The Slave Princess Every Night - Chapter 7

“Oh, Lenazia. What on earth is this?”

It was the voice of the Fourth Queen. Lenazia, flustered, tried to straighten her back and pull her chin in.

In the early days of pretending to be a princess, Lena, who came from a servant background, would instinctively shrink her shoulders and lower her head whenever she was scolded by the Fourth Queen. But every time she did, the Queen would reprimand her even more coldly with a stern face.

<Do not even dream of showing a servile attitude. You are the princess of Regnos until it reclaims its place.>

After that, even when she made a mistake, she would straighten her posture and wait for the lecture. But for some reason, this time, even with a posture perfectly befitting royalty, the Fourth Queen did not ease her hardened expression.

“To show such vulgarity while bearing the title of Princess of Aitalos. And in a place where commoners as well as people from the enemy country are gathered. Honestly, I am utterly ashamed of you.”

“Mother…”

“Mother?”

The Queen’s usually composed smile twisted strangely.

“Aren’t you the daughter of a lowly servant? What you just did proves your bloodline. I regret the day I brought you to Regnos’ room.”

“Your Majesty, the Queen!”

Snap. The thin, airy outer dress was torn away by the Queen’s hand. For some reason, what was revealed inside the torn dress was a chemise that was even worse than the rags she wore when she was thrown into the prisoner procession.

“Look. See how lewd and filthy you are.”

Before she knew it, her hair was tangled and matted, and her hands and feet were covered in mud. Looking like someone who clearly did not belong in the royal palace, Lena frantically tried to get outside. But every time she ran, even for a short distance, she kept bumping into people she wanted to avoid.

“Oh, she looks no better than a cheap whore.”

A tall, gaunt, silver-haired young man sneered at Lena.

“If you were going to reveal your true colors in such a state, you should have just embraced this older brother of yours sooner.”

He was the Second Prince, who had waged the fiercest war of attrition in the Aitalos succession battle. The Prince leered at Lena’s exposed legs with the same lecherous gaze he occasionally showed.

“No!”

Lena, pulling up her slipping clothes, ran away, only to run into the King this time.

“Who is it?”

An old man with a white beard reaching his chest, his brow furrowed beneath his crown. His forehead was creased with wrinkles due to the headaches he had suffered for half his life, and his irritable nature was evident all over his wrinkled face. The pale blue eyes, which he had passed down to the Aitalos royals of this generation, shone with an icy cold light.

“It’s the Sixth Princess. Your talents are meager and your attitude is stiff compared to your sisters, but I overlooked it, cherishing your passable face.”

“…”

“And then you use that face to flirt with the enemy?”

“N-No. Father… it’s not true.”

Lena fell to the ground and begged. Facing the King was always frightening. The fact that she was deceiving him by pretending to be his fake daughter weighed heavily on her.

Surely the King hadn’t noticed the deception she had hidden her entire life—that hope was shattered the next moment by a thunderous roar.

“You wench, you fake daughter, you disgrace Aitalos with that body of yours? I will kill you with my own hands.”

The King drew the long sword he always carried. With a terrifying shling sound, Lena screamed and ran away. “Catch that wench! I’ll kill her!” The King’s shout gradually turned into a grotesque metallic sound, which soon sounded like the clashing armor of the soldiers coming to catch Lena. As Lena ran, breathless, she suddenly heard Regnos’ voice.

“Lena.”

She forgot about running and froze. The Prince’s voice was full of disappointment. When she turned around to make some kind of excuse, her heart plummeted.

The Fourth Queen, the Second Prince, the King. And many other royals were lying on the marble floor. Their severed heads were rolling around, spurting blood. Lena screamed helplessly at the bloody sight.

“Aaaah!”

When she opened her eyes, she was in a jolting carriage. The ghosts of the royals, their harsh words, were no longer visible or audible. Bright sunlight streamed in through the slightly parted curtains. But it did not warm Lena’s trembling body. Cold tears flowed, wetting her ears and seeping through her silver hair.

Drowsiness came over her, but she spent the day with her eyes open. She was afraid that if she fell asleep, they would appear in her dreams again. As she spent her time groping through the air with her eyes, the carriage stopped twice a day, and a Taringian soldier would bring her food. The meals were much better than when she was first tied up in the prisoner procession, but Lena left most of it untouched.

After dinner, as soon as it got dark, that man came in. No words were exchanged between them. When the man looked at her, Lena would lift her skirt and spread her legs. The man frowned as if he didn’t like her resigned eyes and limp limbs, but even in the darkness, it didn’t take long for his lust to ignite as he stared intently at her pale skin.

“Ah, uhn.”

From Lenazia’s resigned mouth, a strangely seductive moan naturally escaped. In her panting breath, the man poured his desire into her narrow passage several times. Before the morning star rose, he quietly disappeared.

Lena wished that he would torment her all night so that she couldn’t fall asleep, then tried to greet the dawn with her eyes open, and then, exhausted, she would fall asleep and inevitably have that dream. Then, after waking up crying, it was another repetition of the day.

It was ten days later that Emperor Godfrey’s army arrived in Loren, the capital of Taringia.

* * *

“Long live the Emperor!”

“Long live His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Godfrey!”

It was boisterous. The cheers of tens of thousands of people made her ears ring, and celebratory fireworks exploded incessantly in the sky. Rubbing her tired eyes, Lenazia naturally realized that the procession had reached its destination.

