IATAOTHKG | CHAPTER 106

[CHAPTER 106]

The gathering on the first night ended, in a word, in complete chaos.

Narsitan, who had effectively turned into a single living rack of lamb, rampaged about while giving off a delicious aroma, and after barely stopping Caliph from grabbing him by the collar, Meyna returned to the hotel room with him.

“Why did you do that?!”

“You really don’t know why?”

Caliph glared at Meyna with an angry expression.

“Why are you listening to that kind of nonsense?”

Since when had he been listening.

Since the part about Guild 928’s monthly ranking falling.

Or maybe even before that.

“Then what was I supposed to do? Should I have grabbed a plate like you and poured it over his face?”

After venting her heated emotions, Meyna added with a sigh.

“It was the first training session. I didn’t want to cause trouble.”

“You’re not the one who caused trouble. That bastard did.”

“……”

“You’re not someone who causes problems. How do you still not know that?”

Caliph, who had undone several buttons of his uniform as if he might suffocate from frustration, suddenly stopped moving.

It was because Meyna’s quiet posture and expression as she sat there without saying a word caught his eye.

He did not want to push her like he had before.

He must never repeat that kind of mistake again.

Letting out a long sigh, Caliph sank down onto the edge of the bed.

Meyna, who had thought he would explode in anger again, turned her head with mild surprise.

Caliph, sitting on the bed with his upper body slumped forward, spoke without looking at her.

“I’m sorry.”

This time, it was so shocking that she doubted her own ears.

Was that really a word that had come out of Caliph Lenox’s mouth.

“If I hadn’t left my seat, nothing would have happened.”

From the start, the one who failed to control his emotions and walked away was Caliph himself.

Narsitan, a disgusting opportunist and a coward to boot, was wrong simply by existing, and he had harassed Meyna while Caliph was gone, making this entirely Caliph’s fault.

Meyna had done nothing wrong.

Just like always.

“Then why did you leave your seat?”

Meyna replied with a trace of resentment.

When she slowly lifted her head, contrary to her words, she was smiling faintly.

She even shot him a playful sideways glance.

“The moment you went outside saying you needed some air, Sir Shobottom started bothering me.”

And Princess Parker even joined in.

Meyna forced the bitter expression off her face, having no intention of saying the rest out loud.

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

Caliph apologized again.

“It’s okay.”

Meyna smiled at him.

“And it’s true that I was foolish for not saying anything either. Next time, I’ll handle it more smartly.”

Despite clearly having been hurt, she looked bright, as if she had already brushed it all off.

“Honestly, thanks to that, I felt a bit relieved.”

She even added that with her eyes gently curved into crescents.

“……”

At a loss for words, Caliph could only stare blankly at Meyna’s radiant smile.

Everything had begun with a single apology.

If he were his old self, he would have endlessly scolded and pressured her, harshly criticizing her for things that were not her fault, all while justifying it as being for her own good.

She could not open portals, so simply returning home sometimes required a long journey that took an entire day.

A car was far faster than a carriage.

If he had assigned her a driver instead of a coachman, she would have been even a little more comfortable.

No, it would have been better if he had not selfishly made her accompany him on his commute in the first place.

Why had he failed to realize these obvious facts.

Dragging Meyna along to every schedule purely out of his own desire.

Insisting on using a carriage under the excuse of thinking of her, just how foolish that had been.

Caliph, who had been rubbing his face dry, buried it fully into his palms.

A hollow laugh kept spilling out.

* * *

The next morning, unexpectedly, Rob came looking for Meyna.

“Shall we take a short walk?”

In effect, it was a question asking for Caliph’s permission.

On the condition that they did not leave the hotel garden, exactly ten minutes were granted.

“Please let me stay away from Sir Humpofu for just ten minutes too, Captain. Please?”

At Rob’s earnest plea, Caliph let out a small laugh and nodded.

Outside, it was slightly darker than the day before.

Even though it was morning, the massive mountain range blocked the sunlight.

“I did a bit of thinking about yesterday.”

Rob, who had not been awake for long, began speaking as he ran a hand through his messy hair.

Meyna walked beside him in silence, waiting for what he would say next.

A useless stone bridge lay over a dried-up stream.

When Meyna lightly hopped across it after lifting the hem of her skirt, Rob smiled faintly as he watched her.

“We’ve been very careless. And foolish.”

Surprised by his words, Meyna stopped walking and turned to look at him.

Rob also stopped and faced her.

“I’m sorry.”

She had already been working alongside Caliph as his aide for seven years while Rob served under him as captain.

Throughout all that time, Meyna had always treated Caliph and everyone around him with the same unchanging expression.

On days when especially dangerous hunts awaited them, even a brief exchange of glances with her in front of the dungeon had given Rob comfort and courage.

There were countless times when she stayed sober at banquets and took care of him even when he was completely drunk.

From critical matters of guild management to the smallest errands, Meyna handled everything, allowing the guild members to focus solely on hunting and reconnaissance.

And then.

The woman who had worked harder than anyone else in places where no light reached suddenly vanished one day like smoke.

Caliph offered no explanation at all.

With an utterly emotionless face, he merely announced that he would be working with a new aide and acted as if nothing had changed.

But every member of Guild 928 knew.

That after Meyna left, Guild 928 had begun to falter.

“Sir Hugentia, what do you mean by apologizing all of a sudden?”

Meyna asked worriedly, her discomfort plainly visible.

Even in this city steeped in signs of ruin wherever one looked, she shone like a star.

The woman who had devotedly assisted Caliph, the Empire’s hero and top star, vanished like smoke and then suddenly reappeared one day.

Without the glasses that had hidden her beautiful eyes, wearing a dress that sparkled like the Milky Way.

Having become a mage with power even greater than the members of Guild 928.

As if it were a lie.

“Can’t you come back?”

Rob finally let out the true feelings he had been holding in.

It felt like he had realized her value far too late.

And that was why it might be an incredibly selfish thing to say.

“We all need you, My Lady.”