* * *
Whether Nadia’s proposal to buy some clothes, befitting her status as a princess, was accepted, the Organization members who received the order hurriedly went to the shopping district and returned.
“Ugh, how can men have so little taste! Who would wear this? It’s fit for a hunter or a tribal chief, not me!”
Nadia was appalled by the survival-optimized clothes the Organization members had bought and shook her head.
Stan and the Organization members, who seemed to have carefully chosen the clothes with their collective intelligence, looked dejected.
I gave them an encouraging smile, telling them not to be discouraged.
“Why not? It’s warm and practical. With this, I feel like I could survive from the Ice Age to the Interglacial Period. I love it.”
For a survival-type person like me, it was a must-have item.
“Of course, we also have some clothes for style.”
Stan hurriedly held up a piece of clothing that he was confident in.
Nadia sighed and left the room after seeing the design, which looked like something you’d wear to visit every house and deliver precious words.
But it looked pretty good to me.
I was very grateful when I imagined the dark men awkwardly standing in a women’s clothing store.
“You probably don’t know much about women’s clothes, but I can feel that you put all your effort into choosing them. Were you worried I’d catch a cold?”
“Ah, I…”
Stan scratched his head and rolled his eyes around, then backpedaled out of the room.
“I-It’s not like I was worried about you or anything? I just remembered that there’s a research result that says you have nightmares when you’re cold, okay?”
“Y-Yeah, that’s right. It’s not expensive either, we bought the cheapest one!”
The other Organization members also followed suit, their faces red.
This place is full of kitties who aren’t used to praise and petting.
The head cat, Makia, who said he would buy me extra clothes, was the same.
“As the maid said, wearing the same clothes all the time makes you look too…”
“Pitiful? Such a beautiful heart to pity the naked and buy them new clothes, you have a delicate consideration for the difficulties of others.”
He seemed to find it difficult to talk to me. He would only give a fake smile and then run away before the conversation got too long.
I raised one corner of my mouth and gave him a look of amusement.
I remembered how Helene used to get angry when I praised her.
‘I wonder if Helene is doing well and hasn’t been caught.’
I wonder if she successfully escaped overseas with Major’s help?
“Cynthia, you are the last princess.”
It was a word I never expected to hear from her mouth, but when I thought about it, it was a very cliché development.
But I wasn’t particularly happy that I was a real princess.
The royal family had already closed down, and I couldn’t chat with the maid sisters in a frilly dress in the palace, so what was there to be happy about!
‘Above all, many people have become unhappy because of the mistakes of the previous generation.’
There’s even incompetence issues and karma!
“Now that it’s come to this, let’s live a good life.”
The fact that Masera’s mother died because of the necklace that her mother, Princess Margarita, gave her would now stay with her in the form of guilt, not just regret.
“…Let’s treat him better in the future.”
‘Waaah! I’m not worthy to be by his side!’ Running away while saying this is the rule of romance fantasy, but he already knew everything and broke the escape cliché by stamping the marriage seal + lip seal + confession seal, so there’s no need to do that.
I can just create the qualifications to be by his side.
So I’ll still love him even if he’s prickly and rebellious.
I sat on the bed and thought about my tamed baby kitty, Masera. No, I missed him.
“By now, he’s probably deciphered my code and found out my location with the precious metal engraving, right?”
Since I’m real, there’s no reason to fake my death anymore.
So I made it very clear to Masera, who must be looking for me while refusing to eat or drink, that I was alive.
“I’ve got everything I need, so shall we start preparing to go back?”
* * *
Cynthia was in the garden to see the aurora in the night sky.
Several Organization members with stern expressions were roaming around with large Dobermans.
Cynthia smiled contentedly at this.
“Aww, they’re taking a night walk. How cute.”
“Can’t you think that the guard dogs are nobly patrolling at night?”
Makia, who had appeared unnoticed, was looking up at the red aurora next to her.
“By the way, it’s pretty.”
He scanned her earmuffs and fluffy sheepskin clothes and gave a fake smile.
“Of course, I’m talking about the aurora, not you. The clothes you’re wearing now are like a wolf disguised as a sheep.”
“These are the new clothes that your subordinates carefully chose for me.”
“No wonder they have no sense.”
How can he say such a thing?
I know he doesn’t have a close relationship with his subordinates because of his personality, but…
Cynthia, who was grumbling inwardly, asked in a somewhat subdued voice, unlike usual.
“Makia, why do you want to become king consort?”
The golden eyes that had been fixed on the aurora turned to Cynthia.
“Do I need a good reason?”
“Most dreams that adults have have plausible reasons attached to them. I don’t know if it’s for show or if it’s sincere.”
Cynthia continued, blowing on her gloved hands.
“When you don’t know exactly what kind of life you should live or what you want, you sometimes aim for the highest place. Like a child.”
He would have left around this time normally, but for some reason, he continued to stay by her side.
