The doors opened... and the bane of my peace walked in with a disarmingly pleasant smile. Davian.
Roan’s eyes imdiately flicked to , his grin stretching wide the mont he saw who had entered.
"Good afternoon, Your Highness," Roan greeted smoothly, his voice practically dripping with amusent as he turned his attention to Davian.
I sighed. Deeply.
Apparently, not even my own sanctuary was safe from this man. I couldn’t avoid him in my house.
"Roan," I said flatly, "go take a break."
He turned to with a grin that I knew far too well—the kind of grin that made want to chuck a paperweight at his head.
"Eh? But Master, there’s so much work left! How could I possibly take a break now?" he replied, mock sincerity lacing every word.
I arched a brow. "Hm? Since you’re so enthusiastic about working, I suppose I can grant the aides a three-day vacation. You can take over their workload as well. Consider it a show of your passion."
Roan paled instantly. The three younger aides nearby froze in place. Blake, in particular, looked suspiciously hopeful.
"N-No! It’s important to take regular short breaks to maintain efficiency!" Roan stamred, backpedaling fast. "And since you’re such a generous employer, I’ll take that break now. In fact, I’ll be out right away!"
With that, he bolted out of the room.
I turned to the others. "You three, take a break too. Go."
They exchanged glances, stood quickly, and shuffled out of the office. The mont they disappeared, I let out another long, exhausted sigh.
Davian took a seat in front of , practically glowing as he settled down with that annoyingly bright smile on his face. I half-wondered whether he even walked here or simply glided in on one of his fluffy, fantastical clouds.
"You seem really happy, Your Highness. Did sothing good happen?" I asked, eyeing him warily.
His eyes sparkled as he leaned forward eagerly. "How’d you know?"
"Just a hunch," I replied dryly, and he bead like I’d handed him a basket of roses.
It was starting to irk —how casually he’d used my na to pull his stunt. So maybe it was ti to give him a little scolding. Just a gentle one.
"Besides," I said, my voice light but tinged with frost, "I don’t recall dispatching you for any mission, Your Highness."
He stiffened. "Yes?"
"And especially not to escort soone—are you sure it wasn’t an imposter you t, using my na in vain?" I asked, tilting my head ever so slightly, letting the temperature in the room drop a few degrees.
Davian gave a sheepish smile. "I see... you, uh, already know."
I smiled, a perfect imitation of innocence. "Oh, I do."
"Well... since you already know... I an... I like Miss Reina, and I didn’t really have any chance to get close to her, so I just... borrowed your na," he admitted, fidgeting. "You did say you’d help woo her..."
Ah, I did say that—but that was when I didn’t know he would be coming for !
"Don’t you think stalking is going a bit too far?" I asked coolly.
He flinched. "I just... got worried. She has fragile health, and when I saw that Colette was attending the sa tea party, I knew she’d try to pull sothing. But you know what?!"
He suddenly brightened up and leaned across the desk, eyes sparkling with excitent.
"Miss Reina was amazing! She handled everything with so much grace and cleverness—it was like watching you! It reminded of how you always speak."
"Wh-What?!" My composure wavered, my mask nearly slipping.
"Yes!" he nodded enthusiastically. "She was so graceful and sharp—completely turned the tables on Colette! And Colette’s humiliated face?" He sighed dreamily. "An unexpected treat."
I blinked. "Isn’t it... rude to laugh about a lady’s humiliation?"
He waved a hand dismissively. "Colette and Carlos don’t deserve rcy, Master. You know that. Besides, she started it. But Miss Reina—ah! She didn’t even raise her voice! She was elegant, calm, and devastatingly witty. Honestly, I fell in love with her all over again!"
He was practically sparkling with infatuation now, and I—well, I was trying very hard not to leap out the window from secondhand embarrassnt.
I cleared my throat sharply, trying to regain my balance. "Be that as it may... sneaking up on her and sending away her assigned guard was still wrong. Where is Lyall, anyway?!"
Davian cleared his throat and looked suddenly very interested in the carpet.
"Well, I and he had a verbal contract," Davian began. "I asked him to step aside from Miss Reina’s side, and that I will—"
"You will?" I asked, already feeling a headache blooming.
"I will have a spar with him. Using my Aura," he said, as if it were the most casual thing in the world.
"You what?!"
"Well, he only agreed to step away if I agreed to spar with him using my Aura. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left," Davian said with a shrug, completely unfazed.
"And where is he now?"
"I don’t know." Another shrug. As if this was normal.
I took a deep breath, trying not to explode right then and there. "Your Highness, you are banned from doing this in the future. If you want to go see Miss Reina, do not misplace my people and do not make ridiculous bets like that! You’re an Aura user, and Lyall is a normal human trained in combat. Are you seriously going to go all out against him?!"
