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“That makes for quite the complicated situation.”

“Who are you… going to use as a guard knight? Is Shushu one of your subordinates? The Empire’s downfall is already clear. With the Pope pulling such stunts!”

“I asked Shushu, so you should just shut it. The Atara Kingdom is just hoping to avoid disasters for eternity. Shushu, please answer me. You’ll accompany me, right?”

This was the scene where the king of Atara and the Pope of the Empire were barking at each other with me in the middle.

*

The start of this incident was a single letter.

“Kashmir, here’s a letter sent from the temple.”

“The temple, you say?”

I gently nudged Aria’s head resting on my shoulder and Cal’s resting on my lap to take the letter.

I was having a lazy morning with Aria, who didn’t have any social engagements, and Cal, who wasn’t at the magic tower. I was half-asleep when Cal raised his head, and Aria’s face crumpled.

“The temple? Why are they contacting you, from that group of eunuchs?”

“Aria.”

“……I said the ‘noble’ group.”

Aria, interrupted from her nap, wasn’t sounding very polite. I chuckled at her quick correction and flipped the letter over.

The front of the envelope had six messy letters written on it. The familiar scrawl made me laugh again.

“Whose letter is this?”

“It’s from Minister Yulian.”

Cal and Aria’s faces crumpled further.

“What’s that jerk sending you a letter for?”

“Well… I’m not sure yet since I haven’t opened it. He could just be sending a letter for a friend.”

“……Yulian is your friend?”

Aria looked a bit perturbed. With some knowledge of Yulian, I tilted my head.

“……Aria Crisis. Do you have a connection with Minister Yulian?”

Before I even asked, Cal shot the question. I got a strange feeling from the tension in his voice, but I moved on without delving deeper.

“Well… he’s a minister and often appears in the social circle; when we meet, we talk a bit… if I had to choose, I’d say we’re friends.”

Aria rolled her eyes as if it were a nuisance. Curiously, it seemed like Cal’s expression had soured even more, but I lost track of that thought as Aria continued.

“That guy, every time we meet, always begs me to have you come to the temple.”

“Me?”

I blinked in surprise. Aria nodded.

“Yep. He says the temple needs Princess Kashmir’s assistance… he’s a pleasant person, but I don’t like how he talks about you all the time.”

Aria made a face of annoyance. I gently stroked her cat-like hair, filled with discontent, and delicately opened the letter.

‘……What the?’

I wore a puzzled expression. Scrawled across a square card in grotesque, blood-red ink were just three words.

“I could feel something was off when that guy visited our mansion… is he insane?”

Cal, glancing at the card next to me, spoke sharply. I had grown accustomed to his casual insults directed at the Empire’s minister by now. It seemed that the people from the House of Crisis had a knack for rough language.

‘What on Earth…’

After pondering whether there might be some hidden intention behind such a desperate plea, I abandoned the thought.

Yulian wouldn’t have any hidden motives. If he did, he would boldly write in the imperial language even when cursing the Emperor.

Yulian was indeed as crazy as Cal mentioned. He was not one to conceal his intentions.

‘Oh.’

Casually flipping the card over, I saw more writing.

[The mad dog is rampaging every day. Our temple needs the princess’s help. I apologize for bothering you with such trivial matters, but I want to live. Please visit the temple at your earliest convenience, and I’ll give you the chocolates I’ve secretly saved away from that mad dog.]

“Ha…”

I let out a small laugh. The urgency in the scrawl perfectly embodied Yulian.

‘Looks like El isn’t in a good mood.’

Having known Yulian for some time now, I realized that he affectionately called El ‘mad dog.’ El had always been generous with me, his close friend, so perhaps he was hoping my time with El would lighten his mood a bit.

‘I haven’t seen him since the hunting tournament; it wouldn’t hurt to go see him today.’

Making up my mind, I shoved the letter aside and asked Taylor to tidy it up as I rose from my seat. Cal and Aria, lounging about, properly settled into the sofa upon my movement.

“Sis, are you going?”

Aria asked, and I smiled.

“Yeah, I think I need to see the mad dog.”

I was planning to pay a visit to the temple.

♦

Barring unavoidable tasks, I was finally stepping out after burying myself in swordsmanship training for a long time.

Today, I wanted to savor the fresh air, so I donned my cloak and strolled leisurely toward the temple.

As usual, the interior of the temple, upon revealing my identity, was grand and solemn. I still couldn’t quite absorb that El was the owner of this massive temple.

As I wandered around, trying not to make a sound, I sensed someone approaching and turned my head.

“Princess! You’ve come!”

Seeing Yulian’s face filled with relief made me chuckle. I gave a brief bow.

“Long time no see, Yulian. How have you been?”

“No…”

Yulian shook his head, and his face looked incredibly haggard. His delicate and fragile face, with lilac eyes glistening, seemed to sparkle with a sorrowful brightness. He looked almost half-dead.

“I’m sorry to call you for this, but… ugh, that jerk of a… why does he live like that?”

Yulian, who seemed drained of energy, suddenly burst into anger mid-sentence. Whatever had been piled up seemed to weigh heavily on him. Looking at him with pity, I gently patted his shoulder.

