SS #37 Kang Yujin (5)

“I am Elwin S. Paragon.”

“I-I’m Regina Bayer.”

“May I have the honor of this dance?”

“Y-Yes, please.”

While Yujin and Yuria were walking out into the hall, drawing the gazes of the adults, Regina stood before a boy who seemed twice—no, three times her size. Her expression was a dazed mixture of shyness, embarrassment, joy, awkwardness, and sheer stupefaction.

And for good reason. The moment she met the boy’s eyes, Regina felt it was ‘destiny’.

The boy wrapped a large hand around Regina’s waist and took her hand with his other.

The height difference was as significant as their difference in build, making them look like a girl and an adult, a beauty and a beast. Yet, the fresh, youthful air about them offset everything.

They simply looked like an adorable couple.

But for Regina, the one actually in the situation, it felt a little different.

His hand was large enough to cover her entire waist, his chest was broad and firm, and she had to look up to see his face due to their height difference. From all this, she felt an ‘adult’s dependability’ that she had never felt from Aiden or Walter.

‘An adult. A real adult.’

Thanks to her mature appearance, Regina looked to be about fifteen, but on the inside, she was still just a thirteen-year-old girl.

But the boy before her seemed different.

It wasn’t just his looks; his clear blue eyes held an adult’s maturity.

Regina’s heart pounded.

She was suddenly reminded of what Vivian had chattered on about.

-Girls mature faster than boys, both physically and mentally. Not by much, maybe two or three years? Anyway, that’s why at our age, a gap naturally forms between girls and boys.

-A gap? You mean, like, a mental gap?

-Yeah. To put it simply, boys our age seem childish. That’s why it’s easy for girls our age to admire older men. Of course, our Walter is an exception. Walter is kind, cool, handsome, and mentally mature, so he’s not childish at all. Sometimes it feels like I have an older brother, not a younger one, you know? And, and, the other day, Walter…

The memory of suffering through the endless stories about Walter came flooding back, and she almost let out a bitter smile. Suppressing it, Regina focused only on the relevant part.

‘It’s easy to admire an adult.’

Yes, that was it.

That must be why my heart is pounding like this.

It made sense. The boy before her—Elwin—was so mature.

His dependable chest that made her want to lean on him, his mature gaze, and that serene smile Aiden could never manage…

Regina found it hard to continue her train of thought.

This moment with Elwin felt too much like a dream.

But the relentless flow of time allows no exceptions.

If there was a beginning, there must also be an end, and soon, the time to finish the dance arrived.

A step to the side, then a final, close stop.

She felt they were a bit closer than necessary, but Elwin’s firm arm felt so good, and she had wanted to rest her head against his chest just once, so Regina was satisfied.

Besides, she even got to see an unexpectedly cute sight.

‘He’s cute when he blushes.’

Perhaps their chests had brushed from being too close, because Elwin was blushing shyly.

He seemed so much like an adult, yet he had such boyish innocence.

If it had been Aiden or anyone else, Regina would have pushed them away immediately, but seeing Elwin act this way, she could only think he was cute.

‘No, wait, would Aiden be an exception too?’

In any case, Aiden wasn’t what mattered right now.

The boy before her.

Elwin S. Paragon.

When the music ended and it was truly time to finish the dance, Elwin stepped back gracefully and bowed, just as he had when he first approached her.

“It was an honor to dance with you.”

“M-Me too. I-I really enjoyed it.”

Having blurted it out reflexively, Regina’s face flushed, and she flinched in surprise.

It was such a childish reaction.

And didn’t it sound like she was being too obvious about liking it?

‘Augh, really!’

But her internal despair didn’t last long.

Elwin, momentarily taken aback by her response, blinked for a second before replying with another wonderful smile.

“I enjoyed it very much as well. It’s embarrassing to say, but… I don’t think I’ll ever forget tonight.”

‘So mature!’

Instead of teasing or laughing at her mistake, he covered for her by saying something even more intense!

He really is an adult.

A real adult.

“I-I don’t think I’ll forget it either.”

As Regina replied shyly, Elwin gave her a warm smile, then straightened his back and bowed again.

“Allow me to introduce myself formally. I am Elwin S. Paragon, the First Prince of the Paragon Kingdom.”

At Elwin’s introduction, which sounded like something from a knight—no, a prince—in a love story, Regina screamed internally.

‘So cool! Such an adult! A real prince!’

She had guessed he might be a prince of the Paragon Kingdom when she first saw him, but there was a huge gap between suspicion and fact.

“I am Regina Bayer of the House of Count Bayer.”

A festival was already raging in her heart, but Regina forced herself to calm down and curtsied to the royal.

Perhaps because of her flushed cheeks, her greeting was more lovely than elegant. Elwin smiled at the sight, his own cheeks turning red as he spoke carefully.

“The orange juice is quite fresh. May I offer you a glass?”

Regina gulped at Elwin’s question.

It wasn’t because she was thirsty for orange juice after dancing.

It was because she understood the meaning behind his words.

‘A date proposal?’

Instead of saying goodbye now that the dance was over, he wanted to talk more?

‘So mature!’

Aiden would have just bluntly said something like, ‘Let’s go over there and talk.’

To suggest orange juice to subtly hide his intentions.

