Uninvited Guest
An impassable height to some. A sturdy forward base to others.
The Manrmursk Fortress, which had proudly displayed its might on the front lines during the recent war, now stood before Suhwa. No matter which way he turned his head, its end was nowhere in sight. Curious about the top, he looked up to find arrow slits glaring down like the feathers of a duke's bird.
'No wonder it never got breached...'
During the kingdom's days, it had never once fallen, and even now as part of the empire—and likely far into the future—it seemed unbreakable. But to the current Suhwa, it posed no problem at all.
"Halt! State your identity."
"From Utopia Prison Headquarters."
True to Manrmursk, where snow fell even in May, a soldier bundled in thick winter gear approached Suhwa and the chief clerk.
"Suhwa Romanov, vice warden of Utopia."
"Helena, chief clerk."
The soldier seemed to recognize Helena, with whom he'd interacted several times before, and waved toward the ramparts. With a heavy rumble like uprooting an ancient tree's roots, the gates creaked open.
"Identity confirmed. You may enter."
Suhwa gave a light bow to the soldier braving the cold, then strode forward. He couldn't tell if it was a salute in return or just the fur on the soldier's winter helmet fluttering in the wind.
After passing the gates, they stabled their horses and underwent a weapon check. Unlike Suhwa, who carried only a single black dagger, a veritable arsenal tumbled endlessly from Helena's person.
"Where the hell do you even keep all that?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"Pretend I didn't ask."
After surrendering her whip and crossbow as well, they headed toward the main keep. By the time a faint regret flickered in Suhwa's mind—'Should've just ridden straight there'—they had arrived.
Evidently alerted from the walls, an elderly man stood before the doors. His hair was streaked white in places, as if finely dusted with gray ash, and his face, long exposed to harsh winds, was etched with fine wrinkles. Only the sharp gaze fixed rigidly on Suhwa hinted at the old man's bygone prime.
"It's been a while, Lady Helena. Chief clerk now, are you?"
"Still as hale as ever, Sir Gustav."
The two seemed well-acquainted and genuinely pleased to reunite. Exchanging the cold region's customary greeting—clacking their boot heels together instead of a handshake—Gustav turned to Suhwa.
"A pleasure to meet you. I am Gustav, commander of the Manrmursk knights."
"Suhwa Romanov, newly appointed vice warden of Utopia. The honor is mine."
Suhwa awkwardly mimicked the boot clack, and Gustav's stern face softened slightly as he returned a impeccably courteous bow.
"So, you've finally escaped that prison and agreed to become my wife, Helena?"
Ignoring Suhwa at his side, Manrmursk Byeon Gyeongbaek gestured dramatically toward Helena. She replied without a flicker of expression, as if this were routine.
"I told you I'd consider it once all of Manrmursk's snow melts, Lord Byeon Gyeongbaek. And the place I work isn't 'prison-like'—it is a prison."
Suhwa slipped into the icy retort's gap, bowing to the lord.
"And who might you be... Ah. One of the old man's subordinates, right?"
Only now noticing Suhwa, Byeon Gyeongbaek's voice dripped with utter disinterest.
"Suhwa Romanov, vice warden of Utopia. I've long heard of your renowned authority, my lord."
"My authority? Ha! You have zero talent for flattery, kid. Ever since I took this seat, I haven't done a damn~~~ thing—literally nothing. So what authority?"
"You can't hide an icicle in your pocket forever, can you?"
If asked how to start a conversation with a noble, Suhwa would unhesitatingly answer: 'Flattery and sycophancy.' From birth to the grave, nobles drown in it endlessly. Even in an empire where titles weren't inherited without proving one's worth, this held true. So, with a new noble, latch onto any trait and praise it—true or not. They'd see you as someone versed in the 'proper etiquette of humility and exaltation.'
Just like the young man before Suhwa now: Manrmursk Byeon Gyeongbaek.
"You talk a good game. So, what brings Utopia's vice warden all the way here?"
"To pay my respects to the lord of the land where Utopia stands, the empire's great elector."
"A vice warden doesn't attend the emperor's spring banquet anyway? A quick greeting there would've sufficed—why bother?"
"A mere formality wouldn't sit right with me, my lord."
"Fine, whatever. Message received. Head to Palatium ahead of me."
With that, Byeon Gyeongbaek turned his back fully on Suhwa, gazing only at Helena as if the others didn't exist. Helena met his eyes with a soothing expression toward a child, yet utterly devoid of emotion.
