Chapter 20
As night fell, Freya curled up in the corner.
The air was growing colder.
Sleeping inside the tent was better than outside, but the chill rising from the ground seeped into her skin and bones.
Cold and hunger were familiar experiences throughout her life—they weren’t new.
But why does it feel so unsettling this time?
She had lived through sixteen birthdays.
“Adulthood…”
If she had been born the daughter of a noble she once saw on the street, she would have worn a luxurious dress and held a coming-of-age ceremony.
But Freya, having reached adulthood, was wearing rags stained with blood.
Unintentionally, she remembered someone’s face.
Lips strikingly red, eyes blue like a lake.
Earlier, when Lucius had draped the cloak over her shoulders, she hadn’t been able to push his hand away because of those long lashes.
They were so beautiful.
It had been a long time since she’d seen lashes that exquisite.
She caught a familiar scent from a man she had no connection to Luz with.
All of this was because of Archer—he had talked about Lucius all night long.
Even during dinner, Archer went on and on about Lucius’s achievements until her ears ached.
Anyway, saving Lucius—the man Archer respected—was a good thing.
Despite the misunderstandings and annoying moments, these things weren’t unfamiliar to her.
* * *
Lucius sat before a table covered in maps, his expression serious.
He had to crush the groups attacking the border quickly.
“The longer I stay here, the stronger Hart becomes.”
The crown should have been his long ago.
If it weren’t for Milady, who dethroned his mother, and her son.
“No—I would be remiss if I forgot my dear father.”
Lucius glared with eyes bloodshot with rage.
All the problems started with his father.
His father knew the injustice young Lucius suffered and ignored it.
“Even when I felt my life was in danger…”
Just thinking about it made his blood boil and his body tremble.
He breathed harshly and tried to calm his anger.
There were wolves waiting for any sign of weakness.
He roughly ran both hands through his blond hair, and an unwanted face appeared in his mind.
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
“Do I look alright to you?”
Hero bowed to Lucius, who was scowling in his chair.
“Where is your savior? Why are you alone?”
“Hero, I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
Hero shrugged and spoke cautiously.
“The poison is still in your body. Don’t overexert yourself.”
“Is that something a great mage says?”
“I apologize.”
Hero placed a new medicine on the table and sighed.
Lucius took it without a word.
Hero noticed his unusually serious expression.
“If there were a mage better than me to serve you…”
Hero, the same age as Lucius, came from a family that produced great mages.
He was supposed to be assigned to serve the heir of the empire after coming of age.
“I didn’t know conspiracies were waiting for me when I chose you before adulthood.”
Magic was an innate power, but learning to use it took time.
Shortly after Hero began serving Lucius, his master’s life was put in danger.
“I won’t be able to protect you with my current strength.”
So he gave young Lucius an incomplete magical medicine.
It was the best option.
Lucius transformed from a strong youth into a frail boy, and his ruby-blue eyes turned light green.
<Hide now. I’ll come to serve you.>
Lucius’s hand had trembled as he held the vial.
While Lucius was gone, Hero tirelessly developed medicines, but he never produced a perfect antidote.
<All of this is because of my lack of ability.>
When he gave Lucius the medicine again, he suffered from fever for days.
The medicine worked—Lucius returned to his original appearance.
But everything had side effects.
Lucius was never particularly warm, but his face became as cold as the winds at the peak of Mount Albi.
He suffered from nightmares and uncontrollable fits of rage.
He changed so much.
<I will kill Milady and Hart with my own hands.>
Watching him suffer was painful.
The incomplete antidote had another problem.
Lucius regained his appearance, but he lost all memories of the period he spent in hiding.
Hero knew of Lucius’s life during that time only through brief letters.
Hero looked at Lucius as he wiped his mouth with a napkin and spoke cautiously.
“Your Highness, do you remember the southern Idelion family?”
“Count Banderas, the one who amassed wealth through trade?”
“His second daughter, Selena, will be coming to the battlefield.”
Lucius frowned.
A count’s daughter in a place like this?
“Has it started again?”
“Though you don’t want it, it’s necessary.”
Lucius, the crown prince and heir to the empire, had not taken a fiancée even at twenty.
Meanwhile, Hart—the one aspiring to the throne—was negotiating with the daughter of a powerful duke.
“You have the battlefield and public opinion on your side, but most nobles are loyal to Hart.”
“Hero, am I being too greedy?”
Despite his determination, he sometimes felt exhausted.
Giving up the throne might solve everything.
“Your Highness, please take that back.”
Gemini, who had been standing like a statue, knelt with a serious face.
“Gemini, stand up.”
Lucius wanted to leave, but he couldn’t.
“I’m not alone.”
Milady would show no mercy to anyone who stood by his side.
“I apologize, Your Highness.”
“Hero, I want to delay the meeting with the Idelion daughter as long as possible.”
“But, Your Highness…”
Lucius raised his hand, cutting Hero off, as he fastened his blue silk robe.
“And I haven’t mentioned yet…”
“What?”
“I sent my savior away empty-handed.”
“If that’s the case, Gemini and I will take care of it.”
“Does it make sense to treat my savior like that?”
Lucius smiled with a charm that could make women scream.
Hero and Gemini exchanged surprised glances at this sudden change.
* * *
“Freya, you look like a raccoon today.”
Archer laughed when he saw Freya carrying breakfast.
She frowned, annoyed by his comment.
“A raccoon for a lady?”
“Lady? That’s hilarious!”
Archer laughed while biting into sausages, his beard glistening with grease.
“I didn’t sleep well.”
Freya pressed under her eyes.
She had thought all night and only fell asleep at dawn.
She felt scattered and her eyes ached.
“You and lack of sleep? Even dogs would laugh.”
“Archer, stop!”
Freya grabbed a piece of firewood and ran toward him.
“Surprise attack?”
Archer threw his food aside and took a serious stance.
Despite trying, Freya couldn’t overcome the stronger Archer.
She gave up after he grabbed her wrist.
“You little mouse, you need a million years to beat me.”
Suddenly, they heard a strange sound at the tent entrance.
“Am I interrupting a fun moment?”
Archer and Freya froze and straightened immediately.
Archer tensed when he saw Lucius.
“Your Highness Lucius!”
Archer knelt and pulled Freya down with him to bow.
“It is a tremendous honor for you to visit this humble place.”
Freya was shocked by Archer’s unusual seriousness.
“Did you hear that the girl beside you saved me?”
Archer nodded, sweating.
“Yes, it is a great honor.”
“I was confused yesterday, so I didn’t reward her properly.”
Archer half-rose, shaking his head irritably.
“How can you say that? It was duty.”
Archer looked like he might faint.
He had asked me about the reward, and now he says it was duty?
Freya frowned at Archer’s hypocrisy.
She hadn’t expected him to speak out of both sides of his mouth.
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