Back on the stage, the ministers and courtiers continued to create a fuss, and the expression of the little witch became paler and paler with terror.
Not to mention poisoning the king, she hadn’t brewed any kind of toxic potion in her life!
She didn’t even dare to turn her head to look at the face of the princess.
At this point, even she wouldn’t believe herself, let alone the daughter of the king who perished under ‘her’ tricks.
Princess Emily, however, seemed to be completely disconnected from what was happening around her, her grim gaze fixated on the king’s corpse.
The curtain fell, and when it opened again, the little witch was nowhere to be seen, making the audience feel like their hearts were hanging by a thread.
”Princess, the Kingdom of Krass has already declared that if we don’t hand over the witch to them, then—”
Princess Emily waved her hand to interrupt the messenger, and turned her imposing stare to the courtiers. “What is the status of our army?”
The old adviser immediately jolted in shock. “Princess, you can’t be impulsive! Is it really worth it to sacrifice hundreds or thousands of our men for the sake of a witch who even dared to poison our king?!”
Although none of the other ministers dared to speak up like him, they still dared to express their agreement.
The princess knew that everyone was extremely dissatisfied with her decision to simply imprison the little witch instead of executing her. After all, at this point, the fact that she was the one who murdered the king was considered irrefutable, and many thought it wouldn’t be too much to even burn her alive.
Of course, the princess didn’t agree. And as long as she didn’t nod her head, no one would dare to touch a hair on the head of someone under her protection.
Not unless they had the courage to do the same thing to her.
”Then do you wish for me to bow down to their orders and surrender my prisoners to them?”
Princess Emily’s smile was completely devoid of warmth, and the old adviser couldn’t help but shudder.
”I-I dare not!”
Emilia sneered. “General…”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The young men and women of the kingdom soon faced the gongs and drums of recruitment, and while many were dissatisfied with the decision of their princess, the population of their small kingdom had a very patriotic culture.
Not to mention rebelling, most people who were able to do so still signed up for training to prepare for battle.
Even those who didn’t care knew that being occupied by the Kingdom of Krass would have no good ending for them, as they were known to indulge in both slave trade and cannibalism, so there were very few voices of dissent.
The little witch sighed as she watched their frantic movements from the window of the tower she had been ‘confined’ in.
When everyone was calling for her head, the princess had brought her back here, and she couldn’t tell how the girl was feeling at all.
’So that boy wasn’t a fraud, but actually the prince of Krass? B-But…’
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.
”C-Come in?”
She didn’t dare to turn around.
Since only the princess herself was allowed to enter and exit this tower at will, who else could it be?
”Have you figured it out?”
The little witch turned around, her eyes wet with grievances. “I-I… I know it’s unbelievable, but I really didn’t do anything to your father!”
Seeing the big, pearly drops of tears drip down the slightly chubby face of the little witch, Emilia couldn’t help but step forward and flick the girl’s forehead. “Stupid.”
”Huh?”
Princess Emily sighed. “I already know that, obviously.”
”B-But—!”
Why would you trust me?
The question got stuck in her throat, because she really didn’t have the courage to ask such a thing.
Princess Emily couldn’t help but pity the little witch. “Although you have special talents of your own, I suppose it’s balanced out by your lack of wit.”
”…?!”
The little witch looked offended, but Penny couldn’t help but wonder why even insults were so sweet when they came from the sweet lips of her princess. If she could, she would definitely lick them up!
Fortunately, most people passed off her perverted expression as one of distress and confusion.
Princess Emily sighed. “The matter of the exiled prince has nothing to do with you. The only reason the Kingdom of Krass brought it up was to use it as an excuse.”
”B-But why?”
”Because they’re hoping I’m young and stupid, and would just hand you over to them. Of course, that’s why they killed my father. They knew he would never do such a thing.”
The little witch could only stare at her, dumbfounded. “…?”
Princess Emily sighed. “I don’t have any proof, yet, but it doesn’t matter. The fact that they managed to do what they did means that although they’re hoping I would hand you over to them without a fuss, in reality, they don’t care about it too much.”
”Wait wait wait… so they’ve been after me all along?”
Looking at the dumbfounded little witch, Emilia shook her head sadly. “… No. What they’re really after… is my entire kingdom. You’re just the cherry on top.”
The petite girl couldn’t help but frown. “B-But if they could kill the king like that—”
Emilia nodded. “They very likely already have a witch on their side, and some insiders in our castle as well, yes.”
”T-Then—!”
Thinking about the methods used by the other side, the little witch couldn’t help but be terrified. If they could kill the king right under their noses, and even make it so that she wasn’t able to track them at all, and even ended up stepping into a trap… what else could they not do?
At best, the princess now was in the same position as her father, so wasn’t it only a matter of time before they…!
The little witch didn’t dare to finish that thought.
The princess smiled. “I won’t survive long, I know.”
”How can you say that so calmly?!”
Looking at the little witch stomping her feet like that, Emilia couldn’t help but feel a little amused. “Because… I have you.”
Penny was left stunned, her heart beating wildly. How could anyone be so charming?!
Fortunately, it matched the expected reaction of the little witch almost perfectly, so she didn’t make a mess.
Princess Emily touched the top of the petite girl’s head. “Knowing that I’m bound to lose… will you still help me?”
The little witch bit her lip, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “You… just call me Perry.”
Who could have thought that there would be a day when someone would trust her so wholeheartedly, let alone someone she was willing to believe in turn?
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
It didn’t take long for everyone to know that the chief adviser of the previous king was tried for treason, and sentenced to execution by the princess.
To say that everyone was shocked would be an understatement.
”He really betrayed the king?!”
”N-No, wasn’t the princess just bewitched, and—”
”Hush, don’t speak nonsense!”
Fortunately, Princess Emily had had the foresight to already make it public that the little witch had helped her with the investigation, but was framed in turn because of the enemy’s prepared witchcraft, which she never expected.
Only an insider could have been so thorough, not only dealing with the king so flawlessly, but even leaving a trap. And very few people were close enough to the king to pull such a thing off.
What shocked everyone was that, when his body was inspected by the witch later, the adviser was indeed hiding a few small potion vials, sewn directly beneath his skin!
With his distinguished status and baggy robes, it was no wonder that no one had noticed.
The exiled frog prince was also captured and brought back to the princess, and she informed his home kingdom that if they were willing to pay a suitable ransom, it still wasn’t too late to redeem him.
The Kingdom of Krass was naturally furious when they learned of princess Emily’s ‘impudent’ response. How could a tiny kingdom not even half their size dare to slap their face?!
Within barely a day, the mighty, undefeated army of Krass started marching toward their enemy, ready to raze them to the ground.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━