Princess Laura de los Lucia of Spain is a figure who, despite being a member of the royal family, is quite controversial in her own country.
Her character and hard work are beyond reproach, but she has neither awakened her inherent royal ability nor achieved any significant accomplishments, which is unusual for someone of royal blood.
As a result, there are even rumors circulating among certain factions that she may not be of true royal lineage.
And Princess Laura herself was well aware of this fact more than anyone else.
「𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨. . . . . .」
At one point, she worked tirelessly, pushing herself to the limit, but now she knows. That she doesn’t have the royal power within her.
「. . . . . .」
To be honest, she’s tired now.
Her status as a princess, the expectations of those around her, all of it felt like a heavy burden to her.
That’s why, recently, she has preferred to spend her days quietly, away from the public eye, as if she were escaping.
Growing plants was one way she did that.
「. . . 𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙, 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙚.」
The flower language of the Golden Leaf Herb is freedom. In fact, it could be said that it resembles her wish more than anything else.
That’s why she tried her best, but in the end, the flower didn’t bloom.
As she was staring at it in despair, lost in thought, someone approached her. It was Han Kang-yoon.
「𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣.」
Not only did he have exotic oriental looks, but the aura surrounding him was unlike anything she had ever seen before.
He asked Laura if she wanted the flower to bloom.
When she responded, Han Kang-yoon, without hesitation, personally showed her how.
To say that his actions didn’t give her strength would be a lie.
「𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙚𝙩.」
Just then, Laura’s aide, Diego, approached her.
“You seem quite happy. Did you like that student?”
“Rather than that, I feel like I received some encouragement. I guess I don’t really open up to my peers, so maybe that’s why I feel this way.”
“You’ll be fine. Not if you’re the princess I know.”
The same old words. But lately, for some reason, they felt a bit uncomfortable.
Laura forced a smile and replied to Diego.
“Yes. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
In the end, Laura did not notice Diego’s meaningful smile as he turned his head after hearing those words.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
𝕒ᴡė̇ʙ𝔰𝙩𝐨𝔯𝔦𝔢𝙨.𝚌𝔬𝚖
The moment I had been waiting for had finally arrived. I summoned Black Yin, just like I did yesterday, cast a concealment spell, and sent him flying to the exhibit where the Lantern of the Glowing Night was.
「. . . 𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙.」
Right now, Black Yin is carrying a replica I made using Holland’s doppelganger spell.
And now, I’m going to seamlessly switch it with the Lantern of the Glowing Night.
「𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝘾𝘾𝙏𝙑 𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙨.」
Thanks to the barrier blocking off all sides, the guards patrolling outside didn’t notice Black Yin’s presence.
So, there was only one thing left to do. To get past the protective barrier spread out on the display case without breaking it.
「𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨.」
I have a track record of bypassing the Cheong family’s barrier without breaking it and summoning Cheong So-ha.
Now that I’m even stronger than I was then, I was confident I could take the item without leaving a trace, even with a protective barrier of this level.
『Creak. Click.』
Swish.
The spell I had embedded in Black Yin’s body activated, and he slowly began to squeeze through the barrier. Eventually, Black Yin entered the barrier, exchanged the ring with the replica, and came back out again, returning to me.
「𝙎𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩.」
Ding!
【Lantern of the Glowing Night】
▶The primordial light that illuminates the night. Only those with the qualities of a monarch can light the fire in the ring.
The ring I now held in my hand was definitely the real Lantern of the Glowing Night.
“. . . It’s been a while.”
I carefully placed it in my pocket and returned to my hotel room without raising any suspicion.
And the next day.
As I accompanied the academy members to the event, I received unexpected news from an excited Sophia.
“Ugh. Kang Yoon-ah, did you hear? There was a theft at the exhibit we went to! All those precious things, stolen by some unknown thugs. . . . . .”
“. . . Really?”
To be honest, I didn’t think I’d get caught this quickly, and I felt a pang of guilt.
However, what Sophia was about to say was a bit different from what I had expected.
“Apparently, all the top-notch artifacts were stolen, and the guards guarding the exhibit were injured and taken away! Ugh, those guys should all be chopped up!”
Wait, I didn’t do any of that?
Sophia’s indignant words left me bewildered.
I’m sure I only took the Lantern of the Glowing Night yesterday, and I didn’t attack anyone in the process.
「𝘿𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣, 𝙗𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚. . . . . .」
It was hard to believe, but it meant that someone else had raided the exhibit after I left.
