CATB Chapter 30

Alexa, walking with heavy steps and a menacing air, wore a beautiful dress but evoked the aura of the former beast. Duke Manuela, remembering the yellow eyes that glowed among the rustling brown fur, struggled to steady his trembling legs. It was only because he was someone of duke-level position that he barely managed not to show it outwardly - Count Abigail beside him had already thrown face-saving to the distant moon and was already kneeling.

"Alexa! You can't do this!"

The two retainers looked resentfully at the king, who maintained a certain distance from the fuming Alexa and only shouted "no" with words. From today's incident in the king's office, the contribution of the two nobles who had maintained the great pillar of the royalist faction noticeably decreased - but that was a later matter.

"Princess! Please calm down..."

"Yes! Princess, we... we were wrong! Please... please discipline our... our disloyal mouths with your benevolence!"

Not with a sword, please!

The count wailed inwardly.

"Shut up! Benevolence my ass! Are you afraid of death now?"

Because Alexa got even angrier, the duke glared at the count. The count shuffled backward on his knees.

"I will execute you today to restore order to the royal court!"

Having approached right up to the two men, the sword Alexa held reflected the light and glinted. Both the duke and count, without exception, instinctively squeezed their eyes shut.

"Alexa!"

Still unable to watch his closest retainers get slaughtered, the king mustered courage at the crucial moment and rushed toward Alexa. Alexa had been sneakily looking for the right timing to slip out anyway.

"This is wrong!"

The king grabbed Alexa's arm and took away the sword. Though his body flinched here and there in case his excited daughter might hit him, Alexa pretended to be overpowered and slipped her strength away. The sword was thrown from the king's hand to the floor.

"Let go, Your Majesty! I will definitely eliminate these people today!"

"You can't! They're still ministers of the state! If you cause such an incident!"

"An incident? Is that how what I'm doing looks to you? That's too much!"

"No, no... that was... I misspoke just now... I meant you'd be in trouble!"

"Forget it! Your Majesty is truly disappointing too!"

"No, it's not that..."

"I don't want to hear it!"

Alexa shouted angrily and looked down at the two nobles. Having secured their safety, they had collapsed into chairs beside them, clutching them for support. A drop of cold sweat still trickled down the duke's back under Alexa's sharp gaze.

"Get up."

The two middle-aged men cautiously rose.

"I'll let this pass today for His Majesty's sake."

We're alive!

As the count let out an obvious sigh of relief, the duke glared at him again. As a fox having to bear a tiger's wrath, the easy target was the raccoon beside him - nothing had been to his liking from start to finish today.

"However, if I see such insolent behavior from you people again,"

She stopped speaking. The duke gulped down his saliva. Fortunately, it was such a careful movement that no one seemed to notice.

Alexa struck the table beside the nobles - the one the king had been fondling earlier.

The marble's shining smoothness cracked with a sharp sound.

"...Ah... ah! Ah!"

The diamonds embedded in the table worth thousands of gold, the king's regret at seeing the table cleanly split in two couldn't find completion in his mouth and faded away. Lest the beast nature that seemed barely suppressed by reason awaken again, the king valued life more than a beautiful table.

"Next time, I'll lay you people there instead."

Did she mean to split them in two like that?

It was more frightening than being told she'd stab them to death with a sword.

The count's pupils shook aimlessly, alternating between Alexa and the cracked table.

"We will keep it in mind... Please forgive our disloyalty, Princess."

"We're... we're sorry! We will deeply! Take the Princess's teaching to heart!"

"Quiet."

The count's mouth shut like a clamshell. Again, fierce eyes poured down on him.

"That you people who only come to your senses after tasting something hot are truly the pillars leading Pellipe - how pathetic."

The office fell silent at the still angry voice.

Alexa glared at the two nobles, then turned to the king. She had planned to sweep through like a storm and end it right away anyway.

"Your Majesty, then I'll take my leave now."

"Uh... huh?"