"It’s between him and now, Master," Davian replied calmly, not even a flicker of remorse in his tone. "Besides, he’s your right-hand man—and apart from the Seraph Knights and my family, he’s the only one who’s fought and defeated the rogue shifters. I don’t think he’ll have that hard a ti with ."
He even smiled. Smiled.
"Besides," he continued, "if he wants to keep up with you, Master, then he has to grow stronger. And no one else but him will push himself that hard, just so he won’t hold you back. That’s the kind of person Lyall is. I admire that about him. So, if our spar helps him grow, then I’ll gladly fight him."
I sighed, rubbing my temples and staring at him for a mont.
"When is this spar supposed to happen? You’ll have to leave for Denril soon, right?"
His eyes widened. "Right! I ca here to talk about that!"
"Hm?"
Well, I wasn’t particularly worried about him—he did say he had soone to go with. And yet... I suddenly felt a strange sense of déjà vu creeping up on . And his next words?
Exactly what I feared.
"Please go with to Denril as my chaperone," he said earnestly.
I watched the last remnants of my peace flutter away like startled doves.
"What?" I asked, flatly.
"Well," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "everyone else who’s invited is going with either their parents or guardians, and since my parents are busy in Frosthail, I thought I’d ask soone I’m close to. Soone I can rely on."
The way he said that—it was like a child trying to convince their always-busy parent to attend a school event, while everyone else’s parents were present but theirs never were. It almost made feel guilty.
Almost.
I shook my head. "I’m sorry, but even if I wanted to, I can’t. I have too much lined up for winter. I need to settle everything before the New Year."
Davian looked down, fiddling with the hem of his sleeve.
"I could arrange for soone else to go with you—" I started.
"I see... So this is how it’ll be," he murmured, cutting off. His voice was low.
He looked up and smiled—but it didn’t reach his eyes.
"It’s fine," he said softly. "I’ll just go alone. As always."
Then he stood up. The way he moved made wonder if he was trying to guilt-trip — or if he really was depressed.
"I’m sorry to have wasted your ti, Master. I hope your work goes smoothly. Goodbye."
And just like that, he turned and walked away without waiting for to respond. Without giving a chance to say anything.
[Giver of Gifts calls you cruel for hurting the poor man’s heart.]
"Hah?!"
[Goddess of Wisdom says you have a block of ice in place of a heart.]
"The hell?!"
[Defender of Divine Glory prays for the poor man’s feelings.]
[Giver of Gifts wipes her tears as she watches your cold self.]
"Why the hell are you all like this?!"
[Giver of Gifts has assigned you a task.]
"Oh, God, no..."
[Be Prince Davian Raden Montaire’s chaperone and attend the Peace Treaty Ball at Denril together.
Reward: Undisclosed.
Penalty: You will miss an ally.]
"The hell?!" I grimaced, clutching my temples. "Why is the reward undisclosed?!"
[Goddess of Wisdom says you’ll know once you fulfill the task.]
"I don’t care. I’m not doing it. Task rejected."
I rolled my eyes, already overwheld with the to-do list that was piling higher than Roan’s smart remarks.
But of course, that didn’t sit well with the bunch of divine stalkers I had for Patrons.
[Your favourability among the Patrons has been decreased.]
[Your favourability among the Patrons has been decreased.]
[Your favourability among the Patrons has been decreased.]
[Your favourability among the Patrons has been decreased.]
[Your Patrons are booing at you.]
[Your Patrons have invoked the Penalty request for rejecting the task.]
"What the hell?!" I snapped, shooting up from my seat. "There’s a penalty system for this?! Since when?!"
[Penalty for decreased favourability will be put into action within: 03:00 minutes.]
"WHAT penalty?!"
[Goddess of Wisdom is ready with her creative ideas.]
[Defender of Divine Glory leaves the decision to Goddess of Wisdom.]
[Giver of Gifts sides with Defender of Divine Glory.]
"You guys are a bunch of divine tyrants," I muttered as I stord out of my office, the countdown flashing in the corner of my vision.
[Ti remaining for Penalty: 02:16]
Grinding my teeth, I stalked through the Ryujin halls, following the trace of Davian’s aura like a bloodhound. I could feel the imaginary guillotine dropping inch by inch as the seconds ticked away.
No ti for pleasantries.
I didn’t even bother knocking as I reached the guest room. I threw open the door with a bang, startling the poor prince who looked up mid-thought, clearly sulking.
"Prince Davian!" I declared, "I’ll be your chaperone."
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