“—You aren’t a member of the Rave royal family. You haven’t inherited the blood of the Dragon God.”

…What?

She wasn’t a member of the Rave royal family. She hadn’t inherited the blood of the Dragon god.

She couldn’t understand what he meant at all. At the same time, she couldn’t just ignore those words. Rufus laughed.

“But hey, it’s fine. I suspect not even the Three Grand Dukes have inherited it, either.  It’s called collateral, so don’t be disappointed.”

“…Wait, but surely—my mother, with the Duke of Fairert, despite being of a lower echelon—…”

—That wasn’t it. Realizing that she had accepted Rufus’ claim, Natalie shook her head and shouted.

“Why would you know that—!?”

“Because three hundred years ago, Kratos helped the legitimate Rave Family accuse the direct descendant of the Dragon God as a false.”

Rufus laughed nonchalantly. Then, he muttered to himself.

“What, you don’t want to believe it? Fine with me. I only heard it from my ancestors. Besides, it happened 300 years ago.”

“…T, that kind of thing—”

“—But, hasn’t the heavenly sword vanish?”

She couldn’t say anything back.

No one had any clue as to why the heavenly sword vanished. But if that man’s story was the truth, then the rest was history.

The heavenly sword belonged to the Dragon God. Without a direct descendant, the heavenly sword couldn’t manifest.

W, wait, then—…

—She had heard of it. Hadith Theos Rave’s mother did some plotting behind the scenes.

Vissel would have been aware of it. Despite that, nothing had been said about it. Natalie wasn’t even sure whether or not it actually happened. She was convinced the reason it wasn’t made public was because the crown prince’s younger brother ended up with the heavenly sword.

But, was it that simple?

…If that story about the heavenly sword is true, then my uncle—no, we—…

It was as if a hole had opened under her feet.

If only she could unhear everything. That way, she’d be fine.

“How is it? How do you feel upon learning that instead of being a princess, you’re nothing more than a taint to the Rave Empire?”

‘—Fall down.’

It was as if the man was saying that.

She shook her head, trying to dismiss his voice.

“You still won’t believe it? Understandable. No one wants to believe that they’re wrong.”

“Explain to me, to falsely accuse a true descendant as fake, why would Kratos do such a complicated thing!?”

Rufus’s eyes opened slightly.

As Natalie desperately pondered, she snuck a glance at his face.

“It’s just strange. If Kratos was pulling strings behind the scenes, then the Rave Family should’ve been dominated by the Kratos royal family, already! But you didn’t announce it to the public, and as a result, we kept fighting while being oblivious to the truth.”

“…”

“Even now, you still welcomed me as a princess of the Rave Empire. There has to be a reason as to why you won’t make it public!”

If the truth were to be made public, the Rave royal family would suffer a blow to their credibility. In fact, it might perish. On the other hand, the Kingdom of Kratos wouldn’t face any backlash whatsoever.

As he leaned against the armrest, Rufus smiled.

“I see, you care more about that than your own lineage.”

“Unfortunately, I’ve never thought of myself as an excellent princess. It’s more convincing to be told that I’m no princess.”

She laughed proudly, but she was merely deceiving herself. Her palms were soaked with cold sweat. Despite how desperately she tried to dismiss the thought, she was still trembling.

She was always that kind of person.

Despite sensing that Hadith was the true Dragon Emperor all along, she couldn’t say a word. She couldn’t even denounce her uncle who might have been colluding with Kratos.

Because she had no backing. Because she was afraid of her half-brother. Because she wanted her uncle to think of her as a fine princess. She did everything for something utterly trivial. Looking back, she wanted to laugh at herself.

Therefore, boasting her identity as a princess of Rave Empire would be conceited—especially as of the present.

“One thing is for certain; we are blessed by the Dragon God Rave.”

After all, a dragon had properly delivered Natalie up until that point. Surely, that was because the Dragon God hadn’t abandoned Natalie and the others.

If so, she mustn’t betray that one, last, piece of remaining trust.

