The king looked more commanding than ever. It was as though his soul, faded by despair and failure, had finally recovered its original brilliance.

Something fluttered in my chest. The corners of my mouth kept twitching despite myself. As the king silently passed through the midst of the nobles, his footsteps struck a chord deep within me.

It was a curious feeling, truly beyond description. If I had to put a name to it...

"Looking good."

I supposed satisfaction came closest.

I descended from the dais to greet him. He gave my shoulder a light pat and mounted the dais.

I watched him from below. When we first met, the king had seemed utterly unsuited to his throne. Not anymore. I could say with certainty that even a descendant of the Marquis of Foresight would not have suited that seat better than he did now.

It was not simply the effect of the elixir he had taken. Nectar had healed his mortal wounds and given him enormous reserves of mana, but nothing beyond that.

The majesty he now exuded came from the strength he had discovered for himself by facing death. It was also the integrity and spirit he had possessed from birth, trampled mercilessly by the Empire until they broke, and at last reclaimed.

The twitching corners of my mouth finally rose into a smile. Spending a day sitting decorously on a throne might not be so bad. Sitting beside the king and lending him dignity sounded rather nice, too.

That was what I thought, and what I fully intended to do. And I really would have, had the king not suddenly stabbed me in the back.

"If any woman wins the crown prince's heart, she shall become the crown princess."

I was dumbstruck.

"I shall disregard rank, origin, background—all of it."

I gaped at him, my mouth opening and closing. But he merely gazed down from the dais without so much as glancing at me. There was no way he couldn't feel me staring.

I turned to look for Marquis Bielefeld. Our eyes met, and the old marquis quietly turned his head away.

I looked at Siorin. The chancellor was so disheartened by the sight of his daughter in full armor that he had no attention to spare for me.

I shuddered with betrayal. Then something felt wrong, and I froze. The noblewomen were staring at me with burning eyes.

Dozens of gazes pierced me, each as sharp as a finely honed treasured blade. They stung so fiercely that I flinched despite myself. And the heat in them!

That was only the beginning. The nobles vied to stand before the dais and offer their greetings. Those greetings were a mere formality; they immediately introduced the women accompanying them to the king.

The women greeted me—some boldly, some gracefully, some shyly. Their manners varied, but they all regarded me with the same look, as though I were prey.

"This isn't what you promised."

I protested to the king in the brief gap between one noble's departure and the next one's arrival before the dais.

"You agreed to this as well."

"But..."

"Have I told you to take these ladies by the hand and dance to the music? Have I forced you to do anything at all?"

The king answered shamelessly, without even turning his head.

I struggled to find a rebuttal. He hadn't forced me to act. He had merely moved everyone else instead. I had no answer.

I wanted to storm straight out of the hall, but my promise prevented me. All I could do was scowl fiercely to make my displeasure clear.

The nobles began casting wary glances at me. Naturally, fewer of them came before the dais to introduce their daughters or nieces.

"You're frightening the young ladies. Do soften your expression a little."

The king finally noticed my face and gently admonished me.

"I am merely sitting quietly in my seat, Your Majesty."

I gave him a sullen reply and made my scowl fiercer still.

The king burst into hearty laughter. If he'd gotten angry, I might have felt a little better, but he only smiled as though watching a child throwing a tantrum. Somehow, that rankled.

So I quietly released my presence. The nobles who had been watching me warily stopped approaching altogether. Only then did I smile in satisfaction. I should have done this from the start.

"Your Highness. To go so far against ladies who have never even trained with a sword..."

Standing behind the king, the Commander of the Royal Knights stared at me in disbelief and criticized my behavior, which had gone beyond childish to downright petty.

I resolutely ignored him. I simply reinforced my presence, strengthening the invisible wall between myself and the ladies.

The king shook his head, looking utterly defeated. That made me feel a little better. Not that I had the slightest intention of withdrawing my presence.

"Your Majesty."

Just then, Marquis Bielefeld suddenly appeared below the dais, accompanied by some woman.

