Ch.51Breaking Off an Engagement with Care (1)

When I close my eyes, a new sense awakens and everything becomes more sensitive.

With vision blocked, hearing, smell, and touch open up.

Taste isn’t necessary for fighting, so I focus solely on those four senses.

Swoosh, I hear the sound of feet stepping on the ground. I smell the oil applied while polishing the sword.

Eventually, as the sword swings, I feel the sharp wind blowing through it.

Through this, I realize I can determine the sword’s path even without sight.

There was no need to show many movements.

The wind felt on my right shoulder told me the sword was flying toward my face.

As I slightly turned my head, I heard the sound of the sword brushing past nearby.

I twisted my ankle, just one step. The distance needed to approach the one swinging the sword at me.

As I raised my wrist, I heard the sound of the sword floating in the air as it made contact with the arm of the one swinging it.

Got it. With that thought, I grinned, and then heard a dejected laugh from in front of me.

“Damn it. I lost. I can’t win even when you have your eyes closed now.”

“…I almost lost my neck. Why were you aiming for my face?”

“I thought you would dodge it. I used to think I was a genius, but standing before you makes me humble.”

To think I’d hear such words from the Crown Prince.

As I carefully removed the cloth covering my eyes, I saw the Crown Prince looking at me with a slightly disappointed expression.

When we first crossed swords, we were somewhat evenly matched, but now the difference was clearly visible, which made me quite proud.

Three years.

Although I hadn’t reached the level of Master yet, I could clearly feel that I was not far from that realm.

Perhaps I would reach it in a few months. Even Sir Theorad, the Knight Commander, had admired my skills.

If another year passed like this, I would surely be prepared for any unexpected situations.

‘…One year left.’

One year remained until the original female protagonist would appear.

Many things had changed, and I had focused on building up Irene’s power enough to prepare for her appearance.

But even so, I couldn’t feel at ease. So for three years, I spent time handling swords with the Crown Prince,

and now my skills had progressed to the point where I could easily defeat even a skilled fighter like the Crown Prince, which made me smirk.

But my thoughts soon scattered.

Irene’s voice echoed in my mind, reminding me of what she had asked of me.

-Come home a bit earlier today. Don’t stay at the imperial palace until sunset again.

With that thought, I opened my mouth to address the Crown Prince, who looked at me with a smirk.

“By the way, I should head back soon.”

“…Right. Hasn’t the Duchess been nagging you? She keeps saying things to me too, which is quite annoying.”

“The young lady cares for me quite a bit.”

At that, the Crown Prince frowned and retorted.

“She cares too much, that’s the problem. I’m the one who requested you, so why should I be the one feeling uncomfortable?”

“…For that, I’ll apologize on her behalf.”

“It’s fine. Thanks to you, my skills have also improved. Of course, I feel a bit intimidated standing before you, but someday I’ll beat you.”

The Crown Prince… wasn’t as bad a person as I thought.

He was competitive and surprisingly greedy, but his nature itself couldn’t be called bad.

He could make cold judgments and, proving he would one day become Emperor, had a good grasp of national affairs.

I can’t deny that his friendly attitude toward me is because of what I’ve done over the past three years.

As I touched the golden medal on my chest, the Crown Prince smiled and looked at me.

A medal where one petal is attached for each dark mage defeated,

the medal that initially had three petals now had more than ten.

“The flower has fully bloomed now.”

“The number of dark mages is increasing. It’s incomparable to when they first appeared. There weren’t many in the Duke’s territory… but they’re even appearing openly in the territories of the five great families.”

“Their group name is Extinction, isn’t it? Dealing with them is quite a headache. Now they’re even spreading their name and actively operating. The Imperial Knights are taking action, but it’s still hard to handle them all.”

At those words, I gave a bitter smile.

As we got closer to the original timeline, the increase in dark mages was inevitable.

Wasn’t it from this winter that Extinction would start operating properly?

To deal with all of them, we would need to find the groups that were just beginning to sprout, but

even after three years of secret investigations by the five great families, no significant evidence had been found.

Although we were dealing with those who occasionally revealed themselves,

the dark mages, multiplying like cockroaches, were quite a headache for the Empire.

Hadn’t Azest Merwin, the Empire’s Grand Mage, gone into seclusion to deal with the dark mages?

“…For now, we’ll have to wait and see. We can’t do anything immediately.”

“I know that too. I’m just saying this because it’s frustrating.”

