Chapter 37: The Fallen Prince (2)
Lucas asked Renaria, who was shedding tears one after another, what had happened.
She told him that an unknown woman had looked down on her while being accompanied by Kishtarial and Michaelis.
The woman had glared at her with a terrifying expression, she said, clinging to him as she cried.
Yet, that woman seemed to be favored by the two of them, so Renaria had been unable to do anything.
Lucas flew into a rage.
Renaria must have gone out of her way to invite them to a tea party again.
She could have had a servant do it, yet she went herself.
While he found that earnestness endearing, it also irritated him, as though her heart leaned toward them.
The woman could not be found easily, as she seemed to have been touring the academy.
The headmaster was busy attending to an important guest, and the teachers and staff were equally occupied and tense because of it.
Whether the students were feigning ignorance or truly did not know, little information could be gathered.
But just before she was about to leave the academy, they finally identified a particularly splendid carriage with a strong guard, and within it, a noble lady matching the description.
That insolent woman, who should have knelt before Renaria and begged for mercy, was instead trying to leave as if nothing had happened.
The knights accompanying Lucas, including Walrig, repeatedly tried to stop him when they saw the magnificent four-horse carriage and its escort.
But Lucas, consumed by anger, paid them no heed.
“Can you not obey my orders!?
A vile woman has made Renaria cry!
If we do not punish her here, then when will we!?
If you defy me, then you are no longer needed!
Consider yourselves stripped of your title as knights forever!
Your entire families will not remain unscathed!
If you still cannot act, then I will burn that carriage—and the woman inside it—right here and now!”
Lucas excelled in fire magic.
Though the royal family specialized in barrier magic, his offensive power rivaled even Cain, a magic scholarship student.
Seeing Renaria weeping softly, it was not only Lucas who felt righteous anger.
Graham, Leold, and Cain were also present.
Joshua had not been invited recently, as Renaria’s attention had shifted toward Kishtarial and Michaelis—something Lucas found detestable.
For a moment, Cain’s face stiffened, realizing he might be the one to set the carriage ablaze, but he remained silent.
Graham, however, voiced a concern.
“Should we not confirm first?
This is an academy filled with noble sons and daughters.
It would not be strange for relatives or powerful merchants to be present.
And if they burn, identifying the bodies afterward would be difficult.”
“…Very well. There must be other ways to stop her.”
Though Lucas disliked the idea of examining burned corpses, he still had no intention of backing down.
The knights, their faces pale, finally moved.
They stopped the carriage heading toward the gate, drawing suspicious looks from its guards.
But upon seeing the armor of the royal knights, they refrained from open resistance.
When ordered to produce the woman inside, their demeanor stiffened, and they refused.
The escort knights and Lucas’s knights exchanged words.
At last, one of them reluctantly went to inform the carriage.
After a while, a maid stepped out.
She wore a high-collared uniform, her brown hair and eyes plain and unremarkable.
Upon hearing the situation, her expression hardened, and she argued back.
The surrounding knights grew increasingly pale.
“You’re too slow. Enough—I’ll handle this myself!”
As Lucas stepped onto the carriage, the maid rushed forward, her face deathly pale, trying desperately to stop him.
Annoyed, he shoved her aside.
She fell, but a knight below caught her.
The knights’ shocked and disappointed gazes pierced Lucas, but he ignored them.
The maid, undeterred, tried to approach again.
Was the woman inside truly that important?
Lucas forced the door open.
Inside sat a woman in a white dress.
She was seated further in, making her hard to see, but she was clearly young.
Her dress, adorned with delicate embroidery and lace, was understated yet unmistakably of the highest quality.
Her brooch and earrings were modest but clearly of superior craftsmanship.
Though her outfit revealed almost nothing, her soft, feminine figure was evident.
She had light brown hair and wore glasses.
Her face was pale and small.
The lenses reflected the light, obscuring her eyes, but something about her features seemed faintly familiar.
Yet Lucas’s anger overrode that thought.
He grabbed her thin wrist and dragged her out.
It was shockingly slender, and she offered little resistance.
“…Father…” she murmured weakly, her voice trembling.
The surrounding knights hesitated for a moment, but Lucas silenced them with a glare.
A powerless woman who had hurt Renaria—her foolishness made him scoff.
He stepped on the hem of her dress as she collapsed to the ground, preventing her escape.
When the maid cried out and tried to rush forward, he signaled the knights to block her.
She was knocked down again, lying motionless.
The woman’s face grew even paler, but she was easily restrained.
Her pristine white dress, along with her hands and shoes, became stained with mud.
Looking down at her trembling, humiliated form filled Lucas with satisfaction.
Her shining hair under the sunlight reminded him of Kishtarial and the duke—perhaps that fueled his hatred further.
The frustration that had built up within him began to dissipate.
The woman trembled, tears streaking her cheeks.
It was pitiful.
Her guards were restrained as accomplices, and those who resisted were knocked unconscious, though not killed.
Judging eyes fell upon Lucas, but he did not care.
“Your Highness… this may be excessive…”
“Excessive!?
This woman made Renaria cry!
Kishtarial and Michaelis are at fault for ignoring her invitation, but this woman—who clings to them without knowing her place—is the root of all evil!”
