A Blade Hidden in Joy (1)
Now that the main quest had appeared before my eyes, this merciless event was all but certain to happen.
But the plan was impossible to stop, and I couldn't for the life of me understand why everyone went on at such length about how I'd just be sitting there letting them cut off my nose to spite my face.
In the end, all I could do was sharpen my dueling skills by crossing swords with Ellie and Sion, and every now and then the First Princess would join our sparring sessions to lend me a hand.
Surprisingly, the First Princess's swordsmanship was quite impressive.
Unlike Sion, who absorbed one lesson completely when given one, and devoured all ten when given ten, the First Princess seemed to be a tremendous grinder — the kind who earned everything through sheer effort.
She also took it upon herself to act as my messenger for imperial events and the private affairs of the royal family, occasionally letting little things slip to me.
Things like how the Imperial Consort wished to personally express her gratitude to me... that sort of thing.
Of course, since I was already slated to receive a reward from the Emperor, no matter how great my achievement in reforming the Third Prince, a personal thanks on that scale was honestly a bit much for me to accept.
So when I showed the First Princess my reaction of 'refusal,' she seemed slightly disappointed, but answered that she understood.
And so today, once again, the four of us continued our sparring.
Ellie and the First Princess, me and Sion.
A week had passed since Sion opened up to me about her past, and in that time her swordsmanship had grown by leaps and bounds.
Naturally, having wasted so much time before, she lamented, 'If I'd known this would happen, I should have pulled myself together much sooner...'
"Well, what does it matter? You've got your head on straight now, so it's all good."
"Hyun-ah, I feel like there's a bone buried in those words of yours."
Because we knew each other's pasts, we'd become friends easily — two people who had carried similar wounds from similar histories.
Friends with a prince, huh? Not bad, I suppose.
Just as every sparring match ended and we were about to head back up, the First Princess and Sion came over to me.
"In about two days, there will be a banquet celebrating the victory over the Tide of Corruption."
"....."
How could the timing line up so perfectly...
surely an attack wouldn't happen during the banquet...?
The First Princess seemed to have grown quite close to Ellie, and the two of them were bursting into laughter as they exchanged tips on dresses and accessories.
Ellie, for her part, apparently didn't dislike the princess who had been quietly helping her, and made no move to reject her advances.
Do you know what kind of person Ellie is?
She was the type who had never grown close to anyone quickly — except me.
To think even Ellie, famous for her ironclad walls, would open up in just a few days.
Well... it's probably good for Ellie to have friends her own age.
The First Princess was twenty-three.
Only a year older than Ellie, and a single year isn't much of a gap.
Only in South Korea would a one-year difference matter enough to create all those early-year classes and age hierarchies...
That was why I'd never once seen anyone in this world insist on formal greetings or rigid deference over a mere year's difference in age.
"Then, to the Successor and to Lady Ellie, contractor of the Successor — we extend these invitations to the banquet being held in two days."
The princess handed us the invitations, bound in black and gold ribbons, with a smile.
We had no reason to refuse, and since the First Princess clearly hoped we would attend, we agreed to go.
Rather than be left paralyzed and helpless when the attack came, it was far wiser to attend and prepare for whatever might happen.
And the date of the banquet arrived quickly.
Right now, Ellie and I were being dressed and attended to by the imperial maids.
Neither of us owned anything proper enough for a banquet besides our military uniforms.
And one obviously couldn't show up to an actual ball in a combat uniform.
Naturally, we received help from the First Princess and Sion, who gifted us our outfits.
As if the two siblings had plotted the whole thing together.
They were in perfect sync with each other.
How about this outfit? What about that one?
And meanwhile — so that's what counts as friendship, huh...
Sion just laughed it off as if it were nothing, of course.
But to me, it was a very big deal.
And toward me, Sion said:
"Well, what do you think? Our Successor here has never been to a banquet before, has he? Then you'd better learn the etiquette and dress the part, shouldn't you?"
Beyond that, I even received private tutoring from Sion.
Something about how even a Successor had to observe what must be observed.
That sounded exactly like something I used to say when I was beating sense into her.
Probably just my imagination, right?
And so, after a grueling week of being run raganged, I had arrived at this moment.
Ellie had learned the basics from her father as a child, so only I had to study separately.
Thus, I now stood in white dress trousers and a deep navy jacket, with a sky-blue cloak draped over one shoulder and trailing all the way to the floor.
The navy jacket was accented with gold, and it was more than enough to leave quite a striking impression.
