Chapter 113
My body, which had been between Cassian’s legs, touched him for a moment before falling away.
Cassian muttered.
“I told you, it’s not that strange that Arden has a fiancée…”
“That doesn’t mean Arden is His Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince!”
That and this are completely different things!
“No wonder!”
The embarrassment I felt when I saw Arden perched on the Crown Prince’s office desk came flooding back.
“No wonder, no wonder, no wonder!”
My hands trembled as I held Cassian’s face.
“The guy’s glowing with good health!”
He doesn’t seem to eat particularly well, he buys heaps of handkerchiefs, and yet he doesn’t seem to care much about his appearance—but he always looks flawless!
Of course! He’s royalty!
The experts are always around to make sure he’s taken care of!
“The boarding house room is empty too! He definitely lives here, but there’s barely anything in the room!”
“Did you go to Arden’s room?”
I ignored Cassian’s useless question in the middle of this.
Looking back, I could list more than one suspicious thing about Arden.
“No wonder! He’s too involved in everything for just a knight!”
So even if he got on the wrong side of his superiors and got fired, he had somewhere to go!
“His parents must be alive, but he’s never gone to see them, and they’ve never come to see him!”
They didn’t even come to the academy graduation!
On graduation day, the only ones whose parents didn’t come were me and Arden! Even my own parents were there, right? Well, maybe they were invisible spirits!
“It’s because it’s His Majesty the Emperor and his consort!”
No wonder he had so many secrets!
“The moment he decided to catch the Magical Saint, he was immediately appointed a special investigator!”
He appointed himself!
Isn’t that corruption?!
“And! And!”
I shouted the most decisive evidence.
“Despite acting like that in society, he’s still alive and well!”
It was because he was the Crown Prince!
Cassian muttered in front of my indignation.
“If Arden heard what you just said, he’d probably cry…”
Sigh.
I couldn’t believe it.
I held my forehead.
Arden.
He was the Crown Prince.
And all this time, when I worried about his money or future, he stayed quiet.
I remembered all the reckless things I’d said to him without knowing he was the Crown Prince, and my face burned.
‘How long do you think you’ll stay young and healthy? Save for your old age. Think of the money I earn now as something I’ll share with old me sixty years from now.’
‘…’
‘Your parents are alive, right?’
‘Isn’t this too much?’
‘Too much?’
‘This dress.’
‘Don’t spend all your money on clothes and handkerchiefs. Save half, invest in promising associations or guilds, and join a pension plan. Got it?’
I’m the one struggling just to pay off debts without even having a pension.
What would Arden have thought seeing me giving such clumsy advice and worrying?
And that’s not all.
‘The Crown Prince seems meticulous and kind.’
“…”
‘How old is he again? About three years older than me?’
I feel like I’ve complimented Arden several times in front of him.
…Surely I didn’t mention in front of Arden that if the Crown Prince were ugly, I’d steal his wallet, right?
“Uuuuuu…”
I covered my forehead.
“Uuuuuuu…”
So embarrassing…
What else did I say? And what did Arden say to me?
As I recalled everything, suddenly…
“…If you’re rude, corporal punishment. It was Arden.”
Muttering this, Cassian blinked.
“What law?”
“It’s stressful, so put on your clothes first.”
He stepped aside and took Tofu off his lap.
While stroking the animal to soothe my shocked mind, I continued, running my hands over Tofu’s head and back.
“If you were rude, corporal punishment. A law where if someone is rude to a shopkeeper, they get whipped. Arden made that law.”
He saw how I was treated by Ms. Isabelle’s family and made a safeguard so I’d never go through that again.
“I bet Arden also arranged for me to have a lawyer through the headmaster of the regular school so I could sue Ms. Isabelle.”
Not maybe, definitely.
The lawyer had experience with the royal court.
The fairy helping me all along was Arden.
‘Anyway, don’t cry. I’ll take care of it.’
He kept his promise to help me, even when I couldn’t appreciate it…
“…”
Why is my heart suddenly pounding?
I pressed below my collarbone and continued.
“The person who arranged for the ball to start according to my finishing work hours was also Arden.”
‘A gift for the ladies attending today, from His Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince.’
