The Princess Wants to Live (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 31
The night when the crescent moon rose.
On the outskirts of the Imperial Palace, deep underground—a prison as dark and profound as an abyss.
Someone was peering into that dungeon, which had remained sealed for decades.
From the heart of the royal palace of Norden, far distant from the Empire.
“He’s still breathing.”
Greta ran her hands over the man lying motionless as if dead, scanning her surroundings, but even her gaze had its limits, leaving everything blurred and indistinct.
Her temple throbbed visibly, and Greta clicked her tongue inside her mouth.
Though blessed by the Ancient God, enabling her to wield magic beyond mortal imagination, nothing in this world came free.
Expressionless, Greta swallowed the blood rising in her throat.
“No one else is here but him.”
Fortunately, the ritual had failed—but he still had to die.
More precisely, he needed to be purified.
Of course, he’d eventually drop dead anyway.
Anyone passing by the Empire’s underground prison could easily sketch a monkey from the state that man was in.
But…
“He can’t just die like this.”
Greta pressed hard against her aching head, throbbing from having used too much ‘magic.’
Thank goodness that idiot had carved the mark of the Ancient God into his own body.
Otherwise, things would have become extremely complicated.
Her eyes, bloodshot from burst capillaries, watched as she licked a bead of blood that had welled on her lip.
“I’ll have to burn him.”
It would be troublesome if traces of the Ancient God remained half-formed.
But to cleanly purify the man deep within the Empire’s dungeon, a sacrifice would be needed.
Not one—two.
When Greta tugged the cord, it wasn’t a servant who appeared, but the Crown Prince.
Stepping close to the Crown Prince, Greta whispered as she stroked his waxen cheek, his eyes unblinking.
“I need one person.”
“I need one person.”
Echoing her words exactly, the Crown Prince pulled the cord, and within minutes, a trembling woman knelt before them, her forehead pressed against the floor.
She’d stolen items from the palace, but Greta couldn’t care less about that.
Even if the woman before her were entirely innocent, Greta wouldn’t have minded.
Whether it was a woman, a youth, an elder, or a child—it didn’t matter, as long as blood could be drawn.
“Be glad. I’ll purify you.”
Greta seized the woman’s chin, lifting it without hesitation or delay.
As the woman’s body burst into flames, far away in the Imperial Palace of the Empire—
—Drip. Drip-drip.
With the crackling of fire, the man from Norden—the puppet of Greta—simultaneously ignited.
Strangely enough, though fire blazed fiercely, it consumed only the puppet precisely.
Not even a scorch mark remained on the bed where he’d lain.
Watching both the woman and the man burn, Greta parted her lips.
In that moment, as her eyes flickered like a serpent’s while whispering an eerie, indescribable chant—neither speech nor song—
—Whoosh.
Flames erupted from the collarbone of the man sprawled lifelessly in the dungeon—the very spot where the mark of the Ancient God lay.
“Aaagh! Aaaargh! Aaaaah!”
Screaming in the inferno, the man drew the dungeon guards rushing in to witness the spectacle.
“What in the world! No—water! Bring water!”
“Sand, anything—just bring it!”
Despite their frantic efforts, the light faded from the eyes of the man thrashing within the flames.
After the fire had devoured him entirely, leaving only acrid smoke drifting through the air—
“Why… isn’t there even a single burn mark around here…?”
Ignoring the gasped words dissipating behind her, the man who had once served the Ancient God was purified, leaving only a charred corpse.
***
Several days had passed since the night the culprit behind the serial disappearances and murders on the outskirts of the Imperial capital—and the guest from Norden—had been reduced to blackened cinders.
On a day when the sky seemed endlessly clear and high.
On one side of the Princess’s palace, knights from foreign lands gathered in small groups.
—Clang!
“This sword was specially sent from my homeland for this martial tournament.”
“Hah, impressive.”
“Indeed. With this blade, I could say…”
One group flaunted a newly forged sword, its blade razor-sharp and adorned with lavish ornamentation.
—Clang! Clang-clang!
“Hey, you seem slightly better than before.”
“If I’m hearing that from you, maybe I’ve gone rusty instead.”
“Nonsense!”
Elsewhere, others were already sparring, clashing real blades against each other.
Amidst these clusters of knights exchanging chatter and swords—
“The martial tournament, huh.”
High up in a large tree, at a comfortable distance from the boisterous groups of foreign knights,
A man sat hidden among dense foliage that perfectly shielded him from outside view, legs dangling idly as he observed them below.
“They all puff up their bravado so absurdly.”
It was the Empire’s martial tournament—naturally, renowned figures from across the continent would swarm in.
What could those who merely imitated knights—or couldn’t even manage that—possibly hope to achieve?
“Tch.”
The man clicked his tongue lightly, then let out a faint sigh.
Well, their situation differed from his—they could afford to act so carelessly, without a thought.
Even if they returned home without glimpsing so much as a strand of the Princess’s hair, they’d still live out their ordinary lives.
But not him.
He was, after all…
“…Isaac? Isaac! Where are you?”
Smiling with narrowed, fox-like eyes, he spotted a weary-faced knight calling for him and slipped down from the tree soundlessly.
“Hey, found me?”
The weary knight flinched at Isaac’s sudden, silent appearance, but only for a moment.
Soon, as if accustomed to his ghostly midday comings and goings, he spoke.
“Where have you been?”
“Oh, just over there a bit.”
Isaac vaguely gestured toward one of the clustered groups, prompting the weary knight to sigh and shake his head.
