Chapter 30
I Don’t Want to Leave…
“Eh? Are you taking that to the Marquis?”
“Oh my, Sir Hermes. Yes, this is chaga mushroom tea for the Marquis.”
As Himena lingered around the office, wondering how she might get a proper chance to face Kylian, she spotted a maid carrying a tea tray and hurried over.
“Perfect! I’ll take it in for you. The vice-captain is inside too, right?”
“Oh, really? Yes, the vice-captain asked for it earlier.”
“Then I’ll bring it in. I just happened to be on my way to see the Marquis. Hehe.”
“All right, then I’ll leave it to you. Thank you.”
Himena cracked the office door open and put on a nasal voice.
“Marquis~ I brought you some teeea.”
“Mm. Leave it there and go.”
Kylian was deep in serious conversation with Weill in front of his desk, so he didn’t notice her come in.
‘Hehe, I’ll give him a little scare.’
With a mischievous grin, she tiptoed toward the table.
“How did this happen? Lady Himena is to marry the Prince?”
‘…Huh? What?’
Just as she was about to set down the teacup, Himena froze, thinking she must have misheard.
“Yes, Captain. Prince Diego proposed to Lady Silvester, and she accepted.”
Crash!
“Hmm?”
Startled by the loud shattering of porcelain, both men turned around.
“Wh… what did you just say?”
“…Hermes.”
Himena and Kylian’s eyes met in uneasy shock.
“Hermes! What are you doing?! Sneaking into the Captain’s office without permission?”
At Weill’s scolding, the flustered Himena hastily gathered the broken pieces onto the tray.
“I-I’m sorry… I only meant to bring tea… I’ll clean it right away. Ow!”
“Hermes!”
Kylian rushed to her side.
Blood dripped from her left index finger, sliced by a shard of porcelain.
“Damn it! Weill, fetch some medicine.”
“…Yes, sir.”
The moment Weill left, still displeased, Kylian took Himena’s finger into his mouth, sucking the blood away.
“M-Marquis…”
Then he quickly bound the finger with his handkerchief to staunch the bleeding.
“Ha… you never let me take my eyes off you.”
“I’m sorry, Marquis. I’m so clumsy…”
Seeing her apologetic, dazed expression made Kylian’s chest heavy.
‘The Duke’s doing, no doubt. Himena is right here, and yet he accepted the proposal without even asking his daughter’s will…’
“Do you want to see it?”
“…What?”
“The letter. It claims to be from Lady Himena Silvester.”
Kylian rose and showed her a letter lying on his desk.
“Wh-why are you showing that to me…?”
“Well… you looked so shocked at the news just now. I wondered if you knew something.”
“A-ah… right…”
Himena didn’t take the letter, only glanced at it quickly.
“Looks like I misheard. Haha. Thought it was a name I knew, but it wasn’t. Sorry, Marquis. I’ll be going now…”
Mumbling excuses, she hurried out of the office.
Kylian, left staring down at the letter he had offered her, let out a troubled sigh.
“Haa…”
“Damn that old man, I swear! What? Marrying the Prince? Who gave him the right? Using my name to forge letters? Has he lost his mind?!”
Back in her quarters, Himena fumed, unable to calm down, her head a storm of thoughts.
“Hell, what’s happening now? Diego… the third prince? Why’s he suddenly stepping in at this point? Wait… in the novel, what role did Diego even play?”
She racked her brain.
In the story, Diego had barely any presence.
When Crown Prince Felix was implicated as the mastermind behind an assassination attempt on Kylian during the Subjugation Tournament, Emperor Xenos plotted to depose Felix and crown Diego instead. Diego responded by leading a rebellion. That was his only arc.
A minor prince who eventually got massacred by Kylian.
“And now he’s suddenly proposing? He wasn’t even a supporting character, more like a cameo! Something’s seriously wrong. The story is changing completely. At this rate, even I—who knows the future—might not be able to stop it. What do I do? How do I fix this?”
At first, she’d only tried to avoid her novel fate: obsessing over Kylian, scheming, then dying miserably in prison. But somehow things had gotten tangled beyond repair.
“Calm down, Himena. Don’t panic. Think this through.”
Diego’s proposal had to be purely political. She had no real connection to him.
Which meant only one thing:
“He’s after power! He wants to use our family’s wealth and military to crush the Crown Prince and take the throne! Felix is so inept even Emperor Xenos despises him!”
