“Are you okay? You didn’t get scolded too much, did you? Did Adrian oppa get mad at you? If he did, I’ll scold him for you!”
Words tumbled out of Mabel’s mouth at a rapid pace, and Adrian momentarily looked at her with a dumbfounded expression.
“Mabel, what exactly do you think of me?”
Ignoring him, Mabel just tightened her arms around Dominik.
After standing frozen for a moment, Dominik cautiously patted Mabel on the back.
“U-um… I didn’t get scolded.”
Only then did Mabel slowly lift her head.
“…Really?”
“Yeah. The Hero listened to what I had to say, and so…”
Dominik hesitated for a second, then tightly shut his eyes and whispered softly.
“Um… thanks for helping me.”
Mabel’s eyes widened in surprise.
No way—did that prickly guy really just thank her?
Then Dominik added cautiously:
“I think I showed you an unpleasant side of me. Sorry about that.”
“Why would you say that?”
Mabel’s face turned serious.
“You were just trying to help me.”
“Huh? Well, that’s…”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, so I don’t like you apologizing.”
Hearing that firm response, Dominik felt a lump rise in his throat.
“I didn’t do anything wrong…”
…He finally understood.
That he had been desperately wanting to hear those words all this time.
Maybe that’s why—
Dominik found the courage to ask a question he’d buried deep in his heart.
“But why did you help me?”
“Huh?”
Mabel tilted her head.
Dominik gently raised his eyelids to meet her gaze.
His violet eyes shone with desperation.
“You and I have nothing to do with each other.”
He bit his lip before carefully asking again:
“So you had no reason to help me… Why did you?”
“…”
Mabel didn’t answer.
She just glared at him with a pouty expression.
Confused, Dominik asked:
“Wh-what is it?”
“Can’t I just help you because I want to?”
Mabel replied with a sulky tone.
“If we’re going by that logic, you protected me from getting hurt too. I just…”
She trailed off and glanced away slightly.
Then she ended her sentence with an air of nonchalance:
“Because I think you and I… are friends.”
“…”
Dominik was left speechless.
Mabel, avoiding his gaze with a bashful look, reached out her hand.
Her small hand gently grasped his.
“My sister always said that friends help each other.”
“…Friends.”
Dominik unconsciously repeated the word to himself.
Then Mabel, now sounding a bit annoyed, asked:
“Aren’t we friends?”
At that moment, Dominik felt something tickle deep inside his chest.
How strange.
Even though he hadn’t lived that long, Dominik had learned a few things about life:
That he was always alone.
That no one really wanted him around.
But the girl in front of him—she acted like staying by his side was the most natural thing in the world.
…And that fact alone made him genuinely happy.
“We’re friends.”
Dominik slowly, and a little awkwardly, smiled.
Even that small smile lit up Mabel’s face like a lantern.
“Then am I your first friend?”
“…”
Dominik shut his mouth tightly.
Mabel, who had been grinning brightly, began to frown.
“What? Why aren’t you answering?”
“Well… I think you might be the second.”
“What?! You have another friend besides me?!”
Mabel practically jumped like a cat with its tail on fire.
She immediately started pestering him.
“Then who’s that friend?!”
Dominik gave a faint smile.
“It’s a secret.”
No matter what anyone said, Dominik’s first friend had already been decided.
A small cat, with snowy white fur and bright blue eyes.
Meow-meow.
—
Meanwhile…
Rebecca stood leaning against a wall, gazing out the window.
Her crimson eyes were fixed on the departing carriage of the ducal house.
‘Why has Sir Adrian grown so cold?’
Rebecca was lost in thought.
She could still vividly recall the first day she met Adrian.
Back then, rumors spread through the capital like wildfire: the second son of the Valencia Ducal House had awakened his aura shortly after becoming an adult.
That same second son had stood alone against monsters that invaded a village—
And in the end, saved its people from danger.
The Holy Temple decided to declare him a Hero.
Officially, it was to honor his noble deeds—but in truth, it was to maintain a good relationship with the Empire’s only ducal house.
On the day of the ceremony, the task of bestowing the Holy Temple’s blessing had fallen to Rebecca.
And when she first met Adrian…
‘…It was like he was glowing.’
His radiant golden hair, like threads drawn from molten sunlight.
Those kind green eyes that gently looked into hers.
Rebecca could say with certainty—she had never seen a more perfect man.
She had secretly hoped that Adrian would stay at the Holy Temple with her.
—
“I want to travel around the Empire a bit,”
Adrian had said with a cheerful voice.
—
“I’ve heard monsters are appearing more frequently lately. I want to help the people who are suffering because of them.”
—
Rebecca had stiffened at those words.
‘Why would the duke’s second son care about something like that?’
Her mouth had gone dry.
She tried to dissuade him.
—
“That’s dangerous.”
“Well, that can’t be helped.”
—
Adrian had only smiled and shaken his head.
—
“A Hero exists to serve the people of the Empire, right?”
—
In the end, Rebecca had been unable to keep Adrian by her side.
‘…I should’ve stopped him back then.’
She clenched her fist tightly.
Now that Adrian had returned, some parasite was stuck to him.
“Sabina. That wretch… Sabina.”
Rebecca muttered the name with venom.
A woman who shamelessly clung to Adrian like a piece of gum, without knowing her place.
The way she stood straight in front of a Saint and clearly voiced her opinions—it had rubbed Rebecca the wrong way from the start.
‘If only the Hero had never met that woman…’
Then Adrian wouldn’t have changed so much.
He wouldn’t treat Rebecca so coldly now.
‘She’s a thorn in my side.’
Rebecca shot a dark glare at the disappearing carriage in the distance, then finally pulled the curtain shut and turned away.
Her once kind and gracious smile was nowhere to be seen.
Her face was now twisted with ugly resentment.
