Chapter 108: Florence Princ.i.p.ality’s Princess (5)
Recklessness LV. 8: Able to fight while ignoring your own injuries during battle. However, your rational judgement will be greatly reduced.
Fierce Combat LV. 8: This is activated in an emergency. It brings forth an ability up to 80% higher than normal.
Princess Violet’s traits that Milton had once confirmed with his ability were now showing themselves. Watching her violently running about was like watching a fox running amongst a streak of tigers.
“Even when she’s surrounded, they can’t capture her?”
Lieutenant Torion, who was watching the scene as he was retreating, shook his head. his infantrymen were terribly abused and Princess Violet’s knights were already joining her in the background.
“Princess, are you alright?”
When one of the Knights approached Princess Violet and asked about her condition, she turned her head towards him.
“Hup…”
Facing her bloodshot eyes, the Knight unintentionally froze up. Princess Violet spoke to him quickly.
“You! Get down!”
“Your Highness?”
“Get down!”
“Princess? Ah, yes, Your Highness.”
As soon as he got down from his horse, Princess Violet immediately got on. Then, she quickly scanned the battlefield.
“STOP RIGHT THERE!! I TOLD YOU TO STOP!! YOU b.a.s.t.a.r.d!!”
She started riding her horse towards her original goal, Lieutenant Torion.
Lieutenant Torion shouted his response as he watched Princess Violet charging straight towards him while cutting down and trampling all enemies who were in her path.
“Would you stop if you were me? You crazy b.i.t.c.h.”
He had fought countless enemies on the battlefield, but this was the first time he had fought someone he found tiresome and persistent as her. Lieutenant Torion fled without turning back.
“STOP RIGHT THERE! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! I’M TELLING YOU TO STOP! STOP YOU x.x.x!! STOPPPPPP!!”
It’s said that the Republican soldiers who survived that day trembled in horror as they listened to the possessed Princess and couldn’t get her voice out of their ears.
***
As a result of Princess Violet’s outstanding performance(?) or constant a.s.sault, her military record of achievements greatly increased. If Jerome hadn’t barely caught up and stopped her and the knights following her, she would have continued to chase Lieutenant Torion to the ends of the earth.
However, this battle gave Milton something to think about.
‘How should I make use of that woman?’
When he had looked at her Stats and Special Traits, he had expected her to have tendencies like this. But it’s also true that until he saw it with his own eyes, he hadn’t completely believed it. On the outside, she looked like a proper and decorous princess and until the battle, there hadn’t been any issues with her att.i.tude or personality. She had calmly and meticulously commanded her army and was even considerate to the ordinary soldiers. Milton hadn’t thought she would reveal this much insanity when an actual battle broke out.
“Um, Princess Violet?”
“Yes? Did you call me?”
Having wiped the blood off her face, she regained her original innocent beauty. She looked at Milton with innocent eyes.
“It’s nothing, it’s um…”
“……?”
“You fought hard in your first battle.”
When Milton said this, a shy blush bloomed on her face.
“I didn’t do much. The Knights and the soldiers fought harder than I did. Please commend them for their hard work.”
“Yes, of course I will.”
Truthfully, when Milton looked at the Florence Princ.i.p.ality Knights who had followed her, he thought something wasn’t right. It was only one battle, but their armor was broken here and there, and some were even wounded. But above all, their faces revealed extreme exhaustion.
‘It’s the first time I’ve seen a dark circle appearing in such a short time.’
As Princess Violet said, Milton looked over the knights before pointing to one of them.
“Sir Thomas.”
“Yes? Did you call me, Marquis Forrest?”
Milton had been acquainted with the Knight Carl Thomas the other day. He spoke to him now.
“Let’s talk for a moment.”
“Yes, Marquis.”
He followed Milton as if he had already expected this. Once they were a bit away from the army, Milton began to speak privately with Carl Thomas.
“I’ll ask you directly.”
“Please speak, Marquis.”
“Is Princess Violet normally like that? Or was she just particularly excited because today was the first time?”
Carl Thomas replied to Milton with a sigh.
“She’s always like this, Marquis.”
“Always like this? How… usually…”
“Yes, Marquis. She’s usually a gentle and graceful Princess.”
“But then during a battle…”
“When there’s a battle, she’ll turn into a crazy b… well, it’s a bit insolent of me, but that’s what she turns into.”
It seemed like he stopped because it wasn’t something he could say about his Lady to a Marquis, but looking at his expression, it seemed like it could be cla.s.sified as a fact.
“So, when a battle starts, she’s always like that?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“From what I know, Florence Princ.i.p.ality has never fought in a war against any other country. But you’re talking as if the Princess has gone through many battles.”
“……”
Seeing Carl Thomas staying silent as if it was difficult for him to explain, Milton spoke.
“Tell me. Shouldn’t I know the reason if I’m to effectively use you and the Princess in the future?”
At Milton’s words, Carl Thomas let out a sigh before speaking.
“Truthfully, the Princess…”
***
Princess Violet had been born the Third Princess of Florence Princ.i.p.ality. Above her were two older brothers and two older sisters, however, her situation was a bit different from them. Her siblings were children of influential aristocratic women. But, Princess Violet’s mother was not a n.o.ble of Florence Princ.i.p.ality; she was a maid. Princess Violet had been born after the current King slept with a maid for one night. Although she was still a member of the royal family, her situation was quite different from her brothers and sisters.
From her childhood, she had faced a lot of discrimination. Her siblings didn’t acknowledge her as a part of the royal family and overtly hara.s.sed her. Not to mention, that hara.s.sment hadn’t been aimed just at her, but also at her mother. While the current King was aware of the bullying against the mother and daughter pair, he didn’t care. He simply thought of Princess Violet as an accident after playing around for one night; there was no reason for him to care about an accident.
