“Yes, it seems she has some use.”

“That troublemaker?”

“Watch your words……”

Bane shook his head, pressing one hand against his throbbing temple. But he couldn’t entirely blame Michelo. His own feelings were not much different from his.

The Empire was now at a time when it needed to strengthen its internal affairs in preparation for potential chaos. The existence of a fallen kingdom and a captured princess would only serve as kindling to fuel the Empire’s confusion.

“When we arrive at the ducal residence, prepare a room for the princess, and assign the maid currently with her to attend to her. And……”

Bane paused briefly as he was giving orders. Some inexplicable feeling brushed past him. It was a strange sensation, as if the place prepared for the princess in the Ivanstein ducal residence would become permanently fixed.

“What is the princess doing now?”

“What could she be doing? All she can do in the carriage is stare blankly.”

“Is she awake?”

“Yes, yes, if she’s not awake in this commotion, is she even human?”

“Please, mind your tongue.”

Bane slapped Michelo’s cheeky lips and drove his horse back. Michelo clutched his slapped mouth and shouted with a reddened face.

“Captain, does living so seriously in everything make life any better!?”

Ignoring Michelo’s grumbling, Bane approached the carriage carrying the princess. The horse he had been riding was taken by a soldier who had been following the carriage.

“I need to have a word with the princess. If our lord asks for me, let me know immediately.”

“Yes!”

Knock knock, there was no answer from the princess when Bane knocked on the carriage door. Bane, in fact, didn’t need to wait for her response given his position, but he waited for a moment. After walking a few steps in pace with the carriage, he soon heard the princess’s thin voice inviting him in.

“I’m coming in.”

As Bane opened the carriage door and entered, the princess spoke with a gentle smile, her eyes wrinkled.

“What brings you here, Sir Bane?”

The princess’s voice was calm yet soft. Bane secretly clenched and unclenched his fist at the sight of her exuding the characteristic composure of royalty. She now fully embodied the appearance of a princess.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Please, be at ease.”

Bane tried not to frown at the voice imbued with royal dignity.

Just a few days ago, she had been facing her impending death. Unlike now. However, after talking with his lord that day, color had returned to the princess’s face. It was as if she had encountered hope, and Bane could tell that his lord had opened a path for the princess to survive.

Bane still didn’t understand. Why his lord’s mind had changed, and if it had anything to do with that slave. But Bane couldn’t ask his lord anything. Bane, too, owed a debt to the truth of that day.

“There are a few precautions at the Ivanstein ducal residence. Your Highness must strictly adhere to them.”

“Yes. Please go on.”

“First, you cannot go out without our lord’s permission. Second, you cannot enter the western garden of the Ivanstein ducal residence. And lastly……”

Bane’s lips quivered for a moment before he continued.

“If you discover a basement in the Ivanstein ducal residence, you must absolutely, absolutely not enter it.”

“……!”

Mel suddenly swallowed in surprise. She hadn’t expected Bane to mention Ivanstein’s basement.

The corners of Mel’s mouth trembled as she tried to appear calm.

“Our lord has ordered that if you violate this, you may be executed immediately.”

Bane’s gaze fell on the scabbard at his waist. If the princess were to be executed then, it would probably be Bane who would do it.

“If you’re careful about this, your stay at the Ivanstein ducal residence shouldn’t be unpleasant.”

“…I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Then.”

Bane glanced at the princess’s pale, stiff face and left the carriage.

Left alone, Mel took deep breaths, trying to calm her trembling body. There was no need to be scared already.

Genoa would help her exist as a princess. That was the prerequisite of the deal they had made that day.

She just needed to be careful not to act in a way that would offend his eyes.

“……”

Mel slightly lifted the curtain covering the carriage window. They were just passing through the gates of the Ivanstein ducal residence, which she had seen dozens of times in her childhood.

She had returned to the Ivanstein ducal residence. From a lowly slave to a noble princess.

Then and now, entering the Ivanstein ducal residence in a carriage was the same, but now she was entering with a different status.

However, her circumstances hadn’t changed. The fact that she had to survive here somehow, that is.

“I have a wish.”

“Tell me.”

“When this is over, give me my freedom.”

Mel recalled the expression Genoa had made at her words. It was the expression he used to show when she said something silly as a child.

Blink, blink again.

Genoa had slowly closed and opened his eyes like that, and then smiled gently and said:

“You say interesting things.”

Did I miss that look? Mel closed her eyes, recalling Genoa’s voice that overlapped with the voice of that boy from her childhood.

Not once had she regretted surviving like that on that day. Something that had been forcibly crammed into her distant memories felt like it was about to spill out.

* * *

Mel once again heard about the basic etiquette to be observed in the Ivanstein ducal residence through the maid’s mouth.

Do not offend Duke Genoa Ivanstein’s eyes, nor disobey his orders.

In the Ivanstein mansion, the Duke’s orders were absolute. Even the Emperor’s orders could not take precedence within the Ivanstein mansion.

“If you need anything, just call for me.”

The maid who had been taking care of her since Hartenbrun disappeared after saying these last words.

Mel, who had been sitting blankly in the room all day, only realized when the sun had set. No one was doing anything for her.

Not even basic things like change of clothes, meals, or water for washing.

‘I need to know where she is to call her…’

The maid hadn’t even told Mel her name. Mel thought, clutching her hungry stomach.

They said not to offend the Duke’s eyes, did they mean for her to just quietly starve to death here?

She calmly pondered her situation.

‘I may not be treated as a guest, but I’m probably not being treated as a prisoner either. The Duke will guarantee my position.’

Mel repeatedly grasped and released the door handle. The door, engraved with the unique pattern of the Ivanstein ducal family, evoked a familiar sensation in Mel. A door that was always firmly locked.

‘So it should be okay to leave the room, right?’

She had no memory of ever being allowed to wander freely in this mansion. So when Mel secretly escaped through the dormitory window to roam around the ducal residence, she had to risk her life.

Sometimes crawling on the floor like a mouse to avoid people’s gazes, sometimes holding her breath and hiding in the bushes.

“……”

Only after taking several deep breaths could Mel muster the courage to open the door. Click, with just a little force on the handle, the door opened naturally. Almost ridiculously so, considering how much Mel had steeled herself.

“Ha.”

A strange sigh escaped between Mel’s parted lips.

She could go out. It might seem too obvious, but it was novel to Mel. She could now move freely within the Ivanstein ducal residence.

“It’s so easy, really.”

Whether she’s a princess of a fallen kingdom or a slave, although she thought their miserable situations were the same, they were so different.

Mel closed the door again and stared at it for a long time. How much time had passed?

“I’m hungry.”

Mel smiled slightly at the hunger that washed over her even as she was sinking into melancholy. It was amusing how the desires that had been numb when she had lost the will to live were returning now that a path to survival had opened.

Someone had once told Mel something like that. That a slave is just an animal faithful to its instincts. Even with a princess’s mask on, it can’t be helped, Mel thought as she opened the door and went out.

“I’m telling you, Viscountess Geneve ran out n*ked in shock.”

“The Emperor dying from overexertion, does that even make sense?”

“I wonder if he took some kind of aphrodisiac…”

Two servants of the ducal family were chattering and gossiping as they passed by, when they encountered Mel just as she opened the door.

“Oh… Your Highness.”

“Shh. Be quiet.”

One of them who made eye contact with Mel tried to say something to her, but his companion covered his mouth with a hand. After briefly gauging the situation, they passed by Mel without saying anything.

Mel was puzzled by the servants’ behavior of blatantly avoiding her, but she moved on, assuming they were just flustered by the sudden encounter. Surely they weren’t deliberately avoiding her, she thought.