The Princess Wants to Live (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 17
“Yeah.”
He added, poking his own temple.
“Because you keep muttering endlessly right here.”
“What?”
When Olivia asked, Cryer repeated the exact same reply as if it were nothing.
“It keeps relentlessly reminding me to shed blood—nonstop, without a moment’s rest.”
He spoke far too lightly, yet it was anything but a light matter.
The voice clamoring inside Cryer’s mind could only be that of an ancient god.
And even the phrase “without a moment’s rest” meant—
“You can’t… sleep at all, can you?”
When he closed his eyes to seek slumber, it wasn’t just some ordinary nightmare he endured.
The god’s whisper.
If any temple devoted to a god on this continent claimed its priests heard the divine voice ceaselessly, everyone would kneel in unison, declaring it a blessing.
God’s emissary. God’s representative.
But the reality was…
‘I’m a slave.’
It was practically a curse.
Olivia reached out toward him.
Her hand—far smaller and softer—covered his as he unconsciously stroked the mark on his collarbone.
Neither Olivia nor Cryer uttered a word.
Apparently, he wasn’t in such a foul mood that he’d consider cutting off his own hand.
It was simply warm.
Small creatures supposedly have higher body temperatures—perhaps that was why.
The princess’s hand always felt much warmer than his own.
At the same time, a sharp pain shot through the mark on his collarbone.
Cryer, gazing at their overlapping hands, finally spoke.
“Will you let it go again this time?”
To that, Olivia faintly smiled and shook her head.
“No.”
She patted the back of his hand and added,
“I just wanted to do this.”
Facing Olivia’s bright smile, Cryer kept the dull, throbbing pain from his collarbone to himself.
Early the next morning.
The Emperor, having slept only a few hours due to state affairs, rubbed his face—worn down by chronic sleep deprivation and exhaustion—as he faced Olivia.
“A martial tournament?”
“Yes.”
Wasn’t this another sudden proposal?
It was as unexpected as her earlier suggestion to abruptly hold a tournament without any preparation.
But it was the princess’s suggestion.
Though some commotion had followed the last tournament, it had indeed quieted down several neighboring nations that had been recklessly prowling near the border, oblivious to their place.
“There must be a reason.”
“I intend to make all those whispers tickling Your Majesty’s ears vanish completely.”
At that, the Emperor gave a bitter smile and tilted his head.
After all, there wasn’t just one or two whispers tickling his ears.
To see all, hear all, and decide all—that was the right and duty of one seated upon the throne looking down upon all.
“Foreign knights. They could be dealt with through this.”
When Olivia added that, the Emperor finally showed interest.
“Knights and a martial tournament. What’s your plan?”
“If everyone acknowledges the strength of Norden’s knights, half those rumors about concubines and such should quiet down.”
“Even if it’s only half, it’d be less irritating.”
“Yes.”
The Emperor asked Olivia as she nodded.
“Is that knight truly strong?”
“To be honest,”
Olivia beamed radiantly as she revealed the truth.
“He’ll soon become strong enough to single-handedly destroy the empire.”
“Haha! If you trust him that much, then so be it.”
The Emperor chuckled and dismissed it as Olivia’s excessive confidence, but it was neither an exaggeration nor a jest.
It was simply the undeniable truth Olivia had witnessed four times over.
Yet she couldn’t possibly spill everything about reincarnation and the ancient god, so she merely smiled back.
“Very well. I suppose I, too, shall get to see this knight who’s said to be so formidable.”
At his approval to hold the martial tournament, Olivia gave a slight bow.
“Princess.”
“Yes?”
“I was going to summon you anyway.”
The Emperor pulled out one document from the pile covering his massive desk and handed it to her.
“A letter delivered by an envoy from the Kingdom of Norden.”
“An envoy… from the Kingdom of Norden?”
“Yes.”
As Olivia fingered the edge of the letter the Emperor had handed her, her mind raced swiftly.
The Kingdom of Norden should be busy preparing for the funeral of their late king, who had just died in a sudden accident.
But if this letter concerned funeral arrangements or attendance, His Majesty wouldn’t have specifically asked her to read it.
Olivia swiftly organized her thoughts and asked the most essential question.
“Could this incident possibly be connected to the Kingdom of Norden?”
On the Emperor’s weary face, satisfaction and joy bloomed. How could he not be pleased when his heir apparent, the princess, grasped one hint and deduced ten?
“Go ahead and read it.”
With the Emperor’s permission, Olivia boldly unfolded the letter and rapidly skimmed from start to finish.
“They claim they can track down the culprit.”
Olivia, past mere suspicion and into bewilderment, reread the letter before suddenly freezing.
Ah, of course.
The Kingdom of Norden.
That’s where the mage resided—the one who had awakened the ancient god, resurrected Cryer, and branded him as a slave.
‘It’s the mark of the ancient god.’
The distorted symbol imprinted on the corpse’s forehead.
To an unknowing eye, it might appear as nothing more than a scratch and be overlooked, but Cryer and Olivia hadn’t missed it.
Given that this incident involved the ancient god, it wouldn’t be surprising if it led back to the mage lurking in Norden.
As Olivia stood stiffly, staring at the letter, the Emperor asked,
“Do you see a connection between Norden and this case?”
“We’ll have to investigate.”
Though the mage in Norden was likely involved, she couldn’t be certain that the Kingdom of Norden itself was connected to the incident.
Probably, it was involved…
After all, Norden was merely a tool dancing on the mage’s fingertips.
Even the kings of Norden, who had declared war multiple times, had been nothing but puppets.
And even that puppet was insignificant in the grand scheme of the continent-wide war being orchestrated…
Her mouth tasted bitter, as if she’d chewed gall.
