When she opened her eyes again, what she saw were red pupils. With tears falling drop by drop.
"…Oscar?"
"Hic… Y-you're awake? Captain?"
"Awake?"
Soon Romeo's voice was heard as well. Lelia frowned slightly and slowly raised her upper body.
Lelia looked around. It seemed to be the infirmary inside the temple.
But the beds to her left and right were completely empty.
"You've awakened, Your Highness the Crown Prince."
A priest standing to one side approached. It was a female priest with an extremely calm voice.
"W-where are the others?"
"The other two woke up long ago. They received healing and went out to meet the High Priest for a moment."
Lelia looked down at her body. Her belly seemed to have been torn open, but thanks to healing magic, she felt no pain.
"…That's a relief. But… gasp!"
Lelia sucked in a breath and opened her eyes wide. She was wearing intact priestly robes.
That meant someone had changed her clothes.
The clothes she wore coming down from the mountain would have been a mess, even her undergarments covered in dirt.
Then who changed her undergarments….
'My identity must have been exposed!'
The Emperor would kill her!
Seeing Lelia's expression instantly fill with fear, the female priest bowed her head.
She whispered quietly into Lelia's ear.
"Your Highness's clothes were changed by me, and I alone saw. No one else saw anything, so please calm down."
"…."
Lelia blinked her eyes.
The priest briefly pressed her index finger to her lips, then removed it. A silent signal that she would never speak of it.
"…."
Lelia gulped.
"Captain, what's wrong?"
"I, I don't think I'm, I'm normal yet…."
"No, I'm fine…. Hah, but anyway…."
Just then, the door burst open.
"Are you awake?"
"…."
The ones who opened the door and entered were Calix and Griffith.
Both of them also looked perfectly fine, perhaps having received healing magic. Lelia especially noted Calix's arms.
'Thank goodness.'
If his arm had been cut off as in the original work, even healing magic couldn't restore it. It was fortunate it ended with just an ankle injury.
"…You look fine."
Lelia murmured with a sigh of relief, and the two approached with serious expressions.
Griffith spoke.
"You need to go meet the High Priest too. We're going to formally protest this incident."
"…What?"
Lelia looked up at Griffith.
"So you're not going to? You're the Crown Prince of the Auraria Empire. I'm royalty too, and so is that guy."
"…."
Lelia hesitated.
The priests would be in an uproar holding emergency meetings.
An incident this large was something that had to be reported to their home countries.
But Lelia knew what the result would be. She turned her gaze to Calix.
"…."
Calix had a slightly sour expression, though he was trying not to show it.
Calix knew too. What kind of result would appear if this matter became public.
Each empire would be in an uproar.
'Of course, the Emperor of Auraria won't even care….'
In the original work, an accident occurred where Calix's arm was actually cut off.
When the children from each nation learned of this fact, they reported to their home countries and caused an uproar, and the Temple intervened to mediate.
However, the victim Calix's home country, the Askard Empire, tried to simply bury the matter.
The Askard Emperor said this even though his nephew had lost an arm:
"Right now, our five empires have gathered our strength with the Temple to raise heroes. Of course, anger and sorrow that tears my heart apart comes first regarding my nephew's wound, but still, now is not the time for this. Didn't we gather so we wouldn't point swords at each other?"
When the emperor of the victim's country took this stance, the other empires couldn't make a big issue of it either.
Of course, some empires asked for their children to be sent back since they could no longer entrust them, but the Holy Emperor personally stepped forward.
The Holy Emperor personally apologized to each nation's emperor regarding this incident and pledged to take greater care in the future.
With the Holy Emperor taking such a stance, everyone had no choice but to merely request caution.
After that, the priests actually served with extreme dedication for the children's safety.
In that situation, what about Calix who had lost an arm?
'It absolutely must not be made public.'
Though he didn't show it, Calix would have received an enormous wound. One that could never be healed. Like his severed arm.
Nevertheless, Calix doesn't yield.
After returning to his home country, he gives up his royal authority himself and leaves to become a mercenary.
