The Reporter's Intrusion
I just need one minute. Just one! I only have one question to ask you.
The man who introduced himself as a reporter had a slightly manic glint in his eyes.
Honestly, he was a little scary.
One reason was that I had no experience in high society, so a gossip specialist from a yellow-press tabloid felt completely alien to me.
Maybe he specialized in undercover reporting—his small frame and shabby clothes made him look like a zombie or a ghoul as he sprinted toward me in what he probably thought was a dramatic, urgent run. It was actually quite slow.
I stumbled backward, shouting at him.
“Stay away!”
I regretted leaving behind the holy relic I’d bought during a visit to the temple with Connie. It only contained about as much divine power as a hamster’s claw, but still.
The moment I yelled at the reporter, knights appeared out of nowhere and grabbed him before he could reach me.
“What are you doing?! Let go of me!”
The reporter, now pinned face-down with his arm twisted behind his back, screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Quiet.”
But when he saw that the knight restraining him was nearly two meters tall with a massive build and a terrifyingly fierce face, he immediately clamped his mouth shut.
Once the reporter had calmed down, the hulking knight hauled him up like a sack of potatoes.
“What business do you have approaching this lady?”
The knight asked, locking eyes with him. His low, rumbling voice was incredibly threatening.
The reporter averted his gaze and made excuses.
“I only wanted to ask one question. If that’s a problem, then asking a passerby for directions must be a crime too…”
As his excuses dragged on, the giant knight’s expression grew colder and colder. The reporter, who had started off so boldly, gradually shrank until his voice was barely a whisper by the end.
Meanwhile, the female knight who had appeared with him approached me.
She smiled gently, as if to reassure me.
“Are you alright? You look quite startled.”
As she spoke, she waved frantically at the giant knight, who was still holding the reporter. It seemed she thought the knight himself might be part of what had frightened me.
“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you for helping me.”
I was still wondering if I had unconsciously activated my teleportation artifact in my panic.
The shift change for the Imperial Guard knights was still far off, and this street was awkwardly far from the palace. My heart was still racing, and I couldn’t hide the dazed look on my face.
I looked back and forth between the two knights.
The female knight smiled softly again.
“We are Helen and Morgan of the Imperial Guard. We were on our way to an assignment when we noticed someone suspicious following you. We came over just in case.”
At Helen’s words, Morgan—who had been deliberately looking anywhere but at me—gave a single nod as if to confirm it was true.
They must be busy, yet they stopped to help. What kind people.
I bowed my head once more in gratitude.
“Thank you so much.”
“We only did what we should.”
Morgan accepted my thanks in a gruff, blunt tone.
“We’ll hand this man over to the security forces.”
The moment Helen spoke, Morgan slung the reporter over his shoulder like a bag of laundry. Even though his stomach was pressed painfully against Morgan’s shoulder, the reporter still struggled and protested.
“Just because a reporter wanted to do an interview, you’re sending me to the security forces?!”
“It doesn’t look like this lady has any interest in giving you an interview.”
Helen cut the reporter off firmly.
The reporter squirmed a little more before his eyes suddenly landed on the recording magic tool in his hand. An idea seemed to strike him.
“Everything you’ve said is being recorded right now!”
The reporter shouted triumphantly.
Morgan, who had been walking toward the security station, stopped in his tracks.
“I only need to ask one question. Haven’t there been rumors lately about His Majesty the Emperor’s secret lover?”
Apparently thinking this was his golden opportunity, the reporter clung desperately to the topic.
“Whether it’s one question or two, I have no intention of answering any of them.”
At my reply, the reporter—whose core muscles must have been impressively strong—lifted his head from Morgan’s shoulder to look at me. The sight was so bizarre that I thrust both hands out in a clear gesture that I had zero interest in an interview.
“She says no.”
Helen snatched the recording magic tool from the reporter’s hand and crushed it with her grip.
“Send the bill to Helen of the Imperial Guard.”
Only then did the reporter seem to notice the Imperial Guard uniforms the two were wearing. His attitude changed completely.
“Oh… I didn’t realize you were knights of the Imperial Guard. Please forgive my rudeness.”
