Chapter 20: The Black Fox 2

Part 1

Eiji stopped in front of the door and steadied his breathing before swinging it wide open with a nonchalant look on his face.

“Yo.”

Payne, Bruce, Formido, and Miloutè turned to look at Eiji when he stepped into the room. A crooked look crossed Payne’s visage.

“You never came no matter how much we called you, so what brings you here today?”

“What else am I supposed to do when the situation is what it is? Everything’s going to hell, so I at least need to know what you all are thinking, don’t I?”

Swing.

Margarita was stepping out from the torture chamber when she saw Eiji and opened her eyes wide.

“Oh my goodness! Eiji!”

She was reeking of blood. Eiji’s eyes clouded over for a moment when he saw the unconscious and mangled men behind her, but he quickly resumed an air of indifference. He then turned his eyes to Margarita, who was beaming.

“……It’s been a while, Margarita.”

“Goodness, you’re so cold. Call me Marie like you used to before. Or are you too embarrassed now that you’re all grown up? But, didn’t you miss me at all? How come you never came to see me?”

Margarita looked down at Eiji as she giggled with her hand in front of her lips. Was this woman being serious? Eiji apathetically spat out,

“I was busy.”

Margarita furrowed her brows ever so slightly before she smoothed them out again.

“Were you now? In that case, you must have come today because you had the time to spare, yes? Do stay for a while.”

Stay for a while……. Eiji hadn’t seen Margarita in some time, but the witch was still the same as ever. What was she planning to do to him that she wanted him to stay? She was one of his personal nightmares, and just standing in front of her like this made him recall horrible memories. Eiji’s calm cerulean eyes took in Margarita’s figure.

He didn’t know what she had done, but she hadn’t changed at all since the last time he had seen her eight years ago. Rather, she had never changed ever since the day he first met her —it was like her very being was immutable.

Eiji felt conflicted. On one hand, he felt like he could kill her now that he had matured while she hadn’t changed one bit, but on the other, she was so unchanged that he was afraid that he would be ruined at her hands yet again if he dared try.

She was like a bramble of withered thorns. He had thought that he would die from the pain whenever he was pricked by her sharp thorns back then, but now she was so small and unseemly that he almost thought he could simply snap her neck in two. And yet, he was still afraid.

Eiji only just managed to keep himself from trembling disgracefully and forced himself to keep up his pretense of composure as he stood his ground.

“Perhaps. Though I’d rather not.”

Margarita’s lips pursed into a straight line as a frigid look crossed her entire mien.

“You’ve grown up a lot, little kitten. Did you just talk back at me?”

“You no longer have the right to coerce me into anything. I don’t need to take orders from anyone anymore, save for the masters. I’m sure you haven’t deluded yourself into thinking we were still in the past, right? My dear, clever Marie?”

Slap!

Margarita slapped Eiji hard across the face without even the slightest warning. She had hit him so hard that his once pale complexion had immediately turned scarlet. Her sharp fingernails had etched crimson scratches on his cheeks. The edges of Margarita’s lips curled into a sneer, satisfied by the state Eiji’s cheek was in, as she said,

“You cheeky little thing. Do you really think your humble origins will change no matter how far up the ladder you climb?”

“My humble origins…….”

Eiji smirked and spat out the blood that pooled in his mouth when the insides of his mouth had torn. He leaned his weight on one leg as he looked down at Margarita, who was far shorter than him now. He continued,

“But even you have to admit that I’ve climbed quite far —and that’s why you stopped after only slapping me.”

Margarita narrowed her eyes. Finally, Payne decided to intervene.

“That’s enough. Eiji speaks the truth.”

“He’s right, Lady Margarita. The little shit’s been cheeky with me too. Do you really think I’d leave that piece of shit be if he didn’t have the masters’ favor?”

said Bruce as he sat next to Payne with his stomach bulging.

Eiji had been born a slave. And he was also the last descendent of the Roygen Clan, the very same bloodline as the bastard child who had stolen the blood of Bahamut, to boot. Which was why Eiji had been born the lowliest of slaves and why he had grown up miserably while being insulted and scorned at by others.

But he had always been highly intelligent ever since he was born, and he had an excellent talent for controlling mana, perhaps because he benefited from sharing a Demon’s fragment. Eventually, he had beaten back all adversity and had become one of the three bosses of the Black Fox, an independent organization. His ability to handle information was amazing, and he was the best informant the Black Fox had ever seen. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he held every piece of information in the world in his hands. Moreover, the second of the Black Fox’s four masters held a special favor for him.

“Tch. Slave bastard…….”

Bruce, who was currently in charge of the Black Fox’s slave trade operations, had once been in charge of torturing slaves in the prison camps, and he was one of the people who had tortured Eiji viciously in the past. Which was why Bruce greatly disliked their current situation, where Eiji was of the same station as himself and quipped back at everything he said.

Eiji shamelessly flipped the bird at Bruce.

“Go fuck yourself if you don’t like it. Anyway, this isn’t why you called me here, right?”

“Sit,”

Payne said curtly, prompting Eiji to trudge on over and sit down at the table. Margarita snorted as she glared at the back of his head before following suit. Payne laced his fingers together as he turned to Eiji and said,

“You were right when you said that Schneider was sponsoring Camastros.”

“And?”

“Originally, we were only going to have Schneider wash his hands of Camastros, but he’s too young to know how terrifying the world is yet. And so, we’ve decided to go with plan B.”

“I told Luria to make Schneider responsible for everything if she couldn’t stop the military from being dispatched. Her performance must be something to die for. Considering that the king himself is acting exactly as we want him to.”

Payne looked to Formido, who was guzzling down wine, while Bruce was jabbering away about something vulgar. Formido slammed his wineglass down on the table.

“So, what’s it gonna be? Isn’t it harder to harass the civilians now?”

“We can’t keep doing hit-and-run tactics now that Schneider’s faction has made their move. We have to put pressure on his funds and start plotting against him. Schneider’s responsible for everything now, so we need to stir up enough problems to cast him down to hell.”

Bruce grunted as he crossed his arms.

“Why not just poison him? Isn’t that the simplest way to get things done?”

“We’ve been trying to get Luria’s faction to poison him for a while now. But Schneider has some doctor bastard on his side who gets rid of all the poison before it even gets to him. Tasteless and odorless poisons haven’t worked either.”

“Hmmm. If even you, one of the highest authorities on poison in the continent, are saying that, then…….”

“Well, I could poison him if I wanted to, but the truth is that I don’t intend to assassinate him just yet. Our ultimate goal is to completely ruin the Kingdom of Roanne before His Imperial Highness Prince Taylon takes the throne. Camastros threw a bit of a wrench into our plans, but we still need Schneider. But in any event, I’m at my wit’s end because we have so little intel on Camastros. Eiji, tell me everything you know about Camastros.”

Eiji pretended to organize his thoughts as he sat before them. In his head he had already separated out the information he could give them to maintain their trust in him as one of the Black Fox’s three bosses from the information he absolutely could not disclose as a Camastros spy.

“The members of Camastros all wear a mask that will never come off unless they take it off themselves, and they have a spell cast on their brains that’ll kill them if they try to reveal any information. I was fortunate enough to confirm this with a few members of Camastros that I happened to capture, and I came here today to report it.”

“Margarita’s experiments yielded the same results. And to be exact —the spell doesn’t kill them, it destroys their cerebral cortex. The spell also protects their brains from other magic. We don’t know who the caster is, but the spell is so powerful that even Margarita can’t destroy it.”

“Oh yeah? Moving on, then. I have a theory that the bastards tell each other apart by the symbols drawn on their masks. And they’ve recently made up a secret code amongst themselves in response to our impersonating them. And……they’re very quick to respond to whatever we do, and I can’t tell how much intel they have on us. Or actually, they probably already know everything about us, I think?”

Payne’s face stiffened up.

“How?”

“It’s been almost a year now, but…….”

Eiji shot a glance at Bruce. Bruce was glaring at him to keep quiet, but Eiji ignored him outright. The Bahamut imperial family had started to personally intervene, so it didn’t matter to him if he revealed their secret anymore.

“There was a Camastros spy among our ranks. Mack, an executive who used to work under Bruce. The bastard was our second highest executive in Roanne with regards to slave trade, right?”

“Hey!”

Baaam!

Payne slammed his fist down against the table as Bruce yelled at Eiji in indignation. Bruce flinched when Eiji nonchalantly stuck a finger in his ear. There was fire in Payne’s eyes —a stark contrast from his normal composure.

“Are you two out of your minds? You didn’t try to hide this, did you? Why are you only telling me about this now, Eiji?”

“He’d already up and left by the time I noticed and tried to interrogate him. And I couldn’t find him to matter how far and wide I searched. It looks like he’s pretty determined to stay hidden. I kept my mouth shut for good old Mr. Bruce here, since I thought it wouldn’t matter so long as we got rid of Camastros, and I’m only telling you now because I don’t think it’ll be possible for him to avoid his responsibilities now that the situation has gotten so bad. Wouldn’t you agree, my dear Mr. Bruce?”

“You……you…….”

Bruce turned scarlet, unable to refute Eiji’s sarcasm.

“I am going to report this to the masters, Bruce. Don’t even dream about escaping your punishment.”

Bruce looked miserable as he dropped his head. Payne clutched his head as he felt a headache forthcoming and a grave look crossed his face. He continued,

“The bastards’ actions make sense now, if that’s the case. Their movements were so ridiculously precise, but now I see that it was because they had an informant on their side. But in any event, Mack is from the Bahamut Empire, so I know him too. If he was a spy, then there’s no telling how many more spies we have in our ranks. And if Camastros learns that the Black Fox belongs to Bahamut……no, they probably know already.”

Payne spoke through clenched teeth.

“We’ll have to erase them without fail.”

“What a mess. You guys are on the brink of utter chaos. Was the Black Fox always like this?”

Payne frowned and sighed as Formido sneered from beside him.

“In any event, we have no choice but to confront Camastros directly now. I’ll defer to your judgment on this matter, Formido.”

“…….”

“The truth of the situation is that Camastros is stronger than you guys and they also have the advantage in numbers —so I don’t know what to expect. We technically have more members……so, what should we do? Should we ask the higher ups for more support?”

Formido’s pride was wounded when Payne determined that Camastros was stronger than Grundewalz. They hadn’t confronted each other directly yet, and neither had they used their secret weapon. Formido shook his head.

“No, we’ll try to work things out ourselves first. You said that Camastros has about three hundred members, right, informant?”

“That’s the estimation I reached by distinguishing between the symbols on their masks that our survivors saw. There could be more, since there were times when we’ve had no survivors after they one-sidedly massacred our bases, and there could be fewer, if they change up the symbols on their masks from time to time.”

Formido intoned and fell into a thought for a moment before he finally nodded.

“We’ll try to figure something out for now. We’ll ask for additional support only if we fail after trying a few things first.”

“Any good ideas?”

Formido pulled out a small steel ball from his pocket.

“That’s……?”

“It’s a special bomb we ordered from the best explosives manufacturer out there. A little something that our order has been making good use of up in the North.”

Eiji stared intently at the steel ball. The others did as well, prompting Formido to swell up in smug pride.

“We’ll use these to wreak utter havoc on them.”

~~*~~

The number of knights patrolling the streets increased explosively. They wore glistening metal armor, as if they were operating during wartime, as they walked the streets of the capital —no, of all of Roanne. And they weren’t any ordinary knights, either, but knights belonging to orders directly under the prince’s command or those who had been dispatched by the nobles who supported the prince. Most people had never seen such elite knights so frequently before, so they ogled and stirred up a fuss whenever they saw the knights passing by on high alert.

People among the masses even began dealing with the Black Fox under the shroud of anonymity now that the prince had declared a war on crime. Bounty hunters ramped up their activities like crazy because the kingdom was offering rewards for captured criminals, especially members of the Black Fox. A much-awaited refreshing breeze had blown through the Kingdom of Roanne ever since the Black Fox had started causing chaos.

The Black Fox had completely disappeared after the royal family had made their move. And that wasn’t all —common criminals had gone into hiding too. Anyone who committed a crime was dragged away by the knights, and those who committed violent crimes never came back. The knights treated criminals worse than animals. Criminals were branded to show that they were impossible to rehabilitate —it was as if they were trying to wipe out crime altogether.

It was normal for there to be a drastic increase in public safety before and after a holiday festival. But the public safety in Roanne was amazing at the moment because the kingdom was also taking measures to oppose the Black Fox.

“I’m only going to have faith in Prince Schneider now!”

“Who else in the royal family would do so much for the public welfare?”

There were a few people who thought that Schneider was going too far, but most people had been suffering at the Black Fox’s hands and they cheered for Schneider’s bold measures and celebrated his borderline-insane sense of righteousness.

“I heard that there were even some nobles who wanted to let the Black Fox do as they please and get rid of Camastros instead?”

“Where’d you hear that from?”

“I have friends who work at a noble’s manor. I overheard them calling their master a parasite who’s gnawing away at the kingdom.”

The clashing opinions that had been voiced at the cabinet began leaking out to the streets as well.

“Those rotten bastards…….”

“Lord Schneider is the only man we can trust.”

Fernando had not had much of the public’s love to begin with, and the gap between him and Schneider only grew wider still as Schneider’s approval rating skyrocketed. It was also only natural that Camastros’, which Schneider was sponsoring, approval rating had increased as well.

“I-I’m with the Black……!”

Pooow!

Ianna punched the man in the face instead of telling him to shut up, and she then began dragging the unconscious man around by the collar. She draped a spare cloak over his female victim, who was sobbing with her clothes in tatters, before making her way to the police station. She flung the man on the floor as soon as she stepped inside the police station and turned to a stunned guard and said,

“He is here for sexual assault.”

The knight took one look at the white mask on Ianna’s face before audibly expressing his astonishment.

“Camastros has been catching many criminals as of late. Thank you for everything you do to better the public safety.”

There had been a lot of people in white masks hauling criminals to police stations. Their number included both real members of Camastros and other skilled individuals who were only impersonating them.

There were still a few people masquerading around as members of Camastros while committing crimes, but it didn’t really matter because they would be dragged to meet their fate regardless. Moreover, Camastros’ public image had been cleaned up after the prince had made his declaration, so the people only thought that someone was trying to frame Camastros again even if they heard that a member of Camastros had committed a crime.

“U-ugh…”

The man sprawled out on the floor woke up. The woman standing next to Ianna, who had been looking relieved until then, flinched and hid behind her savior when the man started shouting at her —perhaps he wasn’t fully awake and hadn’t grasped the situation yet.

“I’ll remember what you look like, you bitch…….”

Ianna, who had initially been curious as to what he had been about to say, drew back her foot a little before whipping it forward like she was kicking a ball.

Pooooow!

Craaack.

The tip of her boot smashed into the man’s face, and he passed out again while frothing from the pain of having all his teeth broken and his jaw dislocated. Ianna drew back her foot when the man began twitching, and she wiped the saliva on her boot off on his clothes. Then, she walked over to where his lower body was and stomped her heel down at a certain vital point as if she was simply crushing a cockroach.

“Ugh!”

The unconscious man gasped as he sat back up for a moment before falling back down again.

“…….”

They had ruptured. They had most definitely ruptured. The boisterous police station fell into deathly silence as the knights witnessed Camastros’ brutal actions. The blood drained from people’s faces as they stared at the man’s now-flattened nether regions. Ianna turned back to the knight she had been talking to and bid him farewell.

“Well then. I will leave his punishment to you.”

Arhad had permitted Camastros to act in public, so they were now able to act aggressively, unlike before. Which was why people occasionally spotted members of Camastros walking down the roads. And most people saw them in a positive light.

The Camastros executives were scheduled to hold a meeting today. Shawn apparently had an important announcement to make, which likely meant that the time to leisurely capture criminals was over and that they would be given a special mission instead. Ianna quickly walked to the hideout where the meeting was to be held.

“The Black Fox has been operating only in the shadows recently, and they have all but washed their hands of the violent crimes that they’re usually known for,”

Shawn said with a grave look on his face as he waved around a stack of paper. He continued,

“But that doesn’t mean they’ve given up on dealing with us. The bastards are only keeping quiet because they want us and the prince to lower our guards while the Knights of Grundewalz do their work…….”

Shawn picked up a box from below and carefully placed it on top of the table. He opened it up as everyone looked to it with great interest. There was a small steel ball inside.

“The bastards have been going around installing bombs.”

“That’s a bomb?”

asked Gold, who was staring holes into the steel ball.

“It is indeed. But it isn’t the kind that explodes immediately, but a special kind that can be configured to explode anytime in the future. And it has yet another special feature. It can be set off remotely even if the timer hasn’t run out yet.”

“Sigh, the world really has advanced. To think that people could even create bombs like that. And it’s not like they’re setting the timer using the length of a wick…….”

Shawn grunted.

“The bastards are installing these things all over the Kingdom of Roanne. I couldn’t locate exactly where the bombs are because the bastards are rather skilled and difficult to tail. Still, I’m managed to shadow one of them personally. And this is what I found.”

Shawn picked up the steel ball with a gloved hand. It only looked like a steel ball from the front —it had a button on the top and a mass of countless steel threads sticking out of its bottom like a centipede’s legs that tangled into each other like a plant’s roots. And those roots were attached to a piece of stone that looked like it had once been a part of a wall.

“It originally looks like a normal steel ball. But the bomb digs its roots into other objects like this if you press the button here. It is impossible to remove the bomb from whatever it’s been attached to unless you destroy the latter. The bomb will explode if you try to detach it by force. I had to break off a part of the wall it was attached on too. And this bomb is still active. It can explode at any given moment.”

Van, who had been silently listening to Shawn’s explanation, asked,

“Why did the bastards install these bombs?”

“Likely either to deal with us or to set them off all at once and throw Theodore into utter chaos.”

“That’s rather extreme. Schneider would immediately lose the king’s favor if these bombs went off on the king’s birthday.”

“That’s probably their goal. So, how shall we respond?”

“First, we need to remove the bombs. They’ll still spell trouble for us if they’re installed all over the place to be used as traps even if they aren’t for the king’s birthday. If we went somewhere where the bombs had been installed without our knowledge and they were to explode…….”

“We can stop any ordinary bomb so long as we’re prepared to counter them.”

“The problem lies in the fact that these probably aren’t any ordinary bombs.”

“Couldn’t we collect some of these bombs and run a few tests to gauge how powerful they are?”

The bomb had been passed to Gold while the executives were exchanging opinions, and his fingers stopped at a certain place while he studied it soberly.

“S.S…….”

Gold slowly ran his fingers over the bomb as he quivered. The other executives took note of his strange behavior.

“Is something wrong?”

Gold stared silently down at the bomb. He hesitated for a moment before he made up his mind and said,

“We are forbidden to disclose information about our pasts in Camastros, but I would like to tell you all something because this bomb is related to my personal circumstances. May I, Ro?”

Arhad nodded when Gold asked for his permission. Gold did not act as sleazy as he normally did as he ran his fingers across the bomb and earnestly said,

“The initials S.S. are engraved into the bomb. Shion Sabelix. She is someone I am looking for.”

Rust tilted his head to the side.

“Sabelix? Feel like I’ve heard that name before…”

“House Sabelix was once famous for researching and manufacturing explosives.”

“Ah. I remember it now. Sabelix was the bombs manufacturer who made all the bombs favored by bomb-users until a few years ago.”

“Yes. And it no longer exists. The house fell to ruin a few years back.”

Gold sighed as he began talking about himself. He continued,

“I am the younger of the two siblings born to House Sabelix.”

Gold had left his household and started his own independent company because he was more interested in business than he was in making bombs, and his elder sister, Shion, had succeeded the house after their parents had died of old age.

The siblings had been very close, and they had also needed each other. Shion researched and developed bombs, and Gold oversaw House Sabelix’s general affairs while also putting his keen acumen to use and distributing House Sabelix’s bombs all across the world —and making astronomical figures in the process.

There had been a lot that Gold needed to attend to as a merchant, so he generally kept in contact with Shion through letters. They exchanged letters at least once a week, but Shion’s letters had suddenly stopped coming while Gold had been far away for work.

Gold had thought that it wasn’t a big deal at first. But he had started growing suspicious when her silence lasted for over a month. House Sabelix had collapsed by the time Gold had gone back to check in on it, and Shion was nowhere to be found.

“I tried to ask around for my sister’s whereabouts in secret, but I couldn’t find her at all.”

Gold spun the bomb on top of his thumb before he suddenly snatched it back into his palm. The other executives were alarmed and stood from their seats as they watched him be so rough with the bomb, but Gold remained calm.

“I searched for traces of my sister while buying every type of bomb in the world that I could get my hands on. But I couldn’t find her anywhere. I’ve been looking for her for years, but I was never able to figure out where she was.”

Gold gulped and swallowed his saliva, as if his throat was burning, before he continued,

“But I suddenly found a trace of my sister just as I was about to give up and accept the fact that she was probably dead. I heard that the Bahamut Empire’s soldiers had used incredibly potent explosives while sweeping through a village and annihilating everyone who lived there, and I found a dud with the initials S.S. carved into it when I visited the aftermath to investigate.”

“So there’s a high possibility your sister is alive,”

Van commented gingerly, prompting Gold to nod back vigorously.

“My hope was rekindled, and I tried to track down the empire soldiers who had used the bombs, but I couldn’t because no witnesses had been left alive. I always visited the aftermath of any sites that Bahamut soldiers had blown up in the North afterward, and I always found at least one dud with the initials S.S. carved into them. I saw the initials as my sister’s cry for help.”

The executives were intrigued as they listened to his story.

“But it was impossible for me to investigate the Bahamut Empire alone. Then, one day, Lord Shawn found me and invited me to join Camastros. I joined on the condition that we would find my sister and whomever was using her bombs.”

“But we couldn’t,”

Shawn said with a sigh. He continued,

“I have a tight grasp on all the information regarding the South, but the truth is that I know little of what’s happening in the North. I’m not completely ignorant of the things that happen in the North, of course, and I can obtain most of the information I need, but there are two groups of people whom I can’t deliberately approach to pry out information from. The imperial family, and the organizations under the imperial family’s command who report directly back to them.”

Shawn had tried to figure out who had ruined House Sabelix and which knight order had destroyed the villages that Gold had told him about ever since the latter had joined their ranks. He had gone to the secretaries who organized the reports that knight orders submitted to them and browsed through their reports, but he hadn’t found anything about House Sabelix or the villages in any of their libraries. In other words, this meant that the knight order that destroyed the villages had been one of the twelve knight orders that reported directly to the imperial family. And that was all the information Shawn had been able to uncover.

And now, Gold had found yet another trace of Shion today. He gulped.

“The reason I’m telling you this……is because I’m convinced that my sister is being detained by these bastards and is being forced to produce bombs for them. This bomb……I’m certain that it was my sister who created it. And I’m not saying this just because of these initials. If you look here, you can see that our house crest has been etched onto the bomb. It’s the three concentric circles encircling her initials. See for yourselves.”

The other executives studied the bomb carefully when Gold handed it over. The crest Gold had referenced was indeed etched onto a small area on the bottom of the bomb.

“This is the secret stamp House Sabelix used on all of our confidential information. I am certain that my sister is using it in hopes that I will find her.”

The bombs used by the Knights of Grundewalz carried Shion’s stamp on them. And the Knights of Grundewalz was also one of the twelve knight orders stationed at the imperial palace. The pieces were coming together. Gold grit his teeth. The bomb came back to Gold once all the other executives had finished studying it.

“I have little interest in the making of bombs, but I am still a member of House Sabelix. I will figure out how to deactivate these bombs if you give me enough time. And, there’s another request that I would like to make of you all…….”

“What is it?”

“Please capture the commander of Grundewalz, Formido, and his vice-commander, Miloutè, alive if you see them. They are my only clues to finding my sister. Though I understand if you have no other choice…….”

The other executives turned to Arhad. Only he had the right to decide on this matter. And Arhad accepted Gold’s request.

“We will need Formido alive regardless of the danger. And Shion, the maker of these bombs, will likely be a huge help to us in the future.”

The other executives nodded as Arhad promised Shion’s rescue, and Gold bowed deeply from his waist in gratitude. Rust, who had been sitting next to Gold, cackled as he pat Gold on the back.

“And here I’d thought that you drew a circle on your mask because you like money, Lord Gold —who knew that you’d have a story like this behind it?”

“I’d thought you were just a miserly old man.”

The executives sitting around the table seemed to have grown closer than before. There had always been a sense of distance between them because they did not know about each other’s personal circumstances, but the sympathy they gained after learning about Gold’s personal matters had brought them closer together.

Gold relaxed his stiffened frame and smirked.

“I like money too, of course. I’m a merchant after all. My beloved house’s crest is a circle, bombs, which symbolize my life, can be drawn as circles, my precious money is also circular —it’s only natural that I would like circles. And for reference, my company’s logo also has three circles. I’ve been rather active in the East while hiding the fact that I’m from House Sabelix.”

“……Circles? No way…”

All of the executives, save for those who were completely ignorant to the ways of the world, immediately thought of one certain huge company with three circles that overlapped about one-third into each other for its logo. They looked to Gold in awe. Only Giselle and Caesar blinked in confusion. Gold laughed.

“And that’s all I have to say. I suppose I’ll be the first to die should any one of us get ourselves captured now that you all know who I am.”

“Haha, you needn’t worry about that. There’s no way that any of us will get ourselves caught. But who would have thought that you were that rich, Lord Gold? We’ll beat the bastards up when we find them and throw them at your door, so please be sure to pay us handsomely for our efforts.”

“Just name your price.”

Shawn clapped his hands together and brought the mood back down.

“All right. We’ll move onto the rest of our agenda now.”

Shawn took out a rolled-up sheet of paper from his pockets and unfurled it on the table when the executives refocused their attentions. It was a military map that depicted the capital’s urban district in great detail. Ianna clicked her tongue. Roanne’s security must be an abject mess if their military secrets could be leaked so easily.

“We’ll split up the capital into districts. I don’t know how many bombs have been installed, but we should still search carefully and remove as many as we can. And we’ll also have to make sure that the bastards with Grundewalz don’t catch on to what we’re doing. Only Grundewalz, Margarita, and the top brass of the Black Fox know about the bombs, so I can’t go around planting suspicion among their ranks. There’s only so much I can do to make up stories on the spot.”

Everyone agreed to what Shawn had said.

“But is blindly searching for the bombs on foot the only thing we can do? And is breaking off a piece of what the bombs have been installed onto the only way we can remove them? It’ll be a pain if they were to suddenly go off on us.”

Just thinking about it made them gloomy. The capital was huge, so how were they supposed to find all the bombs if they didn’t even know where they had been installed? Gold carefully studied the bombs before he said,

“Bombs are generally divided into magical bombs and normal bombs, and this one seems to belong to the former, judging by the fact that it has no wick. Magical bombs need to be injected with mana much like any other artefact does, so they should be easier to find than normal bombs.”

“Oh?”

“Please feel for the arrangement of the mana that’s been cast on this bomb and memorize it. We should be able to find the bombs easily enough if you search for its aura. And they’re actually quite easy to remove too —there are three methods that will work for any bomb of a magical nature.”

Gold’s methods were as follows. First, to throw the bomb high into the air as soon as it was found and attack it so it exploded in midair; second, to cancel the explosion spell cast on the bomb by destroying the arrangement of mana just like you would when cancelling any type of spell; and third, to wrap the bomb with mana from your surroundings and activate the explosion spell so that the blast was absorbed into the mana.

“The only catch is that you must have a very strong control over mana in order to use the second and third methods. It’s not that I doubt any of you, but I would recommend the first method just in case. I will try to figure out a way to remove the bombs without setting them off.”

‘Hmmm…….’

Ianna was interested in the second and third methods that Gold had mentioned. They sounded like a great way to practice controlling divine power. And they also presented her with the chance to see just how different divine power was to mana and to see how powerful divine power was in practice.

“Finally, we are also planning for something incredibly important. We will eliminate both Grundewalz and Margarita in one fell swoop while they’re trying to catch us off guard and are busy installing the bombs.”

“In one fell swoop?”

“We’ll raid their base.”

Shawn slammed down at the table and vigorously continued,

“We have already gained everything we needed from Grundewalz. Schneider has declared war on the Black Fox, the Bahamut imperial family acknowledged Schneider, not us, as their enemy, the people know who we are, and they are incredibly hostile to the Black Fox. We will now begin assertively weakening the Black Fox while using Schneider’s name. All we need to do after is to watch as Roanne and Bahamut destroy each other.”

Giselle raised her hand and asked,

“In that case, wouldn’t it be better to let Grundewalz have their way with Roanne?”

