The Princess Knight is Too Strong

“…It’s a wound received during the battle to eliminate Balisterd.”

Princess Evangeline said with a calm expression.

“The doctor said… it would be difficult for me to have children in the future.”

In truth, I knew.

Despite already knowing, there was an indescribable weight between hearing it from someone else and hearing it directly from her own voice.

“This is just hypothetical, but wouldn’t it be a big problem if it were revealed that the wife of a prince of a nation couldn’t have heirs?”

It felt like I had a mouthful of sand that I was grinding between my teeth.

She thought of herself as someone who didn’t suit me.

She thought of herself as someone who shouldn’t be with me.

A warm emotion welled up from deep inside me.

I looked at Princess Evangeline with my mouth closed.

Her expression was surprisingly sorrowful. It was as natural as if she were stating a matter of common sense.

Her eyes looked as if she had given up everything.

This wasn’t right. Our engagement shouldn’t end like this.

“…Princess Evangeline.”

I opened my mouth. I asked myself countless times in my heart whether I had the right to say these words, but in the end, I couldn’t find certainty.

“I don’t care.”

But I felt that if I didn’t speak now, I would regret it for the rest of my life.

“Whether you cannot have children, whether you have one arm, whether you have unsightly scars. I will never break off our engagement.”

Evangeline opened her eyes wide, apparently surprised by my words.

“Because, from the moment I first met you…”

I exhaled a deep breath.

Suddenly, a stray thought bubbled up in my mind. Come to think of it, was this the first time? The first time I had laid bare my innermost feelings to her like this.

“…I have been in love with you.”

…I did it.

Despite steeling myself many times, I felt my face would turn bright red at any moment.

The princess silently swallowed and stared at me.

I had no way of knowing what she was thinking, but with the thought that I couldn’t turn back now, I continued speaking.

“If you’re trying to push me away out of consideration for my position as a prince of a nation, you need not worry at all.”

“…”

“But, if that’s not the case. If you’re simply still hesitating about our engagement…”

After pouring out everything I wanted to say, my mind went blank.

“Then I should make more effort. So that you might turn to look at me.”

“W-wait…”

Evangeline called out to me in a flustered voice.

But I deliberately pretended not to hear.

In a most unmanly way, I felt embarrassed.

“It’s getting late. I’ll take my leave now. Princess Evangeline, and Lady Delphina. I wish you both a peaceful evening.”

“No, wait a moment…”

I heard Evangeline’s confused voice from behind me.

But I deliberately closed the door without looking back until the end.

Because I felt I would have lingering attachments if I turned back now. Because I didn’t want to show a pathetic appearance.

Why?

Suddenly, I remembered an old memory.

Six years ago.

“Oscar.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Your fiancée has been decided.”

At my father’s words, as cold as a snowstorm even in midsummer weather, eleven-year-old Oscar had to feel fear before expectation.

“…Are you not going to ask who it is?”

“…I will accept whoever it is, as per your word, Father.”

“Even if it’s the ugliest woman in the Empire?”

The Emperor of the Empire, Ludius von Valentine, chuckled and muttered jokingly.

From Oscar’s perspective, it wasn’t a joke at all.

“I’m kidding.”

Ludius said with a chuckle.

“She’s from the Kingdom.”

“…The Kingdom, you say?”

“Yes.”

Ludius said as he stood up.

“Wait, she will come here.”

“Here?”

“Well, just have a simple conversation. It’s not like the engagement is confirmed yet.”

Ludius said this and left, leaving young Oscar alone.

“……Phew.”

Only after his father had left did Oscar exhale deeply.

Only after the tension had completely dissipated did anticipation finally arrive.

‘Who could my fiancée be?’

His father’s mischievous joke suddenly came to mind, but Oscar quickly shook his head.

Surely that couldn’t be. No matter how scary and strict his father was, he wouldn’t handle the engagement of the Empire’s prince so carelessly…

“Excuse me.”

It was then. From outside the door, along with a light knock, an old man’s voice was heard.

‘A man?!’

Oscar was startled and looked around.

‘Could it be that my fiancée is…?’

“The second princess of the Kingdom, Evangeline Failondia, has arrived. May we enter?”

“Y-you may enter.”

Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be the case. Oscar exhaled a sigh of relief inwardly and spoke with a trembling voice.

The door opened, and a middle-aged butler with deep wrinkles on his face first extended his hand to hold the door open.

And then, a blonde girl entered the reception room.

“Pleased to meet you, Your Highness. I am Evangeline Failondia, the second princess of the Failon Kingdom, who will be engaged to Your Highness.”

“…”

The moment he first saw her, Oscar felt a peculiar emotion he had never experienced before.

Her brilliantly shining golden hair drew the boy’s gaze like the sun.

A ticklish feeling as if his breath was being taken away, yet at the same time as if a hole had been punched through his chest and cold air was passing through it.

The world’s scenery blurred around her, and nothing but that girl entered his eyes.

“…Pl-pleased… to meet you. I am Oscar von Valentine.”

Only after three months had passed did Oscar learn what to call that emotion.

First love.

Oscar von Valentine began his first love at the age of eleven.

And, time flowed to four years later.

Two years ago from the present.

“…Prince Oscar?”

“Shh.”

Fifteen-year-old Oscar von Valentine put his finger to his lips toward the royal guard knight who recognized him.

Belatedly realizing the situation, the guard knight lowered his voice and asked:

“Wh-what brings the Empire’s Third Prince here?”

“What brings me here? What a foolish question. How could I sit still after hearing that my fiancée has fallen into critical condition with lost consciousness?”