Makia stroked his chin with a reminiscing look on his face.
“When I was young, I had no other thoughts than eating my fill and surviving. In the first place, luxurious things like dreams were not allowed.”
Cynthia could vaguely guess what kind of life he, who was in a similar situation to Masera, had lived.
It felt like a trick of fate that one person became a war hero and the other became the ruler of the underworld, like light and shadow.
“I still don’t have a great reason. Just like there’s no reason to be born and live.”
At least he seemed to be telling the truth now.
“So the question ‘why?’ is meaningless to me.”
With those words, Makia took out a gun and aimed it somewhere.
Cynthia’s red eyes gradually widened as she followed the direction the gun was pointing.
“……”
Chief John Wick and a few of his men were dragged in by the Organization members and seen kneeling down.
Makia still asked her with a smiling face.
“The executive-level Organization members and their subordinates sold the precious metals they received from you.”
“They stole and sold them while the princess was asleep. I’m really sorry.”
The chief bowed his head deeply and lied for Cynthia.
“I see.”
Makia muttered indifferently.
Before Cynthia could correct him, the gun in his hand was pointed at his subordinate who was kneeling.
Bang-!
“Aaaagh!”
The subordinate who was shot screamed, clutching his shoulder.
“Ethan!”
The chief’s face, who usually cared for his subordinates, turned white.
“You even remember the names of such low-ranking people? You must have had a pretty good relationship.”
At Makia’s mockery, the chief desperately began to beg.
“They were just doing what I told them to do. I’ll take all the responsibility…”
“You took a fair share of the profits with that money, didn’t you? So it’s a joint responsibility. It seems like you wanted to leave the Organization, so I’ll grant you your wish. Of course, you won’t be able to leave in one piece.”
Stan and other Organization members, under Makia’s orders, pointed their guns at the chief and his subordinates.
Their expressions were cold, but their eyes were shaking slightly.
“…I didn’t steal it, I gave it to them. It was a gift to get along well in the future.”
Cynthia managed to open her mouth, overcoming her fear and tension. Her knuckles were white as she clenched her fists.
Makia smiled leisurely at this.
“Making them sell the engraved precious metals was to let them know the location here, right? Of course, there’s no big problem.”
Makia had already seen through her intentions.
There was another reason why he left her alone even though he knew everything.
“Rather, you did well. If Masera Guise continues to deny your death, my next plan was to call him here.”
Above all, the signal Cynthia sent would have been dismissed as a nonsensical delusion, and no matter how much Masera requested support from the higher-ups, it would not have been accepted.
“Do you know that you are the only real princess?”
Makia added, addressing her who didn’t give any answer.
“The people in power in this country, including the headquarters, want you, the last princess, to die like this.”
Makia was always waiting for the light in her eyes, which were always unpleasantly shiny, to go out.
“Tell me something I don’t know. Do you think they’re the only ones trying to kill me?”
But unlike his expectations, Cynthia pouted her lips and pretended not to be surprised at all.
Makia scoffed, thinking that she was being complacent.
“That means that man will defy the military and jump into this hell alone. If you wanted to see your husband die like a dog, you’ve succeeded.”
Even so, Cynthia still had an unwavering face.
“Hey, I have a lot of friends. Unlike a certain coward who is afraid of giving their heart to others and forming relationships.”
She was talking about Makia.
He had intentionally avoided talking to her because he didn’t want her to read his mind, but she had already figured him out to some extent.
Cynthia’s eyes suddenly turned cold, and she released the strength in her clenched hand and quietly pointed at him.
Then, the several guns that were aimed at the chief and his subordinates suddenly changed direction.
The target of the guns pointed by Stan and the other Organization members in this place was none other than Makia, the head of the Organization.
Whoosh-!
Soon, a huge fire soared from the building where weapons were stored, over Cynthia’s shoulder.
Cynthia, standing against the flames that rose high enough to touch the red aurora in the night sky, smiled.
It was as bright as usual, but it was a smile that contained a somewhat chilly feeling.
“This Organization is mine now. I bought it all.”
She bought the hearts of the Organization members with money, kindness, and empathy for ‘shared anger’.
The Organization members who were pointing their guns at Makia were either subordinates of the first-generation executives listed in the execution documents, or those who were tied to huge debts and Organization withdrawal fees.
Who told you to covet my man?
“There was also a one-star general-level officer on the kill list in the execution documents. The name wasn’t written.”
She had known all along that his goal was to trap Masera in tragedy and kill him.
Cynthia, dyed in the burning red light, asked with a smiling face.
“At this point, shouldn’t I be the one who came to find you? Mr. Markiel von Rogenshield.”
She was like a Trojan horse that divided the inside with sunshine-like kindness.
It was the moment when the operation plan that had been prepared all along, and Cynthia’s own method, began.
Queen without a crown!
Will he even really care at this point? He has no real purpose, right?
Nossa, por essa eu não espera. Diva rainha de todos