“Grundewalz is only the first of our many enemies. It’ll put us at a disadvantage if we let things drag on. And we also need to rescue Shion Sabelix and reinforce our rear support as quickly as possible.”

A chilling light glistened in Shawn’s eyes.

“We’ll take action two days before the king’s birthday, when the bastards finish installing all their bombs. They’ll be drunk out of their minds that day, so we’ll take the chance to slaughter them all and await our next enemies.”

The weather grew hotter as the days passed. The blazing sun rose higher in the sky, and there was nary a cloud to be seen.

“Hey, be careful while you’re moving that!”

“Hey hey hey, I said be careful!”

A clattering wagon left behind a trail as its wheels rolled over the road. The well-maintained road was filled with similar such lines made by the wagons and carriages that traversed it. The roses, which had caused a ruckus during Founding Day, had blossomed in abundance once more and were decorating the streets with their crimson. Flags bearing the crest of Roanne’s royal family with silver tassels at the ends hung from every house and fluttered in the hot wind.

In front of the imposing bronze statue of the king, Harios Maxium Roanne, in the plaza was a fountain conjuring up a small rainbow. A bard was sitting at the fountain with a bunch of children while wholeheartedly singing a beautiful tune extolling the king’s many achievements. The children were listening carefully to the bard’s song, and a fuzzy look filled their faces as they imagined themselves acting out the king’s heroic tale.

Theodore was so lively as she prepared for the upcoming festivities that one might even question if the Black Fox had ever indeed cast a gloom over the capital to begin with. The king’s birthday, one of Roanne’s three biggest holidays, came at the end of June. And yet, there were still people roaming about the shadows despite the festive cheer.

‘Found one.’

Ianna spotted a bomb that had been embedded into a shadowed wall like a doorknob. This was the sixth bomb she had found ever since she had begun her search.

Ianna was using the bombs to test how powerful her divine power was. She had tried using fortification made from divine power to forcefully interrupt the arrangement of the mana imbued inside the explosion spell. And, as Arhad had told her, mana was no match for divine power.

She had only been able to stare blankly the first time because the mana had been disrupted too easily. But then she wondered if it had only been so easy because she had poured too much divine power into her sword because she had been nervous. She had gradually decreased the amount of divine power she used, but the mana arrangement was broken easily even when she had taken the risk and had barely used any fortification at all during her fifth attempt. The explosion spell had been loaded into the bomb and was not being cast directly by a mage, but divine power was still able to destroy the arrangement far too readily. And so, she had decided to conclude that particular experiment and decided to set off the bomb and see how powerful divine power was instead.

Fweeeee…….

The wind whistled and the mana formed a fierce twister as it gathered in her palm. Her robes fluttered, and the dirt around her was kicked into the air.

Slowly, Ianna opened her eyes. Blazing from her entire right arm was her divine power, which was brighter than the flames of the sun and more destructive than the fires of hell. It was as large as a fully mature tiger.

Ianna used her other hand to unfasten a throwing knife from her belt and threw it at the bomb.

Booom!

Her knife pieced the bomb squarely through the middle even though it had been made of metal. Immediately, she witnessed mana from the surrounding air draw into the bomb, entwine together, and form into an arrangement. Ianna narrowed her eyes. The explosion, which should have been instantaneous, looked as slow as the heat haze coming off the summer streets now that she had heightened her senses to their very peak.

Ianna maneuvered her divine power around the explosion just as she would command her troops to encircle an enemy. Her divine power sprang out from her arm like a tiger lunging for its prey and enshrouded the bomb completely.

The blast had been rendered powerless inside its hold. The explosion was crushed meekly like a feeble creature under her divine power’s claws, and the blast, which should had destroyed at least two buildings, was pointlessly absorbed into her divine power. Her divine power was like an unmoving bolder. And next. Ianna used her divine power to put pressure on the bomb like she was callously crushing a butterfly between her palms.

Cruuuunch.

The bomb, which had originally been the size of her palm, was contorted by her divine power until it was no bigger than the marbles that children liked to play with. Ianna furrowed her brows slightly as she realized just how ridiculously powerful divine power was.

‘Even the blast of a bomb that could destroy two whole buildings wasn’t a match for it. I need something stronger to test it out against.’

Ianna called her divine power back inside her body now that her rather bland experiments were over. The divine power, which had been lingering around the marble, rushed back into her arms like a puppy who had found its owner. Ianna coughed. It made her nauseous as the incredible power returned inside her heart.

Thud.

The tiny steel ball fell to the ground as Ianna retrieved her divine power, and it burrowed into the earth as it kicked up a cloud of dirt. Ianna walked up to it and picked it up. The bomb had only been reduced in size and had grown denser —it was still just as heavy as ever—, and it was far heavier than its tiny frame suggested.

‘This might actually be pretty useful.’

She might actually be able to piece through a person if she threw heavy steel marble at them. Ianna stowed it inside her robes.

‘In any case, what’s that state of mind that Arhad was referring to?’

The state of mind she had to be in to pry mana off her divine power. Ianna still hadn’t found an answer to the question. She had tried sweet-talking the mana and she had tried growing angry with it, but the mana had remained ever steadfast.

Perhaps Arhad had been mistaken? Mana seemed to simply covet divine power, and she could not help but wonder if the only reason why the mana didn’t listen to her was because she was not skilled enough at controlling it to pry it away from her divine power. Ianna let out a deep sigh.

~~*~~

Part 2

“Camastros seems to have figured out that we’ve been setting up bombs,”

Formido grumbled without bothering to hide how sour his mood was. He continued,

“It hasn’t even been that long since we started.”

There was a chilling light in Formido’s eyes as he surveyed the people sitting around the table.

“Are you sure that information hasn’t leaked from anywhere?”

“That’s highly unlikely,”

Payne denied while shrugging, but Formido’s response was rather serious.

“The only people who know about the bombs are me, Grundewalz, Margarita, and you three, the bosses of the Black Fox. It’s fishy no matter how hard I think about it.”

Formido glanced at Eiji as he stated his suspicions. Payne was the Black Fox’s actual boss in all but name, so there was little reason why he would try to sabotage it. Bruce was greedy and there was a lot he gained from the Black Fox, and he was one of the people who hated Camastros the most. And there was no reason for Formido to be doubtful of Margarita, who, like himself, had received orders to destroy Camastros. Which only left Eiji, who had once been a slave.

Eiji smirked in the absurdity of it all by the time everyone had taken note of Formido’s rather candid behavior.

“You aren’t trying to single me out, now are you?”

“I never said you did anything —is there something you’re trying to hide?”

“You keep looking at me in a way that’s seriously ticking me off.”

“It is possible that you might turn on Bahamut and the Black Fox since you suffered a lot at the hands of both, no? You’re the only one here whom everyone was hostile to when we first met.”

“This is the first time I’ve ever been accused of something so preposterous ever since I became the boss of the Black Fox’s intelligence operations. Are you calling Payne and Bruce stupid for trusting me to do my job all this time?”

Payne smirked.

“This bastard here is pretty extreme in his wish to survive……so there’s next to no chance that he’s betrayed us.”

“Exactly.”

“Hmmm…….”

Formido still looked dubious even though Payne and Bruce had both denied his claims.

“The Black Fox would have been long gone already if I felt like betraying us.”

Eiji laced his fingers together and leaned back against his seat. Formido’s suspicious gaze never left his face. Eiji continued,

“It’s true that I hate everyone here. I had to suffer so much shit that I don’t even want to think about anymore at the hands of everyone here since the day I was born until the day I became an informant for the Black Fox. But just means that I hate all of you bastards —it doesn’t mean that I’m stupid enough that I can’t separate work from my private affairs.”

“…….”

“I desperately expanded the Black Fox’s intelligence operations, the only thing that’s ever been handed to me, ever since I earned my freedom. And I’ve been rewarded for my efforts several times too. The Black Fox is practically my life —and you’re trying suggest that I’ve been leaking information to ruin it?”

Eiji glared at Formido. Formido could not help but clear his throat when Eiji’s blazing blue eyes fell on him. Eiji continued,

“These two bastards here know that I’m devoted to the imperial family, and the imperial family acknowledges it too. I’ve been serving our masters faithfully all this time, and I’ve been taking Payne’s drugs, which are specifically meant to keep people from betraying us, for several years now. Besides, the masters promised that they would only kill the bastard who stole their blood if I found him —they promised to let me live. I was moved by their mercy, and I vowed to offer up my everything for the Bahamut’s revival. Would I really betray us? I, who knows exactly how terrifying the imperial family is from all the years I’ve spent as a slave?”

“……I suppose not.”

Eiji slammed his fist down at the table and kept the attention on himself when Formido began to back down.

“Why don’t you crack down on your own knights’ loose tongues instead of worrying about me?”

Eiji sneered at Formido. He continued,

“I hear that several of yours never came back —have you never considered that the information might have been tortured out of them? All things considered, I think it’s highly likely that a few members of Grundewalz might have leaked the fact that we’ve been installing bombs.”

“What did you say?”

“It didn’t take me much prodding for me to get intel out from your knights when they were drunk. So who knows how easily they start talking once they were tortured……? I really have to hand Camastros my respect. They never opened their mouths no matter how horribly Margarita’s tortured them.”

“Are you fucking done?”

“Enough! Both of you.”

Payne, who wasn’t in the best of moods himself, somehow ended up having to mediate between two people whose tempers were worse than his own as he calmed the situation down. He continued,

“There’s no point in us bickering amongst ourselves. In any event, the fact is that the bastards at Camastros have found out that we’ve been setting up bombs.”

“Now what do we do?”

“We will finish setting up the bombs as planned, and then we’ll stand-by at our hideout and start working in full-swing on the king’s birthday, when Schneider’s guard will be down the most.”

Everything’s going as planned, Eiji thought as he slowly gathered his breath. He may have become accustomed to acting brazenly in his capacity as a spy, but there were still times like these where his heart would beat furiously in nervousness. He slowed his breathing in a show of indifference. Exactly, keep lowering your guards like that. We’ll take care of you in one fell swoop.

“Hmmm…….”

And, Eiji never noticed that Margarita, who had not spoken a single word yet, had kept her narrowed eyes fixated on his face this entire time.

~~*~~

In the smallest but most beautiful garden in one of the many palaces in Roanne’s royal castle. The streams of water spurting out from the marble fountain spread out and gently watered the sculpted roses. The garden was filled with only the most expensive and most beautiful flowers, which were arranged in a harmony with the trees attended to devotedly by the gardeners —the king cherished the garden’s mistress and spared no expense in maintaining it.

Sitting deep inside the garden with a three-tiered tray filled with sweet cookies and cake and her precious personal tea set before her was a certain silvery girl.

She stared blankly at the flower petals dancing in the garden as she felt the cool breeze of her lady-in-waiting fanning her.

‘How is she so lovely?’

The lady-in-waiting gulped as she looked to the girl she was tending to. The gentle tresses of her silvery hair fell past her waist and glistened beneath the sun. The lovely features of her slender face seemed almost miraculous. If people could be compared to jewels, then this girl was a radiant diamond sitting among the fakes. What man would fail to give her his love if she wanted it? The melancholy of her sapphire eyes made even the lady-in-waiting’s heart hurt. Any man who turned this girl down must certainly have something wrong with his personality.

‘I want to see him again.’

Unbeknownst to what her lady-in-waiting was thinking, the girl, Angelina Muziniel Roanne, was thinking back about a certain man from her debut whom she could not forget even if she tried.

The fragrance he had given off —she didn’t know if it was cologne or his natural scent— was so different from that of other males who simply scattered their scent around to mark their territories. His large and sturdy frame was large enough that she could fit into his arms and then some, and the proud and bold lines of his face were more virile than any other while still gracing a certain aristocratic beauty to them. His hair was pitch-black, as if it could swallow the silver light of her own hair whole, and his eyes, which his hair fell upon, had looked dangerous as though he had borne a languid light in them and had felt so mysterious.

There had been a moment when she had thought he was scary, of course. That light in his eyes when he had turned down her offer to invite him into her palace. It had been so scary that she had thought she might choke to death for a moment. But the fear had turned into the tingle of dangerous charm as the days had passed.

‘He’s so wonderful.’

Her face flushed and her body shivered whenever she thought about him. She even felt like a part of her body was growing hot. If she could describe him in just one word, he was sexy.

‘Arhad Callisto.’

She had only danced with him just once that day six months ago, and yet his name and face were still vivid in her mind.

Angelina had wanted to talk with him some more on the day of her debut, but he had left the party immediately after their dance was over and had not returned. Most of the nobles in the capital had attended her birthday celebrations in March, but he hadn’t come. Nor had he attended any other party since…….

‘How come he doesn’t see me in the same way that other men do?’

The other unmarried men who had danced with her had circled around her like bees to honey as they tried to win her heart. They sent her flowers, jewels, and accessories every day. But Arhad, the man in her heart, had not sent her anything at all.

Heartbroken, Angelina had tried to forget him.

Right, he used to be a humble commoner, and he’s only the adopted son of a nouveau riche viscount. And neither is he exceptionally skilled. He can’t even control mana. He’s just handsome, that’s all. My Lord Father loves me and I have everything in the world —so he’s not a suitable match for me.

Angelina had told herself as she tried to forget him, but his face would flash across her mind and dominate her thoughts whenever she let her guard down. Just like now.

‘Surely, he’ll attend my Lord Father’s birthday celebrations, right? —every noble is required to attend unless they have extenuating circumstances.’

Angelina was eagerly awaiting the king’s birthday, when she was sure to be able to see him again, even as she told herself that she wasn’t interested in him and that she should forget about him. She bashfully picked up the novel that she had set down upon the table.

Rick placed his lips on the back of Selenas’ hand. Selenas’ long eyelashes fluttered in thrill as she felt his moist yet hot lips press down on her white hand. When his lips left her hand, Rick pulled her toward him by the hand as if he was in a hurry.

“I love you, Selenas —pray grant me the right to stand at your side.”

“I have been waiting for those words.”

Selenas’ eyes, as deep as the ocean, shook like the waves. She continued,

“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to hear them. I love you, Rick.”

Selenas was helpless as she was pulled into Rick’s embrace. They stared into each other for so long that the man’s desires enshrouded the woman’s slender frame. Rick’s lips stole Selenas’, and his rough hand travelled up her skirt…….

Angelina’s face flushed as red as a beet as she quickly slammed the book shut.

It was often in romance novels that a certain nobleman, who was generally cold and indifferent to others, would initially be cold to the female protagonist before slowly falling deeply in love with her and being kind and gentle to only her. This trope had likely been born from women’s desires to monopolize the men they loved. Angelina had to agree. It was sweet just to imagine Arhad acting like that to her.

The romance novel Angelina had been reading for fun began to spread into her fantasies. The man who was exactly like the perfectly handsome male lead in her stories. The man who was perfect for filling up her delusions. She had heard that he was attending the Institution, which meant that she could technically seek him out if she so wished. But she was too shy. And neither did she know what they would even talk about even if she did seek him out.

“Your Highness, Her Royal Highness Princess Lyxillia is here to visit.”

“My sister? Tell her to come in.”

Angelina returned to her senses when the lady-in-waiting had announced her full-blooded sister’s arrival.

“Hello, Angelina.”

“Come on in.”

Lyxillia sat down slowly after the lady-in-waiting had prepared her a chair across the table from Angelina. Elegance oozed from her very being as she kept her back straight even while sitting in the comfortable chair, and she carefully drew up the hem of her skirt.

The first princess, Lyxillia Muziniel Roanne, had taken after the queen and was a beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was six years older than Angelina, and she was betrothed to the heir to House Menistry. Countless kings and princes of other kingdoms had asked for her hand in marriage, but Lyxillia had found them all lacking in comparison to the higher-ranking nobles of Roanne and had insisted on marrying into House Menistry. She could not possibly leave behind her delicate mother and younger siblings, Angelina and Linus, and leave for another country when their lives were endangered by the struggle for the throne. The heir to House Menistry was a good man, and he was also a powerful ally.

“I’ve come across some good tea as of late —would you care for a cup, dearest Sister?”

“I have full confidence in your tastes. Oh, and have you decided on a dress to wear to our Lord Father’s birthday celebrations? Madames Sherry and Quarter were at each other’s throats.”

“I’ve decided on Madame Quarter’s dress because I wanted to wear baby blue.”

“I knew it. Both dresses were lovely, but I thought that one suited you better.”

“Right?”

Angelina and Lyxillia exchanged in friendly conversation. They were very close, and their conversation flowed gently from start to finish. But it was only natural that there was at least one aspect of each other that they didn’t like no matter how close the sisters were.

“Oh, and Angelina. I want to introduce you to a wonderful gentleman who would be a good husband for you. What are your opinions of Sir Harchen from House Roberstein?”

“Roberstein……?”

“House Roberstein is still neutral. And they would make a powerful ally for Linus.”

Angelina fumbled with the hem of her dress in the lieu of a reply. Lyxillia, who had been waiting on a response, sighed and looked to the book on the table that Angelina had forgotten to put away. Angelina blushed furiously red as she quickly snatched up her romance novel and hid it behind her back.

“Why hide it? I won’t stop you from reading your romance novels. But, surely you haven’t deluded yourself into thinking that the romance you read about in books actually reflects reality, now have you? You haven’t forgotten the distinction between fiction and reality?”

“…….”

Lyxillia stared openly at Angelina, who was hanging her head low.

“You still haven’t forgotten about that man?”

Angelina still didn’t answer her sister’s questions. Lyxillia gracefully furrowed her brows as she scolded her immature sister.

“I know that he was handsome. Even I was surprised when I saw him, and I only saw him from afar. But he only has his face going for him —he’s still nothing but a piece of deadweight who cannot control mana.”

“Sister.”

“Angelina. Remember your place. Your mother was born from House Winifried, and your father is the noblest king Roanne has ever known. And yet you would take the adopted son of an upstart viscount as your partner? Does that even make sense to you? Have you lost your mind?”

“…….”

“Never forget, Angelina. It is our duty to live our lives for Linus and the Kingdom of Roanne. And besides, I hear that he’s never contacted you even once after dancing with you, no? It’s admirable. I must praise him for that. He has no interest in you, and it seems that he knows where he stands.”

“Sister!”

Angelina’s chair dragged against the ground as she let out a sharp cry. She had stood up with her eyes on the verge of tears as she glared down at the cold expression on her sister’s face. She continued,

“I know that I must not act rashly due to my station, Sister, but I hate it. I want to experience true love.”

“You really…….”

“And it’s not like I said I wanted to marry him or anything. I might just have a crush on him because he’s so handsome, no? I’ve never met a man so handsome before in my life.”

The man named Arhad Callisto seemed to shine like a dark light among the nobility. He was a monotonous spot of black who had fallen onto the showy white. A black dragon who declared his presence among the flock of white doves. The golden moon shining gloriously among the stars in the dark of night. The way his golden eyes had stared down at her with such indifference had shaken Angelina’s heart. It was the vast mystery surrounding his being, rather than his good looks, that caused her to shiver.

But perhaps that was just a delusion and she really was only moved by his looks. He truly was handsome. And she had never before met a man so resolute. After all, men were always tender with her and they circled her so incessantly that she was sick and tired of them.

“You……sigh. You’re still so young —what use is there in me rebuking you? It would only serve to make you rebel more. Do as you please.”

Angelina opened her eyes wide upon hearing her sister’s unexpected words, and the edges of Lyxillia’s lips curled up as if she was having great fun. Lyxillia continued,

“But that man looked like a stone statue who wouldn’t so much as blink even if you threw yourself at him, you know? To think that there would be a man who wasn’t swayed by your looks. I’ve always found it so curious that men were swayed by beautiful women even when they already had lovers. Does he know his place, or is he simply too deeply in love with another?”

“……Deeply in love?”

“I looked into him.”

She had looked into him. The innocent Angelina, who had meekly sat around in her garden and fantasied about him as she waited for him to attend another party, was shocked. Lyxillia continued,

“Why so surprised? It’s only natural that I investigate the man who’s made my younger sister lose her mind. But in any event…”

Angelina’s ears perked as she listened to her sister speak about Arhad.

“That man is apparently very close to Lady Ianna Roberstein. There were a lot of pinkish rumors floating around about them in the Institution last year.”

Ianna Roberstein.

Angelina recalled Ianna, who had debuted at the same party as her. Angelina normally didn’t recall people’s faces very well because there was always so many people loitering around her, but she remembered Ianna clearly because Ianna had made such a strong impression on her. Angelina’s silver hair and blue eyes gave off an impression of purity but where very subdued in color, whereas Ianna’s crimson hair and eyes had been extremely vivid.

‘She was rather pretty, though not as beautiful as me.’

It was only after Angelina had recalled the pretty girl that she realized that Arhad had always been by her side. Arhad had been with Ianna when Angelina had first met him, and now that she thought about it, his gaze had only ever been locked onto Ianna’s crimson colors before, during, and even after he had danced with Angelina.

Angelina’s heart ached.

‘Oh.’

She gently placed a hand at her heart as she experienced this pain for the first time. Her heart repeatedly squeezed and released, and it made it difficult for her to breathe. Lyxillia took no notice of Angelina’s behavior as she leisure brought her teacup to her lips.

“Unfortunately, though, it was confirmed that they aren’t lovers, but simply close as senior and junior.”

Angelina’s heart relaxed a little upon hearing Lyxillia continue. She breathed out a quivering sigh.

“Well, try your best, Angelina. Your circumstances are something you’ll have to acknowledge for yourself. And it doesn’t seem like you’ll heed my counsel even if I gave it,”

Lyxillia said apathetically as she studied her sister. Angelina was holding her romance novel tight in her hands.

It wasn’t that Lyxillia meant to irresponsibly let Angelina do whatever she wanted. It was simply that, judging by that man’s behavior, Lyxillia saw no need to nag at Angelina and risk souring their sisterly relationship.

‘That man is in love with Ianna Roberstein.’

Upon investigating, the seasoned Lyxillia had determined that he was desperately in love with Ianna. His attitude toward Angelina suggested that he wasn’t the type to be swayed by good looks, and he also seemed to be keenly aware of his station. He would turn Angelina down of his own accord. And so, Lyxillia leisurely sipped at her tea.

“Your Highness…….”

Angelina brought her pointer finger to her pink lips and whispered, Shh—.

“Don’t call me Your Highness. And don’t address me as Princess either.”

Angelina was wearing a robe as she and her escort, a royal knight under her direct command, visited the Institution.

She had snuck outside the palace before. But only because she had felt suffocated and trapped inside the palace walls —not because she specifically wanted to meet anyone in particular. Angelina reflected on herself as she recalled how Lyxillia had said that she had done some investigating. She should have learned more about him if she was interested in him, rather than simply wait until he approached her first.

“Groan.”

There was anxiety written clearly on the knight’s face, but he ultimately had no choice but to obediently follow after his cute little princess. He was ever-vigilant of his surroundings too, of course.

Angelina looked around until she found a kind-looking girl and walked up to her.

“Excuse me…”

“Yes?”

“Would you happen to know of a man named Arhad? I hear that he is very skilled at handling the sword.”

The girl immediately forgot to be wary of Angelina when she heard the princess’ lovely voice, which reminded her of a bead of dew rolling down a leaf.

“Lord Arhad from the Swordsmanship Department? Everyone knows him. He’s the best-looking guy in the Institution.”

Angelina’s heart began thumping furiously.

“I have some business with him…… Could you please tell me where the Swordsmanship Department building is?”

“There are several……. It’ll be difficult to explain with words, and I’m a bit busy at the moment. How about you go to the main building and ask for a map?”

Angelina went to the main building to obtain a map just as the girl had suggested and used it to find her way to Arhad. She asked after him and tried to follow his tracks, and then someone appeared before her path as suddenly as if he had suddenly sprung up from the earth itself.

“Kyah!”

The royal knight immediately pushed her back and drew his sword when Angelina screamed. He glared, thinking that the newcomer was an unidentified assailant, but the so-called assailant in question remained relaxed.

“Hello there, Miss?”

The green-haired young man waved as he grinned. He continued,

“You know… Can I ask why you’ve been looking for Sir Arhad? I don’t think you’re a student here.”

“Who the hell are you?”

“Hey, I think I asked first, didn’t I? You two are the suspicious ones here. Why are you trying to look into our department’s best-looking guy? You a stalker?”

“How dare you!”

“Sir!”

Angelina’s sapphire eyes met the young man’s cerulean ones as she tried to calm down her knight, who had flown into a rage when his liege had been belittled and called a stalker. The young man’s eyes immediately studied her face under her hood.

“Oh, um, well…”

Angelina mumbled, embarrassed, but the young man simply smiled for some reason.

“Hmmm……. Oh, I get it. Are you a noble……lady with a crush on Sir Arhad? Is that why you’re stalking him like this? Like a little duckling?”

Angelina’s face flushed beet red beneath her hood. Her knight failed to hold back his indignation at the common-born young man who teased the princess for crushing on and stalking a lower-ranking noble who attended the Institution.

“How dare you insult Her Highness…….”

“Sir, that’s enough!”

“Yeah, sorry, my bad. You’re looking for Sir Arhad, right? Follow me. I’ll take you to him as an apology.”

“What are you plotting?”

“I’m in the Swordsmanship Department too, and I know Sir Arhad personally. I was going to take you guys to him since it didn’t seem like you were here to do anything bad, but……you can refuse if you don’t want to come, you know?”

The young man laughed strangely before he gestured to the both of them. He didn’t appear to be lying. And so, Angelina dragged her knight along by the hem of his clothes as she cautiously followed behind the young man.

They arrived at an open field that was steaming hot from the heat. Angelina flinched as she heard two pieces of wood beating against each other so loudly that her ears hurt. She thought that the racket might even tear the sky in two.

“Excuse me, where is Sir Arhad……?”

She tried to ask after Arhad again, but the young man had vanished. Angelina gulped and peered out from behind her uptight royal knight.

She was greeted with the sight of the countless sparring arenas in a field. Male students, either with their tops off or only wearing thin shirts, were glaring at each other as they fought. Their wooden swords were held at ready, clashing against each other, dropping to the ground, rushing toward each other, avoided, slashed, thrust, and blocked. In one corner, some students were bashing away at a wooden dummy as if it was their mortal enemy.

Angelina held her robes to her nose before she could stop herself. It was rough and barbaric. It was so hot out that it was difficult to breathe, and the stench of dirt and sweat was mixed into the air.

Angelina had only ever seen jewels, dresses, cookies, tea, books, and flowers in the palace, and this was the first time she had ever seen anything so uncivilized. The students looked terrifying to her as they glared at each other as if with the intent to kill while they sparred.

“Woooow!”

“I’m so nervous I can barely keep my eyes open.”

“Cough, cough! I’m only looking, and I’m finding it hard to breathe.”

“Hey, shut up you rascals. I can’t focus!”

There was one arena that was particularly loud. People had flocked to the area like a cloud and were cheering as they observed. Angelina squinted as she looked up at the elevated arena. She was sure that the students were cheering at empty space, and she was certain that something was surely there because people kept looking in that direction, but her eyes could not see a thing. All she heard was the loud racket of impact.

Just then, the royal knight, who had also been looking in the same direction, clapped in awe.

“Amazing. They’re far too skilled to be students.”

“Can you see what’s going on over there, Sir?”

“They’re moving so quickly that even I would lose sight of them if I let down my guard. My word, are they truly students? They’re not instructors?”

“I can’t see anything.”

Smaaaaack!

A loud strike resounded and erupted in the air as Angelina grumbled. The two people who had been sparring on the arena were standing face-to-face and had stopped moving with their wooden swords pointed at each other.

“Oh.”

And it was only then that Angelina finally saw the man she had been searching for in her dreams. His thick arms, which stretched out from his shoulders, the masculine curves of his muscles, which were clearly visible because his clothes were drenched in sweat, and the hot sweat rolling down the smooth lines of his chin…….

His damp black hair scattered in the wind. His lips were pursed, and his lowered eyes were glaring at his opponent as if he meant to devour her alive. Angelina trembled.

“Time’s up. Another tie!”

“They tied again? How many times has it been now?”

“They’re amazing, seriously.”

“Let’s just go and die. They’re younger than us.”

“Sir Arhad!”

The green-haired young man who had guided Angelina there was right at the center of the scene. Arhad looked to the young man when the latter called. Arhad scowled when the young man beckoned him closer and slowly leaned his ear toward the young man. The young man pointed at Angelina before whispering something to Arhad, and Arhad’s gaze fell squarely upon her.

‘Oh.’

His gaze seemed to penetrate through her. Angelina’s breathing grew ragged. Her face flushed as brightly as a rose.

‘I’m sure of it. I fell for that man at first sight.’