The guard knight asked in confusion:

“B-but. I heard news that the Prince had entered the Magic Tower…”

“Entered? What nonsense. I simply received guidance to build my strength.”

“Strength?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Of course, to become a man worthy of my gallant fiancée.”

Oscar shook his head and replied.

“I’ve already received direct permission from the King of Failon on my way here. Where is my fiancée?”

“…The Princess is hospitalized in the 3rd Medical Ward.”

“Would you mind guiding me?”

“…Follow me.”

Following behind the guard knight, Oscar thought.

Though she had been injured and transported to the capital, it surely wasn’t a serious wound.

She must be tired from the consecutive victories and battles.

What words of encouragement should he give to his fiancée lying in the hospital room?

The royal servants would be taking care of all her food preferences or necessary items, so there wouldn’t be much meaning in bringing something himself.

Then, wouldn’t just the fact of his presence as her future partner be a great strength to her?

As Oscar was confidently laying out fantasies in his mind, the guard knight’s voice reached his ears.

“It’s here.”

“Thank you.”

The guard knight bowed slightly and left.

Oscar looked up and read the nameplate next to the door.

‘3rd Medical Ward… so it’s here. Quite a secluded place, isn’t it?’

Could her condition be more serious than expected?

Just as he was about to quickly knock on the door out of concern, an elderly voice was heard from inside.

“…Princess.”

‘Who is this voice? A doctor?’

It was the result of entering the Magic Tower voluntarily and undergoing rigorous training with the sole desire to stand beside her, after hearing that his fiancée had gone to the battlefield as a princess knight two years ago.

The magic power circulating throughout his body through his blood vessels had extremely amplified his hearing.

To the extent that he could even catch the small voice of an elderly man coming through the thick wall.

“It’s extremely regrettable to tell you this in such a place…”

Oscar swallowed dryly and unconsciously brought his ear closer to the door.

“…The wound in your abdomen is very deep. The immediate treatment is complete, but…”

But the old man hesitated, swallowing his words several times.

Just as Oscar was considering whether to pretend not to know and knock on the door.

“…Your uterus is severely damaged. In the future, conception will be difficult…”

Oscar’s heart sank with a thud.

Infertility.

What that word meant to a woman. As someone who had matured much faster than his peers as a prince of a nation, he couldn’t help but know well, whether he liked it or not.

“…I see.”

Evangeline’s tone was calm. Excessively so.

The old man was silent for a moment, then pulled his chair as if about to stand up.

At the dragging sound, Oscar reflexively removed his ear from the door and looked around.

As it was such a secluded place within the palace, fortunately, it seemed no one had passed by in the meantime.

The door opened with a creak. The doctor coming out of the door and Oscar’s eyes met.

“…”

Oscar silently shook his head.

The old man looked at him for a moment, then silently nodded back and passed by him.

The door closed by itself with the wind from inside the room.

Oscar still stood outside the door.

“……Huk.”

From inside the room, a small sobbing sound leaked out.

“Oh. Why, why are tears coming out.”

Even though no one was listening. Even though it was a single-person ward with no one around.

“Th-this is strange. Why, why are tears. Hukk. Why, huup. Hukk, why…”

Evangeline was trying hard to hold back her tears.

-Crack.

Standing still in front of the door, fifteen-year-old Oscar gritted his teeth.

Because he hoped that his unsightly tears would not be discovered by her inside the room.

-Tweet tweet, tweet tweet tweet.

“…What time is it now.”

At the sound of birds from outside the window, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes with my sleeve and half-opened my eyes.

“…Delphina?”

Delphina and I were sleeping side by side on the sofa, half-embracing each other.

“Hue, Princessss…”

Looking at Delphina muttering in her sleep with her head buried in my neck, I began to remember one by one what had happened yesterday.

“Oscar, that bastard.”

How dare he confess his love and make a fuss all on his own.

Try as hard as you want, as if I’d marry you.

I lifted Delphina, who was still drunk with sleep, and rose from the sofa with my stiff body.

“Urggggh.”

As I stretched and looked out the window, sunlight was seeping in at a perfect angle, illuminating the living room.

“Wow, nice view.”

The green flower garden and trees spread out beyond the window.

Looking at the verdant nature, even my unsettled heart seemed to calm down naturally.

“By the way, I had a disturbing dream.”

Of all dreams to have… why that one.

Yes, this is all because the prince unnecessarily brought up that story.

“I’ll definitely pay you back.”

As I was inwardly vowing, Delphina’s whining voice reached my ears.

“Mmm, where am I…”

Rubbing her eyes and looking around, Delphina saw me and shouted in a shrill voice, startled.

“Wh-whoa! Princess!”

“Oh, you’re awake?”

“W-wh-wh-what’s happening. No, that’s not it. I mean…”

After stammering and shaking her head in confusion, Delphina raised her waist as if about to bury her head in the sofa and bowed her head.

“Y-yesterday, I was extremely rude!!”

…Now that I look at it, isn’t that a Wonsan bombing?

Where did she learn such a thing?

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it and get up. You’ll mess up your hair.”

“Nooooo!!”

“I said get up.”

“Yes!”

Looking at Delphina standing up straight like a well-trained soldier, I heaved a deep sigh.

“Anyway, let’s get ready to go out.”

“Huh, go out?”

Delphina tilted her head and asked back.

“Isn’t today a rest day?”

“Delphina, tomorrow is the entrance ceremony.”

“Right. So today is a rest day…”

Tilting her head and talking nonsense, Delphina then muttered, “Ah.”

“Right, the eve before the ceremony!”