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As soon as they exited the Royal Palace, Margaret grabbed Jeongjae’s shoulder. Remembering the earlier ‘one-on-one promise,’ Jeongjae flinched and glanced back at Margaret. The Elven Princess shook her head with a pretentious look of sadness.

“Don’t look at me with that face. I won’t eat you.”

“R-really?”

“I’ll think about it. Ah, just kidding. I didn’t grab you because I was angry. Honestly, I did think about it, but that feeling has passed.”

“Um, you’re not mad?”

Jeongjae asked, recalling Margaret’s intense reaction when he first showed her the ‘Manhattan’ scroll. Margaret silently led him to a wooden bench on the other side of the road near the palace.

“Sit down. Let’s have a chat.”

Jeongjae quietly took a seat beside her. Margaret stared blankly at the forest and the dome-shaped palace, as if seeing the kingdom for the first time. Compared to the forest, and even the main city that required a bit of a walk from the palace, the palace was an extraordinarily lavish structure.

Jeongjae thought that this building was quite distant from Margaret’s taste. The emphasis on grandeur and elegance leaned more toward Rose’s preferences. Rose Caprice had been thrown into the world of real politics from a young age, not even in the form of heir education, but as a member of the Imperial Assembly, tasked with assisting Walter Hellhound.

When Walter first wielded the Hero’s Holy Sword, the situation in the Audrich Empire, before Jeongjae had even crossed over to this world, was said to have been ten times worse than now. The Emperor Anton Caprice’s reform efforts were repeatedly thwarted by corrupt nobles, and the imperial army, on the brink of collapse due to a defeatist mentality, was filled with incompetent commanders.

Rose and Walter bore the very difficult duty of reforming such a dire situation and launching a counterattack against humanity within ten years at the latest. It was only natural for Rose, as the Crown Princess, to pay great attention to her appearance and stylish uniform to assert her dignity.

In contrast, Margaret seemed to believe that external luxury would rather diminish the dignity of royalty. She always sought light and practical clothing, and sometimes found it strange that Rose, who had solid defense without armor, would insist on wearing chain mail and plate armor to battle.

Though she recognized that this was a form of mental fortification for Rose, Margaret acted and fought strictly according to her belief that dignity stems from one’s usual conduct and charm.

Her behavior garnered respect that was entirely different from Rose’s. Jeongjae often genuinely felt grateful that the two women were not adversaries. If Rose and Margaret had been rivals, they would likely havesplit the world in half, vying for dominance.

Those who adored powerful abilities that no one could follow and the confidence that seemed incapable of defeat would wish to serve Rose, while those captivated by an unfathomable depth and a desire to learn from life’s master would follow Margaret.

Fortunately, both Rose and Margaret were united more tightly than they appeared, combining their forces to fight for a common purpose. Such a combination even gave rise to a strange fantasy of what it would be like if Xiang Yu from the Western Han and Liu Bei from the Three Kingdoms had met in the same era to unite against absolute evil.

“Speaking of which, a dual-wielding swordsman with big ears is quite a peculiar combination…”

“Hmm? Did you just say something about my ears?”

“N-no, it’s not an important story at all. U-uh, what do you want to talk about?”

“Park Jeongjae. I don’t think you’ll refuse, but can I ask?”

“Sure? What is it?”

“For this battle, I’d like you to fight alongside me for Eramenia.”

At Margaret’s words, Jeongjae’s head buzzed a little. She was speaking so matter-of-factly. No, he never even thought he would need to respond to such a question.

Evil dragons were invading the forest of the world’s most powerful fairies. Surely, Jeongjae wouldn’t turn around and say, “Oh, something else just came to mind, so you guys deal with the dragon issue yourselves,” and simply leave.

“Of course! I’ll definitely help as far as I can! I don’t want to see this forest burning either!”

“You will see it.”

Margaret murmured with a bitter expression.

“Huh? What was that?”

“I said you will see the forest burning. Isn’t that obvious? I don’t think we’ll lose this fight. However, I don’t doubt that this battle will leave an indelible scar and ruin on Eramenia.”

“Y-yeah… But, but if I can help minimize the damage, I’ll unleash as much of my power as I can. If it’s your call, and if it’s to fight for Eramenia, I’m ready to rush in anytime, not just this situation.”

“Is that so?”

Margaret replied curtly. The princess, who had been stretching and looking up at the sky for a moment, shook off the spot and stood up with a liberated expression.

“That’s it. In the battle for Eramenia, I don’t think there’ll be a need for your peculiar scroll. You wouldn’t want to cause an explosion like that in this forest, would you?”

“Even if it’s not just the forest…”

Jeongjae trailed off.

“Huh?”

“Even if it’s not just the forest, I no longer want to fight just to die. Fighting with the expectation of death is natural, but… fighting just to die feels a bit wrong. I… I think I might have been thinking about it incorrectly.”

Jeongjae hesitated to share his honest thoughts, resembling a child confessing to their parents about something they did wrong, which made Margaret want to laugh.

“Alright, alright. You’re not the type to know such things to begin with. Just… keep your words. Be ready to rush when I call. That means, please, for my personal request, don’t go too far where I can’t call you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Let’s just leave it at that for today. Follow me. I’m planning to raise soldiers at my little kingdom’s base to prepare for the enemy’s incursion. But before that, there’s something I’ve really wanted to show you.”

