Chapter 7

The bandits who attacked the carriage surrounded the two with lecherous grins.

"Hey, don't kill the girl. We've got some fun planned for her."

"Of course. It's not every day we get such a prize."

It seems that no matter where bandits appear, their actions are mostly the same. Dai showed his disgust, but the prime minister's sons were cold.

"Dark, aren't you worried about your sister?"

"I might be a bit concerned if she were even a little cute."

"I would have killed the attacker immediately if it were Momo. No, I would have made them regret being born. But when it comes to Chloe... to be honest, I can only say 'serves her right.'"

(Chloe, did you hear that? You are this hated by men. To think you could delude yourself into believing I like you?)

"What about you, Your Highness? This is a crisis for your former fiancée."

"I agree with you... but if Shin were to die, Momo would be sad."

In truth, he had tearfully opposed Chloe's escort mission. Considering the worst-case scenario, he hadn't let Momo participate in this screening, and it might have been the right decision. No matter how much she had been bullied, he couldn't let that gentle Momo see a young lady being attacked by bandits.

At that moment, one of the bandits, who had been hiding behind Chloe, lunged at her with a sword. Shin was too busy with the attacker in front of him to intervene in time.

She thought it was over.

*Thud*

"...Huh?"

There was a thud behind her. Since the brooch was pinned to Shin's chest, she couldn't see what had happened. After managing to subdue the attacker, she turned around to see Chloe with a repeating crossbow and a bandit clutching his leg and crouching.

"Miss, is that...?"

"I didn't have time to bring anything else. Well, it came in handy as a self-defense tool, thanks to Shin. It has low lethality, so it can only stop them in their tracks."

The small crossbow had been carried in a leather bag. While it wasn't impossible, her preparation seemed almost as if she had anticipated the bandit attack, which was quite alarming. Could it be the power of the saint? ...No, she must be a fake.

"I have a lot of enemies... as a saint and as a candidate for princess. Learning self-defense was tough, but now I'm glad I did."

After taking down all of them and tying them up, Chloe chuckled.