The 17th Princess Just Wants to Live

The four of us took our seats in the waiting room. Richard and I sat on one side, while Andrea and Christian sat across from us.

Adjusting my posture, I glanced at Christian. His legs, too short to touch the floor, swung back and forth as he sat.

He kept staring at the plate of cookies on the table. He seemed to want one but hesitated, the plate too far away and the atmosphere too heavy for him to dare reach out.

At times like this, it fell on me, the adult, to step in. I pushed the plate toward him and said.

“Go ahead, you can have some.”

Christian flinched at my gesture. Though he had a puppy-like face, his startled reaction was more reminiscent of a rabbit. His small frame and brown hair also brought to mind a squirrel.

He scooted closer to his brother and looked up at him. When Andrea nodded, Christian’s face lit up.

“Thank you so much!”

He exclaimed cheerfully.

I barely managed to stifle a laugh. What an adorable kid — how old could he be? He looked about ten.

“Ahem.”

Richard, seemingly displeased with my expression, cleared his throat with irritation. Turning to Andrea, he got straight to the point.

“So, what’s the meaning of this? You didn’t show up to the birthday celebration, and now you’re pulling some kind of stunt?”

“Oh, come on. Was the birthday celebration really that important? Our old man went, didn’t he? That should’ve been enough.”

Andrea replied with a shrug. Their exchange lacked any of the decorum you’d expect between a prince and a duke’s son. Instead, they talked like old friends with nothing to hide.

“You two seem pretty close.”

I murmured, watching them. Richard retorted, scowling.

“Close? Not even. We just happen to have known each other a long time.”

Andrea explained.

“When Lady Octavia was alive, he used to visit every summer…”

“Don’t say her name.”

Richard cut Andrea off sharply. Though Andrea fell silent, his eyes betrayed his dissatisfaction. A tense air settled between them.

It felt like I was dealing with not one, but three children. Sighing, I shifted the conversation.

“Let’s set aside the irrelevant talk. Is it true, what you said earlier? That the invitations we received are fake?”

Andrea whistled lightly.

“I must say, you’re much more mature than that guy. I’m glad there’s someone here I can have a proper conversation with. If it were just him, we’d probably be throwing punches instead of talking.”

“Cut the nonsense and answer the question.”

Richard muttered, though his tone was noticeably calmer.

It was clear they were close. Richard often fought with Rudolph, but the atmosphere was never this casual. Though his words were sharp, he didn’t seem genuinely angry this time.

I supposed Andrea was like a cousin that he saw during holidays — a familiar face from his frequent trips to the West with his mother. After all, they said there were no nobles in the West unrelated to the Cardina family. They were probably blood relatives.

“Yes, the invitations are fake.”

Andrea admitted, propping his legs up on the table.

“The duke’s actual guests are arriving in two days for a cruise. The invitations you received were ones I forge myself, complete with the duke’s seal, which I stamped in secret.”

Hmm. His arrogance was strikingly similar to Richard’s. Perhaps some of Richard’s personality came from his Western bloodline…

Andrea leaned back in his chair and smirked at Richard.

“Think about it. Has the old man ever invited the imperial to one of his cruise parties?”

“Never. That’s why I found it suspicious.”

Richard grumbled, exchanging a look with me.

We’d discussed this before. The Cardina family’s annual cruise was a major event, but they’d never invited the imperial to attend. Even if they schemed in the background, they avoided overtly involving themselves in imperial power struggles.

It was certainly odd. But the situation itself was strange. If Cardina and Aschenbach were truly conspiring to rebel, it wouldn’t be surprising if Cardina abandoned convention and acted recklessly.

“Still, given the circumstances…”

Logically… who would suspect an invitation bearing the duke’s seal to be fake?

“Exactly. It’s a strange situation.”

Andrea said, straightening in his chair and leaning forward.

“I’m not one for beating around the bush, so I’ll get straight to the point.”

He announced.

“My younger brother is after the position of duke. I’d like to kill this bastard. Can you help me?”

“Uh…”

I instinctively glanced at Christian. Realizing where I was looking, Andrea hastily clarified.

“I don’t mean Christian!”

“Of course not, right? Haha…”

I laughed awkwardly and replayed Andrea’s words in my mind.

Let me set aside what kind of help we could provide for now. The important thing was that Cardina’s successor had asked us for assistance. That meant my next question was obvious.

“What do we get in return?”

Even as I asked, I had a hunch about his answer.

“I’ll give you proof that Duke Aschenbach is stirring up trouble in the West through pirates.”

Andrea responded exactly as I expected.