Since Himena never trapped Kylian into an engagement with the stair incident, the Silvester family had become like a free agent on the marriage market. And because of Himena’s bizarre behavior since transmigrating, no suitors had dared step forward. So the Prince and the Duke jumped in, forging a contract without her consent.
“If Diego marries me, gains our family’s backing, and strikes Felix first… gasp! The whole story will change!”
Originally, Felix would rebel against Emperor Xenos during the monster hunt incident, and Kylian would use the chaos to overthrow the Emperor. But if Diego acted first, removing Felix, Kylian’s plans would be thrown into chaos.
Even if he made a new plan, if Himena became royalty, the Silvester family would inevitably oppose Kylian—war would be unavoidable.
So what could she do?
“What else? I’ll go smash the whole thing to pieces! They’re all dead!”
Eyes blazing, she stormed toward Royce’s barracks to head back to Caraphedon.
“Hey, Roy—no, Rolex! Come with me right now—”
“Hahaha! Yes, sir! Thank you, seniors. I’ll do my best!”
She stopped short.
Seeing Royce laughing with the other knights, enjoying his time, reminded her that none of this had anything to do with him.
‘Right… I started this mess. Royce finally joined the knight order he always dreamed of… he’s not even my personal knight anymore. I don’t have the right to drag him into this.’
Her fury cooled, her steps turning back.
‘I’ll go alone. I’m dressed as a man anyway. I don’t need protection. I’m a knight myself now—well, unofficially, since I haven’t been granted a title yet. I’ll just claim my parents are ill to get leave.’
But just as she turned toward her quarters, she froze.
‘Leave…? Leave…’
The word made her realize she no longer knew where she truly belonged.
She had come here only to observe Ines’s identity, but found herself far more at ease and happy here than she’d ever been at the Ducal house.
‘…I think I’ve grown attached to this place.’
With a wistful smile, Himena trudged back to her quarters.
“What? Hermes left for her hometown? When?”
“Just now. She rode off in a hurry, saying her parents had fallen ill. She only asked for a few days’ leave, so I allowed it, and she departed immediately.”
“Damn!”
The next morning, hearing this from Weill, Kylian felt both hollow and angry.
‘She left without a word?’
“I’ll be back shortly.”
“Wha—Captain!”
He leapt onto his black steed and rode hard after her.
Drrrum-drrrum-drrrum…
It didn’t take long for the skilled rider to catch up with Himena, who wasn’t used to horseback.
“Hermes!”
“Eh? Marquis!”
Neighhh!
Startled, Himena reined in her horse, facing Kylian as he panted heavily.
“Haah… haah…”
“Marquis, how did you…?”
Though he had chased her breathlessly, Kylian didn’t know what to say. He stared at her for a moment before awkwardly speaking.
“Why… did you leave without even saying goodbye…”
“I… I’m sorry. You’ve been avoiding me lately… I thought you were angry at me…”
“That’s… haah… that’s not it. I wasn’t angry at you. I just… had some things to sort out in my head…”
“Really? You weren’t mad at me?”
At that, color returned to her face.
“Yes…”
“See? You should’ve told me! I thought I’d made some huge mistake and was so anxious inside.”
“You’re… going to your hometown?”
“Yes. I got word my parents were ill, so I left in a hurry. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to the others. I’m sorry, Marquis.”
“Will you… come back?”
After some hesitation, Kylian asked. Himena met his gaze silently.
Her feelings were strange.
Of course she had to come back—protecting this man was her mission. But instead of answering yes, another truth hovered at the tip of her tongue:
I don’t want to leave…
And Kylian, looking at her, swallowed down his own truth:
I don’t want to let you go…
Himena forced a bright smile.
“Of course! You’re the most handsome man in Acticos—I can’t not come back. I’ll let you hold the title while I’m gone, but when I return, you’d better be ready. I’ll be even more gorgeous, so stay on your toes!”
“…Heh. I will.”
Kylian finally managed a faint smile.
“Oh, Marquis… since we met anyway, I do have one favor to ask…”
“Anything. What is it?”
“Well… I know you… really, really, really like blondes…”
“Hm? I like blondes?”
“So, my request is… even if you love blondes, please… at least until I come back… could you… hold yourself back?”
Kylian blinked, utterly confused.
“Hold back… what?”
“You know… um… a man’s… inner… desires… you know… that…”
“W-what?!”
