After laughing for a bit, the princess still said with a slightly worried look, "But if you play around too much, that might still drive them away. Are you sure that you didn't go too far?"
The king shook his head as he said, "I've already given him enough benefits that he won't be able to run even if he wanted to. Plus, he's now the center of attention in the entire court, so there's nowhere for him to run."
Seeing the look on her father's face, the princess even felt a bit sorry for that person.
With a sigh, she said, "Father, if you bully him too much, won't you break his confidence?"
The king just casually gave a snort and said, "Who told him to raise all this trouble? If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have had to work so hard these past few weeks."
The princess just shook her head with a smile that seemed like she found this all funny, but then she said with a serious look, "But it is a fact that there are more and more demons appearing in our kingdom, isn't it?"
The king was silent for a bit before saying, "It's just small tricks that they're playing, they won't be able to do anything to our kingdom."
The princess revealed a look that showed that she clearly thought differently, but she didn't say anything else. Instead, she said with a sigh, "First brother and second brother really are going at it, aren't they? Why can't we just be a family?"
The king shook his head with a sigh as well, but he didn't say anything since he knew that this was impossible.
As the former crown prince, he knew the struggles of the succession race, so he knew that it was impossible for his sons to settle down.
But these were his sons, the children that he had cared for since they were young.
To him, they were precious and important, so he didn't want to see them fighting like this.
For this, he had come up with a plan that would minimize casualties…but he also knew that it was impossible for this to be settled quietly.
The succession race could and would only become more and more explosive.
Eventually…death might even be inevitable.
But for now, he didn't want to think about this…so the king changed the topic by saying, "You've been going out to play a lot lately. Did you really think that I wouldn't notice?"
The princess trembled when she heard this, but then she looked away and gave an innocent whistle before saying, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I've never gone out to play once, I've been studying all this time."
The king shook his head and gave a sigh before saying, "Did you really think that I wouldn't find out? Or did you think that your guards wouldn't say a thing? Who do you think is the king?"
When she heard this, the princess revealed an aggrieved look.
She had already swore those guards to secrecy, but it seemed like they hadn't kept their vow at all. The moment that her back was turned, they had immediately gone against her and told her father.
It seemed like she needed to punish those guards once her father left.
At the same time…she needed to go find her fourth brother for an explanation.
After all, it was her fourth brother who had assigned these guards to her in the first place.
She had even done him a favour to make sure that he gave her guards that would help her keep this secret for her. But now they went and stabbed her in the back like this, so he couldn't avoid taking responsibility for this.
After a long moment of silence to complain in her mind, the princess finally said, "It's so stuffy staying in the palace all day, you should know that, royal father. I just wanted to go out and see the city."
"See the city?" The king repeated after her with one brow raised.
When the princess heard this, she couldn't help jolting again.
After all, the way that the king said this, it almost seemed like he knew more than he was revealing.
The princess carefully looked at the king as if she was trying to figure out just what he knew, but the king had a calm look on his face that didn't reveal a single thing.
Finally, she gave a sigh and said, "I just snuck out of the city a few times and went to the surrounding villages. I just wanted to see what the lives of the people in the villages were like."
The king revealed a bitter smile when he heard this, but then he gave a sigh to calm himself down before revealing a serious look, "You should know how dangerous it is outside of the capital. It's not that I don't understand what you're thinking, but you always take the most dangerous path. It's not safe out there with all those monsters and you know it."
The princess pouted her lips as she muttered, "If I didn't sneak out, who knows when I would be able to see the villages?"
The king once again revealed a bitter smile as he said, "But there are better ways than sneaking out. I can arrange for a visit to those villages if you want or we can find a better solution. All you're doing is causing worry for your mother by sneaking out like this."
The princess pouted her lips even more as she said, "If I go with all those guards, how will I be able to see the villages in their true form? They'll be too scared to even walk with all those royal guards."
The king just gave a sigh before patting her on the head, "It's for your own good, I will not budge on that."
The princess kept pouting her lips without saying a thing.
That is until the king suddenly asked, "So, what do you like about him?"
When she heard these words, the princess' eyes opened wide and she looked at him with a shocked gaze.
The king said with a smile, "Did you really think that I wouldn't notice?"