Ch.180179. Time Without Her (6)

# 179. The Time Without Her (6)

Hearing those arrogant words, Riel smiled mockingly.

Greg reproached her for that smile.

“What’s that smile for?”

“Nothing, I just found it absurd, so don’t worry about it. Well then, I’ll be going…”

With those final words, Riel slowly walked away, but before the distance between them grew too far, she muttered in a low voice.

“You’ll come to your senses after Albert beats you up…”

“What…? What did you say?”

“Just talking to myself, don’t worry about it.”

“Who’s going to beat who…? That’s ridiculous…”

“Unless you’re at a level that can defeat our Crown Princess, please keep quiet.”

“What?! So I guess this Albert person is at that level?!”

Greg bristled at those words. Riel showed that same smile from earlier and concluded the conversation.

“Yes, for about a year and a half now. He might even be stronger than the Crown Princess by now. Though of course, she’s also become much stronger since then, so it’s hard to say.”

“Tch…”

With those final words, Riel finally left and, upon reaching the officers’ quarters, found her waiting. Riel’s smile changed completely from before.

“You haven’t left yet? Were you… waiting for me?”

“Isn’t it obvious? What were you talking about for so long?”

“Just warning a weakling not to get cocky.”

It was somewhat exaggerated, but not exactly wrong.

And she seemed to know this fact as well.

“My… you’re quite fearless, even though he’s a prince…”

“By that logic, Your Highness is the same, being so cold to a prince…”

“I’m different from you, Riel… And don’t call me ‘Your Highness.'”

“Yes, I understand. Crown Princess…”

“…”

Momentarily speechless at such brazen words, she let out a hollow laugh and asked:

“So… he won’t be coming this break either, right?”

“He might come, actually. Probably.”

“‘Probably’ isn’t certain…”

“Should I ask him?”

“Then it would seem like I told you to ask…”

“But that’s exactly what you’re doing.”

“Still… isn’t there a way to be more discreet?”

“What’s wrong with him finding out? It doesn’t seem to matter anyway,” is what Riel wanted to say, but she held back and suggested another approach.

“I’ll ask Elin to do it. Would that be okay?”

“That would work.”

As soon as she received permission, Riel fiddled with her phone, apparently sending a message, and then said with a satisfied expression:

“I told her to pretend she’s asking out of her own curiosity.”

“Thank you…”

“By the way, won’t you speak casually with me?”

“No.”

Her tone and voice were quite resolute.

It seemed she had absolutely zero intention of dropping the formalities.

“Why not…?”

“If I speak casually with you, I feel like I’d have to do the same with Albert…”

“That would be fine, wouldn’t it?”

“No, it wouldn’t. Speaking casually is… embarrassing, I told you.”

“He speaks casually with you just fine.”

In Albert’s case, he mixed formal and casual speech, though he used casual speech more often.

Yet she always spoke formally when talking with him.

“Isn’t it strange that you’re older, yet he speaks casually while you use formal speech?”

“I know that… Mother has been telling me the same thing…”

-Ding!-

Riel’s phone rang immediately after their conversation.

Riel looked at her phone for a moment and then smiled mischievously.

“So, will you try speaking casually this time?”

“What…? He’s coming?”

“Yes, that’s what she says.”

She was delighted at the prospect of seeing him after so long.

Riel offered her a piece of advice.

“Use protection.”

“T-that’s… that’s my business!! Don’t worry about it!”

“Yes, yes. You were safe last time, so I’m sure it’ll be fine this time too.”

“‘Last time’… what exactly do you mean?”

“You already know.”

She was excited about meeting him after so long, and Riel was excited watching her.

Riel looked at her and said:

“Let’s establish some discipline this time.”

“Discipline?”

“Yes, it would be perfect if a battle broke out when he arrives…”

“What do you mean…?”

“Have him participate in combat to show him what it takes to date you.”

It was actually a pretty good idea.

Of course, this would more likely make most suitors give up out of fear of Albert, but since they’d be giving up anyway, it didn’t matter.

“And it would also serve as a warning to be careful, as this is the kind of guy who’ll be watching them.”

“But isn’t that too much trouble for Albert? He’s just coming to visit…”

“That’s not my concern, and besides, he’d gladly participate in combat even without us asking, don’t you think?”

