"Princess?" Isabella furrowed her brows and looked at Liu Ying and Bloed as she thought about Mu Quan's words.
An awkward smile appeared on Liu Ying's face when she noticed Isabella's look.
"It's just a misunderstanding. I-I'm not a princess or anything like that."
"Technically, that is not completely untrue…"
"Huh?" Liu Ying looked at Bloed in confusion.
"Well, you are my future wife. That makes you a princess as well."
Liu Ying was stunned. But quickly, she turned completely red.
As for Isabella, she was startled and then stared at Bloed with a gaze of interest.
Bloed sighed in relief inwardly. 'With this, she should pay more attention to my true identity than Liu Ying's.'
It was already bad that the strongest student in Academy City was suspecting Liu Ying's identity. So, the last thing that Bloed wanted was for the second strongest student to suspect it as well.
That was the reason Bloed hinted at his identity just now. he did it to shift Isabella's curiosity from Liu Ying towards him.
He did not know how useful his attempt was going to be, but it was everything Bloed could do right now.
Grabbing Liu Ying's hand, Bloed spoke to Isabella with a wry smile.
"Miss Isabella, we have to go. Thank you for your invitation."
"Oh, It's alright. Consider my words of before, and see you in the War of Clubs."
Smiling playfully, Isabella turned around and flew away.
When Bloed was sure that she had left, he pulled Liu Ying away while ignoring the curious gazes in the surroundings.
When they left the curious crowd behind, Bloed wrinkled his brows.
"Liu Ying, do you recognize that Mu Quan?"
Liu Ying thought for a moment and shook her head. "I don't. Do you think he knows my identity?" She asked nervously.
"… He should be only suspicious right now. But just the fact that he is suspecting your identity is bad."
Liu Ying nodded.
Her identity as the princess of the previous demon imperial family was very sensitive. Once it was revealed, it was very likely that tens of assassins would be sent to end her life.
That was the reason Liu Ying was so nervous.
"… I don't understand." She furrowed her brows in confusion. "How did he recognize me? Right now, I'm almost completely different than when I was still a princess. Only someone really familiar with me should be able to recognize me."
"I don't know." Bloed wrinkled his brows and fell deep in thought.
Just like Liu Ying said, the current her looked completely different than when she was a princess. Her hair was black instead of red, her amber eyes had been disguised as black as well, and even her appearance had changed slightly after several years in the exiled lands.
Furthermore, the appearance of her Aspect was completely different than the appearance of the Aspect of the previous demon Imperial Family. Instead of a Chaos Titan, her aspect had been disguised as a Black Knight.
The only thing that could link her to her previous identity was her name, but the surname Liu and the name Ying were not uncommon in the demon lands. That was far from enough to link her to her identity as a princess.
Bloed wondered briefly if it was due to Liu Ying's fighting style, but Liu Ying's fighting style was based on the Human Confederation's martial arts. Even if it was a bare-handed style like the style of the previous demon imperial family, it was a completely different style with no relation whatsoever.
With all these options out of the way, Bloed could only think of a reason Mu Quan was suspecting her identity.
"He should know you when you were still a princess. And he should be rather familiar with you. Liu Ying, you truly don't remember him?"
Liu Ying frowned and searched in her memories for him, but no matter how much she tried, his name nor his face ringed a bell.
When Bloed heard that, he put on a pensive expression.
Then, he sighed.
"There is no point in thinking about it anymore. However, you should be careful around him from now onwards. Everything will be alright as long as you don't reveal any flaw."
Liu Ying smiled wryly. "I guess so. However…"
"What is it?"
Liu Ying hesitated slightly before biting her lips and speaking up.
"… The situation will not be too bad if Mu Quan is part of the faction loyal to my family. However, if he is part of the faction of the new imperial family, things will be more troublesome."
Bloed squinted.
"Do you think he will try to kill you without confirming your true identity?"
Liu Ying nodded.
"The new imperial family can't allow my existence. So, if Mu Quan tells them about his suspicions, it's possible they will send someone to kill me without caring if I'm truly Princess Liu Ying or not."
Bloed's expression turned ice-cold.
"You are right. We need to be careful. I'll ask Regina to leave a strand of her ESPer ability on you. It should be enough to protect you from a lethal attack, even if the enemy is a demigod. As long as you remain in Academy City, Regina will be able to use that second to reach your side."
Liu Ying glanced at Bloed before lowering her head.
"…. Sorry about it. I ended involving you in my problems."
Bloed smiled softly and grabbed her hand.
"Silly girl, why are you apologizing? As your lover, my duty is to protect you and support you. Plus, it's not even certain that you are going to be attacked. Perhaps we are overreacting and nothing will happen."
Liu Ying forced a smile out and tightened the hand holding Bloed's hand.
"… I think I'm falling more and more in love with you."
Bloed glanced at Liu Ying and chuckled. But all of sudden, he put on a startled expression before chuckling amusedly.
"Bloed?"
"Now that I think about it, our club is a gathering place for princes in trouble."
"Huh?"
"Think about it. I'm a human prince that was exiled from his home, you are a demon princess whose family suffered a coup d'etat, Prince Calisto is a beastmen prince running away from the battle for the throne, and Elwha is an elf princess being chased by a fanatical church."
Liu Ying was stunned.
"Now that you mention it, it's true…"
"Right? We have a prince of almost every race. We only need a prince from the monsters' side to complete the collection."
"A dragon princess perhaps?"
"Hahaha, yeah, a dragon princess would be nice. Well, I doubt any other prince is interested in coming to our club."
Liu Ying chuckled. "You are right, four princes are already a big coincidence."
Several years later, when Bloed and Liu Ying remembered this conversation and thought about the number of princes in [Machine Revolutio], they did not know whether to laugh or to laugh.
...
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