“And I’ll also give you the cutest groom in the empire.”

Now that I hadn’t anticipated.

Without realizing it, my head whipped around. Christian, who was happily munching on cookies, tilted his head at me in confusion.

Oh no, he was so cute — wait, no!

“That… that’s about Christian, right?”

“Yes.”

Andrea winked at me.

“Our family is famous for our marriage arrangements, after all. It’s a way of showing we’re serious about acting in the Cardina way. Besides, it’s not a bad proposition for the princess either, is it? They’re close in age, after all.”

Bang.

Richard slammed his foot on the table, the loud sound startling everyone. Christian dropped his cookie in shock, and I flinched as well.

All eyes turned to Richard as he addressed Andrea.

“Do you think I’m here to sell off my sister?”

“So dramatic.”

Andrea didn’t flinch at Richard’s aggressive tone.

“Just hear me out. I’m proposing something that could make us all happy.”

The last part was directed at me.

I gestured for Richard to calm down before responding to Andrea.

“Fine, let’s hear it.”

Andrea smiled brightly and began his explanation.

“To understand this situation, you first need to know about my family’s structure.”

The current Duke of Cardina had three sons.

The eldest was Andrea Cardina, born to the duke’s first wife, making him the official heir to the Cardina family.

The second was Albert Cardina, the child of the duke’s second marriage. His mother passed away not long after his birth.

The youngest was Christian Cardina, born to the cuke’s current wife. He was considerably younger than his two older brothers.

In short, all three sons had different mothers.

This family might not be as chaotic as mine, but it certainly seemed messy enough.

“Neither my mother nor the current duchess married for love, you see.”

Andrea spoke casually, as if discussing someone else’s affairs.

Although he appeared indifferent, I kept glancing at Christian, worried about how this conversation might affect him. Was it really okay to talk like this in front of a child?

“But Maria, who passed away… ah, that’s Albert’s mother. Her story was different. If my father ever married without considering social standing, it must have been an extraordinary love.”

Andrea chuckled lightly.

“She was a commoner, wasn’t she? I think I heard something about that. They said Duke Cardina lost his head over love.”

Richard remarked. Andrea nodded.

“She was born a commoner but adopted into a noble family just to make the marriage happen. And she passed away only a few years later. My father must still be bitter about it — he keeps her portrait hanging in his office.”

That did sound like a remarkable love story, though it became complicated when he remarried. I looked at Christian again, but the boy seemed unfazed, happily focused on his cookies.

“Perhaps because of that, Albert acted like an entitled brat to me from a young age.”

Up to this point, Andrea’s tone had been light, almost joking. But the moment he mentioned Albert’s name, his dark eyes flashed with a hint of menace.

“I should’ve disciplined him back then, but I was hesitant because he was my stepmother’s child.”

I understood what he meant. Disciplining a half-brother born to a commoner mother might have opened him to criticism. It made sense that Andrea had been cautious.

“Because he was spoiled without any proper guidance, he grew increasingly reckless. Still, I could understand why my father coddled him — losing his mother at a young age and all that. I was willing to overlook it out of respect for their great love.”

Andrea began to grind his teeth.

“But then that brat got so ambitious that he started eyeing the position of heir.”

“Hm…”

I made a vague sound, unsure how to respond.

From Andrea’s perspective, it was infuriating, but it wasn’t unusual for heirs in noble families to vie for their position. The struggle for succession often depended on the parents’ influence, though it could become incredibly messy.

“I know what you’re thinking. But Albert is not fit to be an heir.”

Andrea said, looking at me.

“You’ll see that as the story unfolds. Anyway, he openly declared his ambitions, and my father did nothing to stop him. But I wasn’t worried.”

Andrea raised his chin confidently.

“I’ve been involved in the affairs of the duchy since I was thirteen. I’m nothing like that wastrel who spent his youth running away from tutors and drinking himself into a stupor. Everyone in the West knows this.”

Andrea’s confidence seemed well-founded.

If he had been managing family affairs for so long and enjoyed the support of the Western nobility, then Albert, no matter how favored by their father, stood little chance.

“Albert knew that too. He should have given up, but instead, he pulled off the craziest stunt imaginable.”

“What kind of crazy stunt…?”

Andrea let out a dry laugh, as if even he couldn’t quite believe it.

“He took his knights and ran away to become a pirate.”

“What?”

Richard’s voice betrayed his utter disbelief. It was certainly a shocking and absurd story.

‘Pirate?’

But no one in this room was more shocked than I was.

‘Wait a minute, this Albert — could he possibly be the infamous Pirate Albert?!’