“That’s… true.”

And honestly, she was curious to see how much he had grown.

After all, they were meeting again after a whole year and six months.

“Isn’t he stronger than the Princess now?”

“I thought so at first, but things have changed lately.”

“The demons do give good experience points.”

“So I’m not sure anymore.”

“Let’s have you two fight this time.”

“That’s a bit scary…”

It had always been scary.

There wasn’t much difference in skill, and even though she won more than half the time, she had lost plenty too.

But now that fear had doubled.

Because she didn’t know his current skill level.

“Riel can go first, then I’ll follow.”

“Just say you don’t want to do it.”

She burst into laughter at those words and recalled his face and voice from her memories.

“It feels like it’s been so long, even though it’s only been a year…”

***

“Are you going this time?”

Riel suddenly threw that question at me.

Why is she asking that? She knows I can’t go…

Thanks to that question, my mood sank even further. I tried to continue training, ignoring the question.

But at that moment, Luna opened her mouth.

“This time… during the break? Where are you going?”

“I’m not going anywhere, there’s just a place I’d like to visit…”

“Why? You should go if you want to.”

Whether she was being insensitive or genuinely didn’t know, Luna was bringing up such topics right in front of me.

What day is it today? This really sucks…

While I was blaming today’s horoscope, Elin suggested an unexpected solution.

“Would you like to come along, sis?”

“Who the hell decided—”

Luna cut off my attempt to reject the idea and said her piece.

“Me…? Huh? Is that okay!?”

“Of course.”

“But what are you going there for?”

“Nothing special, just for fun since it’s break.”

“Where to?”

“The Kingdom of Orion.”

From their conversation, it seemed Elin was genuinely planning to take her, and Luna was genuinely planning to go.

They were crazy people in many ways.

“An… overseas trip, huh?”

“What do you think? Aren’t you getting tired of this place by now?”

“That’s… true. Great! I want to go too!”

Hearing those words, Elin looked at me with the most annoying smile in the world.

Then, as if telling me to thank her, she said:

“How’s that? Your big sister’s skills?”

“My opinion doesn’t matter at all, does it?”

“You just want to be able to go, right?”

“Well… that’s true.”

“Then it’s settled! Let’s keep it simple! Do you want to come too?”

Elin’s gaze was now directed at Leo.

It seemed she wanted to take Leo along as well.

Of course, without asking me a single question.

“Is that okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? And wouldn’t your sister be happy if you came too?”

“Unlike you guys, we siblings don’t get along that well.”

Unlike us?

That comment really bothered me, but Elin didn’t seem to take issue with it.

“She’ll only care about seeing her boyfriend anyway, so it doesn’t matter. And we can just give them space. Right?”

“Well… I’ll come along then.”

My opinion still didn’t seem to matter at all.

After getting permission from Luna and Leo, Elin started typing on her phone.

It looked like she was texting someone.

“What are you doing?”

“Sending a text.”

“To whom?”

“Who do you think?”

It seemed she was texting Riel to let her know we could come this break.

“So we’re really going this time…”

“How about showing some gratitude? This is all thanks to me.”

Despite her somewhat irritated tone and voice, it was undeniably thanks to Elin.

So, for the first time in a very long while, I expressed my gratitude to her.

“Yeah… thanks.”

“Huh…? You’re actually saying it?”

“That’s how you react when I thank you?”

“No… I just didn’t think you’d actually do it!”

“But… there’s something more important.”

“What is it?”

So the people going to the Kingdom of Orion would be Luna, Leo, me, and Elin.

It was like a gathering of extremely famous people.

“If we go by ourselves, won’t we attract a lot of attention?”

“Just wear glasses.”

“…”

“What?”

“You think that’s enough?”

“It worked last time.”

It certainly did work last time.

Even though she was even more famous than us, she arrived safely without being recognized.

“But that was just two people.”

“Four people won’t make a difference. If you’re worried, we can ask someone to cast a spell on us.”

The skill known as transformation magic, [Disguise].

She seemed to be thinking of asking someone with that skill.

“Well… figure something out…”

But honestly, as long as we could get there safely by any means, I didn’t care.

After all, we were meeting again after a year and a half.