Knights of The Dauntless Princess

Chapter 40: Regret

Nina was sitting silently in a corner of the room where Amara was sleeping. The voice of the princess echoed repeatedly in her mind, gradually breaking her down. She was being consumed by guilt for her actions, and she deeply regretted what had transpired.

Louie, Cyrus, and Dravis were also there. They watched the resting princess in silence. They were grateful to Louie for being there, as he had immediately provided an antidote to Amara's poison.

In a hurry, Ranz arrives with Martina and Orson. The leader of the bandits came rushing as his men told him something had happened to Amara. "What happened to the princess!?"

Nina stood up abruptly upon seeing Ranz, but her knees trembled with fear and apprehension. The three young men turned their gaze to the bandit leader.

"I've given her the medicine. Now we just have to wait for its effects," Louie replied.

"Medicine? Didn't you say she was fine? You said earlier she was no longer sick!" Ranz questioned again.

Louie nodded and looked back at the unconscious princess, "The medicine I gave her wasn't for her fever. It's an antidote to counteract the poison in her body. Thankfully, she only ingested a small amount of it."

"W-What did you say!? P-Poison!?" Ranz stuttered in surprise.

Louie didn't speak, but his eyes instinctively turned towards Nina. Ranz quickly grasped the meaning behind it and slowly turned to look at Nina, who by that time was already shedding tears.

"You, what have you done to the princess?" Ranz asked coldly, his gaze filled with fury, as he finally faced Nina.

As Ranz confronted Nina, her emotions finally burst forth. Her tears flowed freely, and she struggled to find her voice.

"R-Ranz, I don't know how to explain. I... I..." Nina sobbed as she trembled.

"Nina! What have you done!? Why did you poison the princess!?" Martina asked, having a hard time accepting that the maiden could do such a thing.

"I'm sorry!!! I'm sorry!!!" Nina cried out in anguish, her heartache overwhelming. "I... I put poison in her soup, but I swear I wanted to take it back! I had changed my mind and didn't want to give it to her anymore, but... but she drank it willingly even though she knew it was poisoned—"

"LIAR!" Ranz immediately shouted at her, catching her off guard. "The princess is fighting against the new king of Emmett to reclaim the kingdom, and you're saying she willingly took her own life? Don't deceive us, Nina!"

"N-No! I'm not! I-I'm not lying!" Nina wept, pleading to be believed. "What I'm saying is the truth!"

"Whether she drank it willingly or not, the point here is you gave her poison that nearly took her life!" Orson said. "Right from that point, Nina, you were completely wrong."

"Why? Why, dear? Why did you do that to the princess? Weren't you close to each other?" Martina asked, tears streaming down her face as well. "You two are friends, right!?"

Nina bowed her head and clenched her fists tightly at her sides. "Yes, we were close, but that's what hurt the most. I considered her my dearest friend, but... something was aching inside my heart, knowing she was the reason why the people around me were so happy and alive! A-And... every day, whenever I see her with the man I love, it feels like killing me multiple times! It's so painful and suffocating to feel that I did everything to prove my worth, yet she... she didn't have to do anything, yet she easily captured that man's heart."

"Are you saying you were consumed by anger and jealousy simply because you thought I liked the princess!?" Ranz directly questioned, raising Nina's gaze at him. "You are referring to me as that man, am I right!?"

Nina's tears fell once again as she gazed at Ranz, whose furious eyes stared back. She couldn't bring herself to lie to him; after all, he had known for some time that he alone possessed Nina's heart.

"I-Is it true, isn't it? You like her... and it's just that easy for you to fall for her because she's a princess," Nina said.

"You don't understand! You know nothing!" Ranz retorted sharply, as if piercing Nina's heart with his words. "So what if she's a princess!? So what if I like her!? YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DICTATE WHAT I SHOULD LIKE OR NOT! I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO DECIDES, NOT OUR PARENTS, AND DEFINITELY NOT YOU!"