Angelina was certain of her feelings. She had read countless romance novels, but she had thought that falling in love at first sight was something that seldom happened in reality. Her emotions ran wild as she read her novels, but she had done her best to separate the female protagonists of her novels from herself. She needed to marry well for her younger brother Linus’ sake, and the reality of her situation was that she needed to be someone who could support her brother steadily…….

But then she had really fallen in love at first sight. She wanted to lock that man’s gaze on her forever. She wanted to hear him call her name. She wanted to have fun while conversing with him, and she wanted him to escort her as they attended parties together.

It was only now that she thought she could truly understand why other noble girls liked to gossip so much about falling in love at first sight. She didn’t mind if people called her shallow for only caring about appearances. Besides, who didn’t take the other party’s looks into consideration if you fell in love with them at first sight? It was feminine instinct to be attracted to strong and handsome men.

“Is something wrong?”

Someone called out to Arhad just then. It was the person whom he had been sparring with. The person who alone received his gaze. And Angelina was alarmed when she saw who it was.

‘Ianna Roberstein…….’

Angelina had grown curious after hearing what Lyxillia had told her and had looked into Ianna before visiting the Institution. She had been interested in Ianna even before Lyxillia had spoken about her. Angelina had simply thought that Ianna was just the young lady of House Roberstein at their debut. House Roberstein was a distinguished house, but the capital was teeming with such distinguished nobles, and Angelina, one of the highest-ranking among them all, had no reason to have to care about Ianna, who was ultimately just another noble from the countryside. Moreover, Angelina had only ever been surrounded by people who spoke good things with her, so she had never once heard about Ianna, who was completely surrounded by bad rumors, before in her life.

Which was why she had learned only recently. That Ianna was the daughter of a mistress who had bought her position by committing fraud, that Ianna was scorned by the people of the Roberstein lands, and that Ianna had murdered her own grandfather…….

Ianna wouldn’t have even been worth her notice if that had been all there was, but she had also heard that Ianna had won the Institution’s swordsmanship tournament, that Ianna was peculiar but had many powerful friends, that her Lord Brother Schneider had taken an interest in her, and that Arhad had gifted her a very expensive bouquet —and the rumors concerned Angelina greatly.

“A thousand pardons. I find it difficult to speak about another behind his back.”

Ianna had been so stern as she told Angelina to ask Arhad in person when she had asked Ianna to tell her more about him. Back then, Angelina had simply assumed that Ianna hadn’t wanted to speak about another behind their back, but now she couldn’t help but wonder.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Arhad took his expressionless gaze off of Angelina and immediately turned tenderly to Ianna when she called out to him —it was almost as if he had never been looking at Angelina in the first place.

“You’ve been improving very quickly.”

Ianna smiled prettily, happy to have Arhad praise her.

“Have I? I’m glad to hear it. But it almost seems like you’re trying to praise yourself when you praise me.”

“I’m rather shameless, so I want to praise you regardless.”

His friendly jest. His quiet laughter. The curve of his lips. Angelina concentrated on everything about him. Arhad tussled Ianna’s hair as if in pride. And Ianna simply accepted his affectionate touch.

‘I’m so jealous.’

She had decided to write off her fear of him as a mere delusion, since Arhad, who had been so scary to her, was being so kind to Ianna. He had only been stiff at the debutante, as if he didn’t even know how to be gentle in the first place.

‘I envy her.’

Did they really only act so naturally with each other because they were senior and junior? Ianna was receiving his goodwill as if it was only natural, as if it meant nothing to her at all. It displeased Angelina greatly, but her heart still stung horribly out of envy.

Angelina couldn’t understand. Why didn’t he like her like all the other men did? Was it really only because of their difference in station that he didn’t even think of her? The other thing she couldn’t understand was that, a hundred out of a hundred other lower-ranking nobles would have looked to her with only overflowing goodwill in their eyes. But Arhad had not. He looked to only Ianna with the same kind of eyes that other men directed at Angelina.

Angelina clutched at her dress. She was accustomed to being at the center of everyone’s attention. It was so natural for her, which was why she felt like she had been robbed.

‘How am I any lesser than her?’

Ianna was pretty, but Angelina did not think Ianna was as pretty as herself —she was called the most beautiful girl in the entire kingdom, after all. And nothing needed to even be said about the fact that Angelina had more wealth and power. Besides, Angelina was even gifted in singing and dancing. It wasn’t just for show that she alone was her father’s, the king’s, favorite among his many children. And she was so skilled at the needle that even butterflies would land on the flowers she had embroidered.

Ianna was obviously better than her with the sword, since Angelina had never even held one before, but swordsmanship did not factor into the common norms of feminine beauty. Ianna was a maverick in that sense.

‘Is it because she’s known him longer?’

But Ianna, too, had only known Arhad for a little over a year. And they were in different class years and did not take classes together, though Angelina had heard that they did see each other sometimes while training.

Even still, time was the only thing that Ianna had over her. Would Arhad look at her in the same way after a year too?

Angelina was sure that he would. She was better than Ianna, after all, no matter how she looked at it. Angelina recalled what Lyxillia had said as her heart, which had been flaring up in envy, settled down in her sense of superiority.

“Unfortunately, though, it was confirmed that they aren’t lovers, but simply close as senior and junior.”

Lyxillia wasn’t someone who said things without reason. Which meant that Angelina had no reason to be envious of Ianna. Rather, Ianna could even be helpful to Angelina, since she was on good terms with Arhad.

What young lady of Roanne’s nobility would turn her down if she, a princess, wanted to be friends? Ianna might even be moved with gratitude. It was only then that Angelina could smile prettily.

She had found something that she truly wanted. The girl’s sapphire eyes sparkled. As a lover, as a knight, as a servant……she didn’t care how. She just wanted him by her side.

~~*~~

Part 3

In the dark of night three days before the king’s birthday. Numerous people were having sex in the building that Grundewalz was staying at. They had finished setting up the bombs just a few days prior and were ordered to stand by until the king’s birthday, and they were currently drowning themselves in a sea of pleasure. They were drunk on blood, drunk on alcohol, drunk on drugs, and drunk on women. They had put reality behind to lose themselves in pleasure, and they were little better than beasts.

Their numbers had decreased since they had first arrived, but that was something that always happened. The empty spots would be refilled with greedy and devoted squires once they returned to Bahamut’s capital. Which was why the knights of Grundewalz were not very friendly with their colleagues. Every man was for himself. If they died, then that was that. And their commander, Formido, was a retainer of merit who had fostered that attitude in his order.

Formido. He had been a very poor commoner prior to becoming a knight. He and his entire family had walked around with their round bellies —they were as skinny as sticks otherwise. And it wasn’t only Formido and his family who had looked like this —this was true of all of the poor in the North. Everyone hugged their stomachs and starved, especially as the bitterly cold winter approached and all the crops froze.

Formido hadn’t wanted to die. He had grit his teeth and vowed that he would never die such a wretched death as he watched his family grow weak and starve to death one after another.

He had eaten dried grass and had barely survived by the time he made it to the city slums, where he had learned all sorts of atrocities before showing talent in the sword and joining the Bahamut army. He had slowly raised his skill until he had climbed all the way into the ranks of the imperial palace’s first knight order, the Knights of Pakalatua.

It was more accurate to say that he was desperately polishing his skills rather than to say that he was loyal to the imperial family. He got more food to eat the better his skills were. And then, the position of commander of the Knights of Grundewalz, a group of foul-tempered bastards, had opened up. Grundewalz assumed a lot of dirty work and clean-up duties. It might have been a demotion to those who cared about honor, but to Formido, assuming the position had been the best raise he could have ever asked for. He had not fit in well with the Knights of Pakalatua because of a certain reason, and the work that Grundewalz undertook provided him the perfect means of bettering his skill.

He received the imperial family’s attention and was rewarded handsomely as he took his knights and cruelly crushed those who rebelled against his masters. And so, Formido had put his past behind him and had achieved success after success as a knight commander.

‘And yet…….’

Formido drank as he looked out the window.

“What shitty weather.”

Another man got up from a gasping woman and looked out the window as well upon hearing what Formido had suddenly murmured.

“What are you talking about? It’s the perfect weather for killing. And it’s loads better than the shitty weather back up North.”

The turning point of Formido’s life was when his family had starved to death. This was why he hated Roanne’s weather. Crops like wheat grew in abundance and appetizing fruits dangled alluringly in weather this warm. He seethed in anger at those who were born into this natural blessing, and it also made him remember him past.

Formido smirked. He had forgotten about his past for so long —so why was he losing himself in his thoughts out of the blue? He had felt like rubbish ever since he had stepped foot in Roanne. He truly despised Roanne’s weather for constantly reminding him of how he had starved when he was younger.

“Where is Lady Margarita?”

“Isn’t she always holed up in her room?”

“I haven’t seen her around at all these days —she hasn’t been alone in her room indulging in her hobbies all this time, has she?”

Formido clicked his tongue and cursed at Margarita quietly. She had not helped them at all while they had been hard at work. The only thing she had done was to torture the members of Camastros they had captured for no real reason.

But he could not confront her too recklessly. She was a disciple of Wiffheimer’s, a mage who stood at the peak of magic. She was also so skilled that she had been elevated to the station of marquise in her own right, even as a woman. Which was why he had had no choice but to hand over ten of his precious bombs when she had asked.

In any event, the bomb-making wench he had captured a few years back had truly proven herself useful. She had rebelled something horrible at first and had used her bombs to devastate everything around her, and she had only started listening after he had threatened to murder her younger brother. The bombs, manufactured by the best bombmaker on the continent, were useful and had increased his performance rating drastically.

Which was why this time would be no different. Camastros may have figured out that they were setting up bombs and they may have started to try to remove them, but the fact that chaos was about to descend upon Theodore was practically set in stone. They had set not merely dozens, but hundreds, of bombs, and they had so many different types of bombs thrown into the mix that anyone who learned about them would surely drop their jaw in shock.

“You’re aware of where the bombs were set, right, Miloutè?”

“Of course.”

Miloutè’s, Formido’s vice-commander who was sitting opposite of him, lips curled into a vulgar smile. Formido stared openly back at him.

He had known Miloutè for a long time. Miloutè was clever and had concocted many brilliant plans that had helped them accomplish many merits, he carried out every order faithfully to the letter no matter what it was, and he never refused to do even the dirtiest deeds, like abandoning his own colleagues to ensure his own survival. It had also been Miloutè who had abducted the bomb-making wench and had suggested they force her to make bombs for them. He was closely tied to Formido in terms of skill, and he also carried a similar amount of leverage within Grundewalz. Miloutè was the textbook schemer, and the only reason why Formido was made commander was because Formido was better at warfare.

‘Hmm?’

Formido suddenly felt like something was off and placed the wineglass he had been about to drink from back down onto the table.

‘One……two……? No. There’s more…….’

His concentration was affected because he was drunk, and the presences themselves were so faint that he hadn’t been able to perceive them until now. But the presences increased exponentially now that they had gotten his attention. Formido felt like a bucket of sand had been dumped over his head.

Crunch…….

Next, his keen hearing picked up the sound of someone stepping across the ground outside. And then…….

“……!”

Every hair on his body stood at end.

“Everyone beneath the tables!”

Formido shouted as he grabbed the dazed Miloutè by the collar and shoved him under the table.

Swiiish!

A crescent of crimson fortification flew past them at waist-height and passed through the wall on the other side. It had happened in but an instant.

“What the?”

Those who hadn’t ducked in time had only felt a part of their bodies prickle a bit.

Rumbleeee…….

The building began shaking like there was an earthquake before sliding down diagonally from where the fortification had cut through it like it was slipping down a slide.

Crash.

People crumbled as did the building. The sudden disaster that had struck the building caused men and women alike to start screaming.

“Kyaaah!”

“Ahh! My arm!”

“Aaaack!”

A lot of the knights had been too high on drugs and alcohol to obey their commander, and most of them were lying sprawled about with their upper halves disconnected from their lower halves. There were also knights who had tried to dodge but had still lost a body part because they had not quickly enough. The survivors immediately tried to clear away the wreckage and evacuate the building.

“The fuck! What in the……!”

Someone who had exited the building while cursing had their head cut cleanly off their body and was sent flying backward. Formido punched away the flying head and he grasped the situation unfolding before him and froze. He saw that Camastros had encircled the entire building on the other side of the spraying blood.

“You dirty bastards!”

One of Formido’s men started cursing and drew his sword as he rushed out from behind. But one of the many Camastros members immediately kicked hard off the ground and instantaneously drew his sword. His sword drew an arc of light in the air as it moved as swiftly as a sickle.

Slash!

The knight had read the situation and had tried to block the oncoming trail of light, but to no avail. The sword evaded the obstacle in its path and weaved like a lightning bolt to strike him in the larynx.

His flesh was crushed before it gave way and began splitting like the meat of a pig being butchered. His exposed white bones had tried to keep the sword from invading, but its struggles were in vain. His bones broke apart with a crunch and allowed the blade access to the soft muscle behind them. Crimson droplets of his blood scattered like raindrops bouncing up from the ground.

Bang!

It had all happened in just the blink of an eye. His head had been sent flying bones and all. The man’s body crumbled as it erupted in a fountain of blood. The robed figured avoided the blood like he was germophobic and immediately took the head of yet another man who had been standing in front of him. The knights of Grundewalz were utterly helpless before his ridiculous speed.

Formido weakened and hid his presence as he glared at his enemy.

‘He’s incredibly skilled. Is that the bastard who shot off the fortification?!’

The other members who had been encircling the building also rushed in when the first robed member began his massacre. The defenseless knights of Grundewalz, who were both high and drunk, took fright as the robed figures closed the distance between them like metal taking to magnets.

“Ahhhhhh!”

One man screamed and took out a bomb from his pocket. But then, he began acting strangely. His vision flipped over. He couldn’t move his limps as he wanted to.

“Huh……?”

He could not stop the blade that was slicing through the darkness. His head had already fallen to the ground —that was why his vision had flipped—, and the very last thing he saw was a pair of eyes glowing in bloodlust behind a mask. Blood filled the man’s eyes as his vision finally went black.

Shhhh!

A giant flare enveloped him and burned him whole. He was reduced to ashes and the eerie dust of bone in just a matter of seconds. Formido broke out in goosebumps all over as he watched.

‘Damn it…….’

Formido did his best to calm down as his men were slain by the dozens all around him and he covered his body with mana. The best way to protect himself from magic and fortification was to counterattack and wrap himself with mana.

“What do we do, Commander?”

“Are we going to die miserably like this? Is there any way we can break through?”

The Knights of Grundewalz were cornered mice. His men were despairing as the wall of Camastros members closed in on them. There were only about forty to fifty still standing. And what about Margarita, who was supposed to have been upstairs? She hadn’t come out yet, so she had probably either fled or died.

‘Shit, she’s useless until the bitter end.’

Formido tried to squeeze out a plan as his men cried out to him in despair.

“You lot, buy me some time!”

Formido ran inside the building. It looked horrendous. The wreckage, the corpses, the severed limbs, and the dark red viscera that splattered over everything like a continuous line of vomit.

Formido looked down before he could stop himself when something flopped by his feet. It was the wriggling hand of one of his subordinates, still holding onto a cup of wine, who had been laughing and drinking just minutes ago.

“Ugh.”

Formido was used to seeing such cruelty, but he grew selfishly nauseated now that it was his own men falling victim it. Those who had survived were screaming for their lives, but Formido stepped over them as he headed for a certain place.

‘I will take revenge for you!’

Payne had taught him about a secret emergency exit. Formido had meant to escape alone while his men kept the foes at bay. However.

“Which bastard was it?!”

he screamed in fury. Only a few senior members of the order knew about the exit, and not only had it been opened, but the tunnel had also been caved in. It had even been set ablaze. Formido fortified his blade and tried to move away the wreckage, but the collapsed tunnel simply continued to cave in on itself even further. The screams and the clash of metal against metal from outside grew only louder.

He could readily identify the culprit. His vice-commander, Miloutè, whom he had shoved under the table, was missing in action. The bastard would have been stuck right behind him if he had been present, but he wasn’t. He had a keen sense for danger, so it was obvious that he had slipped out through the emergency exit.

‘Miloutè, you dirty bastard!’

Formido cursed him. Then, he felt something hot behind him and spun around only to freeze in place. The building was filled with fire. He quickly ran out from the building and looked back at it in despair. The mage who had burned his subordinate whole before had apparently set the building aflame too —perhaps they were hungry for slaughter.

But something was strange. He could see one of Grundewalz’s mages doing their best to put the fire out using water spells, but the fire never diminished. And the flames almost look like a bird. The bird flew circles around the building and set its feathers ablaze as if it did not intend to leave until the entire place had been reduced to ashes.

A swordsman who had broken clean through the building, and a mage who used mysterious spells. The members of Camastros they had kidnapped earlier had been skilled, but not this skilled. He didn’t know what their rank in Camastros was, but he knew he had to prepare for the worst —that there may be at least three or four more individuals of that level present.

Moreover, even a quick glance had told him that there were easily over a hundred members of Camastros present. Their first raid had resulted in tremendous casualties. Their raid had been conducted at the most optimal time for the most optimal effect, and Grundewalz had been blindsided. Formido watched over the situation for just a little bit longer before he yelled,

“Figure out how to survive on your own! That’s the only way. Break through, run, and survive!”

That was all he could say. It would only lead to more deaths if he tried to look after the others. And Formido was busy enough trying to save his own skin.

He hesitated for a moment and pretended to step back before breaking out into a sprint toward a certain place that he had been eyeing before —the area in Camastros’ circle with the fewest members. Some of his men decided that following him would give them the highest chance of survivability and left their enemies behind as they desperately chased after him.

“If you have bombs, then throw them at will! Prepare to die now that it’s come to this and get rid of anyone who stands in your way!”

Buzz—

Formido drew his greatsword and fortified it. The members of Camastros in the area they had rushed toward raised their blades. But they were all sent flying, slammed against a wall, and tumbled to the ground when Formido brandished his fortification.

The Knights of Pakalatua, the first knight order under the imperial family’s direct command, was composed of only the most skilled warriors in the Bahamut Empire. And Formido had once been a part of it. He was strong enough that he had captured around ten members of Camastros alone and had sent them to be tortured.

And he was in such a crisis in the moment that he was demonstrating his full might as he focused only on surviving. He cut down his enemies as he saw them, and his men followed after him as they threw bombs around everywhere.

“So it was you.”

A voice sounded in Formido’s ears like thunder just as he was about to break through. The voice approached him quickly while emitting a blood-curdling aura, and it sounded so clearly even amongst the clashing of steel that it could have been stabbing his eardrums with a needle. Formido was startled by how quickly the enemy was approaching him, and he spun around as he beat back the oncoming sword.

Clang!

His sword had been flung away. His hands were numb all the way down to his arms. Formido grit his teeth. It was the same bastard who had sent his fortification flying earlier.

A white mask that bore no pattern.

‘Is he the leader of Camastros?’

A pair of golden eyes looked to Formido from behind his mask.

“Are you Formido?”

“Die, you bastard!”

One of Formido’s men, who had been standing beside him, raised his sword and tried to kill the robed figure while he and Formido squared off.

Swiiish— Pow!

But an arrow had come flying out of nowhere and had struck his subordinate through the temple. The arrow burrowed into the wall on the other side, and his dead subordinate’s head hung from it like a target apple. His body collapsed and dangled from his head. Another subordinate, who had also been about to lunge, hesitated as he watched, and yet another arrow came flying. It was aimed at the hesitant man this time.

Formido glared at the arrow. It had been fortified. He beat back at the arrow hard with his sword before it could reach his subordinate. The resulting numbness in his hands told him that the archer was no ordinary man either.

No more arrows came flying their way after that. It looked like the archer had decided to wait in ambush and shoot through anyone who tried to interrupt the robed figure.

Formido’s men were flustered and unsure of what to do. Formido himself was tense as he stiffened up and glared at the enemy before him. He didn’t want to, but it looked like he would have to resort to his last-ditch effort.

Controlling divine power.

The secret art of the imperial family that must never be leaked and was only passed down to the top three knight orders of the empire, including the Knights of Pakalatua! It was a dangerous power, but it was several times stronger than mana, and the ability to control divine power separated normal people from the transcendent. It was only possible to handle divine power if you had a mastery over life, knew yourself better than any other, and had absolute faith in your skills. The highest-ranking knights of Bahamut were all superhumans who had reached a level of transcendence. Humans only lived for a mere few decades, so they either had to get more of what they lacked by taking drugs that increased the amount of divine power they had or steal it from another.

The leader of Camastros was an incredible bastard. He seemed powerful enough to crush mountains and his fortification had been sharp enough that it seemed to cut through everything, and Formido wasn’t sure if he would be able to beat him even if he used divine power. Which was why he was absolutely certain that he had no chance if he didn’t at least try.

Divine power began seeping out from Formido’s hands. His divine power was the color of sewage, like several colors had been mixed into it, unlike Ianna’s, whose divine power was a primary color.

“Oh?”

Ianna expressed her astonishment at the unexpected situation as her eyes widened behind her mask. Had Formido learned how to control divine power on his own? Ianna moistened her lips. Formido was sharpened like the edge of a well-maintained blade. He was qualitatively different from the Black Fox small fry, who had gone down readily, or even his own men.

‘I see. Is he someone I can fight seriously?’

Ianna was wearing Arhad’s white mask and rings in his stead. It was possible that they might come across a beneficiary of a Demon’s fragment now that they were standing against the imperial family. Arhad had decided to leave the frontlines so his Demon’s fragment would not be discovered by the imperial family. The imperial family would drop everything and come to steal it if they realized that the people hindering them owned a fragment.

Ianna was Arhad’s double. This way, the imperial family would never know that Camastros’ leader owned a Demon’s fragment even if they received reports about him.

That was the rationale, at least, but Ianna enjoyed acting as Arhad’s double regardless. She could fight real battles —something she hadn’t been able to do while attending the Institution— as she posed as the strongest man in the underworld, and she could wield her sword to her heart’s content. And now, something even more entertaining was about to unfold…….

‘I love this…….’

The savage beast slumbering inside her was beginning to wake. It had been sleeping, buried beneath the peace, but she slowly revived her bloodthirst, honed by the many battlefields she had wandered in her past, as she slaughtered the Black Fox. It had left such deep effects on her that she felt nothing even as the feeling of rending and rending, of killing and killing remained in her hands, and it made her forget that it was morally wrong to slay people as naturally as if she was felling an enemy on the battlefields.

This was a battlefield, and it was kill or be killed.

Fwoosh—

A crimson aura covered Ianna’s sword. A piercing bloodlust ate away at the air around her. Everyone else around her found it difficult to breathe, as if hundreds of blades were being levelled at them.

Formido’s eyes nearly popped out from his head when he saw that the aura covering her sword had come not from the mana in the air around them, but from her hands.

“Do you think such petty tricks will work on Lord Formido?”

his men shouted, mistaking the aura for fire magic. They stepped in front of Formido like they always did.

Formido wanted to tell his men to shut up. That wasn’t mana, but the ultimate peak of sword fortification.

Formido had been a rank-and-file member of Pakalatua. His divine power was strong, but he was too obsessed with life and was too nervous about using divine power, which was basically his lifeforce, to handle it properly, so he had not been treated well in the order. Which was why he had been happy to be the commander of Grundewalz and escape the pressure of having to use divine power. It was more than enough just to rely on mana, which he could use freely without feeling burdened by it.

‘Ugh…….’

He had seen the knights of Pakalatua using divine power in the past. And so, he had determined that the leader of Camastros was far stronger than them. Formido was drenched in a cold sweat.

“Eyaaah!”

He ran at Ianna, unable to withstand the pressure. Ianna’s gaze never left Formido, who had lost his composure and rushed her. She slowly moved into a posture to thrust and gently bent her knees. Formido kicked off against the earth and brought his sword up high. He was planning to attack from above.

Then, Ianna moved her sword to Formido’s left up from below, as if her thrust had only been a feint. Formido reacted to her attack by stepping back, and Ianna quickly took a step forward and thrust her sword out toward him.

Craaaaaaash!

A giant shockwave erupted as the two blades, fortified with divine power, clashed. The shockwave affected the both of them as well. Formido felt dizzy, like his divine power was about to scatter, whereas Ianna was completely fine —though she learned that it produced a shockwave when divine powers seeped with bloodlust clashed as the wind from the blast whipped against her face.

Ianna ignored the shook wave and grabbed Formido by the collar as she tripped him.

“Hmmm……. Goodness, who would have thought that they would have found even this base and raid it?”

A single broom was flying high above the sky. There was a peculiar smile on Margarita’s face as she lay askew across it.

She narrowed her eyes as she looked down at the scene below, which was a sea of blood and looked like a bomb of crimson paint had exploded there. She had been making herself scarce while observing the base because Eiji had been acting oddly that day, and now this had happened.

“I wonder why his heartrate sped up so much while he was explaining that he hadn’t betrayed us? Was he simply enraged that people were suspecting him? Was I simply mistaken, little kitten?”

Margarita had the bad habit of enjoying the changes in people’s expressions and emotions as she controlled their hearts as she pleased through her curses or by torturing them. Margarita was the highest authority in curses and perception magic, and she had once been Eiji’s torturer in the past.

“I-it hurts…….”

“Please stop. Please, I’m begging you.”

“Please, I’ll do anything, so please. Please…”

Margarita had repetitively tortured and healed Eiji ever since he had been a baby. Eiji had been a special child who had hogged her love and attention, and he was dancing in the palm of her hand even still.

Margarita beamed from atop her broomstick. You will never escape me, Eiji. Even if you rebelled.

“Shall I wait and see for now?”

She looked down at just one spot from high above. She was staring down at one certain uncouth member of Camastros who was slaying his foes left and right.

‘He’s very strong. Is he the leader of Camastros? But he’s not a beneficiary of a Demon’s fragment. I can’t feel a fragment’s presence even though he’s using mana. Which means he’s just simply that strong……. I suppose the masters won’t feel the need to step forward then.’

“Is it because he’s so strong that my heart is pounding so? Badump badump.”

Margarita watched as Formido struggled desperately.

‘I have no obligation to save him. I might get killed myself if I stepped in.’

But in any event, she had reaped an unexpectedly bountiful harvest. Eiji was acting suspiciously, and the leader of Camastros was ridiculously strong. And yet, he surprisingly wasn’t a beneficiary of a Demon’s fragment? Margarita giggled as she zoomed away on her broomstick.

‘He’s a monster……. A monster. Where the hell did he even come……!’

Formido squinted as his eyes smarted from the blast of wind that had burst out from their clashing fortifications. The leader of Camastros was, in one word, a monster. He felt like a giant even though his frame was smaller than Formido’s. Formido reproached himself for being negligent in his training for the past few years.

He would block Formido at every turn whenever Formido tried to target his openings, but he had not tried to fatally wound Formido yet. If Formido increased the amount of divine power he was using to try and end their match in one blow, then his opponent, too, would leisurely increase his own divine power and keep fighting with him evenly. It felt like his opponent was purposefully matching his level of skill.

It was almost like he could kill Formido in an instant if he wanted to but was simply entertaining him, like he was toying with Formido, like he was using Formido as a lab rat to carry out all sorts of experiments on, and like he never intended to kill Formido in the first place…….

‘He’s not planning to catch me alive, is he?’

And then what? Formido broke out in goosebumps as he recalled what he himself had done to the members of Camastros he had captured. Ianna smiled in satisfaction as he gradually lost himself to fear.

‘Fortification made from divine power is much stronger than fortification made from mana.’

There was no way that she would lose to Arhad if she kept improving her control over divine power at this rate. Her divine power belonged wholly to her and obeyed her every command to the letter, and Arhad could not interfere with her control. She was his equal now that she wasn’t handicapped any longer.

His equal —the words thrilled her with an electrifying delight. Now, she could put her faith in her talent and devote herself to her swordplay.

Ianna was amused as she watched Formido’s swordplay fall apart in his increasing anxiety. To think that there were people in Bahamut who knew how to control divine power. It meant that being able to do it herself would help her immensely in future battles.

Ianna wanted to use Formido to learn more about how skilled Bahamut was at controlling divine power, but she gave up on the notion. She could not put her personal curiosity over her mission, and so she decided to stop studying her opponent and end things here.

She unfastened her scabbard from her waist at the speed of light while Formido was focused on her fortification.

Craack!

Formido’s head went blank from the powerful impact. Ianna’s scabbard had given him a concussion when it smacked against his temple.

Pooow! Crunch.

Ianna’s fist shot out and broke Formido’s sturdy ribs when he reeled. His ribcage folded into itself, and the pointed shards of his bones tore through his muscles as they had burst apart inside him. Gastric acid flew out from his mouth as he suffered the completely unexpected impact. The divine power wrapped around his sword bobbed up and down as his concentration broke.

Smack!

