233 < Chapter 42. The Heart (3) >

- Ka-ang!

The dull, heavy sound of the fly echoes through the training ground.

A sword that couldn't overcome the power of the strike flies away.

After touching the ground, someone talks to the one who saw the rolling sword stop, bouncing a few times.

"You're going too far."

After afternoon training, so far.

Today alone, Siegfried's chief knight Ronan Sitte, who had given up counting the number of battles, nodded, stiffening his head. Your voice sounds sudden, but you're not surprised because you've known his approach all along.

"I don't know if you're training me or pushing yourself."

An egg from Siegfried's knight, who spoke to Ronan Site, looks back at you. You can see Demirea, full of exhaustion, calling the next knight and placing him in front of her.

The egg makes a worrying voice.

"Shouldn't we stop them now? Time is very late."

"Who's going to stop him? I don't know if he'll come."

Soon again, the sound of the day and day colliding filled the training ground.

The knights who were supposed to be heading to the palace soon began watching Demirea and the other knights' workshops in a separate location on the edge of the training ground.

It was a struggle that lasted for a long time and many times. It's a good thing that boring looks are hard to find, but the knights, as well as Demirea, were worried that it was time to take a break.

"I can't help it."

Ronan Site moves his arm quietly.

With her dark brown hair tied back tightly, she begins a simple stretch. The egg that saw it opened its mouth, smiling slightly.

"I heard there's no stopping the duc. Are you going yourself?" "

Ronan Sitte nods once.

"We can't stop them. We have to put them down. It could be nothing."

"Master, you're not so good at beating the Duke anymore."

"Don't say that with what I've given you. Someone might misunderstand."

"I see. I almost misunderstood you, too."

The last words I heard were not spoken by Eggs or Ronan Sites.

"· · · · · ·!"

A strange voice intervened in the conversation, and Ronan Site's eyes opened, not surprised by the appearance of the eggs.

Ronan Site, chief knight of the Siegfried Knights. And now knight Yuan is in charge of training the Knights.

The two of them didn't notice, and the voice of one who could talk to him suddenly continued.

"Nice to meet you. No. It's been a long time."

Under the deep pressed black hood, red lips paint a deep smile.

* * *

Demirea's study was excellent.

Thanks to the old Khalian and Chase who liked to read, Khalian seemed to have considerable knowledge of books, but also had a lot of high quality books.

"Thank you."

After putting down two cups of tea, Demirea opened her mouth like this. Calian tilts his head in a sudden thank you.

"Thank you for what?"

"You told me you were having trouble defending the mansion."

Khalian replies, saying something that sounds like he understands.

"I still made it to the gate in Raven with confidence. So don't yell at the people outside and guarding the gate."

Then he laughs with a small voice.

I felt sorry for Ronan Sitte and Egan, who were running the training ground by now.

A moment ago, Khalian, who had escaped from the palace again, moved into Siegfried's mansion. Whether he's going to hide the prince's outing or not, riding a raven dressed in a black hood.

Afterwards, he took off his hood in front of the knights guarding the mansion's exterior and gates and entered without any conflict. Before the guardian knights could go to inform the 3rd prince of his visit, he vanished and appeared in front of Ronan Cite and Yuan and greeted him.

And now I'm sitting across from Demirea like this.

"I've also learned how freely you can break into a place once you're a soddmaster."

"You're good at hiding me. Not because I'm a sod master, but because I'm good at it. And, say thank you, and don't grumble, just tell him you don't like me coming in and stirring things up."

"Now that you understand, I don't have to tell you."

Oh, yeah. Callian laughed again.

It's not common sense.

The Duke of the Kingdom, the prince who lives alone, secretly set foot in the middle of the night. If I have something urgent to say, I have come this way to send a letter through Yan, so I doubt its intentions.

"If you want to stop the prince from getting married at all, try something else. I'll block my way."

"That's not why I'm here. But you're not going to marry me?"

He also makes a sound like this in his heart.

Demirea, who came at night and looked at Kalian with her eyes, asked why the dog was following her brother, replied.

"If you leave your throne, I will accept it."

"That's hard. I have to play the cat."

"Too bad."

"But I want you to break up with me later."

"I'll see what you're doing and think about it."

"Oh · · · · · · · · I have to listen to my fiancée. I am."

