At the same time, a thrilling sense of fall went from my toes to my head. ‘I’m falling!’
“Mmph.”
– Flap!
The flapping of the wing was so quiet that only I could hear it. My eyes opened wide. My body that had been falling to the ground instantly shot up into the sky. I exchanged glances with the rising moon. The familiar power of a divine beast wrapped around me.
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Percy, but I went cold thinking that we would have gotten caught had he been even a second late.
I urgently looked down.
“……Was that a bird just now?”
“Yeah. We have a lot of nocturnal birds in the Imperial Palace.”
“Hohoho. I heard about the owl that is friendly with the Captain.”
Thankfully, the guards did not show any weird movements. Nobody had noticed me jumping off.
“I’ll see you next time.” I looked away and whispered toward the bedroom.
I couldn’t see because it was dark but there were two silhouettes holding onto the railing looking at me. I waved widely so that Benjamin and Ganael could see and then went higher.
– Swoooooooosh!
I flew up to the top of Juliette Palace as we planned. It wasn’t cone-shaped like the Sérénité Lord’s Castle. It being flat like the top of Versailles Palace made it easy. I landed without making a sound thanks to Percy’s help, and……
“Hello, your highness.”
The cold breeze disappeared as I heard the soft voice. The air up here was warm so my breath couldn’t be seen anymore. Sir Johann (code name Golf)’s white hair was simply shining like snow. Next to him was ‘Charlie’ (Christelle), looking as energetic as she had been during the day. I couldn’t help but laugh after looking at her. Our main character had remained at the palace until late at night for this plan.
Inside the Viscount’s House of Rambouillet’s carriage was a doll made from blankets and a handwritten message. She had written it for her mother, Isabelle.
“Are you ready?”
“I was born ready, your highness,” he immediately answered my question.
The red pandas who had been with them ran over to me. I consoled Rhea and Perry and left them with Sir Johann before tightly wrapping Demy around my waist. I was going to leave Tithé behind because he was still a baby, but……
“You have to listen to big sis pink. You also have to return healthy.”
– Aaarf!
“Promise.”
– Aarf!
The little guy cried while being carried by Christelle in a burlap sack. He wouldn’t eat any ether or sleep and kept whining for us to take him, so we had no choice. He must have somehow known that he would be left behind alone.
Well, I did worry about him being cared for by an unfamiliar priest because Sand and I were both gone. I gently petted his head and the harp seal innocently blinked his eyes.
Sir Johann took out a pocket watch as I did that.
“It is now exactly at the 25th minute. Shall we move right away, your highness?”
“Yes.”
“That sounds great.”
Christelle and I nodded our heads. My feet started to float as soon as I answered. Without a doubt, Jung Percy was the smartest bird on the entire continent. We exchanged glances. We also did not forget to warn the divine beasts.
And……
– Paaaat!
We shot up into the air as if we would reach the moon. Christelle was flying thanks to Sir Johann’s help. The stars scattered in the night sky were so close that I felt like they might fall on me. I thought that I might be able to reach them if I extended my hand. A part of my heart went numb as this reminded me of the day the gate opened. The blonde hair that was not mine tickled my eyes as usual. We continued to fly up and even higher up.
– Swooooooosh……
Sir Johann, who was in front of me, slowly decreased his speed. Christelle and I stopped in the air behind him.
The moon was much brighter than the one back in our world. And, although I am exaggerating a bit, it looked big enough to swallow us up. Everybody’s hair fluttered as if we were out in space.
The Cardinal looked back at his student and gently spoke. “It should be good if we maintain it like this, Charlie. It’s not hard, right?”
“Yes, Golf. It’s doable.”
“It seems like all of that soul training was worth it.”
I smiled warmly. Based on what I was hearing, Christelle seemed to be hiding her ether perfectly right now. There was no need to worry about Sir Johann. I didn’t ask about the details, but he seemed to be able to perfectly hide the flow of his ether so that the Imperial Crown Prince would not notice. He could do that while using this much power. I thought it would be difficult to do, so I just closed my ether faucet about eighty percent. It would be obvious if I got close or even if I got farther away, so I just decided to lower the amount of ether released. But with there still being some, it shouldn’t wake him up from his sleep.
“There seem to be no issues down on the ground either. I think we can cross now?”
– Squeeeee.
Christelle made the suggestion and brave little Demy agreed with her. I rubbed his ears and looked down at the distant ground. The people looked like dots now and the torches lighting the area were all calm. They showed no signs of figuring out what was happening in the air. Tithé was busy twitching his whiskers and looking at the moon. We quickly moved to the next step in our operation.
