How Dare You Keep a Noble Waiting?
“Ha…? What’s with the mood lighting? What the hell are you doing?”
“I thought we might try a different approach for today’s session.”
Instead of answering further, I simply wore a faint smile and dimmed the lights in the hotel room. The switch clicked down, darkness settled over everything, and only a single small scented candle on the center of the table gently pushed the gloom back.
Crack. Crack.
The sound of the wick burning was unusually loud. I stared blankly at the wavering flame.
Across from me, Ruby seemed unable to bear the stillness. Her leg bounced as she broke the silence with a surly snap.
“…What are you doing, being all melancholy like that.”
“Fire-gazing. It’s good for settling the mind and body.”
“Ha. You really try every damn thing, don’t you.”
Ruby snorted as if it were beneath her, yet her gaze kept flicking toward the candle flame on instinct.
Now.
Feigning indifference, I tossed out the bait.
“What about you, Miss Ruby?”
“…What about me.”
“The flames. Do you like them? Or do you hate them with every fiber of your being?”
The unexpected question made her pupils tremble faintly. She crossed her arms and slumped sideways into the back of the chair.
“Ha…? Why the hell are you suddenly asking something like that?”
“Curiosity. Most people either take pride in their power or curse it. I was wondering which side you fall on.”
“Hmph…”
Ruby chewed her lip. A heavy silence stretched for a moment. She glared at the burning candle, then let out a self-mocking snort of laughter.
“…Hell if I know. Never really thought about it.”
“Lie.”
“Ha? Don’t sit there talking about lies. It’s true. It’s just…”
As if entranced, she stretched out her hand toward the candle. The wavering heat licked at her fingertips, yet as the master of flame she seemed not to feel the heat at all.
“It’s just… tiresome.”
“Tiresome?”
“Yeah. It’s not like I asked for it.”
Ruby exhaled and roughly raked her hair back. The eyes that emerged were sharpened to a knife’s edge.
“…I opened my eyes one day and the elves were already mocking me as the cursed ‘Flame.’ Spent my whole life getting pointed at as a ‘half-elf’…”
Moisture thickened in her voice.
“Who the hell would like this? This kind of power. To me it’s just… shackles. Touch something and it shatters. Get angry and it explodes. It ruins everything whether I want it to or not.”
I watched the shadowed face cast beyond the candlelight. In this world’s lore, an elf who carried the embers of forest-scorching calamity was treated as a heretic. But Ruby Scarlet was different. What dwelled in her was no common spark—it was the Fire Spirit King, Ignis.
If WhiteMage’s gallery intel was accurate, this was a power that ought to be praised as the mark of a king in this setting. Pure-blooded nobles simply refused to acknowledge that fact. Probably jealousy—unwilling to admit that the noblest of spirits had taken root in the body of a hybrid “half-elf.” Fear of something they could not control. That was the true culprit that had locked her in silence and branded her a “monster.”
The problem was that the Ruby sitting in front of me did not know that truth. She had spent her life cursing what was a jewel, treating it like a worthless rock. That was the root of her self-loathing.
What she needed now was simply a crack in the false world she believed in.
“So you always detonated first.”
“…What?”
“Before that flame could burn me, I’d better burn it first. That way it hurts less.”
“Ha…? You little shit, don’t sit there acting like you know and jumping to conclusions.”
Ruby’s brow twisted viciously, but I did not stop. I drove the wedge deeper.
“Am I wrong? You can’t control it because you hate it.”
“…Ha?”
“Because you treat the flame like a ‘calamity,’ the flame takes after its master and acts wild. Spirits are mirrors that reflect their master’s heart, aren’t they?”
“You—! Hey! What the hell do you know about spirits to run your mouth like that?!”
Ruby flared up and shot to her feet, looking ready to flip the table any second. I did not so much as blink. I simply lifted one corner of my mouth in a small smile.
Of course I knew that if I mishandled her temper, not even bones would remain. But this was a necessary gamble.
Quietly, I stretched my hand out across the table.
“Then prove it.”
“…Prove what.”
