TSF 04

Chapter 4

Knock, knock.

Cedric entered after knocking on the door.

“Your Highness. Someone whose identity has not been confirmed has entered the garrison……”

He stopped when he saw the unfamiliar woman standing face-to-face with Karion.

His eyes instinctively turned toward Orbin.

Orbin was desperately gesturing for him to shut up and come over.

Cedric quietly walked over and stood beside Orbin.

Karion thought the presence of the woman meeting his gaze so directly was striking.

There was no fear in her green eyes.

It did not feel like she was simply putting on a brave front. It seemed to be part of her nature.

She was interesting, but also rather infuriating.

Whether she was truly a princess or not, how had she managed to enter the residence in the middle of a heavily guarded garrison?

‘Discipline has become lax. I need to reorganize the security system and inspect everything.’

Karion tilted his head slightly and spoke.

“I thought this was our first meeting.”

“If you’re asking whether we’ve met before, then no.”

“Let us say you are a princess. Zephyros is, without question, an enemy of the Empire.”

‘Enemy’ was a bit of an exaggeration considering the overwhelming difference in their size and strength, but officially, they were indeed enemies.

“Do you understand how much risk I would bear if His Majesty learned about this meeting?”

“Yes.”

“And that I could arrest you here and send you to the capital?”

“But you won’t.”

Rea answered with a slight smile.

Karion’s expression remained unchanged.

“What makes you so sure?”

“I believe in the proposal I have for Your Highness. It will benefit you far more than capturing me and sending me to the imperial capital.”

“Is that proposal marriage?”

Rea cleared her throat and spoke.

“A more important introduction was omitted.”

“Then let me hear that introduction.”

Rea glanced toward the others, and Karion spoke.

“There is nothing you can say that they cannot hear.”

Orbin and Cedric stood perfectly still, holding their breath.

Their desperate body language seemed to say, ‘Please pretend we don’t exist.’

The two often clashed because of their personalities, but at this moment, they were thinking the exact same thing.

Ever since they had entered the service of Prince Karion, they had never experienced a moment this exciting.

Rea took a deep breath before speaking.

“The Kingdom of Zephyros wishes to bow its head before the Empire’s glorious majesty and choose honorable submission. Your Highness, please offer the flag of Zephyros to His Majesty the Emperor and take the honor of bringing our kingdom under the Empire.”

A suffocating silence fell over the room, so complete that not even a breath could be heard.

The southern desert kingdom of Zephyros.

To the Empire, the Kingdom of Zephyros was like a thorn lodged in the tip of its finger.

For more than twenty years, the Emperor had continued his conquest with victory after victory. But when he attempted to invade Zephyros, he lost countless soldiers.

The Emperor’s only and most painful failure was still something the Empire considered taboo to speak of.

And now, the Kingdom of Zephyros was voluntarily kneeling and offering to become a vassal state?

It was an event that could shake the entire Empire, and there was no doubt that the position of Fourth Imperial Prince Karion, who would lead this effort, would change overnight.

Orbin and Cedric had unconsciously wiped all emotion from their faces and were watching their master.

Yet even though an incredible opportunity had appeared right before him, Karion’s dry gaze remained unchanged.

Instead, he asked indifferently,

“There must be conditions.”

“Take me to the imperial capital. As your Imperial Princess Consort.”

Rea was inwardly troubled as she watched his cold, sunken gaze.

She could not figure out what he was thinking because he showed no reaction at all.

“The center of the world has already become the Empire. Zephyros has maintained a policy of isolation for a long time. Our kingdom has no foundation within the Empire. I want to see and hear what is happening at the heart of the Empire. As a princess who is merely a hostage of a vassal state, I cannot do that. But as an Imperial Princess Consort, I can.”

“I refuse.”

“……What?”

Rea thought it made her look foolish to respond to someone’s words with ‘What?’ But she could not help asking again.

“If what the Princess needs is the position of Imperial Princess Consort, there are other Imperial Princes besides me. I can gladly arrange a marriage for you.”

“I want to make a deal with Your Highness.”

“Make that deal with another Imperial Prince. I have no intention of earning merits, nor do I have any intention of getting married. Cedric. See our guest out.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Rea bit her lip as she watched him turn away without the slightest hesitation.