Ianna butt her head into his face. His head flung back as he felt the unbearable pain of his nose breaking and his teeth falling out. He only barely managed to stay conscious as he straightened out his bloody face and frantically looked around. He ignored the fact that his vision was blurry from the pain because he couldn’t find the bastard anywhere.

‘Where will he attack from next? From the front? From behind? The left? The right? Where? Where is he?’

“Below……!”

Formido looked down when he heard his men cry out to him from afar. A long leg swept at him and a heel connected squarely against his temple. He felt something crack as his vision went white, and he staggered.

Ianna had picked up a fist-sized piece of debris from the ruined building as she kicked and she then proceeded to cram it inside Formido’s mouth.

Cruuunch!

“Kgh!”

All his remaining teeth broke, and he couldn’t breathe. Formido could take it no longer. He was drooling bloody phlegm and his eyes rolled back as he passed out.

“Ahhhh…….”

The remaining knights of Grundewalz, who had once eliminated even the most powerful enemies by striking them from behind and had slaughtered the weak, wondered if they might be hallucinating from the drugs they had taken as their commander was rendered unconscious without so much as being able to touch his opponent even once.

Camastros surrounded them as they stood in stunned silence.

“Aaack!”

One of their number lost his mind and tried to break through with his sword, but to no avail. He had become a pincushion for swords, spears, and arrows by the time he had collapsed to the ground. The surviving knights took fright as they watched, rendered completely unable to even struggle. They quickly fell to their knees.

“Spare us!”

They sought humanly mercy from Camastros. Ianna turned to Giselle, Caesar, Van, and Rust, who were standing nearby, and asked,

“What should we do?”

“We must kill them all.”

“What reason do we have to spare them?”

“We should take around five of them alive with us, just in case.”

The voices spelling their death were very calm. They were not pacifists who believed that everyone could live happily together. Neither were they merciful to enemies who had been trying to kill them. They were a group of people who had lost something precious to Bahamut, who harbored the twisted desire to stand against an enemy as great as Bahamut……and who had gathered together for the sole purpose of opposing Bahamut.

Ianna left the rest of Camastros to deal with everything else, and she pulled out a warp scroll from her pocket, tore it, and threw it on top of Formido’s unconscious figure. He vanished from before her eyes. The people back at their base would deal with him now.

“We couldn’t find Margarita’s corpse,”

Giselle said to Ianna urgently. She continued,

“I asked the spirits to only burn the bodies and to leave the heads untouched, and Margarita’s corpse was nowhere to be found. You don’t think she’s escaped, do you?”

“Didn’t we already block off the secret escape route in advance? We carried out our mission exactly as we were ordered.”

“We also cast a net of mana over the entire building and killed everyone who tried to escape. No one made it through.”

Giselle’s wind spirits came flying back to her. They seemed to whisper something in her ear before they vanished. Giselle turned to her waiting comrades and stiffly said,

“The spirits also say that no one has escaped.”

“She didn’t teleport either. We would have felt a giant wave of mana if she had.”

Ianna listened to what the others were saying for a moment before she spoke up.

“We did not sense her escaping. Which means that she wasn’t in the building to begin with……and today of all days. What a pain in the ass.”

“Should we stay and ambush her when she gets back?”

“It’s likely that she will flee because the entire area reeks of blood……but a few of us should stay behind anyway. More importantly, Giselle, did you manage to protect our captured members from the shockwave?”

“Yes. I asked the spirits to.”

The members of Camastros, who had been clearing out the dead from the building ruins, brought out the bodies of their colleagues who had been captured a while back. Their bodies openly showed the torture they had been put through. Giselle walked up to them and gently touched the victims before shaking her head.

“They’re all dead.”

Giselle tore another warp scroll and sent the victims back to their base before she quietly muttered,

“May your souls find rest at God Laos’ side.”

It felt a little sticky because Margarita had gotten away, but their mission had come to a close. The executives checked their teams before they disbanded. Fortunately, no one from Camastros had died today. There were members who had been seriously wounded by Formido, but they were only a few. The executives then returned to their base to meet, and they disbanded the other members of Camastros who had collected all the heads of the dead and sent them back to the base.

“Phew…….”

One member of Camastros sighed as he walked down an alley. His heart was thumping furiously.

“Wow, what the hell. We really fell apart,”

he muttered despondently.

He would have been more likely to be discovered if his colleagues started fleeing as well, so he had collapsed the secret escape route and had made a run for it. But then he had been forced to stop when the tunnel had been collapsed part-way through. And, fortunately enough, the first thing he had seen after he had dug through the ground to escape suffocating to death was the back of a member of Camastros’ head who was searching the ruined building.

“How did I even make it this far? I swear, the heavens must be on my side.”

He took off the mask that reeked of blood. He was Miloutè, the vice-commander of Grundewalz. And the mask he had taken off was covered by the skin of the person he had taken it from.

~~*~~

Formido found himself in the dark and bound tightly to the only chair in the room.

Splaaash!

Formido, who had been limp and thoroughly covered in wounds, returned to his senses upon the sudden baptism of water.

“……!”

He was overcome by incredibly agony as soon as he woke. It was only natural that his entire body ached, but his head also hurt so badly he thought it might split open.

The debris was still burrowed into his mouth. The broken fragments of his teeth scratched his throat as they went down every time he swallowed. Formido thought he’d pass out from the pain yet again.

“Ughh…….”

Gold, who had poured the water, laughed as he watched Formido groan in agony. Gold was wearing gloves on both of his hands. He pushed his hand inside Formido’s mouth and pulled out the debris.

“Ughhhh.”

A mix of debris, red blood, sticky saliva, and broken teeth tumbled out from his mouth. The debris twisted his jaw as it dislodged. Formido thought he would rather die than feel the pain he was feeling now. But he no longer had the teeth to bite his tongue with even if he wanted to commit suicide, and he laughed feebly as he mumbled,

“……Fuck……. Is this why I’ve been feeling like shit ever since I first stepped foot inside Roanne? And I keep thinking about the past……. Spit.”

His speech slurred together, perhaps because all of his teeth were broken. Gold rolled his wrists as he said,

“Shion Sabelix.”

Formido opened his eyes wide when he heard the familiar name. Gold’s lips curled up into a wide smile behind his mask. He continued,

“Tell me where my sister is.”

“I……I see……. You’re Niall Sabelix!”

Formido tried to grit his teeth, but all he managed was to make his gums bleed.

Niall Sabelix. The younger sibling of House Sabelix. The owner of the Circlesita Company, a large company that worked in the weapons market that had three circles for its logo. The bastard had been useful in blackmailing Shion Sabelix into making bombs for them after they had kidnapped her.

Formido had initially planned on killing Niall if the latter tried to get revenge, but Grundewalz had left no traces of themselves behind and Niall had been searching in all the wrong places in vain, so they had simply decided to let him be a few years back. To think that he had joined Camastros ever since.

Formido snickered, on the brink of madness, as he realized that there was no chance that he would ever leave this place alive.

“You think I’ll tell you……? You’ll kill me as soon as I do! But I might tell you if you promise to let me live. Think you can do that?”

“…….”

“You’re just gonna kill me, right? Damned bastard. Snicker, that bitch Shion’s as good as dead. I told the person feeding her to kill her if I ever broke off con…….”

Pooow!

Formido’s head whipped sharply to the side before he could even finish. A smear of blood was left on Gold’s gloves.

Pow, pow, pow!

Gold’s eyes lost their focus as he beat Formido with the intent to kill. He had ultimately lost his ability to reason before the man who had taken away his sister, his only surviving blood relative who had also been like a mother to him after their parents had passed away when he was young. Gold mercilessly pounded his knuckles against Formido, determined to render the latter into a bloody paste.

“Hey, I understand where you’re coming from, but hold back a little. He might actually die.”

Gold regained his senses when his colleague called out to him from behind and looked down at his throbbing fists before clenching his teeth.

“The only thing I regret about becoming a merchant is that I didn’t learn to be proficient in the martial arts and I can’t beat you to the brink of death right now.”

“Hee, heehee……. I won’t ever tell you…….”

Pooow!

Gold socked Formido across the cheek.

“You can go ahead and keep your mouth shut. Lord Hill, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Hill, who had been standing behind him, slowly walked up. Formido stared at Hill, who was smiling gently behind his mask, through his swollen eyes. Hill reached out to him.

“Now, tell me everything you know.”

Buzz.

An intricate magic circle appeared in front of Hill’s hand. Mana arranged itself in a beautiful and calculated manner inside the circular mold. Hill pointed at Formido, and the magic circle began spinning around him. Then, Formido’s eyes immediately rolled back.

“Ugh……. Uh…….”

“Where is Shion Sabelix?”

“T-the……North……next to the Tolsikè Forest…….”

Hill had cast a confession spell.

Part 4

Gold personally burned Formido alive once he had learned of his sister’s whereabouts and immediately left to go and find her.

Three days had passed since. They never found Margarita.

They did not know where Margarita was. They had collected as many heads as they had been expecting to collect, so they decided that they no longer had to worry about Grundewalz. All they had to do now was to capture Margarita, but the situation was vexing.

Today was the king’s birthday. Shawn had said that the Black Fox’s real boss, Payne, had Margarita under his protection. Payne had been boiling with rage, unsure of how to report the fact that Grundewalz had been annihilated so absurdly easily to the imperial family, and had declared that he absolutely wouldn’t let Camastros live any longer. Payne had also declared that he would make plans and act independently with Margarita, so Shawn no longer had any insight on his schemes.

To be honest, Ianna was more curious about Shawn’s position in the Black Fox than she was in the Black Fox’s schemes. How high up the ladder was he that he had been able to leak so much valuable information so readily? And why had he betrayed them when he was so high up? It took more than an ordinary amount of courage to be a spy. It was the same thing as walking across a tightrope in the midst of tempestuous winds.

Shawn……and Eiji. Ianna grew more concerned about Shawn as Eiji’s playful silhouette continued to overlap with his. She was the type of person to ignored another’s secrets and bury her personal curiosity regarding them, but secrets ceased to be when circumstantial evidence piled up and the truth was unveiled. She could not help but worry that a close friend might be fighting alone in a place where he could lose his head at any given moment. Though she wasn’t certain that Eiji was Shawn…….

“Oh my goodness, it’s her.”

“Goodness…….”

Ianna was attending the king’s birthday party. She was planning to slip away as soon as the king had made his entrance and announced the start of the party. People looked to her in distaste as she sipped away at her wine, partnerless, as she waited for the king’s arrival.

Ianna had received several dozen boxes worth of invitations to various parties. Every invitation that had been sent to House Roberstein on her behalf had been returned graciously with the suggestion that the letters be sent to her directly, so those nobles who wished to speak with her had started sending their invitations directly to the Institution. But Ianna had ignored all of them and hadn’t replied to a single one. Not only that, but she had gathered up all the letters and incinerated all of them. It was quite rude and disgraceful of her.

No one could insult her for her origins because Cherno had threatened to bring his wrath down upon anyone who scorned her outright, but a lot of people held her in contempt for being haughty. Some nobles acted as if she didn’t exist after having been humiliated because she never replied to their invitations. Ianna rather liked their attitude.

“I thought they would come together…….”

“Do you think he turned her down?”

Ianna’s keen hearing caught their whispers. She tightened her grip on her wineglass.

It was well-known that Ianna was on very good terms with Arhad of House Callisto. The viscount who had seen them together on the balcony on the day of Ianna’s debut had told his friends what he had witnessed. The story had only spread from there, and the rumors surfaced and spread like fish swimming in water now that Ianna had finally attended a party.

Those who cared immensely about the love lives of others immediately began wagging their tongue about Arhad and Ianna —both of whom had striking appearances. What was Arhad doing with Ianna in his arms that day? ……they asked.

‘Me, in a relationship with Arhad…….’

It wasn’t true at all. It was true that they had acted so she could chase away the annoying men, but they truly, truly weren’t in any kind of romantic relationship.

She might have been a tad embarrassed had Arhad been here with her. She was glad that she had managed to keep him from coming. Perhaps Arhad wouldn’t have cared. After all, he was the one who had suggested they do what they did that day to get rid of the annoying bastards. He probably would have laughed in good humor and told her to let the others misunderstand as they pleased. Why was it that Ianna thought that he would shamelessly enjoy the fuss they had caused, much less be embarrassed by it……?

“Um, Lady Roberstein?”

Someone called out to Ianna as she closed her eyes and savored the wine. Ianna opened her eyes and looked to where the voice had come from. And she startled a little upon seeing who it was.

It was Princess Angelina. Her shaking hands were clutching tight to her dress as she continued,

“May I ask what exactly your relationship with Sir Arhad is?”

Angelina was quivering like she would burst into tears at any moment. Ianna stared at her without a word as other nobles leaned in to hear her answer.

Rumors that the princess had a crush on Arhad Callisto had spread even if she had pretended otherwise. Why else would she be asking after him?

Generally, royalty had to marry powerful political allies to unite their houses, but the Kingdom of Roanne was so powerful that her royal family did not need to be careful around her nobility. Which was why the royal family of Roanne had relatively more freedom in their choice for marriage. There was a vast difference in their stations, but a marriage between them wasn’t out of the question altogether, so the nobles took great interest in the puppy love of the sixteen-year-old young lady.

Arhad had a marvelous appearance, like he was the male lead of a romance novel. And reality was starting to play out just like one such work of fiction. There was even a romantic rival. The senior and junior with pink rumors floating about them that culminated with the balcony incident, and the beautiful princess who had fallen in love a step too late…… But Ianna and Arhad had never called themselves lovers. So, how would Ianna reply?

“…….”

Ianna placed her wineglass down on the table.

‘Our relationship? Why is the Princess asking me this……?’

Ianna realized immediately. The princess had fallen head over heels for Arhad at the debut. Ianna furrowed her brows.

It didn’t matter to her if Arhad found himself a woman. He would be the emperor of a great empire one day, and it was a ruler’s duty to leave behind heirs. It wouldn’t matter even if he had multiple women. The only catch was that Ianna would not tolerate a woman who didn’t suit him to stand by his side. And her evaluation of Angelina was so poor it was almost ruthless.

Angelina was a bitch……. A bitch who had been married off to another country and had been childish and immature until the bitter end. She was a sheltered flower who only had her face going for her who had taken fright as soon as Arhad and the Bahamut Empire, which he ruled, had started invading and had run to Schneider and begged him to save her, to help her.

It was almost ironic to see her crushing on Arhad and clinging to him like this. Had she been like this in the past too……?

“Why aren’t you answering?”

‘What to do?’

Ianna pondered. She knew that the nobles were listening in on their conversation regardless of what she felt about Angelina. And her answer would heavily influence the other parties she would have to attend in the future.

‘Why on earth do I have to worry about something like this?’

Ianna sighed to herself. She was exhausted. This wasn’t the first time she had been asked something like this. People thought what they wanted to think even though she had denied the rumors hundreds of times, and Ianna had caught onto this particular habit of theirs rather early on. They had already deluded themselves, and not many would believe her even if she denied the rumors.

“…….”

Ianna carefully contemplated her two choices.

To make yet another exhausting denial, or to lie and affirm.

The questions would continue if she denied the rumors, and the men would continue trying to flirt with her. And Angelina would start pestering Arhad. But people would stop asking questions if she lied and affirmed. And the number of bastards pestering her would sharply diminish as well. Ianna was tired of the love letters, whether they had been sent by those who wanted to climb the social ladder or those who had confessed because they were genuinely interested in her, and the number of men approaching her was starting to grate on her nerves.

‘And Angelina will probably lose interest in Arhad too.’

Ianna could not even imagine Angelina standing by Arhad’s side. Her patience bottomed out as she imagined Angelina pestering Arhad while being surrounded by a bunch of like-minded women. And so, without much further thought, Ianna said,

“We’re still only getting to know each other…”

The nervous Angelina flinched.

“…But we have started dating.”

After thinking about it from several different angles, Ianna had decided that affirming the rumors was her best course of action. Who cared what other people thought, so long as she and Arhad knew the truth?

Ianna inwardly offered Arhad an apology. But he had been the one who had brought upon this situation by pulling her into a hug when others were watching, so it was only right that he bore the consequences that followed. Besides, Arhad would probably take great delight in the situation —he wouldn’t ever be embarrassed.

She felt a little sorry for interfering with Arhad’s love life when she didn’t even know when it would begin, but all she had to do was confess that everything was just a lie if he ever found himself a lover.

Indeed. The person who would one day become his first and foremost priority.

“……!”

Her heart ached for a moment. It was almost as if something had squeezed it physically. Her breath caught. The sudden surge of the mysterious and deafening emotion made Ianna bite down at her lip.

‘……What is this?’

The complicated emotions left Ianna in a daze as she was suddenly onslaught by a flare of anger and uneasiness.

‘Why am I feeling this way?’

She could not understand. She hated herself for feeling this way. She must not feel this way. Ianna grew frustrated and tried to turn around and leave for the garden.

“Sniff, sniffle.”

And then, an accident occurred. Angelina had burst into tears.

“Oh my!”

“Princess!”

Noblewomen flocked to the princess’ side. They were trying to console her. Angelina was now sobbing into her hands. Ianna stood in a daze at first, a little bewildered, before she furrowed her brow.

“You’re too much.”

“Indeed. That was cowardly of you.”

One woman began criticizing Ianna. And then, another woman agreed. What were these women blabbering on about now? Ianna couldn’t comprehend, so she asked,

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Everyone knows that the Princess has a crush on Sir Callisto, whom she met at her debut. And it’s well-known that you have been denying any rumors about you and the gentleman being in any sort of relationship. So how could you pretend like you and he were only junior and senior with nothing else going on and then suddenly say that you’re dating when the Princess asked —it’s almost like you were trying to rub it in……. You deceived the Princess. And it was cowardly.”

“She was probably trying to brag about it.”

Ianna only just managed to keep herself from telling them to shut their mouths. Who were they to grumble and interfere, regardless of what her relationship with Arhad was? Why did she need to be criticized? Ianna immediately grew bitter and asked Angelina,

“Then what would you have me do?”

Angelina raised her head from her hands when she heard Ianna’s question. Her eyes were filled with tears, but a stubborn light still shone in them. Her heart was decided. She had never failed to get what she wanted. And so, Angelina said,

“Please break up with him. You aren’t serious with him yet, right?”

And that was enough. Indifferently, Ianna replied,

“Why should I?”

“Pardon?”

“Why should I break up with him?”

“That’s…”

“Because you happen to like him, Princess?”

Angelina flushed red and was rendered speechless. Ianna continued,

“Why do you claim that everyone knows how the Princess feels? I did not. I have no interest in such pointless gossip. I don’t feel the need to waste my time worrying about the affairs of someone I don’t even know very well. And even if I knew how the Princess felt, what would that change?”

The women whom Ianna’s words had turned into time-wasting gossipers flew into a rage.

“Look here! You’re being arrogant!”

Ianna looked directly at the woman who had shouted. The woman flinched.

“Arrogant? —but I only spoke the truth. And what does it matter to you that I’m dating? And why must I break up with someone I’m already dating just because another happens to have taken a liking to him as well? Why? Why don’t you just establish a law? If a third party happens to fall in love with someone already in a relationship, the lovers must break up at once, or something of that sort.”

“She’s the princess!”

Ianna did have issues with her current station, but none of it technically mattered to her. Nothing would matter once she left the kingdom, and everything would be over once she left House Roberstein anyway. The Institution was affiliated with the Kingdom of Roanne in name, but it had been led by famous mages and was in actually operating as an independent body, and one could attend the Institution without being a citizen of the kingdom. Angelina was too feeble to attempt anything of the sort, but Ianna could simply kill off any assassins anyone sent her way.

And more importantly, if you liked someone, then you were supposed to appeal to them directly and try to win their heart —so why was she threatening the person her crush was dating to break up with him? One should win their crush’s heart for themselves, and it was unseemly to try to pressure their crush’s actual lover.

Moreover, Ianna hated it when people tried to get between lovers who had been getting along just fine to try and pull them apart. So many people had suffered because of Lebony, and Ianna herself had been scarred so deeply.

Ianna was starting to feel nauseated as she looked at Angelina. And she saw Angelina slightly shaking her head without knowing what she was doing.

As a princess, she had probably never been denied anything in her life. So she probably thought it was only natural that she got what she wanted. Ianna narrowed her eyes and laughed kindly.

“Oh, is that so? Does the law state that everyone must bow their head and agree to every little thing this princess of yours says?”

The women covered their mouths, astonished by what Ianna had said.

“Look at how she quips back.”

“You have a horrible personality!”

“Why don’t you tell me yourself, Princess? Have I done something wrong?”

Ianna ignored the other women. Her frigid eyes cast their light on only Angelina. Tears poured from the princess’ eyes yet again.

“I-I’m leaving.”

“Princess!”

Angelina fled from the party. The women glared at Ianna one last time before scattering. Ianna grinned before turning around and walking away. The nobles, who had been watching as Ianna never budged even as the other women, including the princess herself, stood against her, took note of the fact that she had quite the personality as they gathered more information about her.

“Sigh.”

Ianna sauntered up to a sofa in the corner of the hall and sank down into it. She was starting to feel listless. There was a heavy scowl on her face. She was sure that people must surely see her as some kind of villainess. But that didn’t matter to her. More important, however, was…….

‘My feelings.’

Ianna already knew what it was she had momentarily felt when she thought about Arhad having someone whom he considered as more important than herself. It was sorrow.

Ianna lost herself in thought.

Why had she felt sorrowful? Arhad would have to put his wife as his topmost priority should he ever wed. That was only natural. Ianna might be his knight, but any wife would be concerned about a woman who was close to her husband. There was no way that Arhad would ever stop wanting Ianna, which meant that it was Ianna who would have to distance herself from him first.

And, just then, Ianna realized that she had been mistaken about something.

‘I thought that I would always be his number one no matter what.’

Which was why she had thought she wouldn’t care even if Arhad found himself a woman. She was being so selfish and arrogant.

‘No, that’s wrong.’

Arhad was the type who would rather die than do something he loathed, so if he were to marry a woman, then it would mean that he truly loved her a lot. And then, Ianna would no longer be his number one.

Throb…….

She felt that sorrow again.

Her insides churned.

“…….”

Ianna’s face stiffened as she realized just how serious her condition was. Had she grown too accustomed to the fact that Arhad always desired her and had taken him for granted? Had she always been this obsessed with him?

Ianna lost herself in her own feelings.

How had Arhad been like in the past? She could not recall any woman standing beside him no matter how hard she tried to remember. Arhad had never taken an empress until the day he had murdered her. He had never even had a lover or a mistress, much less an empress.

Had he wed after she had died? He had said he would burn her corpse —so had he burned her corpse and married another woman? And her worries weren’t only limited to women. Had he forgotten about her as he cherished his other subordinates? Had he taken an interest in anyone else after her?

Ianna could not imagine an Arhad who was not looking at her. For the life of her, Ianna could not imagine Arhad turning his eyes to another.

Nor would she ever need to. He would never do that.

It didn’t matter how many girls adored him. It didn’t matter how many subordinates wanted him to use them. He only ever looked to Ianna.

“…….”

But she would have to start imagining it now. She would watch over his future by his side, after all. Ianna leaned against the sofa and fell into a daze as she pondered.

Arhad marrying another…….

……She hated it.

‘What am I even thinking right now? Am I drunk on wine? I shouldn’t be like this.’

Ianna tried to regain her composure. Arhad would wed the woman he liked, and she would simply walk a step behind him. She would watch over their love and their children as she maintained their relationship as liege and knight.

She hated it.

But reality had hit her like lightning, and Ianna’s thoughts kept taking a strange turn. Her contradictory thoughts clashed against each other. She needed to make a decision, and quickly.

If only Arhad would never wed.

If only we could stay like this forever.

“…….”

Her egocentric thoughts seized her. Ianna realized how horribly selfish she was being and covered her eyes.

She felt like she had become a child throwing a tantrum so her mother wouldn’t be taken away. She felt like she had become a young child who wanted to monopolize her mother’s gaze, to chase her mother around while begging for affection, to hold her mother tight, loath to let go.

Just like the childhood she regretted…….

She instantly felt disgusted. Ianna bit down at her lip, finding herself incredibly foolish for become so obsessed about another.

“Are you tired?”

Someone called out to her, but Ianna ignored them.

‘I’d really like it if no one irritated me right now.’

Ianna decided to go back and cool her head as soon as the party was over. She was certain that Angelina had made her lose her right mind.

But then the person who had called out to her sat down beside her. Ianna brought down her hand when she felt the sofa sink down next to her and immediately straightened up in alarm. Saiwè Luria Roanne. The third prince was sitting with her.

“Your Royal Highness Prince Saiwè.”

“Please remain at ease.”

Ianna stared at the grinning Saiwè with confusion written plainly on her face.

‘Why does he keep talking to me and paying heed to me?’

But she couldn’t have cared any less. She had tensed up for a moment upon Saiwè’s arrival, but it was a fact that she was tired and she didn’t really want to entertain this prince whom she wasn’t even interested in, so she decided to wrap up their conversation quickly and leave. Which was why she simply said, “Thank you,” with insincerity and rested against the sofa in a show of exhaustion.

Saiwè ignored Ianna’s discourtesy and spun his wineglass around before bringing it to his lips.

“Do you dislike parties? This is the first time I’ve seen you since your debut.”

“I don’t dislike them, but I don’t particularly like them either.”

“I must agree. But I had no choice but to attend —I’ve skipped out on so many parties that I’d start hearing nasty things if I skipped the king’s birthday party as well. Still, I am glad to have attended today, my Lady, because I was able to see you.”

Ianna started to truly wonder why the prince was acting like this once Saiwè had said his piece. She disliked beating around the bush, so she got directly to the point.

“What is it that you want from me?”

“Pardon?”

“I am curious as to what you are trying to have me do. I have never met you prior to Founding Day, Your Royal Highness Prince Saiwè. You said you were interested in my swordplay. But is that truly the only reason why you wanted to get to know me? To be blunt, I am quite disconcerted by the fact that you have taken an interest in me, Your Highness, and I find it rather burdensome.”

She was being incredibly rude. So rude, in fact, that anyone else would have immediately lost what goodwill they had for her —but she had done it on purpose. She would find it unpleasant if the prince had approached her with hidden motives and she didn’t want him to approach her anymore, and neither did she want anything to do with the royal family even if he had only genuinely wanted to get to know her, and she thought it was for the best if she could drive the prince away.

“Haha. Well, we actually have met before. And I happened to take rather kindly to you……. I’m sure you’ll reconsider your opinion of me too, my Lady, when you realize what I’m talking about.”

They had met before? Where? When? And she would reconsider her opinion? Ianna turned the gears in her head. Saiwè grinned when he saw Ianna fall into silent contemplation and continued,

“Would you like a hint?”

“I do not recall ever meeting you before, Your Highness.”

“Hoho. We’ve most certainly met, but it’s only natural that you don’t remember because only I recognized you at the time. But in any event, I would like to get to know you better, my Lady. So please don’t cast me aside.”

They had met before, but only he had recognized her? Did that mean that Ianna had taken no interest in him at the time? He was being very ambiguous. Saiwè tilted his head slightly to the side as he watched Ianna ponder.

“I hear that Sir Arhad is your lover.”

Ianna immediately snapped back to her senses. Saiwè continued,

“It’s a blessing to be in love with someone. I will be rooting for your love, my Lady.”

Love. Oh, I see. Ianna had publicly declared that she was dating Arhad, so she would have to hear the word incessantly from now on. Her expression grew grave. Saiwè continued,

“Sir Arhad must love you a lot, doesn’t he?”

Perhaps she had thought too lightly of the situation. She had only said it in a fit of rage because she had been so annoyed, but now she would have to keep lying and say that she and Arhad were lovers whenever the topic came up. She had thought that people would shut up once she had affirmed the rumors, but that had not been the case. Humans were creatures who pestered others without end —when one curiosity was satisfied, another would soon take its place.

“……We aren’t that serious yet.”

Her conscience prickled every time she tried to speak on the matter. She had forgotten to take her own temperament into consideration. Her guilty conscience was one thing, but…….

Love.

The word gave her goosebumps. The idea that she had made a huge mistake struck her head. She had dug her own grave. It may have been a lie, but she herself had pushed the emotion onto Arhad and herself. Just what on earth had she been thinking? And why hadn’t she felt repulsed when she had said it? Her repulsion wrapped around her like vines now that she acknowledged it. With mixed feelings, Ianna said,

“We are simply fond of each other. I feel a little awkward now that people seem to think we’re passionately in love.”

“Is that so? Well, I suppose it can be nice to take things slow. They say that fiery passion only lasts for but a few years anyhow. And that it is a feeling that changes readily.”