After saying that, the Crown Prince threw his sword in a corner and quietly sighed.

I heard he’s been worried about the imperial succession lately.

I thought he wouldn’t have many problems with that, being born as the only legitimate son,

but it seemed there were various issues in areas I wasn’t aware of.

When his red eyes met mine, anticipating what he was about to say, I quickly spoke.

“No.”

“…What do you think I was going to say?”

“You were going to ask me to join the Imperial Knights.”

“Damn it. Can’t you join just once? How much stronger would my position be if there were two talents reaching Master level? I plan to send you back to Yuris when I become Emperor, so can’t you just join once?”

“Sir Chris is about to retire. Until the young lady says she doesn’t want me… I’ll probably stay by her side.”

I heard Sir Chris was preparing for retirement soon.

Unless Irene found a new guard after Sir Chris, I would be the only knight by her side.

I wasn’t particularly interested in the Imperial Knights anyway.

As I smiled awkwardly, the Crown Prince looked at me with a regretful expression and then extended his hand.

In his hand was a piece of paper I had seen so many times I was tired of it.

On that long, talisman-like paper were the Empire’s emblem and the Crown Prince’s seal.

As I accepted the token that would allow me to teleport to the gate in the Duke’s territory,

the Crown Prince laughed incredulously and looked at me.

“Now you just accept it without hesitation. At first, you were so surprised you didn’t know what to do.”

“It’s been three years. I should be used to it by now.”

“…Take a carriage next time.”

The Crown Prince’s expression was so serious that I stared at him for a moment before letting out a hollow laugh.

#

“Sir Knight!”

As soon as I emerged from the gate, surprisingly, it was Rofena.

I hadn’t expected her to be waiting here.

When I widened my eyes in slight surprise, she approached me with a broad smile.

“You’re early today? Usually, you’d come when it’s getting dark.”

“The young lady told me to come early. But why are you here?”

“The young lady asked me to bring you. She said she has something to tell you.”

Was it that urgent?

But seeing that she didn’t come herself, it might just be that she didn’t like me spending time with the Crown Prince.

For some reason, Irene didn’t particularly like me staying out for long.

As I habitually patted Rofena’s head, I was startled and quickly withdrew my hand, causing her to frown and poke my side.

“I’m not a child anymore. How long are you going to do that? I’m 18 now.”

“For someone who says that… no, ouch.”

“I told you not to make fun of my height!”

Although three years had passed, Rofena hadn’t changed much.

She was still short, and the only difference was that she now wore her hair long instead of tying it back.

As I smiled at her, she turned her head away and pouted.

Perhaps she felt disappointed that I was just teasing her after she came all the way out.

Yet, it was amusing that she was still wearing the necklace I had given her.

She had taken such good care of it that there wasn’t a single scratch on it. When I touched the chain, Rofena was startled and frowned at me.

“Why do you keep doing that?”

“Just because.”

Although I had completely emptied my mind of thoughts about the past, I couldn’t help but be reminded of my sister when I saw Rofena.

Her actions were so similar—how could I not be reminded?

Perhaps the reason I wanted to tease her specifically was because of those memories.

Or maybe I just wanted to bother her.

“What is the young lady doing?”

When I asked that, Rofena smiled and narrowed her eyes, staring at me.

As if mocking me, when she smiled unpleasantly, I pressed my finger firmly on her forehead, and Rofena hastily spoke.

“Why are you making that face?”

“You shouldn’t press my forehead like that. Well, she’s doing what she always does. At this time, it’s always time for ‘that’.”

“…Has a lot accumulated this time too?”

“More than you can imagine. What on earth are you doing outside? Secretly doing this and that with noble ladies—”

Thwack-

What nonsense. As I lightly flicked her forehead, Rofena glared at me for a moment before rubbing her head and closing her mouth tightly.

Seeing the gray smoke rising in the distance, clearly coming from within the Duke’s residence, I couldn’t help but frown.

I thought I had been careful about my behavior lately, but despite that, if they’ve increased, what am I supposed to do?

Perhaps I understood why Irene had asked me to return quickly.

As we entered the Duke’s residence, the guard captain noticed me and gave a bitter smile before turning his gaze away.

From his expression, which seemed to pity me, I could roughly gauge Irene’s mood.

While inwardly muttering curses, as I approached the garden where the burning smell was intense, I spotted a woman standing in front of the flames.

“…Young lady, I’m here.”

“You came quite quickly.”

As I hesitated at the cold voice, she turned her head, and her face came into view.

