Chapter 89 – Imperial Palace Area ~ Spreading Rumors and Shadows 2
“Then… “I will move to a place with few people so that I am less likely to be kidnapped.”
Aiko drove the horse while sweating coldly, probably nervous that she had to do the opposite of what she usually does, which is to put safety first.
It was clear that the carriage was chasing us as it continued to pursue us more persistently as we moved from a place with many people to a place with few people, while pretending to not notice and moving leisurely.
“Do you think he knew what we noticed?”
“That would be so if they weren’t idiots. And if I had decided to kidnap you, I wouldn’t have used stupid people.”
She thought for a moment, thinking that she was glad to be valued so highly. How can I make it look like this place hasn’t been noticed? While she was pondering, she noticed a small chapel with a nursery in her sights.
“Let’s stop by that chapel for a moment. “I’m sorry if you feel like I’m taking advantage of you, but if you donate and leave, it will be a natural disguise.”
“Good idea. Then, there will be a greater possibility of misjudging that you didn’t notice.”
Aiko followed my instructions and stopped in front of the chapel.
Perhaps because a carriage that was not expected to come suddenly entered the yard, several adults came out from inside the chapel looking nervous.
As she got off the carriage, she smiled and exchanged light greetings with the priest and nun in front, and handed them a bag containing silver coins to buy some snacks and snacks that were in the carriage.
She was startled by the donor’s sudden appearance and was about to treat her with something, so she politely declined and got back into the carriage. Aiko, as if she was relieved after finishing her work, slowed down the speed of her carriage and looked around casually.
“Her wary enemies are beginning to make moves. “I think we made a mistake when we saw them donating carelessly instead of being prepared.”
“Okay. “I’ll prepare my mind now.”
While she was imagining the carriage being blocked and dragged away, Aiko suddenly shouted in a startled voice.
“That’s crazy… The intention is to hit the carriage. Hold on tight!”
Following Aiko’s instructions, she grabbed onto anything she could hold inside the carriage, and then she heard a loud sound of a horse neighing and something like a tree breaking, followed by a loud shock and a shaking that felt like an earthquake.
The impact was stronger than she expected, and the handle she was holding on to broke off, sending her rolling around inside the carriage, crashing all over her. The pain that hit her whole body brought tears to her eyes.
She protected her body with magic just in case, but she thought that if the other person was able to feel the flow of magic power, her plan to get caught on purpose would fail, so she did nothing, and it caused severe pain.
“Ah… Ugh… “
As I curled up, closed my eyes, and endured the pain, I heard the sound of breaking wooden boards. When I opened my eyes with difficulty, I saw someone using something like a mace or an ax to break and tear apart the overturned carriage.
From the beginning, I planned to be caught quietly, so while I was still motionless and moaning in pain, the attackers who created an entrance grabbed me by my hair and lifted me up to check my face.
“Is that right?”
The other person moved his head back and forth for a moment, looking at his face, then nodded and stood up.
“That’s right.”
“Go quickly. There may be a chase.”
He seemed to know by looking at me that I couldn’t move because of the pain, as if he was taking a bag of rice with him. He put it on his shoulder and moved around. Perhaps an extra carriage had been prepared in advance, and the carriage that had become useless due to the collision was thrown into the luggage compartment of a new carriage instead.
I wanted to tell him to handle it gently, but the pain was so bad that tears came out from hitting him here and there, so all I could do was whimper.
“What should the coachman do?”
Seeing Aiko lying limply as if she had fainted, the attacker looked at her for a moment and pointed his thumb toward the luggage compartment where I was.
“Let me take you first. Is it possible that they used an ordinary coachman? And even if it was a misunderstanding, and he was just an ordinary coachman, he wouldn’t be able to return alive after witnessing an accident like this.”
“That’s right.”
They brought Aiko in with unpleasant words, threw her on top of my crouching body, and locked her luggage tightly.
“… Aiko?”
As I gasped in pain, I carefully whispered my name in her ear, and my lukewarm breath tickled the back of her neck.
“I just pretended to faint. … It’s rough. Judging by the fact that he is not tied up, he seems to be confident that he can easily subdue at least two women. Fortunately, I’m not an expert in this field.”
