Chapter 64
“…Martin von Targon Ulvhadin.”
Did the Princess just call me by my name?
Not Hound, lowlife, Black Knight, or dog?
“What was your relationship with your father?”
“We were estranged.”
“What?”
The Princess, gazing at the darkness beyond the terrace, turned to face me. Her expression was oddly delighted.
“Estranged?! That’s shocking news! What happened?!”
“I was an immature, disobedient son.”
“Hah, really?! That’s it?! Puhaha!”
I wished she wouldn’t laugh at a story like that, though it was better than her earlier gloom.
“I’m in a similar situation, you know.”
She continued, laughing, but soon turned bitter.
“Did you ever ask me about an incident seven years ago?”
It was definitely during the Dungeon Tournament, when I asked about the hunting competition seven years prior…
“You called me impudent and brushed me off.”
“Right! I’m in the mood! I’ll tell you!”
It wasn’t about answering my question. She was overflowing, tormented, desperate to unburden herself. She seized the opportunity. She was laughing, but her bitter expression was obvious to anyone.
“I… killed my mother when I was born.”
Maternal death. Modern medicine might cite various causes, but that likely wasn’t it.
“They said the births of Prince Kazaks and me, two heaven-sent geniuses, were too much. My mother couldn’t endure it.”
For fetuses with strong bloodline abilities, the mother’s mortality risk was high. Even without complications, the energy the child drew from the mother was immense. The creation of life was that profound.
“My wet nurse told me they cut open her belly to get me out. The first button was fastened wrong.”
Princess Adela’s life began with exceptional misfortune.
“My father practically confined me. Until I was nine, I lived alone with my wet nurse in a vast palace, lonely.”
Born in the spring of March, Prince Kazaks grew robustly under the Emperor’s sunlight, nourished by expectations and love.
Born in the winter of December, Adela barely broke through the frost, sprouting in the cold wind, growing in everyone’s indifference.
“Then a knight approached me.”
Her gaze wistfully held the starry night sky. The stars painted a person in her heart.
“Harris. A wandering knight. An old, white-haired knight who offered to be my knight. I was young—what did I know? I was just… happy to have someone new.”
To the Princess, Harris was…
“My father, friend, teacher, brother, knight, my everything.”
But did the world ever leave happy days untouched?
“As I grew older, nobles who’d fallen out of favor with Prince Kazaks swarmed to me. Shameless bastards. They hadn’t visited once in nine years, yet they suddenly showed up, fawning, ‘Princess, you’ve grown so much!’ How vulgar!”
She had a lot pent up.
“Anyway, I ended up with a faction… enough to be wary of.”
She stared at the dark espresso and gulped it down. The coffee, like magic, unlocked her past.
“Haa!”
Handing me the tea set, she continued.
“At the hunting competition seven years ago, my knight was forced to participate. Damned politics. And he died. They called it an accident, but they took me for a fool.”
Her eyes were filled with rage.
“It was the Emperor. Not my rival Prince Kazaks, not those damned nobles—the Emperor killed Harris! He never dreamed Harris had a communication artifact! Did you know?! My wet nurse saw it and died of shock!”
Her fiery anger poured out, as if she’d been waiting for this moment.
“So what did I do?! I was confined again! I chained myself! I cried and laughed like a madwoman in my cradle every night! Pathetic, isn’t it?!”
“….”
“Then I realized. I’d take revenge. I’d wipe out this wretched Empire. Emperor, nobles, commoners—everyone who watched or ignored, I’d destroy them all. That’s what I decided.”
“….”
“As the Emperor aged and his ambition waned, he called me and apologized for past wrongs! Then he ordered the Shadow Knights to protect me! Ha! Fool! Fool! Fool! Everyone’s a fool! Did he think I’d forgive him?! He should’ve stayed a villain to the end! So infuriating!”
So that was the story between the Emperor and the Princess.
“Ha! That’s it! First time telling anyone! Ah! That felt good!”
The Princess… laughed. A pure laugh, like a pastoral girl frolicking in a field in a world without kings, nobles, wars, or weapons.
But her laughter grew awkward and crumbled under rising sadness.
“That was foolish.”
She began managing her expression, donning her mask again. It seemed more familiar than her real face now.
Even drunk, her instinct to wear a mask was so sad, it felt like no comfort could reach her.
There was one thing I could do.
“…Have some coffee.”
“Yes, coffee. Nice. A bitter drink like life. I like it. Bring me another.”
Just brew coffee and make her reflect on life.
The tipsy Adela snatched the refilled cup and took a swig.
Her eyes widened. Another sip. And another. She looked up at me.
“Isn’t coffee supposed to be bitter?”
“It can be bitter or sweet.”
“Oh… right.”
She stared at the coffee.
She seemed to liken her life to it. If espresso was life’s storms, café mocha was her happy childhood with her wet nurse and Sir Harris.
“Coffee isn’t always bitter. That’s a prejudice.”
