A Slave Doesn't Take Responsibility

Aurora doesn't know how to use magic.

When she was young, she had once practiced with Aither, but unlike him, she had no talent whatsoever.

While Aither conjured flames, floated droplets of water in the air, and made the wind move, Aurora couldn't even move a single strand of mana properly.

She didn't particularly mind.

It wasn't as if she craved power or wanted to go to the battlefield and make a name for herself.

Such an Aurora was, for this very moment, comparable to a great mage.

She had, after all, frozen time and space at the same time.

Even Rion.

Even Kaizel.

Even her own breathing.

Everything in the bedroom had frozen in place.

Of course, a miracle of that magnitude came with an equivalent price.

Just as a mage consumes mana to use magic, Aurora paid with shame instead of mana.

She blackened a page in the history of Princess Aurora Argenvalt, turning it into a page she would want to tear to pieces forever.

If only it would just stay frozen like this.

Aurora harbored that wish.

But magic's effects were not eternal.

In the frozen space-time, the first to move was Aurora, the caster herself.

-creak.

Aurora rose like a rusted doll.

She forced her body upright from where she'd been sprawled on the bed, then groped under the bed for her slippers.

One foot was on properly, while the other was only half in.

The moment her foot touched the floor.

"Ugh...!"

Another short groan escaped her.

Because her legs were in poor shape, and standing up so suddenly sent pain through them like an electric shock.

Aurora hurriedly clapped a hand over her mouth.

She stood awkwardly, stealing a glance at the emperor.

To preserve even what little dignity remained, she braced her waist and stood as straight as she could.

"D-Dad, what brings you here?"

"......"

Kaizel did not answer.

He merely stood by the doorway, slowly looking around the bedroom.

Aurora in her nightclothes, standing in front of the bed.

Her face flushed bright red.

Her legs, unable to hold her up properly, were trembling.

And for some reason, Rion was in the princess's bedroom.

All of the circumstances were being arranged in a highly suspicious direction.

"Aurora."

"Y-Yes."

"Explain what I'm looking at."

"Dad. Well. This is. So......"

Calm down.

Calm down.

Aurora desperately racked her brain for an excuse.

I was giving her a massage.

It felt so good I let out a weird sound.

Rion's hands were pretty skilled.

‘None of those will work!’

Countless sentences were born and executed on the spot in Aurora's mind.

"Why can't you speak? Could it be that you were doing something you can't tell me about?"

No matter how hard she thought, she couldn't come up with a proper excuse.

Afraid that staying silent would only make things worse, she reluctantly told the truth.

"Rion was... massaging my legs......"

"Legs."

"Yes."

"Massaging."

"Yes......"

"Who. Whose legs?"

"Rion was... massaging my legs......"

Unable to finish, she shut her mouth.

Kaizel nodded.

"Guards. Take that man away and cut off his head. Hang his head in the square for all to see, and feed the body to the pigs."

"W-Wait a minute!"

The instant Aurora freaked out and reflexively rushed forward, her legs gave way.

The floor suddenly seemed very close.

Fortunately, Rion caught Aurora before she could fall.

"Are you all right?"

"Uh, y-yes...... Hah! That's not the issue right now!"

Aurora shook off Rion's hand and barely managed to block Kaizel's path.

In that brief moment, Kaizel's gaze had grown even colder.

"Aurora."

"Dad. It's a misunderstanding. It's absolutely not what you think."

"I haven't said what I'm thinking yet."

"T-Then could you maybe stop thinking that?"

Kaizel gave no answer.

He simply turned his head back.

The guards outside came in.

Aurora hurriedly spread both arms.

"No! No one is allowed in!"

"Aurora."

"I ordered it!"

Kaizel's gaze pinned Aurora once more.

"You."

"Yes!"

"That slave."

"Yes."

"To massage your legs."

Kaizel slowly looked at Rion.

"Do you have anything to say?"

"I've been wronged."

"Is that all?"

"If I may add, I definitely suggested calling a maid."

"Rion!"

Aurora turned back with a betrayed look.

Rion did not avert his gaze.

"It's true."