"Ugh... You're the only woman who looks at me like that?"
Even boomers who constantly droned 'Back in the kingdom days...' would blanch at the line. Suhwa half-wondered if Helena had her whip, whether she'd actually crack it.
At this rate, Suhwa's purpose here would fizzle into wasted effort.
'But springing it out of nowhere feels off...'
"If you want it, Helena, the lady of Manrmursk is yours right now? Mistress of this lofty fortress! Doesn't just thinking about it make your lips curl up?"
Meanwhile, the lord's courtship grew ever more brazen, Helena's eyebrows narrowing to signal her patience's end.
"Lord Byeon Gyeongbaek, this audience should conclude. It's time to prepare."
Gustav interjected softly, a detail Suhwa had momentarily forgotten. One might expect the lord to fold neatly, but surprisingly, he backed off cleanly.
"Alright, alright. It was a joke—just a joke. Can't even speak freely with the knight commander here."
With lighter steps than all his prior antics, Byeon Gyeongbaek exited. Turning to Suhwa, who was scrambling for a way to detain him:
"What're you waiting for? You're heading to Palatium too, right? Or you got business here?"
"Pardon? Ah, well... No, nothing like that."
"Quit circling like a dog with the shits and spit it out."
Stripped of even the scrap of decorum he'd shown Helena, the crude prod from the empire's frontier lord felt almost liberatingly direct.
"Do you truly wish to go to Palatium, my lord?"
"What the hell kind of...?"
"Do you really welcome this uninvited guest crashing your domain?"
Gustav, expressionless until now, stared at Suhwa with feigned surprise. His sword arm, sworn to protect his lord, rang alarm bells: this man is dangerous.
Byeon Gyeongbaek's levity vanished too. In a voice heavy as piled snow, he addressed Suhwa.
"Consider that slip unspoken, Vice Warden Suhwa Romanov."
"No slip, my lord. I'll say it as many times as needed."
They say mirages rise in deserts. Some call it heat manifesting form. Suhwa couldn't recall precisely. Why mention it? Because behind Byeon Gyeongbaek—who'd spurned Suhwa's opening—a heat-haze aura now shimmered.
"Rumors say you're the academy's top graduate. Bookworm through and through? Your instincts are dull."
"My lord... "
"I know. Enough."
As Gustav's voice cracked like splitting logs, the lord quelled his aura. Even Helena, who'd brushed off his flirting, eyed Suhwa in shock.
"Second chances don't come cheap, vice warden. Mind your tongue at Palatium."
With that, Byeon Gyeongbaek and Gustav departed the audience chamber. Once their footsteps faded, Helena spoke.
"Didn't know you craved danger this much, Vice Warden Suhwa."
"Big risks for big rewards."
"You seem to have buttoned the first one wrong."
Unable to retort, Suhwa chuckled awkwardly and fell silent. Helena's golden hair alone shrugged in the wind.
"Maybe the buttons are off, but I still hit paydirt."
Her tone brimmed with edge, nearly slicing under Gustav's lingering gaze from behind. But when Suhwa dubbed the emperor an uninvited guest, Byeon Gyeongbaek hadn't denied it. He'd even warned to watch words before the emperor.
'Planted the seed today. That's enough. Money's in my—er, former PM Ilka's—grip anyway.'
With the gambler's reckless thought—'Borrow to win, repay with winnings'—Suhwa headed to the stables with Helena. They reclaimed their horses from the drowsy groom and reached the gate checkpoint.
As on arrival, Suhwa retrieved his single dagger. Before Helena piled whips, crossbows, and myriad hidden blades.
Watching intently to see where she'd stow them all, Suhwa blinked as:
Whoosh!
"Whoa!"
A sudden winter gale battered the Manrmursk gates. Nearby snowflakes took flight as if seizing their moment. Amid guards scrambling for fallen banners and soothing startled horses, someone tapped Suhwa's shoulder.
"Not leaving?"
Helena stared unflinchingly, unchanged from before entering—as poised as ever.
"Whoa... I mean, how the—? Right. Let's go."
Suhwa whistled inwardly as he mounted. Helena gave the tiniest smile.
Beyond the gates stretched a straight, regulation road welcoming them. To reach Palatium on Manrmursk's outskirts, they'd need to ride briskly.