Chapter 165: Is That All? How Could I Possibly Lose!
Gwen sat atop the Giant White Bird, her pretty face flushed crimson.
So it had all been a misunderstanding...
Viktor had said he wanted to take her sowhere.
At first, Gwen had thought...
No—she had never thought that at all!
As a righteous Knight, Gwen absolutely refused to acknowledge that anything improper had ever crossed her mind.
That was absolutely, categorically impossible!
After dinner ended, white swirling winds gathered beneath Viktor's feet.
And then, that enormous, awe-inspiring Giant White Bird was released, just like that.
She had seen this great bird before—back in the Northern Frontier, at her own ho.
In that mont, she had stood before Viktor in front of countless Knights, and of her own accord, sided with him.
Even if it ant standing against every Knight in the Northern Frontier.
And here, right now, she was sitting atop this great bird, suspended in the sky, bathed in moonlight.
The wind seed to grow wild and unruly, howling, sweeping.
Not a violent wind by any ans, yet it whipped Gwen's white formal gown into a frenzy.
She pressed both hands down firmly on the white hat atop her head, terrified it would be blown off and swallowed by the vast darkness of the night.
1 hand also clutched at the hem of her skirt to keep it from being lifted by the gusts.
Her situation looked rather comical, and her already flushed cheeks grew even more flustered.
But the scenery all around her was breathtakingly beautiful.
In the hushed sky above, silver stars glittered like ornants pinned against a curtain of night.
The mysterious night sky seed to be telling a story, drawing the heart irresistibly toward it.
The Giant White Bird swept past the clouds—like a shooting star crossing the Milky Way, streaking toward the horizon.
She was up in the air, looking down upon the earth.
Below her lay the vast and thriving Royal Capital.
Beneath the open sky, it blazed with brilliant lights.
Within that dreamlike scenery pulsed a profoundly wondrous radiance.
As if a second scattering of luminous stars had been placed upon the world.
Viktor stood with both hands in his pockets, and at so point his black formal suit had transford back into his Coat.
The howling winds kept the black Coat in constant motion, rustling and snapping.
Lifted into the air, it looked like a long, slender tail feather.
All at once, Viktor's voice slowly sounded beside Gwen's ear.
"How does it feel?"
"Beautiful."
Gwen held her hat in place, her eyes full of the hazy, reflected starlight.
A long-absent sense of calm seed to gently settle over her, lifting her out of the anxiousness and confusion.
She wasn't sure why.
Perhaps it was the scenery all around her, drawing her into stillness.
Or perhaps it was because the person who could put her at ease.
Was right here beside her, at this very mont.
Gwen looked up at Viktor again, her gaze settling on his back.
Her eyes, too, had taken on a slight softness.
She parted her lips and asked the question she had wanted an answer to from the very beginning.
"Why...are you so good to ?"
Whether at the inn near the volcano, or the first ti she returned to the Imperial Palace—when she had been questioned by everyone around her.
Even back in the Northern Frontier, in her own ho.
Viktor had always taken care of her with unwavering attentiveness.
Always stepping forward to stand in front of her first, to stand up for her.
Even when the very justice she had devoted herself to was on the verge of collapse—it was Viktor's appearance that made her conviction grow steadier still.
He was like a brilliant star.
When Gwen had co within a hair's breadth of falling into darkness, he had brought her the light of redemption.
"First of all, that's a pointless question."
At that, Viktor turned around and looked at Gwen with calm, level eyes.
"Why can't I be good to you?"
Gwen gave a slight start, looking at Viktor with a confusion she couldn't quite work through.
Viktor let out a sigh and finally shook his head with a helpless smile.
"Rember this."
"I have always been your Fiancé."
The words fell slowly, as if remarking on so trivial, inconsequential matter.
But the calm, gentle tone of his voice lingered in Gwen's ears, echoing on and on.
Without aning to, she sat up straighter.
Her eyes went wide as a pair of copper bells, her cheeks blazing, and she stared at Viktor in a daze.
Her heart pounded wildly.
It was such a cool night.
And yet she felt her body growing hotter and hotter...
Her body trembled faintly, and she herself could not have said what kind of emotion this was.
All at once, Viktor swept a hand toward the sky.
Before him, a clock made entirely of fla appeared between the 2 of them.
A long hand and a short hand moved slowly along.
Around the edge of the clock, several streams of golden Magic Power encircled it, and at its center, what appeared to be a golden scale swayed ceaselessly back and forth.
Each ti the hands passed a Roman nural, that nural would grow hazy, then dissolve into a beam of red light that sank into the clouds.
The hands continued ticking steadily upward toward the very top.
"Almost ti."
The quiet voice sounded, and the Giant White Bird beneath Viktor suddenly let out a piercing shriek.
That sharp, sky-splitting cry instantly carried through the air, spreading slowly across the entire Royal Capital.
The sound was not loud—yet it brought a ripple of movent to the otherwise still city.
Those residents who had not yet gone to bed all poked their heads out, curiously searching from within their hos for the source of the sound.
At that mont, Weija's eyes shimred with a faint blue glow, linking with Viktor.
Almost the instant the Magic Power surged.
