Chapter 27: The Missing Princess

“The Princess has disappeared!”

“Damn it, the knights!?”

“They’re not here!”

“Here, here is the Young Master of Drasen!”

At dawn, amidst the noisy commotion, Muno slowly opened his eyes.

And.

‘Damn it…….’

His own appearance, still with half his face throbbing and tied to a tree, was so pathetic that his head naturally drooped.

And a soldier shook him awake.

“Young Master! Young Master Muno!

What on earth happened!?”

“Ugh……”

“The night watchmen are all unconscious too……”

Murmur murmur.

At the soldiers’ voices filled with confusion, panic, and urgency, Muno opened his mouth slowly, acting as pitifully as possible.

“The, the Princess……”

“Yes? The Princess?”

And as he met the soldier’s wide eyes, he uttered the decisive word.

“……ran away from home.”

“Pardon?!”

Grind.

Looking back on last night’s events, he naturally ground his teeth.

It was only natural.

He recalled the image of Rokam swinging a fist the size of a man’s head as if to smash his skull, and Karina suddenly appearing afterward and striking the back of his head, saying, ‘Let’s make it more certain.’

Of course, he was the one who had asked to be hit, but what angered him more was that the back of his head had hurt much more in the process.

‘You can’t even see the wound there, so why……?’

As he thought that, Karina’s somewhat pouting expression came to mind with strange clarity.

‘Did I do something wrong again? Damn.’

I wouldn’t know unless you tell me.

Muno let out a deep sigh as he thought of the woman whose personality was as strange as she was pretty.

“The ones who did this to me were Sir Rokam and Sir Karina!”

He shouted, pouring all his anger into it.

Lifting his face, which was surely bruised a deep purple.

“N-no, what kind of……”

As if it was a statement he had never imagined, the soldier in front of him just stammered with a dumbfounded face.

“First, please untie this.”

Honestly, it was no trouble to break the ropes, but he had to look as exhausted as possible.

That way, the face he had worked so hard to get beaten up would surely appeal…….

“But I don’t see any injuries…….

Why were you subdued so powerlessly?”

……Huh?

Then, the soldier who was untying the ropes uttered something incomprehensible.

“What, what are you talking about? My face is throbbing like this……. Ah……”

Only then did a brief memory flash through his mind.

The memory of when he was stabbed by Eli, and how the wound healed shortly after, leaving only a scratch.

Of course, the throbbing pain had lasted for a few more days, but he had realized then that this body had an abnormal healing ability.

But what about just being hit by a fist, not a sword?

“……It seems they went easy on me. Heh, I don’t think anyone else is seriously hurt.”

“That is, that’s true.”

Grind.

As he listened to the answer, he unconsciously ground his teeth.

Why on earth did I get hit?

‘What a stupid thing to do.’

The throbbing pain in his face felt incredibly unfair.

‘What is this, phantom pain?’

If it’s going to heal, the pain should disappear too. Damn.

Muno resolved never to make such a mistake again and tore the ropes that bound him.

Rip.

“We wouldn’t have had to help you…… after all.”

Flinch.

Right, this is as far as it goes.

“……What are you talking about?

Didn’t you untie it all?

Ah, but what’s this?”

“Pardon?”

“In. My. Bosom. There’s. A. Letter……?”

The staged acting sounded so awkward, even to himself.

“Ah!?”

Ah, tsk.

‘I was a bit of an X-wit just now…….’

But he had already started.

“This looks like the Princess’s handwriting……”

“Do you recognize our Princess’s handwriting?”

“Hmm? Ah, ah. I saw it briefly before. She wrote so prettily.”

“I see…….”

Seeing the soldier’s suspicious gaze, he wanted to slap his own cheek.

‘Agh, you X-wit. Hah…….’

……Well, a person can make mistakes in succession when flustered.

It was also awkward for him to deceive someone who had no hostility, given his original personality. Ahem, ahem.

I’ll just do better from now on.

“Ahem. Ahem. Anyway, I’ll read the letter.”

Muno, who knew full well what the letter said, read it roughly in front of the soldiers.

He said, as if declaring.

