The Regressed Princess - Chapter 55

Chapter 55: The Kite; So This is a Kite

The sunlight painted a colorful scene, and the sky was as blue as an oil painting.

The season, with temperatures neither too high nor too low, was perfect for an outing. The lawn was dotted with blue and green wildflowers, and a gentle breeze blew, refreshing the soul.

In this day and age, commoners naturally had little mood for outings. The fields, mountains, and forests all belonged to various great nobles. Without the lord’s permission, even picking up some firewood in the mountains was considered a crime, punishable by at least a whipping or even enslavement.

Relatively speaking, the Nolanna royal family was slightly better than other city-states. They had claimed to be descendants of divine blood since ancient times, originating from the mountains, so they had always turned a blind eye to citizens picking up firewood in the forest.

Eva was an even lazier monarch. As long as you didn’t bump into her during her hunting trips, who cared if you were picking up firewood or fruit?

So, except for the days when the King was certain to organize hunts during festivals, commoners living off the mountains would always appear. Today, however, the situation had changed.

A seasoned hunter noticed a number of guards surrounding a hillside. Skilled in digging and setting traps, she saw at a glance the many fresh marks at the base of the slope, where someone seemed to have planted many sharp stones.

The hunter turned and left without hesitation. As she descended, a group of handsome youths were walking up the mountain path, laughing and talking.

“Hahaha~” The little Princess on the litter was doubled over with laughter at one of Andra’s jokes.

She reached out a finger and scraped Andra’s nose, laughing until tears came to her eyes. “Little bunnies don’t talk! You’re lying.”

“I’m not lying to you. Myths and legends happen in the divine realm, of course, and everything in the divine realm can talk!”

Andra joked solemnly, but her eyes kept darting around, searching for the personal guards or Miscella. Who knew if they would try another prank?

Today, the people surrounding the Princess were mostly slave attendants. It was likely because the Princess viewed climbing as tiring and didn’t want the nobles to be burdened.

Andra disapproved of such behavior. Compared to submissive slaves, she would sometimes specifically find small tasks for the noble attendants around her, lest they be spoiled and lose their sense of perspective.

However, she soon dismissed the thought: perhaps the Princess’s nature was just like that; she was kind to everyone.

Andra had only lived with the little Princess for a few days, but she had heard that Eleanor never withheld anyone’s food or clothing, gave out bonuses during festivals, and even invited famous healers from the folk into the palace to provide medical care for everyone including the slaves.

As for the personal guards… the Princess didn’t call them over today, perhaps fearing another conflict?

Andra walked up to the litter and asked in a low voice, “Highness, you brought very few guards today. Are the personal guards not coming?”

The little Princess tilted her head, as if asking if they were truly few.

She said in surprise, “They aren’t few. Manju and Thorns are here, and—you are here too, Andra. You are the strongest.”

The way the girl emphasized the word “you” was meaningful. Her heartfelt praise made Andra smile instinctively: That is only natural.

The recent disturbances were nothing but passing clouds; she had never taken those trashy people seriously. Now it seemed that although their actions were annoying, they had allowed the Princess to witness her strength.

They continued along the mountain path; the higher they went, the steeper the slope became. The lower path had been built over years by capital craftsmen specifically for the Nolanna King to race horses. The path further in was deep in the forest and difficult for horses, so no one was willing to pay to have craftsmen pave it further—no matter how labor was conscripted, one still had to buy food for them, and Eva wasn’t a devil, after all.

Fortunately, the place they were going was a hillside on a fork in the road. The terrain jutted outward, allowing one to stand on the cliff and gaze at the beautiful scenery near and far.

The strong attendants carried the litter, bringing the Princess up the slope at a walking pace. Andra and the others were light on their feet, and soon they had all emerged from the forest and climbed to the high hillside.

The slave attendants spread a magnificent carpet on the ground and placed food boxes on it. There were ceramic bowls, wooden boxes, and containers made of iron. Every container held exquisite snacks; it was said there was food the Princess had innovated in the kitchen for the King.

The little Princess leaned into Coral’s arms and personally took a silver wine flask from the stacked food boxes. She took out several cups and poured the wine with a splash, waving her small hand to beckon Manju, Thorns, and Andra to sit over.

“Usually, I don’t let you drink wine.”

