The next day.

One dose of Borbel’s medicine from the North, and I was gloriously revived!

“Hah, hah!”

Feeling strength flood through my whole body, I spun around the training ground for the first time in a while.

Dad hadn’t looked thrilled about it, but thankfully Borbel and Mom had persuaded him that I needed a reasonable amount of exercise too.

I can circle the main training ground without any trouble now!

“Mwahahaha.”

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with a bright, refreshed face.

Off in the distance, Grandpa and Liam were locked in a fierce battle, each insisting the nutritional drink he had made was better.

“Princess!”

At that, my head snapped around.

That form of address!

Far away, Allen—an eyepatch over one eye—spotted me and came running. Judging by the fact that he still hadn’t even gotten out of his women’s clothes, it looked like he’d come straight to the ducal estate the moment he reached the capital.

“Uncle Alleeen! It’s been so long!”

I ran straight toward him in delight, but the instant I did, Allen came to a dead stop.

“I’m not an uncle...”

“What?”

“I’m not married. I don’t even have a girlfriend. Never have, and never will probably—ugh.”

“Sir? Where exactly did you get wounded that deeply in your heart?”

At that, Allen started to spit with disgust, then caught sight of me and swallowed it back down.

“No! You try spending a month with that rough, arrogant little brat who doesn’t have one gram of delicacy in him! A person comes back like a limp paper doll!”

“Khal...”

I rolled the name around blankly on my tongue.

“When does Khalid get here?!”

“Ah, well. Three or four days, I’d say. I came early because I got hounded so much.”

Allen scratched the back of his head with a worn-out look and added,

“You know the King of Casalia and the princess are visiting Babilon, right? He’s probably escorting them back while returning.”

“Oh. I see.”

I nodded slowly as it sank in. Since the route overlapped anyway, I figured Casalia must have requested it first.

Still, the Princess of Casalia?

The princess they said had been lost in the chaos of war and then found again?

“Looks like the Casalian royal family is awfully fond of him.”

“Oh.”

“The king even sent a personal messenger... he seemed absolutely determined to drag him to the royal family somehow.”

Allen let out a loose little laugh and folded down his fingers one by one.

“A title, land, reward money. They were tempting him with real professional skill.”

“But Khal doesn’t seem like he’d care about that stuff. He’d just say it’s a hassle.”

I laughed, my brows knitting a little.

I expected him to agree immediately, but instead Allen crossed his arms and looked at me with a strange expression.

“Hm. But you never know. Who can say how his mind might change during the return procession this time?”

“What do you mean?”

“The Casalian princess.”

He stared straight at me and added,

“I hear she’s around your age, my lady. And apparently she’s stunningly beautiful.”

“...And?”

What did that have to do with this conversation?

Allen lowered his voice and whispered to me with sudden seriousness.

“You know, my lady—men are like that. When they like someone, they start wanting to look good in every possible way.”

Someone they like...?

“Now then, let’s think about it. What does that brat not have? Face, height, build, brains, skill—he has all of it. So what’s missing?”

“...I heard he doesn’t exactly have the height either... Ah. A decent personality?”

“You are far too smart.”

Allen threw up both thumbs and shook them enthusiastically.

“Anyway, that is also extremely true, but objectively speaking? Power. Status.”

“Why would Khalid... need status?”

He’s a member of the Zebbert knights.

“Oh, come on. If the person he likes is a high-born lady, he’d naturally think he ought to at least reach a level that wouldn’t embarrass him.”

Someone he likes...

I blinked blankly.

“So right now... wait.”

My throat kept tightening for some reason.

What was wrong with me?

Was I still not fully better?

And why was my heart beating so fast?

“...You mean Khalid might accept a title in Casalia?”

“Maybe?”

“...Because he’ll fall in love with a beautiful princess during the return procession?”

Allen’s lips pressed into a tight curve, and laughter leaked out anyway.

Of course, since I was standing there in a daze staring at the ground, I never noticed.

“All kinds of variables appear in life, my lady.”

“......”

A bitter winter wind swept across the training ground.

As though it jolted me awake, I suddenly lifted my head.

“He...”

I didn’t know why.

“Where did you say he is right now?”

For some reason, I felt like I had to see him immediately.

In the next instant, Rubian shot off.

