Cecilia the Princess's Words
When Cecilia was mentioned as the princess, Irene immediately turned her head.
“The princess? What happened?”
After all, she had been wondering how the princess was doing.
People who had lost their pairs in dungeons. Yet the obsession with Michael she had felt during their meeting had been so intense that it made her nauseous.
Still, she felt human sympathy for those who had lost their pairs.
“Do not speak of it. Since returning from the Distortion Dungeon, the princess’s gathering has been completely dismantled.”
“Dismantled?”
The princess’s gathering had boasted absolute power within the fortress.
Sometimes it had seemed to hold even greater strength than the Kingdom Alliance itself.
That it had been dismantled was astonishing.
“Was it really because of the Distortion Dungeon?”
“That was the beginning of the problem, at least. Later figures showed that eighty-two people had died in the princess’s raids. Sixty-one knights and twenty-one purifiers.”
“Eighty-two people? So many? When we roughly counted the bodies, it was only about fifty.”
“There were victims in other raids besides the ones we saw.”
The princess’s group had numbered roughly three hundred.
Eighty-two of them dead.
“What about the injured?”
“Including the princess, around a hundred were said to be injured.”
More than half dead or incapacitated.
‘In my previous life the highest death toll in the fortress was only about ten.’
Now nearly one hundred and eighty victims.
The number alone made her dizzy.
“More than half the personnel were lost, and the survivors were mentally devastated.”
Cynthia explained to Irene while recalling the day they returned from the Distortion Dungeon.
* * *
The area in front of the dungeon entrance had been utter chaos.
Everyone had been unable to properly care for even their own pairs.
The terror of never being able to return home if they hesitated even for a moment had consumed them all.
After the last person emerged, the Distortion Dungeon that had stretched across the entire mountain range began to flicker and blur like a mirage.
It had been clinging unstably to this world.
For some unknown reason, it had chosen to vanish faster than expected.
The joy of having survived lasted only a moment before people realized who had not emerged from inside.
Michael, who had sent them out first and blocked the monsters, and Irene, who had been beside him.
Neither of them was visible.
The fortress had become a house of mourning in an instant.
There was no need to confirm the names of the deceased separately.
Anyone who had entered and failed to return was automatically recorded as dead.
Thus, both Michael and Irene were listed among the dead.
“They are not dead! They simply could not escape! When the dungeon reappears, the rescue team will go in…!”
“Reina!”
When the two names appeared on the list of the missing, Reina tore the paper in protest and furiously berated the fortress staff.
Felix grabbed her in surprise.
Normally he would have calmed her with his words, but not this time.
Thanks to Reina’s outburst, the two names were changed to missing.
Several others who had not seen the bodies as well.
But everyone knew that there was little difference between missing and dead.
The accommodations fell silent in an instant, filled only with the moans and sobs of the injured.
Meanwhile, corpses of those confirmed dead began to appear from the location of the Distortion Dungeon.
The Distortion Dungeon had left behind its own world’s remnants.
Or it had refused to take them and slowly spewed them out into this world.
In any case, those who returned with even a part of their bodies held funerals.
Their belongings were returned to their families.
The princess’s gathering announced a temporary halt to dungeon expeditions for mourning the dead.
Of course, that was one reason, but the number of capable knights available for raids had plummeted dramatically.
Above all, the princess’s own knights had perished.
Everyone had thought it was unavoidable.
“Are you insane? Whose pair are you trying to steal?!”
A loud voice echoed from the princess’s residence.
It was Riosa’s voice.
One of the 1st-rank purifiers besides the princess.
Fortunately, she had safely emerged from this dungeon with her pair.
After confirming the remaining people, Riosa thought to herself.
‘Does this mean I will become the strongest pair in the fortress this year?’
The princess’s knights, who had foolishly devoted themselves to her, were dead.
‘How many years had he maintained the pair? The princess’s purification had become too familiar to him. If I find a new knight, even with high purification power, it will take time for us to become accustomed to each other.’
Moreover, although purifiers’ abilities were still poor, the knight Michael and Irene Rodiam, whose powers had been so outstanding, had also died.
‘Then among the remaining dungeons this year, I can take command of all the good ones?’
While Riosa smiled in satisfaction, a purifier who was close to her approached her.
“Riosa, um… I was really wondering whether I should say this or not….”
“What is it? Did something happen?”
“That’s….”
The person who had hesitated several times, looking truly troubled, finally opened her mouth with difficulty.
“I saw your knight and Princess Cecilia coming out together from a secluded room. More than once.”
“What?”
The moment she heard it, Riosa’s head went blank.
Then her eyes sharpened.
“Cecilia, you crazy woman!”
Before heading to the princess’s residence, she had gone to her own knight and ripped his clothes off.
She had checked the signs of intimacy that remained on his body.
“No, the princess just… wanted comfort…!”
Slap!
Riosa slapped the knight’s cheek and immediately headed to the princess’s residence.
And, as if nothing had happened, she grabbed the princess’s hair and shook her.
“With that kind of appearance, do you think people will still admire you? Calling yourself a princess while trying to steal someone else’s pair?”
Stealing another’s pair was one of the most hated acts within the fortress.
In that regard, a pair was similar to a marital relationship.
After the contract ended, anything was allowed, but during the period they were paired, faithfulness to each other had been the principle.
The news that Cecilia had attempted to take another’s knight as her pair by replacing her dead knight spread rapidly.
After that, not a single purifier who had attended the gathering revived after such a long time was present.
Cecilia looked at the empty banquet hall and bit her lip.
In the past, no matter what she did, everyone had lowered their tails out of fear.
Now, everyone was glaring at her.
Moreover, the Kingdom Alliance, seeing this as an opportunity to break the princess’s momentum, had brought up the fortress’s rules and demanded that she reflect.
Her actions had caused great unease among other pairs, so they urged her to be more careful.
All these events combined, and the princess’s gathering was effectively dismantled.
* * *
“That was the biggest gathering, and it disappeared. Those who belonged to it had been watching each other’s backs so closely that they could not move much. And in the meantime….”
Cynthia looked at the bouquets piled high in Irene’s room.
All had been sent by the pairs of Irene’s gathering to congratulate their return.
“Only our gathering remained in operation. No matter what happened to the fortress’s situation, we had to continue raiding dungeons, so we took on all the nearby dungeons that appeared instead of the princess’s gathering.”
She added that not only money, but everyone had gained experience and their bonds had strengthened.
And that the leader’s name remained Irene.
With the belief that she and Michael would surely return.
Cynthia hugged Irene again, her eyes teary.
“I’m really… glad you came back.”
Reina, who had been sniffling beside her, rushed over and hugged Irene along with Cynthia.
Among the friends’ welcome and the flowers, Irene also could not hold back her tears.
The people who had waited for her and worried about her were so many.
For the first time, Irene thought that she wanted to stay in the fortress until the end of this period for the people who had waited for her.