Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: 2nd Princess, Hedera (4)
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Magic Tower corridors.
To carry out the prosperity of the Imperial Magic Tower and block its sale, I possessed tremendous conviction in every decision I made myself.
But thinking back, I actually had a completely different problem.
The marriage proposal letter.
My relationship with Hedera wasn't just that of a princess and a Magic Tower inspector. In the past, we had even been priest and disciple, and I'd gone so far as to send her a drunken proposal letter.
What if this visit had nothing to do with the sale?
...What if Hedera's visit was because of that proposal letter?
"...".
My head hurt.
But the water was already spilled, the fire already lit.
Lost in various thoughts, I suddenly sensed a presence.
The cause was a woman staring at me from down the corridor, not hiding the slightest bit of the dragon blood possessor's intimidating aura.
I stood my ground. She approached with steady strides, accompanied by a single knight escort.
At some point, the distance between us closed until we were within arm's reach, and that's when the movement stopped.
"It's been a while."
A restrained tone. She was the one who broke the silence first.
She had changed a lot, but she was still beautiful.
Jet-black hair like the night, and a mask covering her mouth. The only part of her face visible was her eyes, but their jewel-like crimson sparkle was incomparable to anything else.
"Yeah, it's been a while."
This woman was Hedera, the Empire's 2nd Princess.
Proficient in Word Command and Dragon Word based on her dragon blood, she was a woman who might one day become the Empire's emperor.
That's when I sensed a massive wave of killing intent.
At first, I thought it was coming from Hedera, but fortunately, it wasn't.
The source was the knight escort standing like a statue beside her.
His face hidden by a helmet, he had already placed his hand on his sword hilt, as if ready to strike me down at any moment.
I ignored it.
Feeling threatened by a mere escort knight? Never.
"Have you been well? Or rather, what have you been up to?"
Hedera asked in an extremely restrained tone.
Not just a simple greeting, but a question about what I'd been doing.
It was a question that was very hard for me to answer honestly.
—This operation is classified.
—No one but you and I should know.
—Your fallen squad members... they left behind quite a few bereaved families.
—At least they should live, right? You understand?
I couldn't reveal the mission I'd carried out back then.
His Imperial Majesty had eliminated everyone who knew the truth except for me, and even if Hedera was his daughter, she wouldn't be an exception.
However, it wasn't just for Hedera's safety.
—Ah... Captain...
—Our names... please tell us someday...
—I promise.
Because I'd made that promise with my squad members that day.
They were the core of my life, so I never forgot that promise. Even if it was to reveal the truth across the entire continent someday, it was too soon to tell anyone now.
To deliver a single fatal thrust, you have to hone the blade in utter silence. No one can discover the process, and sometimes you even have to deceive yourself.
That's how grand missions are. That's how revenge is.
So, for now, brushing off Hedera's words was the best course.
"Just the usual. Ordinary days."
It was the best answer, but Hedera's eyebrow twitched.
Complex emotions flickered over her eyes. How could he answer so easily when she'd asked so carefully? It was plain to see.
She seemed to opt for a direct confrontation.
"Do you remember the game we played last time?"
Hide and seek. Of course I did.
"You never found me in the end."
I nodded quietly.
Hedera's obsession back then had been beyond imagination.
While His Imperial Majesty held the Demon King in place, the mission was to close the Demon Realm Gate. No matter where I went, Hedera clung to me fiercely, so hide and seek was the best excuse to shake her off.
With no response from me, Hedera let out a sigh.
Shrustle—
She quickly gathered the bundle of documents in her hand.
Then she pulled out a small piece of paper tucked between them, one whose identity I could immediately recognize even from afar. The marriage proposal letter I'd written and sent with my own hand.
"Why did you send this letter?"
"...".
But this was something I couldn't explain for entirely different reasons.
I wrote it drunk on impulse. No way could I say that.
Our reunion was long overdue, and there were even massive circumstances I hadn't mentioned.
...But for that reunion to stem from a drunken letter?
Hedera pressed for an answer.
"Do you have no intention of answering?"
It was clear that blurting out the truth would lead to disaster. Right now, my best move was to throw the question back at her.
"Why are you asking?"
"...Hmm."
Hedera furrowed her brow slightly.
A face that couldn't comprehend why I was countering with a question.
Well, what would it feel like to receive a proposal letter and then have the sender refuse to explain why?
Still, she continued in her restrained tone.
"You once told me this: 'Always do your best in front of me.'"
Hedera's red eyes glared at me.
"That's why I'm doing my best to ask right now. Why did you send this letter? And did you really write it yourself?"
Countless thoughts raced through my mind.
First, I couldn't tell her the real reason.
Several plausible excuses came to mind, but I didn't want to deceive Hedera with shallow lies. My very life was a victim of the falsehoods created by the Imperial Family.
After thinking it over, I finally said this.
"...The reason isn't that important."
At that, the black pupil in Hedera's red eyes slit vertically like a reptile's. From behind her mask came the sound of her grinding her teeth.
"It's true I wrote it, but I can't tell you the reason yet."
"Ha...".
In the end, Hedera let out a hollow laugh.
No, it was hard to call it a laugh. More like a sigh.
Disappointment directed at herself, as if even expecting something from me felt pathetic. A sense of "Of course." I couldn't even begin to fathom the complex swirl of her emotions.
"As expected, the past gets overly romanticized."
A dry tone, like brittle leaves about to crumble.
"I meant nothing to you, and now you're after a position in the Imperial Family... Yes. Now I understand perfectly. Good thing, too. At least from now on, I can live without clinging to distorted hopes."
Hedera crumpled the letter and tucked it into her bosom.
"I'm leaving."
Those were her last words, and Hedera walked past my shoulder down the corridor.
Click. Click. Only the steady sound of her high heels echoed through the hall at regular intervals.
Click— Click—
The girl who had once stood frozen in place for days in the distant past had grown into a woman who could boldly declare she was leaving and walk away.
A heartwarming growth, but at the same time, I knew.
I couldn't just let Hedera go like this.
"Hedera."
I called the 2nd Princess by her true name.
Even though she must have heard me clearly, she didn't stop. There was no hesitation in her advancing steps.
"I haven't finished speaking yet."
Only then did she halt.
Still facing away from me, but I could understand what it meant for Hedera to stop. She would hear me out.
"Saying the reason isn't important means there's something else that actually is."
With that, Hedera started walking again.
Click— Click—
As if my following words weren't even worth anticipating, as if she would dismiss whatever I said as an excuse... she walked on like that.
I chased after her with longer strides.
And the moment our distance closed.
Whoosh—!
I seized her pale wrist and turned her body toward me.
At the same time, a gleaming white blade rushed toward my throat.
Clanggg—!
The knight escort had drawn swiftly, but a hastily improvised sword strike couldn't cleave through the ice barrier I'd swiftly erected. Surprise emanated from the tip of the knight's blade.
I slowly parted my lips.
"That letter..."
A sentiment bolstered by drink's power, yet not a lie.
The one phrase I could still utter without hiding.
The one phrase that wouldn't deceive Hedera.
"At the very least... it was sincere."
Right then, Hedera and the knight escort froze simultaneously.
The corridor fell silent as the heel clicks ceased.
Gazes meeting in midair, facing each other.
The moment my blue eyes mingled with the dragon's crimson pupils.
In that bizarre gap where time and space seemed momentarily seized.
I still held her wrist.