Watching her retreating figure vanish into the distance, Allen finally let out the laughter he’d been holding in.

“I never said a single thing precisely, my lady.”

Not the subject.

Not the object.

You little brat. Your precious, pampered master is on her way.

Allen hummed to himself in satisfaction, then abruptly turned his head at the chill he felt crawling up his spine.

“......”

Ah.

They had been there.

Over at one side of the training ground stood the old Duke of Zebbert and young master Liam, both staring at him with blazing eyes.

“Well, I’ll just come back ano—”

“Catch him, eldest little runt.”

“Yes.”

After that day,

no one ever saw Allen again.

*****

Late at night, at the makeshift outpost,

Khalid frowned.

What in the world was she doing to herself, getting a nosebleed?

He was checking the message brought to him by a message bird.

It had come from Allen, who had gone on ahead to the capital.

Sounds like she’s pushing herself again.

What should he do?

He wanted to throw everything aside and just go.

But he couldn’t.

“Sir, the Kingdom of Casalia requests that you escort them as far as the Babilon Empire. Since you are returning anyway, all that remains is to reorganize the procession and proceed.”

That had been what the Casalian messenger said when he was preparing to leave after wrapping up the suppression campaign.

Naturally, Khalid had every intention of ignoring it completely.

But the crest on the knight uniform he was wearing caught at him.

The crest of the Zebbert knights.

As long as he wore that # Nоvеlight # crest, he could not behave willfully like a child.

The Duke would probably flick him on the forehead and say, Who told you to worry about something like that?

Which only made it worse.

Maybe just hearing her voice would help.

Out of habit, he nearly reached to connect his magic, then stopped short.

Rubian was in the capital.

He did not want to make her use magic carelessly.

And if her condition really was poor, then even more so.

On top of that, his magic had grown so vast compared to the past that Khalid had become a little wary of weaving his magic together with Rubian’s.

If he was not careful, it felt like it might swallow hers whole.

“......”

Khalid gripped the note tightly and let out a low sigh.

In the past, their magic had tangled together like tree roots.

Now, it felt more like his magic clung thickly to Rubian’s slender current and coiled around it.

It looks exactly like that.

Clicking his tongue, he looked at the crest of the Magic Kingdom stamped onto the map hanging on the wall.

The World Tree, with a dragon winding itself around it.

The World Tree was called a symbol of wisdom, and the dragon a symbol of magic and strength.

For some reason, that only made his mood fouler.

Just then, a short bell rang outside the tent.

Before he could even tell them to come in, the flap was pulled aside.

“Sir Khalid? Are you resting?”

It was a woman’s voice with a fine resonance to it.

Khalid looked blankly at the woman approaching him.

The princess of Casalia, with lightly sun-browned skin and wavy reddish-brown hair.

It was Sebelena.

“Want to play cards? Do you know how?”

With every step she took, the ornaments hanging all over her clothes clinked softly together.

Dressed in clothes that could not have looked more royal, the woman sat down across from Khalid with total ease.

Then she pulled out a deck of cards—the kind commoners might use to kill time in a tavern—and shuffled them lightly in her hands.

“Or were you raised too fine for something like this, Sir Knight?”

“Even if I do know how, I won’t be playing with you, Your Highness.”

“Oh my, so that heavy mouth of yours finally opened. Why not?”

Instead of answering, Khalid smiled faintly and lowered his eyes.

He folded the note once, twice, then a third time, with deliberate slowness.

After tucking it carefully into his inner pocket, Khalid lifted his gaze just as slowly and looked straight at Sebelena.

“Am I under any obligation to answer Your Highness?”

He really was insolent for someone speaking to royalty.

If not for that infuriatingly handsome face, she would have had him on his knees long ago, Sebelena thought with amusement.

“Then how about this?”

“......”

“What if we talk about the youngest princess of House Zebbert?”

The atmosphere changed in an instant.

Reading the cold, sharpened edge in the air—like he might devour her where she sat—Sebelena continued calmly.

“The Mage King’s seventh.”

His hand closed slowly around his sword.

Blue magic rose from it. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

The crest of the Zebbert knights mattered, yes.

But naturally, not as much as Rubian.

“The Magic Kingdom is moving. Are you going to let them take her again?”

His jungle-green eyes flashed.