Chapter 19
“For the time being, we won’t seek help from the Imperial Family.”
Originally, Seren had intended to request military assistance from the Imperial Palace. But after receiving Kite’s note, he had changed his mind.
Kite had made enemies everywhere throughout his career, but there was only one faction capable of systematically threatening him.
That realization alone was enough to change Seren’s course of action.
He knew better than anyone how impossible it was to force Kite to write a message against his will.
Even so…
The fact that someone had actually managed to deliver that note left him deeply uneasy.
“Are you sure that’s the right decision?” Alex asked.
“I believe it’s our best option for now.”
“Oh?” Lessen leaned back, immediately catching on. “So you think the Imperial Family itself might be involved.”
“Lessen!”
Alex shot him a warning glare.
But Lessen merely shrugged.
“Relax. It’s only the three of us here.”
“Remember what just happened.”
Only then did Lessen obediently shut his mouth.
Seren’s gaze drifted toward the capital spread across the map before him.
“We’ll have to mobilize them.”
Kite possessed another force—one that remained completely hidden from the public eye.
It had been forged during the endless campaigns in the northern battlefields.
Every member of that group had sworn absolute loyalty to Kite.
“Is that really wise?” Alex asked quietly.
Both he and Lessen knew of their existence. Their positions within the Order—and their own abilities—placed them among the few entrusted with that knowledge.
“I don’t intend to bring them into the capital,” Seren replied. “We’ll simply have them wait nearby.”
“But Sir Kite never authorized that.”
Seren slowly crumpled the note in his hand.
“The person most important to me… is Sir Kite.”
Even if that meant disobeying Kite’s direct orders.
At that very moment…
Kite suddenly stopped what he was doing and stared into empty space.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
The door creaked open.
A familiar face cautiously peeked inside.
It was Ivelin.
“What are you worried about?” she asked.
“My lady.”
“I told you already,” she sighed. “Just call me by my name.”
Every time he addressed her as my lady, she felt strangely uncomfortable, as though she were wearing clothes that simply didn’t fit.
Perhaps it was because of Kite’s infamous reputation.
“Very well,” Kite said with a faint smile.
“I suppose that’s acceptable too.”
“Ivelin.”
“Yes?”
“Did you deliver the note?”
Her eyes immediately brightened.
Stepping proudly into the room, she puffed out her chest.
“I did!”
Judging from her confidence, the note had reached Seren safely.
“Oh?”
Kite raised an eyebrow.
“That couldn’t have been easy.”
“It really wasn’t,” Ivelin admitted. “After I delivered it, they chased after me. I think I ended up running around almost the entire city before I finally lost them.”
“…May I ask how you delivered it?”
She blinked innocently before explaining.
“I shot it with a bow.”
“…You what?”
“Yes. I thought it was the safest method.”
“For whose safety?”
“Mine.”
She answered as though the question itself made no sense.
Ivelin possessed a gentle, delicate appearance.
Having grown up in the countryside, she still retained an innocent sincerity.
Unfortunately…
Her common sense frequently diverged from everyone else’s.
Kite rubbed his forehead.
He himself often behaved outrageously in order to keep the Imperial Family from lowering their guard.
Yet somehow…
Ivelin managed to surpass even him.
Just what kind of upbringing did Baron Frilly give his granddaughter?
“Ivelin.”
“Yes?”
“There are a few things I’d like to ask you.”
“Go ahead.”
“What was your childhood like?”
Apparently deciding there was nothing worth hiding, she answered without hesitation.
Unfortunately…
Every nostalgic story she told became stranger than the last.
“So… you’re saying you spent one night every week sleeping in the mountains?”
“Yes.”
“In a cabin?”
“Oh, no.”
“I usually slept in a tree.”
“…A tree?”
“If you tie yourself securely to a thick branch, you won’t fall off.”
She smiled matter-of-factly.
“And if you set traps around the area beforehand, it’s perfectly safe.”
…
No ordinary noble lady did such things.
“I also heard you used to hunt?”
“Yes.”
“Grandfather loved hunting.”
“And what’s the biggest animal you’ve ever hunted?”
“A grizzly bear.”
Kite fell silent.
The grizzly bear.
A massive gray beast believed to carry the bloodline of monsters from ancient times.
Ferocious.
Powerful.
Even experienced hunters generally avoided confronting one head-on.
