About a day after the founding of the newly established Lingaard Knights.
In a back alley on the outskirts of the imperial capital.
“It’s always scary coming here…”
A man was walking along the street where darkness had fallen, glancing around anxiously.
“…Hah, and you say you’re scared.”
“What?”
“That’s surprising. Even a passing dog would laugh.”
And quietly following behind that man, someone whose jeweled eyes faintly flickered even in the darkness.
“Milady, we came here secretly under cover of darkness. So please, just a little quieter…”
“…I’ve already placed a soundproofing spell around us. I made sure it won’t be dispelled like last time, so don’t worry.”
Indeed, as any subscriber of the gossip papers that were recently gaining popularity in remote parts of the empire could easily tell, it was clearly this year’s top couple, Whitney and Meredia.
“Milady, I’m someone who feels fear when faced with scary things too.”
“Like what?”
“Hmm, for example, someone who poisons a teacup without even saying a word beforehand.”
Of course, just from listening to their conversation, they didn’t sound particularly like a couple.
“…Let’s not talk about that time anymore.”
“Ha ha. Why not? Even now, don’t you sometimes want to poison me?”
“Haa…”
Meredia averted her eyes and let out a quiet sigh after briefly frowning at Whitney’s joke.
“Even if it’s a joke, don’t say things like that anymore.”
“…Okay.”
It could have sounded like a bold statement, but Whitney, noticing the faint tremble in Meredia’s voice, immediately closed his mouth and nodded.
“If you hadn’t woken up back then… everything might have turned out very differently.”
In that slightly awkward atmosphere, Meredia quietly muttered as she looked up at the moon in the sky.
“…Do you think so too?”
To her question, Whitney tilted his head for a moment and then smiled lightly before answering.
“I’m not really someone who likes to dwell on what might have been.”
“What matters is always the present. Don’t you agree?”
While his words were true, they weren’t a perfect answer either.
“Yeah, what matters is the present…”
“Haha.”
“…Don’t laugh like that. You’re making your cool answer sound suspicious.”
Still, to Meredia at that moment, it was probably the best answer possible.
“By the way, I heard you’re afraid of something too, milady.”
Whitney, trying to completely change the mood after his awkward response, scratched his head and threw out a question this time.
“Like spiders, for instance.”
“Ugh, I hate them. Not just spiders, all insects.”
“Why do you hate spiders so much?”
Meredia looked steadily at Whitney’s narrowed eyes for a moment before speaking in a smaller voice.
“When I was locked in the basement as punishment when I was little, they kept crawling all over my body.”
“…Ah.”
“I couldn’t ask anyone to get rid of them, because it felt like revealing my weakness. So I just stayed quiet.”
“Uh, um…”
As soon as she finished speaking, Whitney realized he had failed to change the mood and started fidgeting, watching Meredia’s expression.
“Ah, are you still carrying around that spider you used to control?”
“…Uh, I’m not sure. I haven’t seen it much lately.”
“I thought you had tamed it using your power of dominion. Or not?”
Seeing that, Meredia tried to change the mood herself, but unfortunately, Whitney couldn’t answer a question he didn’t know the answer to.
“Haa, just be honest. You don’t need to be at a loss over my past.”
Just as the mood was about to hit rock bottom, Meredia let out a big sigh and started speaking honestly.
“…Is that so.”
“Of course, I don’t like remembering the past either.”
Though she seemed to draw a firm line, Meredia then whispered in a much softer voice.
“…But I think it’s okay to open up to you, at least.”
As soon as she said that, Whitney glanced sideways at her slightly flushed cheeks and chuckled, asking another question in a more relaxed tone.
“I suppose your fear of the dark comes from the same place as your fear of bugs, doesn’t it?”
“…To be precise, it’s closed, dark spaces. Open areas like this aren’t so scary.”
Though Meredia answered in a lighter tone, her voice still trembled slightly.
No matter how strong she was, even as the most feared villainess until a few months ago, she couldn’t easily escape the trauma of her past.
“Haha, that’s a shame.”
“What?”
“If you were scared, I could have held your hand.”
Still, the frequency of her nightmares had noticeably decreased recently.
“…Hold it.”
“Sorry?”
“Stop spouting nonsense and just hold my hand.”
And there was no need to explain what the reason behind that improvement might be.
“It doesn’t have to be that I’m scared for you to hold it, right?”
“Ah… well, that’s true.”
“…Don’t want to?”
“N-No, not at all.”
And so, both of their faces flushed red simultaneously in the pitch-black darkness as they held hands.
“Why the hell are they flirting in our territory?”
“Shh, just pretend you didn’t see. That’s a walking disaster, you know.”
Of course, for the original owners of the alley who had hidden themselves in the shadows, it was baffling chaos.
Still, perhaps because they survived on awareness alone, none of the local thugs dared to interrupt the couple’s intimacy.