You said you'd completely forget about keeping secrets.

As if nothing had happened that day, Khalian picked up his teacup and smelled it, looking at Demirea, who seemed to have no doubts at all.

A subtle, sparkly scent emanates from the green tea.

"Oh, by the way, this."

After recognizing the familiar scent, Calian looks surprised.

- The sweet prince, who gave it to me. A friend, I liked him, gave him a friend. Oh, I'm sorry.

Something to be sorry about.

My Hina said she'll give it to a friend, but she wouldn't mind buying a whole field of tea instead of green tea.

"Yes, it was a gift from Lord Bern."

"You said you gave me a friend."

Immediately, Demirea smiled disgusted at Kalian's face, saying, "He said he had a friend of ours, but it was you." What's with all the years in the world?

I always have that look on my face when I perform an act of misconduct in front of the nobles.

Demirea opens her mouth, smiling as if to see.

"What brings you here?"

"I'm hiding a secret, but it got out."

And then Callian squeezes the cold water in Demirea's mood, like this.

Demirea doesn't "know" what she's hiding. However, since we came to work on the secret, we don't know what the secret is, and the words "hand it over" put it in our mouths in vain.

After remembering that she decided to cover it up, she saw Demirea turn into a sharp eye and smiled.

"I slipped it long before I promised you, so don't hold it against me."

"· · · · · · · Yes. Keep talking."

"Yeah. Anyway, my secret's connected to Cecretia, so I'm having a little trouble with that. So I asked Siegfried to look into it. But Siegfried said there was no one suspicious."

Demirea sorts out her words in her own way as she listens to Kalian's story going on.

Kalian's secret is related to Cecretia. The secret is exposed and embarrassing. Perhaps during the time of Roselita, secrets will be kept secret.

And Slay was the only one who knew the truth.

"You knew that."

"Yes. When I got to Siegfried, I was spotted."

Don't worry, I won't get caught again.

I feel a headache on my smiling face.

By the way.

This, my father. For me, you know.

Demirea sighs a long time, unable to speak any more harshly. Calian's words continue, whether you like it or not.

"But then I remembered that there was someone else here, besides Siegfried, accompanied by my Roselita. I've been close in my own way. Of course, Siegfried Ball did his research together, but I just wanted to make sure I met him once."

Eggs.

It is said that I have come to suspect the identity of the egg.

Yulan became a Siegfried knight when Slayman got married, and has been loyal to his brother ever since Jan had just begun to walk. So for Demirea, he was in some ways more like a family than Slayman.

Instead of expressing dissatisfaction by doubting it, Demirea boldly asked.

"What can we see?"

Callian didn't have to worry about what the egg looked like to Demirea.

"No, I've already looked into it with you before. Sounds good to me."

"You've only seen it for a moment. How can you be sure?"

"There is such a thing."

We tried so hard to understand the difficulties of taking our young master, and now we're luring him along. You've met this son of a bitch well, so you'll have to fight me again.

Calian laughs deeply, thinking of an egg that couldn't even hide its fluttering speculation.

"Never conceal it."

I know exactly who those thorny feelings for Kalian came from and who they were worried about.

Khalian's eyes turn to Demirea, looking down at the hand of the one to be its source for a moment. I met quieter blue and grey eyes with a red light that always felt like it was on fire.

"Demirea."

"Yes."

"I am on the path of the sword at the earliest age in history."

"I know."

"Even originally."

Demirea's eyes sink once more.

"I wasn't as young as I am now, but originally, I was the fastest. It had to be. I wanted it to be. So I got on that road as fast as I could."

Kalian's eyes now reach Demirea's wounded hands again.

"Of course, I gave up a lot to get there. A lot, a lot."

What Chase asked Bern to say on the small shore. Callian said, remembering those words that he always told me to come and rest.

Demirea follows Calian's gaze, looking into her hands, and looking back into Calian's eyes. Calliando looks at Demirea and says,

"Whether you're raising your sword for the family, for Jan, for wanting to cross me, or for another reason. I don't know about that, but I know how important it is to people like us. So I'm not going to tell you to take it easy on yourself. But I'm just a little curious, Demirea."

"· · · · · · What are you curious about?"

"Do you know that there are things you're giving up? I know, but it's really okay to hold a sword like that. I'm not worried. I'm curious."

