Episode 61
Even after Miel left, Jade didn’t move right away.
Troy noticed.
‘So, he’s waiting until Miel’s presence completely fades away.’
Time ticked on in the quiet night. Between them, only the sound of the gentle stream and the moonlight remained.
Neither Troy nor Jade spoke.
Eventually, Jade opened his mouth—but only after Miel’s presence had fully disappeared from the vicinity.
“Your Highness, don’t you think it’s a bit unfair?”
He spoke with a slight smirk. But Troy could tell.
Jade’s eyes weren’t smiling at all.
Even now, Jade was trying to act nonchalant. But Troy could see right through him.
‘So the Tower Master is serious too.’
It was usually hard to read Jade’s expressions. As the Master of the Tower, he rarely let his true thoughts show.
But Troy, being a Crown Prince, was no different. So he could tell just how earnest Jade really was right now.
‘Because I’m the same.’
Tower Master and Crown Prince. At a glance, their titles seemed to have nothing in common—but that wasn’t true. The weight and responsibility those titles carried made them more similar than they’d like to admit.
‘He must’ve overheard our conversation.’
Troy spoke casually, feigning indifference. His voice was flat, but his gaze was not.
‘Heh. I thought so.’
And Jade noticed too.
They were too similar—both experts at masking emotions. If one could read the other, it meant the other already knew.
Jade’s lips curled in a smile, but his eyes still lacked warmth. He continued watching Troy.
Troy spoke again, pretending nothing was wrong.
“You started listening from earlier, didn’t you?”
But his eyes betrayed him—swirling with emotions. Anger, jealousy, and an undeniable sense of rivalry.
‘So… I really do have those eyes too.’
Jade thought to himself after catching that raw emotion in Troy’s eyes.
It would be a lie to say he didn’t feel similarly.
Still calm, Jade responded as though it were nothing.
“From the moment you approached Miel and called her name.”
Their gazes met.
It was the gaze of two men recognizing each other as rivals.
Should I be relieved?
Troy inwardly sighed.
At the very least, Jade hadn’t heard the one thing Troy wanted to keep secret above all.
‘So, all he saw was me almost confessing to her.’
He hadn’t noticed Troy’s envy or longing for Jade—thankfully.
Troy didn’t mind if Jade found out about his feelings for Miel. That would eventually come to light anyway.
But envy… that, he didn’t want revealed.
So he forced himself to answer casually.
“So… what exactly do you think is unfair? I don’t quite understand.”
He asked while slowly brushing dust off his robe. Jade narrowed his brows slightly but quickly composed himself.
His smile curled gracefully—it would’ve looked beautiful to anyone else, but not to Troy.
‘Still not smiling with your eyes. …Do I look like that too?’
At least Troy knew he wasn’t smiling now. There was nothing to smile about.
“At the very least, couldn’t you have waited until the journey was over, until all the artifacts were gathered and there was no need to see her again?”
Jade’s lips curved into a sharper smirk.
Troy’s right eyebrow twitched.
“…What?”
He responded briefly—not because he didn’t understand, but because he was irritated by Jade’s tone.
Jade just shrugged.
“Well, I suppose it’s your freedom, Your Highness. But still—if you confess your feelings to Miel in a situation like this…”
The smile dropped from his lips. His voice lowered.
“She’ll be extremely uncomfortable. She can’t easily accept your feelings, nor can she reject them.”
Troy’s lips twitched. It wasn’t quite a smile—more like a cynical grin.
‘So, he really did figure it out. That I was about to confess.’
It had all happened so suddenly. He hadn’t meant to say it, but in that moment, he’d almost blurted out how he felt.
Still, he never wanted to make Miel uncomfortable.
He hadn’t said this out loud to Jade, but if Miel rejected him—if she seemed even the slightest bit uneasy around him—he was fully prepared to step away from this journey.
Even if it meant giving up the crown.
He hadn’t realized his feelings ran this deep.
But now he did.
He truly had feelings for her.
“That’s for me to decide, isn’t it?”
Troy countered, the corners of his mouth lifting just slightly.
Jade’s brow furrowed.
Troy met his gaze and continued,
“I don’t want to make her uncomfortable either. But that doesn’t mean you need to lecture me like this.”
“That’s not true. Miel is my disciple.”
Jade replied flatly.
Troy let out a soft scoff.
Disciple?
They both knew it wasn’t just that.
“That attitude of yours… it’s not how one treats ‘just’ a disciple. You know that too, don’t you?”
Troy’s voice dropped low enough for only the two of them to hear.
The smile fell from Jade’s face.
“At least I’m not making Miel uncomfortable the way you almost did.”
“Really? I didn’t say anything yet. That means I haven’t made her uncomfortable either.”
Jade raised an eyebrow. Troy was technically right.
“It’s late. I suggest you get some rest, Your Highness.”
Jade’s tone was calm, but icy.
“And don’t forget what I said. Until this journey ends, don’t burden her with your feelings.”
With that, Jade disappeared into the darkness.
Left alone, Troy quietly watched him go.
“…A burden, huh.”
He shook his head slightly.
He understood that his feelings might weigh on her.
But that didn’t mean he would just walk away.
“I have no intention of giving her up that easily.”
He let out a low sigh.
—
The next morning.
“Miel! Wake up! The weather’s lovely today!”
Koseliko chirped energetically from early morning. Miel slowly blinked open her eyes.
The familiar fabric ceiling of her tent came into view.
“Yaaawn… Coco, you’re up so early.”
She yawned and stretched as she sat up. Koseliko seemed especially lively in the forest air.
Around the same time, Troy also awoke in his tent, well-rested.
Having been through many battles, he found the magical tent surprisingly comfortable.
The one who woke up the most uncomfortably was Jade.
“Ugh… this is uncomfortable.”
He grimaced as he stretched.
As a tower-bound mage, he didn’t have much experience sleeping in tents like these.
After all, he usually lived within the Magic Tower itself.
