————
Chapter 192: Ignoring (1)
“Are you sure about this? Isn’t this a dangerous thing to do?”
“Oh, don’t worry! I’ve thoroughly checked with my own eyes for days!”
A cabin located in the remote mountains, with sparse human presence.
In fact, it was more like a mansion than a cabin, large enough to be called a mansion without any hesitation.
“It’s hard to believe even after seeing it with my own eyes! It’s unbelievable that such a big house exists in these mountains, and that only two young won live inside?”
“There seems to be one man living there too! But he’s probably not here now. He usually goes out early in the morning and cos back late at night! I saw him once in the village, he didn’t look strong or capable at all! Haha.”
The man with a pointed beard reassured his companion not to worry.
“You’d be smitten too if you saw her face! Have you ever seen such a beautiful woman? She must be from so noble family!”
“Why would a noblewoman hide in these mountains?”
“Well, there must be so complicated reasons! Anyway, our job is to kidnap that woman without anyone knowing! Surely we can sell her off for a good price elsewhere! It wouldn’t hurt for us to make so profit before selling her off!”
“There’s another person? Then let’s just kidnap them all!”
As if the job had already succeeded, the n chuckled at each other.
Until the voice of a slender woman from behind was heard.
“Do you have business with our house?”
“Gah!”
Startled, the n quickly turned their heads and then seed to lose their wits, awkwardly pursing their lips.
A woman with rare pink hair, with an innocent face fluttering her light pink hair, smiled sweetly at them.
Could this feeling of overwhelming one’s heart just by looking at her be real?
She appeared to be around nineteen or twenty, extrely cute despite her young age.
“No response? Are you speechless?”
The woman chuckled, urging for a response.
Upon this, the man with the pointed beard cleared his throat and stepped forward.
“Are you the owner of that house?”
“Not the owner, just living there. The owner is our Papa!”
At the ntion of ‘Papa,’ the n inwardly sighed in relief.
They were convinced she was from a noble family.
“I see, I see! We’re not bad people! Rather, you could say we’ve co to help! It seems like living in these mountains without any knights for protection could be risky. We’re here to offer so help in that regard…”
“Lies.”
With firmness in her voice, the woman cut off the man.
“With such a foul sll emanating, you ca to do good deeds? You can’t fool .”
“A foul sll? What do you an…?”
“I should eat before Emily sees us.”
As if suddenly reminded of delicious food, she extended her tongue and licked her lips.
The sight was so eerie that sweat dripped involuntarily from the n’s backs.
But that biological reaction was only temporary.
The uneasiness the n felt soon turned into fear.
“What… what’s happening?”
The woman, who had been smiling angelically at them, no longer had a human appearance.
The hearts that had fluttered with excitent now pounded with fear, and despite the desire to flee, their feet, invaded by terror, refused to move.
“I’ll enjoy this al….”
It was the beginning of a pleasant dining ti.
* * *
“What’s up? Where have you been?”
“Oh, just went outside for a mont to get so fresh air!”
In case she suspected sothing, Nana hurriedly wiped her mouth.
“Is Brian late again today?”
“It seems so. Probably caught up doing so useless chores for the villagers…”
Emily stirred the ladle in the soup pot, her expression sowhat displeased.
“There seems to be more food than usual today, can you finish it all, kiddo?”
“Um, yes! I can finish it all!”
“Why the expression? Did you go sowhere to eat?”
“W-well, what do you an? I’ll be in my room, call when it’s ready, sis!”
Nana rushed to her room as if fleeing.
“…?”
Without feeling anything strange, Emily focused on cooking the soup again.
“Sigh…”
Nana, who had rushed to her room, flopped onto the bed.
After seeming to rest with her eyes closed for a while, she suddenly rembered sothing, then opened the drawer next to her and took out a letter.
The letter itself was quite worn out, as if it had been read dozens of tis at least.
“…”
Nana seed absorbed in reading the letter, but soon sighed weakly and put it down.
“I miss you…”
“Who?”
Suddenly hearing a familiar voice, Nana sat up abruptly.
The confident gaze she had just monts ago disappeared completely, replaced by eyes full of surprise and joy.
“Papa!”
Cyan, who had returned unnoticed, sat calmly in front of Nana.
“What were you doing that you couldn’t even sll ?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing!”
Nana hurriedly hid the letter she was reading.
“Oh? When did the young master arrive?”
Emily, who had sensed Cyan’s presence, also entered Nana’s room.
As if genuinely pleased to see the master after a long ti, Emily looked Cyan up and down.
“Do you only eat and wander around? Your face seems even more gaunt than last ti.”
Looking at the more slender face than before, Emily asked with concern.