But through this opportunity, she might uncover something—anything—about that ‘mage.’
Even when she asked Cryer, all she got in return were vague descriptions like:
“A middle-aged man resembling a goat.”
“His laughter is disgustingly unpleasant.”
“He kept smirking and saying it’s a secret what he plans to do with the ancient god.”
Nothing more specific than that.
“Will you permit their proposal to send someone from Norden?”
The Emperor, stroking his chin, reached for another document.
“Didn’t you say that after discovering that vacant lot recently, there have been no further casualties?”
The Emperor frowned as he uttered the word ‘vacant lot.’
And rightly so—how many incomplete corpses had been buried there? Far more than one would expect from a mere empty lot.
Some of the older remains were so decayed they couldn’t even be identified by sex or age.
Most matched names on the missing persons list, but quite a few didn’t.
“Yes. It seems to have stopped for now.”
“For now… meaning it isn’t truly over yet.”
“It’s too dangerous to declare it finished.”
“Can you solve it without them?”
The Emperor pointed to Norden’s letter as he asked, and Olivia replied instantly.
“I can’t guarantee it.”
At her firm, unhesitating answer—leaving no room even for a needle— the Emperor rubbed his throbbing temple.
“Any leads?”
“Far too few.”
“Hmm.”
With a heavy sigh, the Emperor unexpectedly said,
“The Taren family has sent a petition.”
“Taren?”
Olivia asked in confusion, then quickly nodded with an ‘Ah, right’ expression.
“After all, the Taren Trading Company is headquartered in the district where the incident occurred.”
“Indeed. They say public anxiety has now reached a point where it’s affecting their business operations.”
“Taren would’ve thrown money at it to investigate the case.”
“Didn’t they compile the information they gathered and the findings from their dispatched investigators and submit it?”
At that, Olivia fell silent, and the Emperor didn’t press her further.
After a while, Olivia spoke.
“They claim they can track down the culprit… I suppose we’ll have to ask them to send someone.”
With no better alternative, she had no choice but to accept their offer, however suspicious it seemed.
If the Tarens hadn’t sent a petition, she might have hesitated longer.
But this was the Tarens we were talking about.
A steadfast pillar supporting the imperial family and the heart of a trading company that tirelessly worked for the empire’s stability.
“If Marquis Taren—who hates being indebted—has spoken up, we must resolve this as quickly as possible.”
It wasn’t just because of the Tarens; she was even more eager to uncover the mage’s true intentions, but she kept that thought to herself.
“I’ll send an envoy to Norden. And, Princess.”
Before the Emperor could finish his sentence, Olivia nodded.
“I’ll meet with Marquis Taren.”
As the blazing sun tilted toward noon,
deep in the city’s back alleys—the darkest, most damp corners even at broad daylight—
a man trudged along, seeking someone to offer as a sacrifice to the ancient god.
In his pocket, Ambre’s hastily given coin purse jingled, and the sound made the eyes of the alley’s inhabitants gleam.
Among them, a quick-handed child, with even quicker feet, crouched low, targeting the man.
The moment the child stepped from the shadows into the light,
“Hey.”
A rough hand seized the child’s neck—its owner a man who usually treated the child like a nuisance.
Instinctively, the child flinched, and the man pulled him back into the darkness.
With a grim face, the man pressed down hard on the child’s nape as he raised his voice just enough for others nearby to hear.
“Don’t touch that man. Don’t even think about it.”
Though those who heard his words looked utterly bewildered, they quickly withdrew back into the shadows as soon as they heard what came next—pulling in their necks, which had stretched out greedily at the sound of coins.
“He reeks of blood. So foully that it twists your nose.”
No one dared ignore the warning of a man who’d survived this long in the dark, and the man with the jingling coin purse soon disappeared from their sight.
Appearing utterly ordinary—or perhaps precisely because he walked so ordinarily—the man eventually stopped before a certain house.
A shabby, run-down shack indistinguishable from any other.
—Knock. Knock knock. Knock.
The man rapped on the door with a steady rhythm and waited there for a while.
How much time passed?
—Click. Creak.
As the hinges groaned irritatingly, the door opened, and without hesitation, the man stepped inside.
Inside the dimly lit room, illuminated only by a few flickering candles, a voice echoed.
“What have you come to buy?”
Though the speaker’s face was hidden, the voice suggested an elderly woman.
“I’ve come to buy… a healthy, able-bodied person.”
Why She Is Still Unmoved (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: He uses various methods to seek her affection, but she remains unmoved.
Synopsis:
Si Qingyu is a doctor who has saved countless lives and enjoys tranquility.
Luo Shaoxuan is ruthless, deeply scheming, and the top young master in the capital. He admires Si Qingyu.
Luo Shaoxuan: I want to be the only one in your eyes and heart.
Features a cold and calm female lead vs A noble and scheming male lead.
There will be both sweetness and torture towards the male after their marriage.
Most Commented This Week
The Villain Has Gone Mad For Me (Completed Main Story)
I’m The Lowest-Ranking Daughter Of A Martial Arts Villain (2 Chapters Left to Complete)
I Became the Assassin Family’s Foster Daughter (Completed Main Story)
The Duke Only Needs My Child (Completed Main Story)
Men of the Harem (137 Chapters Left to Complete)
At the End of Ruin, There You Are (56 Chapters Left to Complete)
She’s a Villainess but her Husband is Handsome (Completed Main Story)
People Aren’t Meant to Be Fixed! (4 Chapters Left to Complete)
My Discarded Fiancé Returned (Completed Main Story)
Summer Must Die (16 Chapters Left to Complete)
Regret With All Your Might (Completed Main Story)
I Received The First Time Of My Extraordinary Superior (9 Chapters Left to Complete)