"A monster?"

The first person to react was a male knight who was nearby.

"Are you saying that a monster has appeared near the capital? Guide us right now..."

"That, that..."

When the male knight came out, the girl with tears in her eyes spoke as if she was in trouble.

"My sister...is naked now because she was caught taking a bath in the river... Can't only women come?"

When she said that, Yuina took a couple of friends who had been snooping around us.

"We will go. Once I report to the Prince..."

"But the monsters are huge!"

The girl stretched her arms out as she spoke. Then she looked at my face and widened her eyes.

"Aren't you Annabelle Rainfield? I saw you at a swordsmanship contest!"

She came running to me and blinked her eyes.

"Anyways, my sister is a fan of Miss Annabelle. If you go along and save my sister, she will love it!"

It was a very transparent trap.

'The real Richard wasn't close to me, but he knew me well. All the while, I'm only dealing with things that I couldn't help but be weak against if it was the old me.'

A girl dreaming of being a swordsman who people idolize, or someone who even after watching a swordsmanship contest professes to be my fan, not Ian's.

All of them were traps that attacked swordsmens with low self-esteem.

'I admit that he is a more sophisticated and uglier villain than me.'

Ian hadn't come back yet. Of course.

I looked at Yuina one more time.

"Isn't it less than an hour from here if we go at full speed to the capital?"

"Yes. We only have to go west along this road."

I smiled and touched my sword once.

This seems to be the last trap that Richard prepared, but it seemed like it was finally time to turn it all over.

After glancing at the face of the girl holding a mushroom basket, I looked at Yuina and said:

"I'll catch the monster and go straight to the capital. Don't be afraid to tell other people that and go straight to the capital. See you there."

"Ah, but your leg injury..."

"It doesn't matter. I can catch one monster. And tell Prince Robert and Ian that I will be joining them soon, so please don't worry, we'll just meet in the capital."

Yuina had a troubled expression.

Because I was not a member of the Imperial Knights, I couldn't even give orders.

"I am meeting a fan for the first time. No one should come, because then it'll be embarrassing with all the compliments."

In the beginning, it was a fairly long procession by mobilizing a lot of knights, so both Robert and Ian were quite far away.

Yuina blinked her eyes and then she nodded her head as if she couldn't help it.

"Yes... I know."

"Thank you, Yuina."

"You said my name!"

"We can also have tea time in the capital. I'll invite you to the Rainfield Manor."

Yuina nodded her head passionately, and I casually pulled the reins.

And I said, looking down at the girl who was patiently waiting for us.

"Come on, guide me. I'm not good at horseback riding enough to pick you up... If you run, I will follow you."

"Yes! Thank you!"

Soon, I fell out of the crowd and started following the girl.

Ian, who would be returning soon, would be surprised to find out about my departure, but he shouldn't be anxious because he also knew my skills.

I even mentioned a little that something like this might happen.

'That's why Ian didn't leave my side the whole time... He's like Leslie... Also, because he said he would never feed me anything that didn't taste the best, he moved by himself...'

Of course, I knew well what awaited me.

'It was better that Ian wasn't there. If Ian comes along, it can actually ruin things.'

In order to really screw Richard up, I had to finish this job myself.

In order to significantly change public opinion later, I had to frame it as an attack on me, a commoner.

If Ian intervened here, Robert's group would've just attacked.

'Anyway, they must be forming public opinion by leaving discriminatory comments in the capital.'

I smiled inwardly and quietly followed the girl's back.

It was around the time when I followed the girl quite far from the main road and into the deep forest.

'Also.'

As I turned around the sharp curve, I couldn't see the girl's back.

At the same time, the presence of assassins began to be felt here and there.

'Now seems to be the beginning.'

I smiled leisurely. It was a chance to warm up properly before the friendly match against Ian.

"Hm? Looks like someone is following after me..."

Judging by the presence felt in arrogance, it seemed that many talented people were employed.

