TWQTFA CH 06

Karion walked briskly with a fierce expression, his fists clenched tightly.

But by the time he reached his office, the turmoil in his stomach had almost completely settled.

He thought back on why he had let his emotions get the better of him and stormed out of the room.

Until now, he had lived in the very heart of a battlefield where political intrigue raged.

An Emperor who constantly tested his five sons, half-brothers who were always waiting for a chance to bring one another down, and wolves who swarmed around them in pursuit of power…

There was no shortage of people who pretended to respect him as an Imperial Prince while deliberately provoking him, and those around him constantly tested him, searching for any weakness they could exploit.

Sometimes, people even made brazen provocations.

When someone crossed the line, he didn’t get angry. He mocked them and crushed them instead.

But today, he had gotten angry.

‘Why?’

Once he realized the reason, he gave a bitter smile and dropped heavily into his chair.

Because, for the first time, someone had criticized him by telling him, ‘Don’t live your life like that.’

No one had ever said such a thing to him.

His mother had left the imperial capital when he was young, and he had never seen her again. His father never offered his children anything resembling advice.

The only people who had been by Karion’s side since childhood were attendants and guards. After he became Grand Commander, the people under his command obeyed him according to the strict military hierarchy of absolute obedience to orders.

Leah’s words—‘the people whose fates are tied to yours’—kept echoing in his mind.

He had no interest in power and didn’t care if he fell out of the Emperor’s favor.

But if that situation caused all the people who followed him to become miserable as well…

It would probably feel worse than falling headfirst into a cesspool.

“Cedric.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Cedric, who had been waiting quietly with a tense expression, cautiously watched Karion.

“How are preparations for the next inspection tour?”

“Everything is prepared and ready to depart.”

Karion sighed before speaking.

“There will be no next tour. We’re going to the capital. His Majesty has issued an imperial decree, so I suppose I’ll have to go this time. We’ll take the Zephyrus delegation with us.”

Cedric answered without showing any surprise.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“They’re only accompanying us. Make that perfectly clear to the princess.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After leaving the office, Cedric stood there for a moment, organizing the situation in his head.

‘His Highness changed a decision he had already made.’

As his loyal chief adjutant, Cedric was aware of even the smallest flaw in his master.

Once Karion became stubborn about a decision, he would never change his mind.

Cedric had considered Karion’s continued refusal to obey the Emperor’s imperial decrees a kind of ‘stubbornness.’

And yet, because of a princess from a kingdom he had met only a few days ago, the Imperial Prince had bent that stubbornness.

‘Princess Leah of Zephyrus…’

Cedric felt that he needed to gather more information and figure out what kind of person she was.

After Cedric left, Karion suddenly became curious.

‘The three worst kinds of people. What was the third?’

Perhaps he should have stayed and listened until the end.

But if he went to see her just to ask about it, she might misunderstand and think he had deliberately come up with an excuse to see her.

The absurdity of himself thinking such things made him let out a quiet laugh.

‘I don’t want to accomplish anything… This is an unexpected variable.’

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t force it to drink.

Leah had a headache.

If he had simply said, ‘I don’t want to marry you,’ she would have thought of another method.

‘Why don’t you have any ambition? What am I supposed to do if a capable Imperial Prince has no ambition?!’

Nella had been rather harsh in her assessment of her son.

Wasn’t it natural for a mother to idealize her child, especially when remembering a child who had already died?

Yet Nella had only talked about Karion’s shortcomings.

⌜That boy has a terrible stubborn streak. Once he dug his heels in, there was no getting through to him. That stubbornness is what got him killed.⌟

Leah had misunderstood her words a little.

Perhaps he was a son who had never lived up to his mother’s expectations in many ways. Perhaps he had taken after his father too much, and so on.

That was why she had been surprised when she first saw Karion and found him much more impressive than she had expected.

Leah nodded.

‘As expected of a mother. She really knows her son well.’

To be honest, Leah had been a little excited before meeting him.

Ten years later, the Grand Commander of the Northeast was someone she had always wanted to meet at least once, as a man whose reputation varied greatly depending on whom you asked.

What fascinated her was that those who spoke ill of him were people with wealth and power, while those who revered him were powerless commoners.

