Egg goes crack! (4)
–
“Ugh, ng…”
The inside of the ward was filled with groans.
The condition of the knights was worse than Aristine expected.
Their nose was crooked, their face was swollen, and their skin was marked with purple bruises.
It was hard to tell how they originally looked from this appearance.
When the knights learned that Aristine had come, they painstakingly tried to stand up.
‘I thought they’d use the excuse of being in pain to greet me while lying down.’
It was unexpected.
“P-Princess.”
Perhaps even their tongue was swollen because their pronunciation was unclear.
Aristine walked closer to the knights.
‘Oh, this guy’s eye is actually open.’
It was just so swollen that it looked closed.
‘Hm?’
Aristine’s gaze swept over them then she raised a brow.
‘Some of the injuries look brand new to me…’
She clearly heard that they had gotten hurt last night. But the dried blood on the injuries looked like a mixture of old and recently made ones.
Aristine hid her doubt and slowly began to speak.
“Oh, dear. To think my loyal knights would be hurt like this.”
A sad look fell over Aristine’s delicate face. She walked up to the Head Knight and patted him on the back.
“Princess…”
“Kh, those barbaric bastards…”
She was making fun of them by saying that but for some reason, the knights took Aristine’s words seriously.
‘I get their heart might soften because of the pain but isn’t this a bit too much?’
Despite thinking that, Aristine acted like she was agreeing with the knights and asked.
“Barbaric bastards?”
“Yes, those ignorant and uncivilized warr—.”
“Ah, it can’t be.”
Aristine cut the knight off.
“You’re not going to say that the great noble knights of the Great Silvanus Empire were unilaterally beaten by the Irugo warriors, right?”
The knights, who were fully prepared to complain about their injustice, stared blankly at Aristine.
“That can’t possibly be it.”
Aristine smiled. It was a confident smile.
“Every day, you all said that if you had gone to war, you would have destroyed all the Irugoians and brought victory to Silvanus.”
The faces of the knights burned red. Although it wasn’t very obvious because of the bruises.
“When you actually met them, you were one-sidedly beaten…saying something like that doesn’t make sense. After all, you are great knights. Isn’t that so?”
Aristine excitedly attacked their minds, apparently not feeling any pity for the knights who were already physically in shambles.
“Furthermore, there is no reason for the Irugo warriors to attack my knights now, is there?”
Aristine widened her eyes, acting innocent, and tilted her head.
“Unless you dared to speak vulgarly about me, the Princess of Silvanus and Princess of Irugo, of course.”
Both the knights and Brodie who followed along looked at Aristine with shock in their eyes.
The feigned innocence seemed to vanish into thin air as Aristine narrowed her eyes and raised a corner of her lips.
Her purple eyes held the dignity of a ruler.
The Head Knight flinched when he met that gaze head-on and his body stiffened. His injured body screamed in pain when his muscles suddenly tensed but he didn’t even feel it.
“Apart from that, there is no reason for the Irugo warriors to attack my knights.”
Her words couldn’t be denied.
The moment they denied it, it meant they had uttered vulgar words about Aristine.
“Yes, P-Princess is right.”
“T, there is no reason for the warriors to attack us. Haha!”
The knights hurriedly agreed with Aristine as they laughed awkwardly.
The court ladies who were watching this scene from behind looked at Aristine with admiration.
‘As expected of Her Highness…!’
‘With this, all the complaints against Irugo from Silvanus are blocked at the root!’
One could only imagine what would happen if it was known that Irugo warriors one-sidedly attacked Silvanus knights on the night of the marriage for peace. And what if Silvanus formally protested this incident?
Of course, there was a good reason for the warriors’ actions, but that couldn’t be exposed because of Aristine’s honor.
However, just now, the Knights themselves denied that Irugo warriors had attacked them.
All because of Aristine’s manipulation.[1]
The knights didn’t stop there; they even began to make excuses to cover how bothered they were.
“Uh, actually, we wanted to try and subjugate some demonic beasts to commemorate Princess’s wedding…”
“Yes, exactly. But then we were surrounded by hundreds of demonic beasts.”
“Of course, we dealt of all the demonic beasts.”
“So that’s what happened…,” Aristine cupped her hands in front of her chest in admiration.
“I admire the loyalty of you all.”
In fact, she was admiring the knights’ ability to still bluff even in this situation.
When they heard her say that, the knights sighed in relief.
Sure enough, the princess was stupid. To think she was just going to let it go because they flattered her.
They didn’t even fathom that they had actually been manipulated by Aristine.
“You have sacrificed your bodies to elevate my reputation so I must do something in return.”
When Aristine gave them a look, the court ladies stepped forward.
“I shall grant you a reward.”
The court ladies took something out of their baskets, one by one, and gave them to the knights.
Once the knights saw the item, their eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
“This, this…!”
It was an egg.
“Eggs are very good for your body and are often called nutritionally perfect so they will be helpful for the recovery of your injured bodies.”
Aristine explained like she was reciting the words, but they weren’t even listening to her.
Their eyes couldn’t see anything, nor could their ears hear anything.
Because all their senses were recalling the tragedy of the previous night.
* * *
Even when they were getting beaten up by the warriors, the knights did not lose hope. Even though they were unable to put up a proper resistance against such brutal violence, they believed they wouldn’t lose their lives that easily.
That was certainly the case.
A doctor was called right away, and their hope was further inflated by the prompt first aid.
However.
《 I’m sorry. 》
The doctor bowed with a solemn expression.
《 No, why are you apologizing, Doctor…》
《 D-Don’t tell me…? 》
《 My guys are not the type to go down that easily! 》
《 These guys have been with me my whole life… 》
The doctor’s face grew more solemn as the Knights clamored with shock and confusion.
《 They are already…gone. 》
The doctor looked away after saying that and the knight shook their heads with distress, unable to accept the reality.
This was a dream.
They were just dreaming.
It had to be a dream.
However, the already gone ‘ones’ didn’t respond anymore.
《 How, how can you leave me…! 》
《 We are supposed to be together forever! 》
《 We were born together, and I thought we would die together too! 》
The knights held the area between their legs and wept bitterly.
The ‘ones’ that were gone was not their fellow knight or the person they had carried. [2]
It was the place where the genes of the 2nd generation were stored—.
It was none other than a man’s two eggs.
Translation’s Corner:
[1] The word here is ‘guidance/nudging’. She was guiding them to deny being attacked. I think context-wise, manipulation is very fitting.
[2] I am not very sure about this sentence. If it is changed in the future, I’ll let you guys know.
T/N: Wait, I thought it was just the Head Knight, but they all got the cracked treatment?? wOW.
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