Christelle was being extremely serious about this operation.

– Chh!

“Tiptoe, tiptoe……”

While Prince Jesse was giving his Divine Oracle, she was taking care of the necessary tasks on the Imperial Crown Prince’s bedroom balcony. First, she opened the balcony doors wide and closed the curtains to cover the inside. If they were going to commit a crime, they needed to get rid of any hesitations. After that, she looked for something to step on. When the carriage entered later and stopped in front of Romero Palace, the group needed to safely fall into the luggage area. It would be fine to just jump if it was only the prince and herself, but they needed to carry a man over 190cm tall, so a step was a necessity. Even if they had the help of the air attribute, a relaxing position was still a thing.

“How does he not even have any furniture in his room?”

– Aarf

She looked around and grumbled. Tithé agreed with her. In fact, a lot of things were missing in crown prince Cédric’s room. There were only a few lights and decorations and nothing that would give off the warmth of a person was visible at all. It was just completely black from floor to ceiling. It was the crown prince’s most private area, but it wasn’t even warm. Maybe it was to stabilize his ether, but she couldn’t help but think that his personality was the way it was because he slept in a place like this.

“I think I’ll need to drag the side table over……”

“Christelle.”

She started to touch the wall again when the crown prince quietly called out to her. Christelle’s eyes opened wide. The handsome man surrounded by golden ether floating around like pollen had an awkward look on his face.

‘Is the Divine Oracle not working on him?’

“What is going on, your highness? What about the Divine Oracle?’ She tiptoed over to the bed and whispered.

“I haven’t been able to do it yet.” His purple eyes were fluctuating. The man picked up a small bag from the ground. Demy messed around with it. It must be giving off a familiar scent.

“It seems to belong to his Royal Highness. It was under the bed.”

“……”

It was clearly a luxurious leather bag. He carefully opened it to show her the inside. There was some jerky that looked similar to the one the prince had given her during the Great Clearance of Demonic Beasts as well as a water bottle. Other than that, there were some simple daily necessities and some clothes.

Christelle scowled and looked at the sleeping crown prince. His eyes were tightly shut and his body was not moving at all. Even his breathing was calm.

‘But this motherfucker……?’

“Are you sure you are sleeping?” he asked, not really directing it at anybody.

The prince looked flustered as he looked at the two Holy Knights, then asked, “id you say that his ether was stable earlier?”

That was true. Even now, the crown prince’s soul was as calm as the embers inside the furnace. But she would swear on that damn Almighty God that this punk was awake right now. This guy was not an apocalypse preparer who prepared a bunker to prepare for an asteroid crashing into earth. So why would the crown prince need a bag prepared under his bed?

“He’s one hundred percent not sleeping.” Christelle was grinding her teeth as she extended her hand toward the man’s collars.

‘If you’ve made up your mind, get up and walk, you damn fire fox!’

“Christelle, hold on.”

“He’s sleeping like a child. There is no way this is an act.” The prince grabbed her sleeve and calmed her.

Christelle looked down at the blonde-haired handsome man.

‘A child my ass. The crown prince is as big as a mountain and has at least eight tails.’ He was just closing his eyes, it wasn’t like he was sleeping prettily like an angel. But seeing the prince asking her to stop seemed to magically get rid of her anger. This handsome therapy was amazing.

“……I’m only letting it go because of you, your highness.”

“Thank you very much. I’m sure David must have packed the bag. Probably for an emergency situation. I’m sure he would have been very worried, especially after seeing a hole in the sky once.” He whispered to defend the crown prince.

It would have been great if he was joking, but she couldn’t even find it to be funny because she felt like he was being serious. If he was correct, David was the apocalypse preparer.

Ham Ga-in kept her mouth shut and glared at the crown prince’s cheeky face before walking away. She picked up the table next to the bed, moved it to the balcony, and exchanged signs with Sir Johann on the roof that everything was fine. She came back after finishing her tasks to see the prince writing something on a piece of paper. The ether pebbles gathered around him as if they had minds of their own and provided him with light.

– Scribble, scribble.

He didn’t seem to be hiding it, so Christelle squinted to read what it said. It was a letter for Empress Frédérique and Cardinal Boutier.

‘……As such, we will take his Royal Highness to visit the neutral region. I will meet with crown princess Elise to show her that I am safe and get an official apology and a promise to prevent any future attacks from Prince Consort Werner. However, any part that requires your approval, we will not make those decisions on our own, your Majesty. I truly apologize for abducting your son to a dangerous place. If you give me some time, I will safely and healthily return him to his rightful place. This crime is the result of my leading and my fault alone, so desperately plead that you do not scold those who have made some mistakes. I will receive any punishment you may give me upon my return……’

“I’ll get it with you.”

