Didi sat across from Hajin in a cushioned chair, her knees pulled up to her chest while she hugged a small pillow tightly against herself. Her expression had been getting more and more worried with every detail he shared.

They were sitting in her private study, a small but cozy room tucked away in the eastern wing of the palace. A few mana lamps glowed softly on the walls and a half-finished cup of tea sat on the small table between them, completely forgotten.

He had told her pretty much everything. How the Gate turned out to be far worse than expected, how they lost several knights fighting through the zones and how the monsters inside were far stronger than anything a standard seven-shard Gate should have produced.

"That many?" she whispered, her fingers tightening around the pillow.

He nodded slowly, leaning back in his chair while rubbing his tired eyes, "the knights that survived were completely traumatized," he said. "You could see it on their faces when we walked through the gates. They didn’t expect it to be that bad."

She went quiet for a moment, her gaze dropping to the floor while she processed everything he just told her.

He could tell the weight of it was hitting her hard, knowing that people had died in a Gate that her father had personally ordered the raid for.

He watched her quietly, feeling a small wave of relief wash over him. He was genuinely glad the Captain changed his mind about revealing the Gate disappearance theory to the council.

They had reported that the Gate collapsed after the boss was killed, which was already strange enough on its own. But the Captain had decided to leave out the part about it possibly being connected to Hajin directly.

It wasn’t even confirmed. They had suspicions and a pattern forming, but there was no solid proof that he was the reason Gates were vanishing after being cleared.

Bringing that kind of accusation into a room full of politicians without evidence would have made his life incredibly difficult.

The council would have started treating him like some kind of national security threat instead of a rookie who got lucky, and the last thing he needed was more attention from powerful people who already didn’t like him.

’I owe the Captain one for that,’ he thought, letting out a quiet breath.

She looked back up at him, her eyes scanning his torn clothes and the bruises still visible on his arms.

"Are you really alright?" she asked softly. "You fought a Beast King. You took all of those injuries and you are just sitting here acting like nothing happened."

She tilted her head slightly, her worried expression deepening as she studied his face more carefully.

"I can tell you are not in the best shape right now," she added quietly. "You don’t have to pretend with me." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

He let out a small laugh, shaking his head while giving her a tired but genuine smile, "I promise I will be fine in no time," he said. "My body heals pretty fast, so just give me a day or two and I will be back to normal."

She didn’t look convinced at all, her grip tightening on the pillow while she pressed her lips together.

"I don’t want to lose someone special again," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

The words hit him harder than he expected.

He just sat there for a moment, watching her stare at the floor with that fragile look on her face. He knew she was thinking about Sir Gazel, the knight who died protecting her from the Overlord-class anomaly.

That wound was still fresh, and the thought of losing someone else she cared about was clearly eating her alive.

That’s when it really sank in just how much she actually cared about him. Not as a useful Ranker or a political asset, but as someone she genuinely didn’t want to see get hurt.

He couldn’t help but smile.

"So," he said casually, leaning back in his chair while changing the subject. "How has the academy been going?"

Somewhere on the other side of the capital, in a dimly lit room above a run-down tavern, a young woman sat on the windowsill with her legs dangling over the edge. She was flipping a thin blade between her fingers, her dark eyes staring lazily at the flickering street lamps below.

A tall man leaned against the far wall with his arms crossed, his face half-hidden behind the high collar of his black coat.

A detailed map of the capital’s districts was pinned to the wall beside him, with several locations circled in red ink.

"I still don’t understand why the Flints are wasting this much coin on such an easy target," the woman muttered, catching the blade mid-flip and pointing it toward the map. "One kid with no noble backing, personal guard or even a proper residence. He is staying at a public inn for crying out loud."

She let out a bored sigh, spinning the blade again.

"This is barely a job," she added. "It is an errand."

The man shifted against the wall, his expression remaining completely unreadable behind his collar.

"The Flints actually tried to cancel the request," he said, his deep voice filling the room.

She stopped flipping the blade, glancing over at him with a raised eyebrow, "cancel?" she repeated. "Why would they cancel?"

"Does not matter why," he replied flatly. "Father refused. The money was paid and the contract was signed, so the request will be seen through to the end. That is how it has always worked."

He pushed himself off the wall, walking over to the map and tapping a finger on one of the circled locations.

"There are no take-backs," he continued. "No cancellations. The Flints knew exactly what they were getting into when they came to us. You pay, we deliver. Simple."

She looked at him for a moment before a slow grin crept across her face.

"Fine by me," she said, hopping off the windowsill and tucking the blade into her sleeve. "Easy money is still money."

The man walked back to the wall and pulled his own coat off the hook, slinging it over his shoulder.

"Let’s get this done quickly," he said. "I want to be back home before the big raid starts. Father wants both of us there for it."

Her eyes lit up slightly at the mention of the raid, "the one in the northern ruins?" she asked. "I heard the Gate up there has been growing for months. They are expecting it to break into eight shards any day now."

He nodded, "which is exactly why we cannot afford to waste time here playing around in the capital," he said. "Find the target, finish the job, and we leave by morning."

She stretched her arms above her head, rolling her neck with a few quiet pops before pulling the blade back out of her sleeve.

She flicked her wrist, sending the knife spinning across the room where it buried itself deep into the wall with a sharp thud, landing perfectly in the center of one of the red circles on the map.

"Nothing personal," she said quietly, staring at the blade stuck in the wall. "Just business, Hajin."