I Don’t Want to Be a Lady

“We’ve been kidnapped, Crown Prince.”

“…”

It took some time for the stupid crown prince to figure out the situation.

“What! Who dares to kidnap the Crown Prince?” This is treason!”

The crow prince, who had a pale face, shouted at Luiden. “Do something about it! I don’t want to die like this! I’m the one who’s going to be the emperor!”

Soothing the frightened crown prince, Luiden said, “We need to act rationally. Let’s think instead of screaming.”

“What do you need to think? We must run away quickly!”

“To where? This is a forest, and even if we run away without knowing the way, there is a high probability that we will be caught soon. Maybe you can live a little longer if you stay still.”

I was annoyed at the crown prince, who kept shouting. “If you don’t keep quiet, I might kill you for making noise. Shut that mouth.”

“Ah…”

The crown prince dropped on his seat with the face of losing the world. I saw him like that and clicked my tongue.

Luiden suddenly felt strange. She’s too calm to be kidnapped… Luiden looked at Arianne and tilted his head. There was no way she was used to this kind of situation, and it was clear that she would be annoyed in this situation…

Arianne winked at Luiden, who seemed to have noticed something.  

“Don’t tell me?” Luiden’s eyes widened.

Shh! I put my index finger to my lips and urged him to pretend not to know. Let’s bully this crown prince.

Luiden, who finally grasped the situation, let out a dejected laugh. Of course, he had to cover it with his hand so he wouldn’t be caught by the crown prince. The culprit of this kidnapping was Arianne.

* * *

“Zzz. Zzz~ Zzz~”

“It’s good if the kidnapper sells this man,” the words came from me as I saw the crown prince who had fallen asleep when he was trembling in fear before.

“What on earth is this all about?” asked Luiden in a low voice.

“Don’t you know that the best defense is attacking? Of course, in this case, we are attacking ourselves. Rather than sitting still and being kidnapped or attacked, let’s strike first.”

“What happened to my coachman?”

“He must be asleep somewhere.”

It was Bein who suggested changing the coachman and staging the kidnapping. Due to the fact that nobles usually don’t even remember the face of commoners, he planned to lure the prince’s coachman and have Arianne’s person change his clothes and drive the carriage. No one knew that the coachman had been reversed as he had planned.

Luiden was really surprised. This kind of method would never come out of his naive head. No, it was a method that nobles would never have thought of.

“By any chance, was the crown prince also in the plan?”

Arianne said with a smile at his question, “No, but at least we won’t be bored on the road, right?”

Arianne’s mischievous face showed her willingness to drain all the crown prince’s tears and runny nose.

She’s so terrifyingly meticulous. I’m glad she’s on my side. Luiden swept the back of his neck. It was because he felt a momentary chill from that unimaginable woman.

To tell the truth, I wasn’t on anyone’s side. I just gave him a little favor because he’s Charter’s friend. But I was never on Luiden’s side. I’m such a person whose will is more important than the cause. Although my normal category was a little different.

I told the coachman, “Sir Dale, the plan has changed. Please stop the carriage.”

“Wake up, Crown Prince.”

However, the crown prince, who was deeply asleep, showed no sign of getting up.

“Wake up! We must run away quickly! They’re coming after us!”

Slap. I slapped the crown prince’s cheek and said it urgently.

“What? What?”

“Right now, the Second Price is dealing with the coachman. We must run away quickly.”

But we might get lost in the forest…”

The crown prince wrapped his red-handed cheeks and said with half-asleep eyes. I whispered in his ear like a secret story to such a crown prince. “I just heard the coachman talking earlier. The coachman will take the Crown Prince’s life in this forest.”

“What?”

The crown prince’s face turned pale.

“That’s why the Second Prince is risking a fight with the coachman. We have to run away quickly in this momentum.”

“Uh… uh, I got it.”

The crown prince got up quickly and followed me out of the carriage. Just in time, Luiden also appeared very tired, as if he had taken care of his duties.

The crown prince shouted at the sight of the blood on his clothes. “Hiik! Blood!”

“Be quiet, please. Are you trying to tell them we’re here? Your Highness, are you sure you took care of him?” I asked Luiden.

“Yes, it seems that he’s a highly trained man. It wasn’t easy for me to deal with him.”

“I’m glad you came back alive. It’s not easy for the two of us to get out of the forest alone. Now, let’s escape with the crown prince.”

“Ah, yes…”

The crown prince was flattered for nothing. It was as if Arianne was using Luiden to protect him. On the other hand, Luiden felt sad even though he knew it was acting. No matter how much she acted, Luiden was confused by the way she treated him.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Hu. Luiden, who was sweeping his neck awkwardly, opened his mouth. “Come one, let’s move. If we look at the map from the man, it looks like there’s a village nearby. Let’s hide there.”

“Village! Yes, let’s ask for help there!” said the Crown Prince delightedly.

As if I was frustrated by this, I scolded him. “Didn’t you just hear? They’re highly trained people. A small village could be wiped out in one night. Going to the village they know? Are you going to announce to take us right away?”

The frightened crown prince grabbed me and asked. “Then what should I do? I don’t want to die.”

“Don’t worry. If you listen to me carefully, you won’t die. Change your clothes first. Your clothes now stand out too much.”

The crown prince was dressed in splendid clothes decorated with gold threads. Blond hair, blue eyes, a handsome face, fancy clothes, and a dumb look. Anyone could tell that he was the crown prince of the Harpion Empire.