He also gave me a new quill at the ball when my quill broke.
“When he was sulking at the opening of Everland amusement park…”
The event he planned for the empire’s children turned into “You can’t overcome class” and he got depressed.
“…No wonder at that time he told the Magical Saint, ‘I’ll let it slide by my authority.’”
He was using his own authority!
‘Wait a moment. I’ll ask His Imperial Highness.’—he closed his eyes and asked himself internally?
“No wonder! Just today, he tried to drag me to the Emperor’s office to avoid a bomb!”
I refused to go, and he couldn’t understand!
He probably thought it would be fine! It’s my mom’s room!
“Wait, wait! So Cassian, when you said Arden’s parents are scary!”
I pointed at Cassian as he buttoned his shirt.
“It’s because it’s His Majesty the Emperor and his consort?!”
Gah!
“He tricked me!”
I protested to Cassian.
Cassian protested too.
“Arden tricked you. Why are you mad at me?”
“I can understand Arden tricking me.”
We weren’t that close when we first met.
It was nothing but an academy senior-junior relationship, so if he revealed ‘I’m the Crown Prince,’ there would be no reason to hide his identity while attending school.
Since he lied at first, I understand why he couldn’t reveal it until now.
“And leaving that aside…”
I wasn’t even mad.
“But you, Cassian, are different. I feel betrayed.”
“How discriminatory.”
Ouch, that hurt.
I ignored Cassian’s grumbling again.
“Who knows Arden is the Crown Prince?”
Surely not everyone except me?
If so, I glared at Cassian as if to flip everything upside down.
Surely you don’t know either? I shook Tofu’s front paw, but he lazily pulled it back and went back to sleep.
Cassian said,
“Almost no one. Me, Arden’s aide, the head of the royal knights…”
“Wow, he really hid it thoroughly.”
“Gotta do it properly if you do it.”
“That’s true.”
I’m not exactly in a position to talk either. I’m hiding that I’m the Magical Saint.
Of course!
I’m hiding it because I might end up in prison!
“Which is more fatal: hiding that you’re the Magical Saint, or hiding that he’s the Crown Prince?”
I toyed with Tofu’s paw, lost in thought.
Seeing me like that, Cassian asked with a puzzled expression.
“Will you reveal it to Arden?”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“Wouldn’t that violate the contract? My Magical Saint contract with you.”
“There’s no such clause in the contract.”
That’s a relief.
“Actually, there’s nothing for me to reveal anyway. Arden seems to have half guessed it already.”
But…
“I still have to deny it to the end. Because…”
I don’t want to go to prison.
If I have a criminal record, I can’t become a civil servant.
No matter who Arden is, I can’t reveal my identity.
♡☆♧You all know, I’m struggling♡☆♧
♡☆♧I have to make a living♡☆♧
♡☆♧I can’t risk my future♡☆♧
♡☆♧Unless Arden swears he’ll never reveal my identity♡☆♧
“The city guards haven’t seen my face properly. Only Arden has seen me face-to-face… if I keep denying it, he can’t do anything.”
My appearance as Sena, the Magical Saint, is completely different from now.
Transform! Transform! I’ll threaten him with a cicada or something if I have to.
“…Then the only thing left is repairing my battle outfit.”
Can I just sew it with regular thread and a needle? I asked Cassian.
“There should be a record in the temple library. I’ll find out.”
“Good. Then, until it’s repaired…”
Anyway, I can still use magic. I’ll wear my hood over my head.
“Cassian, you should rest too. You’ve worked hard today.”
That brat Skeeter will stay tied here—I’ll come get him tomorrow.
I gestured toward the unconscious Skeeter, who had tried to wake up a moment ago.
As usual, I was about to leave through the window.
Eh, whatever, I headed for the door.
Stretching as I left the main temple gate, I thought,
“Good thing I don’t have work tomorrow…”
Even while contributing to justice, I can’t help but think about going to work tomorrow…
I, the Magical Saint woman, lowered my arms after stretching.
And just then—
I ran straight into Arden entering through the main temple gate.
“…”
“…”
The words came out the moment we saw each other.
“…Senior, are you the Magical Saint?”
“…Arden, you are His Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince?”
