363 - Third Time's the Charm
"Why would the second prince be doing something like this, in a place like this?"
I move next to Aaron and mutter that it is the end of the world when a prince commits a kidnapping. Looking outside the door, it seems we are already moving at a fair speed. Jumping off would not just result in scratches. At best, serious injuries. Normally, or at worst, death. To get off this carriage alive, I need to stop it.
"Father treasures you as a precious gem, but while you were in the capital, I never even got to see your face. So I came all this way to see you myself."
"Rejoice," he says, having forcibly snatched a person away, and Chadwick shows not a hint of shame about his methods. It is unsettling. The way his face looks like a child who never grew up, the way he seems impossible to reason with. His sense of right and wrong is wildly detached from society. Even if you try to admonish him, he will not listen. If told to apologize, he will apologize on the spot, but he does not understand what he did wrong. He repeats the same mistakes over and over. Even just by looking at him, I can tell that Chadwick is this type of person.
If I honestly try to deal with him and correct his behavior, I will end up exhausted and broken before I know it.
Cutting ties as soon as possible is the best answer. This is probably why Chadwick's actions have been left unchecked until now. No one wants to exhaust themselves dealing with him. I have heard that even though he could be stripped of his status if he committed some offense, he has carefully hidden all evidence and never left any trail to be caught. He has gotten away with doing whatever he wanted up until now, so he has probably gained some strange confidence.
Well, the moment he failed to kidnap me, it is over for him.
This is a red-handed crime with no excuses possible. All that is left is for me to return safely to Leonardo, and we can judge Chadwick as a kidnapper. Alfred will be pleased to have that thorn removed from his side.
"I never expected to be invited by such violent means by someone in a position of responsibility, like a prince."
"It seems there was a misunderstanding about that. I ordered them to 'invite you promptly,' but it seems the method turned out violent. I will scold them later."
I think 'sorry' to me would be the first thing, personally.
He says he will 'scold' the ones who actually carried out the kidnapping, but apparently there is no apology for me. This is bad in a very real sense, I think, as Chadwick lifts his chin.
Ah, am I being looked down on right now? This is the first time I have seen an idiot who leans back to look down on someone.
I recall a folk tale or something about a samurai and a townsperson. A samurai spoke to a townsperson on a rooftop, scolded him for looking down on a samurai, and the townsperson looked up at the sky while answering, forcing the samurai to speak to him while facing the ground. That kind of ridiculous story.
There really was someone who did that in real life.
If he wanted to look down on me, he could just stand up, but doing that in a carriage might mean hitting his head, so I will generously interpret that as him being sensible about that part. Either way, the evaluation occupying my thoughts about Chadwick is, in every sense, the two characters for 'idiot.' He is currently stepping on about three tails of a fierce beast that should not be provoked.
"By the way, Christina. Since you know I am a prince, why do you not announce yourself? Is that not rude?"
"I do not have a name to give to a kidnapper."
My knee throbs with pain, but I hide beside Aaron and glare at Chadwick. It seems a waste to exchange words with him, so I want to get off this carriage as soon as possible.
"Kidnapping, what an unpleasant way to put it. I simply invited you into my carriage."
"Whether that excuse holds water is something I will leave to Aaron and Leonardo Big Brother."
He is just as troublesome as I had heard, I think, sighing in exasperation. He is the complete opposite of the eccentricity of Ethelbert or Christoph. He is a troublesome person of the worst kind.
"It looks like jumping off is out of the question after all."
"You were thinking of something outrageous again, were you not."
When I mutter while looking at the outside, Aaron apparently senses danger from my words. His arm reaches out and wraps around my stomach. I think he is holding me back to keep me from jumping.
"But I need to get off this carriage quickly and return to Leonardo Big Brother, or else this time, I will be told I was kidnapped by a human and never allowed out of the house again."
"That is... possible, I suppose."
"Right?"
As we are talking, Chadwick knocks on the wall. That seems to have been a signal, because the speed of the scenery outside increases. Leaving Chadwick to Aaron, I look outside the carriage and see people screaming and jumping aside as the carriage races past at high speed. By any measure, it is already a runaway carriage. Since it is the Harvest Festival, there are more people on the streets than usual, so many are being struck by the carriage.
Ah, a Black Knight.
I spot a Black Knight pointing in our direction from across the street, and a small surge of courage wells up in my chest. I do not need to be scared and obediently let myself be kidnapped. Outside the carriage, the rescue operation seems to be proceeding steadily.
Please, do not tell Leonardo-san anything, pleeeease!
This is definitely going to worsen Leonardo's trauma, and even though I know this is not the time, I cannot help worrying. If Leonardo hears that I went out into the city and was kidnapped by kidnappers, his social life as we know it will be over. He will either stick by my side all day or start taking me to work at the fortress. No matter what, I have to return safely to Leonardo.
"Hold on."