The Princess looked vexed, but she soon broke into a smile. “But today is different. Everyone says wine is for making amends require wine. So, if you drink this cup of wine in front of me, you can’t argue anymore in the future, okay?”

Andra looked at the small wine cups on the carpet: Hah, the Princess’s line about usually not allowing wine must be true. These cups were tiny, barely larger than a thumb. After a hunting competition on the grasslands, she would always down a whole sea-bowl of “Grain Wine”; this tiny amount wouldn’t even wet the gaps between her teeth.

Andra’s head throbbed slightly, but she didn’t think of danger at all, assuming it was just the wind. Because she had watched the Princess personally pour these three cups from the flask, and Manju and Thorns were going to drink too.

She watched the expressions of Manju and Thorns. The two guards indeed looked helpless; they seemed to feel a bit humiliated that the Princess was making such a big deal out of “redressing” Andra’s grievances. But ultimately, they couldn’t rebel against the Princess, so they picked up their cups and drank them down briskly.

“I’m sorry!” Manju looked into her eyes, her tone very sincere.

Thorns just grunted something under her breath, looking completely unconvinced in both word and heart.

Andra smiled and waved her hand indifferently. “Rest assured, I never took your… offenses to heart.”

Even someone like Miscella wasn’t qualified to worry her, let alone two ordinary Nolannans.

She raised her hand and drained the cup. As soon as the wine entered her throat, a peculiar spiciness exploded.

“Mmh.”

Andra frowned. In Hetuya, they loved brewing wine with a type of grass seed; that wine would have many bubbles, which is why it was called Grain Wine. Nolannans liked to brew wine with fruit and another kind of leaf, which was mellower, but still nowhere near the kick she had just tasted.

Perhaps the little Princess had specifically used the Nolanna King’s private collection to help them “reconcile”?

Andra set down the cup and licked her lips with some lingering appreciation. Seeing her craving for the wine, the little Princess smiled. “I got this wine from Mother. There won’t be any more after this. Do you want a few more cups?”

Manju shook her head, but Thorns decisively placed her cup back by the flask and took another. Seeing Thorns’ provocative move, Andra naturally couldn’t back down. She drank three cups in a row before stopping under the Princess’s slightly surprised gaze.

The wine was quite heady. Andra touched her forehead; her fingers seemed to be trembling slightly… if she drank any more, it would affect the kite flying later… What is a kite?

Seeing Andra’s dazed movement as she put back the cup, Eleanor’s lips curved in a look of relief.

Of course, the wine wasn’t pure. She had added a plant she named “Mandragora.” The leaves and flowers of this plant, once ground into powder, released a neurotoxin.

This was a harvest from her first life. As Angie, the Eleanor of the first life could collect anything with the power of the nation, and one of those things was a natural anesthetic. Anesthetics were the top priority for surgery. At their current stage, they couldn’t produce synthetic drugs, so they hoped to find a plant with similar effects.

Mandragora grew in the deep mountains of Nolanna. Doctors had discovered by chance that it had an excellent anesthetic effect once ground into powder. Unfortunately, the side effects were massive: a patient would need to rest for half a year after waking up to return to normal life. For six months, her limbs would be persistently numb and her movements slow.

So later, this powder was only used for major surgeries like amputations. Mandragora powder had a special spicy taste, but fortunately, it wasn’t obvious when mixed with wine.

Eleanor put the wine flask back. Waiting a few days to act was to pick the Mandragora and modify the flask. Its internal mechanism was based on the “Yin-Yang flask” of ancient Earth; by holding a finger a certain way, one could pour liquid from a different internal compartment, allowing Thorns and Andra to drink different liquids.

To ensure Andra wouldn’t immediately notice something was wrong, she had carefully controlled the dose… it seemed to be enough. Eleanor smiled slightly as she looked at Andra’s flushed cheeks.

Andra felt like her breath carried the scent of strong liquor. Her vision blurred, and she was slightly surprised when she looked at Manju and Thorns: Huh, strange. Why aren’t these two feeling bad? Mmh, I only drank a little bit more…

Clap, clap. “Alright, alright, let’s start flying the kite.” The Princess clapped her hands twice, drawing everyone’s attention.

Coral brought a kite from the side and handed it to Eleanor.

Kite… what was that again?

