Chapter 9
“Whatever they give you, don’t say a word and bring it to me. Don’t open what’s inside—under any circumstances.”
Two days after sending Lucian to the Kanzail Trading Company, Ioret sent him there again.
When Lucian returned, he was carrying a box nearly three times larger than the one he had taken.
Sensing something was off, his expression had already darkened the moment he stepped into the bedroom.
“I will open it. Please step back.”
“No, I will.”
Ioret took the dagger from Lucian. Then she sliced through the rope tightly binding the box in a single motion.
The loosened box began to sway on its own.
“Princess, back—”
The moment Lucian stepped in front of Ioret, the box burst open as if exploding in all directions.
“……!”
Someone stood upright inside the opened box. At almost the same moment, Lucian drew his sword.
“Sir Perain, stop!”
The blade rushing toward the intruder’s neck halted mid-air, trembling. It wasn’t because Ioret had stopped him.
‘A human? No—more importantly, I stopped it?’
What emerged from the box was a young girl with deep golden-brown hair.
She was blocking Lucian’s sword with a pair of tailoring scissors held in her hands.
‘There was absolutely no presence. Not even the sound of breathing…!’
Just by clashing blades, it was obvious. The girl was neither a hidden expert nor a trained spy. And yet her strength was absurdly great.
Veins rose on the back of her hand gripping the scissors.
With monstrous strength, she knocked Lucian’s sword aside. Then she immediately rushed toward Ioret.
“Tch!”
Lucian swung his blade toward the girl’s exposed neck. If Ioret hadn’t shouted, her head would have been severed.
“Stop, Sir Perain! That child is my friend!”
The girl who jumped into Ioret’s arms rubbed her face against her cheek repeatedly. Her behavior was exactly like a puppy nuzzling its owner.
“Bara, Bara, right? You’ve grown a lot.”
The girl nodded vigorously. Then she began rummaging through the cards hanging around her neck.
[Princess]
[Bara] [Remember]
[Happy]
[Thank you]
[I missed you]
[I waited]
[Joy]
[!]
The smiling girl moved her lips soundlessly.
“Princess, Bara remembers. Happy. Thank you.”
“You… too.”
Ioret steadied her trembling throat. Her voice came out awkward and strained.
“You remembered me too.”
The Kanzail couple had been among her mother’s few trusted aides.
Their daughter, Bara, had also entered the queen’s palace with her parents since she was an infant.
One day in the past, when Bara had been on the brink of death from a high fever, her mother had treated her.
It was an unheard-of method.
The dying child’s body had been covered in pitch-black scales, and only after several days had they shed away like a husk.
When she opened her eyes again, they had turned a vivid red, and the fever had vanished completely.
“If we had known sooner, we wouldn’t have needed to go this far. I’m sorry to say this to you, but this child is no longer an ordinary human. She may never be able to speak again.”
“Losing her voice is nothing! Human or monster, as long as she’s alive, that’s all that matters. Besides, our Bara is now far stronger than most knights. She’ll be able to protect the queen and the princess for life—what better outcome could there be?”
“Thank you for saying that. Did you hear that, Ioret? You’ve gained a reliable lifelong friend.”
Even now, Ioret remembered that day clearly—the Kanzail couple’s warm smiles, little Bara’s precious warmth, her mother’s relieved laughter.
‘Mother must have known something like this would happen. From the moment she gave me this life.’
She had thought there was no one on her side in the world—but that wasn’t true.
Her mother’s teachings, and all the connections her mother had left behind, were her true inheritance.
Ioret gently patted the girl clinging to her waist.
Bara Kanzail.
This child would be the one truly responsible for her safety from now on.
“Bara, did you bring what I asked for?”
[Yes]
[!]
[The requested item has arrived]
With a triumphant expression, Bara held up word cards and proudly pulled a bundle out of the box, placing it on the table.
Ioret had asked the Kanzail couple for two things.
The first was to send Bara to serve as her maid. The other was inside this bundle.
The wedding dress Ioret had sent to the Kanzail Trading Company flowed down to the floor like waves.
Or rather—it was no longer quite that.
Lucian let out a low breath without realizing it.
“Princess… I believe I may be seeing things.”
“No, you’re seeing it correctly.”
“Then surely you don’t intend to actually wear that… do you?”
Lucian looked down at the princess as if she were insane. Then he forgot everything he was about to say.
Ioret was smiling brightly—an expression he had never seen on her before.
As expected, the wisdom of her mother’s teachings never went astray.
Feeling refreshed, Ioret gave an order to the dazed Lucian.
“Now, Sir, go steal the list of the delegation attending tomorrow’s banquet.”