Aaron suddenly offers his neck, so I reach out to wrap my arms around it. I realize that my hand, stiff with tension, is still clutching the bag of plate-baked pastries. I feel bad about wasting them, but I throw the bag at Chadwick's face. I cannot grab hold of Aaron while holding the bag. Once I am safely back with Leonardo, I think it will be a good idea to ask him for some replacements to distract him from his trauma.
I am glad I am still a child! I am glad I am small!
The moment I wrap my arms around Aaron's neck, he starts moving. He kicks Chadwick's chest as Chadwick reaches out to grab me, pushing him back into the depths of the carriage. Then, deftly closing the door, he moves along the side of the carriage to the driver's seat. If I were any bigger, or an adult, I would not have been able to move along the side of a runaway carriage while supporting me.
Once on the driver's seat, Aaron kicks the driver off and seizes the reins. I feel sorry for the driver who was thrown off, but he is part of the kidnapping gang anyway. A kidnap victim like me does not need to worry about him.
"Hold this."
"This is... a whip?"
When I sit down on the driver's seat, Aaron hands me what I think is a whip for driving horses. Aaron starts coordinating with the Black Knights running alongside on horseback, apparently looking for a place to stop this runaway carriage.
"Hya wa!?"
"Ghuh!?"
While all this is happening, I hear a noise behind me, and Prince Chadwick's face suddenly appears from the side. Startled, I swing the whip around. It was not intentional, but the whip strikes his forehead, and Chadwick's hands release from the carriage.
"Ah!"
By the time I realize it, it is too late. Chadwick and I lock eyes, both of us wide-eyed in shock, and the next moment, Chadwick falls backward off the carriage.
"W-with luck, just serious injuries!"
I cannot help shouting what I had been thinking earlier, and I straighten my posture. There is no way I can fall off the carriage too, so I just look straight ahead.
The Black Knights guide the carriage to a stop in an alleyway, and I bury my face in Kalisa's chest as she comes to meet me. The scrapes on my knees hurt, but breasts are wonderful. As I hug Kalisa with all my strength, my heart gradually calms down. In exchange, the fear of having nearly been kidnapped finally seems to reach my head, and my legs start trembling. I was calm inside the carriage, but the fear that arrives the moment I feel safe is troublesome.
"Tina! Are you alright!?"
"Leooonyaldooo!"
I spot Leonardo coming from across the street, apparently having received the report, and my voice comes out pathetically, even to myself. I want to run over and hug him with all my might, but my knee hurts with just one step. I have been getting injured a lot lately, it seems.
"You have scraped your knee. The Sedovara Church is close from here..."
Before I can stop him, he picks me up, using one arm as a seat to stabilize my bottom. As he casually lifts a girl's skirt without asking, I know he just wanted to check my knee, but I still grind my fist into his chin.
"Leonardo Big Brother, no matter the reason, lifting a girl's skirt is improper."
I deliberately move my fist so the bone hits him, punishing Leonardo for lifting my skirt. While I am quipping back at Leonardo's usual behavior, my trembling subsides.
I am thirteen, you know. I am way past the age for being carried like this.
I was just casually carried off by a thug earlier. Maybe I need to gain some more weight.
Well, whatever. He puts me down and I fix my skirt. I am worried about getting blood on it from my knee, but having my knees exposed while being carried by my brother is worse for a thirteen-year-old.
"What happened to the kidnapper?"
"The Vice Commander is going after him. The White Knights were in the process of capturing the driver who was thrown off mid-route."
Since the capture of the kidnappers was almost complete, Leonardo apparently prioritized taking me to the Sedovara Church. When I start walking with a limp, Leonardo picks me up again. This time he does not lift my skirt, so I let myself be carried. The bruises and scrapes from being thrown into the carriage are subtly painful.
"It seems Giselle is doing her work."
"Well, she does seem to be doing her best within her abilities."
Listening to the reports being brought to Leonardo, I learn about Giselle's situation. Having been slow off the starting line, Giselle apparently captured the man that Kokumaro had beaten up after the carriage started moving, and handed him over to a Black Knight standing guard on a street corner. When Kalisa saw the carriage start moving, she notified the nearest Black Knight on guard about my kidnapping, and they formed a cordon of Black Knights. By the time Chadwick fell from the carriage, Giselle seemed to have captured the male driver. As for Aaron's exploits, I, having been inside the carriage, know them best.
When we arrive at the Sedovara Church carried by Leonardo, Giselle catches up, having handed over the captured driver to the Black Knights. As for Chadwick, who fell from the carriage, the Black Knights had already started capturing him before Giselle could tie him up. So she apparently followed me, having nothing left to do.
"Quite the bustling scene."
"That is because some idiot sent a carriage racing through the streets."
When we pass through the doors of the Sedovara Church, it is packed with patients despite it being the Harvest Festival. There are not even any empty chairs in the waiting room. As I stand looking around, more and more people keep arriving. Apparently this really is due to Chadwick's attempted kidnapping. People who were hit by the carriage, or who stumbled while fleeing and scraped themselves, are being brought in one after another as injured.
