The Princess Is Going On Strike

Translated Novels

Aeryl Frey Brixia.

The youngest child of the Duke of Brixia, one of the founding families of the Oslo Empire, and a woman of great wisdom and knowledge. She had been recognized in many ways for her knowledge of numerous books since childhood, but it was her military expertise that showed her exceptional talent. Her knowledge and talent was innate in the Brixia family, which ama.s.sed enormous wealth by monopolizing the business of supplying heavy and light equipment to the entire Imperial Army.

However, people called her by a different t.i.tle instead of her name.

The monster, the masked princess, and the illegitimate child.

Since the day she was born as an illegitimate child to Duke Olden Brixia, she was forced to wear a mask because of the black spots on her face. All she had in her life was her cold-blooded heart, no interest in anything, and her struggle to be accepted by her family and not be abandoned.

“Aeryl Frey Brixia. You have been convicted of selling military equipment to our enemies for personal gain and profit. Do you plead guilty?"

In front of countless people, she bowed her head in a stuffy mask. Her hot breath filled the inside of her mask and her harsh breath, which erupted three or four times a second, was telling her that she was in a bad condition.

When there was no answer, Oslo"s Emperor Terbal, looked down at her with a stern look, and struck back at his chair with an angry face. He was decrepit, but his eyes burned with such intensity.

"Are you asleep? Answer me!"

At his words, people rose up and cursed her, but no one mentioned her crime. All they screamed was that she was an abomination. That was all.  Aeryl bited her lips silently as the criticism poured over her head.

"Is this… the price?"

She came to the Duke"s family as an illegitimate child and endured 24 years of harsh persecution and neglect. However, she made a mockery of her father, Olden Brixia, for his incompetence and greed was judged to disappear from the guillotine.

‘The young male lion born with a disability in the world of blindness is abandoned by its mother. In the harsh natural world, culling means death. And the world we live in is just as brutal. Aeryl Frey. You should know that you have to live in a world like that. I"m ready to throw you away at any time."

She rubbed her fingers as she recalled what her only friend, Seves Rudin, had said as a child. The gold ring on her index finger slipped off gently.

“Seves Ruddin.”

You"re wrong. You"re not a sage, you"re just a worldly fool who can embrace everything with light and hope. If you are true, prove it to me. Show me the light. Show me who has been called a monster since birth that I can be happy living in this world.

She raised her head after her large breath. The Emperor"s hands rose and the voices of the people died down. As she looked around, she said.

“Your Majesty.”

She looked at her father, Olden Brixia, sitting on the platform just above her stomach. He was laughing while looking straight at her mask.

"And, to my father, whom I once loved."

He looked at Aeryl"s knees, checking with his eyes to see what was going on from his seat. The chain was tied up, and she could not escape. It was too heavy to stand still on the spot. She looked around at the crowd and raised her voice.

“You"re wrong.”

“What?”

“I didn"t commit any crimes.”

Emperor Terbal frowned and Olden"s voice could be heard, flushed with anger. He was trying to stay calm. Normally, she would have shrugged her shoulders and begged him for forgiveness, but was it necessary to ask for forgiveness now? She had been killing him with nothing but rage. Aeryl held her hands up.

“So I have no reason to pay for the crime. However, many of these people who say I have to pay for them say something else entirely.”

Everytime she went out with her mask covering her face, people shuddered to look at her.

For them, Aeryl was a symbol of evil, a hotbed of sin. Her low-hanging hand went up to her mask that she has never taken off before.

‘Don"t show your face in front of people and live while wearing this mask. Don"t think you"re part of my family. You"re just a monster."

Aeryl believed and followed Olden"s words, which had long plagued her, as if they were the truth. She thought she would be part of the family someday, but she was mistaken. She felt a heavy sigh covering her face. That"s why she untied the strap with her hand and took off the mask. Everyone who saw her became noisy and agitated. Is this the feeling of having fresh and cool air swept past your face? I wonder if it"s such a good thing. She closed her eyes and enjoyed this feeling and then slowly opened her eyelids again. She noticed Olden frowning.

He always regarded her as a scapegoat for his family. In this religious era, her dark red eyes were a symbol of the devil. Olden was always so mean and said that he had given birth to a demon, but… that was never the case. She smiled.

“How are you? Are you satisfied now? Isn"t this what all you wanted? Ugly, dirty furrows, red-faced faces, and… an eye called the devil. You don"t really care about the fact that I sold things.”

She threw the mask from her hand to the ground. She was as good as naked when she let her only protection fly helplessly, but she was more confident than ever.

“A sinner who was born with a face like this! If I put the wrong people in the world in order, I"d be the first person to point. I didn"t want it, but the result was decided from birth. Well, what do you think? I"m already a sinner.”

The emperor"s hand went up. Then the knight pulled one of his swords and moved. She smiled a smile that had always been hidden in her mask.

“Your Majesty, what are you so afraid of? Am I the only one who opens my lips, and sin covers the world? Or are you afraid I"ll say something else?”

