The Max-Leveled Princess is Bored Today As Well

A voice spoke from the darkness.

It’s too cramped here.

So we can’t both stay like this. Either you or I, one of us has to get out of here.

It wasn’t like this at first.

It was empty.

There was nothing.

The voice murmured sullenly. But I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t answer.

I was nowhere.

Mm? But it was strange that I was here and yet nowhere. This was contradictory. This wasn’t normal.

Then I understood where ‘this’ was.

It was inside me.

***

I woke up to the sound of the clock ticking.

The ceiling was stained red, so I thought it was late afternoon. When I turned my head and looked toward the window, the sunset light flooded in through the open window.

Then, in front of the table a little away from the bed, I saw Caesar checking the documents. I couldn’t see his expression well because of the backlight.

A neat silhouette and the clatter of paper. The sound of the second hand of the clock. The dust and the shimmering sunset slowly floated around the room.

It was oddly unrealistic.

A strange illusion, as if the world outside the door and time were out of sync.

“… Unnecessarily handsome,” I murmured as I turned to my side to see him better. I thought it was a very small mutter, but Caesar moved his eyes and looked in my direction.

“You’re awake.”

“Good morning, Your Majesty.”

“It is evening now.” Caesar smiled lightly at my joke. “How do you feel? Are you hurting somewhere?”

“Well… Except for being drowsy, I’m fine.”

“Do you remember when you collapsed?”

“When I collapsed…” I recalled that moment for a while, rubbing my cheeks on the pillow. “I felt a sharp pain in my left chest. It was only for a moment. As if someone squeezed my heart…”

“I see. According to the doctor’s opinion, there is no abnormality.”

I sat up slowly from the bed and placed one hand on the center of my chest. The beating of my heart was faintly transmitted through my entire palm. Not too fast, not too strong, just right.

“Maybe… My body isn’t the problem.”

“It isn’t?” Caesar turned to me and said. He picked up one of the papers and started folding something. “Then you must’ve guessed the reason. What is it?”

What are you folding?

I continued the conversation with my gaze fixed on the busy Caesar’s fingertips, “I don’t think you would believe me even if I told you.”

Krusech sealed in Dante’s heart and the throbbing pain in my heart.

Noe Lable reincarnated me for the resurrection of Krusech.

‘I was on my way to Caesar to explain this.’

With a low sigh, I ran one hand through my long hair.

At that time, my determination had been firm, but after some time had passed and seeing Caesar in front of me, hesitation crept up again.

When I hesitated to answer, Caesar spoke, “I have a guess, would you like to hear it?”

“… What is it?”

“You knew that Krusech was sealed in the heart of Dante Renatus. The truth no one in the imperial family even knows.”

“I… did.”

“And you admitted that you were closely involved in it all.”

“R-Really? Did I?”

“You’ve never learned anything, but you’ve been using advanced swordsmanship since you were young, and you know the secret passage to Emperor Erez’s mansion.”

Mmm. Looking at it all together, I’ve been leaking many clues.

I was almost in a cold sweat.

“So, actually, I had something in mind for a long time. It was so absurd that I didn’t even think deeply about it. However, when I think about it now that the dragon is resurrected, perhaps it isn’t too outrageous.”

“What… is it?”

What is this ominous hunch?

What is this feeling that Caesar will shout out the correct answer before I even confess?

In the meantime, Caesar folded the paper and completed a bird with triangular wings.

“Is Helena Peresca the resurrected being of Dante Renatus?”

Whiiing-

A paper bird flew towards me and landed lightly on my leg.

“Is this the correct answer?” Caesar smiled like a mischievous boy. Though his eyes were not smiling at all. “The woman I love enough to give my life for, was she actually the last emperor of Renatus?”

How does Caesar feel now asking me that question?

I tried to read his thoughts, but I couldn’t figure them out. The calm voice, the faint smile, the cold eyes, they were all different.

“… That’s right,” I answered, hiding my trembling voice as much as possible. “I am Dante Renatus.”

The truth I was hiding from you is this.

The fact is that I am not me.

Caesar was silent. He took his gaze away from me and looked into space. I still couldn’t read what was on his mind.

The sun was quickly setting, and the room, which had been filled with the glow of the sunset, quickly became dark.

***

He must be angry.

There’s no way he wasn’t angry.

He might be thinking, ‘You mean you tried to marry me while hiding such a big secret?’

After revealing my identity, Caesar left the room leaving me with just one word to rest.

For two days after that, I couldn’t see him. He didn’t come to see me either, and I was too scared to go see him.

I don’t want to be hated by him.

I should have been honest. No, I shouldn’t have said it at all.

No… I actually don’t know.

Which one was right?

Right now, I’m just afraid of being hated by him.

It was the morning of the third day with the feeling of waiting for the death sentence.

“His Majesty requested a sparring this afternoon.”

As soon as I got out of bed, Selz, the maid of honor, said that to me, which surprised me.

“Sparring? Today?”

“Yes. In fact, I think it’s impossible because it’s a busy time preparing for the wedding… What should we do?”

