"So, have you caught him?"
The question was asked calmly, yet the atmosphere in the room tightened the mont the na went unspoken.
"No. Unfortunately, he escaped."
Anna replied.
"He concealed his whereabouts starting the day before the incident. It seems he anticipated our movents."
A quiet breath passed through the room.
Leonardo.
A man once hailed as the empire’s strongest force.
A symbol of stability, power, and absolute loyalty.
And now—its greatest traitor.
Given who he was, capturing him would undoubtedly be a difficult task.
Not only did he possess overwhelming strength, but he also understood the empire’s systems, strategies, and weaknesses better than anyone.
After all, he had helped build them.
But no matter how skilled he might be, no matter how far he ran, he would eventually be caught.
That was inevitable.
Leonardo’s actions crossed an unmistakable line.
His actions were unmistakably treason.
He had raised his blade not just against an idea, but against the empire itself.
There would be no rcy for him.
They would mobilize every available force.
Intelligence networks, knights, mages, informants—nothing would be spared.
The empire could tolerate cracks in its image.
It could not tolerate a symbol turning against it.
Especially not one as powerful as Leonardo.
That was why it had only ever been a matter of ti before he was caught.
"So it’s all over now..."
The wanted order against has been lifted.
The dangerous elents have been captured.
The streets that once swallowed whole have finally gone quiet.
We’ve reached the end of this long, exhausting story.
When I close my eyes, the monts I spent wandering the back alleys rise up uninvited.
Rain-soaked stone.
The sll of rust and smoke.
Footsteps that were never mine but always felt too close.
My body still aches, as if it refuses to forget.
Every stiff muscle feels like proof of how much I endured just to stay alive.
How many tis I ran.
How many tis I barely escaped.
Can I finally rest now?
The thought drifts through my mind, fragile but tempting.
The tension I’ve been gripping for so long begins to loosen, thread by thread.
For the first ti in what feels like forever, sleep starts to pull under instead of fear.
"By the way, Louis."
Just as I’m about to sink back into sleep, Anna’s cautious voice reaches .
It’s soft, careful, as if she’s afraid the question itself might shatter sothing.
I open my eyes again and turn my head slightly.
"What is it?"
She hesitates.
I can see it in the way her fingers fidget with the blanket, the way her gaze avoids mine for a mont before finally eting it.
"Why are you being so formal with again?"
...What?
The question catches completely off guard.
Why is she asking that all of a sudden?
I stare at her, genuinely puzzled.
For a mont, my exhausted brain struggles to understand what she even ans.
Formal?
Then it clicks.
Since everything ended, since the title and the weight of the empire settled back onto her shoulders, I must have unconsciously drawn a line again.
Words chosen more carefully.
Distance where there hadn’t been one before.
I let out a small, confused breath.
"Because you’re the imperial princess?"
The answer feels obvious to .
Too obvious.
Anna blinks.
Once.
Then again.
Anna was the only imperial princess in the entire empire.
Although she had younger siblings beneath her, she alone was nad as the next Emperor. The court spoke of it as if it were a natural law—inevitable, unquestionable. And because of that, there was an invisible line drawn between her and people like .
I couldn’t speak casually to soone like Anna.
Naturally, I had to use honorifics.
We were on different levels.
"In the armory, you called by my na," Anna said, tilting her head slightly. "Why are you being formal again now?"
"What? When did I...?" The words slipped out before I could stop them. "...Oh?"
A vague mory surfaced, hazy but sharp around the edges.
The countdown. The red digits blinking rcilessly. The bomb’s tir screaming that there was no ti left.
In that mont of urgency, I hadn’t been thinking about status or etiquette. I had spoken to Anna as if she were just another person standing beside .
I had even ordered her to throw the bomb.
"No, that was—" I stopped myself mid-sentence.
Was she upset about that?
If she was going to reprimand now, there was nothing I could do. Disrespecting the future Emperor wasn’t exactly sothing that could be brushed aside with an apology. My stomach tightened as I searched her face for any hint of displeasure.
Maybe—just maybe—if I pretended I didn’t rember, she would let it slide.
As I hurriedly scrambled for excuses, trying to arrange words polite enough to soften the situation, Anna spoke first.
"Call by my na from now on."
"...What?"
Her words didn’t register right away. I blinked, certain I had misheard.
"Just call by my na comfortably," she repeated. "No formalities. Speak casually."
Then she smiled.
Not the composed, ceremonial smile she wore in public, nor the distant one she used during official etings. It was bright, open, and strangely warm—like sunlight breaking through a clouded sky.
I stared back at her, completely dumbfounded.
"...Are you sure?" I asked before I could stop myself. "I an—Your Highness—"
She frowned imdiately.
"There," she said, pointing at . "That. Don’t do that."
I awkwardly closed my mouth. "Sorry. It’s just... habits don’t disappear that easily."
"I know," Anna replied softly. "That’s why I’m telling you now."
She took a step closer, her voice lowering just enough that it felt personal.
"In the armory," she continued, "you didn’t hesitate. You didn’t stop to think about who I was supposed to be. You trusted ."
I stiffened.
"I wasn’t thinking," I admitted. "I just wanted everyone to survive."
"That’s exactly my point," she said, eyes bright. "You spoke to as Anna, not as the imperial princess. And I liked that."
Liked it...?
I didn’t know how to respond. The distance I had carefully maintained suddenly felt fragile, as if a single wrong word could shatter it.
"But the court—" I began.
"The court isn’t here," Anna cut in. "And even if it were, this is my decision."
She straightened her posture, and for just a mont, I caught a glimpse of the authority that made nobles bow and ministers tremble. Then it faded, replaced by sothing far more human.
"I’m tired of everyone asuring their words around ," she said quietly. "Tired of being treated like a title instead of a person."
She t my gaze.
"When you called my na, it felt... normal."
Silence settled between us.
I swallowed. "...Anna?"
Her eyes widened, then curved into a smile even brighter than before.
"Yes," she said. "That’s perfect."
Sohow, saying her na felt heavier than using any honorific. More dangerous. More intimate.
And yet—
For the first ti, the distance between the imperial princess and myself felt just a little smaller.
---
Author Note.
Thanks for reading and supporting the novel till now.
I hope you will continue to do so.
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