"Even so, how can you say that right now!"

"For my own survival."

"Both of you, be quiet."

At that one word, the noise in the bedroom stopped dead.

Kaizel drew in a deep breath.

"Why is a slave in the princess's bedroom? Surely this wasn't going on all this time, was it?"

"No. Rion came into the bedroom for the first time today. We always met in the study. Because my leg hurt, we only came to the bedroom today......"

"Why does your leg hurt?"

"Well......"

"Did you go on an undercover mission?"

"......!"

Aurora's shoulders jolted.

She cautiously lifted her head and met Kaizel's eyes.

A cold gaze.

‘I got caught......’

Just from that gaze, she instinctively realized the undercover mission had been exposed.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

There was nowhere to run.

"Why did you go undercover? To the lair of a criminal organization, of all places?"

"I thought that if I rescued the missing noble ladies, you'd let me write novels again......"

"So you went out without saying a single word to me?"

"I thought I had to handle it myself because it was my fault. If I told you, you'd definitely stop me......"

Aurora lowered her head like a criminal, and Kaizel, who had been looking down at her closely, motioned toward the back.

The attendants left the room with due respect.

Only Rion, Aurora, and Kaizel remained in the bedroom.

Silence settled over the room.

After the footsteps beyond the closed door faded away and even that sound cut off, Kaizel slowly exhaled.

"Aurora."

"Yes......"

"Lift your head."

Aurora, watching his mood, lifted her head. She met Kaizel's eyes.

His gaze was still cold. But Aurora could tell that the feeling in it wasn't only anger.

"Where are you hurt?"

"......I'm fine."

"Didn't you say your leg hurt?"

"That was just because I walked a lot."

"I'm glad you're unharmed."

"......"

A brief sentence of relief.

At that, Aurora couldn't say anything. Instead, she felt guilty.

Kaizel looked at his daughter for a long time before suddenly asking in a gentle voice.

"So."

"......?"

"Was it fun?"

"Huh?"

"I meant the undercover mission. I asked whether it was fun."

Aurora blinked at the unexpected question.

She had been prepared to be scolded.

Sneaking out of the imperial castle and slipping into the den of a criminal organization—everything about it had been wrong.

But now he was asking whether it had been fun.

Could this be a kind of trap question?

If she said it was fun, maybe he'd scold her for not regretting it.

But Kaizel's gaze was far removed from that of an interrogator.

It was just like that of a normal father.

It was the eyes of a father who wanted to hear about his daughter's new experience.

That gaze tickled strangely, and Aurora fidgeted with her fingers for no reason.

"If you call that fun, that's a little strange."

"Then how was it? Was it the same as what you read in books?"

Aurora was silent for a moment.

She couldn't easily sort out where to start.

Then she slowly opened her mouth.

"At first, it was different from what I had imagined."

"I see."

"The smell was strange, my legs hurt, and I was scared. It was the first time I realized I could get that angry."

Undercover missions in novels always sparkled.

A princess who hid her identity and worked in secret was cool, and the people she saved thanked her with tears in their eyes.

Something similar did happen in reality.

The villains were brought down.

The people trapped inside were rescued.

They shed tears of relief.

But it was very different from the scenes she'd looked at from beyond the pages.

The people locked in cages looked far more miserable, and the hands of those who were frightened were so small and fragile.

It was too vivid to be summed up with a single word like romance.

It was dreadful.

It was frightening.

It was far more real.

"So I think I was a little disappointed at first."

Aurora murmured softly.

"I thought the stories I loved were just stories. Reality wasn't pretty or cool like that. That's what I thought."

I admired the protagonists in novels.

I wanted to be like them.

I wanted to be a protagonist who stood in cool scenes, said cool things, and coolly saved people.

I don't know whether yesterday's me was really that kind of person.

I was trembling too much, panicking, and unable to control my emotions when I got angry.

In the end, I even fell asleep from exhaustion.

But.

"When I read novels, it always felt like I was borrowing someone else's story."

Aurora said quietly.

"For just a moment yesterday...... it felt like I had bought my own story."

Kaizel silently looked at his daughter.