“Give me your hand.”
I opened my palm wide.
“Whether you hate the flame… or whether, deep down, you want to master it better than anyone.”
“…Are you insane?”
Ruby’s face said she could not believe what she was hearing.
“Ha? You don’t know what happens if you grab my hand? Last time we lucked out with a poultice, but this time it won’t end at a simple burn.”
“Hmm. Too much of a coward to even summon a flame…?”
“Ha!? This bastard for real—”
Ruby’s right hand conjured a flame at my words.
“Happy now?”
“It’s fine. Bring it over here and touch me with it.”
“…Ha? Are you actually a complete idiot? Touch fire and you burn, you crazy bastard.”
“No. Trust me this time. I believe you will absolutely not burn me.”
Perhaps it was how utterly calm my eyes were. Hesitation flickered through Ruby’s pupils. Even as curses left her mouth, her hand drifted toward me with glacial slowness, as if drawn by a magnet.
…
Was she afraid? Afraid that the moment her hand touched me I would be hurt. Afraid she would once again confirm that she was a “monster.” That fear made her fingertips tremble.
I did not wait any longer. I snatched her hand and gripped it tight.
“…?!”
Ruby’s eyes flew wide as if they might pop out. Whoosh—reacting to her startled emotion, crimson fire surged up from her palm.
“Hey, hey!! Let go! You’ll get burned!!”
“Stay still. Three seconds.”
“You lunatic! You want to burn to death?!”
“One.”
I did not release her hand. If anything, I laced our fingers tighter. It was hot. A high heat that prickled the skin. But not beyond endurance.
“Two.”
“…Hey, hey! You’re seriously reckless—!”
“Three. Look.”
I jerked my chin toward our joined hands.
“…Huh?”
Ruby’s gaze slowly dropped. The flames pouring from her hand were swallowing mine whole… and yet they did not burn. Far from blackening or scorching, the crimson fire flowed gently between my fingers like water, wrapping them soft and warm.
“It’s not hot, is it?”
“…H-how?”
“Because you thought you didn’t want to hurt me.”
I grinned and gently stroked the back of her hand with my thumb.
“The flame read its master’s heart. ‘Ah, this one must not be burned,’ it decided.”
“….”
Ruby stared back and forth between her hand and mine with a vacant face. The fact that her fire—which had known only destruction and explosion—could also wrap someone in warmth. In the whole of her three hundred seventy years, it must have been the first shock of its kind.
“See?”
I whispered low.
“Not such a terrible calamity after all. It’s rather… warm and beautiful.”
“….”
Ruby’s face flushed hot. This time it had nothing to do with the flame. She hastily averted her eyes and mumbled around her lips.
“…You sure know how to talk pretty, damn it.”
“Pardon?”
“Hmph.”
The tone was surly, yet she made no move to pull her hand free. If anything, her fingers fidgeted restlessly inside my grip.
*Ding.*
Heroine Ruby Scarlet's psychological defense mechanism has been released.
Change:Aversion toward her own power has shifted to Curiosity.
Finally… success?
Defense mechanisms unlocking meant I had stepped outside the “mental illness” pattern that put me at risk. All that remained was building affection.
“Weird… me being like this…”
“You’re remarkable, Miss Ruby.”
“You’re not scamming me somehow, are you?”
“…Ah? A scam? I don’t pull scams like that. This is entirely your own ability.”
I gave a little shrug of my shoulders.
That was the exact moment.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A knock that shattered the stillness.
Who?
There was no one who should be looking for me—or for Ruby Scarlet—right now.
I called toward the door.
“Who is it?”
— Apologies for the late hour, guest. A person of high standing has come seeking you and urgently requests your presence.
“…A person of high standing is summoning me?”
I murmured low and glanced at Ruby. Her expression had hardened with tension as well.
“A person of high standing… who, exactly?”
— A knight of the Silverrain family has arrived. He requests a brief audience with Counselor Aris Mardia of the Holy See.
“Silverrain…?”
Zzzzzzt.
For an instant, a ringing filled my ears. The texture of the air itself changed.
