“Lo-Lord Sisou?”
Anya looked to the opposite side with a flustered face. Sisou swept up his tousled blond hair and carelessly threw the meat skewer he was holding in one hand onto the ground. His eyes blazed with fury, revealing undisguised hostility toward Bluoa.
“What are you doing right now? Lord Shonda of Runfield.”
Bluoa raised both hands high and took a step back from Anya. He spoke with a languid smile, as if placating children.
“The Imperial Prince was far more attractive to men than I thought.”
Anya, who was actually hearing this, wasn’t bothered at all, but for some reason Sisou flew into a rage.
“What are you…! Even if you’re the Duke of Runfield, if you humiliate Tildyen’s lady of the house, we may not hesitate to go to war between territories.”
Rather than Bluoa’s mockery that wasn’t quite mockery, those words from Sisou made Anya jump. What Bluoa said was nothing compared to the insulting remarks other imperial princes would casually throw at him for entertainment.
“St-stop it. Lord Sisou.”
Anya restrained Sisou. He’d heard that Sisou, like Evernight, was from the North. Though he didn’t know the detailed circumstances of his background, people from Tildyen had either high pride in their roots or strong inferiority complexes. Rather, Evernight was extremely calm in comparison.
“Young knight of Tildyen. Compose yourself. I was giving a compliment. I wasn’t insulting your lady of the house.”
The word ‘young’ unfortunately only further provoked Sisou’s anger. Sisou growled with fierce eyes.
“I’m not young. And how is that crap a compliment!”
“St-stop it!”
Anya, standing between them, raised his voice. Sisou’s eyes, which had been just about to grab Bluoa by the collar, widened in surprise. Bluoa whistled softly. The duke was still looking at Anya with interested eyes.
“Lo-Lord Sisou. I’m fine. Please re-refrain from causing any more commotion.”
This was the imperial palace. A terrible place where even an imperial prince could be poisoned to death without anyone knowing. If they caused conspicuous behavior in such a place, it would be more than enough to put Tildyen in a predicament. Nevertheless, seeing Sisou’s surprised eyes made him feel bad somewhere in his heart. Anya forced the corners of his mouth up and grasped Sisou’s hem.
“Duke of Ru-Runfield. We’ll be ta-taking our leave now.”
Perhaps he’d become unconsciously tense from the standoff, as he’d been feeling an uncomfortable foreign sensation in his lower abdomen since earlier. It was a sensation he’d never felt before. Compared to the wounds he’d received climbing cliffs or during training, it was only a very mild pain, but it was somehow more ominous and unpleasant. Anya instinctively brought his hand to his belly.
“……”
Bluoa kept watching without withdrawing his gaze until Anya dragged Sisou out of the maze. The prince’s hand was touching the area around his belly.
“When a crisis situation strikes, the first instinct of a parent is to protect their bloodline.”
He flopped back down on the grass and looked at the blue sky. Bluoa wiggled his feet and hummed. The imperial palace journey he’d thought would be boring had become quite enjoyable.
“Your Imperial Highness.”
“……”
Sisou followed Anya restlessly, like a large dog being dragged away by its owner after causing trouble. Anya walked quickly ahead of Sisou without saying anything. The prince who had always seemed like a gentle younger brother to him was acting so bluntly, so Sisou finally began rambling excuses.
“Your Imperial Highness, are you angry with me? I know I’m hot-blooded. But when that slippery bastard dares to insult Tildyen’s lady of the house, how could I stay still? When he dares to make such remarks, how could I just…”
Sisou stopped talking and glanced sideways at Anya. The usually gentle face looked particularly dark and cool today. What could be wrong? He became worried.
“Of course, I know I was hasty. But my body reflexively jumped out…”
“It’s… it’s fine. I know you did that thi-thinking of me.”
Anya finally stopped walking and turned to Sisou with a small sigh.
“But this is the imperial palace, so we must be ca-careful not to create disputes.”
“Yes…”
Sisou, usually full of mischief, answered in a deflated voice. It wasn’t like Sisou. Anya knew better than anyone that this brotherly knight was genuinely worried about him. Sisou was none other than the senior knight of Tildyen who had been the only one to take his side when everyone took Rips Mohan’s side. Moreover, he was the first to teach him horseback riding and introduced him to the blacksmith Ban. If he hadn’t helped, he wouldn’t have been able to adapt to Tildyen. Anya’s heart softened with emotion.
