Chapter 20

Alone with the Crown Prince inside the enclosed space of a carriage.

Before we knew it, a strangely bizarre environment had been forged.

“Even the royal capital has its perilous places.”

There was a hint of faint anger in the Crown Prince’s voice.

Was that my fault?

“Due to jurisdictional issues, it’s a place where the eyes of the authorities simply have a hard time reaching. That is the Southern Lunda district. Situated away from the main eastern and western roads, its development lagged, and as land values dropped, it progressively turned into a slum. Attracted by that, impoverished citizens gathered, and criminals soon followed. By now, they’ve built their own lawless community, and even the royal family can’t easily meddle there.”

“How dreadful for them.”

“Answer me honestly. What on earth is a young lady of the illustrious Eldenvalk house going to do in such a dangerous place?”

His tone was sharp.

It was practically as if to say he wouldn’t tolerate dodging or beating around the bush on this question.

“Let me state my hypothesis first. You still want to return to your territory. But knowing you can’t simply leave the royal capital, you’re trying to concoct a scheme.”

“And that involves the slums?”

As he had just mentioned, the authorities struggled to reach the slums.

Believing I wanted to escape the royal family’s prying eyes, he apparently assumed I planned to slip into the slum district, vanish, and then covertly escape the royal capital.

“The fact that you have no luggage and came empty-handed means you’ve already arranged a rendezvous point somewhere in the Southern Lunda district, where everything is prepared for you. You must be planning to shake off any pursuers in the chaotic, dangerous slums and then leisurely return to your territory. Am I wrong?”

“You are entirely wrong.”

I answered flatly.

How insulting. If I were the type to brush off the royal family’s orders and run home, I wouldn’t have stayed put in my territory and ignored the initial summons.

“I came to the royal capital carrying the Eldenvalk family name. If things don’t go according to plan, I won’t simply throw a tantrum and run back—not if I want to prove that Eldenvalk is a house of unwavering loyalty. When I leave the royal capital, it will only be when I am eliminated from the queen selection.”

“Then all the more reason—what business do you have in the slums?! Do you even properly understand what kind of place that is?”

Even after denying the suspicion of flight, the severity in his voice didn’t fade.

What on earth was the Crown Prince so angry about?

“Listen, that district is genuinely perilous. Ruffians clash day and night fighting for territorial dominance, and officials won’t even go near it. I hear it’s even connected to foreign criminal syndicates now, with illegal goods flooding in and human trafficking running rampant.”

He began lecturing me as if explaining things to a child.

“What do you think happens if a beautiful woman like you wanders into a place like that? You’ll be snatched away in the blink of an eye and held for ransom. In worse cases, you’ll be sold to slave traders and never set foot on this country’s soil again!”

“Um… by any chance, Your Highness?”

He had meticulously and thoroughly explained the horrors of the Southern Lunda district we were heading toward.

Spelling it out clearly.

“Are you worried about me?”

“Of course I am!”

He had gone out of his way to stop me because he was anxious about me entering a dangerous district.

What is this, does the Crown Prince have that much free time on his hands?

“If you want idle tourist sightseeing, there are plenty of other far more enjoyable places! If you like, I’ll take you right now! Anyway, this carriage is changing its route!”

I never imagined things would turn out like this.

I still wasn’t fully equipped to handle the situation in the royal capital.

“Thank you for your concern. But changing our destination won’t do. I’m not out for sightseeing, and I have no destination other than the Southern Lunda district.”

“What on earth could a young lady like you possibly want in those slums…?”

The Crown Prince stared at me with an expression of sheer disbelief.

…Could you please stop gazing at me with such a dazzling, noble face?

“If I had to put it into words, I’m going to acquire what I need to survive the upcoming Crown Princess selection.”

“What you need… for the Crown Princess selection?”

Realizing I probably couldn’t completely talk my way out of it at this point, I let slip a fragment of the truth.

Even if I had heavily veiled it.

“Don’t worry, even if the security is poor, I have a plan to return safely. Your Highness the Crown Prince, please return to the royal castle in peace. Don’t you have unfinished official duties waiting for you?”

“I certainly do, but that has nothing to do with this. If you are going to the Southern Lunda district no matter what, I am coming with you.”

“Eh?!”

You’ve got to be kidding me—even the Crown Prince was coming to the slums?

Though I had accepted his help with utter confidence, it didn’t change the fact that the place was dangerous.

“If it were for a trivial reason, I’d stop you by any means necessary, but if you’re serious about becoming the Crown Princess, I can’t dismiss it lightly. Knowing how sensible you are, you must truly be confident it’s fine, but there’s a one-in-a-million chance of anything happening. For that reason, I’d rather protect you close up.”

No, even if you say I’m serious, my direction isn’t about remaining as the final person and becoming the Crown Princess, you see.

