Dieta was not particularly fond of romance novels.

Their protagonists had their heads in the clouds, won everyone around them over without any particular effort, and fell in love through utterly contrived circumstances. A prince who somehow knew the heroine was in danger and appeared at just the right moment to save her?

'Where in the world does that ever happen?'

Was life really that easy?

She had the deeply troublesome habit of judging fiction against reality instead of simply enjoying it as fiction. In fact, it was not just romance novels. She did not much enjoy reading novels at all.

So the fact that she had read every romance novel currently popular in the Empire over the past four months... was a strictly business-related activity founded on a meticulous business plan, not her personal tastes or hobbies.

["Company Head Dieta, have you heard of a novel called How to Seduce a Trading Company Head? Seeing you reminded me of it! Its male lead owns a major trading company. I wonder what you would think of it as a fellow company head!"]

Cypria Gachevska, master of the Platinum Tower.

Her hobby was reading romance novels. To keep up with her conversations, Dieta had read them all. She had stayed up all night reading a few of them, but certainly not because she wanted to.

It was only to make her conversations with the tower master go smoothly, not for some silly reason like wanting to know what happened in the next volume. Certainly not. She swore on her gold coins that it most certainly was not.

'Ha! A man who supposedly owns a major trading company gives away everything he has without even weighing the profits and losses? Third-rate rubbish. No merchant like that could possibly exist.'

Yet even as she scoffed at the story, Dieta found herself opening the next volume as if entranced. When she became absorbed in a novel like that, sometimes a single sentence would strike her forcefully. For Dieta, this was one such sentence:

'A suitable distance between a man and a woman allows their relationship to mature and their longing to grow.'

She absolutely did not think of herself and Najin when she read it. In Dieta's own estimation, she was not the sort of reader who read a novel and thought, 'This is exactly my story...' It was simply a memorable sentence, which was why she had written it down and stuck it to the desk in her office.

And now.

Dieta slowly took a deep breath as she turned that sentence over in her mind. Four whole months! More than enough time for longing to take root. What she had overlooked, however, was that it would take root in her first.

Four months. Four entire months.

After four months without hearing his voice or seeing his face, Dieta was beyond wistful and verging on desperate. At times, she had gazed gloomily up at the sky, wondering whether he simply did not like her that much. Hadn't he said he would visit from time to time?

Now that they had finally reunited after those four months, Najin's bright smile and genuine pleasure at seeing her reassured Dieta—and dealt her a fatal blow at the same time. Perhaps because it had been so long, its destructive power was extraordinary.

"Hic."

Dieta gulped down her coffee to stop the terribly ill-timed hiccups. Finally getting her breathing under control, she patted the sofa opposite her.

Normally, there was a fair amount of space between the two sofas. A few minutes before Najin arrived, however, Dieta had wondered, 'Aren't they a little too far apart...?' and dragged the other sofa closer with considerable effort.

Once Najin sat down, Dieta silently looked him over. His air had changed a great deal while they had been apart. She could not say precisely how, but perhaps he seemed a little more mature? Something about his presence was different.

"Well, let's hear it, then," Dieta said, pretending to sip from her empty coffee cup.

"What on earth have you been doing to earn two whole stars in just four months?"

2.

"So..."

Dieta blinked.

"Unless I misheard you, you fought a four-star Constellation and a six-star Constellation, then, as if that weren't enough, defeated an eight-star Constellation in single combat... and landed a blow on the ten-star Emperor of Revelry? On the Battlefield of Stars?"

Boiled down to the essentials, that was correct.

There were quite a few qualifications to make if they went into detail, however, so Najin added a few words to her summary.

"The first was half Lost. The second had lost his reason and grown weaker after becoming a fallen star, and the third did not use sword aura at all."

"Even so, those are the sort of formidable figures you'd only find in fairy tales. From what I understand, having more than five stars makes someone a transcendent being. Does that mean you fought transcendent beings one after another?"

"To be precise, they were formerly transcendent beings."

Dieta's eyes wavered. What on earth was this man talking about? She had steeled herself to accept even the most outlandish stories, but the scale of this one went far beyond anything she had imagined.

"And you were involved in that massive movement of stars about two weeks ago, too? No, 'involved' isn't the word. From what you're telling me, it sounds like you caused it..."

"I did play a significant part in bringing the Emperor of Revelry there."

As though fighting four-, six-, and eight-star opponents in succession were not enough, he had even joined a battlefield where a ten-star Constellation and dozens of other Constellations had descended?

"Hmm..."

Dieta's head tilted of its own accord, her hair spilling to the side. She stared at Najin in utter bewilderment.

'I don't think he would lie about this.'

But this was a story on a scale fit for mythology. As much as Dieta trusted Najin, it was difficult to believe.

Yet the two stars he had acquired in a mere four months lent weight to his account.

"Um, Najin?"

"Yes?"

"Do you happen to have spare lives? Or perhaps a Constellation who will rush straight to your side whenever you're in danger? What on earth gave you the confidence to do something so reckless? Honestly..."

How had she known?

As Najin inwardly reeled, Dieta pressed a hand to her forehead as though her head were throbbing.

