Chapter 11
“And Prince Lucas.”
Kaiden looked at Lucas with a cold gaze. Lucas maintained a smiling face as he greeted him.
“Archduke, you’re here.”
“Your Grace!”
As Marion greeted him, Kaiden’s stern expression seemed to soften slightly. For some reason, that sight irritated Lucas.
“Has your tea time with Serena already ended?”
Why are you here so soon when you’re supposed to be having tea with my sister? How dare you leave a princess waiting? That’s what he meant.
“Yes. I explained it to Her Highness so she would understand.”
“…Is that so?”
Lucas realized that Kaiden had rejected his sister.
It was somewhat expected, but it still left a bad taste. No man who rejected his lovely sister could look good in his eyes. Just as Lucas hardened his expression and was about to say something—
“I sparred with Prince Lucas. Phew, moving around for so long sure makes it hot. I’m sweating.”
Marion, complaining about the heat, lifted the hem of her shirt to wipe her face.
In that brief moment, her pale stomach and navel were exposed.
It was truly fleeting. Because in an instant, Kaiden whipped off his cloak with a flourish and wrapped Marion up tightly.
“Hey, what are you doing?!”
“Haa…”
With a sigh, Kaiden tied the cloak securely around her and turned to Lucas.
“Second Prince, Marion shouldn’t move too vigorously anymore, so we’ll take our leave.”
Marion protested.
“I haven’t even warmed up properly!”
“You were knocked out by a troll just a few days ago. Didn’t you hear the physician say absolute rest?”
Ignoring Marion’s defiance, Kaiden glanced at Lucas and said.
“Then, take care. We’ll be going.”
Before Lucas could respond, Kaiden dragged Marion, still wrapped in the cloak, away.
Honestly, Kaiden’s behavior was quite rude. Lucas should have been offended.
But he was too distracted by a lingering image to care about basic etiquette.
Marion’s pale stomach, and…
He covered his mouth with his hand and muttered.
“…Were those abs?”
Lucas’s cheeks flushed red.
—
“Your Grace, shouldn’t you be in the middle of a marriage meeting with Princess Serena right now?”
Wrapped tightly in the cloak, I glared at Kaiden with narrowed eyes. Kaiden answered without even looking at me.
“I declined.”
“What? Why?”
I looked at Kaiden with wide, shocked eyes.
At first, I was taken aback by the ten-year age gap between Kaiden and Princess Serena.
When Lucas said it was a good match, I even wondered, Is this guy really the male lead of the original story?
But on second thought, a ten-year or even twenty-year age gap was nothing among nobles.
Kaiden turned his head to look at me.
“‘What’? What kind of exclamation is that?”
For a moment, my heart nearly stopped. It was an unexpected critique. I tried not to show my surprise and brushed it off.
“It’s a trendy exclamation among the kids these days.”
“Acting young, are you? There’s only a five-year gap between us.”
“Five years is a lot! They say in ten years, the fashion in the capital changes 180 degrees, so five years is like a 90-degree shift. You can’t ignore that difference.”
Phew, that sounded plausible. It was convincing enough for Kaiden to think, Is that so? and accept it.
Kaiden looked at me and slowly opened his mouth.
“You’ve been strangely eloquent since two days ago.”
“Huh?”
“And you feel oddly smarter.”
“…….”
Kaiden scrutinized me with narrowed eyes.
A cold sweat ran down my back. Was it because we’d known each other for so long? Kaiden noticed even the slightest changes.
Perhaps he sensed the disparity between my past life, where I was educated up to university, and my current life as an illiterate commoner who couldn’t even read until I was fifteen.
It’s not like I’ve become that much smarter. Maybe it’s just Kaiden’s sharp intuition.
But I couldn’t afford to panic any further.
I decided to put on a bold face.
“I’ve always been smart.”
“Where did all that smarts go?”
Kaiden looked at me with a dumbfounded expression. His condescending gaze made me bristle for a moment.
“I’m not stupid, you know?!”
As I raised my voice, Kaiden smirked.
“Who said you’re stupid? I didn’t say a word about that.”
I really can’t stand this guy.
—
That evening.
Perhaps because Kaiden had rejected Serena’s proposal, I didn’t have to dine with the high-ranking nobles tonight.
I ate dinner in my room, muttering to myself freely.
“I need to be more careful with my behavior.”
I hadn’t expected Kaiden to notice the subtle changes in me. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d changed that much…
“By the way… as expected, is Kaiden only interested in the female lead, Stella, and no other women?”
[What do you mean by female lead?]
Bled, who was sitting cross-armed on the table watching me eat, asked.
I looked down at him with a start. He was so small I’d forgotten he was there.
[You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you? Bringing up retirement out of nowhere in front of Prince Lucas. It feels like you’re rushing something.]
“…This is why perceptive dragons are…”
At my muttering, Bled spoke in a sly tone.
[Anyway, I’m invisible to other humans. Even if you tell me what you’re hiding, I’ve got no one to spill it to.]
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”
[Dragons themselves are beings you humans can’t even imagine. What could you say that I wouldn’t believe?]
This guy… he’s awfully convincing, isn’t he?
I hesitated. It was exhausting keeping it all to myself.
The me who lived in a past life with advanced civilization and an equal class system. And the me now, a commoner-born Swordmaster.
The dissonance between these two lives was considerable.
And to top it off, my death was foretold.
I couldn’t tell anyone, but it was eating me up inside.
[Talk to me. Come on.]
With his gentle prodding, I thought, Whatever, and opened my mouth.
Even if Bled didn’t believe me, it would at least lighten my heart. So I began to tell him about my past life.
After hearing the whole story, Bled exclaimed with an excited face.
[Why are you only telling me this now?!]
“You believe me?”
[Of course! You’re saying you saw a prophecy! To think there was a prophet right in front of me…!]
“What? A prophet?”
I asked, bewildered, as Bled paced back and forth on the table.
[Yes, you received a revelation. Was there anything about me in your prophecy?]
His question was full of expectation.
He thought the novel I read in my past life was a “prophecy.” From Bled’s perspective, it made sense.
I shook my head.
“No. There was nothing about dragons.”
[…I see.]
His voice carried disappointment, but he quickly regained his energy and said to me.
[Alright, I understand why you’re in such a hurry. If things go wrong, you could die by Archduke Kaiden’s hand, right?]
“Yeah, exactly.”
[We need to adjust our goal a bit.]
I didn’t think anyone here would believe me, so having someone who did was reassuring.
Even if he was a dragon, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest.
Until Bled said his next words.
[In the end, you need to get on Kaiden’s good side.]
“Huh?”
As I let out a dumbfounded sound, Bled pointed at me with his tiny finger.
[The only one who can kill you is Kaiden, another Swordmaster.]
“Well, yeah.”
[So you absolutely have to get on Kaiden’s good side. If you can’t retire right now.]
“…….”
He was right. But there was a problem.
Memories of my time with Kaiden flashed through my mind like a montage.
Kaiden clutching his head while cleaning up my messes… Kaiden angry about my gambling debts… Kaiden exasperated by my string of romantic entanglements…
After about ten years together, I realized.
This was an emergency.
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By Anna
