The Monster Princess

Chapter 5

I’m the Villainess. What Do You Want from Me?

I have to see one more thing. Just one more.

It really wasn’t like me to dwell on these kinds of things, but sometimes one had to get out of their comfort zone and follow their instincts.

As we arrived at the Blovis Forest hunting grounds, I turned to Marina. “Do you hear something from the forest?” I asked casually.

“I dunno,” she answered. She could be so disrespectful at times.

“Hey. Are you going to keep making a fuss over nothing?”

“Nothing? How could you say that? You had beautiful, lovely hair, and you just...” She shuddered, clearly troubled by my new shoulder-length hairstyle.

This moping was an improvement, though. Yesterday, the halls of my palace had been drowning in her wails all day.

“You went too far, Your Highness,” she continued. “I understand you were upset that it got dirty, but how could you just slash away your wonderful, silky hair without even a warning? It’s such a waste... I...”

Uh-oh, she’s about to cry again. Even after her miserable crying spell yesterday, she was still able to blubber and sniffle. My haircut must have really affected her.

But as soon as someone appeared in front of us, she instantly returned to her usual calm, cool, and collected mannerisms.

“F-First Princess Arbella?! Oh my, uh, to what do I owe this great pleasure?” Baron Wayston, the owner of the hunting grounds, noticed us and hurriedly ran over. His mustache bounced up and down as he dashed.

He looked quite shocked at my sudden visit. It was natural to be so surprised when a member of the imperial family turned up unannounced, though I knew the real reason he became so pale was entirely different.

I went back to my usual majestic self alongside Marina and stared at the frantic mustachioed man. “Ah, you must be Baron Wayston, the owner of these grounds.”

“Y-yes, Your Highness!”

Flashing the gold-plated cane I carried purely for display, I gave him an elegant smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Based on your expression, you seem to find my visit unwelcome. I must say, such a reception saddens me.”

“N-no, Your Highness! Of course a visit from the first princess is truly a great honor!” he replied. “But, um... You see... Ah, yes, your hair! I was quite startled to see you had cut the hair you loved and treasured so greatly. I must have made quite a rude expression. I offer you my humblest apologies, Your Highness.”

So much struggle for a few empty words. All he had to say was that he was surprised that I came without letting him know. It was more suspicious for him to use my hair as an excuse as if he couldn’t think of anything else.

I walked into the forest, the baron anxiously following right behind. “I visited because of this summer’s hunting festival. It’s fast approaching, is it not?”

“Y-yes, it is, Your Highness.”

“I was curious, so I decided to pay a visit while passing by. From what I hear, this year’s contest will be held here in Floris Forest.”

“This is Blovis Forest, Your Highness,” he corrected.

Pretending I had no idea, I exaggeratedly widened my eyes. “Really? This isn’t Floris Forest? I must have been confused. The forests here all have similar names.”

A hunting dog happened to bark at that moment. I turned my head to the forest, squinting. “Is there a hunt happening right now?”

The baron was now sweating profusely. He looked like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Even the attendants behind me appeared to have noticed that something was off.

To break the tense atmosphere, I casually took a step toward the forest as if preparing to go for a stroll. “It just so happens that hunting is a hobby of mine. Now that I’m here, I can take a look around, right?”

“I-it’s dangerous at the moment, Your Highness! The hunt’s already begun, so if you enter the forest, you might get injured—”

“Baron Wayston, are you trying to make me laugh?” With a dry chuckle, I shot a cold glare at the man blocking my way. “There is a reason I am known as the greatest magician in all of Camulita. Are you implying that somebody out there is capable of actually harming me?”

I then cast a strong protective magic circle using my mana for everyone to see. My short hair fluttered behind me as I walked into the forest, leaving a trail of golden light. The dumbfounded baron remained behind.

* * *

I have a bad feeling about this. I was beginning to feel as anxious as Baron Wayston, albeit for different reasons.

Perhaps the events in the book had seemed accurate because they were related to ordinary things that could happen by coincidence in daily palace life. To check, I decided to confirm a major incident that was supposed to occur outside the palace walls. In this forest, nobles are supposedly hunting young boys and girls as a gruesome hobby.

Being the gifted genius I was, it was child’s play to recall specific parts of the book word-for-word.

—The disturbing human hunt of Blovis Forest made headlines all over the empire. On the last day of June, the Imperial Knights conducted a raid on Baron Wayston’s forests and arrested nobles running an illicit human trafficking ring.

This incident would later affect Judith. The baron was close to Katarina, the second empress consort. Her daughter, Chloe, was Judith’s most devoted tormentor.

Katarina became irritable, as did Chloe, who took after her mother. She took all of her frustration out on Judith by bullying her even more intensely, culminating in Judith’s depression.

Truthfully, when I saw the horrified look on the baron’s face, I figured this one was guaranteed to be true. That face seemed to holler, Hey, I’ve got a horrifying and disgusting secret hidden away here!

What was more, my detection spell kept picking up on something.

Grr...!

The sound of an approaching hunting dog was slowly confirming my suspicions.

The bushes in front of me began rustling. The next thing I knew, a jumbled mass of black and white tumbled out in front of me.

A young boy was in an intense scuffle with a black hunting dog. Leaves, grass, and other unknown debris covered his entire body.

While I stood briefly frozen in shock, the fight was quickly decided. The boy caught the dog in a headlock and its body went limp. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was not a dog but a black wolf.

“Ugh... What now...?” I lamented.

The boy finally noticed me and jolted up, fully alert. He was bloodied with fresh bite marks and cuts all over.

Even in the dim light of the trees’ shade, his silver eyes shone through his tousled crimson hair. He had a piercing stare that could seemingly bore a hole through one’s skull.

His eyes went wide with disbelief. “Are you... Might you be Princess Clover?” he blurted out.

Before I could decipher what he meant, another wolf burst through the bushes and attacked him. This time my magic repelled it, thrusting it into a nearby shrub.

“Over there!”

“Hahaha! I found him first... Huh?”

A group of men emerged from behind some trees and froze when they lay eyes on me.

“Wh-what?”

“Heavens... First Princess Arbella?!”

They instantly recognized me and gawked in bewilderment. There was not a soul in Camulita who did not know my face.

“Wait, but her hair is short!”

“So she’s not the princess?”

My long golden hair seemed to be my most characteristic feature, as its absence suddenly caused these men to descend into confused whispers. Perhaps the baron really had been perplexed by my hair and wasn’t just using it as an excuse.

I wanted to wrap my arms around my head, but for a reason unrelated to my hair.

Why... Just why?! Without a doubt, this was the human hunt portrayed in the book. I knew it would happen, but what an unwelcome sight it was. I could feel a migraine flaring up again, ready to wreak havoc on my head.

“You... Why are you all doing this to me?” I felt irritated and aggressively rubbed my face.

With gritted teeth and my enraged mana crackling in all directions, I spoke to my attendants behind me. “Bring me Sir Auguste of the Imperial Knights. Now.”