……”

Kumahachi unfolds the parchment containing the contract from his pocket, rereads it, before rolling in back while frowning.

“It’s as if a swindler wrote this contract indeed. They doesn’t specify where she orginally comes from, or what kind of talent she have at all.”

“Well, now that they’ve signed the contract to pass Selene over to us, the other party wouldn’t be able to offhandedly interfere us anymore. And also, regarding Princess Arue, I called her to come to the negotiation table for Selene’s sake in the first place anyway. Considering that, her request to study abroad at that moment is truly helpful.”

“That is true indeed. However, no matter how influential you might be Prince, but bringing Arue-dono to Helifalte might get you into trouble, not to mention that you’re doing as you pleases and even brought Selene-dono along as well, won’t your father be angry regarding this?”

“Of course he’ll be angry, but if I have this much authority as a prince and didn’t use it for justice, then I shouldn’t be a prince the first place.”

Milano replied back jokingly. Excluding Arue’s case, helping Selene would only be a demirit for Halifalte Kingdom. Because in reality she’s just a Garbage Dump Princess with next to no value at all. To put it straightforwardedly, the Prince had been ripped off.

But Milano never regrets what he had done. Though he’ll have to report this matter to his father the king, and he might be reprimanded for such conducts in foreign country, but he’s sure that if his father were to be in his position then he’ll do the same thing as he did.

“In any case, we’ve indeed successfully rescue the captive princess from the prison. If us adults were to only make frowning face like this, Selene-dono will surely be frightened. As for anything that will come after this, all you have to do is take resposibility by obediently receive your father the king’s iron fist and everything will be solved. All’s well that ends well.”

“It’s easy to think of it as other’s problem huh.”

Milano sighs with a bitter smile. Milano thinks that he brought this upon himself and he totally deserves it because he acts recklessly in foreign country. Anyhow, we’ve succeed in rescuing Selene just as Kumahachi said, as for the matter of her being abandoned by her mother, that has its own positive sides to it as well depending on how you look at it. As for Princess Arue’s educational expenses, he can use his own money for that. Queen of Aquila’s “This has been the best trade deal in the history ever, exploitation even.” is just a “Small sum of money” for the Prince of Helifalte. His father’s anger is even more frightening than monetary problems.

“That aside, let us be serious for once, what are you going to do about Selene-dono? Though Arue-dono said she’s very intelligent, but she is regrettably still just a child. If we entrusted her to the wrong person, then there’s a possibility that the fact about her being the Princess of Aquila might be leaked.”

“For now I’ll take care of her until Princess Arue arrives in our country. It’ll be more convenient that way when that time comes.”

“If you say so, then I’ll believed so, my lord.”

Kumahachi nods, and Milano continues.

“I planned to let her receive education eventually. but for now I’ll let her live a slow relaxed life for a while. I think that it’s necessary to get rid of her fear of the world first before doing anything else.”

“That is indeed true. Obtaining knowledge can be done later, as much as she wants to. But if she’s afraid of the world while still young, then when she grows up then she’ll have to live with that curse for eternity.”

Kumahachi said as he nods in agreement with Milano’s thoughts.

“For the time being, I’m thinking of having Selene be Marie’s playmate.”

The moment he heard Milano saying so, Kumahachi’s face twitched.

“Y-, your little sister? Please excuse my rudeness, but to let Selene-dono, who has never had much contact with other people, be her playmate may be a little too tough for Selene-dono, is what I’m thinking……”

“But what’s important for Selene is not protection from adults but rather a friend of her age. We can’t risk the possibility of her meeting other nobles’ daughters and leaking her origin after all. And if we’re going to talk about age, then Marie is a perfect fit for Selene. And also……”

Taking a quick breath, Milano continues.

“To be honest, I don’t understand my own little sister very well. In the past she’s like 『Nii-sama, nii-sama』following me around everywhere, but recently she’s strangely selfish right? And I can’t afford to take care of her at every moment too, so maybe she’s getting lonely. That’s why if I have Selene be with her then it might help the situation a little, that is what I’m thinking.”

“Is that the reason why you decided to take Princess Selene in?”

“Well, it’s just a side benefit thing.”

“No no, you surely have one other objective in doing so aren’t you my lord?”

While Kumahachi’s grinning wide, he whispers into Milano’s ear.

“Never in my wildest dream would I’ve thought that Holy Prince Milano actually prefers young girls. That explains why you rejected all the beautiful ladies up until now. But isn’t she a little too young to be used in nightly duties?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Seeing Milano getting angry for real, Kumahachi giggles.

“But still my prince, even right now, Selene-dono is already a beauty that none on this continent can compare to you see? Five years from now the flower bud will surely blooms, give her five more years and who knows how beautiful she’ll become. The word ‘Queen of the Night’ truly befits that little girl. When that time comes, can you still say that you’re not interested in her?”

“……I won’t deny that.”

While they’re having such conversation, Milano’s and Kumahachi’s carriage arrives at a plain with clean stream flowing through it. This is the spot where travellers on the highway often used for resting and camping. Milano’s group are not an exception to this, they decided to take a rest here as well.

“Then, let us take a break here. Everyone, please take care of the meal.”

As Kumahachi passes down the orders, the servants briskly take kitchen utensils out of the cargo wagon, moving their hands efficiently as they’re used to doing this, making preparations. Some gathered firewood, some build hearth. They’re very organized. These elites that Milano had chosen, not only that their conducts are excellent, skilled in military, they can even do miscellaneous jobs like cooking and such without fail as well.

Milano naturally doesn’t join them to do the work because of his status as the prince. As for Kumahachi, he stands a little distance away, acting as the overseer to make sure that the operations goes well, and when he’s sure that there are no problems, he casually walks to the edge of the stream and sits down. After a while of resting there, Kumahachi suddenly caught sight of a pure white girl climbing out of the carriage―― that girl is of course Selene who should’ve been in a slump.