As for my hair, I'd dug my heels in with sheer stubbornness and kept my own hairstyle.
The slicked-back look was a genuine... no. Absolutely not. That one.
I parted it casually, slightly tousled, and tidied it just enough that no one could tell whether I'd styled it or not.
I never imagined the tips a friend had given me back in high school — 'put some effort into how you look, man' — would prove this useful.
And so, while I was still waiting.
At last, Ellie opened the door and stepped out.
"Ellie! There you a—...?"
The moment I saw her, my words vanished as if they'd never been spoken.
I already knew she was beautiful — I'd seen how other men cast hungry glances her way, so I knew exactly how stunning she was.
But this... this was on another level entirely.
I couldn't get a word out.
The deep blue dress, and the sapphire jewels adorning it, made her radiance shine all the brighter.
Above, a tiara set with blue gemstones crowned her head, setting off her golden hair to perfection.
"H... Hyun! Say something...!"
When I could do nothing but stare at her in a daze, Ellie grew so embarrassed that she stumbled over her words just calling my name.
I seriously considered not taking her to the banquet at all.
"...Ellie, should we skip the banquet?"
"What are you talking about? The Princess and the Prince will be waiting for us."
"No, hear me out. It's not that you haven't dressed up before, but even with your simple makeup and understated style, you already had moths swarming around you..."
"....Moths?"
"Yeah. I mean, looking at you now, they won't just swarm — they'll go insane and flock to you in droves."
Maybe my choice of the word 'moths' was a little strange.
Ellie pieced together the context of the conversation and seemed to work out what I meant.
"Aha? Is Hyun feeling insecure?"
".....?!?!?!"
"What's wrong~? Scared someone might steal me away?"
Oh, come on!
She knows perfectly well how pretty she is!
And on top of that, she was rapidly closing the distance between us.
A soft, warm sensation pressed against me.
"Ugh!"
Her chest is touching me!
Ellie surely knew exactly what she was doing, yet she only provoked me further.
"Am I pretty?"
.....
That's far too dangerous...
Feeling my face burn scarlet, I nodded, and Ellie beamed with delight as she took my hand and said:
"It's okay. As long as I have Hyun in my life, that's more than enough."
As far as I knew, in the Holy Empire, anyone of noble rank or higher was free to keep both a formal wife and secondary wives.
Even in the game there had been houses divided into wives and concubines, including one insane family where the lord had more than five wives.
If I truly wanted that, I wondered whether Ellie would approve — but at the very least, I had absolutely no intention of it.
I had a gorgeous guild-master girlfriend who was always beautiful and always good to me.
Why would I need anything more?
As I walked along with that thought, Ellie whispered into my ear to tell me what was on her mind.
'Hyun, you look so incredibly handsome today too. I love you?'
.....
Ugh, I knew I had zero immunity to this kind of thing...!
And so, as we made our way to the banquet hall, the only thing I could do was walk beside her while showing her my bright red face.
When we arrived at the entrance of the banquet hall, nobles in dazzling ornaments and gowns were streaming toward the doors, and we followed in their wake.
The gatekeepers guarding the hall's entrance were meticulously checking each noble's invitation one by one.
Apparently they did this outside as well — well, thorough is good, I suppose.
Especially when demons give no warning of when or where they'll strike...
From my position, this kind of vigilance was more than welcome.
Before long, it was our turn to enter.
I showed the gatekeeper the invitation the princess had given me directly.
He nodded and asked us to wait just a moment.
Then the gatekeepers exchanged nods with one another, and word came back that we were free to enter the hall.
I nodded, and together with Ellie — who shifted to loop her arm through mine — I walked slowly into the banquet hall.
The moment we stepped inside, the gatekeeper raised his voice to announce who was entering.
"Entering now: Lord Lee Hyun, Successor guarding the eastern front of the Holy Empire, and Lady Alice, head of Cumul Territory, who brings peace to the realm!"
I had never in my life been to a place like this, never set foot inside a banquet hall — my entire experience with them came from webtoons and web novels.
Maybe that was why I'd expected to feel terribly out of place.
But the banquet hall was exactly as I'd imagined: a floor spread with red carpet, tables draped in white tablecloths.
In the vast space, trays of refreshments stood ready so that anyone could eat something delicious at any moment.
Here and there among the nobles I could see waiters in bow ties serving drinks — if I wanted a beverage, I'd just have to flag one of them down...
It was just a party. The only problem was that the scale was national-level enormous.
