The Marquis’ Daughter Acts As A Pawn

I can hear the patsy and fire bouncing.

Gradually awakening the blurred consciousness, I rose in slow motion. Then the sulli and the white jacket hung on his body fall off.

"Wake up, Julianna"

I'm awake.

When Edward smiled as he added firewood to the fire, he offered me ripe fruit that he had never seen before.

"Eat it. It's okay because it's not poisonous."

"Oh, thank you"

I wandered through my thoughts with a hint of tannic fruit.

(... I fell asleep since then!?

I leaned in to warm Edward's body cold, but it was temporary, and I was going to leave as soon as his body warmed up. After that, instead of injured Edward, I was going to be on fire and outside alert, but apparently I fell asleep.

(This jacket belongs to Edward too, did you realize I was holding him?... Oh, I'm not like a sweet child!

I didn't like the heat gathering on my face, but I found out.

When I finish eating the fruit, I shrink as I grip Edward's jacket uncomfortably.

"... when did you wake up?

"Was it a while before the sun started rising?"

"Um... sorry I couldn't keep an eye on you. Didn't make any particular difference? Looks like there was no raid..."

There's been a raid.

"Huh!?

I gaze with surprise, and look out of the cave. But there's no sign of contention, and Edward doesn't look in a hurry.

When I saw Edward what he meant, he grinned wildly.

"I didn't expect my fiancée to attack me. When I woke up, I was surprised that Julianna was asking me to stick around perfectly."

"I didn't invite you, I didn't attack you!

"I hope you praise me for being impatient without fighting back. There's no man more merciful than me."

"Shut up! I'm gonna stop talking about this!

When I turn away, I pull out the wreckage of the dress I was wearing yesterday. And I rampantly chop a thousand small pieces of diamonds that are sewn on my dress.

"... what are you doing?

"As you can see, I'm taking a diamond. It's small, but if you sell it, it'll be a lot of money."

"Hmm. Then can you sell my cufflinks, too?

When Edward unravels the cufflinks on his white shirt and chops them a thousand times, he offers them to me.

"... it's not a bizarre design, so I think we can sell it in the Diaghilev Empire. It won't be very expensive though. Oh, the buttons on your jacket are sterling silver. This one's going to sell pretty good."

"Then let's sell it with care not to get legs on it. Escape money is important."

"Right."

Me and Edward finish removing the diamonds and buttons and throw the dress and jacket into the fire. They, which were completely dry, quickly burned and turned to ashes.

"Well, let's talk about what's coming. I only have one sword and a compass, how about Julianna?

"A knife matches a bottle, a handful of diamonds... eye drops that change the iris of your eyes."

"The eye drops I used when I was infiltrating Wang Du Church? If you two used it, how long is it going to hold?

"... is ten days the limit?

And when I answered that, Edward put his arms together, and slapped his temples with a ton.

"Is that the deadline to get to the Imperial City?"

"I knew you'd go to the Imperial City hiding your identity."

"Oh. Looks like they didn't want to kill the Second Prince of the Kingdom of Roland. It's the most realistic way to hide your identity and disguise yourself."

"Even if they change the color of my eyes, my hair and that of Edward will stand out."

Blonde and silver hair float amongst the civilian population no matter how perfect the act is because of the many shades in the upper class.

Edward seemed to have anticipated my concern from the beginning, taking out the brown nuts wrapped in leaves.

"It's a nut that can be used for temporary hair dyeing"

"You knew this a lot."

"Prince education looks gorgeous, and there's something about it that stinks. The more you run away from your enemies, the more your head aches, the more you get knocked in for survival. Sourcing herbs to treat injuries and nuts to dye hair is part of this."

"I'm glad you used the knowledge you gained in action. It didn't go to waste."

"Must be."

Turning to Edward's shoulder, a cloth stained with dark green juice was applied. Injury allowances are better than those of me who just stopped bleeding.

"... are you okay with the injury?

When I stopped by Edward's side, I gently touched the wound over the cloth.

"The blood seems to have bled, but the wound itself is not deep. After three days, I will be able to wield my sword. How about you?

"I have fine abrasions, but I'm not badly hurt. I'm glad you were trained in dressing swimming in Orcotte."

"You were doing that, too"

"Oh, Grandpa praised me for being good inside."

Once Couscous and we laugh at each other, we begin to prepare ourselves for the imperial capital. I will stone the nuts that Edward took to dye my hair, and apply them to myself and to Edward's hair. And I gave him eye drops for the finish.

"You change color with your original hair color."

"There's nothing wrong with this."

I see myself and Edward's hair as impressed.

Edward's hair changes to burnt brown and his eyes are night sky. I have red brown hair and blue eyes. They were both of such colour that they could blend into the civilian population.

"Shall we go, Edward?"

"Right. I don't know how downstream it was, but if it's the map I saw before, if you walk northwest, you should get to the King's Capital."

You can't do this on foot for less than ten days.

"Then you just have to make it."

"I wonder if that'll work."

Edward relies on the compass to walk out in the northwest direction. I followed it with great devotion, too.

And when the sun climbs high, you can hear the horse's hoof from afar.

"Have you been lucky? Let's go, Julianna!

Edward grabbed my arm and ran away.

You start to see thin streets, not just the sound of horse hooves. Apparently, the forest is going to slip through safely.

"Wait, what do you do?

"You've decided to get me in the carriage, haven't you?

The carriage apparently belongs to the merchant who was going to buy it, and it's certainly just right for Edward to give it a ride.

"In what capacity?

"How about lovers on the run?

"Fine. It's a role I've never played before!

"That's exciting."

And me and Edward jumped out in front of the carriage, holding hands together.