Though the king had been blankly watching the situation, he wasn't stupid enough to forget his original purpose. The monster subjugation issue still remained.

"Alexa."

"Yes."

"About... the monster problem... what will we do... I understand what you want, but really, no matter how hard we search with washed eyes, there's no talent other than you..."

Now switching to evoking sympathy, the king approached Alexa with a face full of anguish and grasped her hands.

"Just this once... won't you go just this once?"

Alexa gazed quietly at the king's face. He was indeed no easy opponent.

Even after she'd caused such a ruckus, he hadn't been completely swept away by her intentions.

She turned her head again to look at the nobles and opened her mouth.

"I was originally planning to help."

"...? As expected! You're my daughter. Your father knew you couldn't turn away from these difficult times..."

"No, but just now the duke and count gave me a great lesson."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

You were trying to kill them madly even though they gave you a lesson?

The king swallowed the words that had risen to his throat. The goal was right before his eyes.

"Even though I've worked so hard for the kingdom that my body was breaking, didn't Your Majesty just hear what that bastard said?"

"Well... what did the count say?"

The king avoided Alexa's gaze with a face saying he didn't really know. It was true that his words had been quite rude for someone speaking to royalty.

"......"

Alexa closed her mouth. She needed to wait until all three people's attention was focused.

Eventually, gazes flew toward her as she suddenly became quiet.

"...That I don't know gratitude, that I abandon loyalty, that I bring harm to Pellipe?"

At Alexa's low recitation, the duke and count automatically shut their mouths. Though they had blurted out whatever came to mind in the heat of the situation, they hadn't expected Alexa to remember and recite exactly what they'd said when criticizing her. It seemed the biggest factor in their mistake was acting as before, since Alexa had originally been completely indifferent to them.

"Is this the reward for my loyalty to Pellipe all this time?"

"......"

"......"

"Were the things I achieved with so much blood and screaming so trivial that I deserve such treatment?"

"......"

"I... I couldn't even hope for the most basic dream as a woman."

Alexa paused briefly and shot sharp glances at the nobles.

"While I was keeping those maggot bastards' bellies full and backs warm."

The duke and count seemed unable to retort while hiding their anger at Alexa's insulting word choice, constantly calling them maggots.

"It wouldn't just be those people, would it?"

"......"

"But what I still can't understand with my foolish head is..."

Alexa, who had been speaking rather slowly, briefly held her breath.

You always take a beat before exploding, right?

"......"

"How, why, for what reason!"

Her voice growing louder, Alexa exploded. Her anger seemed visible, making all three automatically look for the sword's location in case she grabbed it and charged again. Fortunately, because the king had thrown it far away earlier, it wasn't within immediate grabbing distance. This was like a walking time bomb - you never knew when it might go off. The three people soothed their startled hearts.

"Should I have to receive such treatment from those people!"

"Well... that... the duke and count seem to be hasty and pathetic as you said, so they made verbal mistakes without realizing it. Don't take it too much to heart. Don't you know better than anyone that it's not true?"

The soothing voice was just like a real father's.

"I believe in you. When your father believes in you, what could be the problem?"

If it had been the real Alexa, she would have immediately rushed into the king's arms to pour out all her grievances and receive comfort. However, Alexa had heard such voices very often in the real world. Even if not family, even if not fathers, people could produce such affectionate voices for their own purposes. Alexa herself had once been one of those people.

'If that's how you're going to play it, I have something prepared for that too.'

"I'll speak to them properly again. There won't be another incident like this. By the time you return, everything will have changed."

"Your Majesty."

"Please trust me just once more. I hope you'll trust me and go."

Raphael III tried his best to unfurrow his brow as it kept wrinkling with frustration at the slow progress. He didn't know what had made his efficient second daughter, who had suddenly changed from beast to human form, so sensitive, but she was suddenly forgetting her position and trying to act like a young lady, which was extremely irritating. If only she were weak, he could force her, but doing so might cost him his own neck first, so he had no choice but to coax her as before, which made him even more irritated. But he was a king. He was already an old hand at effectively managing people, and now wasn't the situation to reveal his personal feelings.

