Chapter 23
Even though this was presumably her first time being separated from the Imperial Household Guard, I wanted to praise her for remaining so composed.
However, the situation was far too urgent for us to leisurely exchange small talk.
The enemy was close enough now that I could hear their footsteps without even straining my ears.
“Your Highness. It won’t be long before they burst in here.”
Selvia nodded as she looked toward the door.
“Yes. I know.”
“Then, when they open the door, could you fire twice toward the ceiling?”
“……The ceiling?”
Not the enemy? Selvia turned to me with a puzzled look, but I was quite serious.
“It doesn’t have to be the ceiling specifically. The point is to make gunshots.”
“Why on earth…… No. I understand.”
It seemed Selvia also realized how urgent things were, because she did not argue with my suggestion.
Tap-tap-tap─
At that moment, the sound of them moving quickly rang in my ears.
As we waited with bated breath, the sound of the door hinges being lifted joined it.
“I’ll begin.”
Realizing that the door had opened, Selvia pulled the trigger twice as I had instructed.
Flashes lit up the dark living room, and gunshots loud enough to deafen us rang out.
Thanks to that, the agents who had been trying to enter retreated outside.
Silence followed.
They were probably pressed tightly against the hallway wall, discussing by hand signals how to deal with the situation.
‘More precisely, they’re discussing how to kill us.’
Since they had caused such a spectacular commotion at the banquet hall, they could not escape the Empire.
In other words, their mission was not to abduct the princess, but to kill her.
However, there was no way for the agents to know exactly where the princess was hiding.
They must have stumbled backward in confusion at the gunshots they heard the moment they opened the door.
Behind the sofa? Behind the bookshelf? Under the desk? Or had someone opened a door in another room and fired? Any number of guesses would be flying around.
Usually, such speculation ended with a grenade.
It was standard practice to toss a grenade toward wherever one thought the enemy was and observe the reaction.
That was the moment I was waiting for.
I was swallowing hard and listening intently when—
Click─
The sound of a grenade’s safety pin being pulled tickled my ears.
I immediately accelerated my nerves, rose from my spot, and drew my revolver.
Beyond the door, I saw an agent attempting to throw a grenade toward us as if in slow motion.
I couldn’t afford to fail. Holding my breath for a moment, I carefully aimed at the grenade and pulled the trigger.
The gunpowder exploded, the bullet flew, and the world returned to its normal speed.
Boom─!
The grenade was struck by the bullet and exploded, sending fragments flying in every direction.
“Aah!”
“Ugh!”
The agents hit directly by the shrapnel broke the silence with screams.
I had only just finished accelerating my nerves, and I felt like vomiting, but I couldn’t let such an opportunity pass.
“Your Highness.”
“I understand!”
When Selvia and I went into the hallway, an agent who was still alive drew a pistol from inside his clothing.
Before I could deal with him, Selvia pulled the trigger first.
Bang!
The agent with a bullet lodged between his brows lowered his head obediently, leaving behind a gurgling death rattle.
I looked around in relief and saw that all the other agents were sprawled there as corpses.
We had taken out eight agents in an instant, but it was still too soon to relax.
“Your Highness. Other agents will come rushing over after hearing the gunshots. There’s no way they sent only eight men on a mission like this.”
“Then we have to get out of here as quickly as possible…….”
No. It was too late. Footsteps were coming again, this time from the central staircase in the hallway.
─ They’re upstairs! The Imperial Princess is upstairs!
─ Have everyone assemble! Shoot them on sight!
─ They’re on the top floor of the hotel! Block them so they can’t escape!
Tension made my breathing rough. Cruelly, Selvia was the only person I could rely on now.
“This way!”
I seized Selvia by the wrist and recklessly sprinted toward the end of the hallway.
Selvia ran after me despite her confusion, then shouted.
“Daniel! That’s a dead end!”
“It’s not a dead end! The wall is made entirely of glass, isn’t it?”
“What are you talking about……!”
Realizing my intention, Selvia stared at me in horror, her eyes going wide.
“Are you saying you intend to jump out through there?”
“Yes! They’ve occupied the stairs and elevators, so this is our only option!”
“What kind of idiotic thing are you saying……! Suicide is not an option!”
How frustrating. I turned to Selvia and said,
“Your Highness can use translocation magic, can’t you!”
“How do you know that…… No! It’s not perfect! It only works within line of sight!”
“I see! It’s fortunate that we’re on the hotel’s top floor!”
I wasn’t sure whether the situation was absurd or I had gone mad, but laughter escaped me.
As I ran, I raised my revolver and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The three bullets struck the reinforced glass, creating cracks.
At the same time, agents shouted from the central staircase.
“There!”
“Open fire! The higher-ups ordered us to kill them if necessary!”
I kicked off the floor and leaped into the glass wall.
Crash! The glass wall shattered, sending fragments flying in every direction.
Selvia, whose hand I was holding, also soared beautifully amid the shards of glass.
However, floating through the air lasted only an instant.
“Eek!”
We soon began descending toward the ground, unable to overcome gravity.
As the wind whipped my hair and uniform, the hem of Selvia’s dress fluttered like a flag. It was white.
“Your Highness!”
At my shout urging her to come to her senses, Selvia, who had been dazed, took a deep breath and nodded.
Taking in the sight of the Old Town rushing closer, Selvia recited a short incantation.
Immediately afterward, Selvia and I were enveloped in a pure white light.
*
When I opened my eyes, Selvia and I were still suspended in midair.
However, the ground was close.