“……As expected, it’s certain that the Princess left of her own will.”

“Ah……”

The one who had untied the ropes, as well as the soldiers and servants who had gathered around, all let out a sigh at his words.

Muno glanced around at them and held up the letter, shaking it.

“I will personally take responsibility for this letter and deliver it to His Excellency Enoch.

I will make sure that the responsibility does not fall on you.”

At those words, the anxious faces of the others found some stability.

However, the atmosphere of the journey to Trian that followed couldn’t help but be heavy.

As they went south, the temperature became a little warmer and different scenery appeared, but it didn’t even enter the eyes of the party.

‘I wish the Demon Cult bastards would show up. Damn.’

The procession, which was so quiet that even Muno had such a thought, continued for five days.

And finally.

“There!”

“It’s Trian!”

The Princess’s party, without the Princess, knocked on the gates of Trian, the capital of the Trian territory, with very heavy expressions.

* * *

“What!?

The Princess!?”

The news of the Princess’s departure made the knights of Trian’s Inner Castle move busily.

As a result.

“His Excellency is looking for you!!”

Less than an hour after arriving, Muno was led into the Inner Castle by a middle-aged knight who seemed to be of the head knight rank of the Trian Knightly Order.

Thump thump.

‘It’s quite splendid. This must be the center of the County.’

He walked behind the knight, feeling almost like a criminal.

The splendid decorations, paintings, and pottery hanging in the corridor seemed to be quite valuable works, even to Muno, who didn’t know much about art.

‘They say it’s the largest city in the north.’

Trian, the largest city in the north with a population of nearly 30,000 residing within its walls, was larger in scale than all the other cities in the territory combined.

A bridgehead connecting the central part of the Iron Kingdom and the north, and a major city that merchants traveling between the north and south must pass through.

‘I thought it was just a small city…….’

Of course, in the eyes of Han Munho, who had lived in Seoul, a metropolis with a population of ten million, it was only a slightly large castle.

But after seeing the interior of the castle, he thought it was indeed worthy of being a central city.

‘Even in this world, these paintings must be expensive.’

He still couldn’t understand how abstract paintings whose meaning he couldn’t grasp at all were sold for tens, even hundreds of billions in his past life’s society.

Was that why?

As he looked at the paintings smeared with equally incomprehensible lines and colors, a question suddenly popped out.

“How much do these paintings cost?”

At his words, the handsome middle-aged knight with blue hair who was guiding him, Klarm, answered politely.

“They are treasures that cannot be measured in price.”

“As expected, art is……”

As he was thinking that he couldn’t understand the thoughts of the rich, he muttered to himself without realizing it.

“Because they are paintings that Lady Roanna has been drawing since she was a child.”

“……Cough.”

Klarm chuckled as he saw the flustered Muno let out a dry cough.

“It may seem laughable, but please be careful with your words in front of His Excellency.

To His Excellency, they are treasures he would not trade for any work of art.”

At least, the rumor that Count Enoch Trian was a fool for his granddaughter didn’t seem to be false.

And now, he was on his way to meet the Count to report that his granddaughter had run away without permission.

As he became aware of the situation again, a sigh escaped him.

‘I’m X-ed. X-bar…….’

Just as he was thinking that it might be more comfortable to fight the Demon Cult bastards.

From the other side of the wide corridor, someone was walking with half a dozen knights.

The moment he saw the middle-aged man with blond hair and a neatly trimmed sideburn that reached his chin, Klarm stopped in his tracks.

Thump.

“Greetings to Young Master Kane.”

Ah.

Only then did Muno, who realized who he was, also pay his respects as a guest from behind Klarm.

The middle-aged man, Kane Trian, spoke to him first.

“Black hair, and such a young knight…….

Are you that Muno Drasen?”

Muno’s expression naturally frowned slightly.

Although he was of the age of just having come of age, there was no way that he, who was almost 180 cm tall, would look that young.

Even if it wasn’t for his case of remembering his past life, considering that men who have just come of age usually hate being treated like children, this was just rude.

But, the other side was in power.

……Damn it.

“Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Grand Prince Kane Trian.”

At those words, this time, Kane’s eyebrows twitched.

