Chapter 30-31 Spoiler
Basically the mages handed the princess over to kidnappers and tricked them into thinking they have full on support to kill the princess before they die. The mages left straight after so they don’t get attacked by her family and the knights. The kidnapper’s leader tried to kill the princess in front of the emperor before he died, but was unsuccessful. She basically set them up to not get what they wanted and keep the mages out of it. The kidnappers were all going to die anyway