How much different it was for Demirea and Bern back then. How desperately Bern held the sword back then, and how much he had to give up. Nevertheless, he went too far and did not explain why he had to climb up the sword.

I thought it sounded like you didn't have that desperation.

Demirea is not Bern, so she doesn't know that Demirea is desperate enough.

"I'm counting on you to step over me. I'm sure it will. I'll be just as happy when that day comes as you are. I mean it."

I know better than anyone how much effort I've put into that day.

"But Demirea, I don't want to see you running around without knowing what you're giving up. I've never regretted living like that, but I've never felt better living like that. It wasn't okay, not one bit."

A green car smells of orchids.

- I don't want you to be like me.

The day I received this car from Hina.

Demirea laughs for a moment, recalling what Kalian had said and sent himself to Hina. I thought I could talk peacefully without knowing the speed of others, but now I understand why I said that.

"Of course, you and I are different, so maybe you're not. If I didn't have to worry, I wouldn't say this anymore. I just don't know if you've ever thought about what you're giving up. I want to know that."

Demirea looked down at the cup without saying a word for a while.

"I don't think you should answer too soon. Horses are heavy."

"It will be heavy. It's just me."

"As I said, I actually thought you were talented. I thought I could surpass that much talent, so I didn't want to rush it. But when I found out that he had hidden it, I was also a little angry, apart from my brother's work. You got it for free, I think. I didn't want to lose to that person any more, so I worked hard until now."

Calian nods, seeing you at the training ground today, for some reason.

"But you said it was the fastest before, so · · · · · · a little bad."

Khalian grins as the Peacock speaks in front of the prince.

"Not bad. He was talented and tried, so I will stop being angry."

"I'm glad."

"I may not change that much because I'm so greedy. I won't forget what you said."

"Yes, Demirea."

"Thank you."

Demirea smiles slightly as she feels as though she has finished the duel.

After all the precious tea that passed Hina's hand without saying anything, Kalian got up from his seat, lightly clapping his hands.

"I checked and said something, so I'll be going now. Thanks for the tea."

According to Kalian, Demirea's eyes light up as she forgets to have a serious conversation for a moment.

"That's not all."

"What?"

"Prince, why you're here. I think there's another one."

"Is that what it looks like?"

"Yes. You're not the only one who can come all the way down here to check on my people."

I came as an excuse to come to see the Egyptians, and I told Demirea the story I had come to think of, so "what to say" should not have been the reason I came here in the first place. Besides, Slayman already checked once. Nevertheless, the egg is too small a piece of pie because Khalian asked me to meet him again.

"Then you can say you've come to see my beautiful bride."

"Don't sound weird. What else are you up to?"

It doesn't work again, and Calian smiles.

"Well, I like to hunt, but I like to fish."

Callian raises his hand and presses the black hood again.

"A fish with a proper head would never bite if it was clear that it was bait. But the food is in front of us, so we can't go anywhere else. Just look. If you look at the bait so sadly and see the food that seems to be right next to it."

A cat's red eyes hide under a black cloth, aiming to catch a rat.

"I don't think twice. Bite it."

They don't know it's bait.

Demirea takes a long look at the excited Khalian.

"I'm not Prince Two."

I don't understand.

"I know you're thinking of hunting down the Marquis of Brissen or fishing. I don't know what this has to do with you coming alone at night."

"You'll understand soon enough. First, just watch."

"My prince."

"Huh?"

He said, "Don't overdo it for me. As I mentioned before, the late Lord Brissen is a dangerous man. He's strong enough to defend Brissen without resourcefulness. But they're trying to hunt him down. Why are you being so hard on yourself?"

"As I said before,"

Calian's lips are completely covered with a pretty smile once more.

"Someone's got to be the cat. Meow, meow, meow."

Confused.

Does he know he's such a great man?

Demirea frowns, thinking of the black cat that was passed over to Plants at the banquet hall, and Calian greets her when she's ready to go.

"I'll be back again, my bride. Good night."

After a nice hello, Calian takes a light step out.

Demirea sighs deeply.

Jan seems to be ringing in his ears with anxiety.

Of course, about a week later, he did not realize that his deep sigh would turn into the sound of irritated fury. It is also true that 'I want to see my beautiful fiancée' Calian will suddenly come to visit me every two or three days.

I didn't know until that day.