She had a feeling that she needed to retreat for now.

She obediently followed Cedric out.

Cedric led her to a guest room inside the residence.

In a level tone, as neat and strict as his appearance, he said,

“Please refrain from leaving the room until your identity has been confirmed. Someone will be sent to attend to you shortly.”

“All right. People from the kingdom will be visiting within a few days.”

“Yes. I will inform you as soon as I receive word.”

Once she entered the room, Rea collapsed onto the sofa.

It felt as though all the tension suddenly drained from her body.

She stared at the closed door.

There were certainly soldiers standing guard outside.

She had prepared herself for much harsher treatment, so she had no complaints.

Leaning back against the sofa, Rea went over the conversation she had just had with him.

She had only ever heard about him through rumors.

The wandering commander, the unleashed hound, the outlaw of the Northeast……

She did not know whether people still called him those things, but ten years from now, he had carried some rather unpleasant nicknames.

That was why, before meeting him, the Karion she had imagined was eccentric, fierce, and far more emotional.

Besides, he was only in his early twenties. Wasn’t that the age when emotions tended to run wild?

Yet the man she had met in person hardly felt like a rough soldier at all.

If anything, he seemed exceptionally good at controlling his expression for someone his age.

‘……He looks like her.’

Rea had been startled the moment she first saw him.

If he had not been wearing the hood, she probably would have stared at his face as if entranced.

‘Who would have thought Fourth Imperial Prince Karion was that handsome?’

At times, she could see the face of his mother, Nella, the Queen of Nortia, superimposed over his.

How could anyone say he was not her son?

He had inherited Nella’s cool yet captivating eyes and her sculpted nose exactly.

Nella had a strong jawline for a woman, but on a man’s face, it suited him perfectly.

It was astonishing how much a son could resemble his mother.

‘Oh, dear.’

Rea covered her face with both hands.

For the first time in both her lives, she had been rejected the moment she proposed marriage to someone.

⌜It’s a deal where both sides gain something. Unless that man is an idiot, he won’t refuse.⌟

This marriage had been a plan that Nella and Rea had carefully devised together. It was their best strategy.

‘What should I do, Your Majesty?’

Your son was an idiot!

She had never considered the possibility that he might reject the marriage.

‘Does he dislike me? ……Of course, that could be the case.’

Rea covered her flushed cheeks with her hands.

What had she been so confident about?

Why had she simply assumed that the other person would agree if she asked him to marry her?

At dawn, Karion tossed and turned in bed before suddenly sitting upright.

His forehead was drenched in cold sweat.

Suppressing a groan, he grimaced and clutched at his chest.

It felt as though he had swallowed a ball of fire, and that ball was rampaging through his body of its own accord.

“Haa…….”

His stomach felt as though it were burning, and hot energy rose up through his throat until it felt as though every breath scorched it.

The pain was barely bearable, yet at the same time, an urge to plunge himself into ice-cold water surged through him.

But he already knew.

Even if he submerged himself in ice water until his jaw trembled, or drank as much cold water as he could, it would do no good.

These cursed attacks came at irregular intervals, and he knew neither their cause nor their cure.

All he could do was grit his teeth, endure the pain, and wait for it to reach its peak.

He felt as though he would scream if he relaxed his clenched jaw. Once the moment when the hair on the back of his neck stood on end passed, the pain gradually began to subside.

Sweat dripped down along his clenched jaw.

Soon, the veins bulging on his forehead slowly disappeared.

“Phew…….”

He let out a long breath and collapsed back onto the bed.

He stared at the dark ceiling, breathing heavily.

At least he could take comfort in the fact that there were no aftereffects.

It was also fortunate that the attacks usually happened at night, so there was little chance of anyone seeing him.

After lying there blankly for a long while, dawn had already arrived.

He slowly got out of bed.

There was no point trying to sleep again, so he went out into the inner courtyard to breathe the early morning air.

‘Wind?’

Karion thought the wind brushing against his face was surprisingly warm for dawn.

For some reason, he felt a strange sense of regret as he turned his head in the direction of the wind.

Then he stopped in surprise when he saw Rea, who had also been startled.