I first glanced down from the balcony. Royal Palace knights were patrolling below.
Even if Victor turned out to be the mole, I didn’t need to worry about my safety. If sothing did happen... well, that would just confirm he was the traitor.
“Namia, what are you thinking about that you won’t even answer ?”
“...Ah.”
I snapped back to attention at Victor’s voice—he had co close before I even noticed. He smiled and handed a glass of champagne.
“It’s really been a while, hasn’t it?”
“...Huh?”
“I an, talking like this, just the two of us.”
His light brown hair swayed slightly in the night breeze. His kind sky-blue eyes quietly gazed at .
“...Yes, it has.”
I accepted the champagne glass, imdiately deciding I would ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) not drink it under any circumstances.
“It’s the first ti we’ve had a one-on-one conversation since we first t, isn’t it?”
“Is that so? Huh... Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Victor laughed awkwardly, yet he didn’t take his eyes off .
“But the timing’s never been good, right?”
“Timing?”
“Yeah. Timing.”
When our eyes t, there was a strange distance in his gaze. As I stared back at him, he exhaled a faint sigh and said,
“There’s a four-year age gap between us. When I was graduating, you were just starting out... I beca an adult four years earlier than you.”
A four-year gap didn’t matter now, but between a sixteen-year-old and a twenty-year-old, it was a huge difference.
“And by the ti you joined the Scroll Managent Departnt, I was already scheduled for a long-term foreign assignnt.”
He really had left two months after I joined.
“I only just managed to co back.”
“Co on now...”
I gave a short laugh and shook my head.
“Even so, it’s not like we never had the chance to talk alone. Not once did we go out to eat, even after I started working.”
“The ‘alone ti’ I’m talking about, Namia...”
Victor spoke slowly, without any playfulness in his voice.
“...is the kind of timing where we could keep being alone together.”
He took a sip of champagne and gave another soft smile.
“Namia.”
“Yes?”
“Now that we’re here, I suddenly rembered one of the Academy’s old traditions. Want to try it with ?”
“There was sothing like that? I honestly have no idea. I’ve never done it.”
“Yeah. It’s a truth ga. I’ve only ever heard about it—never played it myself. So this is my first ti too.”
A truth ga? Sounded exactly like the kind of thing Anastasia would lose her mind over.
And thinking of her again... dampened my mood.
When she had taken care of Liden with just coffee grounds and hot water, I found her so reliable...
Could she really be the mole?
“I’ll show you how it works first. Technically it’s a drinking ga...”
He playfully tilted his champagne glass over the balcony railing, which was about as wide as my wrist.
“You have to say sothing true, then pour a little onto the railing. If it’s the truth, the god of wine will bless it, and the liquid won’t fall—it’ll stay right there. But if it’s a lie, it’ll drip straight down.”
“That’s not scientific at all.”
“Which is why you must tell the truth. If you dare waste wine on a lie, the wine god will curse you. Sounds kind of gross, right?”
“I’ve never even heard of a wine god.”
I frowned as I responded to his explanation.
“This is just a classic trick ga for flirting, isn’t it? You say so nonsense about the ‘wine god’ and back out if things get awkward.”
“Huh? Uh...”
“If I were the wine god, I’d punish every last flirt who uses cheap tricks like this.”
“C-Cough. Well... I’m glad you’re not. Anyway, I’ll start.”
Before I could stop him, he tilted his glass slightly over the railing.
“I’ve t a lot of people in my life. So the mont I saw you, I knew you were special.”
A drop of champagne landed on the railing without falling. According to him, that ant he was telling the truth. I just stared.
“But I wanted to be the only one who knew that.”
The droplet still didn’t fall.
“To be honest... I didn’t want you to know either.”
Feeling the mood grow too heavy, I interrupted abruptly.
“Victor, that’s enough. This ga isn’t fun.”
But he poured another bit of champagne and went on.
“I haven’t been honest with you. Much more than you think.”
His sky-blue eyes t mine—focused on alone, for the first ti I could rember.
“You don’t actually know much about .”
Another drop. Still didn’t fall. It clung stubbornly to the railing.
“I was scared. That I’d end up rushing like this... before it was the right ti.”
He inhaled deeply and continued.
“I was afraid soone else would recognize you first.”
The growing droplet now had enough volu to fall—but still, it stayed.
Victor sighed quietly and said in a low voice,
“You knew I thought you were special, didn’t you? You’re perceptive like that.”
He tilted the glass again. The droplet stayed once more.
“You thought I was special too, right? Among all those around you... wasn’t I the one who stood out the most?”
I stared directly at him. He spoke like an adult shaking candy in front of a child.
“Don’t you want sothing that shines? That’s just human nature.”
In truth, I wasn’t used to seeing Victor’s face from the front. His profile or his back—that was what I knew.
If he was going to cross the line now, then I needed to respond too.
I slowly opened my mouth.
“Yes.”
I tipped my own glass. A drop clung to the railing.
“You’re right.”
And that was when—
Bang! A loud sound, and the balcony trembled slightly.
I turned toward the noise.
There stood Kiaros, his back to the brilliant banquet hall. His red eyes were icy.
‘Huh?’
I was caught off guard, and Victor reached toward .
“N-Namia! Are you okay?”
And then—
Bang! Again, and this ti the floor between us cracked with a sharp tearing sound. Kiaros’s voice was as cracked as the floor.
“I told you not to follow other n. That I’d be back soon.”
So I imdiately clarified,
“Yes. I didn’t follow him—he ca to .”
Then I inspected the floor seriously.
‘Didn’t the logistics support team do a safety check before the banquet?’
Balcony safety was definitely on the checklist. As I ntally reviewed it, Victor blinked and whispered just loud enough for to hear.
“Ah, so you did reject .”
Then he put on a cheerful face and politely addressed Kiaros.
“It’s an honor to et you officially, Your Highness. I’m Victor Arwin.”
“Get lost.”
“...Pardon?”
“Why are you asking? When I say get lost, you get lost.”
Why was he being so authoritarian all of a sudden? Was it because he suspected Victor was the mole?
Victor looked a bit stunned, but still bowed politely.
“Understood. Yes, of course.”
He turned to leave the balcony.
Then I said impulsively,
“Ah, Victor. Just one last thing.”
“...Yeah?”
I tilted my glass once more.
“There’s too much to criticize—I don’t even know where to start...”
The droplet clung firmly to the railing.
“So let begin with the most important thing... It’s obvious to everyone now that I shine more than you.”
I stared at him and added, my voice calm and composed,
“And now that things are awkward forever, please just address properly as Minister from now on. Even when we’re alone.”
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