I Don’t Want to Be a Lady

Unlike Charter and I, who had a frustrated faces, Paku looked down at his younger sister with a look of dismay.

“Do you think she’ll help if you stare at her like that?”

“….”

“….”

“….”

The brother and sister were silent. After a while, Dondon turned away without saying anything. She went straight to the tent, and Paku naturally followed her. The soldiers stopped Charter and me from following Paku.

(How dare you!)

What? This? How dare you block my way? My eyes lit up.

(They will enter too. Keep the way so no one can come here.)

(Yes.)

At Paku’s command, the soldier immediately stepped back. I glared at the soldier who had blocked me and moved on.

I’ll see you later. I will never forget my grudge.

When I entered, I saw an interior that was so gorgeous that it was hard to believe it was a tent. There was no doubt that everything was valuable no matter where my eyes were set, including the gold-plated furniture and luxurious cloth-covered sofas. Such luxurious life in the middle of the desolate plain.

I see a person worse than my father. Leaving all that aside, the most eye-catching place in this tent was the back of the chair where Paku’s younger sister, Dondon, was sitting.

Grrrr.

Behind her was a huge golden iron cage. And inside of it…

“Tiger? That… is a tiger, right?”

Despite Paku’s request to keep quiet, I uttered my words without realizing it, and Dondon’s eyes instantly shone.

“You, you know dis?”

“Well, it’s the first time I’ve seen it alive. They say it’s a beast from another continent across the sea.”

Despite my natural informal speech, Dondon showed no signs of displeasure. However, she seemed just happy that I knew the tiger.

“Yes. It was rilly hard to get dis. Do you know how much dis is?”

“Well, you have to win the bid to have it. Because this is the only one on this continent.”

They would surely have been in Bornes County if there were more than one.

Dondon’s eyes bent strangely. “You! You have a gud eye. I was thinking bout to kill you, but I’ll have to thing bout it.”

Dondon was obsessed with valuable things that she was called the incarnation of greed. One day, when she heard from the merchants about a beast called a tiger, she bought it from across the sea. How much time and money did she spend to have this tiger…

Dondon considered it worth keeping Arianne alive just because she recognized this beast. After spending time with blind idiots who couldn’t see the value, she was glad to see a human who knew its value.

Dondon looked at my wrist tied with a rope and asked. “But why are you doing dat?”

“Why do you speak Harpion?” I think your messy Harpion language will make me laugh.

Dondon, who was staring blankly at me, who responded to her question with a question, burst into laughter.

“So cheeky. Do you even now were you are?”

“Um, the second most expensive place in the world?”

“What? You! What did you jas say?”

Paku pointed at his forehead with a face saying that he was doomed.

Dondon’s eyes changed at my playful answer. Her mischievous appearance from a while ago had disappeared, and she had the eyes of a deadly and vicious predator as if she would bite my neck at any moment.

This won’t do. I don’t know who the beast is. A woman more like the best than the tiger behind her opened her mouth and spoke the human language. 

“The secon?” There’s a rum more expensive than mine?”

?

What is this? My eyes blinked quickly. She’s not mad at me for talking back, but mad at me for saying this place is the second most expensive room?

As if what I thought was true, Dondon screamed loudly. “Where is it? Where de hell is a rum more expensive than mine?”

Look at her. She looked like a beast with her eyes open and glared angrily. I didn’t expect this human-like beast to be caught in a provocation that I just made out like a habit. In just a few minutes, I realized that that woman has a very simple and easy-to-understand personality. Moreover, she’s obsessed with unusually expensive things.

“Well, if you help me, I might let you know…” I furrowed my eyebrows and threw the bait. And Dondon snapped the bait as I expected.

“Wat can I do for ya?”

The corners of my mouth rose strangely. Charter looked at us with an incomprehensible expression, and Paky looked at us with an astonished expression.

“So, you wan to meet the emperor?”

“Yes.”

Dondon blinked her round eyes but soon couldn’t back her laughter and began to laugh wit her saliva splashing out.

“Hahaha! Hihi. A-ah fanny…. your words are fanny! Ah…. Hahaha.”

Excuse me, it’s okay to laugh… but can’t you just laugh normally? Why are you splashing your saliva, and what are you doing on the floor instead of the good-shaped chair?  

I looked at Dondon, who was lying on the floor and rolling her whole body. I’ve heard that barbarians didn’t have manners, but can the imperial family be like this? My tutor, Madam Loela, would be surprised and faint if she saw this. Well, it didn’t matter if she fainted or not.