Despite the king's assurance, Alexa shook her head.

"I'm too offended to accept."

"Huh?"

"If it weren't for me, these people - who would have sold the country to the Aepylle Empire like a second Irwarl - lectured me without knowing their place, and I find that extremely offensive."

Even with the very people she was insulting right in front of her, Alexa was relentless. Rather, it was the duke and count who were reading the room. If it had been a little earlier, they would have protested asking how she could say such harsh things, but after seeing the flashing sword once, an instinctive wisdom arose to not upset Alexa's mood no matter what, as long as they could leave this room alive.

"We've committed crimes deserving death! Princess!"

The duke was blocked from immediately apologizing again by the count right beside him and his aristocratic pride that had never bowed to anyone except the king in his entire life. The count struck first. He prostrated himself flat at Alexa's feet.

"I was short-sighted and stupid, failing to recognize the Princess's grace-like benevolence. Please forgive me."

"Why, does seeing a sword suddenly change your mind?"

The princess sneered. Though something seemed to flare up inside, the count was a human optimized for survival. He thought he could never beat that princess, so it was better to grovel starting now.

"Yes, the count is apologizing like this too, so how about unburdening your heart now?"

Whatever the route, roundabout as it is, as long as he reached his goal, the king's concern was now unconditionally getting Alexa out of the capital. It would be even better if her strength weakened while fighting monsters. Anyway, he only needed time until the parliamentary agenda was scrapped, so he had firmly instructed his subordinates to proceed with everything smoothly as soon as Alexa was sent away.

"No, it doesn't touch my heart at all."

At Alexa's decisive words, cut and dry, the king's brow furrowed even more. But expressing anger was only temporary - while wondering what to say to get her sent away quickly, Alexa continued.

"Your Majesty, I've realized something."

"Huh? What have you realized?"

"Since ancient times, there has been no labor without compensation. Because I never demanded anything from the beginning, these people take my efforts for granted."

"What do you mean by that..."

"Therefore, from now on, I will receive appropriate compensation for everything I do. How many people like those bastards could there be? If even a duke looks down on me, nobles lower than him must be completely ignoring me by now. Hmph."

Alexa sniffed daintily.

The king still didn't understand what Alexa meant, and the other two weren't much different.

"No, Alexa..."

"Actually, I've been thinking about this for a while, but this incident made me decide completely. Your Majesty! From now on, I'll handle work even more precisely to be of great help to Your Majesty!"

"I don't really understand what you're saying right now."

"I've been thinking about it."

A voice that seemed to be trying to sound smart but still sounded naive flowed from Alexa's throat. It was completely different from the shouting voice that had been browbeating them earlier. The duke was very pleased with this voice that he seemed to have heard a few times before when she spoke to the king. At least she won't turn into a beast again now, right?

"What about?"

"I'll take money. No, from now on I will take money. Since humans love money, if I convert my labor into monetary value, only then will they recognize my worth."

"What... what did you say?"

What kind of idiotic nonsense is this? At Alexa's proposal, which she had ambitiously put forward, the king couldn't manage his expression anymore and raised his voice.

"Money is the fastest method, isn't it? Your Majesty, when the amount of money for my achievements becomes known to the nobles, they'll understand how important a person I am."

"No, what kind of..."

The word idiotic rose to his throat again, but the king barely swallowed it.

"It's a very good idea, isn't it? Sigh, I think so too. I never thought I'd come up with such a perfect plan myself. I should have done this from the beginning."

"Alexa, that's absolutely ridiculous..."

"I've already thought of the price. Two thousand gold per monster for monster disposal. For long-term assignments like wars, I'll calculate by case based on the severity of the situation. Oh, of course you know accommodation fees are calculated separately, right?"

