The next day.
Since waking up, Yulis had been sullen and gloomy.
She responded to Mue’s words with only half-hearted replies, as if sulking at her, and now she wouldn’t even let her hold her hand.
Yulis didn’t understand why the princess had turned like this.
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t find anything she had said that would make the princess unhappy.
No matter what Mue said, Yulis would lower her brows and refuse to look back.
She kept walking for a long distance like that.
Inside, Yulis hated the current version of herself.
She knew she shouldn’t be sulking like a child—especially not in their current situation—but every time she thought about Mue saying last night that she had someone she liked, her chest felt as if it was being tightly squeezed, unable to beat freely.
She understood now.
Mue wasn’t at fault at all; the mistake was hers, in assuming Mue belonged to her alone, never imagining that Mue’s heart was already taken.
When she heard Mue’s aggrieved voice behind her, her heart grew even heavier.
Finally, when they passed a fast-flowing brook, Yulis, who was walking ahead, stopped in her tracks and turned to face Mue.
Her eyes looked a little desolate, and when she looked at Mue, there was a trace of sadness in them.
She opened her mouth, but the words seemed stuck in her throat and refused to come out.
Mue quietly looked at Yulis, hoping she would say something, so she could know exactly what she had done wrong.
“Do you… still like that childhood friend of yours?”
After a long pause, Yulis blushed and spoke.
“Eh?”
Mue was a little surprised but didn’t think much of it and replied casually, “I don’t like him anymore. After all, I was dumped before.”
Yulis’s pupils immediately brightened, and she hurriedly asked, “When was that? Before being dumped, did you hold hands? Kiss? Did anything more… inappropriate happen?”
Such blunt questions made even Mue a little embarrassed.
She waved her hand shyly and said, “I wouldn’t do those weird things! Actually, we were dumped right after meeting again.”
“He said I was annoying or something… but holding hands—does holding hands when we were kids count?”
“…It does.”
Yulis whispered, then quickly walked up to her and, with a serious expression, said, “Which hand did you usually hold when you were little?”
“Eh? Ah, emmm. This one!”
Saying that, Mue raised her left hand, which Yulis immediately clasped tightly.
Their ten fingers intertwined, as if Yulis wanted to merge Mue’s hand into her palm.
“From now on, don’t let anyone touch you without my permission, understand?”
“Y-yes.”
Mue nodded gently and replied quietly.
This strange side of the princess was the first time Mue had seen it.
It reminded her a bit of when she used to protect something precious.
But the princess finally agreed to hold her hand, which was a good sign—maybe she had already forgiven her.
With that thought, a happy smile appeared on Mue’s face.
The morning’s little drama ended, and Mue’s gaze caught sight of a few plumes of black smoke in the distance.
“Princess! I see smoke! We must be close!”
Mue excitedly pointed ahead.
Yulis lifted her head and looked in the direction Mue was pointing.
She saw the smoke too, but something felt off.
Even though they were near a village, there wasn’t a single sound.
And this didn’t look like smoke from cooking fires—it was…
Her pupils suddenly constricted, and a bad thought flashed through her mind…
***
Two days earlier.
The castle was unusually chaotic today.
The princess, who was supposed to stand atop the castle and announce her succession to the throne to the people below, had not appeared.
Guards and servants searched the entire castle but couldn’t find their princess.
The Elders waiting in the hall scratched their heads anxiously.
The tribal leaders had been waiting all morning and some were already showing signs of discontent.
If the princess didn’t take the throne soon, the people’s loyalty might falter first.
Outside the hall, hurried footsteps sounded.
The lead Elder hurriedly intercepted the guard.
“Well? Have you found the princess?”
“No, but we have a lead.”
“The head maid said she saw the princess last night. Apparently, a close maid went to the apothecary to get fever medicine.”
“Then go to the apothecary and find her!”
The Elder snapped impatiently.
“We did, but… she wasn’t there.”
Hearing this, the Elder’s headache worsened.
“What if something happened to the princess? What will we do then?”
“The princess should be fine.”
Just as the Elder rubbed his forehead in despair, an elderly male voice came from behind.
He turned to see a man dressed in a white robe.
His face was mostly hidden by the hood, but the greying beard was faintly visible.
“High Priest, you’ve finally arrived!”
The Elder looked at him like he was a savior.
He hurried forward and anxiously asked, “High Priest, do you have a way to find the princess?”
The robed old man shook his head but then said, “But I know where the princess has gone.”
Having been entrusted by the late king with the mission to guide the princess since she was twelve, he knew her even better than her closest maids.
He even knew about her feelings toward that particular maid.
He guessed that the princess had run away with that maid, and the most likely place they would go was the maid’s hometown.
“Elder, I heard that there is a man named Hoske Decon in the Third Knight Order. Could you summon him?”
“Of course!”
The Elder immediately gave orders to someone nearby, and soon a black-haired man arrived.
He wore white armor with a Silver Sword strapped to his waist, his dark eyes carrying a sharp edge.
“High Priest, you wanted to see me?”
The white-robed elder faced him and said calmly, “Do you know the princess’s close maid?”
The man paused, then replied, “Yes, but only as a childhood friend.”
“I see. I have a task for you.”
“Please command, High Priest!”
The elder leaned close to whisper in the man’s ear.
At once, the man’s pupils sharply contracted, and in disbelief, he said, “B-But High Priest, that’s my hometown—and it goes against the code of a knight!”
“You are doing this for all humankind. I will ask the Goddess to forgive you.”
“But—”
He tried to protest, but the elder cut him off.
“Once this is done, I will promote you to captain of the Fifth Knight Order. Your name will be etched on the Heroic Monument.”
Upon hearing this, the man immediately bowed his head and called out with renewed resolve, “Yes, High Priest!”
After the man left, an Elder nearby asked curiously, “What task did the High Priest give him?”
“You only need to know this, Elder: it will bring the princess back willingly to the castle and remove an unnecessary weakness…”