[It’s not enough for a man to just eat well, is it? Sotis you gotta take in so regular nourishnt too, that’s how you really enjoy life. What’s the use of keeping everything in good shape if you don’t know what to use it for?]
Kaeram, who had manifested alongside him, stretched out on the bed and spoke.
Cyan, seeming too bothered to reply, didn’t even glance in Kaeram’s direction.
“Papa! Let’s go out! I want to take a walk, Papa!”
“Sure, I understand.”
Excitedly, Nana jumped up and went outside quickly.
Even as he watched her leave, Cyan’s gaze soon turned to the drawer next to the bed.
She had been reading the letter until just now, even though he didn’t want to check its contents, the na written on the back of the letter was impossible to ignore.
[Arin]
* * *
Azelda, a border city in the northern part of the Garam Kingdom.
It was not only the closest city to the neutral city of Luwen, where the Royal Academy was located, but also the place where officials from the Ushif Empire and the Garam Kingdom had gathered for negotiations after the ‘Day the Mist Cast Light’ incident seven years ago.
Coincidentally, the two officials who had been present at the scene at that ti were now facing each other as representatives for this negotiation.
Before the imperial envoy arrived, they had already agreed to the terms of compensation for this incident through written correspondence.
Thus, the face-to-face eting currently taking place was rely to confirm the terms of the treaty.
“…”.
With the mbers of the academy, the guardian knights, and the vassals who accompanied them all gone, Luna and Arin remained in the eting room.
*Humming*
To ensure a private conversation, Luna imdiately created a restricted barrier.
“Long ti no see, Luna? I never expected you to be the representative for this negotiation.”
“Likewise. I also never expected Her Highness to co as the envoy’s representative.”
While Luna struggled to relax her stiff expression, Arin’s face remained consistently smiling.
Luna was well aware that Arin’s smile was not one of natural ease but rather a facade to conceal herself.
“It’s been almost four years since graduating from the academy, right? I’ve noticed this before, but you seem to change every ti I see you. You’ve always been noticeably growing.”
Arranging this eting wasn’t about discussing their trivial growth.
Without any response to her praise, Luna took out a letter from her pocket and handed it to Arin.
Without asking any questions, Arin began to read the letter imdiately.
Her reaction was mostly indifferent, with little surprise.
“Are you pretending not to be surprised? Or perhaps, there’s nothing to be surprised about?”
“I didn’t know. But I didn’t think much about it like you said.”
The docunt contained the truth about the misconduct of the Saintess, Nephrodite, along with attempts to bla it on the Garam Kingdom.
“Please don’t misunderstand. Our royal family has no connection to this side.”
“It’s not the royal family, but perhaps only Her Highness has no connection?”
In response to Luna’s direct question, Arin replied with a bitter smile.
This wasn’t sothing that could be easily resolved by re tail-cutting.
If this information spread, it could lead to significant conflicts between nations.
However, all of this was being blocked by mbers of the Garam Magic Society, under Luna’s leadership.
“Are you showing this because Luna also doesn’t want this truth to spread?”
Luna affird with silence.
“Impressive. Preventing the spread of the truth isn’t an easy task.”
“Please don’t misunderstand, Your Highness. This wasn’t done for the Ushif Empire.”
Nor was it done for the Garam Kingdom.
This was purely for Luna herself.
To prevent the fact that Cyan was involved in this incident from being revealed.
“If there’s anything else you need besides the compensation offered in this negotiation, feel free to tell . I’ll handle everything within my power.”
“Indiscriminate compensation may not be what the royal family desires, right?”
“It’s fine because it’s what I want. After all, I’m also a mber of the royal family.”
Arin firmly asserted that there was no problem at all.
“I should go now. As much as I’d like to have a more enjoyable conversation since it’s been a while, it seems there won’t be ti for that.”
Arin, judging that the business was concluded, rose from her seat without hesitation.
“Until next ti, Luna. It was nice eting you.”
For so reason, the idea of “next ti” didn’t sound quite pleasant.
Would there really be a next ti between them?
Would she still hold the position of princess when they et again?
Nothing was certain.
“Oh, I t Cyan, by the way.”
“…!”
Arin, who was about to leave the room, stopped in her tracks at those words.
“Did you?”
There was an unmistakable tremor beneath her casual response.
“How… has he been?”
Not asking where, how, or why they t, just a firm question about how he has been.
It was the best question Arin could co up with right now.
“He’s the sa, I guess. Just passed by without a word? I’m not sure if it was intentional, but he seed to have caught a new girl in the anti.”
“So, he’s the sa…”
Her disappointed laughter still carried poignant emotions.
“I’m glad he’s doing well…”
With that, Arin left the room.
Reviews
All reviews (0)