I Didn’t Tame The Beastly Duke!

The level of corruption in the imperial family reached a new high around the same time that the three princes came of age.

“So what do you mean? A-Are you going to commit treason?”

None of the three men said no.  Amelia’s stomach dropped when she heard nothing from them. Nile quickly opened his mouth to speak as he appeared to be confused.

“Treason. The princess puts truly terrifying words into her mouth. The only thing we wish to do is return to the temple the sacred relics that were kept in the secret vault of the imperial palace.

“Relics?”

“Yes, they said it would be damaging if the imperial family had it. At one point in the past, it was also a part of the Church of the Heavenly God.”

Amelia looked at Nile with an unjudging face. Nicole had already kept her mouth shut, probably aware that she was talking too much.

Nile suddenly realised that he was getting close to the passage, and he looked across at Amelia.

“From this area, we must pass quietly. Don’t even breathe loudly. If you do, you will never see the person that the princess cares for again.”

Amelia nodded slowly. After hearing her mother talk about the vault, she forced herself to memorise it, but she never imagined that she would one day actually find herself inside the imperial family’s hidden vault.

After going through a long, winding road, descending some stairs, walking down several flights of stairs, and crossing a number of hallways, they finally arrived at their destination and came to a stop in front of a wall.

She saw an instrument that opened the door to the secret passage in front of her eyes, but they just stood by without moving.

‘Why doesn’t he open the door?’

Amelia looked at them with a worried face. Today was the day the imperial banquet was held. At the latest, she attended the banquet, so it would be troublesome if this was too late.

‘Even if the secret safe is stolen, no one will be suspicious of me……’

Amelia was figuratively and literally a shell within the imperial family, and she held nothing in her hands. She is a direct descendant of the imperial family, and while she may have had the title of emperor’s daughter, that was all. She had absolutely no authority at all.

No one would have thought that such a princess would have participated in such an outrageous event.

A faint blue light flickered in Nicole’s arms.

Then Nile hid his face with a mask and opened the door that led to the hidden passage. The second one comes after him, leaving Nicole and Amelia alone in the hidden passageway.

“Keogh!”

It seemed like someone was making a feeble groaning sound. In fewer than five minutes, Nile and the other man made their way back to the hidden passage. He then spoke while removing his mask.

“The vault is over there. It would be better not to look at the normal entrance for the sake of the princess’s mental health.”

The story must be about the assassination of the soldiers who were guarding the secret vault. In reality, even the door had been repeatedly sealed with magic to prevent entry from the outside beyond that, but Amelia had not been taught that.

‘The vault can only be opened by Princess Amelia……’

Celia informed him that the emperor had set up an alarm spell here because he had become anxious about that. It required the seal of the Emperor to unlock it, and it was impossible for anyone to steal it.

“Now it is the princess’s turn. The alarm will go off, but the door over there is locked, and there is a hidden passageway that we can use to get out of here, so don’t worry.”

“A-Are you sure you’re not going to leave me alone?”

After they had stolen from the hidden vault, if they had left Amelia alone, she would have turned the blame on them.

“Unlike the emperor, we keep our promises.”

Nicole said it in a cold voice. Amelia had some thoughts about Okhan, who was both her father and the Emperor, but she did not have any ill will towards him.

She stood in front of the safe and started manipulating it as they were told.

Beep beep!

At that moment, there was a sound so loud that they wondered if the entire room where the vault was located was shaking. Amelia grimaced in pain and glanced around the room.

“Never mind, keep going!”

Nile covered his ears and screamed. Amelia tampered with the safe again with her frightened face on her face.

There were no traps in this vault. In the same way that there are multiple solutions to a puzzle, there are multiple ways to move it, but only one of them is the correct way to open a safe.

“Well…”

The thought occurred to Nicole as he took another look at the safe in the palace that it had never been robbed. The way to open the safe was quite complicated, but Amelia did it in three minutes.

It was because she was so startled by the voice that her hands were busy.

While Nicole was holding the door, Nile and another man drew a large bag from their chests and ran into the safe. Then, at random, the gold and silver treasures in the safe were poured into the sack.

‘Oh, my God! There is this much money?’

The target was the Holy Grail, but it was necessary to take other treasures in order not to know that it was the target.

Leonis’s aides were set on robbing the money as well as breaking into the underground vault of the Emperor since they knew that all wars and revolts cost money.

Celia and Leonis also agreed.

