Chapter 8: Ludwig Hatches a Plot

Wh-Wh-Why in the moons is he here, of all people?!

After recovering from her blackout, Mia found herself face-to-face with Dion.

"I'm glad to see you're all right, Your Highness," he said with a professional smile before lowering his head respectfully. "Dion Alaia. I'm honored to be graced by your presence."

His smile was perfect. There wasn't a shred of hostility to it. Nevertheless, Mia couldn't help but shudder in terror. Perfect as it was, it still chilled her to the bone, and looking at his face made her feel an icy sensation on the back of her neck, as though something hard and metallic were pushing against it.

"I'm the captain of the soldiers here. The army sent us to..." He trailed off when he noticed Mia's gaze drifting. "Uh, Your Highness? Is something the matter?"

Mia snapped back to attention and looked at him. There, right in front of her, was Dion. The sight of his face so close was terrifying, and the way his eyes were fixed on hers gave her the shakes. It was as if he were peering into her soul.

"E-Eek—"

She felt her legs turn to jelly, and she'd have landed on her rump had the large vice-captain nearby not caught her as she fell.

"Are you okay, Princess? Did the carriage ride make you sick?"

His words of concern failed to register in her mind. She kept staring at Dion, unable to look away. He raised an eyebrow.

"Is there something on my face?"

"N-N-No, there's nothing on your face. I-I-It's just that, um... your vice-captain is a bear of a man, and he looks a little scary."

"Gahaha. Bear, huh? Can't argue with that. I guess a face like mine don't sit right with the princess."

The vice-captain laughed heartily, but Dion didn't join him. Instead, he kept his eyes on Mia, calmly appraising her.

She's lying. It's not him. This whole time, she's been scared of me.

If his assumption was correct, then he'd have to give the princess some credit for having a rather keen pair of eyes. She was right to be scared of him.

The vice-captain might look like a bandit, but he was a big softie toward children. Unless she did something absolutely atrocious, he'd hardly raise his voice, much less his hand against her. Even if she were to dive at him with a weapon in hand, he'd aim only for her weapon to try and disarm her. He was a gentle giant.

Dion, meanwhile, looked every bit the gracious gentleman, but should the need arise, he'd plunge a sword through a child without a second thought. If someone came at him with a weapon, he'd have no mercy. Furthermore, when it came to the business of killing, he was a far deadlier warrior than his vice-captain. Therefore she was absolutely correct in directing her fear and caution his way, but...

It's one thing for a fighter to suss out my threat level on the battlefield, but this is a princess we're talking about. Born and raised in the pampered environment of the imperial court. If she managed to figure that out, then this is a girl who should not be underestimated.

His silent musing came to an end when the young official who'd followed Mia here spoke up.

"Your Highness," said Ludwig, "I suggest you go and inspect the forest, accompanied by Captain Dion."

"...Eh?"

Mia gave Ludwig a dumb look as she let out a confused yelp.

O-Ohoho, I see now. He's joking. Oh, the stupid four-eyes, always cracking jokes. They're in such terrible taste...

Her attempt at escapism was foiled by Ludwig's next statement.

"There is a risk of the viscount interfering with our plans if we head directly to his manor like this. Your Highness will gain a far better grasp of the situation if you take a look by yourself in secret."

Realizing that he meant what he said, she began to panic.

"Wha— Wait! But!"

"Hold on there, Mr. Ludwig, sir. I know you have your plans and all, but what you're proposing isn't that simple," said Dion with a grimace of annoyance. "Also, you do realize that means I'll be taking Her Highness into the forest by herself, right?"

"What are you talking about? We of the Princess Guard will of course follow—"

"You'll be doing none of that. That armor you lot wear makes you stick out like sore thumbs. Things are pretty sensitive in the forest right now. Walking in with that stuff on is an open provocation. Piss off the Lulus and things'll get bloody. Any of you feel like heading back and telling His Majesty that you started a war? Unless..." A twisted, derisive smile crept across his lips. "You all strip down. But can you? That armor is the symbol of the imperial guard. Can you take it off?"

The leader of the guards held his gaze, then smiled.

