Harmony of Yin and Yang
Yuri Grace shook off her mother and headed straight for the duke's office. She was certain Kyle would go to meet her father first. After all, just a few months ago he had vanished for five years only to suddenly appear on the battlefield. Given that, he would surely visit the duke before anyone else this time as well.
"He really doesn't understand a woman's heart at all."
It was both a point against him and a point in his favor. A minus for being so dense he couldn't read a woman's feelings, yet a plus because it meant he had never met any woman besides her. In other words, it became a plus if it pleased her and a minus if it didn't. Naturally, in Yuri's mind, Kyle kept swinging between the two.
She had been mentally tallying the score when she suddenly stopped at the sound of voices coming from inside the office.
—A master is free to—
—Who would say such—
"……Freedom?"
For a moment, she felt as though she had overheard something she was never meant to hear. Freedom was a word that suited Kyle quite well. But paired with the word "master" in front of it, it could take on an entirely different meaning. The duke seemed to be trying to persuade Kyle that such a thing was impossible. Yuri held her breath and decided to listen a little longer.
—Once you become a master—
—That's just your opinion—
—Then the broken engagement—
The moment she heard the word "broken engagement," she flung the door open and stepped inside. Both Kyle and the duke turned to her in surprise. Ignoring them completely, she looked at Kyle and asked carefully,
"……Broken engagement?"
"Ah, Yuri. How long have you been—"
"Answer my question first."
"……You didn't know?"
Kyle glanced at the duke as if asking what was going on. The duke coughed awkwardly, clearly at a loss for words. Kyle stared at him in disbelief before turning back to Yuri. Yuri Grace was glaring at him, demanding an immediate explanation. Kyle began to explain the situation they now found themselves in.
"We broke off the engagement."
"—I see."
"Yeah, so I……"
"All right, I understand. Then I'll be going."
Without waiting to hear the rest, Yuri turned on her heel and left the office. The duke rounded on Kyle.
"What are you doing? Go after her and comfort her already."
"……Whose fault is this in the first place?"
With a hint of irritation, Kyle quickly stood and followed after Yuri.
"Ah, my lady. Where are you—"
"My lady? Are you all right—"
"My lady, the lady of the house is looking for—"
Ignoring every maid who called out to her, Yuri made her way to the rear garden of the castle. It was the garden the duke had created for her with magic so that flowers could bloom even in this frozen northern land. Because it concentrated sunlight, the inside of the garden was so warm that sweat trickled down her back, unlike the rest of the north. Yuri let out a heated breath and carefully sank down among the flower beds. The scent of flowers rose around her, beginning to calm her anxious heart.
"……Did he really dislike me that much?"
She had been confident. Her appearance, her figure, her charm—she had believed they were more than enough to capture a man like Kyle. Yet ever since entering the academy, that confidence had begun to crumble. There was Aria, who possessed looks equal to or greater than her own. There was Sera, who was inferior to her in every field yet somehow closer to Kyle. At this point, she couldn't help wondering whether Kyle truly liked her at all. As time passed, her confidence sank lower and lower.
After all, Kyle was an unprecedented teenage master, while she was merely a mage who had just reached the Expert level. She was said to have the potential to become a master someday, but would reaching that rank truly make him look back at her?
"I don't know."
She had done everything she could. She had forced down tasteless food to maintain her figure, trained her body every day, and even followed strict routines and massages to enhance her chest. While learning magic from the duke, she had tempered not only her exterior but her interior as well. She could proudly say there was no better bride candidate on the entire continent. She could boast that every man desired her—except for one. She could never be certain that Kyle, the only one she wanted, had turned his eyes toward her.
"What am I supposed to do?"
Kyle must have grown tired of her. He had brushed off her invitation to go out without a second thought and gone off with another woman instead. And now he had even declared to the duke that he wanted to break off the engagement.
"Now what……"
Ever since she was five years old and first met Kyle, her entire life had been preparation to become his bride. That goal had vanished. She had lost the meaning of her life. Where was a lost wanderer supposed to go?
"So this is where you were."
And at that moment, the voice she least wanted to hear right now reached her ears. Without turning her head toward the voice coming from behind her, Yuri spoke.
"……Go back."
"I came to see you. Where would I go?"
"You already got what you wanted, didn't you? If you wanted to break off the engagement—"
"About that."
Kyle swiftly pulled out the letter of broken engagement the duke had sent him. He tossed it toward her. The document traced a clean arc through the air and landed neatly in Yuri's lap. She glanced up at Kyle with a glare that seemed to ask why he had prepared something like this.
"……What is this?"
"Read it."
"Couldn't you just say it? There's no need to prepare something like this."
Even as she spoke, Yuri opened the letter. It was simply human nature; she couldn't resist her curiosity. When she unfolded it, she froze upon realizing it was not a letter Kyle had written to her or the duke.
Thus, the engagement is hereby declared broken.
— Valter Grace
Seeing her father's name written there, Yuri stiffened and looked up at Kyle.
"……This is?"
"A letter of broken engagement my father-in-law sent me."
"……Then that talk of breaking the engagement—"
"It wasn't me. Father-in-law was the one who suggested it."
Upon hearing those words, Yuri immediately rose to her feet, ready to charge toward the duke. How dare he do something like this without saying a word to her? No matter that he was her real father, she could not forgive him. This was no longer about winning or losing. She felt she wouldn't be able to release the knot in her chest unless she struck him at least once. Fortunately, Kyle stopped her before she could go anywhere. As a long-range mage, she had no way of escaping the arms of a master like Kyle.
"……Let go."
"No."
"Right now."
"You're going to see Father-in-law, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"That's exactly why I can't let you."
After finally stopping Yuri, Kyle began explaining why the engagement had been broken off.
"Father-in-law said it was because I made you cry. Is that true?"
"……No."
"Right? But it seems Father-in-law thinks differently."
"It's because of Mother. Father can't do anything when Mother's around."
"Oh, I didn't know he was such a henpecked husband."
After briefly gossiping about the duke, the two of them realized the situation had been resolved to some extent. The fact that Yuri herself hadn't known about the broken engagement had been unexpected, but they had somehow managed to prevent it. And love that overcame hardship deserved a reward. Kyle carefully took out the essence filled with yin energy from his robe.
"……What is this?"
"A birthday present. I went through a lot of trouble getting it when I went with Sera."
"……Don't tell me you refused to go out with me because you were trying to get this?"
"Huh? Well, yeah?"
Strictly speaking, that wasn't entirely accurate, but Kyle had no intention of ruining the perfectly fitting moment. He placed the essence between his lips and leaned his face toward Yuri. Yuri burst out laughing at the ridiculous sight and carefully bit down on the essence held in his mouth. Their lips met, and the yin energy contained within the essence enveloped her body. Though she had been born in the north and was resistant to yin energy, the amount was so vast that even she could barely endure it. In a situation where the yin energy might run rampant and endanger her life, Yuri's eyes flashed as she felt the intense yang energy digging into her mouth. Kyle, right in front of her, was sending her yang energy.
"……Kyle."
With his help, Yuri began guiding the yin energy filling her body and spreading it widely within herself. As yin and yang achieved harmony, her level began to rise by one stage. Yuri Grace had become a 4-star mage.