Hajin turned toward the voice and saw a tall man walking toward them through the crowd.

He wore the black and silver plate of the Royal Knight Order, the armor polished to its usual mirror finish with the captain’s crest stamped into the left pauldron. His face was hard and weathered, carrying the same cold, professional expression that seemed permanently carved into his features.

The crowd parted around him without being asked, civilians and students instinctively stepping aside as the Knight Captain approached.

Didi’s posture shifted immediately, her playful amusement vanishing as she straightened her back and turned to face him. "Knight Captain. What brings you all the way out here?"

He stopped a few feet away, his eyes briefly scanning the group before settling on the princess and giving a short bow.

"Your Highness, forgive the interruption. I was on my way to speak with the Guildmaster about an ongoing matter when I noticed you."

"An ongoing matter?" She asked, tilting her head slightly.

"The incident from three nights ago," he said, his tone flat and direct. "We are still investigating the damage to the eastern district."

Didi’s expression shifted slightly, her brows pulling together. "The one that caused all the damage to those buildings near the market quarter?"

"The very same," he confirmed, clasping his hands behind his back. "Several structures sustained heavy damage, walls cracked, rooftops shattered, and two shops had to be condemned entirely. The guild initially assumed it was a monster breach from outside the walls, but the damage pattern doesn’t match anything that’s come through a Gate."

"Through investigation, we’ve gathered testimony from multiple witnesses. Most of them couldn’t make out any details because it happened too fast and too high above the city, but they all describe the same thing. Two figures moving through the air above the rooftops."

Hajin felt his stomach drop.

"One of the figures appeared to be wrapped in some kind of dark energy," the Knight Captain continued, his voice steady and clinical.

"The other was described as using a golden chain to throw the first figure across the city. A few witnesses also reported seeing a golden ring around the second figure’s arm."

Hajin didn’t move a single muscle, keeping his expression perfectly neutral while every alarm in his head went off at the same time. Beside him, Juna’s tail went rigid and her ears pinned flat, her claws pressing into her palms inside her pockets.

Didi’s smile had long since disappeared.

She stood there with her hands clasped tightly behind her back, her eyes fixed on the Knight Captain’s face.

’A golden chain and a golden ring,’ she thought, her pulse quickening as the pieces slammed together in her head. ’That was him. That was Hajin. Is that why he was unconscious for three days? He was fighting something inside the capital?’

She kept her face perfectly still, not daring to look in Hajin’s direction.

"We have not been able to identify either figure," he said. "No one came forward to claim responsibility, and the trail of destruction leads outside the walls into the northern forest, where it ends abruptly. Whatever happened out there, both figures vanished before our patrols could reach the area."

He looked at Didi directly, his expression unchanged. "I am informing you because the King has requested a full report by tomorrow morning, and he wants your input on whether this should be escalated to a formal investigation involving the Great Families."

Didi kept her composure. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"I’ll speak with my father about it tonight," she said. "For now, continue the standard investigation and keep me updated on any new findings."

The Knight Captain gave another short bow, "understood, Your Highness."

He turned and walked away, disappearing back into the crowd.

Hajin waited until the man was completely out of earshot before his thoughts started moving again.

’They didn’t find Maren’s body?’ he thought, his jaw tightening. ’I left it right at the wall, if Juna is the one that carried me, she should have seen it too. so who the hell moved it before the patrols showed up?’

That meant whoever had fired the shot that killed Maren, had gone back and cleaned up the evidence. They were covering their tracks, which meant this went deeper than just one corrupted idiot with a grudge.

But that wasn’t even the worst part.

’A golden chain and a golden ring,’ he repeated in his head, the words sitting in his gut like a rock. ’If I use either of those in public again, anyone who heard this report is going to connect it straight back to that night. One fight and I’ve already made myself identifiable.’

He resisted the urge to rub his face. This was exactly the kind of attention he had been trying to avoid since the day he arrived in the capital.

’So annoying,’ he thought, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets.

Beside him, Juna hadn’t moved. Her ears were still flat and her tail was stiff, but she was smart enough not to say anything while people were still around.

The silence between the three of them stretched for a few seconds too long, and that was enough for someone to notice.

"Didi?" Bekky asked, stepping closer and tilting her head to look at the princess’s face. "What’s wrong? You look kind of pale all of a sudden."

Didi flinched. "N-Nothing. I’m fine, it’s just the heat."

Bekky’s eyes narrowed. She wasn’t buying it, not even a little. Her gaze flicked from Didi’s stiff posture to Hajin standing a few feet away, and then back to Didi, who was very obviously not looking at Hajin.

"You’re avoiding looking at him," she said, her voice dropping low enough that only the three of them could hear. "Why are you avoiding looking at him?"

"I am not avoiding anything," Didi said, a little too quickly. "I was just thinking about what the Knight Captain said."

Bekky stared at her for another long second, her suspicious expression only getting worse, but she eventually let out a sharp sigh and shook her head.

"Fine, keep your secrets," she said, grabbing Didi by the arm and pulling her toward the rest of the academy students. "But we need to go. If the professor notices we’re gone, he’s going to double our punishment and I am not spending another weekend cleaning the library."

Didi looked like she wanted to stay and say something else, but she quickly realized this was the perfect excuse to escape the tension. She gave Hajin a hurried, awkward wave as she was dragged away.

"Right! See you later, Hajin! Get some rest!"

He watched them disappear into the crowd, letting out a long breath as the weight of the last ten minutes finally settled. He turned toward Juna, who was already looking at him with a mix of worry and irritation.

"We’re going to the guild," he muttered, turning on his heel. "The sooner we get out of the capital on a quest, the better."

"Agreed," she said, her tail finally starting to relax.

They had barely taken three steps when a soft, quick patter of footsteps came from behind them.

"Hajin! Wait!"

He stopped and turned, his brows pulling together in confusion as he saw Didi running back toward them.

She had left her friends behind and was currently standing in front of him, her chest heaving slightly while a deep, noticeable blush crept across her cheeks.

She looked down at her shoes, her fingers nervously brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I... I forgot to ask," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the noise of the street. She looked up at him then, her eyes wide and hopeful in a way that made her look completely different from the demanding princess she usually was.

"Are you... are you really not coming to the banquet tonight?"

He stared at her, the sight of her acting so genuinely cute making his previous resolve crumble in real-time.

’Ah, shit,’ he thought.