Saiwè had said he would root for them, but it almost sounded like he was criticizing them instead. He continued,

“The heart can fall apart in but an instant at even the slightest of chances. And all the quicker if money and power had a hand in it.”

He looked rather exhausted.

“It is a light and fragile emotion as easily broken as glass.”

Ianna was pessimistic in a different sense from how openly Saiwè was expressing his views on love. Ianna was intrigued. Surprisingly, she suddenly thought that Saiwè was someone she could actually converse with.

“Is there a reason why you think this way?”

Saiwè chucked quietly when he heard her question. He stared deeper into the amethyst wine sloshing in his glass.

“How much do you know about the royal family?”

Ianna knew a bit. She had offered her life to the royal family in the past, after all. Schneider had shared every secret with her that she had been curious about. Schneider trusted her without end, and he probably would have shared all sorts of secrets with her if she only asked. It was simply that Ianna hadn’t asked many questions in the first place because she hadn’t cared, so she didn’t actually know all that much. Saiwè continued,

“Do you, perchance, know anything about me —Saiwè Luria Roanne? I won’t mind anything you say, so please be honest and tell me everything you know.”

She had come this far already, so Ianna decided to try talking with him.

“You are the second son of Her Highness Luria, who was once the third princess of the Kingdom of Begoisha. You have little interest in power, and you generally spend your time enjoying your reading or your archery.”

“That’s fairly accurate. But the truth is that I do have a bit of interest in power. And I don’t indulge in my hobbies only because I enjoy them. I am keeping my head down low as I study and master everything I can in preparation for my future.”

As a prince, his was a dream worth having. He had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and he stood at the peak of power. It was only natural for him to look down upon others, and he even had an opportunity to climb even higher and sit on the throne of the most powerful kingdom there was. And yet, Saiwè had done nothing. He barely interacted with the nobles, and more importantly, neither his hair nor his eyes were silver.

“I hold a lot of pride in myself. But there are three things that crush my pride underfoot.”

Saiwè tapped his index finger repeatedly against his cheek as he rested his chin in his hand. He continued,

“They tear down at my pride from its very roots. And yet, I cannot eliminate them……it’s truly vexing.”

Ianna stared openly as Saiwè calmly continued his story. Saiwè beamed.

“Which is why I am thinking of abandoning everything altogether. I want to go far away, just like a flying arrow.”

There was no need for Ianna to know about the third prince’s personal affairs. Still, she vaguely realized that his future disappearance may not have been an accident. Saiwè disappearance. He had probably been involved in his own disappearance.

“It feels like it would be discourteous to ask any further into this matter, Your Highness. And perhaps dangerous.”

“I like how clever you are, my Lady. It’s why I am able to tell you this when I cannot speak of it to any other.”

“But what does this conversation have anything to do with what we were speaking about before? —we were speaking about how quickly love can change.”

“Love…”

Saiwè lamented. He continued,

“Love was the start of my tragedy. The souring of love……. Love that has tasted power, wealth, and luxury…….”

It was almost like a riddle. Ianna began to grow a little interested in Saiwè, perhaps because their conversation felt like a game of twenty questions or perhaps because they were speaking so pessimistically about love. Saiwè smirked when he saw Ianna eagerly awaiting his next words, unlike how insincere she had been when they first started conversing.

“Your life is very exciting, Lady Ianna.”

“Pardon? What are you……?”

Ianna asked back when the question was suddenly shot at her while the conversation had been flowing so smoothly. Saiwè was a prince who liked to set his own pace.

“You overcame the flaws of your origins with your abilities alone. It was no ordinary feat. I’d like to emulate what you’ve done.”

“It was not so impressive as you suggest.”

“I pray that your love will not bend because of someone who was born into power like Angelina. Please prove to me just how great love can be.”

But just as Ianna groaned while feeling the forthcoming headache.

Booooom!

Her head immediately shot up as she heard the deafening roar splitting through the air.

“Kyaah!”

“W-what’s going on?! Ahh!”

The party hall floor began to rumble. The tremors grew bigger and bigger until the entire hall was shaking.

Booom!

The explosions sounded ever so familiar.

“Bombs……,”

Someone muttered the exact same thing that Ianna did. She turned around. Her eyes met Saiwè’s.

Boooom!

“Ahhhh!”

The chain of explosions grew closer and closer until it finally thundered from the basement beneath the hall. People screamed and clung to the walls as the floor shook. The delectable dishes that had been on the table fell to the ground and lost their luster, and the wineglasses shattered and sent shards flying everywhere.

Those nobles who could use magic or kept magical artefacts on their person wanted to protect themselves, but they couldn’t because the entire palace was affected by a powerful magic disrupter.

Magic was an invaluable tool for everyday life, but it could also be a perilous weapon. Its potential was infinite, and creative uses for it were being researched all throughout the world. Which was why royalty, who stood high above all others and had many enemies to their name, needed to always be wary of it. After all, they could be assassinated by some peculiar spell on any given day. And so, the royal palace in which the royal family of Roanne resided was protected by a magic disrupter. Only the royal family could cast magic from inside its effects.

Roanne was a militant nation. The knights who protected the royal family were the cream of the crop. They were stationed all over the royal castle and protected the royal family with strict rigor. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the royal palace, where magic could not be used and was protected extensively by the royal knights, was the safest place to be in all of Roanne. Moreover, today was the king’s birthday, and it was unlikely for any problems to crop up because security had been ramped up for the festivities. Which is why the nobles panicked when the center hall, located at the heart of the impregnable fortress that was the royal castle, began shaking from the explosions.

“Ahhh!”

The nobles had grabbed onto curtains or anything that was secured to the walls as they waited for their king, who was sitting on the throne behind the veil, to take action. Schneider, who had been chatting with the king throughout the duration of the party, and leapt up and dashed forward with a grave look on his visage. He ordered his knights, who had run into the party hall and lined up before him, to confirm the situation.

His knights immediately ran outside, and the tremors gradually ebbed away. The anxious nobles thought that the situation was getting under control now that Schneider had stepped forward and they sighed in relief as they trusted the prince to resolve everything. But the explosions, though they grew farther away, never ceased.

Ianna and Saiwè were both still sitting on the sofa like nothing was wrong.

“…….”

Ianna had felt something strange when her eyes had met Saiwè’s and never took his eyes off him as he looked out at the window behind the sofa.

“Shall we go to where the noises are coming from? Perhaps a few ruffians have invaded the palace. I would enlist your assistance, my Lady.”

Saiwè slowly stood up, ignoring the minor tremors, and stretched out his hand.

Piiing—

Two of the rings he was wearing suddenly flashed brightly. Then, the air in front of him seemed to sunder. He pushed his hand through the torn space and pulled out a bow and arrow. The rings he had been wearing had been equipped with a spell that disabled the disruptor and a spatial magic spell.

“A bow…….”

Ianna realized what the déjà vu that had been tickling her stemmed from as soon as she saw Saiwè take up his bow. She only knew one archer. Ianna pursed her lips before she asked him,

“Why does the nightingale sing?”

If he truly was who she thought he was, then he would know what she was asking, and if he didn’t, then he would sneer at her for suddenly spouting nonsense.

“Because it seeks for love.”

That was the answer. The expression on Ianna’s face cooled as she called him by his codename.

“Van.”

“Ah, did you finally notice, Ann?”

He had confirmed her suspicions. He was Van —the executive of Camastros with three lines, the three arrows he must shoot, drawn on his mask. It was only then that Ianna realized just how big a hint he had given her. And she also realized that he had already known who she was.

‘Is this all right? It’s forbidden for members of Camastros to disclose personal information.’

Ianna grew uneasy.

“How did you know who I was? For starters, am I correct in assuming that you figured me out on Founding Day?”

“Yes. I knew who you were at first sight. If I was to explain how…….”

Saiwè grinned. He continued,

“It was your body, I suppose?”

“…….”

“Ah, please don’t look at me like I’m being vulgar. Shall we head outside for now?”

Saiwè opened the window wide. Then, he promptly disappeared. Nobody noticed when Saiwè, the disregarded prince, jumped out the window and into the winds outside from a quiet corner of the party hall while the rest of the hall was in chaos.

Ianna surveyed her surroundings before grabbing hold of the hem of her dress and jumping out the window after him. Saiwè had been waiting for her down below, and he opened up space again to pull out a set of comfortable clothes and a single sword. He handed them to her.

The clothes were too big and the sword was very embellished, perhaps because they belonged to Saiwè. Ianna did not turn down his goodwill because she was in no position to, and she walked over into the forest that surrounded the party hall to change.

“You took your robes off back when you got chimera blood all over you.”

Ianna paused for a moment when she heard Saiwè start speaking in an easygoing manner while she was changing.

“I captured your appearance with my eyes that day, my Lady. Swordswomen are rare to begin with, and not just any woman would have the same build and figure as do you.”

Ianna let out a deep sigh. Her head hurt. Just how much longer must she suffer because of the chimera incident? It was vexing. Saiwè then threw her a robe when she had finished changing and had walked back out, and he continued,

“Everything else came naturally.”

“What do you mean?”

Saiwè paused for a beat and stopped looking as relaxed as he had been until now. Then, he secretively whispered,

“The 500,000-gold man who completely crushed Schneider. The man who bought you a bouquet worth eighty-nine gold.”

Ianna stiffened up.

“Camastros’ very own Ro dotes on you like you’re the most precious treasure in the world. His golden eyes. And the fact that you are his lover…….”

The expression was wiped from Ianna’s face.

“What is your intent in telling me this?”

She could pretend that he was wrong. Or, she could open her eyes wide in feigned surprise. But someone who started doubting would always harbor that doubt in a corner of their heart even if another denied the truth. And that doubt would be as a dagger sleeping in its sheath. A dagger that could fly out from its sheath and stab someone in the heart at any given moment……. And besides, Saiwè was already certain he was correct.

‘Have I messed up again?’

The repulsive feelings that flooded her heart ebbed away like the tide as her eyes took in the person standing before her. Ianna’s eyes lost their light. The proof of her mistake was standing right there. Ianna drew her sword slightly out from its sheath.

“Do you wish to die?”

“Goodness, are you planning to assassinate royalty?”

“There is nothing stopping me. I will eliminate anything that poses a threat to him.”

Saiwè crossed his arms as he voiced his amazement.

“Setting aside my royal station, I am still an executive member of Camastros. Would you kill me even still?”

“That you know the truth is far more problematic than the death of an executive —that is what I have judged. Aren’t you taking me a little too lightly? I am being serious. I will let Ro make the final call, so why don’t we go to him at once?”

Ianna scowled as her head throbbed. She had always been nervous that Bahamut, the Black Fox, or even Schneider would find out the truth, but she had been wary of entirely the wrong people.

She could not predict what sort of variables Saiwè might introduce. But she was reluctant to recklessly slay a Camastros executive. Ianna wanted to take Saiwè to Arhad, since Arhad had told her to tell him if something happened instead of worrying about it on her own.

“Oh dear, but Ro is so very frightening. Hoho. I might actually end up dead.”

“Don’t even think about leaving my sight until we see him.”

“Very well. But I would like to keep conversing with you and ask you to guarantee my life until we do. It would also be nice if you would be as kind as to protect me from Ro as well.”

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say. Right now, my head is filled only with the thought that I should kill you immediately.”

Pft— Saiwè suddenly burst out in laughter as he covered his mouth. Ianna wondered if the prince had lost his mind. Why was he laughing in front of someone who had declared she would murder him? He shook his head when Ianna stared at him with a bitter look on her face.

“Haha. My apologies. You were just so unhesitant. I’ve truly taken a shine to you.”

“Am I speaking to someone who has lost his mind?”

“Oh dear, I assure you that I’m quite sane. Besides, I’m not that stupid, Ann. Nor am I suicidal.”

“I will cut straight to the point. My actions will be contingent upon what you say.”

“Aren’t you curious as to why I gave you a sword and am fearlessly running my mouth exposing all these secrets to you while standing within your range?”

“…….”

“You’re curious, yes? I’ll explain myself as we walk. Now, shall we be off?”

Saiwè smirked before he turned around and began walking away at leisure. It was true that she was curious. Just what was this sly dog of a prince thinking that he was acting like this? Ianna glared at the back of Saiwè head before following after him with one hand resting on her hilt so she could kill him at any given moment.

“This is my first time meeting a fellow member of Camastros without my mask on,”

Saiwè said as he walked slowly.

“To be honest, I was always nervous. I knew about Ro’s station, but everything else was shrouded in secrets. And so, it gave me a measure of relief when I uncovered your identity. But I felt a bit awkward about knowing who you were when you didn’t know me. I wanted you to realize who I was. And…”

Saiwè suddenly stopped in his tracks and spun around.

“I gave you that sword because I wanted you to trust me. So could you please put your sword back in its sheath? Your bloodlust is so dense it’s making my head hurt. You can kill me at any time without having to push me away like this, no?”

“I am not one to be careless. So please, do continue.”

Saiwè took a step closer to Ianna, who did not lower her guard. He stood directly in front of Ianna, who was glaring at him sharply as she tried to uncover his secret designs.

“You needn’t worry, Ann. I need Ro. And very, very much so. Ro is necessary for my future.”

Saiwè placed his hand over the hilt of the sword Ianna was holding. He continued,

“Besides, I admire his strength. I had never thought even in my wildest dreams that he could be so young, but it makes me like him all the more. Because it means that the golden age he will usher in will last for many long years.”

She would kill him as soon as he tried anything funny, and Saiwè did not avoid her watchful gaze. He tilted his head to the side as he looked down at her and openly displayed his sincerity. His amethyst eyes bubbled with ambition.

“…….”

Ianna’s bloodlust dulled. Saiwè looked sincere in her eyes. There was no reason for the words he uttered to be a lie when his eyes were like this. Nor did he have any reason to lie about anything that would be exposed as soon as they met up with Arhad in the first place.

“I’m still quite competent, all things despite, so Ro has promised me many things.”

“……Such as?”

“I will follow him and become a Bahamut noble. He also proposed that he would make me the king of my own kingdom if I continued to raise my merits, but I do not want for that. I’m rather tired of being royalty, and, as I told you earlier, I greatly admire his strength.”

Clatter.

The blade Ianna had drawn was returned to its sheath. Saiwè smiled with his eyes and took his hand off of it. Ianna felt strange as she watched him turn back around and begin walking again.

A Bahamut noble……. She couldn’t help but wonder if Saiwè had been one of the nobles who had pointed fingers at her as she died. But why would a Roanne prince want to follow the emperor of Bahamut and become a Bahamut noble? As a prince, he could have enjoyed a life of incomparable wealth and luxury right here in Roanne.

Ianna decided to walk at Saiwè side instead of following behind him as she asked,

“Wouldn’t it be better to stay in Roanne and become an archduke?”

A prince with no right to the throne would automatically become an archduke. Archdukes were not as powerful as the king, but they were still high enough in station that everyone save for royalty had to bow before them. She didn’t see why Saiwè had to purposefully put himself in harm’s way when the station of archduke had already been promised to him.

Saiwè’s reply was immediate.

“I detest Roanne.”

His words made Ianna remember how he had acted when she had first sat in on Camastros’ meetings. Saiwè —Van— had displayed a great loathing for the kingdom back then as well. He continued,

“I wish to leave this place. I feel like I’ll suffocate and my flesh will rot if I stay here. I wish to leave for lands where no one knows me and stand on my own two feet. I wish to stand not as an archduke, a station promised to me as a matter of course just because I am royalty, but in a station I have achieved with my own power. And following Ro is the best way to make that happen.”

He felt like his flesh would rot……. Did he truly hate the royal family of Roanne that much? Ianna wasn’t fully sure because she herself was not royalty, but felt it was more than plausible. She, too, would be resentful if her life was swayed this way and that and the future she truly wanted was cut off from her just because of the circumstances of her birth. Saiwè beamed when he saw her nodding.

“Which is why I cannot be discourteous to you, his lover. Do you understand me now? I need to make myself favorable to you.”

“…….”

“It seems like Angelina has taken an interest in Ro, but I find that very offensive. I do not wish for Roanne’s royal family to have any place in my future. I could not bear it if Angelina, a Roanne princess, became the most powerful woman of my country.”

Ianna clutched at her head. She had most definitely messed up, no matter how she thought about it. A Camastros executive? Things had become incredibly complicated. And yet, it would be ridiculous of her to tell the truth in this situation.

Ianna reflected on her actions. She would immediately explain the situation as soon as she met up with Arhad, and she was determined to ask him to formally dump her. And……she also resolved to cast away any strange fixations she had for him.

“You would put me in an awkward situation if you treated me that way. We’re not……we haven’t been dating that seriously. We’ve even had a bad argument recently, and we might break up soon.”

“Haha!”

Saiwè suddenly burst out in laughter.

“I let it slide earlier……but please allow me to pose a serious question. Do you truly believe that?”

“And if I do?”

“Pft. Putting Ro’s feelings aside, I know that you were upset with Angelina earlier. I was watching, you see. Didn’t you dislike Angelina because she had a crush on Ro? That means you have feelings for him.”

“That’s…….”

Ianna bit down at her lip —she had wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t because it was true that she had been upset. She continued,

“I was not upset because of the reason you are suggesting.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

“But I’m rather certain of this. The two of you will get married one day.”

“……Enough of this.”

“Yes, of course.”

Saiwè raised his hands as he continued chuckling. Ianna shot him a glare. He was a very sly man.

Booom! Boom!

It had been quiet while they were walking, but bombs began exploding in succession and sounding against their eardrums again. Ianna scowled and rubbed at her numbed ears.

“These explosions sound familiar —it must be the Black Fox, yes?”

“Of course it’s those bastards. They have many informants planted in the castle.”

“How many bombs do you think they’ve installed here? Should we be taking action?”

“I don’t care if Roanne suffers. She’s too busy worrying about who will sit on the throne without even realizing that the Black Fox is eating her alive…….”

Sarcastically, Saiwè continued,

“The bombs will likely stop soon, since even the Black Fox couldn’t have installed an infinite number of them in the royal castle. Let’s ignore them and just go find Ro.”

~~*~~

Part 5

“The king told Schneider that he wanted a happy birthday celebration. And he ordered Schneider to put an end to our crimes when he declared that he would subjugate us.”

They were in a good cheer as they watched the stacks of smoke rising up from the royal palace from a rooftop far away.

“The king will be furious to see that this was the result. You were very helpful in setting up those bombs, Sir Miloutè.”

“You needn’t worry about me.”

Miloutè stroked his stubbly chin. He continued,

“I set them up just in case our battles became drawn-out, but I never thought that the bombs I installed in the palace would be used so soon. Well, not that we’ve used all of them yet.”

“You did well to survive. You’re the only surviving member of the Knights of Grundewalz, but I will personally make sure to report back to our masters and tell them about your accomplishments. You are sure to be rewarded.”

“I would be very grateful for that. I was fortunate to survive by finding myself a blundering idiot.”

“Hey, Payne,”

said Margarita petulantly as she flew next to Payne and Miloutè on her broomstick.

“I still think Eiji’s suspicious no matter how much I think about it, you know?”

“Why are you so quick to pick on him?”

“Formido was suspicious about Eiji too. And I still think that Eiji’s been leaking information.”

“You’d do well to remember that Eiji is one of the three bosses of the Black Fox now, Margarita. Doubting one of the leaders of an organization directly under the imperial family’s command is no different than slandering our masters themselves —you do know this, right?”

“Gosh, and now you’re putting me on the spot. Ugh, damnit.”

Margarita flattened herself against her broomstick and continued,

“Ohoho……. I’m pretty annoyed and things have gotten to this point anyway —should I just cast a curse on them while we’re at it? A very potent one…….”

Margarita flew high into the sky. She stopped high in the air as she gazed down at the royal castle with her drowsy eyes.

Buzzzz…….

Rusty blackish-green mana, like sewage had been mixed into its color, began circling around her. It spun around her like a whirlwind before spreading out like a cloud of dust after an explosion. The greenish toxic smoke drew a large magic circle beneath her broomstick. Intricate geometric figures twisted and twined into each other as they completed the circle.

Payne and Miloutè narrowed their eyes and moved away from her when they felt the toxic aura. Payne yelled,

“What kind of curse are you casting? It’ll spell trouble if you use a curse severe enough to make the kingdom decide to subjugate us. We’re not trying to face them head-on.”

There existed an infinite variety of curses. Humans had harbored the desire to curse those they hated since times immemorial, and the miracles of magic made it possible to carry out those desires. Curses were an independent branch of spellcraft. It was a branch of black magic, which was prejudiced against and unaccepted by society, but its might could not be ignored.

“Hmmm. It’ll only give them a bit of psychological pain. And from delusions of their own making.”

The completed magic circle shone powerfully as its spell was made manifest. And then, the circle vanished without a trace, as if it had only been an illusion to begin with.

Nothing changed in the castle. Miloutè and Payne, who were not very familiar with magic, tilted their heads to the side in puzzlement, but subtle changes were taking place all throughout the castle where their eyes could not reach.

“…….”

Ianna was suddenly thrust into a situation that she could not comprehend. She was sure that she had been walking with Saiwè just moments ago, but he had suddenly vanished and the space around her was distorting bizarrely. Everything was hazy, as if she was growing sleepy. She tried to get her senses together by slapping herself on the cheeks, but her body refused to move as she wanted it to. Her head throbbed. Ianna squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

‘……What was I doing again?’

She forgot what she had been doing by the time she next opened her eyes.

“…….”

Birds chirped as they flew past her. The breeze was clear, and there were green leaves dangling from the trees. Ianna squinted at the warm sunlight and lowered her gaze.

She saw her hands. They were very small. She looked back up again. The house crest drawn onto the flag fluttering above her head was ever so familiar to her. And then, she saw something crimson glittering from the distance. Ianna subconsciously began chasing after the crimson light —a certain gorgeously dressed woman.

“Stop following me!”

But Ianna continued to chase after her anyway. The woman spun around and glared when Ianna tottered up to her.

“You annoying little bitch!”

Ianna blinked.

“I never should have given birth to you. You useless, disgusting little wench. Just looking at you makes me mad. You’re detestable. You’re sickening! Stop loitering in front of my eyes for no good reason and go back to your room!”

Ianna stopped in her tracks. It didn’t hurt even though the woman was saying this to her. And more importantly…….

“I know you’re dead. I killed you myself.”

Lebony. Space collapsed when Ianna felt something was off and tilted her head to the side. Everything crumbled down, as if it had all been just a hallucination to begin with, before it reorganized into another space.

This new space gave her the same sense of déjà vu the other one had. A bookshelf lined with books, a desk in front of a large window with tall candles, ink, and a quill pen resting on top of it, and a bottle of wine and broken glasses lying in the corner —a stark contrast to everything else. The owner of the room was present as well.

The man sitting at the desk with his back to the window was ever so familiar to her. The light pouring out from the window shadowed his face. A thin book came flying at Ianna’s forehead as soon as she squinted from the light that was spreading out from behind him. The man started shouting loudly as soon as Ianna covered her head where the book had hit her.

“Sarachè died because of you! You, all because of you…… Who do you think you are, you wench? —and she was so kind to you…….”

The man sauntered over and grabbed Ianna by the hair. Dubiously, Ianna muttered,

“But this never happened anymore.”

Sarachè never died after I was reborn, and you, Cherno, have no reason to be so violent with me. And neither do I have any reason to simply tolerate your behavior. And then space collapsed again.

Darkness fell upon her. The cycling of spaces, the gap between them —it was there that Ianna returned to her senses.

‘This is magic.’

When had she fallen prey to the spell? Was it a psychic spell? How did she escape it? The magic continued to assault her psyche. It continued to try and ensnare her in delusions even as she contemplated. Ianna continued shaking her head as she tried to wake herself up.

It wasn’t Saiwè, was it? Ianna was anxiously trying her best to break free when she suddenly saw a familiar and very welcome figure in the distance. It was Arhad, who was facing away from her. She was immediately and immensely relieved. His very presence reassured her in the middle of the crisis. He always gave her his overflowing trust. Ianna immediately began running and didn’t stop until she was right behind him.

“Arhad. Just now…….”

She tried to grab hold of him. But she stiffened up as soon as Arhad turned around. His features normally loosened up when he looked to her, but now he looked just as cold —no, colder— than he did when he was looking to others.

He was always honest about his feelings when he was with her. Was he angry? But he always made it obvious when he was upset. And yet, she couldn’t read any emotion from him now.

“…….”

Ianna took a step away from him. A pungent feeling overtook her entire being. What was happening again? All of her thoughts were wiped from her mind. What had she been about to say again? She was simply bewildered by how strangely Arhad was acting.

“I’m thinking of letting you go.”

Ianna couldn’t understand. Her eyes lost focus as she looked back at him.

“Your sword holds no worth to me anymore.”

And his words pierced her heart.

“And I don’t want you any longer.”

Her pupils were shaking.

“This is it.”

He had always longed for her, and he had always approached her no matter how much she had pushed and pushed him away —there was no reason for him to be acting like this. And yet, here he was. It even seemed like he would say that. And he was the only person whom Ianna never wanted to hear it from.

“I don’t need you anymore.”

Ahh, the emptiness.

The feeling of the wounds she had wanted to forget.

Ianna’s hands dropped down.

Arhad gazed down at her with a frigid air about him for a moment before he walked away without ever looking back. Ianna simply stood blankly in place. She watched his retreating figure for a moment before she lowered her head. She lowered her eyes and stared only at the ground.

‘What……just happened?’

It had been so long since Arhad had walked so far away, and yet her feet refused to budge. It was like the squirming darkness beneath her was holding her feet in place. Her feet were pointed toward Arhad, but the darkness seemed to be trying to turn her in the opposite direction.

‘If that’s what you think, then I…’

If Arhad was going to abandon her, then she, too, would stop wasting her emotions on him. Everything would be over once she walked the other way.

The defense mechanisms of Ianna’s heart were still active. Which was why she turned around. The darkness praised her as it pushed her onward. And yet.

‘Why am I like this? Why am I……?’

She hated it.

She truly hated it. Her heart had started hurting as soon as Arhad had said those words. She found it difficult to breathe even now. Eventually, Ianna stopped walking.

She had stopped clinging to other people for affection and had grown stronger after killing her weak younger self and burying the little girl in her heart —was that not the case? Had she not matured at all?

No. She had matured, she most definitely had……. But she was so sorrowful…….

It hurts…….

Ianna took a ragged breath. She bit down at her lip. Wasn’t it natural for her to hate some things since she was only human? Ianna already liked Arhad, who poured out his goodwill to her endlessly. He had been overflowing in his fondness of her. He was her king. Someone who unconditionally took her side. It was only natural for her to hate losing someone like that.

One-sided feelings. She had experienced them to the point of exhaustion, and she never wanted to experience something so horrible ever again. Which was why she never tried to initiate any relationships. She never wanted to feel this way again.

Which was why Ianna denied it. Arhad couldn’t do this. There was no reason that he would.

That fact that she was under a spell slipped through her disturbed thoughts and entered her mind again just then. Ianna whipped back around. She spun around her body and ran after Arhad. She caught up to him in a breath and grabbed him by the arm. He was truly, truly expressionless when he turned around as she pulled.

This was apparently what others had meant when they said that Arhad was apathetic. But this was the first time Ianna had ever seen him like this. She felt so horribly dejected by the absence of his ever-present fondness.

“There is no reason for you to act like this toward me.”

Arhad stared at her for a moment before he smirked.

“And why not? It’s hilarious that you’re so certain.”

“This is a spell?”

“What makes you think that magic is involved? Don’t be ridiculous. Do you think I’m only acting like this because I’m under a spell? How arrogant of you.”

Ianna moved her mouth but didn’t answer. Her reality centered around him again as soon as he denied that magic was involved.

The wind was cold, and her hair was getting tangled into a mess. Stars were lighting up the black sky. The green grasses under her feet were swaying in the wind. It was the hill she took walks on often with Arhad as they chatted. It was so similar, so realistic, that her sense of reality shattered yet again. This was real.

“Why are you acting like this so suddenly?”

“There’s no such thing as sudden when it comes to people’s hearts.”

“But you must surely have a reason for acting this way.”

“Then I’ll tell you, since you want to hear it so badly. I found you burdensome for being so selfish and only thinking about yourself, and I began hating you. I’m tired of you.”

Arhad brushed Ianna’s hand off his arm. Ianna clenched her now-empty hand.

“……Didn’t you need my sword?”

“There are many swords other than yours at my disposal.”

He was right. He had conquered the continent in the past even when she was still his enemy.

“You told me that you wanted to keep me by your side.”

“And I grew tired of it.”

He was right. Their relationship would end, just like this, as soon as Arhad tired of her. Their relationship had started with the emotions he had poured out to her, and it would end as soon as he stopped feeling them. The fact that her own feelings for him had grown deeper had no bearing on the matter.