The mother and daughter had such difficult and painful days that it was hard to believe that they were members of the royal family. Growing up in such an unfortunate childhood, Princess Violet lived hiding herself. She had learned that if she tried to confront or rebel even a little bit, then not only would she be hurt, but the people around her, especially her mother, would suffer. Princess Violet thoroughly killed her personality when she saw her mother kneeling and asking for forgiveness from her siblings because of her.
She smiled when she was sad. She smiled when things were unfair. She smiled when things were difficult. It was as if she had become a doll. However, even when she killed herself like this, her brothers and sisters seemed to be bothered just by her mere existence.
And as she grew and blossomed into a beauty, her sisters found her presence even more annoying. Although she was just a young girl, when she wore a dress and sat in the banquet hall, she would naturally attract attention. And because of that, one of her older sisters unreasonably insisted that she become a Knight trainee. Her insidious older sister wanted to see the pretty Princess Violet undergo harsh training and be covered in dirt.
But, something unexpected happened in the midst of the sister’s calculation. Princess Violet was a genius with the sword. She distinguished herself as soon as she began training to become a Knight, and after only two years of training, Princess Violet rose to become an Expert.
Everyone was thrilled by her remarkable talent. At that time, Princess Violet was only 13 years old. Although the people outside the country believed she became an Expert at the age of 17, that was because her siblings had done everything they could to diminish her achievements. Truthfully, you could be considered a genius if you became an Expert at the age of 17, but that was a relatively ordinary genius. The truth was that Princess Violet was the youngest Expert in the history of Florence Princ.i.p.ality.
Her siblings were envious, jealous and wary of her talent. While the King had no such intentions, her brothers were afraid she would jump over them and sit on the throne. And so, they plotted to have her fight in real battles. However, Florence Princ.i.p.ality was a peaceful and war-less country. At first, they ordered her to subdue domestic thieves. They hoped she would die at the scene if they secretly interfered.
This was their second miscalculation. Not only was a genius with the sword, she was also brave during a war. With just ten men, she managed to obey the purposefully reckless command to subdue over a hundred thieves. She also obeyed the command to destroy a pirate’s base with just a few small boats. Although she wasn’t the type to carefully think things through during a war, she was always the first one to bravely jump onto the battlefield; simply put, she had more brawn than brain. In front of her talent and courage, the thieves didn’t stand a chance.
As she went around winning the various fights, people slowly gathered by her side. Even though she was a princess, because of her ident.i.ty as a maid’s child, she could not expect to gain the support of the n.o.bles. Instead, a commoner who became a Knight, a mercenary who was discriminated against, a n.o.bleman’s b.a.s.t.a.r.d who couldn’t succeed - these were the people who flocked to her side.
Unlike her siblings, Princess Violet didn’t care about a person’s ancestry. What mattered to her was a person’s ability and their loyalty. Ability and talent were determined on the field, and loyalty was earned on the field. Once they saw her taking the initiative in all the battles, nine out of ten would swear allegiance to her. Such people gathered around Princess Violet, and they were all thoroughly tempered in actual fights as they followed after her.
When they had come to their senses, the Knights who followed her realized that while they were of a lower status and far from rising up in the world, they had become so great that even the Royal Knights weren’t a match for them. Most of the Knights who had followed Princes Violet into this war were such knights.
***
“I see. She had such a past.”
Milton nodded once he heard Carl’s explanation.
To some extent, it made sense why the Princess was so strong and familiar with fighting in a battle. However…
“But that explanation doesn’t help me understand Princess Violet’s personality. It feels like she almost has a split personality?”
“It’s not almost, Marquis.”
“Huh?”
“The Princess really does have a split personality.”
“…What?”
Seeing Milton’s surprised face, Carl began explaining sadly.
***
By fighting in the battles, Princess Violet gradually adapted to the battlefield. Usually, military types found their ident.i.ty on the battlefield, but the style she chose was to stand on the front line, showing her back to her allies, and charging forward.
Her development was largely due to her environment. First of all, her main opponents were thieves. Unlike a regular army, thieves did not use sophisticated strategies or tactics. That’s why instead of learning strategic tactics, she naturally leaned on her strength and military prowess instead. But the biggest reason was because of the Knights who followed her.
Because she gained people later on in her life, every one of her Knights were precious to her. In order for her to minimize their damage and suffering, she had to take the lead. That’s why she always fought in the front. Unlike her innocent appearance that seemed like she couldn’t kill a single bug, her subordinates became familiar with the sight of her courageously running forward. They soon began to feel like the sight of her delicate back was dependable.
But, as time pa.s.sed, side effects began to appear. There were times when she would become crazy while fighting. The curse words that came out of her mouth were worse than mercenaries, and once she decided on a target, without worrying about the possibility of a trap, she would pursue them to the very end.
At first, her Knights all thought she was just excited to fight on the battlefield. However, as the frequency increased and it became more severe, the people around her began to think something was strange. And so, one of the Knights under her command called a priest for a psychiatric evaluation. The result was that she had another personality to her; commonly put as a split personality.
From her childhood, she had been under tremendous stress, warily watching others while pus.h.i.+ng down her own personality. While her personality had been pressed down, her anger hadn’t gone away. Instead, it had been piling up inside of her. Once she was on the battlefield, those feelings erupted out of her like a volcanic eruption. There was no reason for her to repress or to make concessions. No, she couldn’t. In order for her to support her allies, she had to take at least one step more and swing her sword at least one more time. With the justification to be angry, a new personality was created within her.