I'd come here bracing myself... but the atmosphere was so unremarkable that as I walked deeper into the hall with Ellie, I said:
"I was a little nervous... but there's really nothing to it, huh?"
"You were nervous?"
When Ellie asked in a tone of mild concern, I opened my mouth to put her worry at ease.
"Yeah. A little. But looking at it now, it seems fine."
"Really? Then that's a relief. Although — the banquet hasn't even started yet, you know?"
"Huh?"
"The banquet exists partly to celebrate stopping the Tide of Corruption, but also because every single front achieved victory by a considerable margin — it's a celebration of that triumph."
"So naturally, all the attention is going to fall on you, the hero of it all, Hyun."
"...What?"
"Pfft— you didn't think of that?"
Ellie giggled at me as if she'd seen it coming all along.
Wait... she's right. I didn't think of that...
Ellie, determined not to show her laughter to anyone else, was visibly struggling to hold it in against my chest.
Fine... if I can make you laugh, that's all I need...
"Don't let your guard down..."
Just as my worry threatened to reignite, Ellie placed her hand on my cheek and said:
"Don't worry. I'm right here. If it ever gets to be too much, we can just escape to the balcony — so for now, you can relax."
How can one person be so reassuring?
It honestly made me wonder how I'd ever survived without Ellie.
Knowing me, I'd probably have been captured by a band of bandits and killed... or sold into slavery...
It would have been one of the two, without a doubt.
"Okay."
Feeling grateful for her words, I nodded along.
Though whispering a thank-you into her ear was, of course, a separate matter entirely.
'Thank you, Ellie.'
Ellie, you're not the only one who knows the other's weaknesses.
I know yours too.
Just as I predicted, my whisper turned her face crimson.
She started swatting at my arm, venting her small protest.
— Tap! Tap!
"Hey!"
".....Nothing..."
Watching her smack at me, it seemed my little move from moments ago had genuinely flustered her.
Making no attempt whatsoever to hide her reddened face, she kept striking my arm while carrying on with what she'd been doing.
It was then that a pair of young noble ladies approached and addressed me.
"You're the Successor, aren't you?"
At the sound of my name, I turned to find a pair of noble ladies who seemed quite young.
Two girls in their late teens came up to me and said:
"Hello."
"Hello!"
They had sharp, cat-like eyes and puppy-like faces.
They bowed to me in greeting and said:
"We came to offer our thanks."
"I'm sorry?"
Caught completely off guard by their stated purpose, I foolishly asked them to repeat themselves.
I simply hadn't known that nobles would express their gratitude in person.
Of course, I did know why nobles usually didn't offer thanks directly.
Sion had told me they each had their own pride, and that was why they refrained from such displays.
But when I thought about it — if even the Emperor offers his thanks, how could they not?
When I'd said as much, Sion had conceded the point and agreed with me.
After all, as I'd said, once the Emperor himself came to thank me, everyone else would end up expressing their gratitude whether they wanted to or not — voluntarily or otherwise.
That is, if they didn't want to catch the Emperor's eye for the wrong reasons.
Besides, having completely transformed the Third Prince, I'd apparently earned myself a fan base.
He'd even abandoned all decorum and thanked me repeatedly, they said.
Back in the present — since no nobles had come up to thank me the moment they laid eyes on me,
I briefly wondered whether they harbored some ulterior motive, but my instinct gave me no such warning at all.
Which means, that gratitude can't possibly be a front.
"Please, don't mention it. I only did what had to be done as a Successor."
"Oh! Forgive us for the late introductions. I am Diana of the Rosel family."
"And I am Helida of the Beloin family."
Ah.
Studying with Sion, I'd been made to memorize the noble houses as well.
I remembered now.
The Rosel family was one of the wealthy houses, famous for its iron mines, and the Beloin family had produced chancellors who served at the Emperor's side for generations.
"Ah, Lady Rosel and Lady Beloin. A pleasure to meet you."
"You know of us?"
"Yes. Embarrassingly, I knew nothing at first, so the Third Prince helped me learn."
"The Third Prince...? But he..."
Images of the old scoundrel probably hadn't been scrubbed from the nobles' minds yet.
It would take time, but with Sion's determination — through action rather than words — he would surely succeed in shedding that image.
Then the eyes of the girls, who had been chatting with me, slid over to Ellie, who stood with her arm linked through mine.
They'd noticed the nature of our relationship.
"Ah... we beg your pardon! My lady! We had no such intentions whatsoever!"