A face that had completely matured compared to three years ago.

If before she was like a budding flower, now she had fully bloomed, exuding beauty.

When her icy blue eyes gazed at me, she slightly brushed back her white hair and began to approach me slowly.

She still resembled winter.

Although she wasn’t as cold to everyone as I remembered her from the novel,

nor was she enough to be called a villainess, the atmosphere surrounding her was still intensely cold.

The warm spring breeze that reached her immediately turned cold and scattered.

The flowers in full bloom in the garden seemed to shrink as she approached,

and the tall grass appeared to wither gradually.

By the time I felt this, she had already approached me and raised her finger to poke my chest.

Poke.

As I flinched at the finger poking my chest, Irene, who had come close, slowly moved her lips.

“Do you know what those are?”

“…Yes.”

The reason Irene had been behaving like this lately was deeply related to me.

It was because of the increasing number of letters from noble ladies that came to me daily.

At first, she just collected and discarded them, but

as their number gradually increased, Irene began to burn them herself.

As a sort of warning to prevent such things from being sent again.

“But I feel wronged. I don’t receive them because I want to; they’re sent to me.”

“If you hadn’t played the piano at the last ball, the letters would have gradually decreased and eventually stopped. In fact, they were decreasing. But who played despite my saying it would be better not to?”

“…I did.”

But how could I refuse a request from the Crown Prince?

How many people would dare to refuse a request from the Crown Prince to his face?

As I made an aggrieved expression, Irene smiled and continued to poke my chest.

“Someone might think you’re an Imperial Knight. Evan, whose knight are you exactly?”

“…I am the young lady’s guard knight.”

Poke, poke.

As the poking intensity increased, I slightly frowned, and Irene sighed.

She narrowed her eyes as if displeased and glared at me for a moment before stepping back and quietly continuing.

“I’d like you to focus a bit more on your duties. I understand practicing swords with the Crown Prince, but there’s no reason for you to play the piano at a ball, is there?”

“…I’ll be more careful.”

As I said that and bowed my head, Irene glanced at me and gave a bitter smile, shaking her head.

But I couldn’t help feeling wronged. It wasn’t like I wanted to do those things.

In the midst of the atmosphere growing as cold as the chilling wind,

I suddenly felt a touch on my cheek and raised my head to see Irene’s face right in front of me.

Ah-

And my breath stops. The scent of roses rushing into my nostrils scatters my vision.

Eyes bluer than any sapphire, I heard the tinkling sound of the necklace I had once given her.

There are countless things in this world that do not change, but if I were to add one more, it would be her beauty.

Unchanged, a face more brilliant than any other in this world. When faced with it,

I could only stare at that face with my mouth slightly open.

Lips spread like red petals open slightly.

And from between them, a soft voice that made my body languid just by hearing it began to leak out.

“…You’re not upset, are you?”

At a distance close enough to feel her breath, the touch on my cheek was clearly Irene’s hand.

I inwardly gave up trying to understand this situation. My mind went blank and my thoughts scattered,

so all I could do was focus on the voice that reached my ears.

“……”

When I didn’t say anything, Irene’s eyes wavered as she looked at me.

Like ripples on a lake, like the lakeside I saw that day with the moon reflecting on it.

Those sparkling eyes disappeared under her eyelids, and Irene’s mouth slowly opened.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just got a bit emotional.”

As if truly sorry, the corners of Irene’s eyes trembled slightly.

Seeing that expression, I could only smile bitterly.

How could I say anything to Irene with such a face?

She didn’t used to be like this, but now when I occasionally saw her make such expressions, I could only laugh it off.

As I removed her hand from my cheek and smiled faintly,

Irene still looked at me intently with drooping eyebrows, as if sorry.

“It’s alright. You told me not to, yet I did it anyway, so it’s somewhat my fault.”

“When you do that, I wish you would think a little about how I feel.”

“Feelings… you mean?”

Is she talking about being angry?

As I tilted my head with a puzzled expression, Irene clicked her tongue and glared at me.

“Tsk.”

I don’t know why her mood changes so quickly these days.

Being with her wasn’t bad, but it was draining to have to adapt to each of these changes.

After glaring at me for a moment, her expression softened, and she quietly began to speak.

“…Anyway, I have something to talk about, so follow me.”

“If it’s about that, perhaps—”

“It’s about Roman.”

Roman, at that word I hadn’t heard in quite a while, my eyes narrowed.