“Everyone’s abuzz about the martial tournament. I was actually looking for you to discuss it. What about you, Isaac?”
Though the question came out of nowhere, Isaac didn’t bother asking for clarification.
Nor did the weary knight seem to expect an actual answer; he continued with a sigh tinged with lament.
“Everyone’s so excited—it feels like a festival. But it’s not, is it? A martial tournament… if luck runs out, you could lose an arm or a leg mid-contest.”
He tapped his unremarkable sword dismissively.
“Even if that doesn’t happen, there’s no real hope anyway—but I still wish I could live as thoughtlessly as they do. The world is utterly unfair.”
Having poured out his grievances, the knight finally seemed to remember Isaac’s presence and offered him a veiled plea for agreement.
“Whether it’s you or me, if we return like this, it’s over, isn’t it? We were sent here as disposable pieces from the start.”
Isaac offered no reply to the weary sigh.
Though true, he had no desire to indulge in such gloomy, hopeless whining.
Half-listening, half-ignoring the knight’s words, Isaac suddenly perked up his ears, his eyes gleaming.
And shortly after—
“Isaac? Isaac? Ugh, again like this…”
Left alone, the man scratched his head in exasperation.
“Honestly, he does this again.”
Even while speaking face-to-face with Isaac, if he glanced away for just a moment, the man would vanish without a trace.
At first, it was baffling—and even irritating.
How many people could calmly accept someone disappearing mid-conversation without a word?
Especially when he vanished so completely—no sign of him leaping into the sky or sinking into the earth, impossible to find even nearby…
But there were few others in a similar plight, and since Isaac was one of them, he’d grown used to it rather than risk making an enemy.
After a last glance at the knights showing off their flashy swords, excited for the tournament, he turned away with heavy steps.
***
Around that time, Isaac was walking along the shadows cast in the corridors of the Princess’s palace.
He scanned his surroundings keenly, comparing what had changed since yesterday.
“…Has already returned…”
“…Had no idea he was leaving…”
From the servants’ stray murmurs, Isaac deduced that the unexpected guest from Norden had already departed, narrowing his eyes.
It had been strange enough that Norden—busy with national affairs—suddenly sent someone to the Empire. But now, they’d abruptly left again?
And so secretly that even the servants had no inkling?
Unless they were fleeing from something, there’d be no reason to leave in such a manner.
“Hmm.”
Now that he thought about it, the palace had been unusually noisy a few days prior.
He’d assumed it was just another one of those ‘night escapades,’ but apparently not.
That night, an enormous crowd had streamed out of and back into the palace.
Three people had entered the Princess’s quarters amid a sudden downpour.
Well, one of them had been dragged in.
From a distance, his view had been hazy, so he couldn’t be certain…
Isaac tapped his chin thoughtfully.
His instincts screamed that something deeply unusual had happened.
The guest from Norden. The three who arrived on that stormy night.
“If I can figure out what truly occurred, it might become my breakthrough.”
He had no intention of returning home to be boiled like a hunting dog after the chase.
Unlike the weary-faced knight, who saw himself as a pitiful comrade and wallowed in complaints, Isaac knew he must act to survive.
When someone from outside sought to settle in a new place, they needed to fulfill at least one—or several—of three conditions:
Win someone’s favor, instill fear in someone, or prove useful to someone.
Given that this wasn’t just a passing village but the Imperial Palace itself, satisfying even one of these conditions would be extremely difficult—but it was still a place where people lived, like any other.
Besides, he wasn’t merely a passing traveler either.
“If all else fails, maybe I’ll sneak in at night and desperately plead that I’m from the Bolshayk bloodline—a family of considerable influence throughout Bolshayk’s long history…”
Muttering this cryptic soliloquy, Isaac suddenly froze in place.
Still within the shadows, he stared intently at his own shadow.
And the shadow stared back at him.
From a dim spot that seemed shadowed even in broad daylight, crimson eyes watched him in silence.
“You… are…”
The rumored ‘that’ knight, no doubt.
An unnamed knight from Norden who’d caught the Princess’s eye and secured a place within the Empire.
This was the first time Isaac had encountered him directly, despite all the rumors and whispered tales.
And Isaac had to swallow a bitter laugh.
Nameless?
He simply didn’t *yet* have a name.
If Her Highness the Princess had fallen for the man before her at first sight, it surely wasn’t because of that fragmented face…
When yandere male lead believes she loves him — but she never did
“How dare you!”
“How dare you make me love you, only to cast me aside as nothing more than a friend?!?
“I will never accept that.”
“I will never let you return to him.”
“Even if I have to burn myself to ashes.”
“Even if I must shatter my purity, my dignity, my very soul.”
“I will never let you escape me!”
This was the first novel that introduced me to the matriarchal genre. I’ve read it three times already!
At first, the male lead despised the female lead. Later, he misunderstood that she liked him, so he condescendingly and reluctantly reciprocated her feelings.
Then, he suddenly discovered that she was kind to everyone in the same way, and there was already someone she cherished in her heart, and that person was not him.
The male lead couldn’t believe it, he became angry and crazy. He was determined to capture her body and heart by any means necessary.
Synopsis:
Want to see how a green tea bitch male lead falls in love with the female lead?
Want to see how he flirtatiously pursues the female lead?
Want to see how he gets slapped in the face repeatedly?
The male lead is a green tea bitch, a poisonous lotus, jealous, ruthless, unscrupulous, with a venomous heart, and he’s also a delusional maniac.
The female lead is righteous, positive energy-filled, kind, a holy mother.
Let’s see how two people with extreme personalities come together~
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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)