“No,” said Dondon, who had erased her laughter before I knew it, sat on the fancy chair.

“That’s disappointing.” At Dondon’s refusal, I openly scratched her nerves.

Charter was about to stop me, but he decided to wait and see. Based on his judgment, this wasn’t a dangerous situation as he saw Paku sitting down in a chair with a relaxed appearance and looking at the interesting situation.

Dondon pursed her lips and grumbled. “I also velue my life.”

“You are a princess. Do you think he will kill his own child for taking me?”

“I think so? Definitely, absolutely, certainly, unquestionably.”

I was surprised again because she spoke the Harpion Empire language so accurately than hearing her words meant the emperor would kill her. Didn’t she say 4 similar words in a row with correct pronunciation? Is she smarter than I think? She was like an idiot who had only instinct to rely on.

“What she says is true. To be honest, taking you to the emperor would cost our life,” said Paku.

“Cam to think of it, why are you here? What bout what the emperor told you to do?”

When Dondon asked, Paku shut his mouth tightly. Dondon clicked her tongue when she saw him like that.

“Crazi. Crezy. You brought dem here against the emperor’s orders?”

“…”

Paku had nothing to say. Even if his own life was already at stake, bringing Dondon into the situation would also put her in danger. He knew, however, without Dondon’s help, he would have lost his life on the way, let alone meeting the emperor.

(You idiot!)

Dondon stared at Paku with blazing eyes.

(Have you forgotten why I look after you? You must become the emperor! Don’t you know that if another guy becomes emperor, we’ll end that day?) Dondon naturally spoke in the Kelteman language, not in the Harpion language.

The emperor’s children weren’t only siblings born from the same womb. In order to get in the eyes of the emperor, their other half-siblings all volunteered to become warlords. At every opportunity, they were aiming for each other’s necks. They needed to get rid of their competitors early.

Born without siblings, Paku and Dondon made a tacit agreement, and Dondon, who only likes money, took the role of helping Paku ascend the throne. Many siblings were jealous of Paku, who was closest to the throne. Paku always traveled around the battlefield to avoid clashes with them.

But he left his aides and troops somewhere and wandered around this hell hole by himself! Dondon couldn’t control her anger, picked up the pottery, and tried to smash it to the floor but hesitated.

But where do I leave my aides and troops and wander around this hellhole by myself!

Don Don-don couldn’t overcome the fire and stopped trying to pick up the pottery and hit it on the floor. “Ugh. Dis is expensive pottery.”

She put it down and picked up a jewelry box next to her. The jewelry box decorated with colorful gold leaf on the black wooden platform was never of low value.

“Uuurgh.”

Dondon put down the jewelry box too and looked around.

“No, why… Do you have anything to trow down?”

Dondon pulled her own hair with a desperate expression. Because she realized that the only thing she could break was her humble body. Uugh. I’m angry, but there’s no place to relieve it. Nevertheless, she didn’t want to imagine bringing in cheap things to vent her anger. Because that would reduce the value of her room. 

Dondon, who had been pulling her hair for a long time, raised her head as if her anger had subsided after a long time. Although it was a wonder if it was true that her red-bloodshot eyes with the disheveled hair had calmed down.

(Now, you want us to die together?)

(If you help… I’ll consider ascending to the throne.)

Dondon’s bright yellow eyes flashed. Far from thinking of becoming an emperor, Paku had been running away no matter how she persuaded him. Is it such a serious matter that he promised to think of ascending to the throne? Just to bring them to the emperor?

It was only then that Dondon took a close look at the party that Paku had brought. A tall woman with wavy hair and a humanless man who seems to be like a human figure carved from ice. They’re obviously worthless just by their looks. Of course, the woman had a good eye, so she played with her a little more. But they’re worthless, not worth keeping alive.

Dondon weighed in her head. Should I help Paku now and assist him in walking on the path of the throne? Or just remove all half-siblings and persuade him to become the emperor later? Persuading Paku, who was stubborn and not greedy, was something she hadn’t been able to do for the past five years.

Sigh. In the end… Should I risk my life to bring them to the emperor? As long as he said with his mouth that he would become emperor, he would keep that promise.  She must seize the opportunity when it comes.

Dondon has finally made a decision.

“Alright. I nid you to do one thing for me.”