(Charlotte POV)

There seemed to have been a lot of problems even before the commanders were kidnapped.

The location they chose before was much too dangerous to stay at. Many people lost their lives due to monsters attacking them during the night. These particular monsters have excellent stealth abilities and have even been referenced in some spy technology of today.

They are called Creepers.

We lost a total of 200 men to their attacks. They’d either mull the person to death for sport or eat them alive after cutting off a person’s limbs. They are truly the stuff of nightmares.

The other issue that arose was the urgency for supplies. Since many regions were destroyed by the enemy army, refugees had come to live in the camp as well. We had more refugees than soldiers in our camp.

The refugees were expected to receive aid from Duke Luxembourg once they finish building the refugee camp in his city. Some of the refugees have also volunteered to join the army so they can get revenge. I’d been hearing a lot of shouting outside followed by the slashing of wind.

The soldiers train the refugees that volunteered. Many were also adventurers in their respective village or town. Adventurers rarely get involved with the army. They only move for profit while a percentage fight for the people.

I always hire adventurers as escorts whenever I attend a tea party with one of my connections. I couldn’t even trust the palace knights to protect me from danger since there’s a chance that one of them might be that danger I should be protected from.

To avoid being targeted like this in the palace, mother asked father if he could have a villa built for me. That was a few years ago after the fourth attempt on my life.

The villa was located at the back of the Palace grounds. The grounds are about 100 acres wide since a field stretches at the back of the Royal Palace. A giant magical fence surrounded the entire vicinity. My villa was located in the corner of that field next to a lake.

I could sleep peacefully at night in the villa as opposed to my room in the palace. My bladder problems had somewhat eased so I didn’t have to go to the toilet every hour if I drank something.

I couldn’t exactly call my life wonderful or what I wanted. My mother was still struggling to fight the disease she had and I had trouble gaining connections for the future. I couldn’t rely on father otherwise I might seem like an incompetent leader to my subjects.

What would Lady Iris do if she were in the same position as me? She was once a commoner but today she’s the strongest swordswoman on the continent. She was perfect in every way.

Even though I said I wanted to be like her, we were completely different people. I’ll have to use the strengths I had instead of dreaming to become someone else. Life wasn’t that convenient.

I tossed and turned in the bed as I looked at the bright moon through the gaps of the tent. Since the soldiers were so noisy outside, I couldn’t fall asleep. It might’ve been that I was too anxious to let my guard down. There was that possibility that we might be attacked through the night.

The three spies were already questioned and disposed of afterward. We now knew where our enemy was. Our first attack is happening tomorrow. Since they had no intention of negotiating, we might as well force our way through their ranks.

“…”

My hand subconsciously moved between my legs. I always do this when I can’t sleep at night.

“…Mmm…”

The sound of splashing and squishing echoed in the room as I quivered on the bed. My hand moved faster and faster.

It continued for a while as I squirmed in bed.

My body grew hotter as I reached my climax. Just a little more–

BOOM–!

When I was almost there, an explosion shook the entire camp.

“Princess! We’re under–“

Clyde pushed aside the curtain and entered.

“Huh?”

One of my hands was still on my breast while the other was between my legs.

“GET OUT!!”

He ran away when I screamed in a fluster.

‘Oh god! Why did that have to happen!?’

I stood up and hurriedly put on my clothes. The generals would surely gather in the meeting tent so I had to attend as well.

Shouts and screams came from outside the tent. Did they already start attacking us?

‘A night assault…’

Clyde was already waiting outside for me when I exited. The two of us were silent as we headed to the meeting room. The entire camp was in a frenzy as soldiers ran around carrying buckets of water.

The assassin, Damian and Clyde’s squire, Edna also joined us halfway to the meeting tent.

‘Did the earlier explosion cause a big fire somewhere?’

I could faintly smell traces of smoke so I assumed there really were fires throughout the camp.

My knight was in front, wary of our surroundings as he chanted for the first time in a while. I never saw him casting before unless it was a very powerful spell.

There are only a minority of wizards in the kingdom that can cast magic chantless. It had nothing to do with talent; rather it’s suitability. Basically, can you cast magic chantless or not.

Even the most genius of people of the kingdom cannot do it while a child from the slums could perhaps achieve it.

My knight’s entire body oozed with power. Even the nearby warriors gave way for him as we ran towards the meeting tent.

How did he get such a huge power boost in less than a week?

“Princess Charlotte! You’re here!”

When I entered the large white tent, about four men in military uniforms gazed my way.

All of them were in a mess just like I was. It was 4 in the morning so it was understandable that we couldn’t prepare ourselves properly.

I immediately sat down and began talking.

“First of all, don’t panic. We might make unnecessary mistakes if we up act with our emotions rather than our judgement.”

All four nodded.

“Did any of you perhaps see any suspicious activities?”

The general with a bald head and a moustache nodded.

“A maid came up to me last night, asking if she could entertain me… When I drank the drink she prepared for me, I was knocked out. I suspect it was a drug. The next morning, the supply documents were stolen out of my safe. Now our enemies may know our supply routes.”

“Ahh, fuck…”

I scratched my head in frustration. We didn’t have enough information to predict our enemy’s actions.

Could that be their main goal? Is the Republic even the culprit?

‘This is why men are such easy targets during war.’

“But fret not. We have sent one of our best units to that location where our supplies are being held!”

To the general’s words, all of them nodded.

‘…Are they idiots…?’

Anyone could see that this could be a plan to divide our forces.

