Suddenly, a young man wearing a hood appeared out of nowhere.
He easily pulled my wrist away from Howard.
"Uwaaagh! Aaaaargh!"
He even twisted Howard’s arm without much effort.
It was a very simple move. And yet Howard couldn’t even resist.
"Who the hell are you? What are you interfering for?!"
Howard scread, struggling.
"This is between the two of us—ack!"
Of course, when the young man applied a bit more pressure, Howard collapsed to the ground.
"You want to know who I am?"
I checked the face under the hood and my eyes widened in shock.
"This woman is my superior."
The young man spoke coldly while I stood there speechless.
Was he crazy?
I panicked so hard for a second I couldn't even think straight.
"Looking out for your superior is the obvious thing to do."
The hooded young man was the foreign intern, Kibon Altess, who had quit after just one day.
I had never imagined I would see his face again here. I was utterly dumbfounded.
What was an intern doing here, anyway?
Was he sightseeing at the trial? Was this amusing even for a foreigner?
"Leave now."
The intern growled lowly and released Howard's arm.
Howard, still huffing and puffing, didn’t say another word and bolted imdiately.
I didn’t even have ti to watch him run away, just stood there dazed, staring at the intern.
From head to toe, wrapped up in his hood — Kibon Altess.
Unlike last ti, he wasn’t wearing glasses.
"Are you all right?"
His pitch-black eyes t mine awkwardly.
***
Kiaros watched Namia’s startled eyes and felt a slight pang of regret.
'Maybe I didn’t need to step in this much?'
He had just been on his way to the bathroom.
Then he saw Namia being grabbed by a middle-aged man.
'It clearly looked like she was in trouble...'
Technically speaking, Namia was still just a low-ranking civil servant at this point.
Ordinarily, a civil servant’s personal matters would be ignored.
'But she’s the one who saved .'
Of course, even for a benefactor, a Crown Prince stepping in personally was a bit much.
If he was concerned, he could have simply sent a knight.
'But she could end up being my wife.'
Granted, nothing was confird yet.
Still, if it really nagged at him, he could have sent a higher-ranked knight.
'But it felt suspicious. Suspicious, I tell you.'
In the end, Kiaros decided to intervene personally.
Clearly, she had ties to Fron.
He couldn’t treat her like just any passing benefactor.
'I need to observe her personally. This is a rational decision.'
However, he couldn’t appear in his Crown Prince form.
Otherwise, it would draw too much attention and inflate unnecessary rumors.
After a little hesitation, he changed his appearance in the bathroom.
Soon, reflected in the mirror, was a young man with black hair and black eyes — the sa appearance he used as Kibon Altess during his ti as an intern in the Scroll Departnt.
'If I could transform into a completely different appearance, that would be ideal, but... this is the only disguise I have.'
Or perhaps, since Namia already knew this face, it might be easier to blend in.
There was a large, baggy work hood hanging in the bathroom, used by employees.
He threw that on to cover his outfit.
And imdiately pulled that old man off Namia.
"Ah... Mr. Kibon Altess."
After Howard fled, Namia blinked rapidly, flustered.
"I thought you returned to your ho country... how are you here...?"
"I ran over."
Since he had always been in the Empire anyway, he just answered instinctively about how he got there.
But Namia’s brow furrowed slightly.
She tilted her head and mumbled,
"Your pronunciation is good... but your Imperial language isn’t exactly fluent."
"I am fluent."
"Ah... so you think."
"Yes. I think so."
"Ah..."
Kiaros had only ever received clear, concise reports from subordinates until now.
He had never really had a casual conversation with a friend.
Naturally, he also had no idea how to talk to a superior properly.
"Ahem."
Anyway, Namia still looked totally out of it.
She didn’t even say thank you.
Of course, he hadn’t helped her just to hear gratitude.
But still, wasn’t it basic courtesy to at least say thanks?
"Don’t you have anything more to say?"
"Ah, yes?"
After a mont of confusion, Namia rolled her eyes and said,
"Mm, I do."
"Please, go ahead."
Kiaros responded graciously, and Namia said slowly,
"Normally, you don’t say, ‘this woman is my superior.’"
"...Excuse ?"
"You should say, ‘this person is my superior.’ Mm, I didn’t realize your Imperial language was that rough. I misunderstood your tone the other day."
"Uh, excuse ? The one causing misunderstandings is you, you know."
Kiaros reflexively protested, frowning.
Namia tilted her head and asked,
"What misunderstanding?"
"Uh, well... uh..."
He couldn’t exactly say, "You said you wanted to be nice to ," {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} could he?
That was sothing Namia had said only when it was just the two of them.
In the end, he just stamred and said nothing.
Namia nodded understandingly.
"It’s fine. This is good enough."
G-good enough for what?
While Kiaros was flustered, Namia scratched her cheek awkwardly and added,
"Anyway, thank you very much."
She continued speaking with a slightly embarrassed tone.
"That man was, um, soone my family tried to force to marry because of money issues... but as you can see, I didn’t agree to it."
"Marriage? To that man?"
Kiaros asked, shocked.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t understood her words.
It was just that the word "marriage" triggered a reflexive reaction.
Because he had been seriously considering marriage with Namia himself.
"Ah, I’m sorry. You didn’t understand?"
Namia opened her eyes wide and spoke slowly.
"I’ll get straight to the point. No matter how much money he has, I would never marry that old man."
"I see. Then, what do you plan to do about him? He didn’t seem like he’d give up easily."
"I’ll handle it. You don’t need to worry about it, Mr. Kibon. Thank you."
Her answer was polite, but sohow unsatisfying.
She still looked so skinny... It seed her so-called family was absolutely no help.
Of course, Kiaros was planning to act behind the scenes anyway.
Still, her attitude felt way too careless.
Frowning, Kiaros said,
"I understand your thanks. But what exactly are you planning to do?"
"Mm, Mr. Kibon."
Namia calmly rotated her eyes and said,
"In the context of this conversation, ‘thank you’ ans ‘this conversation is over.’"
"...What?"
"You just need to know I’m not going to marry him, Mr. Kibon. That’s enough."
"Not marrying..."
At that point, Kiaros cleared his throat.
After taking a slow breath, he cautiously asked,
"A-hem. Do you dislike marriage itself, or just marrying that old man?"
"Strictly speaking, it’s not exactly in the context of this conversation... but, no. I don’t hate the idea of marriage itself."
"I see. Then..."
Kiaros hesitated slightly and took a deep breath.
This was just a casual question.
Since marriage ca up, he was just curious.
It definitely wasn’t because he was personally interested.
"If it were marriage with His Highness the Crown Prince, would that be acceptable?"
"...Pardon? Suddenly...?"
Namia frowned in confusion.
Kiaros hurriedly added,
"In my ho country, this kind of question is a common, everyday greeting. Like asking how the weather is. ‘How would you feel about marrying the Crown Prince?’ — just casual conversation."
"Ah, I see..."
"So, please feel free to answer honestly."
"Ah, okay..."
Thankfully, she agreed!
I had never been so grateful for her "Ah, okay."
Namia tilted her head slightly and muttered in a not-so-confident voice,
"Well, if it’s with His Highness the Crown Prince..."
"With His Highness the Crown Prince?"
Kiaros unconsciously swallowed dryly.
Namia slowly added,
"Given my current situation, if I could marry him... I think I would."
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