“Is that a good thing… ?”
Aiko blinked her eyes, hesitating whether to answer or not, but then swallowed her words and began to look outside through the gap in the luggage compartment lid. Because she was so cramped, her body was pressed tightly together and Aiko’s hair tickled the back of her neck.
After watching Aiko focus on memorizing her route, she decided to fall asleep for a while with her on top of her body since there was nothing else to do until her carriage stopped.
After a while. When I came to my senses with the sound of the luggage compartment opening, I had arrived at a place that looked like a small villa built at the edge of a forest outside the city center.
“Are you saying these prostitutes disturbed His Majesty’s ears?”
When she raised her head, her mustache was long. I saw an old man sitting on a fancy chair, the end of luxury and waste, decorated with lots of gold and jewels.
“We all know that you are taking the lead and actively spreading the same slug-like behavior among the girls as they covet each other.”
Even as she was forced to kneel on the stone floor, laughter escaped her.
“Did you hit your head hard when you brought him in?”
“I hit my head from the impact of hitting the carriage. “Your Excellency.”
“Like that, like that. Haven’t you gone crazy! Is this how an interrogation can be done?”
“Someone is crazy. “Grandpa Moremushroom.”
When I saw the street people’s characteristic explicit remarks that I had never heard of in my life, they jumped up from their chairs and waved their canes wildly.
“What a shameless thing! Who is the old bear mushroom? You’re not quite a crazy bitch! Instead of trembling and asking for an apology, you insult me.”
“I had no intention of letting him go just because I apologized.”
The incompetent and corrupt old man must have picked up what he muttered in a low voice, and he stopped making a fuss and made an expression on his face.
“You have quite courage, huh? Usually, even if you do just this much, they will be hesitant and look at you.”
“Even though it looks like this, it’s because I have a comfortable relationship with the emperor. “Isn’t it a crime to insult the royal family if I use an honorific term for someone like you?”
I thought that if I got married with Natsuki and Fuyuki, I would be much more comfortable with him than I am now, so I gave him an appropriate answer, and he stroked his chin and looked at me quietly.
“Actually, you’re not particularly curious about why I’m spreading the slug lez bobim, are you?”
“That’s right.”
“You were simply trying to see who was behind the elaborate plan to divide Natsuki and Fuyuki and turn the next emperor into a puppet, right?”
“That’s also true. She is a woman with expansive thoughts. “Then, do you understand what I kidnapped you for today?”
“… “I’m sorry, but you don’t know because you’re not corrupt enough to understand what’s inside a corrupt politician’s head?”
Aren’t they planning to cut off his head and accuse him of being a traitor, accusing him of coaxing the emperor with his foolish tongue and corrupting the imperial family? Then, in this world where bobim culture has not yet spread, they will only be seen as trash whose purpose is to corrupt the imperial family.
I don’t intend to die here, so if that situation arises, I can unleash my hidden power and fight, but if I win, only one head of the faction will be eliminated, and the rest will likely erase all evidence and hide while the chaos is resolved.
She kept her teasing attitude all the way to ask if there was some way, but pressed her body against Aiko next to her as much as possible and stroked her calf. Aiko glanced at her, frowning, then joined the conversation.
“Don’t do anything foolish. Natsuki is generous. Even if you kidnapped them, if you admit it was a misunderstanding and let them go, nothing will happen.”
“You mean just kidnapping?”
“Have you committed any crime other than kidnapping? At least I don’t know.”
“Well. According to that woman, I was trying to make the imperial family a puppet? At the very least, we should stop such rumors from spreading by cutting out her tongue. I will spare her life by seeing the imperial family. “I’ll have to cut out my tongue instead.”
He shook off the enemy soldiers who were pressing his shoulders after hearing the terrible story of cutting off his tongue and jumped up.
My tongue was essential to pleasing my lovers mentally and physically. She clenched her fists, willing the remaining antagonists to go into hiding rather than be cut off here.
As I was trying to raise my magic power and put on protective gear, the door to the mansion broke down, and four familiar shadows appeared through the dust.
“Didn’t I tell you? I’m going to get scolded by Natsuki and others. “I don’t know.”
Aiko shook her head and slowly walked away from me.
