Chapter 61

The Snow White gang outright botched the assassination attempt, worsening the situation. Adel erupted in anger at the other six dwarves.

“Hey, I told you not to start anything until I got back!”

“For crying out loud, the Hunter guy was all ‘this’ll totally work!’ What? He said it’d be easy to snipe him during the festival while everyone’s distracted!”

“No, that requires a precise hit to the heart! With such tight security and unpredictable variables, we just ended up exposing ourselves to even more danger!”

“But Princess approved it too!”

In an instant, all eyes turned to Snow White. Adel wanted to know what she was thinking, and the dwarves looked at her expectantly, wanting her to explain to Adel why it was a good idea.

“Uh… u-um…”

Snow White blushed and bowed her head deeply. She seemed like the type who didn’t handle attention well, but surprisingly managed to speak up.

“At that time, the Queen had most of her forces deployed, so security was lax. Count Vivid was throwing a grand birthday party. It seemed like the perfect opportunity… Even vampires die if their heart is struck.”

“Hmph, I see.”

Wait, what? Everyone expected Adel to argue more, but surprisingly he accepted it without resistance. Does he just listen to the princess?

“Still, Adel, where are the other comrades who went with you?”

At Snow White’s question, Adel hung his head gloomily.

“That… well…”

“They’re all dead, plain and simple. Cleanly eaten up.”

Elise cut in before Adel could reply. Her expression clearly showed she wanted to skip the drawn-out story.

“W-WHAT!? Eaten!?”

Snow White slammed her hand on the table and stood up in shock. Tears welled up in her eyes. I quickly covered Elise’s mouth.

“Hey, don’t say it like that! What I mean is…”

The dwarves and Snow White were deeply shocked hearing about what happened to Hansel and Gretel. Especially learning that their subordinates weren’t just killed normally, but reincarnated as food and eaten, made Snow White’s small hands tremble on the table.

“I-I see…”

The atmosphere grew somber. Despite this, Snow White gave me a gentle smile.

“T-Thank you. Without you all, Adel might not have survived either. S-so…”

Tears resembling chicken droppings ran down Snow White’s pale cheeks. She wiped her eyes hastily with her sleeve, trying to swallow her emotions.

“I-I’ve made a spectacle of myself. I apologize.”

Snow White somehow gives off an incredibly fragile image that triggers maternal instincts. Looking at the sword at her waist, I wondered if she could even wield it properly.

“Still, I can’t express how grateful I am that you all came to help us. Thank you so much.”

Snow White suddenly grabbed my hand. Her skin was pale and soft, like pudding.

[Let go of that hand!]

Ariel swatted Snow White’s hand away, clearly jealous. The dwarves frowned disapprovingly at the scene, but restrained themselves since these people were valuable allies.

Snow White said sheepishly:

“A-Ah, I’m sorry. I acted too rashly.”

“Ah no, it’s fine. Um, may I ask why you ended up being pursued by the kingdom?”

Snow White hesitated briefly before nodding.

“It all started after my mother passed away and the new queen arrived.”

“As time passed, father grew weaker and our once brilliant ministers all seemed sickly, like they were turning into corpses. Then when father passed away, I realized – there were two bite marks on his cold neck.”

The typical vampire image. Most victims get those marks on their necks.

“But I realized too late. The vampire queen already had control over the kingdom. No matter how I tried to resist, the ministers and soldiers, whose souls had been taken by the vampire, ignored me completely. Then one day, I caught her talking to a mirror.”

The magic mirror part. In the original story, she asked who was the fairest, but this version of Snow White’s tale probably won’t include that.

Elise scowled.

“She asked who had the sweetest blood.”

“The sweetest blood?”

[Gross. Sweet blood? That’s disturbing just imagining it.]

This was unexpected. Like searching for the tastiest human food.

“Yes. The mirror replied that my blood was the sweetest. It said my 18-year-old blood would make the queen transcendentally powerful. I immediately fled upon hearing that. I didn’t want to be captured and eaten by the queen. That’s when the hunter, instead of capturing me, helped me escape, and I met the dwarves who helped me get here.”

Transcendental existence, huh? This is getting big.

Snow White raised her eyes filled with previously unseen anger.

“I will definitely punish the queen. I’ll rip out the heart of that evil vampire who destroyed my father and my country!”

Snow White’s voice rose. Realizing she had gotten excited, she startled herself and returned to her usual shy demeanor.

“A-Ah, I’m sorry. I got carried away.”

“No, you must have gone through a lot.”

At my simple words, Snow White’s pupils widened before she smiled gently. The queen wants her blood, not her death – though the story differs slightly from the original, the direction is similar.

Speaking of which, where’s the prince? In the original, he rescues Snow White after she eats the poison apple…

Just then, Elise, who had been lounging with her feet on the table, poked my side. I get what she wants me to say.

“Um… actually, we’re looking for the white rabbit and the black rabbit. Adel mentioned the hunter encountered them. We agreed to meet the hunter as a condition for coming here. Is the hunter available now?”

“Ah, y-yes… um, it does seem strange not to help without conditions… Haha… But… um…”

Snow White looked troubled as she hesitated to speak. I had a feeling.

“Ha! Now that you mention it, it is suspicious… The hunter’s not here, is he?”

It wasn’t just me. Elise, who had been glaring around since earlier, shouted with a dark expression.

[Shock! Now that you mention it, there’s no sign of the hunter anywhere! Where is he?]

Adel sighed briefly. He probably realized this when he first arrived, but was hesitant to say it.

“We… he’s been captured.”

“What?! Captured? You mean by Count Vivid?”

“Yes… However, now that you’re here, we can devise a new plan and rescue the hunter!”

Elise stood up abruptly, clearly dissatisfied.

“Plan? Ha! With that great plan, you couldn’t even catch a single vampire and are hiding in this creepy place. And you’re still talking about plans? That hunter’s probably already in the vampire’s stomach. We should just charge in. Useless princess, stay out of it.”

“Kuh! Even if you’re precious heroes Adel brought, how dare you insult the princess so rudely!”

“Yeah! Just because you saved Adel doesn’t give you the right to act this way!”

“Apologize immediately!”

“Y-You all, calm down!”

Oh no, this isn’t good. They’re fighting right after meeting.

“I’m sorry everyone! This friend just has a bit of a short temper!”

I desperately tried to calm the dwarves, but they seemed unable to tolerate their princess being insulted.

“You will apologize!”

“That’s right! Apologize properly to the princess!”

“Hey, you bastards! Do you know who these people are? This isn’t the time for this!”

Adel, like me, tried to mediate, standing between the angry dwarves approaching Elise.

“Move.”

“Yeesss!”

At Elise’s menacing command, Adel immediately backed off. Elise glared down at the dwarves from beside Adel, who stepped aside.

“Hah~ What makes you useless guys think you can talk big? Incompetent servants under an incompetent princess?”

“Shut up! Who do you think you are to talk like that!”

“That’s right! The princess and we aren’t incompetent!”

“If you’re not incompetent, then why are you like this? I thought you had some great army prepared. What do we have here? Nothing prepared, and your amateurish plan couldn’t even catch one vampire, causing all this chaos. All you’ve done is sit here praying for salvation someday, right?”