If Vivian had been there to see it, she would have rattled on with a story about Walter, starting with, “No, that’s not mature at all. It’s actually childish and clumsy. ‘The orange juice is fresh’? That’s so lame. Our Walter would have said it differently. For example, if it were our Walter—” But, for now, she was not present.

Therefore, Regina, having concluded on her own that Elwin was mature, nodded eagerly.

“I-I’d like to talk—ah, no! I’d like some orange juice.”

Sob, I messed up.

I ruined it.

Why am I so childish?

If Vivian had been beside her, she would have started another Walter story with, “But you are a child. Of course, our Walter—” but as mentioned before, she was not there.

So, once again, Regina lamented to herself while looking up at Elwin, worried, ‘What if he thinks I’m too childish?’ At that, Elwin quickly turned his face away and bit his lip.

It wasn’t because he was disappointed in Regina.

It was because Regina looking up at him was so adorable that he was struggling to control his expression.

“Then… I shall escort you.”

“Huh? Y-Yes!”

Internally cursing herself for her hasty reply, Regina placed her hand on Elwin’s large one, and he guided her with a gentle smile.

And Regina thought again.

‘But if he’s the First Prince of Paragon… wait, wait wait wait wait.’

The First Prince of the Paragon Kingdom.

A demigod, born to Landius, the Great Hero of Salvation and Warrior of the Sun—the foremost of Paragon’s heroes—and Lena, the Holy Angel, who was also one of Paragon’s heroes.

In other words, a being similar to Regina herself, a demigod born between a Wild God and a human.

‘A match made in heaven from birth?! Ah, no. That’s not what I was trying to think about.’

Regina reined in her straying thoughts and tried hard to recall a memory she had only heard in passing.

‘The Prince of Paragon, the Prince of Paragon! Ah! I remember!’

The Prince of Paragon was born eleven years ago.

He was born a month after Yuria, so—

‘Wait! Then he’s only eleven?!’

In Korean age, he could be twelve—or even thirteen—but by Pleiades standards, Elwin was unequivocally eleven.

‘E-Eleven?’

Regina looked up again at the handsome man escorting her.

His height seemed to be well over 180 cm.

Since Regina herself was just over 150 cm, it had to be the case, considering their current difference in build and height.

‘Really eleven?’

He’s completely ripped.

He looks way older than Aiden.

‘Ah, no. Now that I think about it, he does look a bit young.’

His handsome, atmospheric face was still mature, but looking at him with the knowledge that he was eleven, she could definitely see some boyish features here and there.

‘E-Eleven years old.’

He wasn’t an adult.

He was actually younger.

Younger than her, not older.

‘B-But he’s mature, so it should be fine, right?’

When Vivian had preached about Walter’s maturity, Regina had argued, “He’s still only twelve!” but this time, she decided to support Vivian’s theory.

But it was at that very moment.

“It’s okay! Yujin is probably a gentleman!”

“Eh?”

Startled by Yuria’s sudden shout, Regina whipped her head around.

The balcony.

Yuria, kicking off the balcony attached to the wall and launching herself toward the night sky, with a boy held in her arms.

‘Wait, being held?!’

Not Yuria being held, but Yuria holding him?

‘Ah, no. That’s not what’s important right now.’

After kicking off the balcony and soaring high into the sky, Yuria vanished in a flash of light.

She had clearly used Space Leap.

“A-A gentleman? It’s okay because he’s a gentleman? B-But she said ‘probably’?”

To see none other than the great Yuder speaking like a broken doll was a shock to Regina.

He had always been the perfect older brother figure.

‘A-Anyway, what? What just happened?’

Regina wasn’t the only one who was flustered.

The entire hall was abuzz over the sudden event, and people began to gather around Yuder.

Maia and Dahlia.

Cordelia and the guests who seemed to be from the East.

And—

‘U-Uncle is mad!’

The Great Count Chase.

Regina flinched at his appearance, his eyes glaring like axes. So did Vivian, who had been watching with great interest from a distance.

“Find them. At all costs. By any means necessary.”

Count Chase said, and Yuder nodded grimly.

Those two, teaming up.

Those two, on the same page.

Regina felt a sense of dread and swallowed dryly.

But it was at that very moment.

“An elopement… of love?”

Elwin said.

No, it wasn’t just Elwin.

Many people in the hall uttered the same words simultaneously.

An elopement of love.

A specialty of the Sailun Kingdom.

An essential course for couples with history and tradition.

“It must be an elopement of love, right?”

“Just like a princess from the Holy Nation. What a passionate escape.”

“I think I saw a scene like that in ‘Even If It’s an Arranged Marriage, I Want to Love Passionately’.”

Women began to whisper here and there, and the men were no different.

And for good reason. Thanks to a certain someone and another certain someone, ‘elopements of love’ had become quite a common occurrence in the Sailun Kingdom.

“You reap what you sow. You’re the ones who started this.”

Scarlett said, clicking her tongue. Cordelia gave an awkward smile, while Yuder began to scan the traces of mana with a frightening look in his eyes.

And as for Elwin and Regina—

“How very bold of them. I’m a little… envious.”

“Huh? Th-Then should we… Ah, no. Let’s go get some orange juice.”

“Yes, let’s go.”

They smiled amicably and went to get orange juice, and watching them from afar, Landius and Lena wore warm smiles.

*

“We’ve arrived.”

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Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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