Alon had expected there might be issues crossing the eastern border.

Because he knew the reason he had been able to enter the east before without any trouble was due to a noble’s misunderstanding.

That noble’s misunderstanding that Alon had come to the Eastern Empire to hear Serdea’s answer.

But by the time he left for the ruined west without meeting Serdea, that misunderstanding had already been shattered.

So he had definitely thought that something would happen one way or another when it came time to cross the border.

He had thought that, but—

"My dear, you look quite surprised. That I am here, I mean."

"..."

...He truly had never imagined that Serdea, the imperial princess of the Eastern Empire, would personally come to the border.

He could not just stay silent.

In the end, Alon opened his mouth.

"...To be honest, yes."

"Hm—It is not as though I came solely to wait for you. I merely happened to come here while attending to other matters. Yes, merely happened to."

Serdea leisurely added that.

Unlike her, however, the noble standing beside her did not look particularly bright for some reason.

"But since I happened to come here and happened to meet you, I would like to hear your answer."

"How many times is she going to say she just happened to be here...?"

Penia muttered quietly from behind.

Wondering whether Serdea might have heard that, Alon broke into a small cold sweat and thought.

Naturally, Alon had no intention of marrying Serdea.

Of course, if he married her, it was true that his status would rise in every way.

She was the imperial princess leading the Eastern Empire, one of the four pieces the Empire had split into, but the Eastern Empire alone possessed enough land to make up nearly half of what the Allied Kingdoms held.

And the Empire’s power was different from the power of the Allied Kingdoms.

The Allied Kingdoms also basically had kings who exercised absolute authority, but they could not completely ignore the nobles.

The Empire, however, concentrated all power in the emperor.

In other words, if he married her, it would be no different from Alon obtaining absolute power.

Even knowing that clearly, Alon’s thoughts did not change.

First of all, Alon was not particularly obsessed with power.

In the first place, after entering Psychedelia, his very first goal had been to go to Rodmill, where no one would target him, and live an ordinary life.

And second, Alon firmly believed that if he was going to marry, he wanted it to be with someone he loved.

Of course, that was a mindset that did not fit a medieval fantasy noble.

But still, that was how he felt.

So Alon thought.

How could he get through this gently and pass through the Eastern Empire’s border?

And then—

"Your Highness?"

A voice came from behind Alon.

"And you are? Ah—You’re that one from before, surely Rosario’s—"

"Cardinal Yutia."

Yutia’s kindly voice rang out.

When Alon glanced back, he saw Yutia smiling, and for some reason Penia standing beside her with a small clenched fist, looking at her with an expression that seemed to say, 'We’re launching the attack—!'

"Hoh? I didn’t know you would be traveling together as well."

"I’m always with Teacher, like we’re one body."

"...Really?"

"Yes."

"Then perhaps it would be best for you to start keeping your distance. The only person my husband needs to look at is me."

"You’re speaking as if Teacher already accepted."

"Did I not say it before? There’s no reason he wouldn’t. I am who I am, after all."

Serdea straightened her chest proudly, radiating absolute confidence.

But after looking at the imperial princess like that, Yutia soon smiled a smile whose meaning was hard to read.

"Hm—I do think Your Highness certainly has reason to be that confident."

"Naturally. Because I am who I am."

Serdea nodded confidently at Yutia’s words.

"Your Highness is noble, and the dignity one feels from such a small frame is more than enough to captivate countless men."

"...?"

But right after that, as the praise continued a little too much, Serdea wore a puzzled expression.

"However—Teacher prefers women."

"...??"

At that final sentence, Serdea went blank for a moment.

As if she did not understand what Yutia meant.

But a moment later—

"Ha."

Serdea understood what she meant, let out a hollow laugh, and started to frown.

Then—

"Haha... yes, what an amusing joke."

—she quickly forced out a laugh.

Serdea was an imperial princess.

She could have given the order right then and there to cut down this insolent woman.

This was the Eastern Empire, and she was one of its rulers.

But she could not do that, and the reason was pride.

If the woman in front of her had said something insulting the Empire, that would have been different. But to order an execution over something like this?

No matter how overwhelming imperial authority was, in an era when that power had been split into four, it was dangerous to have someone cut down just because she felt slighted.

...In truth, more than anything—

the biggest reason was simply that she did not want to look like someone who got provoked and lashed out over a single remark like that.

"Oh my, but I wasn’t lying."

When Yutia calmly played innocent in a teasing tone, the corners of Serdea’s lips trembled.

Somehow suppressing her anger, Serdea forcibly maintained her smile.

"Then you do not look particularly like his type either."

"Oh my, me?"

"Yes. You do not seem much taller than I am."

That was true.

Serdea was certainly short, but Yutia was only a little taller than her, so their heights were similar.

"Hm—That’s true, as far as height goes. Height, at least."

But even under the imperial princess’s attack(?), Yutia answered without losing her smile.

Serdea made another puzzled expression at that, then—

"!"

—soon realized one thing and looked toward the center of Yutia’s holy robe.