Lauren. Once just a small provincial city, it had grown into the center of the world in an instant as the monstrous emperor devoured country after country.

Hesitantly, Lena cautiously opened the closed window. The unique clamor of a large city and the stench of manure wafting from somewhere rode in on the wind.

Peeking through the curtains, she saw well-dressed people waving small flags. Their attire used slightly less fabric than that of the Aitalos people, but was tailored to fit the body. True to their reputation as a people who, even half a century ago, ordinary farmers would casually plunder neighboring territories for fun, they were large in stature, agile in movement, and had fierce eyes.

They were enthusiastic about their emperor, who had risen like a comet. Godfrey von Taringit led the procession on a black steed. She stared at his dignified, beautiful, and cruel figure for a long time, and after he passed, she looked at the Aitalos slaves who made up the procession. Their eyes were instantly filled with contempt instead of envy.

“Filthy Aitalos bastards. Ptooey!”

Starting with someone spitting, a torrent of slander against Aitalos poured out from the surroundings.

“It’s a wonder that a country of savages who sleep with their own siblings hasn’t already collapsed.”

“And what about the ritual of offering prisoners as sacrifices?”

“Seriously, it’s disgusting.”

Lena’s wrist, which was gripping the window frame, trembled. Sibling marriage had been maintained for centuries to preserve the royal bloodline, but it had been abolished several generations ago because it did not align with the sentiments of the people. However, it was true that there was a human sacrifice ritual at the annual Harvest Festival. Lena had been deeply distressed by the sight of prisoners being brutally sacrificed, but hearing their words made her feel as if she was also responsible for everything.

The eyes of the men, who had been spewing hatred for Aitalos, soon turned to the naked female prisoners being dragged along. They wore lewd smiles.

“Well, they’re a terrible bunch, but the women are definitely appealing.”

“That’s right. They look good enough to hold and play with.”

Just as their gaze was about to reach the open window, Lena slammed it shut. She covered her ears and cowered, but the cheers calling the emperor’s name echoed through her bones.

The surroundings became quiet long after the carriage entered the imperial palace. The carriage, separated from the emperor’s party, kept going into quiet and secluded places.

Could it be that they were finally going to kill her in secret? Terrified, Lena couldn’t bring herself to get out of the carriage even long after it had stopped. Yes, even after being humiliated to this extent, she was still afraid of death.

“Please come out, Princess.”

With a click, the door opened, and Lena scrambled back to the opposite doorway, curling up as much as possible.

“Oh my.”

A woman with her brown hair neatly tied up offered her hand with a more cautious attitude.

“Here.”

Her eyes were green and very clear. Only after seeing those eyes could Lena relax her guard a little.

Getting out, she found herself at the back of a magnificent building made of cold, gray stone. Lena followed the brown-haired woman up a steep stone staircase and entered through a side door in the flank of the building.

“From now on, you will be staying here.”

The moment she entered the room she was led to, Lena frowned. The smell that man always carried. His scent filled the room.

The room’s structure was simpler than expected, and the interior decoration was sparse to the point of being crude. Nevertheless, the faint scent permeating the air made it easy to tell that this was the emperor’s room.

“You want me to… stay here?”

“Yes.”

“But this is….”

Lena tried to protest, but bit her lip instead. The woman in front of her was, at best, just delivering the emperor’s orders. What good would it do to complain to her?

‘He still has no intention of letting me go.’

She had endured humiliation and despair to come to this distant land, but it seemed he was determined to use her as a plaything. How long would this bleak life continue?

“…Princess.”

As Lena’s face clouded over, the green-eyed woman bowed politely.

“My name is Melgardi. His Imperial Majesty has ordered me to attend to you with all my heart.”

“……”

“As I have received the imperial command, I will serve you diligently. Please allow me to assist you with a bath first. Soaking in warm water will make you feel much better.”

“…Okay. I understand.”

She still hated having to stay in his room, but Lena couldn’t refuse Melgardi’s request. Among the Taringians, no, even in Aitalos before the country fell, there was hardly anyone who had been so kind as to consider her feelings.

As Lena nodded, Melgardi led her to a bathroom attached to one side of the room. The tub was overflowing with water, and fragrant steam rose from it, as if scented oil had been added. Immersing herself in it, her nerves relaxed as Melgardi had said. Although the worries knotted tightly in her heart remained the same.

Melgardi massaged Lena’s body to soften her muscles, then scrubbed every nook and cranny with a brush made of boar bristles. After massaging her with milk containing flowers and crushed herbs, her skin became fair and supple.

Thinking that all this was ultimately to please that man made her feel gloomy, but each time, Melgardi would chatter lightly as if to comfort her. Lena learned about Melgardi’s hometown, this year’s spring wheat harvest in Taringia, and the minstrel who had entered the court last winter and was exiled for impregnating a noblewoman.

When she came out wearing a gown, the table was full of food. Among the unfamiliar Taringian dishes, there were dishes with familiar things here and there.

“This is….”

Lena approached the table and hesitated. She saw a few plates of clumsily prepared Aitalos traditional food. It was as if a Taringian had never tasted Aitalos cuisine and had simply made it based on a recipe.

Nevertheless, the dishes gave off a familiar aroma. The moment she realized that, Lenazia felt a hunger she hadn’t experienced in over ten days.

The first thing she reached for was a plate with a whitish lump on it. It was Aitalos-style fermented milk called Gauti, and when she put it in her mouth, it tasted quite similar.

“……!”

Lena felt a relatively clear joy and emptied the small plate.