“Excuse me?”

Christelle whispered and that prince raised his head in shock. His hand slipped and he made a random line.

Ga-in smiled mischievously and pulled the quill pen out from his fingers. She then crossed out ‘my fault’ and put ‘Dame Christelle and my fault’ instead. The two of their shoulders and knees slightly brushed against each other.

“We are partners, so we have to do everything together. I’m an accomplice, so I’ll be upset if you leave me out.”

“……Thank you very much.”

“Hehehe.”

The two of them looked at each other and quietly chuckled. Maybe it was from the thought of not allowing themselves to get caught, but it was fun since anything they did made her heart thump wildly. It wasn’t a relaxed situation, but seeing each other’s face kept making her chuckle. At that moment…

“Mm.”

“Eek.”

The prince flailed and moved his body back. The crown prince had let out a quiet groan and changed positions. His head was looking right at them now.

Christelle’s eyes opened wide and she tried to charge toward him. ‘That motherfucker is definitely awake!’

“Christelle, please!” The prince was basically begging as he hung onto her clothes and whispered. Based on his reaction, the crown prince really was sleeping well and she was the weird person. Demy’s mouth opened and closed as if he was enjoying this quite a bit.

Ga-in’s chin twitched from anger as she carefully moved Tithé from her back to the prince’s arms. She did her best to deal with the present situation without ripping the crown prince’s shirt.

‘Fine. Whether he is pretending to be asleep or is actually sleeping, at least this guy is being quiet. Anyway, the prince was going to put this bastard to sleep with a Divine Oracle.’ She hoped that this guy would stay like this until she threw him on top of a camel’s back.

“……”

The prince tied both Tithé and Demy to his stomach, petted the wing on his back, and then solemnly nodded his head. It meant that he would really release his Holy Domain to give the Divine Oracle. He seemed quite nervous because it was a timed mission he needed to succeed in one go. Normally, Christelle would have been just as nervous, but right now, she was disgusted by this damn crown prince……

– Clack, clack.

Flinch. Christelle turned her head after hearing some sounds outside the window. ‘No way?’

“Do you think it is our carriage?”

“I will go check it out, your highness. Could you wait a moment?”

“Yes.” Christelle consoled the prince and quickly headed to the balcony.

The information that young lady Bérénice Mendy had given to the prince was extremely useful and detailed, but it did have a few critical issues. First of all, it was not realistic. She claimed the majority of the letter was true, but everything was put together using her imagination so not much of it was useful. This route was not good for this reason and that one for another reason. The fact that the Imperial Palace was very different from usual during the Grand Celebration of the Advent of the Almighty God also played a factor.

And……

“Woah, woah.”

A carriage full of hay in the luggage cart arrived in front of Romero Palace. It was one of the carriages that the prince recently received as an imperial gift. The mountain keeper, Agnes, and blacksmith, Frank, played very big roles in transforming a completely fine traveler carriage into a luggage one. The coachman had over half of her face covered with a hat and scarf.

Two of the guards walked over to her. “Why is a luggage cart going through at 3am?”

“It can’t be food since it came over from Juliette.”

The second issue was that her and her friends did not move in perfect order as if they were one body. That was why Bérénice’s plan could not be carried out to the minute. They would all need to move in the same way after hearing the same direction, but everybody was all over the place, spinning in circles. The prince, herself, even her teacher, who was a Cardinal.

“Damn, it’s not like I want to be doing this at such an hour either. But what can I do when a precious art piece has come out?! I rushed over because I was told it needs to be delivered to his highness right away.”

Baroness Joanne de Haas as well! Christelle used rough movements to brush her front hair back. For some reason, Joanne had arrived too early. She had told her that it was better to be early than late, but it seemed clear that all Joanne remembered was ‘early.’ The art genius of the Empire had a habit to half-ass everything in her life except her art. She wasn’t doing it on purpose, she was just born this way.

‘And what is up with her voice and speaking style? This is driving me nuts.’

“Precious art?”

“I’m talking about Joanne de Haas, Baroness Haas. There’s no way you don’t know about her?” Joanne scratched her nose as if she was embarrassed. Christelle nervously observed the situation.

The soldiers quickly pointed at her.

“Who doesn’t know about Baroness Haas?! She’s a famous genius artist.”

“She’s currently a guest at Juliette Palace.”