Nicole said this while the alarm was still ringing loudly.

“……Why don’t you take it too? If you had more money, you could live with that maid for a while and then run away, Wouldn’t that be nice?

She thought he was being sarcastic, but he also seemed sincere.

Amelia dithered for a moment, then wondered if it mattered whether he meant it or not. She thought it ridiculous that if she stole it now, she would become a thief like them.

If you don’t pick up some jewels here, you’re not a thief, right? What the hell are you?

Amelia Hermos was a princess, but she knew she was nothing. Even those who served her knew this all too well, and it was her mask.

‘If I had known this, I would have brought a big bag!’

Even Amelia, who at first showed some reluctance, eventually started packing the majority of her belongings with things that she wanted to be able to swap for money or exchange for money.

The clothes she was wearing now had pockets because they were street clothes, and she had also brought her money pouch in case she went out of the imperial palace.

Of course, her pockets of money were only filling the bottom of her skirt, but the exact amount varied depending on the size of Amelia’s pockets.

While Amelia carefully stuffed the money bag as well as the pockets of her clothing, Nile and one of his other companions were busy stuffing two sacks.

Nile seemed to be a human being, but his companion seemed not to be human because of his skill in scooping treasure into a sack.

Seeing that the palace’s secret storage was almost completely emptied in just one or two minutes, it seemed like he could use magic.

The only thing that was left was a few handfuls’ worth of gold coins, which were scattered across the floor. Nile cinched up the two sacks by tying a knot in the middle, and another person merrily slung them over their shoulders.

“Let’s go now!”

Nile took the lead, and all of the people came out of the vault. Nicole locked the door of the vault just as Amelia was the last person to leave the space. 

They all went inside the secret passage and shut the door as if nothing had happened.

It all happened in less than 10 minutes.

✦ ✦ ✦

Michael, who was cornered, had only one way to take it. Therefore, Leonis had already given the Marquis of Montague the instruction to get ready to flee.

If all went well and the circumstances worked out, Michael would move to their checkout counter. So Leonis had to return to the banquet hall, feeling like he was shedding tears of blood.

Michael’s servant seemed relieved that he did not follow Celia. It was impossible to keep the Duke of Cardian waiting in the hallway.

Leonis did not go deep into the banquet hall.

Although he was inside the banquet hall, he was waiting near the aisle of the banquet hall where he could be noticed immediately when Celia sent a signal.

Kyaaagh!

The faint screams heard in the distance were definitely Celia’s.

It is a deliberate scream. Even so, when he heard her voice, Leonis’ shoulders shook as if they were about to jump out at any moment. His mind seemed blank.

But he knew he had to leave it alone for a while.

The emperor had to arrive before him.

After that, Zeppel repeatedly stressed that Leonis should go. Or he could end up failing.

With the feeling that the blood in his whole body was draining away, Leonis looked at the corridor of the imperial palace with eyes that seemed to pierce through.

Shortly after that, the sound of the door being broken down could be heard, along with Celia’s scream. There were also the yells of the Emperor interspersed throughout all of that.

The soldiers and knights of the imperial palace could already be seen moving inside.

Leonis’ patience had already reached its limit. He drew a sword from the sheath that was fastened around the waist of the escort knight, who ran to the place where the screams had been heard earlier and pushed them aside.

“Catch her! Don’t miss that bitch!”

Things went wrong, but Celia had to be taken hostage in order to negotiate with the Duke of Cardian. Leonis’ eyes flashed at Michael’s shout, which revealed his true colours.

He finally saw Celia. He saw Miline beside her, opening the way, slashing at their hand as they reached out towards them.

It took only an instant for Leonis to reach them. After Leonis had manoeuvred them so that they were facing him from behind, he swung his sword. A single sword attack resulted in the deaths of four or five people.

The soldiers came to a halt, and even the knights turned their heads to look at Leonis while they hesitated.  His red eyes were already burning with anger.

“What the hell are you doing!”

After hearing the loud voice for a split second, the hallway went completely silent. Leonis wasn’t the only one who ran into the hallway. All of the military commanders who were eating in the banquet hall, as well as the aristocrats who held titles and also held knighthoods or other military titles, came out.

They had heard at first glance that it was treason and that His Majesty was in danger.

Michael tried to open his mouth, but he was stuck in the waiting room, not in the hallway. When the subordinate picked him up and carried him out into the hallway, it was already too late.

Because Celia had already left.