I had unleashed my presence precisely so that none of the ladies would dare approach me. Yet though the woman beside him kept her head deeply bowed, she showed no sign of shying away. I frowned, wondering whether I ought to scare her a little more.

Then I suddenly realized she looked familiar.

"Adelia?"

The woman—Adelia, dressed as elegantly as a noble lady rather than in her usual clothes—raised her head.

"Your Highness."

Her face flushed, she called to me softly, then hastily lowered her eyes when they met mine.

Her unexpected appearance genuinely astonished me. A lovely ivory dress, light brown hair swept into an elegant updo, understated makeup. I was so accustomed to seeing her dressed plainly or drenched in blood that the sight of her so carefully adorned was almost shocking.

Had Adelia always been this beautiful? My surprise soon gave way to understanding.

Her face was not flamboyantly striking, but gentle and refined. To that had been added the perfectly balanced physique she had gained on becoming a Master, and skin made as clear as a lake in midwinter by the expulsion of impurities.

She had simply received less attention because of Arwen's rare beauty. Adelia herself would stand out anywhere. In fact, quite a few of Winter Castle's men had fallen for her. Something about her delicate, innocent looks, unlike those of Northern women, being utterly captivating.

Of course, their romantic feelings vanished after they saw her rampaging across the battlefield a few times. In any case, when her madness wasn't upon her, lovely was a word that suited her very well.

"Getting dressed up while she was still unwell was no small ordeal."

As I stared blankly at Adelia, Marquis Bielefeld chuckled and dropped that hint.

His words snapped me back to my senses, and I reproached him.

"Then why drag someone who's sick here in the first place?"

"She wasn't forced..."

"Even if she wanted to come, you should have stopped her. She's still recovering."

Frustration appeared on the old marquis's face. He looked as though he had something to say but couldn't bring himself to say it.

"If you considered the feelings that brought her here so beautifully dressed despite her condition, you would know there is something else you ought to say."

The king finally stepped in to chide me.

I frowned.

"What if you make yourself worse? That was foolish."

The marquis and the king sighed.

"We have a long road ahead, Your Majesty."

"He is not merely uninterested, but ignorant as well."

I understood neither their conversation nor their sighs.

"Now that we've paid our respects, we shall withdraw."

The marquis bowed and stepped away, taking Adelia with him.

"Wait."

I stopped him.

"Leave Adelia here."

"What do you mean..."

"She went to all that trouble to dress up. Spending the evening with an old marquis like you would hardly be fair to her."

A peculiar look crossed his face.

"Are you doing this knowingly or not? I truly cannot make you out."

Then he smiled and took Adelia by the hand, drawing her forward. I took her hand from his.

"Are you all right? If it's too much, just tell—"

"I'm fine, Your Highness. I truly am perfectly all right."

"That's a relief."

When I smiled, Adelia smiled back without knowing why.

"Then protect me today, Adelia."

Her eyes widened at my next words.

"Pardon? What do you..."

Paying that no mind, I turned. Countless nobles were watching me. The young ladies were scrutinizing Adelia and me through narrowed eyes. I clasped her hand firmly, making sure they all saw.

Flirting with someone who already had a partner was terribly rude, wasn't it? And Adelia was a proud Silver Lion of the kingdom, no less. If the invisible barrier of my presence had been a low wall, she was an impregnable rampart.

That ought to be enough to protect me until the banquet ended.

"I'm counting on you."

Though she had no idea what was going on, Adelia nodded, her face brimming with a sense of duty.

Thanks to Adelia, I made it safely through the first day. But she was still recovering from her injuries and needed more rest. Using her as a shield for the second day as well would have been far too selfish. So I found a new shield.

"You want me to be your partner at today's banquet?"

Hestia Neumann Tudor, princess of Teuton, stared wide-eyed at my sudden proposal.

"Why? Don't want to?"

"It's not that... Why me?"

"Teuton has considerable influence in the West. With its princess beside me, the envoys won't be able to pester me."