“Thaaaaaat’s right. The esteemed artist suddenly received inspiration from the Almighty God early this morning and apparently sat down in the hallway to start and finish a piece of art. She said she was going to offer it to his Royal Highness as a present for the Grand Celebration……”

“My goodness!”

“Ahem, open the back door. You will see an amazing piece of work there.”

“Ohhhhhhhh.” Three or four soldiers rushed to the back of the carriage.

“Be careful with it. If you scratch it, I’m going to scream!” Joanne warned quite sternly.

That was the signal for Christelle to rush to the bed. The prince seemed to have some idea about the situation as well as his eyes were as wide as lamps.

“Why is Joanne already here?”

“I’m not sure, your highness. But since things are like this, we have to move. NOW.”

“Okay.”

The prince quickly nodded before putting his arm underneath the crown prince’s back and carefully picked him u……

“Wow, he’s heavy.”

‘He can’t get up!’ Christelle bit down on her lips and extended her arm.

She really did not want to do this. If possible, she wanted to live her whole life without coming into contact with this bastard. The skinship they shared until now doing all sorts of different acts was already too much. But she had no choice right now. She knew the prince was not weak, but this Imperial firefox was too big and heavy for a regular person to handle. (TL: Somebody forgot he carried both of them during the Demonic Beast Clearing?)

“I’ll do it.”

“My goodness.”

The priest’s voice was oddly shaking.

Christelle didn’t care and sat the crown prince up, and once the prince held him there, she sat down on the bed while offering them her back. She immediately got angry as soon as she felt the crown prince’s heavy body pushing down on her from behind. She hated herself from yesterday for actively planning this abduction. It made her want to pull her hair out.

‘Why is he so damn hot? Fuck! It’s hot! Don’t breathe in my ear!’

“Don’t preeteeend to sleeep.”

“……”

‘Why are you acting like this? The pride of a noble member of the Imperial family? I’m going to fuck you up.’

“Isn’t he heavy? I will carry him.”

“No, your highness. I’m the Holy Knight. Let’s hurry.” Christelle easily carried the crown prince and headed for the balcony.

The prince neatly folded up his apology letter and placed it on the pillow before quickly gathering the damn crown prince’s bag and shoes. He then made sure no other traces were left in the bedroom and followed behind her.

– Drag drag drag……

“Christelle, his Royal Highness’s legs are dragging.”

“Yes, your highness. They are so uselessly long. Will you please cut them off?”

“Excuse me?”

The prince gasped and asked back. Ga-in smiled with her eyes.

“Oh my. My joke was a bit much. Ugh!”

A thick arm immediately tightened around her. ‘Ah! I knew this motherfucker wasn’t asleep!’

“I’m going to kiiiiill, yoooooou. Leeet go of meeee?”

“How dare you.”

“Ugh!”

‘Isabelle! The black muscle pig is choking me!’

“Are you okay?”

Her partner, who had been putting boots on the damn thief of an imperial crown prince’s feet, looked up at her in shock. Christelle got angry and froze the crown prince’s thigh that she was touching.

‘Why are you putting shoes on this fucker, your highness?!’

“Let’s just throw them away and g-”

“Sir Johann has sent the signal.” The prince checked the roof with a look of urgency on his face.

Christelle was wrestling with the animal on her back as she thought to herself, ‘He’s fully invested in this like he’s in a spy movie all by himself. I can’t be the one to break the illusion. Life is so damn hard. As for this damn firefox, he really needs to return his middle name……’

“Please head down first. I have Percy so it is okay if I go a bit later.”

“Ugh, yes, your highness.” Christelle leaned against the side table she placed here earlier. The ground was busy with soldiers trying to look at the artwork. It wasn’t a ruckus, but everybody’s gazes were focused on one spot. It was pretty dark but bright enough for her to clearly see her target.

Swoooosh, teacher Johann’s wind swept past her ankle. It was him urging her to move. Christelle clenched her teeth and placed one foot on the ledge.

‘Alright, let’s quickly get it done.’

– Tap!

As soon as she jumped into the air…

– Pow!

“Ow.”

The crown prince shoved her away! The two of their bodies were completely separated as they slowly flew toward the roof of the carriage. The blue-gray eyes and orange eyes intensely glared at each other in the dusk. The eyes that showed not even 1 gram of sleepiness were glowing as hot as a furnace.

Christelle laid her head on the soft hay before glaring at him as if she wanted to kill him. She then made up her mind again.

‘One day, I’m definitely going to turn this motherfucker into a eunuch……!’

—
Translator’s Comments

I had… not so innocent thoughts hearing about Ced pushing down on Chris… *self-bonks to jail*

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