Aurora's gaze was resting on a moment Kaizel didn't know.

"So it was better than a novel."

It was a little more real.

A little scarier.

A little messier.

"So it was more romantic."

By experiencing it firsthand, she had learned something.

Romance isn't only in beautifully packaged stories.

Sometimes, in reality that's dirty, scary, and messy.

When you still take a step forward instead of running away.

That's when you can finally grasp it.

That's when it shines even brighter.

"......"

Aurora gave Rion a quick sidelong glance.

At the end of all these experiences and emotions, there was Rion.

Because he had been there, it had been possible.

If he hadn't been there, she'd still be in the imperial palace, reading novels and admiring the protagonists.

She still remembered.

The words Rion had said to her on the rooftop.

"Not as Aurora, but as Princess Aurora, you were the best."

Somehow, that one line had remained deep in her heart.

"I'll probably never forget it. I won't forget it."

Before she knew it, a smile had appeared on Aurora's lips.

"......"

Kaizel looked at Aurora in silence.

At first, he had come to question her.

He had planned to scold his daughter for sneaking out of the imperial palace without saying anything, and to severely discipline the slave who had run around with her instead of stopping her.

But the Aurora in front of him was a little different from the daughter he knew.

A child who loved the stories in books and was more easily swept up by scenes in her imagination than by reality.

A child who was timid, far removed from physical exertion, and didn't want to keep the harsher sides of the world close.

That Aurora was saying she had lived her own story.

To Kaizel, that sounded rather unfamiliar.

Unfamiliar, and a little admirable.

"......I see."

After a long silence, Kaizel finally managed to say a single line.

Aurora watched his expression.

"Are you angry...?"

"I was."

"......"

"But since you returned safely, that's enough. And it's true that thanks to you, the missing noble ladies returned safely as well."

"Then...!"

"However."

The atmosphere, which had seemed to soften, stiffened again.

"Your returning safely and your not being at fault are entirely different matters."

Aurora hunched her shoulders.

"If anything had happened to you, this incident would not have ended as a simple missing noble lady case."

"The empire's princess missing, or perhaps murdered."

"A rumor like that alone would turn noble society upside down."

"Other nations would move, and the imperial family's authority would waver."

"Far more people might have shed blood."

"Aurora."

"Yes......"

"Stay in the Princess's Palace for now. You're forbidden from going out until your body recovers."

"Yes."

"And from now on, if you want to go undercover, tell me first."

Aurora slowly lifted her head.

"Will you allow it?"

"Depending on the situation."

"Understood......"

Kaizel's gaze moved to Rion.

"And you."

Rion quietly lowered his head, as if what was coming had already arrived.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"You should have stopped Aurora."

"I'm sorry."

"Of course, you're a slave. So from your position, prioritizing Aurora's orders would be natural. If Aurora came at you brazenly, you'd have no way to refuse."

"......"

"Even so, you should have stopped her. If you had no right to refuse, you should have sought help from someone else."

"I have no excuse."

Rion lowered his head even further.

Because every word was true.

Kaizel looked back and forth between Rion and Aurora.

He recalled the advice Richard had given him not long ago. This seemed like the chance.

"This much is certain now. As long as you're by her side, Aurora can carry out reckless acts again. If you're there, she'll believe she can do it."

"Dad, that's...!"

"Am I wrong?"

Aurora couldn't refute it.

It was true.

Without Rion, she probably wouldn't have even thought of leaving the imperial palace in the first place.

Even if she had gone out, she'd likely have gotten scared partway through and come back.

But Rion was there.

She believed he would somehow solve it. So even though she was scared, she could keep moving forward.

Kaizel took that silence as his answer.

"Rion."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"I will give you a chance."

Aurora's eyes wavered.

For some reason, it felt ominous.

"Be assigned to the Imperial Knights and earn merit. Prove that you're someone who can help the empire. Show that you can be loyal to the imperial family."

Rion's and Aurora's expressions hardened.

They realized that the words coming next were not merely punishment.

"If you do that."

Ignoring both of their reactions, Kaizel declared,

"I will use my authority to set you free."