The Staring Contest Begins
The staring contest had begun.
The entire way he followed behind Yulika, Kyle kept glancing around warily.
What if this woman was leading him to a sparring hall?
What if she dragged him somewhere deserted and blurted out, “Let’s go a round!” without any warning?
She already had a track record of pulling something similar at the Academy.
She had thrown a punch the second she saw him, so of course he was suspicious.
Just how far are we going, damn it.
He had already received his medal. The commendation ceremony was over. All he wanted was to get back to the Academy as soon as possible.
He had a mountain of things to do once he returned. First he would have to give Tisha a full account of everything that had happened.
Next he would meet Elga for tea and fill her in on the same events.
Then he needed to talk with the Saintess and check whether her stamina had improved at all.
On top of that, Ian and Leto would latch onto him again, and he absolutely could not forget Nell’s personal training.
Finally, he had to absolutely demolish the upper- and lower-body sessions he had been forced to skip.
Knights are stationed everywhere. Don’t tell me this woman really plans to jump me for a spar?
While he fretted, Yulika finally came to a stop.
The place the two of them halted was inside a building whose pure white marble left a deep impression.
From the route they had taken, it was clearly part of the Imperial Palace complex.
“Mm. This should be far enough that no one will interrupt us.”
At the words “no one will interrupt us,” Kyle clicked his tongue. I knew it!
Right now that woman was planning to pester him again by demanding another fight.
Just when he thought things might finally settle down, she was pulling this nonsense and getting on his nerves!
“…What? Why are you glaring at me?”
“I’m waiting to see when you’ll jump me.”
“Jump you? Me? Why? Why would I jump you?”
You’re the last person who should be asking that.
Last time at the Academy you threw a punch the moment you laid eyes on me!
And now that same person was pretending she had no idea what he was talking about!
“Ah, wait. Do you want to fight? I’d welcome it, but are you sure? Even here?”
“…I seem to recall Your Highness throwing punches in places far more dangerous than this.”
“Did I? Sorry. I’m not great at remembering the things I’ve done.”
Must be nice living that carefree, Princess. Being royalty has its perks, I guess.
While he grumbled inwardly, Kyle suddenly tilted his head. Huh?
Judging by the tone of Yulika’s words, she genuinely seemed to have no intention of fighting.
The knights’ auras he sensed nearby also felt far too close for them to be preparing for a spar.
They simply seemed to be patrolling the area, making sure no one approached.
“…Your Highness. The reason you asked to see me… is it really….”
“I already told you. I have something to say. That’s why I told you to follow me.”
What in the world was going on with this fight-obsessed princess? Tomorrow the sun would rise in the west.
While Kyle was thinking that, Yulika suddenly stepped right up to him.
“I’ve been thinking.”
“Thinking?”
“Yeah. At first I thought it would be best if you became mine, but looking at it now, that seems pretty difficult. So I’m telling you. If that’s hard, then I’d rather become yours, Kyle.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I’m saying I’ll become your possession.”
For a moment Kyle wondered if he had misheard.
The woman standing in front of him was neither a slave nor a commoner.
She was not even an ordinary noble. She was a princess—an imperial princess, the Emperor’s own legitimate daughter!
“Princess Yulika. I don’t think I understood what you’re trying to say.”
“It’s not complicated. Take me. Then I can take you too.”
Yulika suddenly grabbed Kyle’s hand and pressed it against her chest.
Startled, Kyle shouted “What are you doing?!” and shoved her hard away.
“Ah.”
One of the top ten strongest in the Empire, a member of the Imperial 10 Strongest, Yulika Sebastian Lovisa de Lottringen.
A woman strong enough that even the other members of the Ten found her troublesome toppled backward like any ordinary girl.
Then, with a heavy thud, she landed squarely on her rear and sat down hard.
What the hell.
The one left flustered was actually Kyle.
Of all people, Yulika—would she fall from a single shove? Absolutely not.
The title of Imperial 10 Strongest was not something you earned just by swinging a sword well.
It was a name reserved only for those who had reached a level that transcended humanity in every aspect.
It meant beings who could handle even a surprise attack in an unexpected moment with ease.
And yet that member of the Imperial 10 Strongest—Princess Yulika—had just fallen on her backside.
“Ow.”
“Ah, uh… s-sorry, Your Highness.”
Why am I the one apologizing? he thought, even as the apology left his mouth.
Yulika smiled once at his reaction and rose to her feet.
“So? Your answer?”
“…You have to say something that makes sense before I can give an answer.”
“Why? Why doesn’t it make sense?”
“What man in the world would hear that and just accept it? It’s not just anyone—it’s an imperial princess saying, ‘I want to be yours.’ Who on earth would say yes to that?”
“What’s the problem? Kyle, if you don’t want to become mine, then I can just become yours instead.”
Am I talking to a rock right now? Why does this conversation keep looping back to the starting point?