She closed her eyes, retracing the memories of the past, which she had always had to breathe alone in the dark. It was sad and cool that this is the last life I"ve ever had in my life, where I"ve only been persecuted, criticized, and doing unwanted things.

Yeah, let"s just end it like this.

She didn"t want to say anything anymore. One more word wouldn"t change the outcome because he was busy spreading malicious rumors about his own daughter. But she couldn"t die without saying anything.

“My dear father,”

The knight paused. Aeryl smiled as she looked up at Olden. Fl.u.s.tered, he looked contemptuously at her appearance as she uttered her last words.

“I sincerely hope that your incompetence will break your neck someday.”

The emperor"s orders were given after her low-pitched laughter. That was Aeryl"s last words.

While she was waiting for her death, Aeryl once again touched her ring.

“…Seves Rudin.”

You once taught me how to live together in this world. You were the only one who came to me unbiased. She closed her eyes thinking of their face.

‘It"s too late now."

Just like that her breath stopped.

‘Don"t show your face in front of people and live while wearing this mask. Don"t think you"re part of my family. You"re just a monster."

She couldn"t remember it in detail, but it was a voice packed as if it were stuck in her head.

No matter how absurd and unjust the world was, she struggled to be recognized by that voice. However, the result was the worst.

The wise man of light held my hand and said I would be able to see the light one day, but it hadn"t happened for more than 20 years. Rather, I was betrayed by my own family in return for my loyalty.

As she sank into the dark, her ears were choked by the same voice that sounded strongly in her head.

Please, stop! Now that I"m dead, let me go!

"Miss…"

Now, stop it! Please!

“Miss Aeryl, get up!"

Get up… me? Miss? She opened her eyes in the dark. There was something cozy and soft on her back.

What is it? A soft cloth moved as she lifted herself slightly. A voice was heard from outside again.

"Get up from there! If you"re late, the Duke will scold you! You know that Lord Belfort is coming today. Get up from there! Come on, come on!"

It was the kind of voice she missed and was already familiar with. Wait, why was she hearing voices?

She moved her hand in the dark and Aeryl felt a familiar sensation in her hand. She then suddenly grabbed her wits and threw her mask over her face. When she came out of the bed, the surrounding landscape came into her eyes.

“Miss.”

The world she looked at from the mask was extremely limited and narrow, but at least she could see the fact that she was in her own room. This was, after all, her room when she was young. It was shabby but cozy as compared to her other brothers.

And the maid present, Nanny Obera, was dusting off the curtains. Aeryl recalled Nanny Obera was involved in an accident that happened four years ago, so why was she here?

“Nanny.”

Her voice was a bit too thin. She said again, facing Nanny Obera who was looking back at her.

“Nanny, have you committed a lot of sins? Why are you in h.e.l.l?”

“…h.e.l.l?”

“I"ve told everyone I"m going to go to h.e.l.l, so I"m here, but my nanny has been good for 70 years. Why did you come to h.e.l.l? I guess you"ve lived a life I never knew behind my back.”

The nanny faced her as if bewildered as her eyes wrinkled. What"s with her expression?

“I understand you only want this nanny to grow old and die, but isn"t it a little bit too much to want this servant to go to h.e.l.l?”

"No, I don"t want to, but aren"t we now in h.e.l.l…"

“Gosh! I"ve gotten so old and died, so you"re right! That"s it! Your nanny died and went to h.e.l.l as you said, so eat well and live well here! “

She clapped her chest and shouted frustratingly. She hurriedly went her way towards the door. Aeryl"s feet touched the floor and she felt a cool sensation. Her senses were static but what she felt wasn"t so bad. When she saw the nanny up close, Aeryl saw her sulk.

What the h.e.l.l is going on here? While her mind was clouded, the nanny looked at her with disapproving eyes and she drawled.

“The nanny will go to h.e.l.l on her own, so can you change your clothes now?”

“What"s wrong with my clothes?”

“I told you this already. Lord Belfort is coming today.”

“Ah, Belfort.”

He"s been around a lot. He was the one who was in charge of supplying the troops. But why would I… She slid her line of sight onto the mirror. A slight but small height and shorter hair. I had never had my hair cut before. Who cut it off?

“…Nanny. Did you cut my hair?”

“How am I supposed to touch your head without permission?”

"Yes…?"

She rubbed her head with her hands and tilted her head. She seemed to have ended up in an incomprehensible situation, but Aeryl understood exactly what to do right now.

“Nanny.”

“Yes, miss. How can I…”

“I don"t need to change clothes.”

“What?”

Aeryl smiled at her with a blank look. Of course she wouldn"t know what she was doing right now because her face was hidden behind a mask. 

“Go inform him, I don"t think I can go today because I"m sick.”

Translator: Arie Bee

h.e.l.lo, everyone its Arie! This has probably been the longest chapter I"ve ever done for a korean novel and so this one really took me a lot of time. I know I said I would release this sooner and I really apologize for the delay! Thank you to Ceirhi for having the time to provide the raws for this novel <3 please="" be="" patient="" for="" me="" on="" this="" one!="" i="" promise="" to="" release="" this="" a="" bit="" faster="">

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