The 17th Princess Just Wants to Live

“Who are you?”

My whole body trembled. It was terrifying not knowing who the person in front of me was, but once I realized who it was, it felt like a funeral march was playing around my ears in the surroundings.

Damn it! Why was Richard here!

I couldn’t understand. No matter how deep I had ventured into the forest, I had never left the forest that belonged to the Opal Palace. In other words, this was my territory.

Entering another princess’s land with a sword was practically a declaration of war…

‘Oh, right.’

I grimaced.

‘He really loves war.’

Unlike the other imperial descendants who avoided full-scale war, Richard always roamed the palace with a sword at his side, as if he’d draw it at any moment.

I didn’t know why he had come all the way here, but he certainly wasn’t someone who understood the common sense of not trespassing on someone else’s land.

“Are you mute?”

When I didn’t answer, Richard muttered to himself.

It was a ridiculous comment, even in my fear.

He was exuding such murderous intent that it felt like it would suffocate me, and yet he expected me to speak? Wasn’t that a bit too much to ask of a twelve-year-old?

With that thought in mind, I inadvertently glared at Richard.

Did he see the thoughts on my face, or did he find it funny that I was glaring at him while trembling?

Richard smirked at me.

For a moment, I forgot about my situation and everything else.

In the lush forest, Richard’s blond hair shone brilliantly, like sunlight filtering through the leaves.

His overwhelmingly handsome face, with those vivid red eyes in the center, was like the final, perfect brushstroke by a master artist.

Just by smiling, he had a face with such impact that it made the surrounding sounds disappear and time seem to slow down.

Whoa, Richard was even more handsome than I imagined…

“Oh, is that your weapon?”

I snapped back to reality at his words.

He was gesturing with his chin at my right hand. More precisely, at the mushroom skewer I was holding tightly even in this situation.

Did he just call this skewer a weapon?

“No, this is…”

I raised my hand, flustered, intending only to show him the mushroom.

Suddenly, I felt something pass right in front of me, and the mushroom skewer split in two, falling to the ground.

“Don’t move.”

I gaped, my mouth was wide open.

I had seen it happen right in front of me, but I couldn’t understand it. Did he just cut the skewer with his sword? I didn’t see anything at all!

“The attempt was good. It was rather cute.”

He took a step closer, a deeper smirk on his face.

“T-That wasn’t a weapon…”

I tried desperately to engage him in conversation.

“But I’m not the kind of person to let someone off because they’re cute. Don’t you think your strategy was flawed?”

Of course, the mad dog of the Esperusa Imperial Family didn’t listen to anyone.

You lunatic, at least pretend to listen!

“It’s too stupid to think that bastard sent you…”

Richard stopped mid-sentence and looked behind me. His face contorted slightly, and then he swung his sword sharply.

Instinctively, I flinched.

Boom!

But the attack wasn’t aimed at me; it was directed behind me.

There was an explosion behind me, and Richard disappeared from sight. I still couldn’t follow his movements with my eyes.

I turned around, still crouching.

The remaining half of the hut was now completely destroyed, leaving only ruins. In the middle of those ruins, I saw Richard fighting, unleashing sword energy everywhere.

There were three or four humans, moving incredibly quickly to dodge his attacks.

“…!”

I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep from making any sound.

The people attacking Richard were all dressed the same. They wore black clothes from head to toe and white masks on their faces.

If this were a comic or game, anyone would call them .

Their movements were swift but oddly strange. They moved more like invertebrates than humans.

Then Richard’s sword slashed the wrist of one of the assassins. Instead of blood, black smoke rose from the severed spot, and a hand quickly formed from the smoke.

I knew those beings weren’t human.

‘The Shadow Puppets of the Fifth Prince!’

If the twelfth prince Richard was a genius with the sword, the fifth prince Rudolph Sol was the greatest magician the empire had ever produced.

Shadow Puppets were his favorite technique and had appeared in the original story to kill Imelda.

Each Shadow Puppet had the skill level of a seasoned assassin and could heal wounds unless they were fatal. Few people survived facing multiple such monsters.

One of those few was the original male lead, who struggled greatly to protect Imelda from the Shadow Puppets.

Slash!

While I was lost in these thoughts, Richard’s sword emitted a red sword energy that simultaneously cut down three Shadow Puppets.

The three puppets exploded upon being hit by the red sword energy and disintegrated like ashes blown away by the wind.

They weren’t supposed to be this easy to deal with…

‘It must be because it’s daytime.’

I muttered to myself internally.

‘Shadow Puppets are dark magic and stronger at night. And Tristan couldn’t fully use his skills while protecting Imelda.’

As a fan of the original male lead, I couldn’t accept what I was seeing and made excuses to myself that no one else could hear.

‘Richard being stronger than the male lead? That can’t be!’

While I was engrossed in such foolish thoughts, Richard wiped his sword with a disgusted expression, as if something dirty had gotten on it.

“Hoo.”

He caught his breath and looked in my direction. His face showed even more irritation than before, making my heart sink.

Weren’t you supposed to feel better after fighting a strong opponent? The Shadow Puppets should have been strong enough; why were you so angry?