– Swoooooooosh……
We safely crossed the sea of stars and landed on the roof of Romero Palace. Sir Johann checked the time again. 2:30am. Ding!
“The ten of you around Juliette Palace are to move to Strauder Palace.”
“Eek. Vice Captain, what are you doing here at this time?!”
We heard Vice Captain Élisabeth’s blade-like voice. The three of us smiled.
“There is supposedly a drunk guest causing a ruckus, so go calm them down and send them inside. The five of you go support the security around the Imperial Palace Temple. We can’t let any issues happen before the prayer meeting. I will take over with this group over here.”
“Yes ma’am!”
We then heard a lot of footsteps. While our dear young Countess split the guards up to buy us some time, we thoroughly checked our goal location and got ready to descend.
‘Shaaaaaaaaaaaa……’ The red pandas moved their paws and large leaves the size of elephant ears blossomed. We tied those things around our bodies. We were going to fly down but we had to camouflage ourselves as much as possible so that nobody saw us.
“Point Sierra-18 confirmed.”
“……Roger.”
She could have just called it the 18th window on the second floor, but Christelle was always so stubborn about using codes like these. The accessory around her neck was glowing. It was a communication magic tool that was a pair with my diamond earrings. Naturally, it was something that Mr. François Duhem let us borrow. The goal was to return them without any damages.
I put on my hood. “I’m going in first.”
“Yes, your highness.” For some reason, Sir Johann answered in an entertained voice.
Once I said that, the smartest creature in the entire world, one that a phoenix couldn’t even compare to, the divine item, the Ark of the Wind Deity, quietly opened up his wings. Everything was easy because I had done this once before.
– Tap……
The bottom of my boots instantly arrived on the balcony. I immediately lowered my body and raised up my thumb, which led to Chi You giving me the same action back.
I checked the locations of the guards once more. They looked extremely stiff since Vice Captain Élisabeth appeared. The front of Juliette Palace, which would have the best view of where I was right now, was being watched by the young Countess and her right hand soldier right now. We should be fine as long as I was careful. I bit down on my lips and crawled over to the glass door. Demy, who was even warmer from all this excitement, squirmed on my side.
“Yes, it is your turn again. I leave it to you.”
– Kii
The little guy answered quietly before some fern-like vines blossomed at the tip of his nose. I quickly grabbed the red panda and shoved his face in front of the lock. The squirming plant dug through the hole in the door. Clack, clack. Demy scowled for a while. I got nervous and peeked behind me. Something must not be going right as the divine beast viciously stuck out his tongue, but……
– Click
‘It opened!’
“Good job, Delta.”
– Kyuu.
I smiled brightly and hugged him, making the little guy confidently puff.
“This is Juliette, we have successfully infiltrated Sierra-18.”
– Charlie confirming. Let’s proceed to the next step. Over.
Christelle sounded as if she was laughing. I barely managed to calm my body that was shaking and pulled the curtains open as I crawled into the room. My movements were slow because I had my teacher’s Holy Staff on my back as well.
I soon saw the familiar sight. As expected, there was nobody in the room next to the bedroom. Crown prince Cédric got up at 5:00am, so nobody should be here until around 4:00am at the earliest. I properly figured out the directions.
‘I thought the bedroom was over there last time and the crown prince really did walk out. So it must be over there. They did say it was the room on the right side.’
“Right?”
– Squeeeeee?
Demy answered oddly. I stood up and…
– Click!
‘Ahh!’ I screamed silently and threw my body under the table. A gentle light came in from the hallway and almost reached my feet. I quickly wrapped my robe around me like a blanket and peeked out.
‘Who is still up this late at night?!’
– Step step
Round slippers walked around the carpet. Based on the size, this was definitely not the crown prince. But the movements were so quiet that I wouldn’t have heard the person’s feet moving if I didn’t pay attention. How was this person……
‘You truly are at a Holy Knight’s level when it comes to erasing your presence. I had the same thought last time as well.’
‘It is a habit I have developed in order to not bother his Royal Highness’s precious sleeping time.’
I suddenly recalled the conversation I had with David during Ganael’s birthday. My instincts told me that this person was David Capuson. The middle-aged man was the crown prince’s loyal subordinate and his Chief Attendant. I was done for if I got caught. I would definitely be sent back to Juliette.