Such was her pride as the country of reason’s inhabitant

“Hence, I won’t cater to your every whim. How about that? Ah, it’s fine even if you don’t answer. Once I leave this place, I’ll tell everyone about what you said, I’m sure that they’ll think about it. Tell you what, all my siblings are amazing. Even my uncle might change his mind.”

“Won’t that lead to unnecessary conflict? It’s also possible that no one will believe you.”

“That isn’t certain, yet. Especially if I become Prince Geraldo’s fiancée.”

There should be a way to speak to her uncle, or even her half-brother. The same went for the issue with the bloodline. She might be able to become an arbitrator to that.

After crossing his fingers, Rufus tapped the back of his hand with his index finger.

“I see, I see… If you were to become the princess of Kratos, then you might be able to unite the Rave Empire. Perhaps, even resolve the matter with the bloodline. Well, it’s a pretty fascinating idea.”

“I’ll also make it beneficial for your kingdom.”

“Because of such a reason, you want to be my son’s fiancée? What a crazy bargaining technique.”

“Say whatever you want. Just know that it’s useless to threaten me. If you’re aware of that, release me—”

—There was a ground-shaking explosion. Surprised, she turned to the window. Smoke was billowing in the distance.

“Apparently, my son has arrived to retrieve you. Still, how early.”

“T, to retrieve me, you say… but isn’t this just an attack!?”

“That’s how my son greets me. By that, he’s saying, ‘Hello, where in the world is my father?’”

“What kind of parent and child relationship is this…”

She revealed her true thoughts. Rufus laughed casually.

“You see, my son is a shy person. It’s annoying, really. It’s difficult to raise a boy, and not to mention, a descendant of the Goddess of Love.”

Sensing the deception in the exaggerated remarks, Natalie muttered under her breath.

“…In truth, you probably love Prince Geraldo.”

Rufus’ black eyes widened ever so slightly. But soon, he smiled bitterly, as if giving up.

“Of course, he is my cute, lovely, and pitiful son, after all.”

“…I don’t know what happened between you two, but can’t you just make up?”

Rufus untied his fingers and stood.

Then, as he stared at Natalie, he smiled.

“Alright, let’s have my son take care of you.”

“…What?”

Was he saying that he’d release her? While Natalie was perplexed, Rufus went to the bookshelf.

“Right, about what I said earlier, you asked why we didn’t announce it to the public? Unfortunately, I’ll have to apologize from the bottom of my heart, for the reason is something that you likely won’t understand.”

“Well, unless you let me hear the reason, you won’t know.”

“Because the Goddess was truly hurt.”

After retrieving something from the bookshelf, Rufus turned around.

Due to the looming shadow, she couldn’t make out his true expression. On the surface, he appeared to be smiling gently.

“Haven’t you understood?”

The smile was dark. She had been caught in a trap.

With that smile, he was about to reveal everything.

“Thank you for loving my son, I’m truly glad.”

“I, I’m not in love with—!”

“But you see, that’s the beginning of hell.”

Rufus threw whatever he was holding to Natalie. At first, she thought that it was a book. However, it appeared to be a stack of papers. Upon hitting Natalie’s shoulders, they scattered over the floor.

“What is…?”

Rufus didn’t reply.

Natalie, who reached to the floor to pick up the scattered sheets, raised her eyebrows at what was written on them.

At first, nothing seemed to be amiss.

However—

—Isn’t this strange?

While kneeling on the floor, she picked one up and looked at the page below it.

Then, her eyes went wide open. Her breath was stuck in her throat. At that moment, Natalie’s gaze flew right up to meet Rufus. He showed a father-like smile, and told her.

“This is the Kratos royal family.”

“…”

“—Princess Natalie.”

When the figure to which that voice belonged to emerged behind her, it dawned upon Natalie—

—she was going to be killed.

---

***T/N: NOOOAOOooooOOoooaaooaoOOOAOoooo i KNOW THIS IS GOIGN TO HAPPEN BUT STILL!!!!

I wonder what’s in the stack of papers? Is it a secret agreement with Georg to have Natalie killed in exchange for sth else?

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