I had made two types in the kitchen: espresso and café mocha with creamy milk and sweet chocolate syrup.
“What’s this called?”
“Café mocha.”
“Right…”
She stared at the café mocha for a while, then downed it in one gulp.
“Sweet… so sweet…”
This woman chugged wine, espresso, and café mocha all in one shot. At this rate, she wouldn’t taste anything…
Or so I thought, as she buried her face in my chest.
“Urk…!”
No way.
“Sniff…!”
No way, Princess Adela.
I ended up holding the sobbing Princess in my arms. No ulterior motives. Just pity. And kinship. The same feeling I had for Savo, if that made it easier to understand.
“Ugh! Waaah!”
Until her loud sobbing subsided, I silently patted her back gently.
Like I wished someone—anyone—had comforted me when I felt inferior to Recola, when Martin envied Gilbert, when no one was there for me.
At that moment, my hands glowed white with a familiar yet unfamiliar energy.
Stellar Force responds to your heartfelt comfort. You can now wield Stellar Force itself, not through artificial skill manipulation. Stellar Force is stronger than Mana and possesses the power of healing.
“What?”
At that moment, Adela, still in my arms, shoved me back with a thud. The face that had been drunkenly tearful moments ago was now icy, devoid of intoxication.
‘This is such a mess…’
***
You attended the Longevity Festival, the Emperor’s birthday banquet, and showed that the Princess' Black Knight was still active. You also made the Emperor’s acquaintance.
The Emperor trusts you.
Princess Adela’s future has begun to shift in a new direction due to an unpredictable emotional change. Separately, she will never forget yesterday’s events until her dying day.
You have acquired 1,000 points.
Compared to previous major events, the points gained were modest. But awakening Stellar Force was a significant gain, so it didn’t matter.
“It stings.”
“…Master.”
“Hm?”
“Is it so hard to avoid getting hurt?”
Lilac was icing the clear handprint on my left cheek.
How did I get this mark? Who else but the sobered-up Princess Adela?
“It’s not that… but it’s tricky.”
“If this keeps happening, you’re banned from going out.”
“Hm…”
How could Lilac stop me from going out? This was just her way of protesting, showing how upset she was.
“But this handprint, it’s small. A woman’s, isn’t it?”
I turned, sensing something odd, and saw Lilac glaring at me with terrifying eyes.
“Master, I trust you.”
“Wait, Lilac?”
“But this won’t do. A reckless lifestyle.”
“No, it’s a misunderstanding.”
“I believe you’re a good and upright person. Going to clubs, if that’s what you want, I can’t stop you, but I don’t like it. I don’t like you seducing women like some playboy either.”
“Listen to me.”
I had to spend a while explaining that it wasn’t like that.
“Then what’s this handprint?”
“….”
Wild Instinct (Lv 3) shakes its head.
Know-It-All (Lv 3) has given up.
***
After Lilac left, I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Raising my hand, a white aura swirled around it like a lie.
Stellar Force (Lv 3) has decided to follow your will.
“….”
The awakening had been rough, and the process wasn’t exactly pleasant.
I had felt pity for Adela’s heartfelt drunken confession, and comforting her as she clung to me was only to calm her. There were no other feelings.
‘Damn it.’
Once sober, her face went pale as a corpse, then flushed red. She grimaced with all sorts of shame and then—
Slap!
She left a clear mark on my cheek. It was a disaster caused by her drunkenness.
…Really. I didn’t drink, didn’t tell her to drink, and even tried to sober her up. Really.
I couldn’t argue with her as she stormed off. After all… I’d heard her story.
And there was a reward.
Achievement Unlocked! ‘Brew Coffee and Reflect on Life.’ An excellent achievement that grants a bonus to the Barista skill.
A bonus was applied to the skill, much like the firearm correction inherent to Martin’s character.
…But why the Barista skill, of all things? Why not boost Know-It-All or Wild Instinct?
The effect? When I brewed and served coffee, Lilac was shocked, saying, “It’s twice as delicious!”
‘Forget Barista, the important thing is Stellar Force.’
I enveloped my body with the Stellar Force floating above my hand. A warm sensation healed wounds and erased old scars wherever it touched.
Experiments showed Stellar Force was qualitatively superior to Mana. Consuming the same amount yielded triple the output, with inherent exorcism and healing powers absent in Mana.
The problem was quantity. Mana was abundant, but Stellar Force was hard to obtain. The point cost alone was ten times higher.
‘I don’t get it.’
The cost-effectiveness was terrible.
Of course, it was too early to judge.
It might seem that way due to limited research on Stellar Force.
This was the power that underpinned the world-leading Cosmos Empire, after all.
If I’d known, I would’ve asked the Holy Knight Commander more during the Dungeon Tournament.
‘Let’s research for now.’
I tried using Stellar Force in various ways.
Nothing else to do?
Due to Lilac’s vehement opposition, I was banned from going out for a while.