I grabbed the reins and muttered out loud on purpose.

"...I'm still not feeling well..."

As soon as those words were finished, the assassins flew down and ran towards me.

I started running westward as if running away with my horse on the side.

I didn't forget to give them a tight gap as if I was caught. Soon after, numerous assassins followed after me.

~*~

"Marilyn, you feel restless, don't you?"

Leslie smiled sadly at Marilyn as she looked at the dresses and training uniforms in the annex.

She had just come to the annex to have tea time with Marilyn.

"Don't worry too much. The crazy Prince with black magic has been caught, and Ian, who is crazy about Annabelle, is also next to her."

"I don't know. It's not good. I couldn't even sleep last night."

Marilyn couldn't help her restless heart and murmured as she twirled her cutting knife in her hand.

"Probably because I lost her once, the guilt that I couldn't protect my newborn baby, I really don't want it to happen again..."

Leslie nodded her head in regret.

It would be an incomprehensible insecurity because Leslie has never lost her child.

"According to the letter from that time, won't they arrive today?"

"They will probably arrive in the afternoon at the latest. If they hurry, in an hour or so?"

The reason Leslie had to come to the annex was because today was the expected arrival date of Robert's party.

"I understand the desire to see her, but be patient. All of Prince Carlon's aides haven't been caught yet, so you'd better stay here. I think the public opinion is strange."

Of course, Leslie, who spoke calmly, was also hiding her impatience.

Unlike other times, she had not touched the fancy tea food, which was very rare.

"Hold on a little bit. Annabelle knows the feelings of her family and is in a hurry..."

Leslie could no longer speak. Aaron stormed in.

"Mother! Now you...Oh, there was even the madam!"

Aaron's face was unsettling, so Marilyn jumped up.

"What? What's up? Where is Annabelle?"

"It is said that she has arrived in the capital!"

Leslie also got up hastily and looked at Aaron.

"Prince Robert and his party have arrived? So fast? Is everyone okay?"

"That, that..."

Aaron blinked and said.

"Prince Robert's party came alone... She came with more than 50 assassins, and they say she was slashing them without hesitation... So I'm going to mobilize the knights to help. I don't know if that makes any sense."

Marilyn began to tremble at the word "assassin" rather than "slashing them".

She then grabbed her cutting knife, which she was turning for a peace of mind.

"...I have to go too. My daughter might be in danger. How can I stay here!"

"But mother, you do not have the fighting ability to deal with assassins. If you go for no reason, you'll become a nuisance to Sister..."

It was Leslie who grabbed Marilyn's hand when Aaron said it was difficult.

"Let's go, Marilyn."

She said, naturally taking away the sword of the servant that Aaron had brought.

"Even if I'm not the same as before because of a leg injury, I can take care of a couple of people. The daughter has returned to the capital and we have to go see her. Call Oscar."

Leslie swung her sword gracefully once, and exclaimed with a determined expression.

"Guide me, Aaron!"

~*~

I dragged all the assassins who tried to attack me on a remote forest road all the way to the capital.

Of course, a lot of skill was needed in the middle.

I needed to control my speed so that they wouldn't give up on me, as if I was barely caught, and touched my ankles a few times and grimaced as if making them think it would be easy to subdue me just by tipping me off the horse.

'I'm sure he thought it was a piece of cake. He didn't even order them to quit if they couldn't kidnap me until we got to the capital.'

If it was the Richard I knew, instead of telling them the conditions for quitting pursuing me, he would have set up a multiple saying of, "she can't use her sword properly, so kidnap her somehow unconditionally".

If he had known my skills, he would never have come up with such a reckless plan.

It was worthwhile to hide my skills while pretending to have fallen for Richard's scheme.

As the capital got closer and people started to show up, I jumped off my horse and drew my sword.

Now, looking into the distant future, there was no big picture to draw, no more detailed plan to think about.

The time had finally come to show off my skills in front of people.