Volume 2 Chapter 17
There was no one she could rely on.
How tragic. Even her friends… were inanimate objects like dolls. Everyone else in the royal palace was a servant or a subordinate, constantly flattering her just to curry favor. No matter who she met, she was always looking down on them, sometimes without even seeing their faces.
As the sole princess of the Winton Empire, she had acted willfully at the academy, bullying her classmates. She had fought desperately on the battlefield, all to gain a sense of presence that surpassed that of the Winton crown prince, to avoid becoming a tool of political marriage and having to touch the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting that had nothing to do with combat.
If I just get stronger, she thought, if I just become stronger, one day I’ll be able to find the people and things I truly love.
Finally, on a battlefield of blood and gore, she earned her glory in combat and became known as the Golden Light of Winton.
But that was all.
What a ridiculous title. She had no interest in titles. All she wanted was her own freedom, a freedom not bound by the title of “Princess.”
Her father, the King, had long wanted her to give up on her quest for strength, which was why he was searching for a man who could defeat her.
Unfortunately for him, she wouldn’t let him have his way.
Today, she had met a strange white-haired loli and a dark-skinned, silver-haired girl.
They were slaves… slaves whose personal freedom was restricted, who had no human rights.
Slavery was also a form of bondage, and she hated that feeling.
Why did living people have to live worse than the livestock raised by nobles? There was no shortage of ambitious and aspiring people among them, yet they lost everything due to the restrictions of their status, forced to bow and scrape before others, enduring endless humiliation.
She was a little surprised that they, as slaves, did not kneel before her.
Was it because they came from the mountains and didn’t know they were supposed to bow to nobility? How wonderful. Their young hearts had not yet been shackled by the ways of the world. But… they had run into her. If it had been another noble with guards, their legs would have been broken. Such things happened all the time, every day, in places she couldn’t see.
The white-haired loli was named Alice, and the silver-haired girl was her older sister, Laura.
Alice was a Fifth Tier mage, yet she had become a slave because she couldn’t produce a single gold coin. Because of this trash system, a talented and endearing girl had become a plaything for the Colosseum. It was fundamentally wrong.
Laura, who seemed dazed and spoke in broken sentences, must have stained her hands with blood for Alice’s sake. Though she appeared to be a strong girl on the surface, her heart must have been in terrible pain.
Alice had called her “big sis.” Was being called that such a pleasant feeling?
She wanted to take them in as her personal guards, to keep them by her side. More than that, she wanted to be their friend, to chat and shop and play with them.
But there were always obstacles. Those Death Rose bastards had appeared and used a cowardly trick to knock her out. She couldn’t protect anyone. If she hadn’t chased after them, they wouldn’t have been put in such danger…
The old man had ordered his subordinates to make it quick and clean…
Alice and Laura would be killed.
Alice and Laura would be killed!
Alice and Laura, whom she had just met, would be killed!
I have to get up! Wake up! I have to save them!
A petite body, dark red blood, a white sheet covering it.
No… No! I don’t want that to happen!
Light?
It felt so comfortable… The paralysis in her body was gone, and her consciousness was slowly returning… Had someone saved her?
Ugh…
The scenery was blurry… a piece of clothing with patches on it.
Strange, it felt like someone was lying on top of her… a warm breath tickling her neck…
Eh? Eeeeeh? Is that Alice?