I pulled Selvia into my arms, struck the ground with my shoulder, and landed.
“……!”
My body jolted, and I felt a dull pain, but it was bearable.
Before the pain had even faded, I looked around and sighed in relief at seeing no one there.
The only things visible were broken records and wrecked furniture.
It appeared to be a place where household items discarded by residents were collected.
“Ah…….”
Selvia, who had been wriggling in my arms, raised her upper body.
Perhaps because she had just used translocation magic, she looked dizzy.
However, she soon regained her composure and looked at me.
“……Are you all right?”
It was unexpected. I had thought she would ask first whether we had succeeded in escaping.
“Yes. I’m fine.”
Bracing a hand against the ground, I got to my feet.
Then, looking down at Selvia seated on the floor, I saw that she was a mess.
Not only was the hair I had neatly combed with a brush now tousled, but her luxurious evening dress was stained with dust and blood and was in tatters.
Even so, the sapphire earrings and necklace were still sparkling in the moonlight, which was ironic.
……Hm? Moonlight?
When I looked up, the ceiling seemed to have collapsed, leaving a gaping hole.
The stars thickly spread across the sky were visible in all their brilliance.
Had we chosen this place simply because it was somewhere—anywhere—we could hide in our haste?
Thinking she had done well to choose a place like this, I reached a hand toward Selvia.
“Let’s get up. The floor is cold.”
Selvia nodded, took my hand, and stood.
I bent my upper body slightly to check Selvia’s condition.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No. Fortunately, I’m not hurt…… Wait.”
Selvia’s face reddened as she pushed my upper body away.
Her tightly shut eyes held a strange irritation.
“Don’t you sometimes think you stand a little too close?”
“……I was merely worried about Your Highness’s safety.”
“I know. I do, but…… Haa. Never mind. More importantly, are we safe now?”
“We should be. They can’t track us to wherever we escaped via translocation and find us.”
Even if that were possible, the Imperial Household Guard would arrive first.
The Imperial Household Guard must have been dispatched immediately after the Ethelium translocation grenade exploded, so by now they would have entered the Old Town.
Selvia seemed to think so as well, because she nodded once and moved away from me.
An awkward atmosphere settled between Selvia and me.
When the situation had been urgent, we had exchanged jokes and chatted, but once everything was resolved, an inexplicable awkwardness took its place between us.
On top of that, I had an unconscious thought filling my mind that the closer I became to Selvia, the farther I might get from being discharged, so I couldn’t show her any greater friendliness.
In the first place, I couldn’t casually strike up a conversation with the Imperial Princess, one of the most exalted people in the Empire.
So, as I was killing time until the Imperial Household Guard arrived, Selvia cautiously broke the silence.
“……Daniel. Do you know how to dance?”
Dance? I shook my head.
“I’ve only watched from the sidelines; I’ve never properly danced. As you know, I’m an orphan, so I’m not familiar with social skills like dancing. But why are you asking all of a sudden?”
“No particular reason. I thought dancing would be better than passing the time in boredom. There’s still time before the banquet ends, too.”
Come to think of it, she wasn’t wrong.
The banquet ended at midnight, after all.
“Your Highness. I’d love to oblige, but my skills are so humble that…….”
“I’ll teach you. It isn’t that difficult.”
Hmm. If she went this far, I couldn’t refuse.
“Then I’ll accept a lesson.”
“Good.”
Selvia approached me and took my hand.
“Follow my lead.”
Saying that, Selvia raised our joined hands at an angle and began stepping.
Perhaps to accommodate me as a beginner, she moved quite slowly, but even following that was a struggle.
So when I tripped over my feet a few times and stumbled awkwardly, Selvia couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.
I felt embarrassed for no reason.
“……I told you I couldn’t.”
“You’ll improve once you learn. Come on, again.”
Selvia moved her feet again, and mine followed hers.
After repeating the motion several times, I became able to imitate Selvia to some extent.
We had managed to complete something approaching a dance, however clumsily.
As we danced by moonlight, using it as our illumination, the sound of a helicopter reached us from far away.
“Your Highness. The Imperial Household Guard…….”
“Don’t stop.”
I had been about to say that this was no time to indulge in childishness, but I stopped short.
Because Selvia wore a subtle smile, as if she were enjoying herself.
It was completely different from when she had danced expressionlessly in the banquet hall.
For some reason, I didn’t want to ruin Selvia’s enjoyment.
So I moved my feet as best I could, and the dance that followed became a circle dance, bringing the waltz to an end.
I was still dazed that I had danced the waltz to the end when Selvia released my hand and looked at me.
“Remember this. You need to be able to dance at least this well if you don’t want to be looked down on wherever you go.”
While I was unable to come up with an appropriate response, the sound of the helicopter drifting through the sky gradually drew closer, until the rotors could be heard directly overhead.
“Your Highness!”
At the sudden shout, I looked up to see a veteran nearly sixty years old standing armed in the helicopter’s doorway.
The veteran hurriedly pulled out the radio slung over his shoulder and pressed the transmit button.
“Headquarters! This is the waste collection site at 87 Alter Markt Street in the Old Town! We’ve found Her Highness the Imperial Princess and Captain Daniel! Both are safe except for minor injuries! Send backup here immediately! I repeat! This is the Old Town…….”
Now that I felt we had truly survived, I felt the tension drain away.
As Selvia and I sighed in relief, our gazes naturally met in midair.
We both remained still for a moment, then let out silly little laughs without either of us prompting it.
It was the tail end of spring.