"That's certainly true."

The princess narrowed her eyes at me.

"And what do I get out of it?"

"You ask for a lot. You've already gained plenty."

"That was then. This is now."

I chuckled at the way she immediately began putting on airs, seizing her chance.

"If you don't want to, never mind."

I promptly rose, and she hastily stopped me.

"Who said I didn't want to?"

Pouting, she added,

"Loyalty is not the sole province of men."

She insisted she was accepting purely out of gratitude for what I had done before.

* * *

The sudden proclamation had prompted the envoys to summon their princesses to the banquet hall in haste. But by the time the princesses they awaited arrived in all their finery, the crown prince already had a partner.

"Did you summon me just to make someone else look good?"

Naturally, the proud princesses were furious, leaving the envoys sweating as they tried to soothe them. It was unfair. They had difficulties of their own, but these pampered princesses refused to spare a thought for their circumstances.

There was so much to consider in catching the crown prince's attention among all these rivals. Approach too early, and they would seem beneath his dignity; too late, and someone else would take his side, as had happened yesterday. They needed to make a powerful first impression at exactly the right moment.

Though the first day had ended in failure, they believed the second would surely provide an opportunity. But on the second day, they never even had a chance.

"The legitimate heir of His Most Exalted Majesty King Lionel Leonberk, rightful ruler of the Leonberk Kingdom! Eldest son of the Royal House of Leonberk! Savior of the North! Lion of the North! The kingdom's mightiest knight! His Highness Crown Prince Adrian Leonberk enters with the most beautiful rose of which the Royal House of Tudor boasts, Her Highness Princess Hestia Neumann!"

The Teuton princess, hailed as the greatest beauty in the West, had claimed the place beside the crown prince from the very outset.

The flower of the Royal House of Tudor was beautiful indeed. From the moment she appeared, the men in the hall could scarcely breathe.

Had this banquet not been intended to select a crown princess, the men would have competed to court her. But no one present was bold enough to covet the crown prince's partner.

Nor was there any woman who could flaunt her beauty in the Teuton princess's presence. The envoys had no choice but to wait for another opportunity. Introducing their own princesses now would be inviting humiliation.

They watched the crown prince and the princess of Teuton. The two talked without leaving anyone an opening to intervene, looking for all the world like lovers whispering sweet nothings. In reality, the princess was endlessly disparaging other women while the crown prince gave indifferent replies.

In any case, the second day of the banquet slipped away just as fruitlessly.

The envoys pressed gold coins into the palace attendants' hands to learn what was happening.

"To my knowledge, His Highness the Crown Prince has no particular plans to accompany anyone today. I also hear the princess of Teuton will be absent today and attend again tomorrow."

The attendants' words delighted them. No partner had been chosen in advance, and the beauty who overshadowed everyone else would be absent. The kingdom's young noblewomen would hover around the crown prince, but they were hardly threatening rivals.

If Northern women were pure white hydrangeas, Western women were crimson roses. And the envoys had no doubt that the rose reigned supreme among flowers. They were confident the kingdom's beauties would be no match for those of the West.

Before long, however, they would discover just how paltry that conviction was.

* * *

"Tsk."

I discreetly clicked my tongue at the women gazing provocatively at me from behind the envoys.

Looks were nothing but a shell. What was so impressive about them that these women felt the need to flaunt them? The souls within were so meager they didn't even shine. To me, their preening over such paltry beauty was utterly absurd.

Oblivious to my thoughts, one group of envoys began to move. At their head was a woman whose hair was so red it looked as though someone had upended a bucket of blood over her head.

But before they could reach the dais, a sudden commotion broke out in the hall.

"Ah!"

"Oh!"

Gasps rose from all around.

As though bewitched, everyone's dazed gaze turned in unison toward one side of the hall. I followed their eyes. And when my gaze reached a certain spot...

"Huh?"

My eyes widened despite myself. Someone I had never expected stood there, looking like nothing I had ever imagined.