She strode toward the door and before she left, Annelise sent a goodbye kiss. I had never been relieved that a flying kiss was invisible else, I would surely dodge it.
"Your Highness, please, don't marry that hussy!"
Wrinkles manifested on my forehead. I glanced at Leticia and she looked at with pleading eyes.
Why would I want to marry Annelise anyway? She was the Empire's enemy, also, she wasn't my type.
Leticia continued.
"I-If Your Highness wants to get married, please marry instead! I want to marry Your Highness too!"
I couldn't help but massage my temples when pain swirled inside my head.
'What the hell is this? Have I just been proposed to by two different people on the sa day?'
Crazy.
Just thinking about how to escape from here already gave a headache and suddenly an unexpected variable appeared.
Annelise ca and spewed that she had not given up on igniting a war between the two countries.
With that being said, whether I like it or not, I had to rack my head once again to think about what that crazy woman was planning.
I had to stop the war from unfolding for a second ti! And as if those matters didn't hurt my brain cells, I too had to deal with nonsense called love.
Please, my plate was full!
But still, the bet was quite tempting in my opinion, although I didn't know if the reward thing was a lie or truth.
"Haa…"
I let out many deep breaths to alleviate my turmoil. I felt terrible for this six-year-old body, I just hoped my brain didn't explode due to overload.
Soon, the guards returned and sat back in their chairs. Now that I saw them, I imdiately asked Leticia.
"Do you rember the task I gave you?"
"Task? Oh, yes! It's 197!"
She dropped her head and spoke in a low tone; she felt guilty.
"B-but, I'm so sorry, I fell asleep…"
I extended my hand and patted her head.
"It's okay."
At least, she did the job.
"Listen, Lady Leticia, once the guards leave the room, run towards the cage door and start counting. Do you understand?"
She lifted her head and answered confidently.
"Yes!"
"Good."
I smiled at her and she blushed. Well, I admire her spirit.
'And yes, I'm planning on my escape today.'
.
.
.
We waited for hours and eventually, our patient bore fruit. The guards rose from their seats and walked toward the entrance.
As soon as their silhouettes vanished, wasting no more ti we rushed to the door cage and I shouted.
"Now!"
"One… two… three–"
According to the data I collected, the shift change was about three minutes apart, and at that ti I had to open the door.
I imdiately took out a spoon and bent the handle, then I inserted it into the padlock's keyhole.
Modern and dieval padlocks were different, especially compared in size. Just like this one, I should at least open it without difficulty.
"What is the Prince doing?"
"You can't open it, it's useless."
I heard unfamiliar sounds, they seed to be coming from the cage next to ; they were watching my action. Ignoring them, I went on with my business.
"90… 91… 92…"
My heart skipped a beat as I heard Leticia's count continue to grow. Well, it was not as easy as I previously thought.
"148… 149… 150…"
Sweat started to form on my body and the mont I was about to give up…
–Clank!
"Ah, it opened!"
Leticia's voice woke up from my amazent. I grabbed her hand and got out of the cage. We ran towards the door. However–
"Wait!! Please save !!"
"Save please!!"
"Don't leave us!!"
I stopped in front of the entrance when my ears caught approaching footsteps.
"Follow ."
I led Leticia to hide behind the door and the roar of the children filled the surrounding.
The door burst open and two guards entered the room. They imdiately yelled after hearing the commotion.
"What the hell?"
"SHUT UP YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!"
As their backs faced , I darted my eyes to look for a weapon. Luckily I found a piece of lumber and grabbed it.
I glanced at Leticia and beckoned to her to remain silent, then she nodded in understanding.
I tiptoed over one of the guards and swung the lumber to his nape.
"Argh!"
He groaned and fell on the floor. The other turned his head but it was too late as the log was now in front of his face.
–Thud!
He slumped to the ground beside his partner.
"Yaay!!"
"Yeah! That's the Prince for you!"
The kid's cheered and so were clapping. I motioned for them to be quiet and I was just glad that they were listening to .
Because otherwise, their voices would attract other mbers to co here.
I dropped the wood and approached the unconscious n. I held one of their heads with both hands then twisted it.
–Crack!
Exclamations sounded but no one dared to say a word. I switched to another and did the sa action.
–Crack!
I killed two n without batting an eye and stared at the corpses coldly. Sohow, this ti, it felt different…
My body didn't tremble and I didn't even have feelings of guilt or anything related to it.
But did you know what was crazier? It was my head screaming that they deserve it; they deserve to die and I granted it.
Was I… started to get used to it just like Alexander said to back then?
Well, it seed like that.
The next was, I rummaged through their bodies looking for sothing useful.
I found 2 swords and 2 daggers, unfortunately, no potions, but it didn't matter, at least I had sothing to use to defend myself.
And so, I took a sword and put one dagger in my pocket. Since a sword was too heavy for Leticia, I offered her a dagger, but she refused whilst waving her hands left and right.
"I–I never use a weapon before."
I couldn't always protect her, there must be a ti when she had to defend herself.
Not to ntion that we were in the enemy territory where danger lurked; waiting to strike us the mont we let our guard down.
And so, I said.
"I hate useless girls, so take this to defend yourself."
She wore a complicated expression and reluctantly took the dagger from my hand.
"I–I understand."
I wanted to laugh but restrained myself from doing so. What I ant was, she was so innocent, was it because she loved that she just blindly believed ?
Love was surely sothing scary. However, her next words almost made choke on blood.
"When I return ho I will learn martial arts!"
I didn't think that was a wise choice for a Lady to learn sothing like that, especially a noblewoman. But whatever, if she wanted to beco one, so be it.
'That's none of my business. It's her dream.'
Afterward, I moved to the table, but… my heart started to race when I held the keys. I could see how my hand trembled as my eyes fell on the keys in my palm.
There were so many things going on in my head. I took a deep breath and after thinking about what would be best, I imdiately put down the keys on the table.
Although it was hard for to open my mouth, I eventually said it.
"Please, forgive ."
Originally, I wanted to secure my safety by using them as 'bait', so the enemy could only focus on these kids. But sohow, it hurt my conscience as a human being.
Because, if I did that, what was the difference between and this shady organization? Using children as tools, I just… couldn't…
I couldn't sacrifice my people for my selfish survival!
Nevertheless, those who knew nothing about this cruel world shouted at angrily; judging that I was a heartless person.
"Your Highness! You can't do this to us!!"
"Please let escape with you!!"
"Don't leave us here!!"
And so I responded.
"Please wait here, when I get out of here, I will send reinforcents to save all of you. I promise."
Their voices went wild but I ignored them and hastily took Leticia's hand then dashed to the door.
"Your Highness? Are you alright?"
Leticia's soft voice entered my ears. I glanced at her and smiled. I was glad that she didn't ask why I left them there.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go."
"Yes."
With that, we exited the room and climbed the stairs. A few minutes passed and as soon as we were a few more steps up the stairs, I tugged my head out to look at the situation.
Luckily, no one was around and we ran but instantly made a turn to the left when footsteps were heard. But, sothing unexpected happened.
–Drrrttt!
The ground shook violently.
"W-what is happening?"
Leticia sounded panicked.
"I don't–"
"Kyaaa!!"
The floor beneath us cracked and we fell below.
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