Lucas ordered that the insolent woman be confined in a room within the academy.
Ideally, she would be placed in a proper prison, but none existed here.
He would later condemn her publicly in the great hall and force her to kneel before Renaria and apologize.
With that thought, Lucas returned triumphantly with Graham and the others.
Some cast pitying glances at the woman, but none helped her—proving they cared little.
Walrig even knelt to speak with her, showing unnecessary courtesy to a criminal.
Though the king valued him, Lucas resolved to dismiss him—such a knight tarnished the royal dignity.
If only they had remained there for a few more minutes—no, even a few more seconds—
the worst could have been avoided.
It was decided that the accused woman would be judged before a gathered crowd in the dance hall.
She would never return to society.
Having committed disrespect toward Lucas, she would have no choice but to beg Renaria for mercy.
And her humiliation would be witnessed by the future pillars of high society.
A chuckle escaped Lucas’s throat.
That frail woman would surely break easily.
And what expressions would Kishtarial and Michaelis wear when they saw it?
Renaria, delighted at the capture of the “villainess,” clung to Lucas’s arm.
“Lucas-sama, you must be tired. I’ll prepare tea! I made some new sweets!”
Her chestnut hair swayed, her blue eyes sparkling brightly.
No trace of tears remained on her smiling face.
She hurried off to the tea room.
But then, hurried footsteps approached.
Walrig and the others burst in, their faces pale, abandoning all decorum.
“W-what is it?”
“Your Highness Lucas, this is an urgent matter.
This may be an irreparable failure.
You must apologize to that lady immediately.
Ideally at once, but she is currently unconscious.
Therefore, you must first apologize to Lord Kishtarial.
Then, once she regains consciousness, request an audience and seize the opportunity.
Time is critical.
We can no longer shield you.
We must seek King Lauzes’s judgment.”
“…What are you saying?
I am to apologize to that foolish woman?
Do not jest.”
“That lady is of the Lattiche ducal house!
She is the daughter of Duke Grail von Lattiche!
As a member of the royal family, you must have heard how deeply he dotes on his daughter!”
Lucas’s breath hitched unnaturally.
His heart pounded painfully, as though surging backward.
Grail von Lattiche—the “Demon Duke,” feared both domestically and abroad.
A pillar of the kingdom.
On the battlefield, he could rain down ice spears and lightning, annihilating armies in an instant.
In politics, his influence was immense.
Even the royal family could not ignore him.
Some even said the current king remained on the throne only because he had the duke’s favor.
A man devoid of humanity—yet he had one beloved existence.
His daughter, born of his late wife Christina.
She had died young, leaving behind a single child:
Albeltiina.
Lucas had heard of her from Renaria.
A cruel, arrogant, and monstrous woman, she had said.
…That?
The trembling girl in the carriage, worried for her maid, shrinking in fear under his accusations—
she did not match Renaria’s description at all.
She had seemed fragile, delicate—
like a sheltered noble lady.
If not for Renaria’s tears, even Lucas might have hesitated.
“That… is the rumored Albeltiina!?
She had no scars or burns on her face!
That duke’s daughter is said never to leave her estate—why would she be at the academy!?”
“…Your Highness, forgive me, but Lord Kishtarial is her younger brother.
And she is said to have ties with the Domitrius siblings as childhood friends…”
“But still! Impossible!
Such a lady, alone!?”
“She was not alone!
On her way here, the duke himself accompanied her as escort!
Though he left for urgent duties, even on her return, that carriage was guarded by elite knights!
That level of protection rivals that of royalty traveling incognito!
Those were not ordinary knights, but high-ranking ones—ten of them!
All skilled in both swordsmanship and magic!”
Walrig’s usually neat hair was disheveled, yet he paid it no mind as he spoke.
Though shaken, he desperately tried to salvage the situation.
The carriage guards had recognized Lucas as royalty and refrained from resisting.
Had it escalated, it could have led to a full confrontation between the royal family and the Lattiche house.
The princess of Lattiche had been traveling incognito.
The duke himself had sought to keep her presence discreet.
Thus, the guards could not openly reveal her identity.
They had pleaded for her to be treated with utmost care.
Yet Lucas had forced his way into the carriage, and his companions had subdued the guards without hesitation.
It was all due to Lucas’s reckless actions.
The delayed response of the knights now made sense.
The pieces fell into place.
Fragmented information formed the worst possible conclusion.
Of course her identity had not been easily discovered.
To the duke, she was his most treasured possession—
his only daughter, his beloved wife’s memento, protected since her kidnapping.
The maid and the elite knights had understood that weight.
The princess of Lattiche, raised with utmost care.
Once endangered by a royal failure, tensions already existed.
The duke had not openly opposed the crown, but his attitude was far from warm.
It was even said that displeasing him could jeopardize one’s claim to the throne.
Even a marriage proposal from the royal family had been rejected outright.
Such was the depth of his love.
And Lucas had laid hands on that daughter.
“She’s lying… this must be a lie…”
“It is no lie.
It seems you have caused quite the trouble for my daughter,
Prince Lucas.”
As if delivering the final blow of despair,
the beautiful demon stood before him.