The Executed Saint Reincarnates as a Princess and is Loved by Her Older Brothers - Episode 60

It was a night that felt like it was returning to its former glory.

The sun had already completely set. The thin, emaciated moon and the countless stars scattered across the sky were almost hidden by the clouds.

Under the dimly blurred midnight, the light of the hand-held candle flickers.

Tiptoeing quietly, so as not to make a sound, a young girl with a lingering innocence emerged into the garden. She was a maid serving Queen Hortense.

The maid cautiously looked around while shrinking her body, moving through the garden while suppressing her presence. She passed through the servant’s entrance and made her way to the back where she wouldn’t be seen.

Eventually, in a corner of the garden they arrived at, there was a person who had come first.

The face was hidden under a deeply pulled hood. The body was concealed by a thick black cloak, and the hand holding the portable lantern was covered with a leather glove.

The young maid, desperately trying to control her trembling hands and feet, began to speak in a shaky voice.

“Come on, give me the reward first!”

The person clad in black silently nodded and reached into their pocket.

What glimmers on top of the gloves are a few coins.

The coin, clearly visible even in the darkness of night, has a shimmering pure gold color.

The maid gulped. Instead of receiving the gold coins, she took out something she had brought from Queen Hortense and handed it to the cloaked figure.

“I’m glad… now I can send money to my family…”

At the point where she can work as a maid for the queen, her family is quite a respectable one.

However, in recent years, the prolonged recession has caused the house to tilt, and the family’s living conditions have been deteriorating.

I was somehow managing to get by on her salary from working at the palace, but even that has been reduced recently, and I was in trouble.

With this much, I can still feed my little brother and sister properly──.

It was the moment when the maid sighed in relief and let her guard down.

“Ahh!”

Suddenly being choked from behind, the maid groaned in pain.

“……Ugh…!”

The maid struggled desperately, but was dragged to the ground while still being held by the neck.

The already dark view became even darker. A figure in black clothes mounted her and covered her mouth to stifle any cries.

In the other hand, gleaming, was the hidden dagger.

In the night air, a blade glimmers.

The moment the sharp tip was about to pierce the girl’s heart.

“──!”

The one who fell to the ground with a voiceless cry was the figure in black. Although they tried to regain their footing immediately, they were met with further attacks and fell heavily.

“W-Who is it!?”

From the face hidden by the cloak, the words of inquiry slipped out.

It was a low and husky man’s voice.

“──That’s enough.”

Bathed in the faint moonlight, the shadow of a lithe figure stretches out.

Under the night, the man in black trembled as he was coldly glared at by the striking ice-blue eyes and caught within the range of Lionel’s poised sword.

“Y-Your Highness the Prince…?”

Lionel’s swordsmanship was precise and efficient. It wasn’t a rigid style of swordplay, but rather a practical technique that he had honed through constant practice.

“W-why are you here…!?”

What appeared in his trembling vision was not just Lionel alone. Behind him, whom he was protecting as if shielding, was a princess with an angelic beauty.

“Even Princess Angela…?! Why…?!”

Without answering the inquiring voice, Angela drew her beautiful chin.

“As I thought… it was you after all…”

Lionel, without loosening his grip on the sword, picked up the man’s candlestick with his other hand. It was something the man had placed on the ground just before he attacked the maid.

Confronted with the dazzling light, the man instinctively lowered his face, but his features were clearly discernible.

Wrinkled forehead. Hair mixed with white strands. From the wrist peeking out of the leather gloves, one can tell that this person is of an age that can be considered middle-aged.

“──Duke of Turenne”

He was the Duke of Turenne, the father of Queen Hortense and the chief minister serving King Nathan.