What should we do? Was it time for me to cover hot rice with cold rice? Caesar wanted to see me first, so of course I must go.

“No. Accept it. Please cancel all other afternoon plans.”

“All right.”

Caesar wanted to see me first.

‘Is he not angry anymore?’

I was a little relieved. But that relief did not last long.

‘Wait. What if he decided to break up the engagement after thinking about it for three days?’

I loved Helena Peresca, not Dante Renatus. You are not the woman I loved.

Don’t tell me that he wants to make this marriage a thing that never happened…

“Selz.”

“Yes, Master.”

“What if His Majesty asks me to break off the engagement?”

“You have to leave the Empress’s Palace.” Selz gave a cool and objective answer. It wasn’t the answer I wanted, but it suddenly felt real.

In the end, without knowing Caesar’s true intentions, the promised time came. I headed to the training hall in a depressed mood.

Caesar had arrived first. Warming up with a light stretch, he shrugged his eyebrows when he found me.

“You’re late.”

If I’m going to be sentenced to break up my marriage, I want to get it as late as possible… But I couldn’t bear to say it.

“These days, we haven’t been able to train because we’ve been preparing to get married. It would have been better for us to warm up lightly after a long time.”

“Yes, I see,” avoiding Caesar’s gaze, I answered awkwardly.

Yes, it would be better to move your body when your head is complicated.

“Am I asking too much?”

“No. It is the teacher’s duty to teach and lead the disciples. There is no reason to refuse,” I said in an unrestrained voice.

The corners of Caesar’s mouth, which had not smiled until then, went up slightly. “As expected, you are the best teacher.”

“Well, thank you.”

“Before the sparring, why don’t we make a small bet to motivate ourselves even more?”

“… A bet?”

“Yes. A bet to grant the wish of the winner.”

No way, is it going to be a breakup?!

Are you planning to ask for a breakup if you win?!

I was so anxious that I couldn’t think rationally.

As if he quickly noticed my pupils shaking, Caesar smiled and said, “Oh, you don’t look good. Are you not confident of winning?”

That moment.

My confused mind became cold as if cold water had been poured into it.

Funny enough, even in this situation, it seems that it was difficult for me to accept that I was ‘losing’ even as a hypothesis.

“What do you mean I don’t have the confidence to win? Who are you talking about? Surely you are not talking about me, disciple?”

I drew my sword.

My attitude gave Caesar a satisfied look.

“Excellent.”

“I’ll take your bet.”

“All right. The loser has to do what the winner wants.”

“All right.”

Of course. Piece of cake. I should be glad instead.

If I don’t want to break up, I just have to win, right?

‘Okay, if I win, I’ll ask him to forgive me for hiding my identity as Dante Renatus.’

What’s the point of being forgiven like this, but who cares?! It’s better than being anxious and avoiding it?!

‘Anyway, there’s no way I can lose, right?’

I grabbed the sword with both hands and aimed it at Caesar.

Caesar also pointed the tip of his sword at me. His attitude, which had been lighthearted with a smirk, showed sharp concentration.

In an instant, a heavy, overwhelming feeling spread around him. A normal person would have trembled in fear.

‘When did he become so skilled?’

I thought as I swallowed the feeling of the hair on the back of my neck standing on end.

He was a man with a talent for swords in the first place. If you taught one, he knew ten.

However, being able to overwhelm opponents with excellent technique and atmosphere were two completely different matters.

“It looks like the eyes of a beast,” I said with a slight smile.

Literally, his red eyes glowed with murderous intent, like a hungry wolf.

“One has to win a bet!”

As soon as Caesar finished his sentence, he leaped from his spot.

His sword flew at my throat with great speed. Being alert, I was able to read and block the attack easily.

But what if I’d been careless?

‘Could this attack have been stopped?’

Caesar’s tremendous power made my hands tingle.

‘This speed and this power…!’

Despite the difference in strength due to the different weight classes, his speed was truly surprising.

Even compared to me, whose strategy and speed was sure to win, he might not be far behind.

Even so.

“There’s still a long way to go!”

I was far above him in technique.

There was no way that Caesar could beat my skills, which were formed through actual combat experience.

Swords collided quickly several times. The sword strikes, which were made not by reading numbers but by instinct, continued several times.

“Hasn’t your sword become dull, Helena?!” Caesar shouted with a wild smile.

I thought maybe my expression wasn’t too different from his.

Every cell in my body felt like it was going wild. Adrenaline erased pain and fear.

“No man can beat me!”

It was the truth, not wishful thinking or arrogance.

Nothing in Dante’s life had defeated her.

“Yeah, it must’ve been so until now,” Caesar affirmed my words. “So today I will beat you!”

“Who said so?”

“That’s how my master taught me! I was educated so that I could beat even my master!”

Oh, yeah. Right.

I had definitely said that when he was suffering from assassins. I taught him the killing technique.

One has to be strong enough to win.

“Because my master’s teachings can’t be wrong!”

Clank!!

The sound of metal clashing shook the air as if it were breaking.

The sword flew through the air with great force.