Chapter 22

‘Have I lost my mind?’

Even after saying it myself, I was utterly dumbfounded.

‘Not a fairy or an angel, but a hero? A hero?!’

I must have blurted out nonsense because I panicked.

‘Maybe that book I read recently left too strong an impression on me….’

A few days ago, when I couldn’t sleep, Anne had read me a story about a hero and a princess from a neighboring kingdom falling in love.

‘This is so embarrassing….’

As expected, Royster stared at me like I was strange.

“A… hero? You?”

‘Yeah, you think it’s ridiculous too, don’t you?’

My body becoming younger must have dragged my mental age down with it.

“Then why… is a hero wearing a dress?”

Out of everything happening right now, that was his biggest concern?

No matter how mature he acted, he really was still a child. Thankfully, though, that made making excuses easier.

“Can’t heroes wear dresses?”

“Huh?”

Royster blinked several times.

“That’s not what I meant….”

“Exactly! Heroes can wear dresses too!”

‘Who says heroes have to wear armor all the time?!’

As I huffed indignantly, Royster waved his hands in panic.

“I-I was just curious!”

“Hmph….”

Royster’s face had already turned red.

“I’ve just never seen a hero wearing a dress before….”

His ears were bright red as he fidgeted with his fingers.

‘H-He’s adorable!’

Royster awkwardly watching my reaction was unbelievably cute.

“Well, I guess that makes sense.”

I crossed my arms and nodded, and Royster slowly raised his head.

“…Really?”

“You apologized.”

When I nodded to show I was fine with it, Royster finally smiled in relief.

“That’s good….”

With the blush still lingering on his pale face, Royster finally looked his age.

After constantly being surrounded by people from House Tanzeric and overly mature children like Pleri, seeing someone this innocent instantly relaxed me.

‘This is healing….’

This place is heaven.

“Then… should I call you Hero?”

Royster tilted his head slightly as he asked.

“Uh… y-yeah.”

Looking at Royster’s innocent face made me feel guilty for deceiving him.

‘But I can’t reveal who I really am.’

It would honestly be better if he just believed I was some kind of hero.

That perfectly reasonable conclusion made me nod.

“Then… Hero, are you lost?”

“Mmm… something like that?”

“Where were you trying to go?”

“Th-That’s….”

‘…I didn’t think that far ahead.’

Caught off guard by the unexpected question, I fumbled for an answer.

“Umm, I just have something I need to do….”

“Something to do?”

Royster’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.

‘Ah, this is so much pressure….’

It was hard enough answering those shining eyes. The guilt from lying to someone with such pure curiosity made it even worse.

Just as I hesitated, a servant’s voice rang out nearby.

“Young Lady, where are you?”

“Ah!”

The servant had apparently panicked after losing sight of me and had come searching through the garden.

‘But he called me Young Lady!’

It was the natural title for the daughter of Duke Tanzeric, but right now that was the worst thing possible.

‘My identity’s going to be exposed.’

I quickly turned back toward Royster.

“I-I have to go now.”

“So soon?”

Royster asked regretfully.

“Can’t you stay a little longer?”

I firmly shook my head.

“I really have to go.”

I glanced toward where the servant’s voice had come from and twisted my body to run, but then a small voice stopped me.

“You’ll… come again, right?”

Royster asked while staring down at the ground.

I hesitated instead of answering immediately.

I’d only made excuses because I didn’t want to make an enemy of him, but somehow we’d gotten closer than I expected.

At the same time, I couldn’t risk falling out of favor with the Empress, so I couldn’t promise we’d meet again either.

‘…I should clearly tell him we’ll never see each other again.’

But I simply couldn’t say such a cold rejection to Royster as he carefully watched my reaction.

“So… you can’t come back.”

“No.”

In the end, seeing him look so dejected, I couldn’t help but offer empty reassurance.

“We can… meet again.”

“Really…?”

Royster’s eyes lit up once more.

‘How am I supposed to say no when he looks at me like that?’

I let out a small sigh.

“We’ll meet again someday. I just don’t know when.”

Royster’s complexion visibly brightened.

“So we can meet again….”

He murmured the words to himself before smiling faintly.

“…That’s a relief.”

The guilt welling inside me made me quickly turn away.

“See you next time!”

Hearing Royster’s bright voice call out behind me, I hurried my steps.

---

Knock knock—

When the Emperor looked toward Heinox, Heinox gave a small nod.

“Enter.”

The massive doors opened at the Emperor’s permission.

“Roxina.”

Heinox slightly furrowed his brows as he saw me entering while holding a servant’s hand.

“…You finished sightseeing already?”

“Yees.”

When I gave a small nod, Heinox stroked my hair.

“The Imperial Palace is quite worth seeing.”

“That’s right.”

‘There really was a lot to see.’

The entirely crimson Contena Garden of the Empress, the small house where Royster lived, and the enormous labyrinth-like library.

‘This place is ridiculously huge.’

Even at the banquet, there hadn’t been any children around my age, so technically Royster was the first peer I’d met here.

‘Come to think of it, this was my first time meeting someone my age. It was more fun than I expected.’

