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The Knight Serves the Little Princess – Part 04

A sweet breeze gently blew across the verdant conservatory.

Seated in a secluded corner, the two were engaged in hushed conversation.

Kazuya skillfully peeled the fruit, his eyes narrowing in curiosity as he studied the unfamiliar, vibrant yellow flesh. He straightened himself, a grave look on his face.

“What are you waiting for? Go ahead and taste it.”

“Hmm… Do I really have to?”

“Absolutely. You came all the way to this country, braving the sea, to become the taste tester for this peculiar-looking fruit.”

“That is absolutely not true. I came here as a representative of my country, taking my studies seriously… It’s a great responsibility… Ugh, fine! Just stop giving me that terrifying look. I’ll eat it. I’ll eat it, okay?! Just in case something goes horribly wrong, let me tell you this now: I’m glad I met you and became friends with you. Every day’s tough, but fun.”

“I feel the same way.”

“Well then, goodbye, Victorique. Take care of yourself. Don’t just eat sweets. Make sure to have proper meals too.” Kazuya took a bite.

“…”

“…”

“…Are you dead?”

“Wow, it’s tasty!” Kazuya leaped to his feet.

Victorique eyed him suspiciously. “You’re lying.”

“I-I’m not lying!”

“You just want to trick me into eating it. In reality, it’s probably unbelievably disgusting.”

“If that’s what you thought all along, then you shouldn’t have made me eat it. You can be incredibly mean sometimes. Just try it. It’s really good and sweet.”

“What? It’s sweet?”

Victorique brought the slice that Kazuya had offered close to her small, well-shaped nose and cautiously sniffed it.

“Oh,” she breathed delightfully. “It smells very sweet.”

“It does,” Kazuya replied proudly.

After hesitating for a long time, Victorique finally took a bite from the corner. Astonishment and delight gradually spread across her rosy cheeks.

Kazuya couldn’t help but feel pleased. “See? Tastes good, doesn’t it?”

“Indeed.”

“By the way, how did you know about the maid? You were just a newborn when Brian Roscoe came to Castle de Blois Castle in search of Cordelia.”

Wearing a straight face, Kazuya brought his hands together to form a perfect circle. She couldn’t possibly have been that small.

Victorique continued eating the fruit for a while, paying little attention to Kazuya.

“Why are you referring to me like I’m a puppy?” she grouched. “I was a newborn, yes, but I wasn’t that tiny.”

“But you’re very tiny even now… Ouch! Your boot hit the most painful spot of my ankle. Your aim is getting more accurate with each passing day. Are you aware of that? Ow…”

“Indeed. That night, I was only recently born.”

“Ahuh.”

“That maid became responsible for delivering books, sweets, and dresses to the tower where I would later be imprisoned. As the offspring of a Gray Wolf, I was feared by all, and no one dared to approach me. In other words, being the lowest-ranked among the servants, the task was handed to her. She worked hard in the creepy castle, away from her family, to provide her younger siblings with delicious meals and ensure their education. Back then, I rarely uttered a word, so I never imagined speaking with the maid. However, her fearful words and gestures became fragments of chaos that led me to learn many things, including the outside world, and the truth about my birth.”

Victorique paused and proceeded to stuff the remaining fruit into her small mouth.

There was another flapping of wings. A sweet and pleasant breeze blew.

“So when did your father lose his eye?” Kazuya asked as he took out a handkerchief to wipe Victorique’s cheeks and mouth.

She raised her face. “Ah, that silly right eye.” She nodded before turning away.

Her golden hair swayed gracefully, its brilliance captivating Kazuya.

“It happened merely five days later.”

“Ahuh, ahuh.”

“Brian had suspicions about the stone tower, but he probably wasn’t entirely sure just yet. Besides, the tower was heavily guarded, making infiltration difficult. He suspected four or five other people in Cordelia’s abduction, but Marquis de Blois was his primary suspect. All of them were patrons of Saubreme’s Phantom theater and had connections to Cordelia, who was a famous dancer there. Brian devised a plan. And…”

The two huddled closer and continued their conversation softly.

