Chapter 267

Midnight Assault
Alicetia was a little overconfident. With the heroic spirits that had formed the core of the coalition army now sent to the heavens, the enemy’s strength had dropped sharply. And she had trampled far too hard on the Empire’s pride.

Of course, in two days twenty large airships, escorted by two armed skyships, were scheduled to arrive, so she judged that reinforcements were sufficient. In truth, most imperial soldiers had already broken in spirit and no longer had the will to resist. The defense of the capital had been disastrous. Just when they thought they’d won, many of their comrades blew themselves up, and those they thought annihilated came back as an army of the dead to storm the capital.

Fear—that was what the imperial soldiers felt toward Alicetia. She was unpredictable. She seemed careless. Maybe, just maybe, she could be overturned. That faint glimmer of hope turned into fear that crushed them, and most could no longer resist.

But those who hadn’t directly participated in that disastrous defense battle felt differently.

“How much longer must we suffer such insults?!”

“Indeed! What do you take our pride for?!”

The Empire’s staff officers and some of the imperial guards. Those who had not witnessed the mass sui*ide with their own eyes and had only been present in the palace when defeat came.

Their humiliation from Arland’s crushing victory grew into a burning desire for revenge, and Alicetia’s treatment of the Emperor only stoked that fire further.

Most of them were criminals. According to Alicetia’s demands, most would be executed. That fear was outweighed by their thirst for revenge.

For high-ranking officers, losing here meant no future. For the ordinary soldiers, though, nothing much was being done to them so far—as long as they disarmed, they were being spared. The common soldiers were too numerous to execute en masse, and Arland didn’t need to wipe them out. In fact, alive, they could be useful for “next time.” But the senior officers who commanded them? They would be in the way of that “next.”

So, once they learned the heroic spirits were gone, they decided to rise in armed rebellion.

The imperial royals and nobles, however, mostly refrained. They judged they couldn’t win, and they suspected Alicetia’s blatant arrogance was a trap.

Some nobles did join, but only a handful. In the end, the number of rebels was just around 400. For the Empire’s vast power, that was pitiful. Still, they believed if only they could eliminate Alicetia, prosperity would return.

But such a future would never come. Alicetia’s death would mean the triggering of the Grisaille Plan.

The Grisaille Plan—a mad scheme to secretly drop specially-made bombs on every nation considered a threat to Arland. These bombs would utterly annihilate the great cities of both hostile and potential enemy nations. The plan still existed.

What was worse, Arland knew nothing of it. Even the bomber crews waiting on standby had only been told they might be carrying “something,” nothing more. Gilbert stayed in the capital specifically to investigate this plan.

Unaware of all this, the rebels launched a night raid on the guest palace Alicetia had occupied.

They were quickly discovered by Arland knights.

By rights, the imperials should have had the advantage of terrain. But Arland’s knights knew no such thing as carelessness. Half a hundred knights, along with Takuto, were on watch.

Even so, the sudden attack threw the Arland side into disarray—for one specific reason.

“Of all things, a night raid?! (whisper)”

“Calm down! We’ll overlook this, just don’t wake her up! (whisper)”

“Are you trying to get us killed?! (whisper)”

The raiders, realizing they’d been spotted, raised their voices and charged. They had known discovery was inevitable with their numbers, so they had planned a concentrated breakthrough.

The Arland knights threw aside swords and spears, meeting them barehanded. Weapon clashes would be too noisy.

Knighthood in Arland was reserved for the elite of elites—muscle-brained soldiers among the already muscle-brained Arland army. They were strong enough without weapons.

In fact, they kept all eight times their number from even approaching the guest palace.

But they were rattled. And because they fought so quietly, the raiders mistook it for weakness.

“Press on!”

“We outnumber them!”

“Justice is on our side!”

“““Shut up! (whisper)”””

The Arland knights were terrified—not of the fools before them, but of the one behind them, still asleep inside.

To wake Alicetia forcibly was to invite calamity. In Arland, this was common sense. Normally gentle and kind, when woken up she became a tyrant. Roused against her will, she could unleash a ferocity to rival even Draconia.

At last, the other fifty knights who had been asleep joined the fray, but they too were shaken. Why attempt a night raid? Victory was impossible.

Only the Arland side understood this. Takuto, not knowing why everyone was so flustered, just went on knocking raiders unconscious with his knife-hand strikes.

But it was already too late.

With a bang, the doors of the guest palace blew off their hinges.