“A-And who might these forces be…?”

The general thumped his chest proudly.

“It was the very knights our households raised. The ones we enrolled into the Knight Order.”

All of them nodded in satisfaction. Not a hint of urgency on their faces.

“We have sent the captain to lead our army.”

“…”

I felt like throwing dung at his ugly face. I just said that we shouldn’t make hasty decisions–

“How stupid of you, general.”

A cold voice echoed as the flags of our army were shredded.

All of us flew into panic. My knight also got his staff ready. His squire who was in the corner of the room looked at the top of the tent pillar.

I also gazed up.

“!?”

An upside down man was looking down at us. His golden eyes released powerful killing intent.

“Brother….”

Damian muttered under his breath.

“Who are you!?”

“Intruder!! Where are the knights!?”

The generals unsheathed their swords. Damian and Clyde were standing in front of me, both releasing their mana.

“Oh, them? I had my subordinates take care of them.” the man jumped down and landed on the ground lightly.

‘Now that he says that, isn’t it quieter than before?’

While we were shouting amongst each other, the noise from outside slowly disappeared.

“Do not resent me for this, I am only here for the princess and her protectors… Oh?”

The man clad in black seemed to be looking at someone.

His eyes narrowed.

“Now if you would kindly accept death. We were only paid to do this. That is our specialty.” The man took out two ominous looking swords. They glowed in a purple light.

“O-Only them, right?”

The cloaked man nodded.

“T-Then we best be on our way. You won’t k-kill us, correct?”

“Like I have said, we only kill for money or if you get in our way.”

“Ehehehe. T-Then we’ll be going.”

The shameless generals walked away and left the tent.

“These fucking bastards…”

I started cursing in anger as I watched them leave.

So I was his target? And why was Clyde a target as well?

The man cladded his body in aura and crossed his arms. His body gave off a suffocating aura—if I were alone, I would be trembling without anything to say. My knees were already shaking as he looked into my eyes.

“Edna, take Charlotte and go.”

“Huh? What about you?”

“This guy will chase us down if we all went. He’ll chase us down as long as the contract still stands. Make it to the kingdom then their missions fails.” Damian answered in Clyde’s stead.

“Damian…Is he–“

“He’s part of the clan, yes. And he’s my eldest brother."

The man sighed.

“So you do remember me, after all. And that brash way of speaking hasn’t changed. Have you no respect for the manners we taught you?”

The man swung his sword and cut the air.

“Manners? You call hitting someone with a blunt sword manners?”

“If words is not enough then violence is, little brother."

“Go fuck yourself, Aubrey.”

The man’s expression twisted.

“You still don’t call me honourable older brother. No manners even after leaving the clan. You were lucky that grandmother forced us to not lay a hand on you. You were always her favourite. You know that even father and grandfather can’t disobey her.”

Damian gritted his teeth as he glared at his brother.

“Stop talking, you fucking bastard…”

Clyde glanced at me. His blue eyes were serious unlike the usual gentle glow he had in them.

I nodded.

The little girl called Edna grabbed my hand and pulled me outside. I was surprised by the strength in her small hand that I almost tripped not expecting to be dragged like that.

The person called Aubrey didn’t give chase like I expected he would.

…

When we were outside the tent, I saw multiple corpses on the ground of soldiers, servants and horses alike.

“They could be anywhere. We have to keep our eyes peeled.”

When I looked back at miss Edna, I saw a mature woman with black wings on her back. A tail was behind her back. Her breasts were so huge that I couldn’t help but gulp. Is this the kind of body humans possess? Even her beauty was artificial.

“Miss Edna?”

Why did she suddenly transform?

“Don’t ask questions now. I know of a cave near this border. I saw it last night. My human entrusted you to me so do as I say.”

‘Her human?’

The mature woman pulled my hand and then ran with me again. Her black silky hair fluttered in the night sky.

The black wings on her back and the tail swishing behind her told me she wasn’t human.

A dragonkin perhaps?

Dragons do breed with humans sometimes but cases like those are rare even in the Draconic Kingdom where Dragons are the divine beasts of that country.

Only strong humans could breed with dragons. Dragons only obey the strong and it is said that they even offer their bodies to warriors as a reward for defeating them. This is a reward that is considered sacred for their race.

What relation did this woman have with my knight?

‘Aaah! I can’t process all of this!’

I have to ask both of them later…If we survive.

**

The camp was fairly large so we had to resort to sneaking after exiting the open area of the tents.

I had some skill in sensing mana which made me pick up several traces of people. Miss Edna seemed to know where our enemies were by the way we were moving cautiously.

I had been hearing explosions and rumbling since awhile ago when we escaped. They must be engaged in battle.

The rest of the cloaked individuals were roaming the camp searching for survivors. Miss Edna took out the few that noticed us. Her strength was undeniably reassuring to me right now.

Someone dared to try to assassinate a royal. When I get back to the kingdom then I will have father mobilize an entire unit of Royal Knights to catch the one that ordered a hit on me.

I couldn’t die now. I must become queen and kill those that want to inflict damage to the royal family name. I had already killed several people that wanted to start a revolution.

I cannot let something like that happen. Things will end up like the Republic where they believe in their own ideals. Even the common folk can start a change with a simple vote to the government.

I won’t let something like that happen to our kingdom.

Dogs must have leashes. And I—the future queen shall be the one to hold those very leashes.

Even if it meant using people to get to that dream.

‘So until that time comes… protect me everyone.’

We continued our escape out of the border camp.