“And… when exactly did you hunt one?”
“When I was ten.”
…
There stood a noble young lady who claimed she’d killed a grizzly bear at the age of ten.
Was that even physically possible?
If anyone else had told him such a story, he would have dismissed it as complete nonsense.
“It wasn’t easy,” Ivelin continued.
“They’re incredibly tough. It took forever before it finally died.”
“Weren’t you afraid?”
“I was.”
“But Grandfather said I had to do it.”
Kite finally understood.
Baron Frilly…
I knew you were eccentric.
Now I understand why asking your granddaughter to deliver a note resulted in someone firing an arrow through a government building.
“Ivelin.”
“Yes?”
“I think… you lack common sense.”
She narrowed her eyes indignantly.
“I received a proper education.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Kite shook his head.
“I don’t mean noble etiquette.”
“When someone asks an ordinary person to deliver a letter… their first thought is not to shoot it with a bow.”
“Why not?”
She looked genuinely confused.
“If I handed it over personally, it would’ve been dangerous.”
“Well… you’re not wrong.”
“But normal people simply can’t do something like that.”
He looked at her intently.
“Ivelin.”
“Just what kind of man was your grandfather?”
This time, he asked directly.
She lowered her eyes.
“I… don’t know.”
She had always known her grandfather was…
peculiar.
But hearing someone else point it out left a strange feeling in her chest.
More than anything…
She realized there were parts of his life she had never known.
The thought saddened her.
So she quickly changed the subject.
“Well… the important thing is that the note reached its destination.”
She forced a smile.
“Is there anything else you need?”
“Hm.”
Kite fell into thought.
Then he spoke.
“We’ll need to prepare for the consequences of how that message was delivered.”
“Huh?”
“Seren isn’t the type to quietly sit still just because he received my note.”
Receiving such a message—
Delivered in such an absurd fashion—
Would only make Seren even more suspicious.
He was probably already considering every possible scenario.
He might even mobilize Kite’s hidden forces.
If that happened…
Kite needed to make sure Ivelin had a way to protect herself.
“Ivelin.”
She instinctively stiffened beneath his unusually serious gaze.
“Yes?”
“From this moment onward…”
Kite spoke as though announcing tomorrow’s weather.
“You’re my lover.”
…
Silence.
Ivelin simply stared at him.
Her brain seemed incapable of processing what she’d just heard.
Her eyes darted around aimlessly before she finally managed to speak.
“B-By… lover… do you mean…?”
“Yes.”
“We’re dating.”
Kite smiled brightly.
“W-Why would we be?!”
“Because it’s the safest option.”
He rested his chin against one hand.
“I owe Baron Frilly more than I can ever repay.”
“So protecting his granddaughter is only natural.”
“But still—!”
“You’re wondering why it has to be lovers, aren’t you?”
He grinned.
“If we weren’t hopelessly in love…”
“Would anyone believe I’d willingly hide because someone else told me to?”
Ivelin’s face instantly turned bright red.
“As of today…”
“I’ll be in your care.”
Even now…
He remained utterly shameless.
Sitting leisurely on the edge of the bed with one leg crossed over the other, he smiled so beautifully that it was almost unfair.
For a fleeting moment, Ivelin found herself staring.
Then reality crashed back down on her.
I never imagined something like this…
She—
A nobody from the countryside—
Was supposed to pretend to be the lover of that Kite, the most notorious man in the Imperial Capital.
The thought alone made her vision darken.
Yet…
There was no turning back now.
If the truth about imprisoning Kite ever came to light…
Being publicly known as his lover would become the strongest shield protecting her.
In other words…
Accepting this ridiculous arrangement was probably her safest option.
She opened and closed her mouth several times before finally forcing out a trembling reply.
“…H-Have you completely lost your mind?”
…
That wasn’t what she’d intended to say.
Not at all.
The corners of Kite’s lips slowly curled upward.
It was the smile of an incorrigible troublemaker.
“Well…”
“I’ve been called insane more times than I can count.”
Only then did Ivelin realize what she’d blurted out.
She hurriedly clamped both hands over her mouth.
“Though…”
Kite chuckled.
“I never expected to hear it from my own lover.”
This man…
He’s impossible.
No matter what she said…
He had absolutely no intention of abandoning this absurd story that the two of them were now a couple.