“I’m not sure how much I can help, but as your friend, I will do my best.”

“Don’t worry. That jerk would be over the moon just seeing one strand of your hair.”

Yulian’s exaggerated statement made me laugh, but to my surprise, his expression was serious.

“Please accompany me. Ugh… now I’ll finally be free from that jerk’s hysterics.”

“I thought I was going to die,” “Thank you so much,” he rambled as he led me through the temple.

He brought me to the Pope’s office, and the closer we got to that place, known as the holy sanctum, the more holy knights I saw standing guard. I felt the sacred energy growing denser with each step.

“Here we are.”

Yulian’s footsteps, becoming lighter, almost seemed to float as he reached the Pope’s office door. I jogged lightly alongside him, like a butterfly riding the spring breeze, and then stopped as he halted.

“Uh… this is the Pope’s office?”

“Yes. Is there a problem?”

Indeed, the Pope’s office was splendid and imposing, but I frowned slightly at the odd feeling it gave me.

“There’s no guard at the door, which seems a bit strange.”

The hallway was filled with holy knights, yet no one was in sight near the door.

As I tilted my head, Yulian chuckled.

“That guy’s got a misanthropy issue, so he gets rid of all the guards. No one can handle that madness.”

“Still, it seems dangerous. Are you sure it’s alright?”

El’s divine power is immense. As a sword master, I could feel the overflowing divine energy just being near him.

However, I felt no sign of power from him, which made me worry whether it was safe for someone in such a dangerous position like the Pope to be unguarded.

“That guy? Dangerous?”

Yet Yulian wore a reluctant face as if that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“He won’t be in danger. In fact, the one who attacks him would be the one in trouble.”

I nodded to his assertion, even while rolling my eyes. He must have some protective measures in place to be so confident.

“Let’s go in first.”

Yulian stood at the door and abruptly swung it open without knocking.

“Hey! I’m here… huh?”

Yulian, who had boldly announced his presence, suddenly froze. I peered beyond Yulian to see what was happening inside.

‘What on Earth… what could they be doing in there?’

El’s office looked like a war zone. Crumpled papers soaked in ink were scattered everywhere, and the furniture looked as if it had been blasted apart.

In the midst of all that, El was nowhere to be found.

“Is there… no one here to clean the temple?”

I muttered after a brief pause. Yulian slapped his forehead.

“That can’t be! This is just the outcome of that jerk refusing to let anyone into his room.”

It seemed El was having a bit of a teenage rebellion.

As I stood there momentarily at a loss for words, Yulian turned away.

“He’s probably somewhere in the temple. Let’s check another place.”

Following Yulian, I changed my direction.

[Dear Kashmir, how are you? I’m not doing well…]

[Kashmir, I miss you so…]

[Kashmir, Kashmir, Kashmir, Kashmir.]

I chose to ignore the contents scrawled on the crumpled papers I occasionally glanced at.

‘Looks like he was very lonely…’

El’s life in the temple must have been quite challenging. I resolved to visit him often whenever I had the chance.

*

Thanks to a holy knight we met along the way, Yulian and I made our way to the guest room in the temple, where visitors stayed.

After quite a walk, we finally arrived, and the familiar energy enveloped us.

‘El. And… why are you here?’

I squinted at the familiar presence next to El.

“So, um, I’d like you to help me find something.”

As I approached the door, the voice that reached my ears was unmistakably his.

Hearing his very serious tone made me instinctively deploy my mana to suppress both mine and Yulian’s presence. I shushed the confused Yulian with a finger to my lips and quietly neared the door to eavesdrop on their exchange.

I didn’t even know why I felt the need to do this, but it seemed essential to listen. Something deep inside compelled me.

“I’m not an information broker; I don’t know why you’re putting that on me. Do you see me as some kind of information dealer? Shouldn’t there be a holy punishment for that delusion?”

“It’s not hard for you. Just help out a bit to smooth things over between Atara and Solatine. You get all friendly in public, but you’re just spitting trash in private.”

“It’s not that it’s hard, but there’s no reason to do it. As a king, I’d think you’d know some information brokers. Why put this on me? Smoothing relations isn’t my concern… if you don’t like it, then go to war or something. That would be better than having to deal with that loudmouth.”

“I’ll pay you anything—money or whatever. I know you know the Empire’s secrets, but… this is a rather personal matter. But, what the hell…?”

“Do I look like I’m in need of money right now? And stop with the ‘you jerk’ talk. It makes you seem really cheap.”

“What are you two doing?”

Unable to bear it anymore as it sounded like two countries on the brink of war were about to erupt, I flung open the door. Seriously, what were they doing sitting together like that?

Yulian and El froze the moment they spotted me, remaining stiff for a moment, and then awkward smiles appeared on both their faces.

“Ah, you’ve come, Shushu! We were talking about economic cooperation and cultural exchange between Atara and Solatine!”

“Su, Shushu! This guy is right! We were discussing the future of the nation and the outlook for the continent!”

The two of them stammered as they linked arms. Their arms, tightly holding onto each other, looked quite hilarious.

What a ridiculous excuse.

 

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