Alexa winked. The king was busy mulling over what Alexa had just said. So the skillful tool that he'd been able to use for free all this time was suddenly starting to put a value on itself.

"What do you mean by that? Taking money would be a disgrace to the royal family! Would you embarrass me by being bound to mere money?"

As he thought about having to pay real money, the king's voice unconsciously began rising. Alexa responded nonchalantly.

"Then I won't do the subjugation."

"What?"

"If you won't listen to me, I won't do anything you ask me to do. I'll gladly go if you pay me, but if you say you won't, I'll just go home."

"Alexa!"

"And you people."

Alexa didn't respond to the king's call and looked fiercely at the remaining nobles. It was a frosty, cold gaze. The count, who couldn't adapt to why she suddenly became scary again when she'd just been smiling while answering the king, finally trembled his shoulders.

"If you want to repeat what happened earlier, try opposing my words."

"......"

"I won't let it slide this time."

It was the same as saying she'd kill them if they interfered. Brutal.

The duke, wanting to preserve his life first, expressed his opinion. The royalist faction led by the king was mysteriously composed entirely of members optimized for survival with smooth-talking skills.

"How could there be any objection? It's truly an excellent idea, Princess."

"I'm completely in favor too. To think of such a convenient yet effective method... you're truly a genius!"

"Though this started with our mistake, truly no one will be able to help but look up to the Princess!"

The two ignored the king's sharp glare as he looked at them. Right now, the princess threatening their immediate lives was more frightening than the king. Despite their blood-vomiting praise for subjects of the king, Alexa didn't look particularly pleased, which made them more afraid.

Alexa turned her face and smiled gently at the king.

"Then Your Majesty, since this subjugation is a monster-related assignment, I'll calculate by the number of monsters. Actually, I think I should properly calculate and receive payment for the monster horde from this hunting competition too, even if it's late, but I'll postpone that for now. Isn't Your Majesty having a lot of trouble inside and outside because of that? I can provide this much convenience. Naturally."

"What do you mean..."

"But just this once, Your Majesty."

Alexa winked cheekily at the king who was ready to jump up and down with rage.

"From now on, it's payment in advance. You understand, right?"

"Alexa, do you know what you're doing right now? That's unacceptable!"

"Otherwise I won't do it. If you don't listen to me, you'll find it hard to see me move in situations like this from now on."

If you're going to be stupid, don't be stubborn too - the king held his throbbing head. However, his daughter gave him no time to rest at all. This was a total idiot among stubborn fools who couldn't accept anything but black or white. With a head that could only see one and couldn't think of two, combined with stubbornness, there was no one at least in this office right now who could stop Alexa.

"Then Your Majesty, I'll take it that you've agreed and be on my way. I'll send the bill to your office within a week. Please contact me if there are any changes!"

Alexa gave a slight bow and disappeared like the wind. It was a movement like lightning, leaving no chance to stop her. Too shocked by the demand for money, he'd missed the timing to say it was absolutely unacceptable. The king roughly slammed his desk. Having always used the princess for free, giving her what she demanded now felt extremely precious. And if it was money, wasn't that what he found most precious? Even the price wasn't cheap, making the king gnash his teeth more. Two thousand gold was equivalent to a year's wages for an ordinary citizen. No matter how difficult monsters were to eliminate, asking for two thousand gold each was like saying don't bother with subjugation from the start.

The king suspected whether Alexa might be cleverly screwing him over, but he remembered she wasn't a child capable of such scheming. What the hell was happening with everything? All these plans kept deviating slightly from his plans, which was deeply unpleasant. Anger began crawling up.

Soon the king turned his wrathful gaze to the nobles who had enthusiastically supported the princess's proposal earlier.

"You people, stick around and see me."

At the king's voice suppressing his anger, the steps of the two nobles who had been quietly trying to slip out of the office stopped. The murderous atmosphere felt from behind had already reached their necks.

The two nobles thought:

'Fuck, now what...'