Ending Conditions of the Princess and the Knight

With her shoulders fluttering and a hint of excitement, Bridget folded her fan and firmly grasped Taeri’s wrist, pulling her into the carriage.

“Alright, I’ll go with you. I just need to show you around the nearby area, right?”

“You’re being rude again!”

Ancie scolded with a terrified face, but the person involved had a ‘So what?’ attitude since they were friends.

“The princess is heading towards the apothecary district. Make sure to accompany her safely and bring her back.”

“Eugh, why would I go to a place full of grumpy old men?”

Despite protesting and complaining that she didn’t want to go, fearing that she would be forcefully abducted and taken elsewhere, but her defiance waned under Ancie’s stern gaze.

Ancie, who had just disciplined her niece, warmly grasped Taeri’s hands.

“She’s not a bad kid, she’s just immature. She’ll take good care of you, so please be careful.”

“I feel like I’m causing trouble for so many people.”

“No, you’re not. Whatever the princess does, it’s never a burden.”

With resolute affection, Ancie silenced her and hugged Taeri tightly once again before parting ways.

“Don’t lose your confidence or be disheartened.”

After hesitating for a while, Taeri cautiously met Ancie’s gaze.

* * *

I could sit a little further away, but since I’m sitting directly across from her, Brigitte’s pointed shoe tip keeps hitting my clothes.

I should just move myself. Taeri shifted her buttocks to the side.

As the carriage moved, the clattering shoe suddenly stretched out and blocked her leg, which was about to move.

“You’ve grown up beautifully, Princess. It feels like the atmosphere has become calmer and something has definitely become stronger. Did you undergo some kind of transformation and come back?”

As Bridget blocked her path and brought her face close, she spoke with a torn smile on her lips, as if she were examining her face piece by piece.

“Such things can be burdensome.”

She pushed her away with her hand, and although she backed off, her posture with crossed arms and the sound of tapping the fan on her palm were far from graceful.

“It’s truly a sight to see after living in this world for so long. We’re sitting face-to-face in such a cramped space. Among the maids who served you in the past, I was barely clinging to last place. Oh, I wonder if the Princess even remembers my name? I used to watch you combing your hair.”

Taeri responded with a faint smile. If she only looked at their current attires and disregarded past events, such a description seemed more suitable for Bridget.

“But why are you going to the apothecary street? What do you need to buy? Are you bored? Or… now that the master has returned, are you planning some kind of fiery reunion?”

Look at this girl. Taeri stared at her expressionlessly and delivered the most devastating response.

“If you keep speaking like that, I’ll report everything to your aunt.”

“What? You’re so cruel.”

Whether it had an effect or not, Bridget pursed her lips and grumbled.

“Ridiculous, really. Do you still think of me as a mere maid? I’m now the guardian of this area. If you treat me recklessly, you’ll be the only one at a loss.”

Guardian of the area. I hadn’t seen her that way. Was she someone influential in this area?

Come to think of it, that lavish dress did catch my attention. It was too unconventional for a mage’s appearance.

Usually, mages take great pride in their identity and profession, and they don’t hide the fact that they are mages. Unless there’s something special, they wouldn’t even think of taking off their robes.

However, in Bridget’s case, not only did she not know she was a mage, but she was also unmistakably wearing Valoran-style dress that anyone could see.

Such attire is only seen in the noble district of Valoran, where the aristocrats gather.

‘A mage from Izarith wearing a Valoran dress.’

It’s not just a mere radical shift, but almost to the level of a renegade. Her suspicious teahouse is located in the downtown area, after all……

“Don’t you live around here?”

After considering various assumptions, I asked her, and Bridget readily affirmed.

“That’s right. I live across the river in the noble district. I eat well and live well there.”

As she said that, she pointed out the window with her fan, revealing an arch bridge where people were crossing over the river, with a suitable width.

Beyond that is the noble district. The architectural style is also Valoran, and the majority of the residents are citizens of Valoran’s empire. Yesterday, Claude mentioned that the official residence he wrote about is also located there.

I don’t know how to interpret my friend’s statement that she wears foreign clothes and maintains her influence in the area. Without realizing it, Taeri furrowed her brow.

“I thought mages wouldn’t set foot in such places.”

“What’s with the fuss and old man-like talk?”

Tapping her narrowed brow with her fan, Bridget made a comical expression.

“If the world has changed, people should change too. The old town hasn’t been properly rebuilt since it was destroyed. It’s dirty, inconvenient, and dangerous. Are you saying that clinging to such a place will bring back its former glory?”

As if the word ‘ruins’ didn’t give her away, she asserted her opinion without hesitation.

With such a tedious notion, she believed one could never escape from the grasp of Valoran. To fight against them, one must become familiar with their methods, she argued.