"If we must, then we shall. Our pride lies not in what we wear, but what we do. And what we do is serve and protect Her Highness." He turned to the others. "Princess Guard! Drop your gear! Remove your armor! We travel with swords only!"

His order was immediately met with a flurry of motion as the guards began to undo their suits of mail. Not a man hesitated. Even someone like Dion couldn't help but feel his eyes go wide as the scene unfolded before him. The imperial guard was an elite group known not only for their unwavering loyalty and impeccable skill but also their extreme pride. What he'd just witnessed, however, was devoid of vanity.

"No way... Is their devotion to the princess so thorough that it's tempering their hubris?" he murmured in disbelief.

"That's quite enough, Guard Captain," said Ludwig as he gestured at the guards to stop. "I believe the point has been made. We will need a distraction for Viscount Berman. You and your guards will be coming with the rest of us to keep the man busy."

"But— With all due respect, sir, that's—"

"Two men." Ludwig silenced him with two fingers held up. "Two of your men may accompany the princess. The rest come with us to the Berman manor."

Then, he turned to Dion.

"Well, Captain? Will that be satisfactory?"

"Uh, well... Huh." Dion shook his head in a resigned fashion. "Bloody hell. I guess I have no reason to say no."

The way Ludwig made concessions was almost extortion, leaving him with no choice but to agree. Admittedly, he'd also grown a little curious about this princess who commanded such unqualified devotion from her guards.

"Excellent. Well, there you have it, Your Highness," said Ludwig, turning back to Mia. "Have you any other concerns?"

Mia looked at him. Through sheer willpower, she managed a strained smile and refrained from speaking.

A-A-Are you kidding me? Have I any concerns?! I sure do, you stupid four-eyes!

So instead, she screamed her grievances inside her own head. She was perceptive enough to recognize that this was a done deal and no further input to the contrary would be allowed. Still, that didn't mean she had to like it.

I have nothing but concerns about this, damn it!

For the rest of their conversation, she continued to smile while the voice in her mind howled in dismay.

Ugh, how in the moons did it come to this...

She sighed as the horse she rode moved at a leisurely trot. Leading their group was the very man who had separated her head from her body, Captain Dion. Never in her wildest nightmares did she imagine she would one day have him as a guide. The thought made her feel particularly miserable, and she sat loosely upon her steed, allowing it to shake her freely from side to side as it walked.

"Hey, Princess, your riding's shaping up real nice," said the vice-captain, who was just a little ahead of her. "Most noble girls just tense up on a horse, but you're staying relaxed and letting its steps flow through you. Not bad at all..."

"My, that's very nice of you to say."

Mia smiled at the bandit-faced vice-captain. As far as she could tell, looks notwithstanding, the large man wasn't a bad person. In fact, he'd been fairly considerate toward her on their trip so far. Not only was he probably a nice guy on the inside, he was the vice-captain, which suggested he was in a position to check Dion to a degree. If things got thorny, she might be able to rely on him to keep his captain under control. She could hear the calculating side of her instincts telling her that she should definitely get on friendly terms with the large man. Which might actually just be her ego having its moment after being complimented on her horsemanship, but whatever. Even during the summer holidays, she made a point of riding horses whenever she could find the time. She deserved some praise.

It wasn't just a hobby, either. Far from it. To her, horse riding was literally a matter of life and death. If the worst came to pass, the only things she could rely on were those subjects loyal to her and the physical ability to hightail it out of danger. As it turns out, the Sword of Damocles can be a great source of motivation to learn a new skill.

"Say, Vice-Captain, if I had to — this is completely hypothetical, mind you — run away and Captain Dion was chasing me, do you think I could make it past the empire's border safely?"

"Huh? Uh, well..."

"Not a chance. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'd be on you in half a day."

She looked ahead to find that Dion had turned around on his horse to face her. The smile on his face was friendly. So terrifyingly friendly.

"So, just some friendly advice," he continued. "If you're ever thinking of eloping with some cute boy, make sure I never find out. Or you'd better give yourselves a very big head start."

"All right, enough with the teasing, Captain. That said, though, give you another ten years, and I bet you'll be as good a rider as he is."