The confidence that was making its presence very clearly known where the robe ought to have looked flat.

"..."

By contrast, after confirming her own girlish figure, Serdea—

"Get out!!!"

—finally ordered them out.

####

"...So we really did get thrown out."

"Looks that way."

At Serdea’s expulsion order, brimming with anger, Alon’s group stepped away from the Eastern Empire’s border gate.

When Alon let out a sigh, Evan steadied his breathing and then looked ahead.

"Still, for people who got kicked out, those two seem incredibly happy."

When Alon followed his gaze, he saw Yutia and Penia getting along just fine.

"Mhm—Maybe it’s because she’s from the Empire, but even her inner thoughts are petty."

"I think so too, Miss Penia."

"Exactly! Cardinal Yutia was only stating facts in the first place. This is why short Imperials are always—"

The two of them were enthusiastically expressing anti-Imperial prejudice.

"...Did an Imperial scam them or something?"

Evan muttered for a moment, sounding like he could not understand them at all, then soon asked Alon,

"So what now? Looking at this, it doesn’t seem like we’ll be able to set foot on the eastern border again."

"Well, it can’t be helped. Even if Yutia hadn’t done that, things would have ended up like this anyway."

Naturally, Alon had intended to refuse Serdea’s proposal.

Even if Yutia had not stepped in, the result would have been the same. So while he was wondering how he was supposed to deal with this for a while—

"...Hm?"

He noticed someone approaching from far away.

And before long, he realized who the group was.

"...Contanias?"

Contanias, the imperial prince of the Northern Empire.

At the national flag flying above them and the face visible at the front, Alon muttered that name.

Then he quietly slipped a hand into his pocket.

He had no idea why Contanias was here, but Alon and Contanias were not on especially good terms.

Inside his pocket, Alon formed hand seals.

Of course, he did not think he would lose even if he fought Contanias and his subordinates, but that was separate from preparing for whatever might happen.

By then Contanias’s group had drawn close, and just as Alon raised his guard even further—

"!"

—the moment Contanias spotted Alon, he immediately jumped down from his horse.

"What brings you—"

Before Alon could even finish asking.

"I greet the great dragon!"

Contanias, who had been approaching as if to pick a fight, suddenly bent at the waist almost convulsively and shouted that toward him.

While Alon inwardly wondered what this sudden situation was—

"...Lord Alon, were you a dragon?"

As if he already knew the answer, Evan whispered flatly in his ear.

"...If you already know the answer, don’t ask." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Alon let out a deep sigh.

####

"Ughhh—!"

Serdea, apparently still unable to let go of her anger, repeatedly cried out while fiercely scrunching up her face.

No matter how she thought about it, Alon’s party was infuriating.

Her small body trembling, she soon steadied her breathing and regained her composure.

Because she knew.

That in the end, she would be the one standing as the victor.

'As long as they’re going back to the Allied Kingdoms, they’ll have no choice but to pass through here.'

Naturally, there was effectively no way to get back to the Allied Kingdoms from the west without crossing a border.

Whether through the north or the south, they would have to pass through one.

But of course, no one other than her would let Alon’s party through.

The idiot in the north hated Alon, and the imperial princess in the south would not like letting an uncontrollable ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ being rampage across her land.

In other words, the only door Alon could knock on to return to the Allied Kingdoms was the Eastern Empire in the end.

And that meant he would have no choice but to bow his head to her.

Serdea intended to open the road to the Allied Kingdoms for Alon the moment he bowed his head.

Because she was benevolent.

Of course, she found the cardinal traveling with him extremely displeasing, but even so, that was fine.

In the first place, the moment Serdea took Alon into her arms, she would naturally be the one who won.

'Even so, he’s only the king of one country in the end. Is there really any need for Your Highness to go that far just to take him in?'

As Serdea tried to cool her overheated thoughts even a little, she suddenly remembered something one of her retainers had said.

In truth, she had thought the same thing herself.

After all, compared to her, the other side was of lower status, and the rumors were only things Serdea herself believed so firmly, never something truly confirmed.

But today, the moment she realized he did not want her, she wanted Alon all the more.

Of course, it was not some rational or emotional feeling like love.

Interest.

Interest in the man who had dared reject her, when no one had ever been able to reject her and no one ever had.

In the world Serdea knew, it was something she had never experienced even once.

That was why it intrigued her all the more.

And that was why she wanted him all the more.

She wanted to place the man who had rejected her in the palm of her hand.

She had only just recalled the face she had seen earlier when—

"Your Highness—"

At the sound of someone calling for her, a smile rose to Serdea’s lips.

Because she had ordered that if anything at all happened regarding Alon’s party, she was to be informed at once.

"What is it? Have they come back already?"

she asked, sounding delighted.

But a moment later—

"It would seem—"

"It would seem?"

"...it would seem Contanius has come out to take them to the Northern Empire."

The captain of the guard said that while watching her expression with an awkward look.

"...Huh?"

A dazed sound slipped out through Serdea’s teeth.