Andra remembered the question again. She recalled hearing Eleanor mention it while they were sleeping. At the time, she only knew a kite was a thin toy that could fly in the sky. Looking at it today, colorful and bright, it was quite cute.

“I’ll demonstrate once first. Learn well, okay?”

The figure of the Princess multiplied into six or seven overlapping shadows in Andra’s eyes. Thus, six or seven little Princesses ran forward at once, throwing up the kite with a da-da-da.

The kite, made of wood chips and linen, flew into the air, and the string attached to it rattled. It leaped high like a bird, fluttered twice, and then spiraled downward.

Oh, Andra understood. This kite mimicked the wings of a bird; one used the force of the throw to let it float in the air and used the string to guide its direction. But the kite was still too heavy compared to a bird and would fall to the ground before long.

“Heh~” The little Princess threw it again. This time the kite fell even faster. She pouted and tossed the kite to Manju.

Andra walked forward drunkenly. That Manju… didn’t know how to use subtle force. Her thoughts were scattering everywhere. As she predicted, Manju solemnly threw the kite in a straight line.

Manju’s strength was much greater than the Princess’s, and the kite drifted high in an instant. Unfortunately, the angle wasn’t found well, and it plunged down even faster with a whoosh, hitting the ground with a thud.

“Oh, don’t break it!” The little Princess clapped her hands in distress. Thorns dashed out like a trained hound to fetch the kite back for her.

“Let me try.” Andra walked toward them with swaying shoulders, reaching out to take the kite.

Her consciousness was a bit blurred, but it was precisely this blurriness that made her body feel light, completely disregarding the drunkenness. She thought she was as sober as usual and could throw the kite with the most perfect movement, winning a happy cheer from the little Princess.

Andra instinctively adjusted the angle. Her body had a good adaptability to any movement, but now every joint was trembling, so after the kite was thrown, it only flew up a little bit before falling to the ground with a splat.

Clack.

The moment the kite hit the ground, Andra felt quite embarrassed. How could this be?

With sluggish thoughts, she picked up the kite and promised the little Princess, “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely fly it further than her.”

Andra took a deep breath of the air. This was her habit; whenever she felt she wasn’t performing well, she would force her body to calm down first. The effect was good this time. After a few breaths, the overlapping shadows before her went from seven or eight down to three or four, and her trembling joints stabilized.

Andra didn’t care about that; she just felt she was a bit more sober. She adjusted her hand posture in mid-air, letting the power transmit from her waist to her arm.

Whoosh— The kite was thrown high, flying forward with the wind.

“So high!” The little Princess let out a happy cry, running forward with da-da-da steps to follow the kite.

She chased and chased. The kite flew for a long way before its tip pointed down and it plunged with a whoosh. Eleanor chased after it and picked up the kite, mimicking the previous throw. Splat, the kite flew like a heavy, fat bird.

“Haha.” Andra laughed, then stopped laughing.

The Princess chased after it once more and threw it with force. She completely failed to notice that she had run close to the edge of the cliff, letting out only cheerful laughter.

“Hahahaha.” Eleanor laughed and ran to the edge of the precipice, reaching out to grab the trailing string of the kite.

“—” Manju and Thorns moved, shouting that the Highness was in danger!

Andra couldn’t hear those cries; her ears were full of buzzing noise. From the moment she saw Eleanor stepping toward the cliff, her feet had already kicked off the ground.

Close, very close. She saw the overlapping back of the little Princess and reached out her hand with force.

Swish, swish, swish.

The overlapping shadows dissipated quickly as her fingers passed through them, leaving only the most vivid figure in the center.

Don’t whatever you do, don’t fall Eleanor!!

Clack.

She seemed to have caught the Princess’s wrist. She seemed to have caught… the Princess’s hem?

Andra squinted in the blinding light and struggled to say, “Highness, quick, come back. This is too dangerous.”

Splat.

A soft sensation came from her chest, and then the world spun.

Why… am I dizzy?

Andra felt suffocated in the air. As she tilted, she saw a pair of slender little hands leaving her chest, leaving behind a resolute push.

What… is… going on?

Andra’s body fell backward. Every joint in her body screamed for her to twist and flip up. You can do it, you absolutely can do it, you can definitely step on a protrusion on the cliff edge and flip back up!

However, a paralysis stronger than an electric current made her continue to fall, fall… like a heavy kite.

So this is a kite. The Princess… let go of… the hand?

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