TYHL 182

~Chapter 182~

The next day.

Thanks to Borbel’s famous northern remedy, I made a spectacular comeback!

“Ha! Ha!”
I felt energy coursing through my body as I spun around the training hall for the first time in ages.

Dad still didn’t look thrilled, but Borbel and Mom had convinced him that a little exercise was good for me, so here I was—thank goodness.

‘Now the grand training hall is nothing!’

“Ha ha ha!”

Wiping the sweat from my brow, I caught sight of Grandpa and Liam in the distance, locked in a fierce debate over whose homemade energy drink was better.

“Princess!”

I spun at the sound of that familiar title.

Allen, sporting an eyepatch, had spotted me from afar and was now running straight over—he must’ve headed for the mansion the moment he arrived in the capital, not even bothering to change out of his travel clothes.

“Allen! It’s been so long!”
I dashed over, grinning, but Allen froze in his tracks.

“I’m not ‘mister,’ you know…”

“Huh?”

“I’ve never been married. I don’t have a girlfriend. Never had one, not planning on it… Ugh.”

“Wow, did something happen? Where’d you pick up all these emotional scars?”

Allen nearly spat on the ground in frustration but swallowed it back when he saw me watching.

“Listen! Try spending a month with that rough, arrogant, zero-sensitivity brat! You end up feeling like a shredded paper doll!”

“Khalid…”

I murmured his name absentmindedly.

“When is Khalid supposed to arrive?”

“Oh, a few days, maybe three or four. I came ahead because I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Allen scratched the back of his head, looking exhausted.

“You know the King and Princess of Cassalia are coming to visit Bamilon, right? He’ll probably arrive escorting them.”

“Oh, I see.”

I nodded slowly, figuring that since their paths overlapped, Cassalia must have requested the escort first.

‘So… the Cassalia princess?’

That’s the princess they lost in the war and finally found again, right?

“Seems the Cassalia royal family’s really taken a liking to him,” Allen added.

“Oh?”

“The king even sent a royal envoy—trying everything to lure him to the palace. It was… impressive, honestly.”

Allen ticked off points on his fingers, grinning.

“A title, a fief, a reward—everything you could imagine.”

“But Khalid doesn’t care for that stuff. He’d just call it a hassle.”

I laughed, wrinkling my nose.

I expected Allen to agree right away, but instead, he crossed his arms and gave me a strange look.

“Well, you never know. Things could change with this trip.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about the Cassalia princess.”

He stared right at me as he continued.

“Rumor has it she’s about your age. And, apparently, she’s stunning.”

“…And?”

How was that relevant to this conversation?

Allen leaned in, dropping his voice seriously.

“When a guy likes someone, he’ll want to impress them—one way or another.”

Someone you like…?

“Now, think about it. What’s Khalid missing? He’s got the looks, the height, the strength, the brains, the skills. What’s left?”

“He’s not exactly tall, from what I heard… Oh, personality?”

“Ding ding ding! So smart,” Allen said, wiggling his double thumbs up.

“True, but let’s be objective—what he really lacks is power. Status, you know?”

“Khalid… Why would he need status?”

He’s a Zebert knight, after all.

“Come on, if the girl you like is high-born, you’d want to be worthy of her. That’s just how guys think.”

Someone you like…

I blinked, my mind fuzzy.

“So you’re saying… Oh.”

Weird, my throat felt tight. Was I still not well? Why was my heart pounding like this?

“You think Khalid might accept a Cassalia title?”

“He might.”

“…And maybe fall for a beautiful princess on the way back?”

Allen’s lips twitched, and he couldn’t hide his laughter, though I was too busy staring at the ground to notice.

“Life’s full of surprises, Princess. You never know.”

“….”

A cold winter breeze swept through the training hall, snapping me out of my daze. I jerked my head up.

“Where…?”

For some reason, I suddenly needed to see him right now.

—

Allen watched as Ruby dashed away, finally letting out the laugh he’d been holding back.

“I never actually said anything definite, Princess. Not the subject, not the object.”

‘Hey, brat—your precious lady is on her way!’

Humming to himself, Allen started to leave—only to freeze under a deadly glare.

There they were: Lord Zebert and Young Master Liam, staring daggers from across the training grounds.

“Ahem, I’ll, uh… come back another—”

“Catch him, Liam.”

“Yes, sir.”

After that day, nobody saw Allen for a while.

Late at night, in a temporary outpost.

Khalid frowned.

“What’s going on now…”

A nosebleed, really?

He was reading a carrier pigeon message from Allen, who’d gone ahead to the capital.

‘She must be overdoing it again.’

He felt like dropping everything and running to her, but he couldn’t.

—

“The King of Cassalia has requested your escort to Bamilon. Since it’s on your way back, just rearrange the formation and accompany the delegation.”

—

Just as he was preparing to return home after the monster hunt, Cassalia’s envoy had shown up with that request.

He had every intention of refusing outright, but the emblem on his knight’s uniform made him pause.

The Zebert Knights’ crest.

As long as he wore it, he couldn’t just act like a reckless kid.

The Duke would probably just flick his forehead and say, “Who asked you to care about all that?” But… that made him all the more determined.

‘If only I could hear her voice…’

He reached out with his magic, almost by reflex, then stopped himself.

Ruby was in the capital. He didn’t want to risk her using magic, especially when she wasn’t feeling well.

On top of that, his own magic had grown so vast that connecting with Ruby’s slender magical thread now felt risky—he was afraid he’d just swallow her up.

“….”

Khalid gripped Allen’s note, exhaling quietly.

Where their magic had once intertwined like tree roots, now his immense power wrapped and clung around Ruby’s delicate magic like ivy.

‘Just like that…’

He clicked his tongue, staring at the Demon King’s emblem on the map pinned to the wall.

The world tree, wrapped in the coils of a dragon.

The world tree—symbol of wisdom. The dragon—symbol of power.

He scowled, feeling unsettled. Just then, a bell rang outside his tent.

Before he could say “come in,” the tent flap was swept aside.

“Khalid? Are you awake?”

A woman’s voice, warm and rich.

He looked up to see a woman approaching—a Cassalia princess, with tanned skin and cascading reddish-brown hair.

Sevelena.

“Wanna play cards? Do you know how?”

The trinkets on her outfit jingled with every step.

Dressed in full royal regalia, Sevelena plopped down across from Khalid as if it were the most natural thing in the world, shuffling a deck of cards the way commoners might in a pub.

“Maybe you’re too well-bred for something like this?”

“Even if I did know how to play, I wouldn’t play with you, Princess.”

“Oh my, so you do talk after all. Why not?”

Khalid only offered a faint, dismissive smile, lowering his eyes. He slowly folded Allen’s note once, twice, three times, tucking it carefully inside his jacket.

Then, just as slowly, he looked up, meeting Sevelena’s gaze.

“Is it my duty to answer your questions, Princess?”

He was being awfully brazen for someone facing royalty—if only he didn’t have such a handsome face, she would have made him kneel already.

Sevelena smiled privately.

“Well, how about this, then?”

“…”

“I mean the Zebert Duke’s youngest daughter.”

The mood changed in an instant.

Sensing the sudden chill in the air, Sevelena kept her voice steady.

“The Demon King’s ‘Seventh.’”

Khalid’s hand drifted toward his sword, blue magic flaring to life.

The Zebert Knights’ emblem meant a lot, but not as much as Ruby.

“The Demon Kingdom is making moves. Are you ready to lose her again?”

Her jungle-green eyes gleamed dangerously.