Hidden Treasures (4)

What do you mean, you can lend it to me but you won't?

As I was thinking about this, she held out her finger in front of me.

"It's been stuck on me since I put it on. Even my father didn't manage to get it off..." <Princess Yuri>

"What? Really?" <Julius >

"Yes. Originally, I thought that this ring was the key to the treasury, and that's why my brother, the king, should have it... However, once I tried it on, I couldn't get it off, so I had to wear it..." <Princess Yuri>

I gently took her hand and tried to remove the ring.

Sure enough, as she said, it didn't falter.

It's as if it's become one with her finger.

Does that mean that she is the only one who can open the other ancient structures?

That is, if there is no other ring.

"Do you need it so badly that you look so wistful?" <Princess Yuri>

"No, well..." <Julius >

As it concerned something left behind by the game administrator, I seemed to have unintentionally made a wistful face.

"I'm going to amputate it as a way of repaying you. I won't die without a finger." <Princess Yuri>

Yurasia said flatly and picked up Rosette.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. What the hell are you talking about? You could've just helped me directly later, you don't have to cut your finger." <Julius >

"Is that so?" <Princess Yuri>

"Yes, it is. So don't be so crazy. Even if I got your finger, that's a bit..." <Julius >

"Huh! You don't need the fingers of a woman who isn't your type?" <Princess Yuri>

No, I'm not talking about my type; I don't need your fingers. 

She looked at her fingers for a long time.

If I leave it as it is, she might really cut her finger, so I divert the conversation.

"Anyway, let's get moving. We need to find a way out! and besides I might be able to claim another like it in the Bridget capital for their treasury!" <Julius >

Throwing in the last bit as the final reinforcement to deter her self-mutilation.

***

After half a day of walking, we finally reached the exit.

To our surprise, the exit led to the wall of Bridget's royal palace.

No one seemed to know that the wall was connected to such a secret passage and everyone was astonished by our appearance.

Yurasia and I escaped from the royal palace while fighting the palace guards and ran to the gates of the royal capital.

Then we opened the gates and called in the Lunan army.

Fortunately, the occupation was going well, as Fihatri and Zeff had arrived in front of the royal capital as I had ordered.

My original plan was to enter the castle by pretending to be the army of the Bridget Kingdom, but I guess that was no longer necessary.

While I was opening the gates, Yurasia fought against the royal guards, and we were able to bring Lunan's army into the capital without any problems.

There was no problem in occupying the royal capital.

In fact, the capital was practically empty.

Even with the palace guards and the royal guard, there were only about a thousand of them.

We took over the capital without difficulty and seized the royal palace.

All that remained was the final battle.

I suddenly pointed at Yurasia's hair to welcome the end of the battle in a beautiful way.

For the sake of her prestige, I guess.

"Hey, you're not going out there like that in front of the enemy, are you? Shouldn't you have a cool look at the end of the battle?" <Julius >

"What ...? Is there something wrong with me?" <Princess Yurasia>

"There's a mirror in the other room, you might want to check it out." <Julius >

Yurasia walked dubiously towards the room I had pointed to and a few moments later.

"What? Kyaaaa!!!" <Princess Yurasia>

Naturally, what came back to me was a scream.

Her hair was a mess, just like the famous ghosts that pop up on TV.

She was beautiful, though.

"What the hell is this...?" <Princess Yuri>

With trembling hands, Yurasia held the comb in front of the mirror and began brushing her hair.

But it was a mess.

She had always lived with a sword in her hand.

The maids must have done all the brushing for her.

"I'm not sure if I can fix it, but I'll try." <Julius >

"Yes, that's..." <Princess Yuri>

I felt like it was getting rather bad, so I took the comb away from her.

"Intelligence indicates that the King of Bridget will be arriving shortly. We don't have much time. I'll take care of it." <Julius >

"What? You will?" <Princess Yuri>

She looked at me with an untrustworthy look.

Of course, there are maids in this palace but I don't trust them at all.

It's not impossible that they might try to assassinate Yurasia while brushing her hair.

"Just stay still." <Julius >

I gently stroked her head down from top to bottom with the palm of my hand.

Her very beautiful hair shimmered in my hand.

Then, using a comb, I began to slowly brush it from top to bottom.

Her hair, which had been straggling all over the place, began to come together little by little.

It would have been best if I could have washed her hair, but since that was not an option, it was best to bundle or braid it.

"I'll braid it like I always do." <Julius >

muttering this under my breath while reminiscing my old life on earth/

"Braiding? That's impossible. Even I might not be able to...do it myself...!" <Princess Yuri>

Well, in my case, it was because of my sister.

Thanks to my mother, who was busy with her work, and my sister, who I had to take care of all by myself, I was able to acquire the skills to do her hair.

When I was in elementary school, I always had to do my sister's hair for her.

She was always asking me to do her hair, and she was quite troublesome anyway.

My sister is a real pain in the ass.

That's why I was so confident about fixing Yurasia's hair.

I started braiding her hair as hard as I could.

"What do you think?" <Julius >

"Not bad at all ...but! How many women's hair have you touched before you became this good?" <Princess Yuri>

She looked at me with suspicious eyes.

She seemed to have some kind of strange misunderstanding.

"No, I didn't. You are the first person outside of my family. There are those who have many women at their beck and call because they are lords, but not me. I'm the kind of guy who values love." <Julius >

"...What?" <Princess Yuri>

She looked at me in disbelief.

What the hell is wrong with my image?

"Liar." <Princess Yuri>

To be fair she did know most of my original past, but not the one of the would residing inside.

"It's true." <Julius >

"What kind of love is that?" <Princess Yuri>

"What kind of love is...The kind that makes you throb just thinking about it, whether you're together or not?" <Julius >

"Oh....You're that pure?" <Princess Yuri>

"Yes. Do you really think you can date and marry anyone?" <Julius >

"No, of course not!" <Princess Yuri>

"Then why don't you take off your princess face and fall in love? If you stay in Roserun forever, you'll end up in a political marriage with some unknown noble or royal family from another country." <Julius >

"I don't want to do that. If that happens, I'll kill myself on my wedding night after cutting off the head of the man I'm marrying!" <Princess Yuri>

Suicide? Isn't that a bit extreme?

Also it's a good thing she didn't clarify which head :o

"No, you should have refused political marriage from the beginning. If that doesn't work, you can run away!" <Julius >

"Are you saying that I should cut and run?" <Princess Yuri>

Of course not, I meant to run away before you marry.

You know that, don't you, woman?

"You want a fight?" <Julius >

"Heh heh heh." <Princess Yuri>

"Didn't you just laugh ...? You laughed like you were happy!" <Julius >

"...What are you talking about? I'm not laughing." <Princess Yuri>

In an instant, she returned to her princess face.