“I live in the heart of the enemy. So, I must be the wisest. I’ll become the queen of their social circle.”

In that case, she wasn’t a renegade but rather a modern girl. Taeri, apologizing for the slight misunderstanding in her mind, nodded.

“Well, it does seem somewhat reasonable.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“To fight against the enemy, you must know them well. That’s how your chances of winning increase.”

Whether she didn’t expect to be easily acknowledged or for some other reason, Bridget’s expression became mysterious, and she started talking about things that hadn’t even been asked, while once again looking across the river.

“Have you been to the city?”

“Yeah. Oh, no. No, no. I haven’t. I haven’t been.”

“You should go. It’s a completely different world from here. Clean, prosperous, and enjoyable. Valoran’s knights built a new town across the river. Thanks to them, this place has been left beautifully abandoned.”

“Are there so many Valoran nobles coming from the capital?”

“Well, they’re flocking here in droves. Either immigrating or coming for tourism. They want to consume our misfortune as entertainment while subtly gathering their influence… Well, isn’t their intention to officially annex this land as their territory?”

The character, whom I thought was a dubious doctor selling strange potions, surprisingly had a keen eye for the political situation.

It’s an unexpected aspect. Taeri asked once again.

“Whose idea is that?”

“It must be from Ionia.”

Ionia. She fearlessly uttered the name of the Empress of Valoran, who also ruled the continent.

“But in the end, someone else will benefit from it. Once time passes and everything stabilizes, the new owner of this place will be that person.”

“You’re talking about Claude?”

“Yeah, that eunuch.”

Eunuch…?

For a moment, it felt like her anger gauge suddenly rose. Without hesitation, Bridget began to tear into Claude from that moment on.

“That cunning eunuch! The reason we’re putting up with him is because it’s better to have military protection than none at all, and it’s definitely not because he’s handsome!”

“You mean you won’t acknowledge his rule?”

“Rule? Rule? Hey, stop talking nonsense!”

According to Bridget’s outburst, she said that Claude and his knights here only control the defense line of the Black Forest and maintain order.

He was more like a border defense force than a lord, and she belittled it as ‘just knights’ or ‘knights-in-training.’

“He may pretend to be a paladin on the surface and claim to have no interest in wealth, but that’s just a facade.”

“That’s not true. I’m not interested in money. You should be wary of people who say such things. They’re the ones obsessed with money.”

“Alright, princess. We can communicate now.”

As the conversation went on, Bridget’s anger seemed to build up, and she became increasingly intense.

In doing so, she expressed highly personal and subjective grievances.

For example, she talked about how the nobles in the capital belittled her and called her a country bumpkin, how her tea shop was only infested with flies while the damn wine bar across the street was swarming with people.

She also went on about how much of an asshole this guy Claude is.

“My tea shop is different from that foolish wine bar. I’m going to hold gatherings there, have dinners, and even raise funds. It will become a place of political resistance with significant meaning. But damn it all, business is not going well because of those idiots!”

Seeing her eyes flickering like a demon, it’s almost as if I know why a woman who once aimed to be the queen of high society would eventually turn to the path of a plague doctor.

‘Well, when a character takes this route, they turn dark.’

With accumulated grievances like this, it’s easy to fall into a bad path.

Taeri responded with understanding, acknowledging how unjust her situation must feel.

“My life plans have completely gone astray. When monsters poured out from the forest, they told the kids to run away, but I didn’t. No, I stayed behind, assisting people until the end! I wanted to show how excellent the performance of my healing potions was!”

“Mmm, I see.”

So that’s how you sold the potion, with that precious talent…….

“So, you can imagine how high my merits were, right? When the situation calmed down, I soared in the sky.”

“Congratulations.”

“That would have been the end of my world, but then an army of fucking bastards came in here out of the blue!”

“You mean Claude, right?”

“Yeah, that eunuch!”

I wanted to ask why she kept calling him eunuch, but Bridget was ranting about her futile reign, leaving no room for interruption.

“I’ve tried everything to drive him away. I offered bribes, attempted assassinations, and even tried to seduce him! But nothing worked. That crazy bastard. I told him to live alone without ever meeting another woman.”

Her expressions and tone were anything but subtle.

I asked, “Was he really that unyielding?” But Bridget claimed that he was beyond any level of stubbornness.

“He just doesn’t speak. He completely ignores the other person.”

“Wasn’t there a reason?”

“What reason? Do you know how famous he is for treating women like invisible beings? They even called him the ‘Desire Eliminator’1 “성욕제거남” translates to ‘sex drive suppressant man’ or ‘man with suppressed sexual desire’ in the capital. He’s so uninterested in women!”

Desire… what?