Nina knelt down slowly, overcome with weakness. She hadn't expected Ranz's words to hurt so deeply. Ranz turned away from her, his teeth clenched, struggling to control his anger.

"R-Ranz—"

"I never expected that out of everyone here, it would be you treating the princess like that. If this is how you show your love for me, then I will tell you that's stvpid! Just don't love me at all, I don't need that kind of love!" Ranz exclaimed, walking slowly towards the door.

"N-No, Ranz!!! Please!!!" Nina called out, tears still streaming down her face.

The leader of the bandits paused his stride and spoke again. "Inform me immediately about the princess's condition. Orson, prepare a punishment for that woman! She's not exempted from facing consequences!"

"Understood," Orson replied, and they walked out of the cabin altogether.

Left alone, Nina remained there, wilted in sorrow from the words Ranz had spoken to her. She hadn't anticipated that her recklessness would lead to such repercussions.

"Sometimes, we do things without thinking them through. As a result, we aren't prepared for the possible consequences," Cyrus suddenly remarked as he leaned back in his chair.

"The princess has just recovered, and here she is in this condition again," said Louie. "Her body is still weak, but I hope she can fight off the poison."

Nina turned to them abruptly, her voice trembling, "T-Tell me, she'll survive, won't she!? She will, right!?"

"Don't you want her to die? Why are you asking such things?" Cyrus replied irritably.

"N-No! I don't want her to die!!" Nina cried out, her voice breaking. "Yes, I let anger and jealousy consume me, but I realized that's not what I really wanted to do! I tried to stop her! I tried to prevent it, but I was too late!!! I was too late!"

They stared at Nina as if trying to determine the truth behind her words. What she had done made it difficult for them to believe her.

"Do you really think we should still believe you?" Cyrus asked.

"I'm not asking you to believe me!!! I don't care if you believe me or not! All I want... is to make sure she survives!!!" Nina's voice grew stronger, but her eyes still held a trace of sorrow. "She said... she said earlier that she was happy to be friends with everyone here! She said... she was happy to be friends with me, and I also want to let her know... that I feel the same way about her, SO FOR GOODNESS' SAKE, KEEP HER ALIVE!!!"

Dravis simply gazed at her, saying nothing. His eyes shifted to the bowl on the floor not far away, containing the remnants of the broth Amara had drunk. A faint grin curved his lips.

"The night is growing deeper, it's better for you to return to your room," Dravis said, and they all turned to him. He stood up and headed toward his own bed. "The princess wouldn't be pleased to see you in this state, so get some rest."

Nina was taken aback by what the young man said. She couldn't speak, but she knew he was right. She slowly stood up and nodded in response. She calmly left the room.

Shiloh, Erica, and Enrico weren't there. They temporarily stayed at Martina's place while the princess was still recovering. Louie and Cyrus glanced at Dravis, who was lying on his bed facing away from them.

"Dravis, why does it seem like you're okay with what that woman did?" Cyrus wondered.

"Do you see the bowl on the floor?" Dravis asked without even looking at them.

Cyrus and Louie glanced at the bowl Dravis was referring to. "Yes."

"What about the splash of spilled soup?" Dravis asked again.

Cyrus's eyes widened as he understood what Dravis was trying to convey. "Wait, that's—"

"Yeah! The trace of the soup splashed toward the window. It means someone might have tapped the bowl, causing it to spill in that direction! That might also explain why Amara drank so little, as someone probably tapped it to divert it away from her," Dravis explained. "And knowing that woman, she's stubborn and doesn't think much about decisions. She probably knew the soup was poisoned, but she still chose to drink it, thinking it would ease the bandit woman's worries."

With Dravis's explanation, it seemed that the two of them understood the rationale behind it. They realized that Amara likely did exactly that, which made Cyrus heave a sigh.

"Women, seriously! Tsk!"

"I think Ranz should be informed about this. Who knows what punishment they might impose on that woman," Louie said, looking at Amara who was still sleeping. "Lady Amara surely wouldn't want her friend to be punished because of her."