That was because Khalid—standing way off in the distance—suddenly wrapped the Princess in his arms as if embracing her and gently pulled her hood over her head.

Gently!

Like a cockroach spotting a human, I zipped back behind the decoration and hid again.

Thump, thump.

My heart was going wild.

And that wasn’t all. The moment the Princess moved to take a step, Kal bent down in a flash and carefully tied her shoelace for her.

And was that the end of it?

Not even close.

When the Princess’s handkerchief was caught by the wind and went fluttering off, he hurried to pick it up for her...

He wrapped her scarf around her, checked whether her clothes were warm enough, even carried her little handbag for her...

Even from behind, I could feel how restless he was. He looked completely at a loss, like an anxious puppy who needed to pee.

Oh my God...

I sent him off to find the stele.

And he came back a servant...

The noise of the crowd somehow seemed to recede into the distance.

*****

“There’s an arm-wrestling competition over there. Let’s go. I need to enter right now.”

Sebelena declared it with gusto.

At that, her attendant and guard, Nova, looked horrified.

“P-P-Princess! Not enter—watch! And your shoelace is untied! Please, have some dignity!”

“Oh my. Tie it for me, Nova.”

“Yes, Princess.”

Nova hurriedly lowered himself and carefully tied her shoelace into a neat bow.

With his dark blue hair, he was the Princess’s only close attendant, the one she had brought with her all the way from Iosia.

“Phewww.”

After watching Nova busily fuss over her, Sebelena shifted her gaze slightly backward.

A man with almost the same hair color as Nova stood there as expressionlessly as ever—yet in personality, face, and build, he was the exact opposite.

The sharp face visible beneath the hood was perfect enough to look painted. He had said he’d trained since dawn, and perhaps because his hair was swept back so neatly, his dark brows and sharply defined nose stood out even more.

Thinking that it was a face far too handsome for its own good, Sebelena addressed him lightly.

“Sir Khalid, have you been uncomfortable about something this whole time?”

The man, who seemed oddly alert to his surroundings, answered in a low voice.

“...I can feel eyes on me.”

“Eyes? Don’t tell me—an enemy?”

“Not exactly.”

“Not exactly?”

“It’s more... itchy.”

“What kind of answer is that?”

Could this man actually make jokes?

Sebelena exchanged glances with Nova and kept watch on the area, but nothing stood out to her.

Saying he was probably just being sensitive because there were so many people around, she started walking again.

When she noticed no one following, she turned back to find the stubborn knight standing there with his arms folded, looking down at her from an angle.

“So how long do you intend to keep playing around?”

“Oh, honestly. You’re no fun.”

“You said you wanted to avoid the King’s eyes and ears, which is why you came all the way out here. So isn’t it about time you got to the point and preserved your life?”

His low voice never sounded hurried. It was only slow and flat. Even the hand brushing over his sword was like that.

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

Khalid remembered the conversation he had shared with Sebelena the other night.

A suspicious woman who knew Rubian’s identity.

He had nearly killed her on the spot, but Sebelena’s next words had stopped him.

“Seven years ago, a woman crossed the Babilon border and collapsed in the forests of Iosia. She looked half-dead already, like she’d die any minute. But she had a very unusual name.”

“......”

“‘The second.’”

“......”

“How can that be someone’s name? Isn’t it ridiculous?”

Before I left, Ruby said she wasn’t able to contact the second anymore.

Khalid remembered Rubian fiddling anxiously with the magic paper as she muttered to herself.

Then did that mean Sebelena was a woman sent by the second?

“Relax your face a little. We have the same thing to protect. In that sense... we’re allies.”

“What is your goal?”

“I can’t tell you here. Let’s get away from this procession first and talk.”

That was why they had ended up coming to this absurd festival in the first place.

“All right. I heard there’s a crowded pub nearby. We’ll talk there.”

“A crowded place?”

“If you want to hide a tree, you put it in a forest. If you want to hide voices, you go where people are packed together.”

“......”

“And I need to drink Babilon beer.”

Sebelena snickered.

Khalid swallowed a sigh and started walking again. At some point she had already snatched a sample fruit from a stall and was eating it.

As she was about to wipe the juice from her hand, a gust of wind suddenly blew her handkerchief away.

“Princesssss!”

Nova sprang forward, picked up the handkerchief, folded it into the shape of a rose, and tucked it into her pocket.

At the same instant, Khalid’s head snapped up.

Killing intent!

From where?

And that wasn’t all.

“Nova, hand me my scarf. People keep staring at my tattoo. I guess they’re kind of conservative about tattoos here.”

“Ah! Yes, Princess. Right away.”

Even while Nova covered the traditional forest-village tattoo on the Princess’s neck and fastened the ties of her cloak—

Killing intent!

Khalid’s head whipped around again and again.

“Nova. Why are you so weak? Carry my handbag.”

“Urgh—what did you put in it today...?”

“Rocks. I’m a woman raised by the forest, after all. Strength training is essential.”

Again, killing intent!

Watching Nova stumble along with one arm practically dragged out of its socket, Sebelena smiled broadly.

“But what’s wrong with Sir Khalid? He’s been acting like a puppy that needs to pee.”

“Who knows? Maybe he really does.”

“Hmm. Let’s be considerate. Even if he suddenly disappears on us.”

“Yes, Princess.”

Naturally, none of that reached Khalid’s ears. Every bit of his focus was fixed elsewhere.

Killing intent? Something this trivial and blunt?

No, this wasn’t that, it was...

Just then, a small stir broke out on one side of the street. Khalid’s gaze snapped toward it like a magnet.

“Oh, those thugs again.”

“Drinking in broad daylight somewhere and then this... tsk, tsk. They ruin the whole festival mood.”

At the end of the street stood a small statue. Beside it was a narrow, shadowed alley.

Three or four rough-looking men were staggering around, driving a small-framed boy knight into that alley...

“I heard they beat someone half to death last time too, got punished hard for it, and came right back out. People really aren’t meant to be fixed and reused.”

“Ugh, that’s disgusting. What do we do?”

“Looks like some wandering knight got unlucky. We’ve already notified the town guard, so let’s wait. Ah, customers! This way, please!”

The merchants welcomed Sebelena brightly.

“Woooow, is this Babilon’s traditional spice?”

“You must be from abroad! That’s right, that’s right!”

“Sir Khalid, ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) which one do you think looks best—hm?”

Sebelena turned around and blinked.

“Where did he go?”

At that exact moment, her eyes met Nova’s, and the two of them let out identical sighs of deep pity.

Ah. He really must have been in a hurry...

*****

God...!

I was drowning in betrayal.

“Hey, runt.”

He was putting hoods on her, taking clothes off for her, doing the absolute most!

Did he ever do that for me? Huh? Seriously? When? I don’t remember a thing!

The backs of Khalid and the Princess kept flickering through my mind from where I’d seen them earlier.

“Damn...”

I stuck my lower lip out and kicked at the ground. I had stopped peeking from behind the decoration and wandered into the alley instead.

Why do I feel this awful?

This emotion filling me all the way up inside... what was it? Betrayal?

“Hey. The guys are calling you, squirt.”

I must be really greedy. Maybe I’m the possessive type.

My family had already pampered me enough as it was, and now I was expecting my friend to trail after me too, pampering me the same way?

“That’s what happens when you grow up too spoiled.”

“No, what the hell? This brat’s been ignoring us the whole time!”

“Maybe this is why rich-third-generation problems happen so often.”

I was in the middle of wondering whether I should take “the Third” out of my horse’s name or not.

“Hey, grab her!”

In the end, one of the thugs who’d been trailing after me for a while finally seized me by the shoulder.