Selene’s wearing a milky white long sleeve gothic dress with frills and a large-brimmed shiny pure white hat that compliment her white body. It made her look as adorable as princesses from fairytales, but this outfit has other function other than making her lovely as well. In order to protect Selene’s skin which will turns red if exposed to sunlight for a long time, they’re reinforced with woven magic. This outfit is a masterpiece crafted by Aquila craftsman, custom-ordered by Milano during the negotiation.

According to Milano, it seems to be “Made in a rush because we have to depart in time”, but the cost of the hat alone can buy several one-story houses in Aquila.

“Kuma, okay?”

“Hmm, ahh? So you’ve come out Selene-dono. May I inquire what’s the matter?”

“Kuma, tired, fine?”

Selene trods over to him and suddenly asks him so, upon hearing that Kumahachi is very impressed. At first he thought that the only thing she’d do is just lamenting about her unhappiness and whatnot, but surprisingly this little girl saw through his fatigue in an instant.

‘Even though she’s just a little girl, but her insight is very sharp indeed.’

It’s exactly as Selene said, although he doesn’t show it in front of his subordinates, but Kumahachi is quite tired himself. Once you leave the city, the area that you tread on can no longer be called safe. Although they’re travelling along the developed road, but to the left and right of them are still forest area, you never know when a hungry beast would jump out of the bushes. Moreover, there are also a lot of bandits along the way as well.

Though on the side of the carriage there’s Helifalte’s coat of arms, the golden eagle, which when the bandits see them they’ll not attack because the risk for them is very high, but that can never be certain.

Kumahachi might be Prince Milano’s good friend, but at the same time they also have master-servant relationship. If dangers were to harm his master, then it’s his duty to put his body on the line. Although he talks casually and appears to be easygoing, but during the travel Kumahachi’s senses are focused as sharp as a blade.

“Sit next to, okay?”

“Ah, ahhh, I do not mind. But Selene-dono, well…… You really don’t mind sitting next to me?”

“What?”

Selene look up at Kumahachi with vacant look. This also surprises Kumahachi as well. Although he’s a calm and gentle person, but as you can see, he’s not skilled in speaking nicely and he doesn’t dressed properly. Because of his bearded and stern face that hail from foreign land, most of the young children cries upon seeing him before running away. On the other hand, the girl that looks like soft snow that’ll melt if you ever to touch her, apparently have more courage than she appears.

“I’m talking about my appearance. Doesn’t Selene-dono think that I’m scary?”

“It okay, Kuma, good person.”

Selene responds so quickly as if it’s a matter of course, which made Kumahachi totally surprised yet again. She doesn’t consider herself to be superior, and not only that, she also doesn’t judge a book by its cover, which is something that is very hard to do even for adults.

“Selene-dono, you truly possess a dauntless and flexible train of thoughts. You’re definitely going to be come a person of great influence in the future. This Kumahachi can guarantees you.”

“Thank you.”

Selene’s lips bloom into a lovely smile before answered shortly.

‘I see…… No wonder that she’s called abnormal. If she’s this young yet already possess this much talent, those hardheaded people probably want to suppress her.’

Although that was just a short conversation, but Kumahachi agrees with Milano thoughts once again. This little girl is not someone who should’ve been locked up in that dirty prison. If she’s nurtured properly, just how talented will she become. From now on I’ll assist her as much as I could. The faithful Kumahachi sets his determination in his heart.

However, in actuality Selene didn’t see through Kumahachi’s inner heart or anything. It’s just that, from the carriage, Selene saw everyone having fun preparing the camping, yet Kumahachi’s sitting alone away from people, after a while he went to sit at the edge of the stream. In other words, she thought that he was being left out.

Judging from Kumahachi’s appearance, coupled with Selene’s previous life knowledges, she thought that he was “a foreign laborer who was treated unfairly, overworked to near death, and was paid low wage.” That evil prince Milano or something’s just bringing him along to make himself look better, he’s also ostracized by others as well.

Selene who was always left out of any two person group for school work during her student days, couldn’t leave Kumahachi standing there all alone and lonely. And she also knew the pain of being told “What, so you’re the only one left huh, then let’s form a group with sensei alright.”, so instead of talking to him because “He’s all alone”, she talks to him because “He seems to be tired”.

But above all else, Selene who used to be a lonely dirty old man, feels more closer and at ease when sitting next to Kumahachi who’s also a lonely dirty old man just like him, instead of talking to the servants who seemed to be athletic fellows. However, Kumahachi’s actually not lonely, he’s not even an old man to begin with.

“Today, good weather. Me, outside, not go much, Kuma healthy, envy.”

“……Is that so.”

Selene’s unsociable, so she doesn’t have any interesting topic to talk about. She wants to sit next to him and talk about something, but in the end he could only talk about the weather, and that he looked healthy.

But Kumahachi who heard her say so didn’t think the same thing as she did. This princess has always been confined, the only world she knows is that of the darkness. Just how beautiful this sky must look to her, yet to him it’s the usual everyday sky with nothing special. Seeing that the princess is already impressed with something of such a small scale as this, he wants to show her how wide and colorful the world actually is.

“Fumu, then let this Kumahachi teaches you Selene-dono about this world.”

“Eh?”

“Whaat, although I may look like this, but I’m still Prince Milano’s aide nonetheless, and thanks to that I’m rather familiar with this continent. I can tell you stories that are accurate and way more interesting than the geographers who’re only about theories and stuff can.”

Kumahachi said jokingly before taking out an old map from his pocket, spreading it out on the grass.