"...Ah, I see. Ten years, huh."

If the future played out as her diary foretold, then she had at most five more years until the revolution began. She hung her head, crestfallen at the thought. The vice-captain's horse whinnied, almost as if it were trying to comfort her.

"My, that horse..."

She regarded the large man's steed. There was a sense of elegant strength to the way its prominent muscles shifted rhythmically as it walked, and its silky black hair was smooth and glowing.

"What a beautiful horse. Its hair especially. The glow is wonderful."

"Huh. You're into horses, Princess?" The big man grinned and scratched his head, clearly pleased to hear his horse praised. "This one's definitely a real beauty. You like the hair, right? I actually wash it using a special horse shampoo I get from abroad."

"My, is that so? I feel a sort of connection with it. I wonder why. It's as if we share something dearly held."

The horse glanced at her and huffed amicably.

It took them half a day to reach the edge of the Sealence Forest. Dion's hundred-man squad had set up camp in a clearing a ways from the forest. Soldiers moved busily through neat rows of makeshift tents, all of which was surrounded by a simple fence. Their brisk but orderly movements would normally be a sight to behold, speaking to their discipline and training. There was something else, however, that grabbed Mia's attention and wouldn't let go: a sense of tension in the air.

"Why does everyone seem so... on edge?"

"Well, Your Highness has arrived," answered one of her two guards. "Surely, it's only natural for them to be nervous."

Mia shook her head.

"No, it's not that... This feels... different."

It felt like the calm before a storm. There was an unsettling energy that buzzed everywhere, as though everything was moments away from bursting into flames. It was a sentiment she'd felt before.

It feels terribly similar to the night before the revolution began.

"Impressive. It seems like Your Highness has a fighter's senses," said Dion as he walked up beside her, his smile still unbroken. "This is a battlefield, and the soldiers are treating it as such. They ready their hearts and minds to fight at a moment's notice. Those that do not will lose their lives."

"My!"

The situation seemed especially cruel to Mia. Having a dreadful berserker as a captain was bad enough... They had to endure such a grim atmosphere while working themselves to the bone under the orders of a terrifying man who saw humans as little more than heads to be chopped off.

"I feel terribly sorry for them..." she said, feeling a profound sense of pity for the soldiers.

"Does she now..." mused Dion quietly. "If she has the capacity to feel sorry for soldiers enduring the abusive whims of nobility, then this princess might really be the sage they say she is..."

Fortunately — for Mia, that is — Dion might be a great soldier, but he was no mind reader. His thoughts on the matter went no further, leaving him with a budding sense of respect for her.

"Is there truly a need to station soldiers here?"

"Personally, I don't think so. If anything, leaving soldiers here only increases the risk of battle."

"In that case..."

"Thing is, we've been ordered to stay here. Even if I think it's better for us to withdraw the troops, I can't leave without a good reason." Dion shook his head and shrugged.

"A reason to withdraw..." Mia put a hand to her chin as the gears in her head began to turn.

As she walked through the temporary garrison, smiling at and thanking the soldiers for their work, she continued to think.

A reason to withdraw...

She stood on the eve of a battle that, should it break out, would lead directly to her guillotined fate. Crisis loomed like a fast-approaching wildfire, and she could already feel the heat on her face. Spurred by the deadly gravity of the situation, her brain kicked into high gear. She could almost hear it whistling like an overheating steam engine.

In fact, she was thinking so hard that she couldn't even control her own gaze. It drifted around aimlessly. Whenever a soldier appeared in her view, she would smile reflexively before moving on.

From the soldiers' perspectives, however, things were very different. What they saw was her glowing skin, which owed its splendor to Anne's loving care, and her horse shampoo-enhanced hair that flowed like silk. Decked out with such armaments of beauty, Mia was a force to be reckoned with. Right now, she looked better than she ever had. On top of that, the riding clothes she wore were decidedly unaristocratic, instead exuding a plebeian air that was endearingly familiar to the onlookers. The way she looked into the distance with eyes so lustrous they seemed almost glassy... It was enchanting. Almost unearthly. She was the kind of princess that existed in the imaginations of every young man, and all the training in the world could not prepare Dion's elite troops for the firepower of her smile.