“Something you really wanted to show me?”

“Didn’t I mention before? There’s a book in our land written in your country’s language. It’s something I captured during a skirmish with the Demon King’s Army about… 100 years ago. I’ve kept it in my territory ever since, without being able to decipher it. Honestly, I’ve been extremely curious about its contents, and I was hoping you might be able to read it.”

At Margaret’s words, Jeongjae’s heart began to race with excitement.

Even during his time in Baron Harriet’s territory, he had been deeply attached to the records left by Sherlock Holmes, reading those books over and over. When Margaret had mentioned before that there was a book in the language of Earth, he had thought it would be nice to take a look.

If it was a book captured from the Demon King’s Army, might there be records concerning Moriarty? Furthermore, perhaps it was a clue to understanding the structure of that mysterious Moriarty Machine.

If so, it would not merely be a personal curiosity but a precious document with strategic value. Up until just a moment ago, Jeongjae had been sulking like a scolded child but now was following behind Margaret into the bushes with sparkling eyes.

It was like a child who had been severely scolded discovering that their now-repentant parent was willing to reward them with a trip to the supermarket for being good.

Margaret didn’t dislike this somewhat childlike side of Jeongjae. In fact, she might have been deeply captivated by his demeanor, which sometimes revealed a childlike innocence despite his rough and hardened exterior.

From the main city to the brush, and from the brush back to Margaret’s domain.

It was quite a distance, but they managed to navigate through the forest of Eramenia and arrived at Margaret’s small castle in about 15 minutes.

“That’s my castle. When I’m in Eramenia, I mainly stay there.”

Margaret pointed to a small castle set in the middle of the vast field. Truthfully, it wasn’t a size that could be easily dismissed. Comparing it with the southern castle that once stood in Harriet’s territory, there wasn’t much difference, and it could be considered a bit larger. But it was certainly a noticeably smaller building compared to Count Harker’s castle and Duke Jeffrey’s.

Just moments ago, Jeongjae had been looking at the magnificent palace of King Richard, so now Margaret’s elegant palace appeared like a tiny rural house to his eyes.

“Uh, uh, nice house.”

Jeongjae stammered, unable to utter the words ‘it looks small.’ Perhaps finding his words amusing, Margaret burst into laughter, “Just say it looks small if it does! In fact, I showed you my father’s palace on purpose to shock you before showing my castle, so you don’t need to worry about that. I designed it myself when I was a child, and it was built when I was appointed as the ruler of the small kingdom. Although it’s small, it’s strong and sturdy. It would still hold up well enough to be passed down to my sister one day.”

Hearing that made it even harder for Jeongjae to say anything about the castle looking small, but there was something from Margaret’s earlier words that nagged at him.

“Wait, a sister? Oh right… you’re about to have a sister…”

“Having a sister at over 400 years old? For a normal fairy, I’d be old enough to be her mother. No, if that child isn’t fully grown when my parents pass away, I might actually have to adopt her. It’s truly a perplexing situation.”

“What kind of wind blew in suddenly?”

“Probably because of you.”

Margaret said, suddenly shy, dropping her head low. Jeongjae tilted his head in confusion.

“Me? Me? Are you saying that because of me, the King and Queen are… expecting? I did literally nothing!”

“I’m sorry. I mean, it’s actually because of me.”

The fairy princess lifted her head but seemed to turn away, trying to hide her flushed face as she fanned herself with her hand. Jeongjae still looked at her in confusion.

“Th-that’s… does my father know how I feel about you?”

“Ah, he probably does seem to know.”

As he said this, Jeongjae subtly turned away from Margaret. The Fairy Lord cleared her throat and continued speaking.

“Well, if a fairy, um, I don’t mean to pressure you, but especially a fairy like me, finds themselves in such a situation, it’s usual for the fairy to cross over to the human world rather than the human coming to Eramenia. You see, humans struggle to adapt to the forest environment.”

“Uh, uh…”

“Really, I don’t mean to pressure you. You don’t have to feel like you must move at my beck and call. My father might be preparing to create another heir in case I end up establishing a life in the human world, since you know, humans have a much shorter lifespan than fairies, so there’s a high chance that I might not bear offspring before his time comes…”

The more Margaret said she wasn’t trying to pressure him, the more Jeongjae felt a sense of burden. However, he tried to ignore it. Answers concerning such things… can’t just be said casually. Especially when the fate of a major kingdom was at stake.

Margaret, glancing at Jeongjae, fell silent on the most crucial part.

The most important reason why King Richard suddenly decided to have a second child was because he knew that if Margaret failed to win Jeongjae’s heart, the chance of her remaining single for life would be nearly 100%, just like most fairies.

If the royal family’s only daughter were to live her life alone, the next high elf to inherit the throne would disappear. The reason she purposely kept this significant point hidden was perhaps because she had… a strong desire to pressure Jeongjae, wanting to subtly place a burden on his heart while telling him not to feel burdened.

‘Father already thinks we’re going to continue on. I don’t want to betray that expectation,’ such a subtle pressure. Within that wicked intent, the noble high elf concealed the truth of how King Richard was most likely contemplating family plans while being mindful of the possibility that the two might not unite at all.

 

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