"It's a miracle you survived."

Even on the continent, Najin was famous for throwing himself into danger with no regard for his safety. But in the Outer Lands, hadn't he behaved as though he genuinely had multiple lives?

Dieta worked her tightly pressed lips.

She let out a short sigh and rose from the sofa. As Najin blinked up at her, she bent down, bringing her face close to his.

Then she reached out and took his face in both hands. Holding his chin, she turned his face this way and that. When she spotted a scar hidden beneath the hair at his temple, her expression crumpled.

JINGLE.

She rang a bell. When her secretary hurried in, Dieta murmured something to them. The secretary returned shortly afterward, set down an expensive potion and a first-aid kit, then left.

"Move over a little."

Dieta patted Najin's thigh with her palm. When he shifted aside, she sat down right next to him, took some gauze from the first-aid kit, and soaked it in the potion.

"Turn your head. Like this."

"I'm fi—"

"Well, I'm not. I'm not fine."

Najin might possess regenerative powers beyond anything human, but the wounds he had suffered fighting transcendent beings had left scars. Looking at them, Dieta bit her lip hard.

She had prepared this in case something like this happened, but she had never thought she would actually need it. Removing scars was the province of expensive potions and alchemy, and Dieta had chosen the former. A single bottle cost hundreds of millions, but she emptied it to the very last drop without hesitation.

"You're driving me mad. Honestly."

"Isn't that expensive?"

"Is the price really what matters right now?"

Without realizing it, Dieta had quoted the male lead of How to Seduce a Trading Company Head word for word. But she felt no embarrassment. The thought had not even occurred to her.

"There."

Having somehow managed to erase the scars, Dieta let out a long sigh and glared at Najin.

"I can't bring myself to tell you not to push yourself, but you should at least get proper treatment, shouldn't you? I know you heal quickly, but it still leaves scars. Scars."

After grumbling for a while, she shook her head.

"Well, yes, I suppose proper treatment isn't really possible in the Outer Lands. Just come back to the continent every few months and get treated before you leave again. If you come to the capital, I'll call in some capable alchemists."

Najin almost explained that most injuries healed without leaving so much as a scar, and that only battles with transcendent beings left marks like these. Then he shut his mouth. If he said that, he would surely face a thunderous demand to know what on earth he had been doing.

"I'll try."

Then he smiled ruefully.

"Thank you, as always."

Their eyes met at the close distance she had needed to tend his wounds. Dieta blinked, then caught her breath. She sprang up from beside him and returned to her own seat, her ears faintly red.

"I missed you during those four months."

With her ears still red, Dieta twirled a lock of hair by her cheek and spoke in a barely audible voice.

"What about you? Did you think of me at all?"

Without a word, Najin drew out the ring he wore around his neck. When he squeezed it in his hand, Dieta looked down at her finger. She always wore her ring there. Even when unexpected warmth startled her in the middle of her work, she had never taken it off.

Najin gestured to the ring with a small smile.

"Does that answer your question?"

"... Are you really sure you've never been in a relationship?"

It was more than enough of an answer.

The warmth she had felt through the ring over the past four months had practically answered for him. Dieta fanned her burning face with her hand and changed the subject.

"How long do you plan to stay on the continent?"

"I need to recover, and there are things I have to do, so I plan to stay for about two weeks."

"Make that another week."

"Pardon?"

Dieta explained.

"There's a banquet I'm attending in about twenty days, and I don't have a partner yet. You'll do it. Be my partner."

She could have found any number of partners if she wanted, but Dieta had left the place beside her empty. She had originally intended to attend alone... but now that Najin was here, there was no need for that, was there?

She gave him a mischievous smile.

"I think it would take at least the Nova currently causing such a stir throughout the Empire to fill the place beside me.

"I'm a woman of expensive tastes, you know."

Najin smiled at her playful remark.

"Yes. Gladly."

Dieta cheered inwardly at his unhesitating answer. Fortunately, she did not embarrass herself by letting that cheer escape aloud.

"I'll be going, then."

"All right. See you again."

They chatted for a little longer. The instant Najin stepped out of the office, Dieta buried her face in a cushion on the sofa and repeatedly slapped its armrest. She could not contain her delight.

'Oh my goodness, oh my goodness...! The ring! I'm so glad I gave him that ring...!'

As she replayed the sight of Najin smiling and showing her the ring, Dieta finally lost the battle and let out a cheer.

"..."

Standing outside the office, her bodyguard Pasion firmly closed the door to prevent the disastrous possibility of that sound carrying any farther.

3.

On his second day in the capital, Najin stood before a tower.

Five towers rose high as though guarding the imperial palace. As the residences of the Five Pillars that supported the Empire, they were normally guarded as heavily as the palace itself.

But there was one exception.

This tower had no guards at all.

Seven stars hung above its summit.

The being who lived here would likely be the first name mentioned if anyone were asked to name the strongest person in the Empire. His tower needed no guards. Its master was its protector.

Gerd, the Empire's foremost warrior.

Najin had come to the tower of the Empire's foremost warrior to discuss the First Pillar with him. There were things he needed to tell the old man who supported the Empire—and things he needed to hear.