The crown prince’s plate had once been so weak he needed to be asleep for 18 hours a day, and his mind and body were still sensitive. It wasn’t weird that David started to move like a cat, a ghost, or a cat ghost.
– Step.
He stopped in front of the balcony. Demy and my jaws opened in astonishment.
‘There should be no issues there? I locked the door as soon as I got in and I made sure the curtains were fixed as well. Did he somehow find out that we unlocked the door? How?’
“……Now that I think about it, this table is close to the bedroom. I should start preparing his coffee here. It would be good for his Royal Highness to smell the scent before he gets out of his room as well.” He then had a long sentimental talk with himself.
I was so relieved that we had not been caught. ‘I guess even David has 2:00am thoughts.’ He stood in front of the table I was hiding under for a moment before leaving without any hesitation. I confirmed that the door closed before finally crawling out. I also didn’t forget to quickly inform the others about the situation.
“Sierra-18 is clear.”
– Roger.
Roger. ‘Huh……?’
“The table is closer to this place. This must be the bedroom.”
Based on what David had said, the bedroom was on the left side! It was on the right side if you looked from the front of the building. ‘Why am I so bad with directions? Is this why my brother wouldn’t let me get my driver’s license?’
– Screeeech
Christelle then came through the balcony. She seemed to have finished all of her preparations. I shamelessly pointed to the left. She locked the door and flicked her chin.
We immediately started moving like shadows. My hand turned even slower than a snail when we opened the bedroom door. ‘Click.’
“……”
“……”
Then we quickly shoved our bodies into the room. The bedroom was completely dark, as we already knew. There were no magic lights or even a small candle. The bed that had a black canopy around it was completely silent. As expected of the male lead of a Romfan, the crown prince didn’t even snore.
Once my eyes got used to the darkness, I could see Christelle’s eyes sparkling right underneath my nose. Her cotton candy-like breath tickled my neck. I nodded my head once before reaching my hand toward the bed and focusing.
‘Don’t release all of it, Jung Yeseo. Slowly. As gently as blowing a bubble.’
– Shaaaaaaa……
Ether pebbles the size of little mushrooms burst out of my fingertips. The gold light was extremely faint but enough to guide us. The crown prince was a true pig who absorbed my ether without issues even in his sleep, and, as expected, he pulled my power toward him. The golden particles danced in the air and lit up a path to the bed.
“……”
That was how we safely arrived in front of the crown prince’s bed.
Honestly speaking, this was the true start to our operation. We were here to do something very bad, something close to a rebellion, a true crime. My hand that was holding the curtain that was completely black was shaking. However, Christelle put her hand on mine and helped me pull it open. Of course, our movements were as slow as turtles.
– Chh……
“Wow.”
Today’s abduction victim finally revealed himself. His half curly hair that was as smooth and beautiful as black silk and his side profile that the Almighty God must have spent overtime working to sculpt… I could see his deep eyes, long eyelashes, and pointy nose.
“So handsome.”
“Shh.”
– Squee
– Chirp
I got in trouble for subconsciously admiring his handsome face! I bit my tongue wondering if my mistake would be fatal. But no matter how much I thought about it, I didn’t think it was my fault. ‘Isn’t it his fault he was born like this?’
“……What about his ether?” I quickly fixed my expression and whispered, to which Christelle shook her head.
“I think he really is sleeping. It’s stable.”
I sighed in relief. The MC sent me a serious gaze before quickly moving to the bedroom balcony to proceed with the next step of the plan. I crouched down by the bed and prepared to release my Holy Domain. If I managed to do this successfully, over half of our abduction plan would be successful. I even prepared my Divine Oracle in advance.
‘Be good and stay asleep until big bro wakes you up.’
I set the time, the condition, and the order was clear.
“Huuuuuu.”
I looked at the good boy sleeping and let out a deep breath. He might suddenly open his eyes if I released my ether at once. He might reject the Divine Oracle because he was half asleep or attack me out of instinct. That was why the releasing and the Divine Oracle all had to be efficient and clear.
‘Stay calm. Do it with a calm heart……’
– Plop.
‘Hmm?’ My neck tilted automatically.
I bent down because I thought I touched something and there really was something underneath the crown prince’s bed. I scowled from within the golden ether particles.
‘He’s not the type to have a treasure chest or art supplies or things like that here…… Wait a minute.’
“Ah?”
‘Is this a travel bag?’
—
Translator’s Comments
Big boi is ready for you to sweep him away, my boy.