‘Will things really end so easily?’

Ianna hated for her feelings to become unilateral. No, that wasn’t it. Ianna shook her head furiously. She hated having one-sided feelings, but what she hated more was for Arhad to stop wanting her.

Her lips quivered. Her pride, fear, and repulsion stripped away, and she spat out the words that had come from the deepest depths of her heart and being.

“But……I still want to be with you.”

“I don’t.”

The look on Arhad’s face never changed. Ianna recalled how happy Arhad had been back when she had said those embarrassing words to him when he was anxious —how his complexion had lit up with joy with each and every word. Where did you go? Ianna grabbed at his clothes once again. He continued,

“Stop pestering me.”

“…….”

“It’s pathetic to see you like this. Let go.”

Ianna had to agree. She hated herself for acting like this. But her hand never fell away, as if it had been glued to him. Arhad continued,

“You weren’t like this before. You can live your life however you want now. You don’t need to be tied down to me anymore. Just do as you always have been. You need only care about yourself. It’s easy, right?”

Just as I’ve always been? I’ve never not been tied to you. I spent my entire previous life trying to defeat you, and I have lived this life working to be your knight because you wanted me so badly. So, what do you mean when you tell me to live just as I’ve always been?

Ianna mumbled,

“There’s no reason for you to act like this. You must always desire me.”

“Why? Did you think you’d be my number one forever? Why are you so certain of this? Human emotions are fickle…….”

It was like the devil himself was whispering in her ear. Arhad slowly lowered his face until he was right before her nose. His lips curled up into a smile. He continued,

“It’s not that you think there’s no reason for me to act like this —you just don’t want me to. That’s how you really feel……am I wrong?”

Ianna’s lips trembled.

“You’re right. I hate this.”

Her eyes blurred. Ianna clutched Arhad’s clothes tight. So that he could never leave.

“I hate this. Please don’t be like this.”

Tears fell from her eyes.

“I hate this…….”

“Get a hold of yourself!”

The space around her shattered as a single shout shook the world around her. The world turned white. And Arhad’s frigid visage grew hazy.

Ianna stared blankly ahead.

“Are you all right?”

Arhad was still in front of her. Arhad, who had been so heartlessly trying to pry her fingers off just earlier, was holding her tightly by the shoulders. He looked truly worried as he looked back at her.

“Why are you crying? What are you so afraid of? You wouldn’t return to your senses even after I lifted the spell…….”

“What just…….”

“It was magic. Everything you just saw never really happened. It was all simply a delusion of your own making.”

Arhad wrapped his hands around Ianna’s face and wiped away her falling tears. He was being so kind that it threw her mind into chaos. He continued,

“Did you see illusions of your past? I thought you got over your past —was I wrong?”

“What kind of spell was it?”

Arhad sighed.

“It was a psychic spell that gives shape to the things that you fear most and makes you hallucinate them. It digs through your memories and drags up your worst memories, and it combs though your soul and sniffs out the very thing you fear most. And it plays them out for you as illusions. You can break free from the spell if you’re certain that what you’re seeing isn’t real, and even the slightest doubts can help wake you up.”

“…….”

“It’s a kind of curse that leaves behind its illusions as vivid memories even after you’ve broken free from the spell. It’s a very high-leveled spell. Margarita, the Black Witch, is unrivaled when it comes to curses.”

Ianna had nothing to say. She dropped her head. And just as she fully understood what Arhad had said……the expression wiped from her face and her fingernails scraped against the dirt as she curled up her hands over the earth.

‘I……of all people…….’

Ianna trembled in fury, but Arhad, who had been watching over her, misunderstood why she was trembling. He had seen her clutching against the earth while sobbing like a child, and he was terribly worried for her. He stroked her hair gently as he gingerly asked,

“What did you see? It’s all right. You don’t need to be afraid. It wasn’t real —it was just an illusion. The spell exposed your heart, twisted your fears, and made you hallucinate. Don’t lose sight of the difference between what’s real and what’s not, Ianna.”

Arhad’s words didn’t comfort her at all. Rather, they felt like daggers stabbing at her heart. Her fears. She had known that she harbored those fears, but to think that they had been so serious.

Ianna was vehemently enraged at herself now that she had returned to her senses. She had noticed her feelings at the party today —her infantile, obsessive, and unbecomingly immature feelings of wanting Arhad to never desire anyone other than herself— and now that this had happened on top of that, she could not help but feel nauseated as she wondered if she had returned to being the weak little girl who had chased after her parents while craving for love.

She had clung to him while crying. Just like she had when she was younger.

The fact that she liked Arhad had nothing to do with it —she simply hated herself for being this way. It made her head hurt. She detested it. It was nauseating. She was overcome with an unbearable repulsion when she felt like Arhad’s hands, wrapped around her face, were making her weak.

She felt like everything about her person that she had built up until now had shattered to pieces and crumbled. And there was something inside her aching heart as it beat —the little girl whom she’d thought she had killed.

Smack!

Ianna furiously brushed Arhad’s hands away.

“……Ianna?”

“Please don’t touch me.”

She had not matured. She had not shaken completely free of her past hurt. She had not washed it all away as she cried in Arhad’s arms. But if not, if she had not……then did it meant that the little girl was still alive, still living, and still craving for unconditional love, this time from Arhad?

“Why are you……acting like this?”

Arhad’s expression clouded over. She shouldn’t do this, she knew she shouldn’t be acting like this, but Ianna was so furious at herself that she could not help but tremble.

“Urp.”

She covered her mouth with her hands. She was so disgusted by herself that she wanted to vomit. She said,

“I……I hate myself for being like this. I hate myself so much. Why did I have to see those illusions? Why do I have to feel this way?”

“You…….”

Arhad reached out for her again, but Ianna smacked him away as she screamed,

“Don’t touch me!”

“Ianna!”

He forcefully pulled her in as she pushed him away. Ianna saw him through the mess of her hair. There was a terrifying look on Arhad’s face. He continued,

“Don’t keep pushing me away —talk to me. I won’t understand anything if all you do is push me away. You should know by now that this is a bad habit of yours!”

His golden eyes were glowing mercilessly in the dark.

“What did you see that tormented you so? What are you so afraid of? Your family? Just tell me. I’ll rip off their limbs and cut off their heads! Stop trying to suffer through everything alone! Do you know how wretched I feel when you reject me so one-sidedly and I don’t even know why?!”

Ianna calmed down a little as she watched Arhad’s fury erupt like a blaze like it always did when she rejected him. Comically enough, she was glad to see him so angry. It reassured her. He was the same as he had ever been.

“Nothing you saw was real. It was all just an illusion. Can you not understand this?!”

“Because of you.”

“What?”

Ianna bit down at her lip.

“Because of you……I…….”

Ianna could not finish. She felt so insanely childish. She recalled how wretched she had felt when she had been one-sidedly rejected in her delusions. It was a feeling that she had long since forgotten after growing older.

“Did I do something to you in your illusion?”

Ianna stared at Arhad in his obvious bewilderment. Had he always felt like this, both in the past and even now……? She felt guilty toward the past Arhad once again. How did you endure this for over a decade without giving up and still keep reaching out for me……?

Get a hold of yourself. The past him no longer exists.

“…….”

Ianna clenched her hands into fists. She had fully calmed down at last. She was embarrassed to have made such a mess of herself in front of Arhad. She had told herself multiple times that it was magic even as she hallucinated, and yet she had been so shocked when Arhad, whom she had thought would always take her side, rejected her that she had failed to break free of the illusion. Slowly, Ianna hung her head.

‘To corner people this far……that spell truly is the worst.’

Ianna slapped herself on the cheeks before wiping away her tears against her sleeve. Arhad, who had been looking into her reddened eyes as he waited for her to answer, took her silence as a confirmation as sighed.

“Sigh…….”

Arhad put a hand against his aching head as he stood up. He continued,

“What did I do in your illusion? Tell me what I did that made you so angry.”

“Why do you wish to know?”

“You’re asking something so obvious. I’ll make sure I never do it.”

Ianna simply stared back at Arhad instead of answering his question. He looked a little awkward as he brought his hand back down and carefully posed a question when he saw how strangely Ianna was acting.

“Did I defeat you? That’s not exactly something I can control.”

Ianna burst out in laughter even though the situation hardly called for it. Arhad looked to her dubiously as she suddenly burst out in laughter when she had been gloomy just moments ago. Ianna closed her eyes.

……That was more a memory than a nightmare.

She opened her eyes again. She looked directly up at Arhad as he looked back at her in worry.

“No. I will most definitely emerge victorious against you, so I would have simply taken it for a silly dream if I had hallucinated that.”

“Most definitely? Is that what you think?”

Arhad relaxed as little when he saw that Ianna was starting to feel better. Which was why he joked as he helped her back to her feet. He continued,

“If that wasn’t it, then don’t worry. No matter what it was that I did in your illusion, the real me will never do the same thing.”

“Hah!”

Ianna laughed crookedly. The way Arhad had said it so calmly was funny to her. She continued,

“How are you so certain of that when you don’t even know what you did?”

“That’s why I’m telling you. It doesn’t matter what I did —I will never do it in reality.”

Ianna startled as their eyes met.

She knew now. Arhad was so deeply sincere when he made this face, when his eyes looked like this, when his voice sounded like this, that it prickled at her heart. Ianna moved her lips only to close them again. And as always, with that solemn look on his face that Ianna could only interpret as his sincerity now, he said,

“I promise.”

He promised —she heard the short, two-syllable word so loud and clear. Words were simply sounds until they became as a refreshing breeze when they were filled with sincerity. And the breeze threw open the doors of her heart and made a mess of her mind. It cast away all the darkness in her heart and settled inside as a brilliant light.

Arhad slowly raised his hand. His hand approached her slowly. She stared back, wondering what he was up to, when his hand climbed above her head.

Bonk!

He tapped against the crown of her head. Ianna blinked —the attack had truly come as a surprise. It didn’t hurt, but the unexpected contact cleared her head of any complicated thoughts.

“So forget about the illusions that you saw. All right? It’s just a waste of your emotions. Goodness, why were you crying over something so pointless? You’ve become quite the crybaby, I see.”

Arhad drew back his hand as he laughed like there was no helping it. Ianna stood still for a moment before wordlessly reaching up to her head. She had thought that her head and heart might explode, but they had both immediately cleared away. She found it so curious that she was feeling so refreshed just because Arhad had said a few words, had taken a few actions.

But to call her a crybaby. Ianna was about to retort, but she closed her mouth as she realized that she didn’t have much ground to argue. She had cried because of emotional agitation exactly five times in this life. First, when she was young and couldn’t understand that she had been reborn; second, when she had shed a single tear because of Lebony; third, during the incident with Keigus; fourth, during the school festival; and this was the fifth.

She had cried in front of Arhad thrice. Why did her tears flow so readily when she was with this man……?

Arhad thought she was turning melancholy again as she fell into thought, so he explained the nature of the spell to her again.

“This spell severely amplifies all of your negative feelings. Even the most positive people with the strongest willpower are rendered helpless if they’re caught unaware. There’s a reason why Margarita is considered one of the vilest people in the North. You don’t need to reproach or hate yourself no matter what it was that you saw or felt.”

But Ianna could not concur. The magic might have amplified her fears, but it only worked because the basis for her fears had already been inside her heart in the first place. In other words, there was fear inside her heart.

Margarita’s spell dug through negative emotions, experiences, and thoughts before finding the victim’s deepest fears and materializing them as illusions. Lebony, Cherno……she had hallucinated Arhad after seeing memories of her parents rejecting her, abusing her, and treating her as worthless.

‘And now I know for certain.’

Today, Ianna had fully recognized the fears and the hurt that had been hiding in her heart.

There was a little girl living inside her heart. She was the past Ianna who wanted to be loved, who had no confidence in herself as a person, and who was terribly afraid of being abandoned. This was also likely why she had been afraid when Arhad had said he wanted her for who she was at her debut.

Ianna looked back at herself.

It was only natural for others to want her ‘sword’. Her sword was the strongest. It radiated with absolute worth, and none could dare throw it away or ignore it.

Arhad had once said that he wanted the ‘sword that Ianna was.’ It was the highest compliment he could have ever given her. Ianna had been thrilled to hear that someone had wanted her in addition to her sword. It had made her so happy.

But then, he had said that he wanted only ‘Ianna’ during her debut. He had disregarded her sword and was focused solely on her person. And Ianna had grown anxious because it was the first time anyone had only wanted ‘Ianna’. She would never be cast aside if he wanted her because she was capable, because she would always be capable, but she had no confidence that he wouldn’t abandon her if all he wanted was the person named Ianna. She had only ever been rejected no matter how hard she had tried, so she could not see the worth in her value as a person.

“Sigh.”

Ianna sighed deeply as she brushed back her hair. She wondered if she had subconsciously looked away from the truth so that she wouldn’t be hurt.

Ianna reflected on her actions and thought about what she should do moving forward.

She disliked the fact that she was looking to Arhad to give her the love that she should have received from her parents, but she could not deny that which actually existed inside her forever. Besides, it was illogical that she, who should be supporting this anxious man and giving him her faith, herself was anxious.

Which only meant that she must acknowledge it and overcome it.

Destroying that which she had been turning away from through acknowledgement and acceptance could become as a stepping stone for her maturation.

Ianna wanted to use the realizations she had made today as an opportunity to overcome her wounds and mature. She had a good feeling about it, especially considering how nice and refreshed she was feeling now that she had honestly acknowledged everything.

She wanted to overcome her wounds, and she wanted to use the realizations she had made today as an opportunity to mature. So, how would she make that happen? She fell into contemplation.

“So, what did I do? To think that I’d make you cry……. What did you see?”

Ianna broke out of her reverie. She started worrying about the situation now that she had come back down to earth. Ianna looked around at her surroundings. Saiwè, who had been walking with her, had disappeared. The hairs on her arm immediately raised.

“I’d like to confirm the situation first. We can talk about me later.”

“Knowing what you saw in your illusion is more important to me than resolving the situation at hand is.”

“We can talk about that later. I wasn’t able to resist that spell at all. If I fell victim to that spell, then other people would have too —it wasn’t cast over the entire castle, was it?”

“It was. So, what did you see?”

The situation was truly grave. She could vividly see people floundering as they struggled with their illusions. But Arhad was persistent. Ianna could clearly see that satisfying his curiosity was a higher priority to him than was resolving the situation.

Ianna pursed her lips as she thought for a moment. She was wondering if it would be all right for her to show Arhad this fear, which she had been harboring for such a long time, and her strange and obsessive emotions when the edges of Arhad’s lips curled up into a smile.

“I was bewildered at first, but I’m actually rather pleased right now.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I mean that I like the fact that I have something to do with your worst fears. It means that I’m someone important to you. And that’s why I’m curious as to what on earth I did in your illusions. I really want to know……but the situation is what it is.”

The strange feeling suddenly turned fuzzy. He continued,

“Give me your hand.”

“…….”

Ianna obediently placed her hand in the hand that Arhad had reached out toward her.

“Fine, I’m relieved now. I’ll give you some time. But you have to tell me once we resolve the situation.”

Arhad grinned as he squeezed Ianna’s hand tight. Ianna stared silently back at him. Was he still concerned about the fact that she had pushed him away even as he said this? She had pushed him away earlier because her mind had been in chaos, but Ianna did not dislike his hand. She had grown accustomed to it. She had grown accustomed to it the way an abandoned cat bristled up at first but gently grew milder when it was showered with love and affection.

And so, she wondered. That perhaps her overcoming her wounds needed to start with an honest confession. She had to fully acknowledge her shortcomings and bring them to light. She already knew from experience that they would simply fester inside her if she let them be. Before she could stop herself, Ianna asked,

“You…”

“Hmm?”

“How would you feel if I suddenly told you I was getting married?”

“…….”

Arhad pursed his lips. The pleasure was wiped off his face so quickly it was rather alarming. Even the air around him took on a chill as his mood quickly froze over. Ianna began rubbing at her arms. Arhad asked in reply,

“……And whom exactly are you thinking of marrying?”

“I am asking you without a specific partner in mind.”

“But you would still have someone you’re considering since you asked.”

“I don’t. But in any event, that’s not what’s important. So, how would you react?”

Arhad stared stubbornly back at her. Arhad didn’t reply and remained silent as he looked like he was trying to figure out what she was thinking, so she tried to ask again. But just then, he crossed his arms and started laughing.

“I would congratulate you, of course. I would wish you both happiness.”

“But how would you feel?”

“I would be happy too. Isn’t that only natural?”

“Yes, it’s only natural you would feel that way. Since you’re in your right mind.”

Ianna nodded when the smile on Arhad’s face grew more twisted.

“I don’t know —would you really say I’m in my right mind if I congratulated you at some bastard’s funeral and wished for his happiness in the afterlife? Though I’d be glad if you did, of course.”

Ianna was dumbstruck.

“Why a funeral and not a wedding?”

“Since I would have murdered him, obviously.”

She couldn’t even tell him to stop joking because he had said it so matter-of-factly. She had asked him how he would feel if she ever got married, but he hadn’t simply said that he would hate it but had even openly declared that he would murder her husband-to-be —was he sane? Arhad tilted his head to the side as Ianna searched for the words to reply with. Arhad continued,

“Did I murder the person you were about to marry in your illusion? Sorry, but that was a premonition, not an illusion. Don’t even dream about getting married.”

Ianna was a bit bewildered. She hadn’t exactly wanted a positive answer, per se, but she hadn’t imagined that his answer would be this negative either. She knew that he always emotional about her even though he was normally so rational, but she didn’t think that he would be emotional in this kind of situation too.

She had thought that they would feel similarly on the matter, but Arhad’s reaction was much more severe. If Ianna only passively wanted to always be his first priority, then Arhad took it to another, scarier, level.

But why was it? —was it because she had never intended to get married in the first place? She wasn’t particularly resistant to the idea. She simply found it strange. Would Arhad be able to tell her way? Ianna asked,

“But why? Why would you kill my husband-to-be? You already have my sword, do you not? Must you truly go that far?”

“I’ll say it again. I’m extremely possessive. If there’s something I want, then I’ll only be satisfied if I have everything that has to do with it in my possession. If it’s a person that I want, then I need to have their entire life in my hands. So that they can focus only on me. I don’t care what I have to do to make it happen.”

Arhad sounded extraordinarily destructive, extremely selfish, and heavily obsessive. He would take their entire life in his hands like spider who caught a butterfly in his web and was spinning his thread around its body……. Ianna tilted her head to the side.

“So you won’t even let me get married? Are you like this to your other subordinates too?”

“You still don’t get it……?”

Arhad laughed soundlessly. He continued,

“You are the only person who ignites my greed. Everyone else is just an extra puzzle piece —I don’t care whether they’re there or not. I can replace them anytime I wished.”

Arhad reached out and rearranged Ianna’s disheveled robes as she stared openly up at him. She looked down a little at his hands as he tied the string by her neck. A few strands of her crimson hair had fallen over them, and her warm breath was enveloping them. Arhad’s hands tensed. A very dark and very feverish desire flared in his eyes while Ianna’s attention was drawn to his hands.

“I want to keep you and your sword as close to me as I possibly can and watch over you.”

His desires immediately hid away when her crimson eyes looked back up at him. Gently, Arhad chuckled. He continued,

“That’s all I want from you. I don’t wish for anything more.”

Arhad let go and drew his hands back. Ianna touched the knot he had tied.

“Simply put, I want to maintain the status quo. I will eliminate any variable that may sway you. Having a husband would change the person you are now. I’d probably murder him before he even brought up the topic of marriage.”

Ianna followed after him as Arhad turned around and began walking.

“Do you think I’m crazy?”

“…….”

“But I’m sure you wouldn’t say that you were completely unaware. You’re prudent, so you probably swore me your oath only after examining me from multiple angles. You should know best that I am different from everyone else.”

Arhad’s back reflected in Ianna’s eyes.

“You swore that you would be as my sword, and I won’t let you take back your oath even if you regret making it. You’re the one who approached me first. And I will never let you go. It doesn’t matter if you wish to take up another master or get married…….”

He didn’t say anything for a while after that. Why was it? She didn’t feel revolted at all even though he was speaking so harshly. Never mind revolted —she was so relieved to hear him reconfirm the fact that he would never let her go that it was almost shocking. She could not help but want to resolve the matter in her heart right here and now. And so, once again, Ianna asked,

“In that case, do you ever plan on getting married?”

“Me?”

“Whoops.”

A familiar voice sounded as a shadow suddenly jumped down before them. Ianna’s gaze pulled forward. It continued,

“It was a little difficult to speak up, and I’m truly, truly sorry for interrupting. But the situation was getting rather urgent.”

The shadow pulled back his hood. It was Saiwè, whom Ianna had lost sight of, and he looked extremely apologetic. Ianna quickly stepped in front of Arhad and guarded against him. Saiwè beamed at her before earnestly saying,

“I think we’ll really have to do something about this, Ro. I don’t know if they were trying to commit suicide or not, but several people have even bitten their tongues.”

Saiwè addressed Arhad as Ro. Ianna tensed up and looked at Arhad from the corner of her eye as he pat her on the shoulder.

“I said I’d hear the details later, but I’ve already been told that Van has figured out who we are. I can’t say I’m exactly thrilled about it, but it isn’t a bad thing either, so don’t worry too much about it. Van can’t betray me because he has too much riding on my shoulders.”

Ianna’s wariness immediately dissipated into relief when she heard what Arhad had to say.

“If that’s what you say, then I’m sure everything will be all right. I was afraid that he had either escaped or was directly responsible for the situation himself because I didn’t see him anywhere.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I awoke rather quickly, and Ro ordered me to get a read on the situation. You still don’t trust me at all.”

Or so Saiwè said as he shrugged, but he didn’t look very displeased at all. This time, Ianna turned to Arhad.

“But why are you here in the first place?”

“I was in the tower as usual, and I came because I felt a huge wave of mana. The aftereffects of the wide curse that Margarita cast was truly something else.”

“The royal castle has a magic disrupter. So how was she able to cast magic on it from outside?”

“Margarita is a shareholder. You’ve heard of Dorcianni, right?”

Of course she had heard that name before. She was rumored to be the youngest and loveliest of the Ten Archmages.

“Margarita is Dorcianni’s cousin. Dorcianni is an owner of a fragment, which Margarita shares from her. Mana submits to those who benefit from the fragments. Basically, fragment beneficiaries can break through barriers whenever they so wished.”

Which meant that Margarita could bypass barriers just as Keigus’ blood could pierce through Maimaiyè’s shield.

“Let’s head toward the castle for now. Van, bring out some robes and masks.”

Van obediently opened up his subspace and pulled out a colorful set of festival masks and robes. He then knelt down on one knee and looked up at Arhad.

“Please allow me to greet you formally, Ro……Arhad. I pray that you’ll continue to look after me well.”

Arhad retrieved the items he had requested as he coldly said,

“Van, I will trust that you only brought about this situation because you never intend to betray me. I kill any who uncovers my identity as a rule, but I’ll let you keep your life because you’re still useful to me. I will have you cooperate more closely with me moving forward.”

Saiwè immediately brightened up.

“Of course.”

“But do keep in mind that I find it very offensive that you’ve troubled Ianna and put her in this situation.”

Arhad looked down frigidly at Saiwè. Mana clotted together around him and became a bloodlust as sharp as a blade. He continued,

“I will let you off just this once, but I will have your head the very moment you ever try to use Ianna for your personal gain.”

Saiwè only grew more sincere as his body began stinging from the bloodlust. Ro was truly so surprisingly powerful. Saiwè himself was rather confident in his magical and martial prowess, but he knew that he could never defeat the man before him. His spine was tingling as he bowed his head.

“I will take it to heart. I will always do my best to be of help to you —I will never bring you harm. But Ro, why would I dare try to use your lover if I was in my right mind……?”

“……My lover?”

Arhad’s bloodlust, which had been putting pressure on Saiwè, immediately dispersed. Ianna, who had been standing by behind them, stiffened up. Her head hurt as she realized that she was about to reap what she had sown. Arhad turned back to look at her when Ianna warned Saiwè with a rigid look on her face.

“Stop spouting nonsense. We aren’t in a relationship. Don’t say things that aren’t even…….”

“My Lady —Ann, I mean—, you publicly declared that the two of you were dating at the party. Was that not true?”

“…….”

Arhad was speechless. Ianna was nervous as their eyes met again.

“Ianna.”

Arhad called her name as he stared openly back at her.

‘He wants me to explain myself, I’m sure.’

Ianna repeatedly opened and closed her mouth as she tried to think. She would have told Arhad everything had they been alone, would have explained everything that had gone through her mind, but Saiwè was present at the moment. The edges of Ianna’s eyes slowly creeped up. Saiwè —she wanted to punch the man in the face, who cared that he was a prince?

But no, even if it meant that Saiwè would take her for a weird woman who spread around lies, she would have to explain the truth and ask Arhad to publicly dump her. And so, she resolutely began saying,

“Actually, I…….”

Ianna suddenly found her mouth physically blocked as she was about to confess the truth. It had been so unexpected that all she could do was blink. He had been so fast that it had taken Ianna a moment to recollect herself before she realized that Arhad’s hand was on her face. She glared at him in discontent, but Arhad turned to Saiwè instead.

“You tell me what happened, Van.”

“Hmm……. Angelina asked Ann what her relationship with you was, and Ann grew so angry when Angelina started going off about how much she liked you that she publicly declared that the two of you were dating in front of the other nobles.”

You asshole. Ianna glared sharply at Saiwè. He had summarized everything while knowing nothing, and the truth was being distorted.

Saiwè stole a glance at her and grinned.

“I thought you said that the two of had started dating?”

That bastard —he’s not doing this on purpose, is he?

She would suddenly become a child who had thrown a jealous tantrum if she let this be.

Ianna tried to remove Arhad’s hand so she could explain the real truth and sock Saiwè in the face, but she found that she couldn’t. Arhad pressed against her harder when she tried to pry him off, and it had gotten to the point that her face hurt quite a bit.

‘What on earth is he thinking?’

Arhad clearly had no intention of letting her speak. He looked very absorbed in his thoughts as he pursed his lips together without any expression on his face.

……He wasn’t angry, was he? Ianna decided to be docile until Arhad decided to remove his hand. His hand did relax a little. But he was still covering her face so that she couldn’t speak, and displeasure slowly spread across Ianna’s mien.

Saiwè, who had been watching over the two of them, spoke up and said,

“Judging by the mood in the air……was it not true?”

Ianna tried to nod vehemently, but she couldn’t. Arhad had suddenly squeezed her face again. He wasn’t just keeping her from speaking —he was keeping her from expressing any kind of opinion at all.

Arhad turned to Ianna instead of answering Saiwè’s question. Ianna flinched when their eyes met so suddenly. And her face and ears started flushing red in embarrassment as she received his unfathomable gaze.

She had been absurd. How overconfident had she been when she thought that Arhad wouldn’t mind her lying? She might have even ruined his mood. But he would at least need to let her talk if he wanted her to resolve the situation.

Ianna felt so ashamed as she tried to pry Arhad’s hand off her face, but it wouldn’t budge. She could not help but find fault in their difference in sex whenever he acted like this. There was nothing Ianna could do when Arhad decided to be stubborn with his brute strength. And it wasn’t as if she could just stab him with her sword either.

“…….”

Arhad looked quietly at Ianna, who was groaning as she tried to pry him off with all her might. He stared at her ever so fixedly as she was held captive in his hand.

‘What are you playing at?’

She was starting to grow angry. Ianna wondered if she should kick him in the shin before she lost herself in her anger and bit down at his hand. Arhad’s hand flinched. She had bitten him pretty hard, so it probably hurt quite a bit, and yet his hand never left her face. But perhaps it had at least brought him back to his senses, as he slowly and finally opened his mouth.

“No, it’s true.”

Ianna opened her eyes wide. He continued,

“I was simply disconcerted because of the sudden turn in the situation.”

Arhad brought down his hand, but he then wrapped his arm around Ianna’s waist and pulled her in before she could even say anything. Ianna froze up because she truly had not expected him to do that. Arhad looked sincere as he looked down at her. It was almost as if he was asking her why she was bewildered about something that was only natural.

“But why did you tell them?”

Ianna, who had never been pulled so close to a man by the waist like this before, froze stiff. Arhad had hugged her normally several times, but he had never pulled her in by the waist like she was a lady before.

“……That’s…”

Apparently, Arhad had decided to play along with her lie. Ianna forgot even her anger and was simply at a loss now that things had ended up like this. Arhad observed her reactions. A smile formed on his face as Ianna, who normally would have pushed him away and asked what on earth he was doing, was bewildered into staying quiet.