“If things turn violent, I’m at an advantage since I can use magic. If I judge it too dangerous, I’ll scoop you up and make use of my light magic to escape. If you won’t agree to that, no matter what you say, I’ll forcibly drag you back to the royal castle.”

“Why the royal castle?”

Wasn’t it the Eldenvalk upper mansion?

…Good grief, this must be the maximum concession a Crown Prince could make, and if I refuse this, I really might end up arrested and confined.

Since I couldn’t say his concern wasn’t understandable from a common-sense perspective, it would be a pity to trouble him any further.

“Understood. But on the condition that as long as I am handling things smoothly, you are not to interfere at all. No meddling either.”

“Very well. I shall observe your technique to see how my future Crown Princess handles that problematic district.”

No, I am not doing anything as the Crown Princess.

If I don’t correct this misunderstanding of his, I’m afraid it’ll somehow become an established fact before I even know it.

And so, despite running into trouble along the way, we somehow arrived safely at the Southern Lunda district.

To be precise, right up to the very edge of it.

“You can turn back here. Please come to pick me up at the appointed time.”

“Understood…”

I sent the coachman and the carriage back.

I watched him go, standing side by side with the Crown Prince.

“Is it really fine to send him back this far? The main area of the Southern Lunda district is still quite a ways ahead, isn’t it?”

“If we rolled in with a carriage that luxurious, it would practically invite every thief in the area. That coachman has served our family for a long time, so I don’t want to expose him to unnecessary danger.”

I had expected him to resist letting me go on alone, but the fact that he readily listened was probably thanks to having the Crown Prince here with us.

I suppose having the kingdom’s greatest mages provide a guard gives one peace of mind.

“If you have that kind of consideration, shouldn’t you have also considered your own attire? That outfit is far too…!”

I could understand why the Crown Prince wanted to point that out.

Even though it was meant for walking outdoors, the lavish dress I wore was fit for a duchess and looked completely out of place in a ruined slum.

This was bound to easily draw the eyes of people plotting ill intentions.

“Even so, this couldn’t be helped. There are times when standing out is bad, and times when it’s good. Your Highness wouldn’t take a common street girl seriously if she came to negotiate, would you?”

“That is…?”

Accompanied by the bewildered Crown Prince, as we strode forward, the desolation of the surrounding scenery escalated rapidly.

Garbage and filth scattered along the road, and buildings on the verge of collapse. And people sitting right by the roadside whom one might mistake for piles of trash at a glance.

How nostalgic.

Before I was reincarnated, in my past life, it was a familiar sight.

To grasp the crown of the Crown Princess, I had visited this town time and time again, even while wrinkling my nose at the foul stench.

“It feels like my nose is going to rot off…?! I never knew a place emitting such a foul odor existed in the royal capital…!”

The Crown Prince walking beside me covered his mouth.

He wore an expression of sheer agony.

“Oh, the foul odor itself exists all over the royal capital, you know. Varying in degree, of course.”

“What?”

“It’s because sewage and garbage disposal facilities are completely inadequate. They merely chase dirty things out of sight, so the stench keeps drifting back. My maid, who came from our territory where the sewage system is properly built, has been complaining about how ‘stinky, stinky’ it is ever since we arrived in the capital.”

Though the Southern Lunda district was a special grade above all that.

Frankly, it was a sickening stench.

Lacking proper facilities, they must have gathered all the trash from across the royal capital right here.

It hadn’t exceeded capacity yet, but if it ever overflowed one day, the entire royal capital would be in deep trouble.

I knew there had once been a man who tried to do something about that.

His enterprise ultimately collapsed midway, but I was the one who caused that failure, too.

I really was a menace in my past life.

I wonder if he’s doing well in this life.

The kingpin of this Southern Lunda district. Gatou, the supreme boss of the ruffians who ruled the royal capital’s underworld.

In my past life, I had done anything and everything to secure the seat of the Crown Princess.

Using underhanded methods, illegal methods alike.

To execute those schemes, human hands were inevitably required. I couldn’t possibly ask people tied to a righteous ducal house to do such things.

That was why I entrusted those roles to ruffians who would do anything for money.

I happened to cross paths with Gatou and had the opportunity to speak with him. Truly an evil bond.

Gatou had hundreds of underlings moving according to my will, and I had enough money to pay Gatou.

A mutual supply and demand had been established between us.

And so I used Gatou, setting him loose all across the royal capital to unearth dark secrets about rival young ladies, or dragging them down through violence if they lacked such weaknesses.

That same Gatou should have been arrested alongside me when I was condemned in my past life.

The laws of this country were especially harsh on commoners who couldn’t use magic, so he probably met his end on the scaffold.

With time rewound, Gatou was surely still alive in this new world.

To think the time would come when I would seek his power once again.