"We're so sorry, my lady!"
The moment they realized that talking with me might invite misunderstanding, the young ladies hurriedly apologized to Ellie.
Mustering the courage to offer thanks and apologies alike is no easy feat... watching how these girls behaved, I could make a fair guess as to what kind of families had raised them.
And I found the Rosel and Beloin families quite likable.
After all, they were the ones who had helped shape these girls' well-formed values, so it stood to reason their parents, too, were very likely armed with the same manners and courtesy when dealing with guests.
Ellie flashed the girls a gentle smile.
Her expression gave the feeling of gazing upon a saint reassures them it's alright.
"It's quite alright. If they had called the Successor over with any improper intent, I would have taken disciplinary action myself. It's fine — I knew from the start that you had no such intentions."
At Ellie's words, the two young ladies let out sighs of relief and visibly relaxed.
Before taking their leave, they complimented Ellie on how well she suited the Successor, then excused themselves, saying their group was waiting for them.
But after they left, Ellie's behavior turned a little strange.
She seemed angry... or maybe just sulky.
When she turned her head toward me, I asked her cautiously.
"Ellie, are you angry?"
"No? I'm not."
Her behavior had changed noticeably after meeting those young ladies, so jealousy had probably reared its head.
But to claim she wasn't angry...
Really, if this went on any longer, she'd end up properly sulking.
One of the things I'd learned since dating Ellie: when she sulks, she sulks for a long time.
Getting her to sulk is hard enough, but once she does, undoing it is harder still.
Exactly once, back before we were together, I'd made her sulk — and she treated me with a coldness that made our very first meeting seem warm by comparison.
"Were you jealous?"
At my question, Ellie's face flushed, and she gave a small nod.
"...Yeah."
Ellie had never been this honest before.
She'd always been adept at hiding her true feelings — a habit that had settled so deeply it had become second nature.
But after we became a couple, she'd apparently reached her own conclusions about things, and she began approaching me far more openly — her displays of affection, her expressions of emotion, all of it multiplied.
I took it as a good sign. A relief, honestly. Handled badly, she might simply have swallowed it and brushed past.
Lovers' quarrels have a way of spiraling into rifts that no small gesture can mend, so in truth, I considered her honesty a blessing.
First things first — time to soothe her mood.
"Ellie, but you're still the prettiest to me?"
"But..."
"Ellie, did I ever say otherwise?"
"What do you...?"
"The first woman I met in this world was you, and the first person I ever thought was beautiful the moment I saw her was you, too."
"....Hyun..."
I mean it.
The instant I took off my helmet, her beauty hit me like an elf stepping out of legend.
Naturally, that was part of it — she was the first person I'd laid eyes on in this other world.
But I'd built a relationship with that woman and kept it alive, and unless a genuine princess of fairy tales appeared, no one was ever going to take her place.
Besides, what reason would an imperial princess ever have to see me that way in the first place?
Despite the fact that her foundations were rock solid, this girl still wavered like this — so I pulled her into my arms and soothed her jealousy away.
And so, while Ellie and I spent our time lost in each other, the gatekeeper's voice rang out announcing another arrival.
Someone I knew.
"Entering now: Lord Khan, Successor guarding the northern front of the Holy Empire, and Lady Fairy, eldest daughter of House Flott, who devotes herself to the realm!"
The Successor of the Black Tortoise — Khan.
Since Ignat hadn't appeared yet, it seemed a few more people were still due to arrive.
Meanwhile, the Black Tortoise's successor couple had spotted us and were walking our way.
Khan came up to me and offered his greeting first.
"It's been a while, Successor of the Azure Dragon."
"It certainly has. Good to see you."
While the two of us exchanged greetings, Ellie and Fairy were exchanging their own.
"My lady, I saw how the Successor was holding you earlier."
"Wh-what?!!"
Seeing Ellie so flustered — so unlike herself — was genuinely entertaining.
Khan, for his part, let out a small sigh, as if he'd known Fairy would pull something like this.
But since Ellie looked startled without the slightest trace of displeasure, she was clearly quite pleased about it.
Naturally, it followed that I thought it would be wonderful if Ellie grew just as close with Fairy as she had with the Princess — and with Khan around, the coming attack wouldn't be a problem either.
Hoping, at the very least, that the attack wouldn't strike before we arrived, we enjoyed the celebration that had been thrown in our honor.
Completely unaware that a threat was already walking toward us from very, very far away.