“I rather like this.”

“……What do you mean?”

“Now I can be with you in public. I was holding back because you wanted to keep our relationship a secret, but since you disclosed it yourself……it means that we can be public about our relationship, right? But what made you change your mind all of a sudden?”

She had wondered if he might be angry, but, as it turned out, he was actually greatly pleased with the situation, just as she had originally anticipated. Was this a relief, or was this a misfortune? She had originally meant to tell the truth, but now things would just get even more awkward if she did. And what would become of Arhad when she immediately said that she had been lying while he was trying to play along? Arhad would become a liar too. He would lose face in front of his subordinate. Ianna hesitated for a moment because her feelings had grown complicated before she shamelessly said,

“Viscount Shon saw everything that day when he saw us on the balcony, and you said that you would take responsibility for it. People began pestering me as the rumors spread, and I grew tired of denying them. And besides, I was worried that Angelina might chase you around and bother you if I simply let her be…….”

“Oh?”

Saiwè voiced his marvel. Ianna glared at him. She would beat the crap out of him one day. Just thinking about what the asshole had made her suffer today horrified her.

Arhad pulled her closer inside his arms while Ianna was raging against Saiwè. Ianna was alarmed. She would have normally pushed him away, but she was caught in the lie of being his lover and simply froze up without being able to do anything about it.

“Is that so? This is quite the merry turn of events.”

Ianna returned to her senses and looked up to glared back at him, but she was suddenly overcome with a wave of awkwardness. She had never seen him from up so close and at this angle before. Their eyes met immediately because Arhad, too, was looking down at her.

“How so?”

Arhad looked like he was having fun. Or rather, he looked like he was having tremendous fun. He looked so, so pleased with himself that Ianna couldn’t help but wonder if he had ever truly been expressionless just earlier. He seemed to be having so much fun that he almost looked like a young boy. This was the first time Ianna had ever seen him make this face. Was this situation really that funny to him? Ianna didn’t know what it was that pleased him so greatly, but her head was starting to hurt more.

‘He’s not planning to seriously start pretending we’re lovers, is he?’

“You used to always back down. Thank you for making the decision.”

Back down from what? And what decision? Ianna grew disconcerted by the lies that kept leaking out from Arhad’s mouth. It was only after he began taking an aggressive stance that it suddenly hit Ianna that things were going very, very wrong. She grew anxious that the lies might disrupt the good relationship they shared currently.

Ianna began to grow so uncomfortable with the situation that she almost wanted to turn back time. She wanted to take back her lies at once. It was only then that she realized what a fool she had been. It hadn’t been just once or twice that she had made light of a situation only for it to come back at bite her, and she had let it happen yet again. She really shouldn’t have lied —she must have been crazy back then.

“Hmmm…….”

Saiwè tilted his head to the side as he observed them.

As he’d expected, there was a huge difference in their feelings regardless of whether they were actually dating or not. They weren’t serious? Ianna wasn’t serious, perhaps, but the other party most certainly was. Saiwè judged that the sheer volume of emotion that Arhad poured out to her was anything but normal. Ro, the leader of Camastros whom Saiwè had known for several years now, had never once betrayed even the slightest emotion.

‘But in any event, does this mean that I’ve scored a few points?’

Saiwè quietly clicked his tongue.

“I know that you two love each other to death, but I think we might have to do something about the situation before you decide to express any more of your affections. I couldn’t care less about what happens to the bastards of the kingdom, but we still need Schneider and his faction to stand strong, no?”

Ianna returned to her senses and pushed Arhad away. Arhad simply allowed her to do it.

“Let’s go.”

I’ll need to ask him to dump me as soon as this is over, Ianna thought as she bit down at her lip.

~~*~~

Part 6

“Sniff, sniff……go away, just go away…….”

“Ahhhhhh!”

The party hall was in utter chaos. A few people had woken from the spell, but most were still crying, screaming, and agonized. Some people were bleeding from their mouths, having bitten their own tongues, and more than are few had inflicted themselves with wounds.

“…….”

Schneider was one of the people who had broken free. He had quickly woken from his hallucinations of his own power. But most people had not. They were suffering, unable to escape their delusions. Count Monovican, who was standing next to him, anxiously asked,

“What on earth is going on, Your Highness?”

“I don’t know.”

That was all that Schneider could say. Even his brilliant mind could not make heads or tails of the situation unfolding before him.

“Wasn’t there a barrier that disrupted magic cast over the entire castle? Could this be the work of poison?”

“No, this is magic. I’m sure of it.”

“Was the barrier dispelled?”

“No, it couldn’t have been. The barrier contains the essence of Zicara Valgenta, who loved the queen. And no one today can match Zicara Valgenta’s magic. Besides, the barrier is still covering the castle.”

“But then how could someone who wasn’t royalty cast a spell from here? What if……?”

“Hold your tongue, Count. No one in the royal family knows how to cast a spell like this. And it’s not possible that someone else used one of our rings. The rings only obey those with royal blood running through their veins. The more pressing issue is that the mana covering the victim’s heads won’t budge even when I try to dispel it.”

Schneider was a powerful mage. Not only had he strongly inherited the blood of Queen Roanne de Roanne, but he had also been personally taught by Duke Shingardra Solsavier, an archmage. Which was why he truly could not comprehend the situation. Mana wasn’t responding to him at all, and this had never happened ever since he had first started learning how to control it.

But he knew what the situation implied. It meant that a mage more powerful that Zicara Valgenta had appeared and had ignored the barrier while casting a curse over the entire palace.

“This is a first. Where is Duke Solsavier?”

“He realized how grave the situation was and went to enlist Mage Heinrich for help.”

But more serious matter was that the mana wasn’t even listening to Shingardra, an archmage. Just how powerful was this enemy mage? Schneider frowned. He looked down at the ruined party hall with mixed feelings. It would be impossible to regain control of the hall. Not everyone had been able to break free from their illusions.

Schneider had simply seen Fernando become king and bring him to the gallows. He had immediately denied the hallucination and had quickly broken free of the spell. But the delusion had been so vivid that it still lingered in a corner of his mind and made him uncomfortable. A grave look crossed Schneider’s face.

‘If this spell makes people hallucinate the worst thing that could ever happen to them, then there’ll still be problems even after the situation’s been resolved.’

The illusion would linger in people’s heads and continue harassing them, just as his own illusion was.

Schneider took a look around his surroundings. Hardly anyone had woken up. The royal family and a few high-ranking nobles had been conducting an emergency meeting about the bombs behind a curtain, but they were all currently flailing in their illusions. He had run out from the curtains to see that the other nobles were obviously faring no better and that his fiancé, Lilith, and his younger sister, Angelina, were collapsed with a flock of other women. Schneider’s silver eyes continued to comb the hall in search of one certain figure.

‘……Where is Lady Roberstein?’

He knew that she was attending the party, but he couldn’t find her anywhere. It was highly likely that the daring young lady who had even turned down the prince’s offer to join him like a blade had broken free of the spell. Then, where did she go? Had she gone home, like a few other nobles had, once she had regained her senses?

It was also possible that she had been on a walk and had collapsed somewhere outside when the calamity had struck, but Schneider decided that it was unlikely. He hoped that she had woken up and returned home unharmed. This magic was dreadful, after all.

Schneider had been standing around, unable to find a solution for the situation, when three people suddenly walked into the hall. One of them was familiar to him, while the other two were wearing robes and masks.

“Saiwè!”

Saiwè, who had been conversing with his companions as he walked in, turned around when Schneider called. Saiwè shrugged and left his companions as he walked up to his brother.

Schneider cast a glance at the two figures. They were wearing thick robes and masks that covered half their faces, just like Camastros did, but their outfits were much more colorful than the organization’s. Schneider pat his brother on the shoulder when Saiwè walked up to him.

“Thank goodness. You were safe. But where did you go in the middle of this situation? And who are those two mysterious people?”

“I went ahead and tried to find a solution of my own. And I have asked these two good people to resolve everything for us.”

“What?”

Schneider opened his eyes wide upon hearing Saiwè’s unexpected words, and disbelief crossed his face.

“I’m one thing, but even my Teacher could not resolve this situation. So how do you propose that these two people will?”

“I know that you will pester me to no end, Brother, if I don’t convince you otherwise, so please allow me to provide a simple explanation. These two are members of the mythical races, and they are also good friends of mine.”

The mythical races……. Schneider looked to the two masked figures with mixed feelings. He had met a few members of the mythical races before. He had seen beastmen slaves and houseguests who lived in some nobles’ manors, and he had also met the dwarf who accompanied Maimayè.

Beastmen were relatively more active, since Absilot, the Mercenary King, guaranteed them their rights. But even they were shroud in secrecy —not to say anything about the other mythical races.

“They were visiting for the festivities, and they lamented over the situation and agreed to lend us their assistance. But only on the condition that their identities are not revealed. I trust that you will understand why they wish for this, my Brother.”

It was only natural for members of the mythical races to loath being discovered. Not only were they very different from humanity, but there were also a lot of people who were greedy to get their hands on the rare peoples. But who would have thought that they could resolve a situation that not only he, but even his teacher, hadn’t been able to resolve? Schneider could not help but start feeling a little greedy himself.

“And how do you even know them?”

“Who can say? Is there a reason I must tell you? And even if there was, I would rather not.”

Saiwè shrugged and refused to answer. Schneider felt strange as he observed his younger brother. He was certain that Saiwè had once chased him around saying, “Lord Brother, Lord Brother,” when they were younger, but things had grown awkward between them at some point. And he had stopped being able to tell what Saiwè was thinking as their relationship changed.

Saiwè would never have a right to the throne, on account of the dark brown hair and amethyst eyes he had inherited from Luria, but he had never seemed displeased or feeling inferior because of this. He was practically a saint compared to how their royal ancestors had suffered of inferiority complexes.

The king was generally disinterested in his children, his mother, Luria, was too busy looking after Fernando to care much for him, and the nobles, too, were too busy vying for power as they split into three factions that they did not pay much attention to Saiwè, who was far removed from the center of power, unless they had daughters.

It was well-known that Saiwè was quiet and enjoyed reading and archery, but no one actually knew how he chose to spend his time. The servants always said that he was alone in his chambers, but Schneider would often miss him if he tried to visit out of curiosity. But Schneider had always brushed it off, thinking that Saiwè was either at the library or had gone outside. And yet, he was friends with the mythical races?

Schneider could not help but wonder what Saiwè was usually up to. But now was not the time to satiate his curiosity. Schneider turned away from his brother and looked on with great interest at how the mythical races planned to resolve the situation.

“How do we sort this out?”

Ianna asked while lowering the pitch of her voice. She was wearing neither the ring that altered her voice nor the ring that changed her appearance. The same was true of Arhad, who had rushed outside in his worry for her. They had planned with Saiwè and had decided to follow through with the plan they had concocted, but anything could change and they could be discovered at any moment.

“We’ll have to dispel the magic,”

Arhad replied as if it was nothing to worry about.

“So how? If Margarita’s a shareholder, then the mana won’t listen to any normal person. It would be possible for you, of course, but she might notice you if you force the mana to listen to you.”

“So you do it.”

“……Me?”

Ianna dithered. She continued,

“I only know the basics of magic. And I don’t know anything at all about dispelling psychic magic. Besides, the mana won’t listen to me to begin with since Margarita’s a fragment shareholder. It didn’t listen to me during the incident with Keigus either.”

“Who can say? Ianna, have you found an answer to the homework I gave you?”

If he was referring to her homework, then she had no choice but to figure out why the mana wasn’t listening to her. It had been sudden, but Ianna didn’t question him and sullenly replied,

“No, not yet…….”

“I suppose it might have been a bit difficult. Then again, it might have never even crossed your mind because it only applies to you. We’re in the middle of a crisis and we need your help, so let’s work on the problem together.”

Ianna’s eyes sparkled. Arhad continued,

“Just as you said, mana won’t listen to any ordinary person because Margarita’s influence is too strong. But you’re a different story. Mana has no choice but to listen to you if you want it to.”

Arhad calmly strung together his words. But Ianna didn’t understand, so she asked,

“But why?”

“Because mana…….”

Arhad laughed soundlessly.

“……Loves you.”

Love? Ianna muttered the word to herself. There was no word that could suit her any less. She had never once received it, after all, and neither did she have any plans to. And so, she asked,

“Why would you say that?”

“You can tell just by looking at how mana normally behaves around you. What else could it be, if not love?”

Normally. Then again, it was true that mana was unusually clingy with her. She had thought more than a few times that the mana, which seemed to be arrogant and haughty with everyone else, seemed to fuss over her like a puppy.

Was that why? Did mana truly love her? Ianna was a little convinced. To be honest, she felt a little strange to find that something had loved her all this time without her knowing.

“I’d be a little troubled if you underestimated how rabidly mana loves you. It’s also why it clings so adherently to your divine power and is loath to pull away. But mana is lacking, and it will ignore itself and offer its everything to you if you treat it tenderly. Try calling to it affectionately instead of controlling it coercively like you would an object.”

Ianna didn’t know what it was that Arhad knew that made him say this, but she tried to guess at the reason anyway. Why did mana like her so much? Mana was the Demon’s power. The Demon had lived in the Holy Age. In that case, did it have to do something with Roberstein’s soul?

“And in this situation, it’ll be more efficient to use divine power instead of trying to move the mana from its arrangement.”

“Divine power? How do I do that?”

“How do you think I dispelled the spell from you?”

“……Now that I think about it, you didn’t use mana when you dispelled it, did you?”

“Of course not. I used a few purification scrolls I received from the elves.”

“Elven purification scrolls?”

This was new. Arhad answered when Ianna asked.

“Scrolls that contain the pure divine power of the elves. The scrolls have the ability to dispel magic.”

“How on earth did you get your hands on those?”

A twisted smile alighted Arhad’s face.

“I have a bit of a relationship with a high elf elder. This isn’t the best time or place for a lengthy explanation, so we can save that for later. But in any event, you can dispel magic with divine power too. And you’re a very special case. It won’t take much of your divine power to make a difference. So why not give it a try?”

Ianna decided that she would. She trusted Arhad wholeheartedly, after all.

“How do I do it?”

“Magic is made manifest by an arrangement of mana. You need to undo the arrangement in order to dispel it. The arrangements of mana should be squeezing at the victims’ heads at the moment, so all you need to do is undo them. Wrap your divine power around the arrangements of mana, will the mana to scatter, and give action to your will by snapping your fingers or clapping your hands to make the arrangement collapse. And don’t forget to reabsorb your divine power afterward.”

Ianna slowly drew out her divine power once she digested what he had said.

Buzzz…….

She felt the mana recoil, like it always did, when her crimson divine power came out into the world. All the mana in the hall was observing Ianna’s divine power —observing Ianna. It almost felt like it would rush toward her like a wave at any given moment.

She had always thought that her excellent ability to control mana had simply been a blessing. She had thought that it was simply because of her talent that mana never disobeyed her will.

‘Mana loves me…….’

Ianna did not refuse the absolute love she received from this nonhuman existence. She felt her heart grow fonder of the mana for treasuring her so.

The mana, which had been rushing toward her divine power voraciously, hesitated and faltered before it finally settled down, as if it had noticed her change of heart, as soon as she thought this. Ianna found its strange behavior rather curious. It had really done as Arhad had said it would.

Her crimson divine power condensed and spread all across the party hall, unhindered by the mana. It mixed into the docile mana and slipped between the latter’s cracks. And just as her divine power dominated the entire hall.

‘Scatter.’

Clap! —Ianna clapped her hands together as she was shrouded in her blazing crimson divine power. The arrangement of mana that had been torturing everyone in the hall broke apart and scattered like a shower of light when she enacted this small action.

“Cough!”

“Margarita?”

Margarita suddenly vomited blood and fell off her broomstick. Miloutè and Payne were bewildered to see her condition change so suddenly when she had been perfectly fine just seconds ago.

“I……I…….”

Margarita clenched her hands into fists as she prostrated on the ground. Payne reached out toward her, but she smacked him away. She quivered as she vomited yet another mouthful of blood. It hurt. It hurt like hell. She felt like her heart and her head were tearing apart.

“My magic…was…dispelled…….”

“Your magic? Was it a Demon’s fragment?”

“No…it wasn’t…but…….”

It was definitely not the Demon. Not only had her heart not beat as quickly as it did when she met another fragment beneficiary, but even other beneficiaries could not undo each other’s magic so one-sidedly. And, though it vexed her to admit it, her cousin Dorcianni’s fragment was powerful. Only the imperial family and her teacher, Wiffheimer, carried fragments that were anywhere as close to as powerful as hers.

“That bastard…….”

Her heart had pounded just as her spell was undone. She had felt this feeling before. Margarita clenched her teeth together and muttered,

“……The leader of Camastros.”

Arhad leaned against the wall from afar and watched……as the mana obeyed Ianna like an obedient puppy and scattered, and at Ianna’s profile as she delighted in the fact that the mana had listened to her.

‘Lovers…….’

He could not know what Ianna had been thinking until she explained herself properly. Perhaps she truly had just been annoyed, like what she had claimed earlier. But Ianna of all people, who hated lying, had put the label of love that she so loathed over their relationship —even if it had been because she was annoyed and concerned that Angelina might chase him around and hinder his work. What inside her heart had changed during the party? Arhad scratched at his lips with his thumb.

‘What to do……?’

He was suddenly faced with a choice. To be honest, Arhad was not confident that he could suppress his feelings if Ianna could not tolerate them. Was she not afraid? What made her so confident? It was probably because she didn’t know. There was no reason that she would —he had always carefully hidden away the monster inside him.

He would not be able to stop once he started, so it was better not to start at all if he would have to stop. This was simultaneously both the greatest opportunity he would ever have and a cliff that could push him to his ruin.

Arhad was already satisfied even now.

……But was he truly?

He could maintain their good relationship if he settled for the status quo. It was a close call, but it would be possible so long as he continued to hide away his feelings.

……But would he really be satisfied with that?

Or would he brandish his sword in conquest again in the future?

There was one clock that was still halted. It was the clock of his heart, which he had intentionally paused.

Tick.

Creak, creak —but the clock sounded sharply of friction as the second hand ticked and immediately began moving. The second hand made its way around in a circle. Violent emotions filled his eyes as time flowed. Arhad slowly parted his lips.

“Ianna.”

Ianna heard him call out to her quietly even as people began groaning as they woke up, and her ears twitched as she turned to him.

‘Do I try and keep your light in my arms forever?’

The desire that he had been working so, so hard to suppress caught a glimpse of her. And then, it spoke.

‘Be honest.’

Could he truly be satisfied just by appreciating her like a work of art on exhibition that he wasn’t allowed to touch?

He had never meant to reveal his feelings for her. He knew that Ianna didn’t want that kind of relationship, and he was satisfied with what he already had. He wasn’t actually satisfied, but he had decided to be satisfied……. He had tried not to touch her. He had tried, but…….

You’ve already kissed her.

He had already put his lips on hers in his insane love for her that he could not control.

That night. And with more affection than a million roses could ever convey.

Arhad looked down at his hand, which Ianna had bitten. He could still vividly see the bitemark and the few droplets of blood that had formed around it.

Didn’t you want to kiss her face as you held her in your hand? You even felt thrilled as she bit you because you felt her soft lips and teeth.

You adored her so much when you thought she might have been jealous over you, shuddered in delight as you imagined her being possessive about you, and you just barely managed to keep yourself from pulling her in for a kiss…….

Will you be able to endure this for the rest of your life? This greed?

Arhad slowly brought his palm to his mouth without ever letting his gaze break away from Ianna. He stared openly back at her as she looked to him and pressed her bite marks against his lips.

There was no reason to think so deeply about it. The truth was that his heart, which he had been suppressing, had poured out the very moment he had physically stopped Ianna from confessing the truth and had taken part in her lie. He could not restrain his heart again now that they had entered a relationship, even if it was only a lie.

‘Are you really satisfied just to watch over that woman?’

Ianna tottered over to him and smiled.

“Did you see? It really worked. The mana listened to me.”

‘You love her.’

Arhad did not reply. He stared silently down at Ianna as her expression began turning strange.

Then, he said,

“That’s only obvious.”

Because I’m in love with you…….

Who could stop time once it began to flow?

~~*~~

That was all Arhad said. Ianna stood dumbfounded as she watched him act so strangely and asked him if he was all right, but all he did was to reach out and grab her arm. He pulled her close and placed her by his side, and it was only then that, in a slightly hoarse voice, he said,

“Look in front of you.”

Ianna, who had been looking at Arhad, turned around.

“T-this is…….”

“Sniff, sniff, sniff.”

People were a right mess as they woke up one after another. Most had been sobbing, and their moistened cheeks were deathly pale. Some had even inflicted harm upon themselves and, in the worst cases, were oozing with blood. Ianna wondered what kinds of illusions they had seen as they quietly observed the ruined party.

“Some people fear specific situation most in the depths of their heart. And it’s next to impossible to fully free themselves of their fear. The only way to truly overcome such fears is to be absolutely certain that it will never come to pass. But most people never even realize that such fears exist in their heart to begin with……. They avoid things that make them uneasy. And that’s exactly what Margarita’s spell targeted.”

Margarita’s spell had serious effects on most people. They had been forced to confront the depths of their own hearts and acknowledge the fears that lurked within. Acknowledgment gave some people the opportunity to overcome their fears, but others would suffer from the effects of the curse for the rest of their lives.

“It’s a malicious spell that digs into the deepest depths of people’s hearts which even they aren’t aware of and vividly imprints their greatest fears upon their minds. Who knows how this incident will shape their lives?”

They saw Schneider quickly walking up to them from afar. Arhad pulled Ianna closer.

“Let’s go. We don’t need to worry about the rest. Margarita lifted the rest of the spell. Psychic spells must be cast continuously, and it leaves a huge impact on the caster if they’re forcibly dispelled……she would have felt that she was in danger.”

Ianna, who had been looking at Schneider, turned around and quickly left the party hall when Arhad gestured that they should leave soon. Arhad stole one last glance back before following after her. He hid her light behind his darkness so that no one else could see her.

They vanished quickly from the party hall.

“…….”

Schneider, who had tried to catch hold of them, stopped walking when his feet lost their intended destination. He fell into a daze.

That crimson light had been scorching hot, and yet it had also given him a sense of comfortable relief.

Its powerful aura had enshrouded the entire hall and dispelled the curse.

It hadn’t been mana, which was similar to an inanimate object. Neither had it been colored mana. It had been heavier, had been tear-inducing, and had almost felt like salvation…….

And yet, curiously enough, he thought that he had felt that special feeling before.

Schneider was smart, and he carefully combed through his memories before he quickly remembered. It had felt exactly like the aura he had felt when he had visited the gravestone in the basement of the Great Temple of Laos as a child. And he had felt that tingling aura again when he had seen the royal family’s treasure located at the heart of the royal palace and sealed away in a secret chamber —a certain shard of metal that Queen Roanne de Roanne was said to have received from the God Laos himself and was called the treasure that protected Roanne.

In a corner of his heart, he couldn’t help but wonder if it had been the mythical races who had caused this incident, which even his teacher could not resolve, in the first place, but all his doubts had evaporated the moment he had seen that aura and felt it with his entire being. Someone who could use that power would never cast such a curse on others.

‘Where they truly of the mythical races? Just what kinds of power do the mythical races have?’

Schneider caught sight of Saiwè, who had been on his way toward the exit, and quickly grabbed hold of him.

“Saiwè!”

“The condition was that you wouldn’t ask about them. Please let go.”

“But…”

“You were the only person whom I disclosed their identities to, Lord Brother. Since you’re the most decent person in the royal family. I trusted that you would not let the truth about them be known.”

Saiwè brushed Schneider’s hand away and coldly continued,

“But I won’t stay quiet forever if you keep pestering me like this. I dislike people who bother me. I detest those who violate my privacy and lay a hand against my people. If you keeping acting this way, Lord Brother……then I might even take my mother’s side.”

Schneider could not ask after the mythical races any longer now that Saiwè had refused him so adamantly. Saiwè brushed of his clothes where Schneider had grabbed him as if it was dirty as he said,

“Please don’t provoke me while I’m still being quiet. I lent you my assistance this one time because the circumstances were extreme, but it will not happen again.”

And that was all Saiwè said before he left the party hall. Schneider stood in place for a moment before he bit down at his lip and turned back. Everyone was waiting for his orders.

Today really wasn’t his day. Schneider began cleaning up the ruined party hall.

“…….”

Saiwè had left the hall so quickly that no one could follow after him, and he slowed down only after he had gained a lot of distance. And then, he finally stopped. He turned around and looked at the royal castle, which was still gorgeously brilliant even though its interior was a mess, with a dark light in his eyes.

Saiwè recalled the illusion he had seen.

He had seen his own past in his illusion. The death of a certain man and his confession of the truth. The man’s secret diary.

Saiwè had been a brilliant boy with a lot of pride, self-esteem, honor, and self-respect. But his honor had been dropped into a pile of shit and flushed down the sewers that day. The hopeless days that had followed had been shown to him all at once like a revolving lantern. And he had also been shown the dreadful but unrealistic future that he had imagined and feared back then.

He was being stoned by everyone. They were pointing fingers at him and jeering at him. Spit had been flying out from their dirty mouths. They asked him how dare he call himself a part of the esteemed royal family; how dare he, the bastard son of a vulgar woman who had been sacrificed by a weaker kingdom, think he deserved their respect? He was just the by-product of a money-crazed wench as she made a mess of her life, so how dare he live a life of luxury with the taxes they paid?

Saiwè placed a hand on his head, where a rock had hit him in his illusions. He almost deluded himself into thinking that it really ached.

“That illusion really soured my mood.”

He laughed a twisted laugh.

~~*~~

Part 7

Ianna and Arhad threw away their robes and masks once they had left the reaches of the royal castle’s barrier. They saw people enjoying the festivities as they entered town.

Ianna surveyed her surroundings. There was still a cheery mood in town, unlike the palace, which was almost in mourning now that the incident was over. Today was the king’s birthday, one of the three biggest holidays in Roanne, after all. The people in the palace were only just beginning to wake up and settle down, and the people in the streets were still singing and dancing as they praised the king’s reign, ignorant to everything that had just happened.

It was only after Ianna had taken off her robe and stepped into the light that Arhad frowned upon seeing what she was wearing.

“Your clothes……aren’t they Saiwè’s?”

“Yes. I borrowed them since it’s difficult to move around in a dress.”

Ianna glanced sideways at Arhad as she spoke. He didn’t seem to be in a very good mood.

“Burp, I’m getting drunk.”

A drunkard staggered by them just then and nearly bumped into Ianna as he tripped, prompting Arhad to pull her away by the shoulder. The drunkard crashed to the ground and began groaning. Arhad could have helped the man back up too, but he simply gazed down at him like the man was just a mere object before he dragged Ianna off to somewhere.

“Welcome.”

They arrived at an expensive-looking boutique. The stores hadn’t closed yet, perhaps due to the holiday season. Arhad rummaged through the clothes hanging on the racks before he pulled out a luxurious yet simple dress and held it up. He paid the clerk without bothering to ask after the price tag and immediately pushed it toward Ianna.

Ianna obediently took the dress into the fitting room. She didn’t look that great wearing Saiwè’s clothes because they were far too big for her, and more importantly, she didn’t want Arhad to be in a foul mood. She could guess why he was feeling that way, though she wasn’t too sure of the specifics. The possessiveness and obsession Arhad had for her went far beyond reason.

“I’m extremely possessive. If there’s something I want, then I’ll only be satisfied if I have everything that has to do with it in my possession. If it’s a person that I want, then I need to have their entire life in my hands. So that they can focus only on me. I don’t care what I have to do to make it happen.”

He had surpassed her every imagination. He wanted to monopolize her not as a warrior skilled at the sword or even as a woman, but simply as a single being. Which was probably why he disliked the fact that she was wearing Saiwè’s clothes.

Ianna knew she should feel stifled when Arhad acted like this, but she didn’t feel that way at all. Perhaps it was because she had already decided to offer him her life, or perhaps it was because she truly liked Arhad as a person.

His greed squeezed at her heart and gave her a measure of relief. It almost made her drowsy. It wasn’t bad……rather, it was actually quite nice, but Ianna simply felt awkward and found herself strange for feeling this way. She felt a little ashamed of herself. And yet, she did not want to push Arhad away. Rather, she wanted him to continue treating her like this.

‘A grave sickness.’

Ianna finished changing and looked into the mirror in front of her as she brushed her hair back. It was only then that she noticed.

‘My makeup…….’

Her face was a mess because she had been crying. She covered her face as she went back outside because she was a bit embarrassed. It was only after he saw her wearing the dress he had chosen for her that Arhad’s spirits seemed to lift. But he grew confused when Ianna kept covering her face and asked,

“Why are you covering your face?”

