22
I ignored Bled’s voice shouting in my head.
The finest ingredients from all over gathered at the imperial palace, and to think I shouldn’t taste the desserts made by the palace chefs? I couldn’t miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“Right. You eat well, and it’s nice to see. Haha.”
“Thanks to Your Majesty’s grace.”
He smiled kindly and offered me more desserts.
The Emperor Gregory before me was renowned as a virtuous ruler. He treated his subjects warmly but was firm when discipline was needed.
Which meant he was making me feel at ease before striking unexpectedly.
“You fainted while subduing a magical beast, didn’t you?”
His sudden question nearly made me choke. Barely avoiding a spectacle, I wiped my mouth with a napkin and answered.
“Yes.”
“Is the grand duke working you too hard?”
“No, his Grace treats me well.”
“Hm, is that so? Still, for a swordmaster to faint is unusual. Are you unwell?”
He must have heard from the observer.
The emperor had sent an observer to the grand ducal castle under the pretext of monitoring me.
I didn’t know who it was. I used to think nothing of it, but now, it didn’t seem like it was just about monitoring me.
There were probably several observers, not just one. They were likely there to keep an eye on and check Kaiden, the grand duke.
“I’m not as I used to be.”
“But didn’t you take down three wyverns barehanded in the capital?”
Oh, right, that happened.
“My condition comes and goes.”
“Hm. I see.”
“Yes.”
The emperor stroked his chin and spoke.
“With your recent feats in the palace and your hard work so far, I wish to commend you. Is there anything you want? A long vacation, a title, or land—name it.”
He was clearly sidestepping the retirement talk. The crown prince must have mentioned it.
It also sounded like he was giving me a chance. But…
[What a sly human.]
Agreeing with Bled, I spoke.
“Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. But I want to retire.”
* * *
In the end, I was thoroughly rejected.
Whenever the emperor tried to change the subject, I stubbornly stuck to talking about retirement.
After repeating this three times, the emperor, visibly irritated, told me to think about what reward I wanted and dismissed me. In other words, he’d grant anything except retirement.
What I realized while speaking with the emperor alone was that the position of ‘swordmaster’ was far more significant than I thought.
‘No wonder they’re so determined not to let me retire. Ugh.’
At the same time, I found it strange that I no longer trembled in front of the emperor.
In the past, I would’ve been endlessly grateful and bowed my head to the ground for any reward from the emperor. But now, it felt like I was calmly making a ‘deal.’
Was this because I’d awakened memories of my past life?
“Marion.”
It was the crown prince. He seemed to have been waiting for me near the audience chamber.
I greeted him with a displeased expression.
“Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
“His Majesty must have ordered you to become my personal knight.”
“What?”
What was he talking about? When I let out a baffled sound, Marius nodded as if he knew everything.
“His Majesty must have shown leniency despite the rudeness you showed me yesterday. I understand my father, His Majesty’s, intentions perfectly.”
…No wonder he lost the crown prince position to Lucas. And I was the fool who played lapdog for this idiot…
My head started to throb.
“No. He told me to think about what reward I want.”
“What…?”
“If you’ll excuse me.”
Feeling no further need to talk, I tried to walk past him. But the crown prince grabbed my wrist. Of course, I let him grab it.
“Why are you doing this?”
The crown prince hesitated before speaking.
“…Why aren’t you interested in me anymore?”
He had a somewhat desperate look. Seeing a handsome guy like that made my heart soften a bit.
“Why does that matter to you?”
When I asked back, Marius fell silent for a moment before speaking.
“I don’t know.”
What did he expect me to do?
I was annoyed. But since we were right outside the emperor’s audience chamber, I tried not to show it.
“You don’t seem that curious, so I’ll take my leave. Let go.”
Marius didn’t release my wrist. As I debated shaking him off, he finally spoke.
“It feels strange.”
“What?”
Frowning deeply, I asked, and he blushed as he spoke.
“You’re the first woman to treat me like this. It feels strange.”
What…?
“What did you do to me, Marion?”
* * *
Kaiden was heading to the emperor’s audience chamber to report on the wyvern incident.
“You’re the first woman to treat me like this. It feels strange.”
The crown prince’s voice came just as Kaiden was about to turn the corner in the palace corridor. He briefly considered giving them space.
“What did you do to me, Marion?”
Until Marion’s name was mentioned.
Kaiden stopped in his tracks without realizing it.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
Marion’s voice came through.
Kaiden tensed up. He didn’t know why he was tense, but he was intensely curious about how Marion would respond.
“I’m a bit busy right now. I’ll go first.”
Marion’s voice sounded deflated. The crown prince panicked.
“What? Wait, Marion!”
“If you’ll excuse me!”
As Marion fled from the crown prince and turned the corner, she ran straight into Kaiden.
She looked startled for a moment but ignored Kaiden and ran past him.
“Marion!”
Soon, the crown prince came running out. He, too, ran into Kaiden. He growled fiercely at him.
“Why is the grand duke here?”
Kaiden answered with an expressionless face.
“I was on my way to His Majesty.”
The crown prince glared at Kaiden as if he’d devour him, then ran off in the direction Marion had gone.
Kaiden looked at his retreating figure and crumpled the paper in his hand.
For some reason, he was in an extremely bad mood.
* * *
The crown prince, with no regard for decorum, chased after me through the palace. But no matter how young and fit a man he was, catching up to a swordmaster wasn’t easy.
Especially when I started running with aura only on my feet, I could move as fast as a bird soaring through the sky.
Ten minutes later, I finally relaxed after completely losing the crown prince.
Bled asked me.
[You don’t like the crown prince anymore, right?]
“Of course.”
[But you still like his face.]
“…No, I don’t?”
[I can tell just by looking at your expression.]
Bled scolded me, saying I couldn’t hide it.
“I just like good-looking people in general. But from now on, I’ll also look at their character.”
When I retorted like that, Bled gave me a skeptical look, as if saying, ‘Will you, really?’ That insolent lizard.
Anyway, the problem was the crown prince.
Why was Marius acting like this all of a sudden?
There was a scene I often saw in dramas or comics in my past life.
A female lead who doesn’t bat an eye at a popular male lead and stands up to him confidently.
The male lead, seeing such a heroine, says, ‘You’re the first woman like this,’ and starts showing interest.
That’s exactly how the crown prince was acting toward me now.
“Is the crown prince suddenly crazy?”
Bled responded to my muttering.
[You used to go crazy over the crown prince, didn’t you? He was convinced you were head over heels for him, so now that your attitude changed overnight, it probably sparked his interest.]
“Ugh, that’s creepy. Anyway, once the female lead, Stella, shows up, that interest will vanish. Or maybe…”
[What?]
“Since I’m not into the crown prince anymore and I’m going off track, maybe even the crown prince is acting like this to try to follow the original story?”
It seemed plausible.
[You mean the prophecy? Hmm… Could be. It feels a bit different, but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious.]
I nodded.
Bled asked what I’d do next, now that I’d shaken off the crown prince. I swung my arms to loosen my stiff shoulders as I walked.
“I’ll head to the training grounds to loosen up…”
*Thud!*
“Ugh!”
“What?!”
Someone got hit by my swinging arm. I was sure no one was around, but a scream rang out, startling me.
Then, a human figure appeared in the air, as if erased by an eraser. It was magic.
“A mage?”
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
By Anna 💓