‘Because I was spending all my attention on Lord Evernight’s words… I vented my anger in the wrong place.’
How was it that as time passed, his relationship with Evernight didn’t become easier but only felt increasingly difficult? He and I truly…
“Yes, Your Imperial Highness. It’s all my fault. Karen always warned me that my fiery temper would cause trouble someday…”
Sisou’s voice crawled deeper and deeper into a tunnel. Feelings of guilt toward him surged up.
‘Let’s not drag feelings about Lord Evernight into other matters.’
Anya resolved inwardly and grabbed Sisou, who was spinning around him in a flustered manner.
“No-no. I was actually happy that Lord Sisou got an-angry on my behalf.”
“Really?”
At those words, the simple-natured man’s face quickly regained color. Anya reluctantly smiled along and nodded.
“But where were you heading?”
Instead of leaving, Sisou stuck right next to Anya and spoke up energetically. Thanks to that, the gloomy atmosphere was quickly ventilated.
Though curious about why Sisou was here instead of with Evernight, Anya didn’t ask. He had to make an effort not to think of Evernight, even consciously.
“The tra-training grounds.”
“Huh?”
Sisou looked at Anya as if seeing a new person. As he said, the Haebing was firmly attached to Anya’s waist.
He’d completely forgotten, but Anya was the first person besides Evernight to pass Sabelli’s training.
‘I almost died following Sabelli before… how did the Imperial Prince pass?’
Sisou became curious about Anya’s swordsmanship. Unlike when he first came to Tildyen, Anya had definitely changed somehow. His height, which had only reached his shoulder, had grown considerably and now came up to his neck, and though his waist was straight and his neckline slender and neat-looking, he didn’t look soft at all because of his warm and gentle eyes.
Now that he realized it, those things struck his eyes very intensely.
“Shall I be your sparring partner?”
Once he became conscious of it, curiosity bloomed uncontrollably. Sisou proposed enthusiastically.
“You haven’t practiced sparring with anyone yet, have you?”
“I ha-have with Master Sabelli.”
Though he answered that way, Anya suddenly became curious. Just how far could he fight? Even if not up to Sisou’s level, if he could display swordsmanship to some degree, Evernight would definitely acknowledge him without his current anxiety. That man was a lord who willingly acknowledged visible results.
“Will you try it with me this time?”
Buppu, who had been leading the way and eavesdropping on their conversation, pricked up his ears in surprise. Buppu had never once heard a story or rumor about a lady of a territory sparring with their own knight.
“Al-alright.”
Nevertheless, for the first time today, color returned to the prince’s face, which had been deathly all day. It was strange, but Buppu decided to quietly guide them. They soon followed Buppu and arrived at the northern training grounds.
“This worked out well. The Eos Castle soldiers’ morning training just ended, so the training grounds are completely empty!”
Unlike Tildyen Rock’s training grounds, Eos Castle’s training grounds had green grass sprouting here and there instead of slushy snow on the ground. Around the perimeter were cool shadows created by the green leaves of well-trimmed, magnificent trees. In many ways, for a place for rough training, the atmosphere was unusually bright.
“My lady. I’ll go prepare drinks and refreshments.”
“Yes, please do.”
Anya looked excited. Only then did Buppu smile along and bow his head. As Buppu withdrew, Anya and Sisou each walked in opposite directions from each other and took their stances.
“Is it alright to use real swords?”
“Of course.”
Anya answered while drawing the Haebing. Anya turned his wrist and skillfully spun the translucent blade around once. Far from being awkward, it was very natural. Sisou also drew his sword.
Anya vaguely knew what Tildyen’s soldiers would say about him. Sisou’s nickname for his fast swordsmanship was Falcon’s Sword. His heart pounded. The Haebing also seemed to sense its master’s feelings, somehow trembling.
“Don’t hold back.”
Anya didn’t forget to ask Sisou just in case. Sisou burst out laughing and raised his sword high.
“I’m someone who couldn’t even endure Sabelli’s training and ran away.”
Sisou shot forward like an arrow and swung his sword widely at Anya.
‘Fast.’
But not so much that he couldn’t block it. Anya lightly blocked Sisou’s sword. The Haebing, a type of rapier sword, deflected Sisou’s sword as if gently parting water with one’s hand. Sisou’s eyes widened slightly.
‘Unusual… swordsmanship.’
Sisou let out pure admiration inwardly.