Ruby Scarlet rose from her seat with murder in her eyes. Crimson haze began to seethe and rise from her body.
…This is bad. Things are about to go sideways.
Crrrk.
The edge of the table screamed under her grip. The warm flame that had been wrapping my hand moments ago was gone without a trace. The crimson, murderous light pouring from every inch of Ruby’s body swallowed the room in an instant.
Sizzle—
The carpet beneath her feet blackened and smoked with acrid fumes. This was not mere heat. It was the clear precursor of destruction given form by killing intent—intent to reduce everything it touched to ash.
Ruby’s bloodshot pupils had already abandoned reason, filled only with the urge to burn the presence beyond the door to death.
“These pointy-eared bastards… I’ll burn every last one of them.”
Noble elves, clearly. Ruby Scarlet had every reason to hate and despise them.
“Wait, Ruby.”
I stepped in front of her. This was the real test. If I failed to stop her here, everything would be for nothing.
“Calm down.”
“Move… those bastards—ripping them apart with my own hands wouldn’t even be enough…!”
Ruby ground her teeth and snarled. She looked ready to shove me aside, kick the door open, and turn knight and hotel alike into ash.
I did not yield. Instead I stepped closer still and seized both of her shoulders hard, even as murderous aura rolled off her.
“Ruby Scarlet.”
“…Let—go of me?!”
“If you explode here, you lose.”
My firm voice made her pupils waver.
“…What?”
“We just proved it, didn’t we. You’re not a monster. You have a warm flame.”
I locked eyes with her straight on.
“But the moment you open that door and set a fire, you become exactly what they want again… an ‘uncontrollable mad dog.’ Is that what you want?”
“So what the hell am I supposed to do…! Do you know what it means that those bastards came looking for you?!”
Ruby poured out grievance and rage together.
“Them coming for you means they figured out where I am! They knew I was next to you, so they came all the way here! These goddamn bastards! How dare they—this place—!”
“I know.”
“…What?”
“I know you’re angry.”
I gently patted the shoulders I was still holding.
“That’s why we practiced, remember.”
I held up three fingers in front of her eyes.
“Three seconds.”
“What…? What are you—”
“Three seconds.”
“…Ugh.”
She let out a helpless sigh at my words, then looked up at me as if ready.
I counted low while watching her.
“One.”
“Huu… kh, huu…”
Ruby’s lips trembled. The killing intent boiling inside her body and the reason that wanted to obey me collided fiercely. Her fists clenched white-knuckle tight.
“Two.”
“….”
“Three.”
Hoooo—
With a long, long breath, the crimson murderous light wrapping Ruby’s entire body faded away as if it had been a lie. The heat scorching the floor, the choking killing intent—both ebbed like a tide.
She hung her head and roughly raked her hair back.
“Ha…”
“Well done. That was excellent.”
Cold sweat ran down my back, but outwardly I kept a calm smile.
“Has the anger settled a little?”
“…Dunno. Still pissed as hell.”
Ruby dropped heavily onto the sofa and turned her face away. But she no longer looked ready to bolt out the door. The released defense mechanism was clearly having an effect.
Situation handled. Now it was my turn.
“I’ll take care of the anger for you.”
“…Ha? You? How?”
“You stay here and do some fire-gazing with that pretty flame of yours.”
I straightened my clothes and turned toward the door.
“After all, I’m the only guardian Miss Ruby has.”
“….”
Leaving her dazed stare at my back, I opened the firmly shut door.
Click.
In the hallway stood a hotel staff member and a man in ash-gray uniform.
“G-guest…”
“Is it you?”
I tilted my head and smiled coolly.
“What brings you here?”
“You’re late. For a counselor of the Holy See to keep a noble waiti—”
The knight’s words never finished.
“Lower your voice, Sir Knight.”
“…What did you say?”
“The person inside has only just found her composure. If she goes berserk again, will you take responsibility?”
My rebuke twisted the knight’s expression oddly. I closed the door and added coldly,
“Let’s step outside and talk.”