The wind blew, ruffling Kazuya’s black hair.

A golden bird descended beside them, its pink beak quivering as it emitted a shrill chirp.

---

“Milord!” cried the head butler one early afternoon.

The Marquis’s family had finally finished their meal, and the servants were eating in the kitchen, dipping hard bread into soup. The maid lifted her head, wondering why the butler was so loud. She poked her head out of the kitchen, silently made her way through the chilly corridor, and cautiously peered into the hall.

Manservants were unwrapping a large, square package. The head butler approached the Marquis de Blois and said, “A man who refused to identify himself delivered this a moment ago and left.”

“I see… So it has arrived at my castle as well.”

“What?”

Marquis de Blois pointed to the package wearily. “Several nobles in Saubreme have also received similar packages. According to Baron Sal, who opened one first, it’s harmless. Just a painting.”

“A painting, you say?” The head butler repeated, perplexed.

Maintaining caution, he asked the Marquis to step back while the servants opened the package.

The maid, watching secretly, saw two large paintings emerging, each about the width of her outstretched arms. They were identical.

“How beautiful!” the maid gasped, clasping her hands to her chest.

The right side of the painting depicted a carriage blending into the twilight. To someone who lived in a village deep in the forest, it looked like an urban alley she could only see in illustrations found in schoolbooks. On the left side stood a magnificent structure resembling a theater.

In the center of the painting stood a slender woman with golden hair. Her face exuded both beauty and a sense of loneliness, captivating the viewer’s gaze. She seemed to have been abducted by someone. A purple handkerchief fell from her right hand…

No. It wasn’t purple.

The maid blinked, studying the painting once more. In the right painting, the woman definitely dropped a purple cloth from her hand. However, in the left painting, everything was the same, except the cloth falling from her hand was white.

A closer examination revealed several subtle differences between the two paintings. In the left one, the young man chasing after the abducted woman had transformed into a beast, resembling either a wolf or a leopard. The carriages differed as well, with one being pulled by two horses and the other by four. Even the design of the theater signboard had slight variations.

“Spot the difference,” remarked Marquis de Blois with an eerie voice that seemed to echo from the depths of the earth. There was a hint of cheerfulness in his tone.

Astonished, the head butler asked, “What is that?”

“It used to be a popular game among the nobility. They would commission painters to create portraits or other artworks, but they would have two versions made with subtle differences. Then, they would place the two side by side and search for those differences. I don’t know who made these paintings or the intention behind them, but there shouldn’t be any harm. Hmm…” The Marquis furrowed his brow.

Drawn to a specific spot, his eyes widened as he fell into silence.

“What’s this?” he murmured. His fingers moved instinctively and touched a particular spot on the painting.

The maid saw the Marquis touch the area with the purple handkerchief in the right painting.

And then…

The painting exploded. The maid screamed and crouched down. She caught a glimpse of the manservants rushing toward the Marquis, shouting.

“Quick! Fetch the village doctor!” bellowed the butler.

Trembling, Marquis de Blois held his right eye. The maid shuddered. He wasn’t trembling out of fear or surprise, but rather deep, intense fury. Blood trickled through his fingers, staining the floor.

“Who on earth brought this here?!” He turned to a manservant. “Hey, you, what kind of man was it?!”

“H-He was wearing a hat so I couldn’t see his face clearly,” the servant stammered. “I just know he had red hair.”

Red hair!

Upon hearing this, the maid quivered. She was about to say something, but quickly closed her mouth.

She had promised the man that she wouldn’t say anything. Besides, he was able to enter the locked maids’ bedroom easily and leave her suitcase behind. He was elusive.

Above all, she had to continue working at the castle to send money to her poor family. Their survival depended on her small shoulders.

The maid shut her mouth tight.

“Nothing happened to the paintings delivered to other nobles. So why did this one explode?!”

A cold winter wind blew into the hall from somewhere.

The butler seethed with fury, the manservants panicked, and the maid trembled in the shadows, all awaiting the arrival of the village doctor.