And what difference is there between you becoming mine and me becoming yours, exactly?
In the end it still means the Emperor’s legitimate daughter is linking herself to some northern barbarian!
Kyle fought down the throbbing in his temples and sank into thought about how to handle this woman.
Why was she like this? It would almost be better if she just charged in demanding a fight.
Earlier, when she had talked about marriage and making babies, he had thought it was pure nonsense.
But looking at her now, Yulika was one hundred percent—no, ten thousand percent—serious.
“Haaah.”
Kyle let out a long breath and looked at her.
“Your Highness. Why are you doing this? Ever since last time you’ve been talking about marriage and children.”
“Because I want to be yours?”
“I’m asking for the reason! Why? Are you doing this because you want to fight me?!”
At Kyle’s question, Yulika hummed thoughtfully, then nodded.
“At first, yeah. If you became my man and I became your woman, we’d always be together. I thought fighting like that would be nice.”
“That’s…”
“And I was curious, too. How strong would a child born between you and me be? One side is an Imperial 10 Strongest, the other is a powerhouse who can surpass even the Ten. If a baby came from those two, wouldn’t the strongest person in history be born?”
It was an utterly outrageous reason. She had come on to him for something that stupid!
If it had been because he was cool, or manly, or something like that, he might have felt good for a second.
But the reasons that came out were that she wanted to fight and that she was curious about a baby between them!
What am I, a stud horse?! A sperm bank for superior genes?!
Just as his temper flared and he was about to snap something fierce, Yulika’s next words forced him into silence once more.
“But you know. Time passed, and I kept hearing stories about you. And eventually, more than anything else, I just got really curious about you yourself.”
She circled once around Kyle, smiling as she continued.
“It was fascinating. You’re strong, but different from other strong people. How should I put it… yeah. I was jealous. Of you being able to be like that. No matter how hard I try, I can’t do it, but you do it like it’s natural. So I got curious. Setting aside the powerhouse named you, what kind of person is Kyle? I wanted to know more.”
He still did not really understand. What was so special about him?
At best he trained hard, did not go around swaggering about it, did not flaunt or show off his strength, and simply treated people well.
“So, Kyle. Can I be yours? I want to know. I want to be like that too. I want to be strong like you and cool like you. If I’m next to you, I think I can watch and learn.”
The line made him want to throw his hands up in despair.
It was still a reason he could not easily grasp, but the one saying it was Yulika.
She was nothing like the rational types such as Tisha, Elga, or the Saintess.
She was a purely instinctive being, someone who would do anything as long as it made her happy.
She was drawn to strength, wanted to possess what drew her, and if she could not possess it she would rather be possessed.
That was why she showed something close to obsession toward him.
It was so firm that even if he tried to talk her out of it, there was nothing he could do.
“Your Highness.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll be clear. Right now I don’t have any particular feelings toward you.”
“I know.”
Hearing her say she already knew with such a nonchalant face only made him feel sadder. Damn it.
Don’t get soft. Harden your heart and just say what you planned to say, he told himself.
Kyle briefly organized his thoughts inside, then continued.
“To sum it up, it’s this, right? You want to become like me. You want to know about me as a person.”
“Probably. Something like that.”
“If it’s just that you’re curious about how to get strong like me, there’s no need for all this. You can simply…”
“No, it’s not that. It’s not simply wanting to get stronger or being curious about that.”
“…All right. Then for now, I won’t avoid you, Your Highness. Even if you say otherwise, I still need a little more time. But I do have a few conditions.”
“Conditions?”
This isn’t some conditional dating arrangement. What am I even doing?
Scratching his head, Kyle thought for a moment, then began listing several points.
After the first commendation ceremony in over thirty years concluded, the Fifth Princess returned.
The Emperor, who had been waiting for his daughter, sat and received her.
“You worked hard.”
At the Emperor’s words, Yulika bowed her head.
“Did you meet the boy Kyle?”
That was the real matter. Both the Emperor and the princess wanted the same thing.
“Yes, Your Majesty. I met him and we talked.”
“What did he say? That you came on too aggressively and made him uncomfortable?”
Anyone would feel that way. Even the Emperor himself, her father, understood.
She was his daughter, yet she often thought and acted in ways he simply could not comprehend.
That was probably why a beauty like her had never once managed to snare a man.
Of course, there had never been a single man Yulika herself had first taken a liking to, either.
“He said he would not avoid me.”
“Ohh.”
“But he set conditions.”
“Conditions, you say. What were they?”
“Not to suddenly try to fight him, and no talk of marriage or babies—for now, that was the gist.”
At Yulika’s words the Emperor hummed and nodded.
He had felt it before, but the young man named Kyle John Nassen seemed to have a truly kind heart.
“Do your best.”
Perhaps he might yet see the youngest son-in-law he had believed he would never meet.
The Emperor carefully allowed himself a small measure of hope.