I’d assumed children my age would only cry loudly and throw tantrums, making them unbearable to deal with, but Royster was surprisingly mature and easy to talk to.

Though admittedly, most of our conversation revolved around heroes.

“It was fun!”

‘That counts as a success.’

When I looked up at Heinox with a bright smile, his hand paused briefly atop my head before sliding down to gently pat the back of it instead.

“Sounds like the servant guided you well.”

The Emperor, who had been watching Heinox and me, stroked his beard with a grin.

“I’m relieved the Young Lady enjoyed it. I was worried you might be disappointed.”

As the Emperor jokingly continued, I shook my head vigorously.

“Nope! I really liked it!”

‘Though it is a little disappointing that I couldn’t even get near the restricted section.’

Still, it was better not to recklessly risk my life after being told not to enter.

‘Someday, I’ll get in there.’

I nodded firmly to myself, vowing to return someday no matter how many years it took, when another knock sounded outside the door.

“Your Majesty, urgent news has arrived.”

“Come in.”

The servant who entered glanced nervously between Heinox and me, but the Emperor simply waved his hand as if to say it didn’t matter.

The servant cautiously spoke.

“Her Majesty the Empress requests that you join her for luncheon.”

“The Empress?”

“Yes. However, it seems that….”

‘What?’

The Emperor’s reaction confused me.

I knew he and the Empress weren’t in love, but I’d still assumed they shared at least some degree of familiarity as husband and wife.

‘But that expression… it’s like he’s deeply displeased about something.’

The Emperor’s face had instantly stiffened the moment he heard the message.

‘And those eyes….’

From afar it wasn’t obvious, but looking carefully, I noticed his gaze trembling slightly while fixed toward one side.

‘Who is he looking at?’

Following his line of sight, I found Heinox.

‘Wait… is he actually watching Heinox’s reaction?’

I knew House Tanzeric was the only family powerful enough to threaten the imperial family, but I hadn’t realized even the Emperor would be this cautious around them.

‘Just what kind of ruler is running this empire?’

I quietly clicked my tongue and shook my head.

“So the Empress is actually the one requesting a meeting first.”

The Emperor rubbed at his dry eyes with his palm as if exhausted.

“Leave us for now.”

At the Emperor’s dismissive wave, the servant quietly retreated from the audience chamber.

“It seems Her Majesty has become impatient.”

Heinox watched the slowly closing doors as he spoke.

“Word must have already reached her that I sought an audience with Your Majesty.”

“So even the Imperial Palace has become infested with rats.”

“Wasn’t the one who greeted our carriage one of the Empress’s own people?”

When Heinox and I had arrived at the palace, the elderly attendant who greeted us had been the same old man from the banquet.

‘So he was one of the Empress’s subordinates?’

Thinking back, Heinox really had been unusually sensitive toward that old man.

‘Heinox may be prickly, but he’s not some completely irredeemable tyrant.’

If Heinox truly threw fits and overturned everything whenever he pleased, there wouldn’t be a single servant left in House Tanzeric by now.

‘But House Tanzeric still has plenty of loyal servants.’

And every servant within the ducal household was tight-lipped.

‘Even the rumors about me recovering came from merchants visiting the estate, not from the servants themselves.’

Unless someone betrayed the family or colluded with outsiders, Heinox protected his servants thoroughly.

Heinox was not a tyrant.

‘…Just a little harsh sometimes.’

That was why I’d been so surprised by his rudeness at the banquet.

He possessed enough power to behave arrogantly if he wished, but he wasn’t the type to abuse it carelessly.

‘But if that old man really belongs to the Empress, then things are different.’

The Akarins family, the Empress’s maternal house, had always been desperate to bring down House Tanzeric.

Even if it was supposedly to keep the overwhelmingly powerful Tanzerics in check, they took it far too far.

That was why they’d placed one of their own as Empress and extended their influence into the imperial family.

And because of that, they often clashed with the Emperor, who wanted to avoid direct conflict with House Tanzeric.

They’d even used Roxina’s affection for the Crown Prince during the process.

‘Ha. Thinking about it again still pisses me off.’

Meanwhile, Heinox and the Emperor continued discussing how to respond.

“So that damned old man went and tattled.”

The Emperor pressed at his temples as though suffering a headache.

“Now that the Empress has secured the chief chamberlain, it won’t take long for her influence within the palace to expand.”

“Miken Hediyom. That man really has survived here a long time. Planning to bury his bones in this palace, perhaps?”

The Emperor spoke mockingly, and Heinox slowly nodded.

“Hasn’t his family inherited the chamberlain position for generations?”

“Yes, that’s right. Miken Hediyom’s grandfather was a close friend of the former Emperor’s predecessor.”

‘Miken Hediyom?’

The name sounded strangely familiar.

Miken Hediyom… Miken Hediyom….

‘Where have I heard that before?’

Anne had never mentioned him, and today was the first time I’d heard Heinox say the name.

Then where…?

‘Ah!’

I remembered.

I finally remembered where I’d seen the name Miken Hediyom before.