It would be awkward if Chadwick were brought into this situation and given priority treatment because he is a prince.
This is all an incident caused by Chadwick. Even if he is seriously injured, I feel like his treatment should be put last.
Well, I suppose that cannot happen, realistically.
Could they not at least put him at the very end among the seriously injured? As I am thinking this, Jasper appears from the back and waves me over.
"Jas... per!"
I try to step forward since I am being called, but my knee hurts. As I let out a strange cry of pain, Leonardo, taking pity on me, picks me up again.
No, wait. This looks like usual Leonardo-san behavior, but it is actually that thing.
It is the trauma Leonardo has been carrying ever since I was taken by the spirits. It makes him unable to leave my side every time we return to the residence. Today's attempted kidnapping is definitely stimulating Leonardo's trauma to the max.
"There sure are a lot of patients. Do you know anything about this?"
When Leonardo carries me over to Jasper, Jasper asks about the state of the waiting room. Apparently Jasper did not come out as a pharmacist. He felt something was wrong with the Sedovara Church being more chaotic than usual and came to check on it. He looks at me with a dubious expression, being carried by my brother, and then without hesitation lifts my skirt to check on my knee.
"Scraped, I see."
"Both Leonardo and Jasper, please stop lifting a girl's skirt without a word."
If it were Leonardo, I would punish him, but when it is Jasper, I do not know how far to go and cannot do anything. All I can do is point out that I am a girl and ask them to be more considerate.
"So, in a nutshell, the city is in chaos."
"'In a nutshell' does not actually convey anything, you know."
Still, it seems I got across that I came to the Sedovara Church for treatment. He says he will treat me if I go around back, so I gratefully head toward the entrance leading to Jasper's research lab. The black shiba who was waiting outside follows me as I exit the building. I felt bad bringing a dog into the Sedovara Church, which is full of injured and sick people, so I left him waiting, but it is probably better not to bring a dog into a pharmacist's research room full of various medicines anyway. Just because I moved to a different entrance, the black shiba ends up waiting outside again.
"They also need to check your bruises," Jasper says, kicking Aaron and Leonardo out of the room. He cleans and disinfects the wound, then finishes treating my knee with clean gauze and bandages. I strip down to my underwear and have my bruises checked, but at the moment they seem fine. However, he says the blood pooling under the skin will probably start discoloring around tonight. He applies some strong-smelling ointment and wraps it in bandages to keep it off my clothes. Treatment complete.
As Kalisa receives an explanation of the medicine, I get dressed with Giselle's help. The roasted chestnuts from my pocket fall out mid-way, reminding me that the plate-baked pastries were ruined because of Chadwick.
"I am sorry to have kept you waiting."
Now dressed, I return to Leonardo, who was shut out, and he immediately tries to lift my skirt again, earning him a punch. He probably wanted to confirm that I had received proper treatment, but still, he could say something first.
"Lifting a girl's skirt, Leonardo Big Brother, you are a molester."
"Hey now, molester is harsh. I was just worried about Tina's injuries..."
"Even if it is your little sister's skirt, casually lifting it whenever you want is questionable."
I finish with a stomp on Leonardo's foot and let the skirt-lifting slide. Even I understand that I should not keep Leonardo tied up with me for too long today. When he calls my name again, I look up to see his expression tightening. Alf has been worried lately about Leonardo being overbearing, but Leonardo has been keeping his trauma contained, properly separating public and private. He stays by my side only during his personal time. As a knight, Leonardo does not complain about going to work, saying something pathetic like he is too anxious to take his eyes off his little sister. He properly suppresses his trauma with reason and carries out his duties as Commander of the Knights.
"I am going to check on the state of the city and go interrogate the kidnapper, but..."
"It is fine. Kalisa and the others are here, and Kokumaro is too, so I can go home alone."
"That is probably true, but..."
He tells me to stay at the Sedovara Church until he comes to get me. He says he cannot bear the thought of me walking around outside when he is not there.
That damn Chadwick... giving Leonardo-san even more trauma.
I wonder if I would be forgiven for punching him at least once as payback. Thinking such violent thoughts, I agree to stay since it will put Leonardo's mind at ease. I have been visiting Jasper's research lab more often lately than the Sedovara Church itself, so there are plenty of things to pass the time with.
"Then be a good girl and wait until I come to get you."
"I am always a good girl, you know."
He adds that since I am injured, I should behave myself, and I push at Leonardo's back as he looks about to launch into a lecture. My pushing does not move Leonardo's large body at all, but in any case, work and reports are waiting for him, so I cannot keep him tied up with me forever.
"I will wait as quietly as a doll, so please come get me soon."
I push him off with a "see you later," and Leonardo, still looking like he wants to say something, heads back into the city.
Next is Alf or Leonardo's perspective.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.