For him, who had not inherited the title even after turning forty because of his too-healthy father, the title of Grand Prince was like a sore spot.

“……Call me Lord Kane. I have a connection with your father. It’s a pleasure to meet you like this.”

He deliberately did not mention the fact that his mother was his younger sister.

‘He probably means not to even think of him as a relative.’

He wondered how he could be so different from his daughter.

– As a 3-Star Corporeal Arts user, he is evaluated as not lacking in supernatural or administrative abilities.

However, he is narrow-minded and cannot tolerate things that go against his nerves, and cannot embrace people, which is His Excellency’s only worry.

He also dislikes people who are better than him.

– Like you, Father?

– Ahem. Well, rather than pointing specifically at me…….

Perhaps because of his father’s words, his first impression wasn’t very good, but there was no reason to make an enemy of him.

“It is an honor for me to meet you as well.”

Muno politely greeted him again.

“Still, you have better manners than Ryan.”

At Kane’s faint smile, his brow furrowed slightly again without him realizing it.

But Kane went a step further.

“Are you on your way to see my father?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Klarm, I hear this man has a letter left by my daughter?

I’d like to check it first before he sees my father.”

Klarm, hearing those words, looked at Muno with a troubled expression.

It probably meant that he couldn’t stop him.

But Muno smiled bitterly, shook his head, and answered Kane on his behalf.

“I’m sorry, but this is a letter that the Princess left for me to deliver to His Excellency Enoch first. I cannot break that promise.”

At those words, Kane’s face contorted again.

“……The young friend is inflexible.

He resembles his father in this aspect too.

Even though he’s adopted. How absurd.”

This bastard…….

“……I apologize.”

He bowed his head again to hide his rising irritation.

With Kane’s sigh, unexpected words were heard.

“Well. I was just worried that my wild daughter might upset my father again.

I have no intention of breaking the rules. Forget my request.”

……I don’t think I’ll be able to forget.

“Understood.”

“You must have had a hard time accompanying my daughter. Was there anything particularly strange?”

“Pardon?”

What is this about?

“Before she ran away.

She must have been a child with somewhat peculiar words and actions, right?

Most people can’t handle her.”

As he raised his head, he could see Kane’s blue eyes shining meaningfully, but Muno, who had guessed the meaning of his words, feigned ignorance and tilted his head as he answered.

“Well. I remember her as a quite brilliant princess. Until she ran away, that is.”

“……Hmm. Is that so?

There must not have been much in the letter either, right?”

“She only expressed her aversion to marriage.”

“……I see. And no mention of where she was going?”

“……Yes.”

Tsk.

Kane, who had been watching his expression carefully, clicked his tongue with a slightly disappointed look.

“I was going to apologize on her behalf, but since you only speak well of her, I guess there’s no need.

However, my father cherishes that daughter of mine so much, so you’ll have to be especially careful with your words and actions.”

“Thank you for the advice.”

The meddlesome intruder left with that one remark and disappeared.

A sudden appearance and a sudden departure.

‘Why did he come……?’

It was natural for a parent to be interested in a letter left by a runaway daughter, but it was quite different from the image of ‘Father Kane Trian’ that he had heard from Roanna.

‘Was he just curious about Roanna’s whereabouts?’

Muno narrowed his eyes as he watched Kane’s receding back.

“You must have been in a difficult situation, but you handled it well.”

At Klarm’s ensuing words, he finally straightened his expression.

“Ah, not at all. Let’s go.”

“In case His Excellency scolds you excessively, I hope you understand.

It’s because he cherishes the young lady that much. If you just stay quiet, he’ll calm down again soon.”

Klarm, who for some reason was giving him tips(?) with a warmer expression than before.

Muno, who responded with a slight smile, followed him quietly, lost in thought.

‘Kane Trian. I heard he rarely moves himself when dealing with his subordinates.’

Somehow, Kane’s sudden appearance was bothering him.

But before that thought could reach any conclusion.

“Your Excellency, I have brought Young Master Muno Drasen.”

– Let him in.

Kiiiiiiiik.

The door of a room too large to be just an office began to open.

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