“...…”

A rusty creak seemed to echo in everyone’s ears as the knights turned their eyes toward the doorway—and despaired.

There stood Alicetia in her nightclothes. If only it had ended there, it might have been a sight to rejoice in, catching a glimpse of the drowsy, adorable princess just risen from bed. But reality was cruel.

Even in the dark, she radiated a negative aura so dense the very air seemed to warp. Takuto instinctively stepped back. No—everyone was edging away, raiders included.

“… Noisy… Do you even know what time it is…?”

Her head kept bobbing forward as she nodded off, rubbing her eyes and glaring tearfully. In one hand, she dragged along the still-sleeping Mr. Coote by his tail.

Helios, his spirit broken by sheer terror, hadn’t even left the palace—he crouched inside, trembling. Alicia, Alicetia’s guard, could only hold her head in her hands, despairing. Why did they have to come at this hour?

At last the raiders snapped back to themselves. Their target was right in front of them, unarmed and half-asleep. The knights were frozen. Now was the chance. They rushed her.

Only a few reached her. Takuto stood to block them, but there were too many.

“Alice!”

“Die, princessss—ugh!”

Before the sword could touch Alicetia, the attacker was smashed flat—by Mr. Coote. Alicetia had swung the still-slumbering creature down like a club. The impact was brutal. Even though the raider tried to defend with fighting spirit, he was knocked out cold, half-buried in the ground. Mr. Coote snored on, dreaming happily of digging holes.

Then the slaughter began.

Alicetia swept Mr. Coote sideways, knocking men down like bowling pins, then grabbed one raider by the head.

“Wha—GUAAAAHHHH!”

He clawed at her arm, but his skull began to crack under her iron grip. He couldn’t pry her off.

“Let him go!”

Another lunged, thrusting his sword. But instead of Alicetia, his comrade slammed into him—she had thrown the first man straight at him.

The two tumbled together, and Alicetia brought Mr. Coote down on them for the finish.

“You’re all so noisy… I hate noisy things…”

Her dark aura flared even stronger. She went down the line, one by one, smashing each with Mr. Coote. Those who tried to block had their arms and legs broken. It was pure brutality, like Draconia himself.

In fact, even Draconia once saw her like this and said, “That’s my girl.”

Just waking from sleep, Alicetia possessed physical power equal to Draconia’s. Her potential really was that high—she just lacked the talent to master it normally.

No one escaped. Everyone standing when Alicetia emerged was beaten to rags and piled like trash.

Dusting off her hands, she realized Mr. Coote was gone.

He had slipped free during the fight and was now dangling by his tail from a branch, still asleep, still dreaming of digging holes. The Shadow Wolf hid in the shadows, trembling.

“Mr. Coote, where are you…”

Too drowsy to notice him, Alicetia’s bleary eyes landed on Takuto instead.

“… Fine, you’ll do.”

She seized his arm and dragged him back inside.

“… This okay?”

A man entering Alicetia’s bedroom was no small matter. With their ages, no scandal was likely, but still—it was a problem.

“Can you pull him free?”

“Sorry, no chance. Let’s hope Lady Alicia can manage.”

To force her would mean ending up in the heap of broken bodies outside. In this state, words didn’t reach her. At best, they could make excuses. If anyone complained, they’d just answer, Then you try pulling her off. Silence would follow. After all, it was already infamous—every morning, Draconia and Gilbert were thrown out of her room like trash.

Alicetia soon drifted back into peaceful sleep. Takuto sat awkwardly by her bed, her hand clamped onto his.

“If you make even one wrong move, I’ll take your head off.”

“… I know.”

When he tried to let go, her grip only tightened, like an iron vise. Alicia, unable to separate them, pressed the blade of her kukri against Takuto’s neck, her bloodshot eyes glaring. One twitch, and his head would roll.

“Now that I think about it, she was always grumpy waking up. Though… not quite this bad.”

Iris had been the same. Her bad temper upon waking had once thrown the world economy into chaos. The stock market had been her playground. Half-asleep, she nearly triggered a global depression. Alicetia was no different. Both had more money than they could ever spend.

“Don’t speak. I’ve no interest in idle talk… But you will later submit a thorough, detailed report about the princess’s former life. In writing. A thousand pages at least.”

Alicia was intensely curious about Alicetia’s unspoken past. Specifically, she wanted a dissertation—about just how adorable she had been in her previous life. If it were Takuto, he could easily write two thousand pages.

And so, Alicia’s vigil continued until Alicetia woke again.

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