"Whoa... She's so pretty... That's Her Highness, Princess Mia?"

"And she's here to personally meet with foot soldiers like us? What they say is true... She really is a saint."

Similar whispers could be heard throughout the camp, interspersed with fond sighs as more hapless victims succumbed to Mia's charm. The object of their affection, meanwhile, noticed none of this. She was still deep in thought.

Mia still had a trump card: the privilege to be selfish. Most demands, even if they were fairly excessive, would be accepted so long as she made them. A military order from the Ebony Moon Ministry could theoretically be overturned by a direct demand from the emperor's daughter. While there was no end to the tragedies this privilege had spawned throughout history, in this specific case, it was a powerful weapon in her arsenal. Powerful, but not omnipotent. The question was whether or not she could create the conditions that would allow her to make her demand.

Easier said than done...

Asking for an expensive present was one thing, but requesting a withdrawal of troops was another matter altogether. She couldn't think of a way to make her demand seem just excessive and not irrational. For example, what would happen if she were to, without any warning, walk up to Dion and tell him to withdraw his troops? Would he just nod and order them to leave? Probably not. His vice-captain would just laugh and shrug her off with something like Gahaha, pretending you're a general, Your Highness? Real bold of you. She couldn't have her demand be seen as the senseless babbling of a child. She needed to mold the situation into one that would make it perfectly logical for her to make such a request.

If only there were a good way to do so... Hm?

Suddenly, Mia noticed that her surroundings had changed. Hanging over her was no longer the endless blue of the sky but a canopy of green. In front of her were trees. To her side were trees. Behind her were trees as well. She was standing in the middle of a thick forest — the kind she'd read about in the story that Anne's sister, Elise, had written. Before them led a narrow trail, likely made by animals, that wound its way into the dark depths of the forest.

"Um... Where are we?"

"Hm? The forest, obviously. I said we were going in a while ago, didn't I?"

"...Eh?"

Her mouth fell open.

"We're at the front line right now."

"Th-The front line?!"

"Yeah. Hell, we might be standing in enemy territory already. Granted, there hasn't been any fighting yet, so I doubt they'll just pop out and try to murder us."

She heard the first half of his sentence and freaked out, so the second half never made it into her ears.

Wh-Wh-Why in the moons would you bring me to a place like this?! Just because I was lost in thought doesn't mean you can lead me wherever you want!

Though she was officially here on an inspection trip, she had no intention of actually inspecting anything. Heck, she didn't even want to go to the camp. She just came to stop any fighting from breaking out. That was all. Instead, here she was, standing in what was arguably the most dangerous place possible.

Just as she was about to protest, Dion whispered to her in a low voice.

"Oh, by the way, Your Highness, I'd recommend keeping your hands away from anything in the forest."

"Huh?"

"The trees here are sacred to the Lulus. They consider them a treasure conferred upon them by God. If you happened to scratch up a couple and an arrow pings you in the head, well... Can't blame them for that, can you?"

I sure can! What do you mean an arrow pings me in the head?! That's terrifying!

She peered gingerly at the trees around her. All of a sudden, every gleam and sparkle in the surrounding darkness seemed like the arrow tip of an archer in hiding. Her chicken heart began to squawk loudly in her chest.

"I-I think I've seen quite enough. I'd like to go back to town imme— Bwaah!"

She tripped over a thick protruding root and went down in an extravagantly boisterous fashion, landing with a loud thud.

"Your Highness! Are you all right?!"

"Are you hurt anywhere?!"

Her guards dashed to her side. Dion, in stark contrast, simply stood there and sighed in exasperation.

"Would you please watch yourself, Your Highness? We're not strolling the capital right now, you know."

Despite his pointed remark, he still extended a hand. Mia took it and pulled herself up.

"I-It's that root's fault for sticking up like that. This stupid tree had to..."

And that was when it clicked.

"Y-Yes... Yes, that's it... It's all this tree's fault!"

An evil grin spread across her lips as she gazed up at the towering plant.