Thus he enters the Mad Dragon subjugation party with the qualifications of a mercenary king, and achieves greater merit than anyone.
Calix was that kind of person.
Someone with a strong will and conviction that Lelia couldn't even imagine.
But right now….
'Even so, he's just a ten-year-old child.'
Thinking of the wound that ten-year-old child would have received was horrific. Though he didn't lose his arm this time, he would bear a similar wound.
No, since he wasn't greatly injured this time, the Askard Emperor might act even more shamelessly.
Lelia wanted to prevent that by any means.
"…."
Lelia looked at Calix's eyes that somehow seemed anxious, then asked.
"This incident, do the other children know about it?"
"…No. Not that yet."
That was fortunate at least.
"Then let's not tell them. I want to pretend this incident never happened."
"Are you crazy?"
"Are you crazy, you?"
"Captain, are you crazy?"
"C, crazy, I think. Captain…."
The four people said the same thing, but Lelia was resolute.
"Please, I'm begging you. Keep this incident a secret."
"Why on earth?"
"Well… if my father finds out, something big will happen."
"…."
"My father treasures me enormously. How much does he treasure me, you ask… to the point he used to kiss me and hug me to sleep every day! But if he finds out I was injured, he'll raise hell, Mad Dragon or whatever!"
"…Crazy bastard. You kiss your dad? Papa boy, this bastard."
Calix sneered, but Lelia continued speaking.
"Right! So please let's keep it a secret. Huh? My dad might even cry. He'll sob his heart out! Then my heart will tear apart!"
"…."
'Actually, far from kissing, he'll try to kill me for causing trouble….'
It was fortunate just to survive with her life.
At Lelia's words, everyone made strange expressions. As if they'd seen something unsightly….
"So please. Huh? I'll grant each of you one wish! So let's keep it a secret. The priests will agree anyway. You just need to keep your mouths shut!"
"…."
"Hah…."
"Calix, Griffith. I know you nearly died… but still, I'm asking you. Huh?"
"…I don't mind."
Calix answered after thinking for a moment.
"…If you say that much."
And Griffith also agreed.
"No way! Captain, did you get hit in the head? Use your brain a little! You just woke up, maybe your head isn't working right?"
"You… be quiet, will you?!"
Romeo raged, but Lelia shouted him down.
"…."
Romeo fumed like last time, then just left the sickroom altogether.
"That bastard, he… daring to do that to the Captain…."
Lelia muttered quietly, and Oscar grabbed Lelia's arm and calmed her.
"C, Captain. Calm down… H, have patience…. Romeo is always w, weird like that…."
"Sigh… right, I need to be patient."
Calix, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, asked.
"Hey. But why does that guy who just left and this one call you Captain? Why are you playing Captain game?"
"It's not a Captain game…. They just, I guess they want to. They call me that because they want to. What am I supposed to do about it?"
Lelia answered curtly.
'Though I did directly tell Romeo to call me that….'
Calix looked at Lelia quietly. Lelia also gazed back at him with a sullen expression.
Wait a moment.
Don't tell me….
"Hey, Calix, you're not planning to…."
"I'll call you Captain too."
Too late.
Lelia's face scrunched up completely.
"You said they call me that because they want to. I want to call you that too, so I will. No complaints, right?"
"No…."
Lelia wanted to take back her own words from just moments ago.
Just then, Griffith also grinned broadly and spoke.
"Then me too."
"No…."
No, why on earth… why on earth!
'This wasn't in my predictions….'
In the end, Lelia somehow ended up making four heroes who would defeat the Mad Dragon in the future into her subordinates.
'Now I can't even say something like there are four of them….'
Anyway, the rest of the heroes were people who hadn't stayed at this temple in their childhood.
Lelia thought what could she do, let it be whatever, and lay back down on the bed.
'Don't know, don't know. They're calling me that, what can I do.'
Anyway, once they returned to their home countries, they would be people she'd never see again in her lifetime.
Officially, Crown Prince Leo would die not long after returning to his home country.