“I’m a bit of a mess.”

“…….”

Arhad looked quietly down at Ianna in her embarrassment. Her ears, which she could not hide behind her hands, were bright red. He waited for her to finish washing her face and stared at her freshly-cleaned and slightly damp visage for a moment before he beamed.

“Do you want to head back for the dorms now, or do you want to wind down a little first?”

Ianna pondered. Her mind was still a bit of a mess, if she were to be honest. She still felt a little uneasy, and she hadn’t had much time to organize her thoughts as of late because so much had been happening at once. There was a lot that she had done in Arhad’s absence, and she felt like she had rushed a lot of them because she had not had the chance to sit down and talk to him properly in a while.

She had always had that in times like these. A certain something popped into her mind and began to tempt her. She grew parched. Ianna nodded and said,

“Shall we go for a drink? But nowhere too expensive.”

“Sure,”

Arhad agreed immediately. Then, they made their way to a famous outdoors tavern in the capital. It was crowded when they got there.

“My apologies. The wait is over an hour long.”

Arhad then showed the troubled waiter a certain card, and the look on the waiter’s face changed instantly. He promptly bowed at a right angle from his waist and led them to the third floor. They arrived at a balcony with just one table from which they could oversee the scenery. Quietly, Ianna asked,

“What is this?”

“I own this tavern. I showed him my VIP card.”

“…….”

Several bottles of extremely expensive wine were placed on the table as soon as they sat down, and a colorful spread of appetizers were placed between them. Arhad set the menu down next to Ianna and said,

“Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to eat.”

Ianna opened the menu and looked up how expensive the wine and appetizers on the table were.

Flip.

She took one look at the prices and quietly closed the menu. She felt her sense of money growing warped. Ianna brought up a pretty-looking piece of fruit to her mouth without a word.

Arhad chucked as he watched Ianna, who normally would have instantly begun griping about the prices, quietly eat her fruit —perhaps she had grown accustomed to his spending habits now. He opened up a bottle of wine and poured Ianna and himself a glass each. Then, he raised his glass. Ianna raised hers as well when he gestured to her with it.

Clink—

They tapped their glasses together, and Ianna simply drank for a while without saying anything. She felt her thoughts, which had been tangled like a ball of yarn that a cat had been playing with, unravel with each glass she drank. Arhad filled her glass up again every time she emptied it.

She eventually emptied a bottle, and then two. Arhad observed her as he drank with her and, just as her face was beginning to flush, asked,

“What was it that you asked me back then?”

Ianna’s hands stopped moving just as she was about to bring her glass back to her lips. She immediately understood what his sudden question had implied. But she didn’t really want to hear the answer anymore. The surge of courage she had felt back then had dissipated into embarrassment like vivid colors fading with time. The desire to dodge the question, to hide away her uneasiness, gnawed at her. Ianna shook her head.

“It wasn’t anything important. You can ignore it.”

“You asked me if I had any plans for marriage.”

“…….”

Why did he ask the question if he already knew the answer to begin with? He remembered what she had asked, but perhaps he had wanted to confirm it. Ianna had little choice but to affirm, since there was no way she could write it off if he remembered.

“I did.”

Ianna looked up at the sky. The sun had long since vanished beyond the horizon, and only the moon and the stars, glowing in the darkness, decorated the night sky. But the surface was still bright from the lights that people had lit.

She felt her temper flare, perhaps because she was tipsy. She wanted to spit out all the words she was keeping bottled up inside. To let everything out before the night was over since she was already here. Ianna placed her glass back down on the table and asked,

“Are you planning on getting married someday?”

“No.”

His prompt reply made Ianna recall her past. Would his answer remain unchanged even twenty years down the road? Arhad had not been married at the time of her death. But then, why hadn’t he?

“Why not?”

“It’s too much effort.”

“Perhaps, but you’ll be an emperor one day. You’ll have a duty to leave behind heirs. So why would you say that?”

“Heirs……I have no use for heirs. I can simply hand over the throne to whomever is best suited for the job. Having to lie with a woman I don’t even like and bear a child to continue my bloodline……would be the worst. I’d rather end my lineage with my generation.”

What a strange man. But then again, Ianna had heard that some men didn’t like children. Arhad didn’t quiet seem to fit that bill, but Ianna decided to ignore it for now.

“Then, putting the question of marriage aside, wouldn’t you need a woman?”

Arhad pursed his lips and stared plainly into her. Ianna didn’t look embarrassed at all as she looked back at him. There was absolutely no desire in the clear light of her eyes. Arhad sighed.

“Why would you ask me something like that?”

“I was only curious. I’m told that it’s only natural for men to want to lie with women.”

She knew that Arhad had never been married. But she couldn’t remember if he had never had any lovers. She had only ever taken an interest in their war and in his sword.

“Not in particular.”

Was there something wrong with him as a man? Ianna placed her elbows on the table and rested her face in her hands as she stared openly into him.

Ianna seriously considered that there might be something wrong with him. His heart, his mind —there were so many things wrong with the man that she couldn’t necessarily rule it out. Arhad’s lips twisted.

“You look like you’re thinking about something incredibly rude right now.”

“I was not. I was only wondering if you might be……ill, or something.”

“That’s exactly what I meant by something rude.”

Arhad brought his glass up to his lips as he continued,

“I would obviously want to hold someone I loved. But I wouldn’t feel anything for any other woman’s naked body. I could have my pick of any woman if I so wanted. Women would come running into my arms as soon as I reached out……. But I don’t, because I’m not interested.”

Then again, he was so wealthy that he had said that he owned this tavern as if it had meant nothing to him at all, so amazingly capable that no one else could measure up to him, so lofty in station that he was an imperial prince of Bahamut, and so attractive that even Angelina, who was lauded as the most beautiful girl in the kingdom, was crushing on him —no woman in the world would refuse to sleep with him if he wanted to seduce them.

“How curious. I heard that men sometimes get aroused regardless of their intentions.”

“That isn’t true for me.”

“But why not? Aren’t you a little too lacking in desire for a man?”

“Why on earth is this the topic of our conversation?”

Arhad dodged the question by acting displeased, but Ianna quietly waited for his answer. He could not for the life of him figure out why Ianna was asking him this. And with her eyes so pure, as if there was nothing that she wanted from him.

“Sigh…….”

Arhad sighed. He slowly spun his glass, with a ball of ice inside, around and watched as his wine revolved around the cold ice. He said,

“Everything that exists in the world adapts and adjusts to its environment as time passes. The same is true of emotions as well. I’ve been driven insane by such overwhelming emotions for so long that I’ve grown accustomed to them, and other, blander emotions fail to stimulate me. And any emotions that aren’t directed to the target of my emotions aren’t even worth mention.”

“……?”

“Lust is a bland emotion. Especially in comparison to my greed for you.”

Ianna parted her lips and pressed them close again. Had her mind gone lax because she was drunk? His words sounded so sweet to her ears. Hearing Arhad sincerely confess his feelings to her made her start feeling stupid for hallucinating him abandoning her.

There was no reason that this man would ever abandon her. There was absolutely no reason for her to be anxious —so what on earth had she been so afraid of? This man would never let her go. He would grab hold of her again and again if she ever tried to leave him, and he would bring her right back to his side. He would embrace her unconditionally even if she was being childish. He would embrace her unconditionally no matter what she did. He would never get married, and he would never be as greedy for another subordinate as he was for her. She would never find herself an ally as reliable as him.

She hated her childish self for being weak.

“Is that so? I’m glad to hear it.”

So, wasn’t it all right to let Arhad see her weak self? Only Arhad. After all, he would never cast her aside. Which was why Ianna had completely let go of her normally sharpened self without even realizing it. She didn’t laugh out loud, but she smiled sheepishly like a child asking to be loved.

Arhad opened his eyes wide when he saw Ianna beaming at him, and he quickly turned away as his face flushed crimson.

“And that’s why you may never leave me for another. Understand?”

In any event, he had meant that he could control his lust as easily as he pleased if he wasn’t in love with the other party. He was different from the countless lewd men Ianna had encountered while leading her army in the past.

She found Arhad stranger and more curious the better she got to know him. Ianna closed her eyes and repeated what a strange man he was in her mind, and she was about to bring her glass to her lips again when Arhad said,

“You seem to have plans for marriage, though.”

Ianna opened her eyes and looked up at him when he spoke, only to find that he was in a very poor mood. He continued,

“But you can’t. I will never allow it. If you absolutely must get married, then you can just marry me.”

“……I beg your pardon?”

It had come out of nowhere. Ianna studied Arhad to determine how serious he was being. He was so severely obsessed with her that it was difficult to tell whether he had been serious or not.

Ianna pondered. Arhad had said that he would only sleep with someone he loved, but Ianna wondered if he would ever even meet this person at this rate. Was she doing a disservice to him?

But Arhad would never let her go, and she didn’t want to leave him because of his love either. Did that mean that she really should just marry him one day? Should she stand next to him, a man, and be as not only his sword but his woman as well?

Even if they wouldn’t be in a romantic relationship.

Ianna’s thoughts were veering off in a bizarre direction that she would have never entertained had she not been tipsy, but Arhad misunderstood her gaze as contemptuous and raised his hands in surrender.

“I was only joking, so don’t look at me like that. All I’m saying is that I won’t let you leave me.”

Pft —Ianna burst out in laughter. She shook her head as Arhad looked back at her dubiously. The wine had made her thoughts take a turn for the strange.

“I know. And like I said before —I didn’t ask because I was planning to marry.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“I was thinking about you, not me.”

Ianna hesitated. She didn’t want to obsess over him, didn’t want to cling to him —but would her king who was always looking to only her brush away her childish antics? How wonderful would it be if he didn’t? She was certain that Arhad would not. Ianna continued,

“I……would hate it if you abandoned me to marry another.”

“………?”

Arhad could not comprehend what she was saying. She had been concise and he understood her vocabulary, but his brain stopped working for a moment because could not imagine that her words might actually mean what he thought they meant.

“I would hate it if I became second to another in your heart. I would truly hate it for your attention to be divided because you got married.”

It was easy to keep talking once the dam had broken. Ianna’s words flowed freely one after another. She continued,

“I lied and told everyone that we were dating because they were annoying me with their constant questions and because I wanted to stop immature children like Angelina from buzzing around you and getting in the way of your work. And I regretted it later. I was acting far too emotionally. And yet…”

She could not keep the wave of emotion she had acknowledged only after the fact locked inside herself forever.

“I would lie all over again as I am right now. You always yearn for me, but I would have to leave your side if you found yourself a lover, and I would hate that. I would hate it. I couldn’t help but question if I was normal for feeling this way. And that’s why I asked you how you would feel if I were to get married.”

Arhad looked awkward as he tried to distinguish whether what he was hearing right now was true or false, a dream or reality. Ianna let out a sigh and looked to him with a slightly more sober look in her eyes. She felt so refreshed now that she had gotten it off her chest. Which meant that it was now time to tell him that.

“I first hallucinated my parents pushing me away and hurting me like they always had. They told me they didn’t want to see me, they asked me who did I think I was, and they called me useless……but I overcame that. And I knew that I was under the effects of a spell.”

“…….”

“But what I saw next was you heartlessly casting me aside and leaving me. You told me that you didn’t need me anymore, that you didn’t want me anymore, and you pushed me away. And I cried about how much I hated it as I clung to you in tears.”

Ianna sipped her wine in silence and she fell into earnest contemplation. She quite liked it when Arhad pat her head. And when he hugged her. And when he laughed.

“You pay so much attention to me and pour so much goodwill unto me that I take it for granted, and you always tell me that you would do anything for me…….”

And she hated it a little when she thought about him acting the same way to another.

“I think I’ve been seeking the unconditional love and affection that I never received from my parents as a child.”

Ianna slowly lowered her gaze and looked down at her empty wineglass —she was starting to find it difficult to look at Arhad for some reason. She didn’t know if it was because she was drunk or if it was because she was embarrassed, but her face was scarlet in her reflection in the glass.

“You always pay so much attention to me and pour out so much goodwill unto me that it’s almost excessive, you tell me that everything will be all right and you hold me when I make mistakes, you get angry on my behalf when something infuriating happens……and you always take my side no matter what, no? I thought it was similar to how a parent loves their child.”

Ianna brought down her hand, which she had been resting her chin against, and began touching her glass. The cold glass biting against her sensitive fingertips made her realize that she was blushing furiously in embarrassment, but she ignored it.

“I have never received such unconditional love and attention before. And that’s why I was so awkward about it. Like whenever you stroked my hair or pulled me in for a hug. But…”

She had already come this far, so she decided to be honest about everything and acknowledge it all.

“I was awkward about it, and I never let it show, but I think I always liked it. ……No, I do like it.”

She had always thought that she didn’t dislike it when he treated her like a child and pat her head like he found her adorable or when he held her in his arms as she crumbled, unable to withstand her own emotions, but the truth was that she had actually rather liked it. It always made her feel safe and comfortable when he acted like that. She could no longer deny the subtly warm and ticklish feelings that filled her chest.

“Don’t I always tell you? I am standing at your side not because you want me to, but because I want to. I asked you at my debut too. Please don’t cast me aside.”

Ianna closed her mouth after she had spoken. She squeezed the glass in her hands. She genuinely felt like she had grown weak. She was starting to want to deny herself, and she wanted to stop talking because a nasty sense of repulsion was starting to flare up inside her. But she wanted to beat back her repulsion and say everything that she had meant to say, and so she pried her stubbornly closed mouth back open.

“I want you to cherish me most and want me and pay attention to me……as if I was a young child. I probably see you as a parent…….”

Ianna paused for a moment. It sounded strange, now that she was saying it out loud. She didn’t exactly see him as a parent. She turned the gears in her head for a bit and contemplated, but she simply continued on because she couldn’t reach an answer.

“Not exactly as a parent, but something similar —I probably see you as an absolute figure in my life.”

She had told him everything. She had exposed to him everything that was inside her heart. It was so refreshing. Ianna breathed out a sigh and snuck a glance up at Arhad with only her eyes. Their eyes met immediately, likely because he had been looking to her this entire time. He was resting his chin against his hands, and he was truly looking squarely back at her.

Ianna was puzzled. Based off her experience, her words should have made Arhad happy, comically enough, and he should have been blushing crimson by now and then some. But the expression on his face had never changed. And he didn’t say a word —not one word about how happy he was to hear it or even a joke about becoming a parent.

“Arhad?”

“…….”

He didn’t answer. Ianna wondered if he had fallen asleep with his eyes open. She ignored him and poured herself a glass of wine. She especially wanted to drink today. Arhad, who had been staring at her, finally spoke up while she was serving herself.

“Everything you said just now —was it all true?”

The first thing he did was to verify the truth. Ianna grew a little defiant.

“And if it’s wasn’t?”

“You’ll really hear it from me if you tell me that was all just a joke.”

Arhad was carrying a strange air about him. This mysterious, unfathomable sensation kept poking at Ianna’s senses. But in any case, it didn’t seem like he had said it in jest. Ianna was puzzled —just what exactly was he trying to confirm?— as she replied,

“I was being sincere.”

The look on Arhad’s face still didn’t change even after she had said that. He stopped talking again, as if he had fallen into thought. Ianna observed him quietly. It was difficult to guess what he was thinking. Arhad slowly spun around his glass as he mumbled,

“A parent……. You think I love you like a parent loves their child?”

“Not exactly……but I apologize if I offended you.”

“Nonsense. I wasn’t offended. Truly.”

Arhad accepted everything, just as she knew he would. She had known this, and yet she felt the anxiety making a mess of her heart completely vanish. Ianna didn’t say anything. But she looked much more relaxed than before as she nodded.

Arhad, who had been staring openly at her, stopped spinning his glass and put it down on the table. He seemed to have finished thinking, and he looked Ianna directly in the eyes as the edges of his lips curled into a smile.

“I’m overjoyed to know that you like it when I act that way.”

There was a slight flush to his face, like always. His was an honest smile that didn’t hide how delighted he was. Ianna was certain of this, so why…?

Ianna tensed up inadvertently as a chill ran down her back. Something was different. She didn’t feel like her life was in danger, but she instinctively felt that she was in peril. She felt like something was closing in tight around her, something she couldn’t describe with words but could neither fight off nor flee from.

‘Is it because of the wine?’

Ianna shook her head as she wrote it off as her imagination running wild.

“It’s good, since it’ll only get worse from now.”

“What do you mean it’ll only get worse?”

Ianna was completely at ease, in any event, and she grew curious about what he was saying. Arhad simply shrugged and took the bottle of wine that Ianna had been holding.

“I meant that I’ll start looking after you even more moving forward. I don’t mind how you decide to interpret it. After hearing what you had to say, I think you were pretty close.”

Arhad poured some wine into Ianna’s empty glass. Ianna stared at the highly alcoholic drink filling her glass as she said,

“To be honest, I hate myself for being like this. You are my master, whom I should be protecting, but I won’t be of any help to you if I’m like this.”

It was a good thing that Saiwè was an ally —things would have been disastrous had he been an enemy. Part of the reason why Saiwè had figured out the truth was because of how much money Arhad had spent on her, but the bigger reasons were because she had taken off her robe and exposed her figure during the chimera incident and because she had declared that she and Arhad were lovers.

Ianna broke out in goosebumps when she realized that she was the reason Arhad had been exposed. Arhad, who had been watching as she shuddered slightly, shook his head no.

“Don’t I always tell you? You help me just by being here. I almost rather that you were powerless. I wish you would rely on me more. I want you to tell me when you make a mistake instead of suffering on your own. The things that you told me made me really happy. I really like the new attitude you’ve taken on. And…”

Arhad raised his glass and gestured at her. Ianna raised her own glass and tapped it against his. A clear sound resounded between them. Arhad continued,

“You aren’t a child. You know how to think for yourself and assert your opinions. You have the ability to take responsibility for your actions, and neither are you so weak that you need to be protected. No one would call you a child. You’ve already grown up. Besides, you barely rely on me at all. And you’re so extremely obstinate that you always choose to do exactly what I tell you not to —so what are you even saying?”

Arhad brought his glass to his lips as he crossly spat out,

“Everyone feels that way about another person in one way or another. Sometimes that other person is a parent, like you said, but it can also be a child, a friend, a teacher, or a lover. In any case, you can’t call someone childish just for wanting another to unconditionally take their side and pay attention to them. You are still young in my eyes, of course, but you wouldn’t be drinking with me like this if you were truly a child.”

Arhad was right, as he always was. Ianna quietly chewed over his words before she responded,

“In that case, what is it that I see in you that makes me feel this way? I know. It’s not a parent. Is it a good friend? Or perhaps a master who favors me?”

“…….”

Arhad stared at her quietly before he closed his eyes.

“Who can say? Human emotions are diverse, and everyone defines what they feel differently. That’s something you’ll have to define for yourself.”

Arhad was right. Ianna nodded and let out a long sigh of relief. She felt refreshed. It really was best to just be honest. But there was still one more problem she had to solve.

“Oh, and about us dating.”

“Pft!”

Arhad suddenly laughed while drinking his wine. Why was he laughing? Was it because he found her absurd, or was it because he was having fun? Ianna paused for a moment, but Arhad nodded at her to continue.

“I’m sorry. But my feelings are one thing, and this is another. I was planning on telling people that you dumped me tomorrow.”

“Why?”

Arhad asked back as if nothing was wrong.

“I was acting too emotionally. The fact that I lied keeps hanging over me. And the fact that I would have to continue this lie pricks at my conscience. And besides, I dislike relationships like this.”

She felt so uncomfortable now that she thought about it that she wanted to be dumped right this instant. She didn’t want to lie, and neither did she want to put herself in a relationship like this. Especially with Arhad. Her head began to hurt. She wanted to kick herself for lying so thoughtlessly back then.

Arhad looked into the discomfort on Ianna’s face, as if he was trying to read her heart, before quietly saying,

“I’d prefer to keep up the lie, if you’re all right with that.”

“Pardon?”

“You dislike it when men approach you, and I dislike it when women approach me. That lie is a convenient way to solve both problems.”

“…….”

“I was just about to take action anyway because Angelina’s interest in me was staring to get offensive, but don’t you think she’ll back off more readily if rumors about us dating begins to spread? Or maybe I should just kill her and get it over with?”

Ianna always felt disconcerted whenever Arhad said something like this. He always reasoned that he could simply kill off someone who became a problem as if that was only the logical conclusion.

Ianna put her sword to people and eliminated them if they got in her way too, but only as a last resort. Arhad, on the other hand, seemed to view murder as his first option. Keigus, Schneider……his inclination only grew worse whenever she was involved.

“You mustn’t. The consequences would be severe.”

“Then there’s no helping it. Let’s keep up this lie.”

“…….”

“Besides, you started it, Ianna, so I should be the one who gets to end it. Why must I only get the short end of the stick? I alone would end up being the bad guy who dumped you……it’s unfair.”

He technically hadn’t said anything wrong. She had only started the lie because she had known that he would find great fun in it. But she had ignored his opinion, and she was still ignoring his opinion and trying to end it unilaterally even now.

Ianna hesitated. She recalled how the Arhad in her illusion had coldly said that he had started hating her because she was always so selfish. He would never say that in reality, but……it still concerned her a little. Arhad smirked and folded his hands as he saw her sneak glances at him.

“Also, I think this situation is fun. It’ll be a great source of entertainment in my otherwise boring life.”

“I don’t find this entertaining at all. There’s nothing I can say for myself because I was the one who started this, but I still don’t want to keep it up. Can’t you please be a little more understanding? I’m sure there’ll be another way to deal with the princess.”

“No.”

Arhad rejected Ianna’s reluctance. He continued,

“You’ll come to realize that this isn’t as big a deal as you’re making it out to be once you’ve experienced it for yourself. I even think you’ll starting finding it fun too.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“You don’t plan on ever being romantically involved anyway, right?”

“Yes.”

“The same is true for me. And besides, both of us would hate it if you or I found someone else.”

“……That’s true,”

Ianna quietly concurred. It was why she had thought of something insane earlier —when she had wondered if she should just marry him. And now, she admitted it readily. She would hate it for Arhad to find someone else whom he might cherish more dearly than her.

“Neither of us will ever be in a relationship at this rate. But I do think it’d be nice to at least experience it once. So, why don’t we play a game?”

“A game?”

Ianna asked upon hearing the foreign word. Arhad explained himself gently, as if he was trying to persuade a petulant child.

“It’s not as if our relationship will change. Right?”

“It won’t.”

Ianna’s answer was firm. She would not change so long as Arhad continued to want her. And there was no reason that he would ever stop wanting her.

“So why don’t we try pretending to be in a different kind of relationship, just for fun? There’s no problem in that, right?”

A game that didn’t matter whether things were real or false……. Their relationship wouldn’t change, and not much else would either. Ianna felt a bit less reluctant now that she saw things in a new light. She let herself be persuaded, just a little.

Arhad dragged his chair against the floor and stood up as the expression on Ianna’s face changed ever so subtly.

“It’s not like things will change all that much just because we’re dating. It simply means that we can make intimate contact, like me stroking your hair or hugging you as you mentioned earlier, more often. Lovers do that too, after all. And you said that you didn’t mind it.”

Those were things that Arhad did normally and in perfect nonchalance. And Ianna herself had just confessed that she rather liked it. She was persuaded a little more.

Arhad pulled his chair up next to Ianna’s and sat down. He poured more wine in her glass. The wine fell in an elegant arc as it filled her once-empty glass to the brim without missing a single drop.

“We go out together fairly often already, but we might do so more frequently moving forward. And we’ll also sit close together like this more often too.”

“…….”

……It actually wasn’t all that bad. Her reluctance was slowly fading away, and her silence was starting to lean closer to acceptance. Ianna picked up her glass without a word.

“But…”

Arhad reached out and wrapped his arm around Ianna’s shoulders. Ianna flinched because she had never experienced this action before. The wine in her glass nearly sloshed out as she startled. Ianna turned her head. They were so close that they could feel each other’s breaths, and their eyes met. Arhad continued,

“I might wrap my arms around your shoulder like this. Or I might wrap my arms around your waist like I did in front of Saiwè, and I might do it especially often. Lovers typically act like that, after all.”

“…….”

“You don’t like it?”

Ianna fell into thought with Arhad’s arm still wrapped around her shoulder. She didn’t know if she was simply drunk or if she truly felt this way……but her heart was pounding and, while she didn’t know if she liked it, she certainly didn’t hate it. She would have already brushed him off and then some if she hated it.

She still felt awkward, of course, since she had never imagined that she would get tangled in a romantic relationship with Arhad. But perhaps it was because she didn’t hate it that she did not reject him strongly as she would have before.

She was definitely drunk. And……it was probably because she was intoxicated that Arhad seemed so different from usual right now. He never changed. His brilliant golden eyes were just the same as ever as they shone darkly with his possessive desire to monopolize her. So it must be because of the wine that he seemed so different.

But in any event, she didn’t hate it. Ianna shook her head. And she turned away from Arhad before she knew it and looked down at her glass. Arhad stared blankly back at her as she toyed with her glass before he squeezed her shoulders and slowly drew away.

“Then, it’s fine, isn’t it?”

“……Is it?”

“It is. This’ll be useful in multiple ways, like giving me just cause when I stop other bastards from approaching you. And we should take it a step further if we’re going to go this far anyway. Let’s say that we plan on getting married and following the guy who bid 500,000 gold on you during the school festival.”

Ianna started to doubt Arhad’s sanity. She wondered if the wine had interrupted his ability to think properly.

“Are you in your right mind?”

“I am perfectly sane.”

“Anyone sharp enough will be able to connect the dots and realize that you and the man who bid 500,000 gold on me are one and the same.”

“Is that the only problem? Getting married is okay?”

“…….”

Ianna had been glaring at Arhad as he grumbled, but she ultimately gave up. She stopped glaring and let out a sigh.

“……Please stop with the spiteful jesting. If we’re going to do this, then we should at least do it properly so people don’t start thinking we’re weird if we get found out. And we’ll only be keeping up the act in front of others, yes?”

Arhad’s face flushed a little when Ianna finally assented. But Ianna, who was still feeling uneasy about the entire deal, failed to take notice. There was a smile etched on Arhad’s lips.

“Of course. Oh, but let me add just one more thing. We’ll say that I asked you out.”

Ianna cast a glance at him. She wondered if there was a reason why he wanted to say that.

“Why?”

“Then do you want to say that you asked me out instead?”

She felt repulsed as soon as she heard him propose it. She asked him out? It didn’t suit her at all, she never intended to do such a thing, and she would never have any reason to. She did not have the confidence to lie about that. She might even quit the whole act altogether if Arhad made her pretend that she had asked him out first.

“……No.”

“Then let’s just say that I asked you and leave it at that. Let’s do our best together, Ianna.”

Arhad extended his hand to her. Ianna stared at it sullenly for a moment before she sighed and shook it.

It was only the next day that Ianna realized she had made the entirely wrong decision.

“…….”

She was frozen stiff.

“Holy crap.”

“What? What? Whaaat?”

Such was the situation. Ianna was walking out from her dorms to train like she always did. She had slept in a little because she had been drinking the night before and was a little tired, but Arhad had been waiting in front of her dormitory building for whatever the reason. The other girls were openly staring at him. Ianna stopped and stared blankly as she tried to figure out why he was here before she walked up to him.

“Why are you……?”

She was about to ask him why he was here when Arhad suddenly pulled her close. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and seductively whispered in her ear,

“Why were you so late?”

“…….”

Ianna stiffened up. Arhad’s female fans were staring fixedly at them. Such was the current situation.

Unable to understand what was going on, Ianna quietly asked,

“What are you doing?”

“Pretending to be your lover, just like we decided yesterday,”

was what Arhad had actually whispered in her ear, but to everyone else it looked like he was whispering sweet nothings. After all, the look on his face suggested that he was a man who had fallen head over heels in love, though Ianna couldn’t tell because she was currently being held in his arms. He was squeezing her tight, as if he loved the woman in his arms so much that he couldn’t hold himself back, and the slight flush on his face suggested that he liked her so much there was nothing he could do about it —and he left no room for doubt.

Ianna and Arhad, who had always had pinkish rumors floating around them, had finally started dating!

But all of his female fans’ hearts still skipped a beat anyway because Arhad was being too attractive.

“…….”

Arhad relaxed his grip around her a little as Ianna was rendered speechless in her daze. She glared at him incredulously when she finally came to her senses, and Arhad simply smiled as if he couldn’t help himself because he found even her glare so endearing.

“I really like you, Ianna.”

Ianna felt her entire body grow rigid.

—“The Black Fox 2” End

—To be continued in Volume 6