The reporter smiled obsequiously.
Then he went limp and let himself hang obediently over Morgan’s shoulder.
“Let’s go. Come on. It’ll probably just end with a warning anyway.”
Like a true yellow-press reporter, he seemed to have plenty of experience with this sort of thing and had already given up.
“Whether it ends with just a warning remains to be seen.”
Helen snorted.
“We’ll be on our way, then.”
Morgan turned around without another word. The reporter’s body bounced on his shoulder.
Then, as if something had caught his eye, the reporter’s gaze suddenly snapped toward me.
“That is…?”
His eyes sparkled with interest.
Edwin was in an extremely foul mood after receiving Helen’s report.
“Lock that reporter up so he can’t spread any more nonsense for the time being. Shut down his newspaper as well.”
The price for digging into the Emperor’s hidden lover and actually reaching the real Lina was the complete closure of the newspaper.
Since they had targeted Lina directly, he could no longer let it slide as leniently as before.
The nobles who had suffered at the hands of yellow-press reporters multiple times would probably cheer at the news.
But Edwin’s mood didn’t improve much.
It would be difficult to assign knights to guard Lina any longer.
After experiencing something like this, Lina would be even more wary.
If Imperial Guard knights suddenly appeared around her again to help, the clever Lina would no longer believe it was mere coincidence.
If Lina caught on, it would become a much bigger problem.
Even so, he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing when the hands digging into the rumors had already reached Lina.
Edwin’s head throbbed.
After appropriately praising Helen and Morgan and sending them away, he summoned Kylus, who had been at the Inspectorate.
“Was the Saintess positive about the debutante ball?”
It was a question that came only a few hours after he had suggested the idea, but Kylus was long used to Edwin’s whims.
He had already sent people to the detached palace, so the answer came immediately.
“Surprisingly positive. The maids assigned to her are all young noble ladies who have just come of age, so it seems they’ve instilled quite the wonderful fantasy about debutante balls.”
Harper in particular was very interested in dresses, accessories, and the latest trends in high society.
“She seemed to like the idea.”
The Saintess also understood well the necessity of a glamorous debutante ball.
Even though she knew it was a political move, she appeared secretly excited.
It was good news.
“Then we’ll begin preparations immediately.”
The moment Edwin heard that the person in question had agreed, he began expanding the scale of the project.
“Gather every famous designer in the empire.”
After all, the Saintess only had one body, and she would need at most three or four dresses for the debutante ball.
However, the act of summoning designers just to create those debutante dresses would itself become the start of drawing public attention.
“Understood.”
Even after Kylus’s reply, Edwin’s worries continued.
It was about Lina’s safety.
In truth, the artifacts she possessed already provided a minimum level of protection.
But Edwin wasn’t satisfied with that.
What he wanted was Lina’s complete and total peace of mind.
“Should I dramatically increase the number of patrol soldiers on Indar Street?”
If he couldn’t assign knights to her, he could station troops along every part of her daily route.
It would require a massive manpower commitment, but the empire had only recently ended a long war.
There were plenty of soldiers with idle hands.
Enough that the Emperor could order increased patrols for the sake of his lover’s overprotection.
But Kylus dissuaded him.
“If soldiers suddenly start swarming everywhere, won’t the people become anxious?”
Since the “people” Kylus referred to included Lina, Edwin reluctantly withdrew the idea.
“Then how about redeveloping Indar Street and relocating all the residents? Right next to the imperial palace.”
The Emperor was now talking about tearing up a perfectly fine residential area.
Kylus felt a slight stiffness in the back of his neck at the ever-growing scale of this overprotection.
“If you’re going that far, why not just bring Lina into the palace?”
Kylus stepped in for the sake of the Indar Street residents’ housing stability.
His tone was half sarcastic, but Edwin took his words seriously.
“That’s not a bad idea either.”
He looked ready to issue orders to the head of the Empress’s Palace at any moment.
“Are you finally planning to reveal everything?”
Kylus’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Probably soon?”
Thanks to Lina’s heart giving him a bit of courage, Edwin’s voice was filled with hope.
Even though there was no guarantee that Lina would marry him after he revealed his identity.