Beneath Viktor's feet, countless Formations lit up.
Hmmm—hmmm—hmmm—
A complex and innurable web of Magic Formations began to flash and overlap ceaselessly, until even the clouds themselves beca a canvas, slowly being stained with color.
Rich Magic Power overflowed continuously from around the Formations, sweeping outward in all directions like a surging tide.
The otherworldly Magic Power gradually spread across every street of the Royal Capital, and the brilliantly lit city began to be slowly cloaked in sheer veils of strangely colored light.
Around Viktor's body, waves of dense Magic Power were released without pause.
Patterns surged forth—as if an entire painter's palette had been upended all at once.
"Watch carefully. Don't blink."
The voice sounded in Gwen's ear, drawing her gaze involuntarily toward the Formations.
And then.
From that colossal Formation, an extraordinarily brilliant radiance blazed to life.
The enormous ring Formation expanded at breathtaking speed, as if gathering all the scattered Magic Power across the land.
In an instant, a tremor passed through the air.
Countless streams of Magic Power ford into fireworks one after another, trailing plus of sparkling smoke as they burst through the fabric of space.
Through layer upon layer of warping distortions, those Magic Power fireworks spiraled and spun as they shot up into the sky above.
In an instant, otherworldly light was ignited across the heavens, scattering in every direction.
Transford into showers of glittering sparks that dimd even the stars themselves, thousands upon thousands of brilliant blossoms burst into full bloom all at once.
Every resident of the Royal Capital witnessed this breathtaking sight—as if a more fantastical field of stars had been placed directly before their very eyes.
Many children poked their heads out, pointing at the sky, shouting to their mothers:
"Mama! Look! Fireworks!"
Leah, who had been buried in work in the Study all day, stretched a long, weary stretch in the darkness and walked to the window. Looking up through the glass at the sky, her eyes lit up with its reflected beauty.
Heni was writing diligently in her notebook, filling page after page, when the blazing brightness from outside ignited as if setting the entire night sky alight.
She raised her head, set down her pen, and lifted her gaze toward the sky above.
Auréliane, within the Imperial Palace, was idly flipping through the monster compendium Viktor had given her in her chambers.
Then she felt a terrifyingly powerful surge of Magic Power and couldn't help but widen her eyes.
Fireworks flashed and danced in her gaze, her eyes swimming with color.
"How beautiful..."
Endless flas transford into fireworks, trailing tails of every color and shape, blooming again and again across the sky without cease.
Cocotte was yawning in the garden when she suddenly snapped to full attention, eyes flying wide, head jerking upward.
"What the hell, War Magic!?"
No wait—who on earth was extravagant enough to set off freaking War Magic as fireworks!?
In this mont, every last person in the Royal Capital witnessed this utterly astonishing spectacle.
The fireworks went on for a long, long ti, detonating one after another across the sky.
Gwen was closest to it all, feeling the warmth that radiated from the Magic Power.
In her eyes, light rippled and danced.
At the corners of her eyes, sothing that seed like moisture had gathered.
Was it being moved?
She couldn't say for certain.
The fireworks blazed on and on without pause, lasting for a long span of ti.
Until at last, before they faded, the sky grew still.
A single small, bright stream of Magic Power rose slowly into the night sky, as if gradually rging with the moon.
The mont it ca to rest there in the air, that vast yet gentle radiance seed to spread throughout the entire world.
Beside Viktor, the 3 hands of the fla clock moved slowly.
Until finally, all 3 hands ca to rest simultaneously at the very top of the clock.
Marking the arrival of midnight.
Marking the end of a full day.
Marking a new beginning.
"Happy Birthday."
As the fireworks gradually faded into the night, Viktor's voice sounded beside Gwen's ear.
Gwen still had her head tilted back, as if she couldn't get enough, her gaze fixed on the stars in the sky.
The fireworks seed to have faded—and yet also seed to linger still.
As if sothing had quietly been tucked away inside her heart.
All at once, she drew a slow, deep breath, as if she had just made up her mind about sothing.
"Viktor."
"When you're teaching the Princess—do you have to be by her side the whole ti?"
Viktor gave a nod, and replied evenly:
"To ensure the Princess's safety, remaining by her side is necessary."
"...I see."
She lowered her head, as if explaining.
"On the day His Majesty summoned , he asked whether I could beco Her Highness the Princess's swordsmanship instructor."
"He gave a few days to decide."
Viktor listened quietly, and then saw Gwen look over at him.
As he looked at Gwen's face, sothing stopped him for just a mont.
Her expression was like ice dissolving.
Like the sun just beginning to rise, a bright, radiant smile broke across her face—utterly captivating.
"Having been a Knight all my life, suddenly becoming a teacher sounds like quite a novel thing."
"I'd like to give it a try."
The sound of the wind gradually swept past his ears, and Viktor ca back to himself.
He looked at Gwen and let out a soft hum.
"Is that so."
The corners of his mouth curved upward ever so slightly.
"Teaching—that's sothing I have quite a bit of experience with."
"How about we have a little practice session?"
Gwen gazed at him dreamily and broke into a happy laugh.
"Sure—"
"Don't expect to go easy on you."
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