—O alley rats, if you value your lives, you’d best rein in your killing intent.
To be fair, it wasn’t just street smarts—following Meredia’s magically whispered warning throughout the district, they chose to cherish their lives.
“I should just whack the back of their heads…”
Crackle…
“…No, it’s nothing.”
How much time had passed since the two began walking hand in hand?
“So, where exactly are we going?”
“I’ve roamed these back alleys quite a bit myself, but I really can’t tell where this is headed.”
Meredia, who had been silently walking in step with Whitney, finally lost her patience and frowned as she asked him.
“Haha, we’re almost there.”
“Didn’t you say that five minutes ago too?”
“This time I mean it. Let’s see, turn here…”
Whitney, smiling as he tried to calm her, suddenly turned into a dead-end alley.
“What the—this is a dead end…”
“…Well? Wasn’t I right?”
Just as Meredia was about to scold him in a mildly annoyed voice, she suddenly widened her eyes and stared ahead.
“For a magic barrier in a back alley, it’s quite sophisticated.”
“Haha. Just because it’s the back alley doesn’t mean only clumsy people pass through.”
As Whitney said, the wall that blocked the alley was covered with a fairly advanced illusion spell—camouflage magic.
“But for something like that, there’s no physical defense. Just visual deception, huh.”
“Being able to recognize the magic itself is like the entry condition.”
While tilting her head with a slightly puzzled look, Meredia silently watched Whitney, who had already stepped through the wall.
“Huh?”
Following him carefully and feeling her body sink in as though into pudding, Meredia wore a blank expression at the sight before her eyes.
“Welcome. You’ve just stepped into the finest pleasure district of the back alley.”
“This place is only accessible at night, you know. Hahaha…”
The darkness that had shrouded the alley just moments before now seemed meaningless, as the surroundings were lit brightly by street lamps and signs.
At first glance, the atmosphere seemed bright and cozy, but as Whitney had said, a little awareness would reveal the darkness that contrasted with the brightness.
For example, shops with blatantly risqué paintings.
Or women dressed provocatively, luring customers at the entrances of such places.
If not that, then gambling halls or bars covered in playing cards.
‘Is there something about the back alleys I don’t know?’
Meredia, watching this strange—perhaps indecent—scene for a while, eventually furrowed her brow and quietly muttered to herself.
‘I never heard of such a place from anyone.’
She knew the layout of most back alleys through frequent visits and the fearsome intel-gathering skills of her aides.
But she could swear she was seeing this place for the first time.
Then how did Whitney know about it?
Could it be he was a rake who liked places like this?
Then those sweet whispers he had said to her—were they all things he picked up from here…?
“Oh dear, I really don’t know where to look.”
“Hey, why are you looking at me like that? This is my first time here too, I swear.”
For a brief moment, Meredia’s eyes flared red with a loss of reason before returning to normal.
“…Fine. You’re not lying.”
“Huh?”
“If you were, you’d be dead right now.”
Meredia had just blown one of her most taxing abilities—mind reading, which she could now only use about once a week—on something utterly ridiculous.
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
“Hmph.”
“…..?”
Of course, to Meredia herself, it was still the best use of her powers.
“Hey, this really is your first time here, right?”
“Geez. Yes, it is.”
“Then how do you know the layout so well?”
***
As I hurried through the red-light district, trying not to be late, I gave a wry smile at Lady Meredia’s skeptical voice beside me.
“I memorized the whole map.”
“What?”
“I can travel anywhere in the empire with my eyes closed.”
As a veteran player of the open-world game “Blacktail Fantasy 3”, memorizing maps was second nature.
Naturally, I had the layout of this red-light district entirely in my head, so I knew exactly which areas were dangerous and where my destination was.
“Really, what kind of person are you…”
“Haha.”
Well, with Princess Meredia as my escort, it’s not like any place could truly be called dangerous anyway.
“Alright, here we are.”
“Huh? This is…”
Ironically though, my actual destination might be the one place that is dangerous—even with Meredia at my side.
[Pro Domina]
Princess Meredia, staring blankly at the signboard of our destination, seemed to be thinking the same thing.
“Is this… some kind of noblewomen-only bar?”
“…Yes, correct.”
“Hah. So much for noble honor. How vulgar…”
Upon hearing my explanation, she flushed deeply and began to grumble, then turned her gaze back to me to interrogate further.
“But why is our destination such a filthy place?”
“Ah, well. That’s because…”
Of course, I had a very clear reason to tell her.
“Tonight, I’m planning to go undercover here—as a host.”
“What?”
“Your Highness, I’d like you to be my ‘bait’ for the evening.”
To Lady Meredia, that probably sounded quite shocking.
“Why on earth…”
“…We’re going to catch the Emperor in her mischief.”
To hunt down an arrogant lioness, sometimes you have to risk your life.
Cliche Novel 