Yet he was undeniably a member of the imperial family representing the Empire’s military, while Leah was the leader of the wandering people who opposed the Empire. Realistically, the two of them could never have met.

So when she heard that he had died, she had felt strangely empty.

Afterward, when she met the King of Nortia, she repeatedly wondered what might have happened if he had not died.

She regretted that she hadn’t somehow met him at least once while he was still alive.

Even though he belonged to the Empire, judging by his actions, she felt that he might have been someone she could reason with.

And yet, the man she had actually met was an infuriatingly stubborn fool.

‘Fine, I admit he’s handsome. I know he’s capable too. But what good does that do?! He’s going to die because of that stubbornness of his, just like Your Majesty said!’

A knock sounded, and Penny entered.

“Princess. Sir Milo would like to see you. He’s the Imperial Prince’s adjutant, the one who came out to meet us…”

“Yes, I know. Tell him to come in.”

Soon, Cedric entered.

Cedric informed her of Karion’s decision to accompany them to the capital.

“Why did he suddenly change his mind?”

“His Majesty the Emperor issued an imperial decree ordering him to come to the capital. He had been considering whether to obey the decree.”

“So he’s killing two birds with one stone. But if Your Highness is accompanying us, I’ll take that to mean you’ll also be present when our delegation meets His Majesty the Emperor. His Majesty won’t believe an excuse like, ‘I accompanied them, but I have nothing to do with it.’”

“There is no way His Highness would be unaware of that.”

Even after hearing Cedric’s words, Leah couldn’t figure out what Karion was thinking.

‘Why did he change his mind? Could it be because of something I said?’

If that was the case, she would have to see him differently.

It would mean that the Grand Commander of the Northeast had actually listened to the criticism of a princess whose kingdom was offering to become a vassal state.

‘Maybe he isn’t as stubborn as I thought.’

After Cedric left, Leah felt considerably better.

She still hadn’t received a definite answer about the marriage, but even having him accompany them was something.

She had taken one step forward. She simply needed to keep moving forward, one step at a time.

As the leader of the wandering people, she had spent ten years living without being able to see even an inch ahead of her.

Leah decided she would willingly bring the water to the horse herself.

Around sunset, Leah went out into the inner courtyard for a walk and found Karion already there.

He seemed to notice her at almost the same moment, because he stopped and looked at her.

As Leah approached him without hesitation, Karion asked,

“Are you not afraid of me?”

“Everyone seems to be afraid of Your Highness.”

“In the Northeast, I am the person who represents His Majesty the Emperor.”

“I’m not afraid.”

‘I know someone who looks exactly like you. She was strong and beautiful. She was also my benefactor, someone whose kindness I could never repay even with my life.’

Karion saw the intense emotion flickering in her eyes as she looked at him.

It was the first time he had seen such a passionate emotion in her eyes, which had always seemed so calm and composed.

For some reason, his throat suddenly felt dry, so he turned his head away.

“We’re only accompanying you.”

“I heard. When are we leaving?”

“If everything goes quickly, two days from now. At the latest, we’ll leave the day after that.”

“Ah-ha.”

Hearing the suspicious little interjection, Karion turned his head.

Leah was already walking beside him.

“You’re the type who takes a long time to make a decision, but once you’ve made it, you act quickly.”

“I make decisions quickly too.”

Leah glanced at him before turning her head away again.

“Yes.”

Karion interpreted her obedient answer as meaning, ‘I don’t agree, but I don’t want to waste time arguing about it.’

“To make an inspection tour of the entire Northeast, you have to make decisions and act quickly. I don’t spend several days on a single matter like this. If I hadn’t been held up by the Zephyrus delegation, I would have already moved on to the next destination… Hah. Let’s stop.”

He fell silent, feeling pathetic for getting worked up on his own and making such a long-winded excuse.

“We haven’t even started talking, so why stop? Go ahead and say everything you wanted to say.”

“I don’t give people an opening.”

“An opening? Do you mean that you’d rather say nothing at all because the longer you talk, the more likely you are to make a mistake?”

“……”

Leah felt as though she could finally see a little of the defensive wall that the man named Karion had built around himself.