Departure From The Royal Capital

The people walking through the city approached the procession that had suddenly appeared in the streets, wondering what was happening. Since it was early morning there were not that many people, but if this had been during the daytime it would probably have caused quite a commotion.

“Come to think of it, we didn’t get to see Lady Henriette, did we?”

Rebecca’s quiet mutter reached my ears. During this escort mission, we had decided to call Ann “Lady Henriette.” Even if we thought no one was listening, it was better to be cautious just in case.

“She must be beautiful.”

“She’s all dressed up, after all.”

She had looked quite beautiful during the audience… I kind of wanted to see her. It would be nice if we could at least catch a glimpse of her from afar during a break.

“—Right now most people are confused about what this procession is, but someone will eventually realize it’s a bridal procession, right?”

Rebecca brought her face closer to mine and asked that in a whisper. That was something I had been worried about too…

“I think they’ll realize sooner or later. They’ll quickly notice that the carriage belongs not to His Majesty or the prince, but to the princess.”

In this country, the decoration of carriages differed quite a lot depending on whether they were for men or women. The carriage looked more cute and beautiful rather than cool, so even someone without knowledge would probably notice.

“In that case, we’ll especially need to stay alert in the latter half. People can more or less guess which country we’re heading toward based on the direction.”

“Yeah… let’s stay alert not only for monsters.”

While we were talking like that, the carriage had already progressed about halfway through the Royal Capital, and by then many people had gathered around. Though they did not really understand what was happening, they probably assumed it was some kind of celebration and waved at us with cheerful expressions.

“I’m glad the atmosphere turned out nice.”

“Yeah, it really did. …Do you think we shouldn’t wave back?”

“Hehe, wouldn’t it feel strange if Luca waved? But when so many people wave at you, it makes you want to wave back, doesn’t it?”

Some of them were even directing their gazes at us, and if we did not respond it felt like we were ignoring them, which made me feel a little bad.

“The knights are amazing. They look so dignified.”

“They really do look cool.”

After that, while we continued to sway along in the carriage with a somewhat uncomfortable feeling, the procession left the Royal Capital without any particular problems. Once we entered the highway, the speed increased compared to earlier and we continued moving forward steadily.

“Luca-san, Rebecca-san, we will be taking a break in about an hour. Is that alright?”

A knight riding a horse at the very rear of the procession, who was keeping watch, called out to us.

“Yes! We’re fine!”

Since there was a bit of distance between us, I raised my voice, and the young male knight lifted his hand with a smile.

“The knights of this country are all really good people. —Even though the king is like that.”

“Really… It seems most of them feel pained about Lady Henriette’s bridal procession, and if they heard news that she fell off a cliff in the Empire…”

“…I kind of want to tell the knights too.”

Rebecca and I whispered to each other about that and exchanged glances. However, the more people who knew about the plan, the greater the risk that Ann being alive would be exposed, so it was not something we could easily agree on.

Actually, come to think of it, what would Ann do after she escaped by faking her death in the Empire? If the current state of the Empire disappeared, the possibility of a political marriage would vanish, so would she return to the Kingdom?

For example… something like she fell off the cliff but barely survived.

But if that happened, she would return to that king again, and there was also the possibility that she might be married off somewhere strange again. I had been so focused on helping Ann escape that I had not asked about that part.

Ann had said she wanted us to let her join our group, but if she could return to the Kingdom as a princess, maybe that would be better for her.

‘Lady Seremees, is it possible to contact Ann through Lady Milora?’

‘Yes, you can. She happens to be with Milora right now.’

‘I see. Then please ask her a few things.’

After that, once my questions that had just come to mind were conveyed, an answer came back from Ann almost immediately.

To summarize it.

—If it was not a burden to Luca and Rebecca, she wanted to live freely as an adventurer rather than as a princess.

—However, constantly hiding her identity, being unable to approach the Kingdom, and making everyone sad was not what she truly wanted, so she was considering returning to the Kingdom once after the Empire collapsed or returned to normal.

—Using the fact that she was forced into marriage with the Empire and nearly died as grounds, she wanted to propose withdrawing from the royal family.

That was roughly her opinion. And it seemed that the plan was not to tell the knights that Ann would escape. Instead, once the matter with the Empire was settled, she wanted them to know that she was alive and well.

Certainly, as Ann said, living in hiding forever would be difficult. If she could live openly, that would definitely be better. The real problem was what kind of treatment Ann would receive after returning to the Kingdom once the Empire had been restored to normal.

At the very least, she would probably be welcomed for surviving and returning alive. But leaving the royal family… would that really be permitted? I did not know whether there had ever been such a precedent in the past, and I was not knowledgeable about royal affairs to begin with, so I had absolutely no idea.

But Ann must think there was a chance it would be accepted, otherwise she would not have brought it up.

‘Luca, it seems Henriette thinks that if she returns to the Kingdom once, your request with Rebecca will also be considered completed.’

It was only after Lady Seremees said that that I realized that part for the first time. Certainly, if we brought Ann back, we would probably be praised as worthy of the First Rank. But Ann did not need to take risks just for something like that.

‘Please tell her she does not need to worry about that. Even if Ann does not return, our request was an escort mission to a dangerous country, so there should not be any major penalty.’

‘Understood. —Even so, Ann still seems to want to return to the Kingdom. Even though the king is like that, she probably still has people she is close with in the royal palace. And pretending to be a completely different person is more painful than expected.’

‘I understand. If it is Ann’s will, Rebecca and I will follow it. However, this is something for a little further in the future, so I think we should discuss it again later when we meet in person. With Rebecca as well. …For now, regarding whether we should tell the Kingdom’s knights, we will keep it secret, correct?’

Lady Seremees responded with words of affirmation to my question, and I stopped the conversation and focused on staying alert.

I would tell Rebecca about the earlier discussion later as well.