“You’re not interfering?”

Richard slowly approached me.

“I thought you were on their side. Then how did you know I would be here?”

“No, I just…”

Alright, I understood the situation now.

Richard was either being chased by an assassin sent by the fifth prince or was chasing the assassin himself, and he ended up here.

And then, he mistakenly thought I was the assassin because I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. That was it, right?

The dirge rang in my ears once more. Cold sweat trickled down my back.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.”

Richard muttered in a low voice. The annoyance in his voice sent chills down my spine.

Haha, there was no way Richard would think something like ‘It’s annoying, so let’s just kill her’…

“It’s annoying, so let’s just kill her.”

Oh no!

Richard, looking fed up with everything, raised his sword high. My mind went blank.

Ah, I was going to die.

As my fear reached its peak, my body relaxed instead. Without even realizing it, I lost all strength.

And then…

Grrrrrr.

My empty stomach roared at that very moment.

It wasn’t just a growl; it was a roar. That was how loud it was.

Richard looked at me with a baffled expression.

“Was that…?”

He mumbled in disbelief.

“Was that sound from your stomach?”

Suddenly, I felt a chill on the side of my neck. I looked down and saw Richard’s sword had stopped just a hand’s breadth away.

“Ugh.”

In that moment, a wave of sorrow welled up from within me.

“Hicc…”

How should I describe my feelings?

Months since I woke up in this novel world.

Days of not eating properly and being ignored by the servants were unbearably miserable.

But I endured.

I thought deviating from the original story might cause something to go wrong, and in this imperial palace, something going wrong meant death.

I believed if I just patiently waited, I would find happiness.

But what was this?

Not even a year, not even three years, and I ended up facing the novel’s villain, being mistaken for an assassin, and showing such embarrassing behavior before dying.

First, I died from overwork. Now, it was murder.

Why was my life like this?!

“Waaaah, huhuhu…”

Before I knew it, I was crying. Not just quietly shedding tears but sobbing uncontrollably with strange noises.

“Good grief.”

Richard let out a dry laugh, but his voice lacked the earlier composure. If I wasn’t mistaken, he seemed a bit flustered.

“Hey, do you think I’ll let you go just because you’re crying? Are you trying to lower my guard by pretending to be weak…?”

“I’m just hungry!”

At this point, I had nothing to lose. I shouted, cutting off Richard’s words.

“That’s not it at all!”

Without even thinking about wiping away my streaming tears, I yelled with all my might.

“I’m just so hungry…”

As I spoke, my sorrow welled up again and I started to wail.

“My mushrooms…!”

At my outburst, the birds perched in the trees took flight in surprise.

“Hicc, my mushrooms…”

I continued to mumble through my sniffles.

I didn’t even know who I was talking to, and after shouting once, I was so drained that I couldn’t make any more noise.

I didn’t know how long I cried.

Suddenly, something dark red appeared before me with a rustling sound.

“Do you… want to eat this?”

Richard handed me some jerky.

The small piece of jerky, not much larger than my palm, emitted a smoky aroma.

Snap.

The moment my nose detected the scent of meat, I lost my senses. I snatched the jerky and shoved it into my mouth.

“Gulp, cough!”

“Hey, chew it well before swallowing!”

Richard patted my back as I choked, handing me a water bottle. I took a sip of water to wet my mouth and chewed the jerky.

The jerky was incredibly delicious.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had meat. It wasn’t rotten, nor was it spoiled. Though it lacked juice, it was filled with the scent of charcoal and had a rich, tender flavor, indicating good quality meat was used.

“Hicc…”

It was so delicious that my tears started to flow again.

This was the best jerky I’d ever had…

“Why are you crying again?”

Richard, now looking bewildered, fumbled through his pockets. I hoped he would produce more food, but he pulled out a handkerchief instead.

“Don’t worry, it’s not poisoned. The jerky and water are safe too. I brought them to eat myself.”

When did I ever worry about that? Honestly, he always thought like that.

I chuckled at the thought.

Richard flinched and stared at me. Then, he used the handkerchief to wipe my face.

Chewing the jerky while letting Richard wipe my face felt very strange.

The agitation from my earlier outburst slowly subsided. My runaway senses were returning.

‘It’s a disaster, a total disaster.’

My returning rationality screamed at me.

‘You’re completely doomed, you idiot!’

That was right. It was fortunate I survived, but my plan to stay unnoticed and live quietly as in the original story was now completely ruined.

Maybe because of the embarrassing sound from my stomach, or perhaps because I cried about mushrooms, Richard no longer seemed to suspect me as an assassin.

Instead, he probably started having other suspicions.

Like, who could this girl be, wandering around the Opal Palace Forest in a dress, looking just the right age…

“Hey.”

Richard stopped wiping my face and asked. His red eyes scrutinized my face and clothes with suspicion.

I swallowed the last piece of jerky I was chewing.

Right. I was your weak, frail, powerless, and ambitionless poor little sister… just as I was about to say that.

“You’re a maid working in the Opal Palace, aren’t you?”

Richard wildly misunderstood my identity.