What’s wrong with me dressed like this on the battlefield? I’m the Crown Prince! They’re trying to declare war? What a fool. The crown prince frowned when he saw the clothes Arianne gave to him.

“You want me to wear this now? These vulgar things?”

Arianne was dumbfounded. This dress Sir Dale had been wearing a moment ago was never cheap. It was also the clothes worn by knights. It was plain but made of good-quality cotton. Dale, who had been hiding in the bushes wearing only his underwear, clenched his fist.

“Then do you want to give your head to the kidnappers?”

At my annoyed words, the crown prince looked around and accepted the clothes.

“No. Don’t be so angry… I can wear it.”

The crown prince, who changed his clothes in the carriage, was surprisingly handsome.

“What the? I didn’t recognize it because you’re covered in dazzling clothes, but Your Highness is quite handsome.” Still, Charter is much more handsome.

The corners of the crown prince’s mouth lifted up by hearing Arianne’s meaningless praise. Luiden looked into his eyes and said, as if he hadn’t seen something, “Let’s get going. We have to walk about five hours to walk to the big village where the knights are located, so we have to hurry to get there before dawn.”

“What? Five hours?”

“Yes. Is there a problem?”

When Luiden asked, the crown prince muttered, looking into Arianne’s eyes. “No… It’s nothing. What’s the problem? It’s not a big deal to walk that much.”

A while later.

“Gasp. Hey… let’s take a break. My legs hurt so much.”

“You took a break ten minutes ago. Get up now. They’re coming for us. We’re already way behind.”

“But my legs hurt so much!”

It was very hard for the crown prince, who lived his whole life in the palace without any exercise, including swordsmanship, to walk through the forest for over two hours. We walked only on mountain roads to avoid the knights of Duke Krow, so it worthed the trouble.

“Baroness Devit is walking well, right? How can you be so weak? And yet, you still call yourself the crown prince of this empire?”

“Shut up! How dare you lecture me?”

The crown prince, who couldn’t control his trembling legs, shouted as he flopped down to the ground.

“If you want to survive and become the emperor, use your feet diligently. I won’t support you anymore.”

“What!”

The crown prince’s face turned pale. At least Luiden supported him, so he walked without falling behind. But when Luiden said he would no longer support him, he was afraid that he would be left there.

“You’re not going to abandon me, are you? Huh? Brother. Please…”

Luiden’s face hardened. This was because the word ‘brother,’ which he heard for the first time from the crown prince, was making him unpleasant, yet an unknown emotion tickled his heart.

“Sigh, I will help you, so you have to keep walking. Understand?”

“Yes! I got it!”

Fearing that Luiden might change his mind, the crown prince jumped up and put his arm on Luiden’s shoulder. After that, Luiden’s face was deeply troubled.

I noticed the subtle change on his face. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but it seemed clear that his troubles were related to the crown prince.

* * *

“You mean we will sleep in a place like this?”

The crown prince opened his eyes wide as if it was so absurd.

“Yet, thanks to places like this. We would have to sleep on the street if no village was nearby.”

Luiden helped me with my words.

“And no one would have expected that you would stay in a place like this. We’re looking for the enemy’s loophole.”

At the words of Luiden and I, the crown prince said as if he couldn’t stand it while accepting it. “But here… is a stable, right? At least the bed…”

“Then are you going to get caught by them?”

At my cold words, the crown prince waved his hands and said, “No! I will listen to you. I just need to sleep here for one night, right? You’re both not leaving me, right?” He asked with his eyes wide open as if he would shed tears at any moment.

Luiden’s brow crumpled when he saw him being like that. No matter how much he hated him, he was his own brother and the crown prince of the Harpion Empire. At least he tried to get him an inn room with a bed, but Arianne was adamant.

“I have no intention of letting him go after taking care of him. Why don’t you sleep in the stable together if you’re worried?”

Luiden had no choice but to follow Arianne’s glare. Sleeping in the stable was an ordeal that even he couldn’t bear.

“Yes. If we flock in one place, they will catch us at once, so we will turn their attention elsewhere. If we’re unlucky, one of us will get caught. Still, Your Highness will be safe.”

The crown prince spoke as if he was moved by my words. “Thank you, Baroness Devit. I will make sure to pay this debt.”

And the crown prince, who had been agonizing for a while, murmured so quietly that it couldn’t be heard well. “And you, you did a great job too.”

Luiden’s eyes grew bigger. Did the crown prince just say thank you? To me? It was an unbelievable fact even after he saw and heard it right in front of his eyes. It was to the point he wondered if this person was the same person who usually treated him with an arrogant and unpleasant face. It was said that the true nature of human beings appeared when they were in extreme situations.

Could this be your true self? Older Brother. He was still stupid, but was he this easy to trust and relied on people? He looked like a naive child who couldn’t decide what his pride was and believed in the words of adults.

However, nothing would change even if Luiden knew his true self now. He and himself were already in an irrevocable relationship. Even so, Luiden felt a little relieved to hear words that expressed his gratitude, even if they were clumsy, instead of harsh words. Is it because he’s his only brother no matter how much he hates him?

Arianne, who was watching the heart-warming scene of clumsy brotherhood, opened my mouth. “That’s enough. Let’s go to sleep.”

She was the one who didn’t care about other people’s feelings.