Cail raced across the night sky.

[Cail!]

Helasio flapped his short wings, chasing after him.

[You…!]

“The god has approached her. We need to stop this before things get more troublesome.”

At Cail’s indifferent response, Helasio’s mouth, which was about to nag, closed immediately.

Cail headed toward the Grand Temple, where she might be.

***

The servants of the Imperial Princess’s palace applied fragrant oil to Cail’s body, dressed him in clean clothes, and pushed him into Jella’s room.

“You’re awake, Cail.”

A woman sitting casually on the sofa smiled brightly when she saw Cail.

The moment he first saw her, Cail forgot even to breathe and just stared blankly in surprise.

So there are such clean and beautiful people in this world…

She was someone so different from himself.

Wouldn’t an angel from old stories look just like this?

“Come here.”

He worried, absurdly, that his breath might dirty the air surrounding her. Cail quietly held his breath and approached her.

Her eyes frowned slightly.

Wondering if he had done something to upset her, tension built and sweat gathered inside his clenched fist.

He recalled the servants’ words that the Imperial Princess was capricious and would soon tire of him and send him away.

‘No.’

Cail firmly clenched his fist.

‘If I’m sent away, I’ll end up back in that place.’

At that moment, fear washed over him.

What should I do? What should I do?

Before that woman calls someone to drive him away, he should harm her…

It was when Cail was in a state of panic from the overwhelming fear, unable to think properly.

“These scars, did they come from that place?”

Cail suddenly came to his senses at her question as she looked over his body.

‘Ah…’

In the eyes of the preciously raised Imperial Princess, his body must look unsightly.

Belatedly realizing this, Cail shrank his large body. Not that it would hide the scars on his body.

Looking at him like that, she spoke in a very upset voice.

“I’m sorry for finding you only now.”

Cail couldn’t understand why she was apologizing, or what she meant by finding him only now.

So he couldn’t give any answer to those words.

Then suddenly his gaze fixed on her white, slender neck.

It looked so fragile, as if it would break with just a little pressure.

‘Yes, with just a little pressure…’

Cail, recalling his plan again, knelt before her.

He tried to serve her as he had learned in the slave market before being sold to a noble house, hiding his murderous intent toward her.

“You don’t need to satisfy me.”

But she spoke in a firm voice.

“I didn’t bring you here to keep you as a slave.”

Cail stared at her, unable to understand those words.

Not bringing a dirty, lowly slave here to keep as a slave?

Come to think of it, she was… a bit strange.

She didn’t call him dirty, nor did she curse or beat him.

It was when an inexplicable vague expectation arose, and he felt his heart beat with a thump.

“You have a good body.”

Suddenly, emotions welled up in his throat.

It was exactly what the noble woman who first bought him had said.

Of course. For a moment, he had almost been captivated by that angelic appearance.

As Cail was hiding his disappointment, not even knowing himself what had been so disappointing.

“Would you like to learn the sword?”

She suddenly asked.

“…?”

Cail lost his expression for a moment and looked up blankly. At the face of the angel-like pretty Imperial Princess smiling languidly at him…

That night, Cail couldn’t sleep and tossed and turned all night.

“…What is that woman plotting?”

He kept thinking about it.

Those pink eyes looking at him and that face smiling languidly…

And…

That small ankle he had carefully held…

He learned for the first time that a human body could be so warm and soft.

In the midst of thinking that he wanted to touch it once more, he suddenly came to his senses.

“What am I… thinking…”

Cail quickly shook his head, erasing the strange thoughts.

From what he heard, the Imperial Princess didn’t buy him from slave traders but killed them all and brought him here.

It was hard to believe that she had seen blood with that small, seemingly fragile body.

But that wasn’t what was important.

Although he was given clean clothes and warm food… this place was just another set of bars imprisoning him.

Whenever the Imperial Princess’s heart changed, he might be thrown back into the mud.

So before that, he would watch for an opportunity and escape first.

Yes, I need to escape…

I need to escape…

Clang!

The sword flew away.

“You were distracted.”

The man speaking in a stern voice was the captain of the imperial knights.

He was teaching Cail by the Imperial Princess’s order.

Cail knew how nonsensical this was from the whispers of the court people.

Thankfully, the captain didn’t show his displeasure in front of him, but the discomfort was unavoidable.

‘Why on earth does she want me to learn the sword?’

Cail was growing in skill day by day thanks to his innate talent, but because he lacked the will to learn the sword himself, he wasn’t fully utilizing that talent.

He couldn’t understand the Imperial Princess’s intention in having him learn the sword.

‘What use is it for a slave like me to learn the sword?’

The court people gossiped that it was obvious this was the Imperial Princess’s new amusement, bringing in a slave with nothing but a handsome face and teaching him the sword, which didn’t suit his station, just to mock him.

‘That woman’s amusement…’

As Cail was ruminating on what people were saying.

“What are you doing, Cail? Hurry and pick up the sword.”

“…I’m sorry.”

It was when he was bending down to pick up the sword that had flown away at his master’s rebuke.

“Your Highness, the Imperial Princess!”

At the knight captain’s voice, Cail looked up.

The Imperial Princess had appeared.

It was the first time he had seen the Imperial Princess since that day.

‘Of all times, at a moment like this…’

Cail’s face reddened.

Thinking that she must have seen his incompetent self dropping the sword just now, he somehow wanted to hide in a mouse hole.

“I see you were in training.”

“Cail’s skills are growing day by day. He has good basic talent, so if he continues with a bit more will, he will surely become an excellent knight.”

“Is that so? That’s good.”

Jella smiled faintly and turned to look at Cail.

Thump.

Cail’s heart strangely trembled as their eyes met.

For a moment, her eyes curved languidly.

“Come here.”

“……”

As he quietly approached at her call, she spoke in a satisfied voice.

“Well done, Cail.”

“……”

“Learn diligently and become a knight who protects me.”

“……”

Instead of answering, Cail just stared at her face.

Then the knight captain standing beside him said:

“Cail, Her Highness is speaking to you. What are you doing being so rude?”

“Don’t push him too hard. It’s natural that he’s unfamiliar with palace etiquette.”

Seeing her restraining the knight captain who was scolding him and instead taking his side, Cail wondered.

With her bright hair and sweet pink eyes, she was a person who shone so brilliantly, unlike himself who was colorless.

Why would such an amazing woman…

Why would she be so kind to someone like him?

Was that warmth, like a ray of sunshine on ruins, also part of her amusement?

After that day, whenever Cail held a sword, he remembered her words.

‘Learn diligently and become a knight who protects me.’

Become a knight who protects you…

Your knight…

While swinging his sword fiercely through the air, such a thought suddenly occurred to him.

Even if she was keeping him by her side for amusement, as people said…

“I don’t think I would mind.”

Thud.

Planting the tip of his sword that had been cutting through the air into the ground, Cail thought of her.

He thought of those pretty eyes that curved languidly toward him and that gentle voice.

He thought of her, who was so soft and warm to the touch that he felt he might melt.

And so Cail thought of her, and thought of her, and thought of her again.

Until then, he hadn’t realized.

That at some point, he spent more time thinking about her than thinking about leaving.

Even though he was thinking about her all day long, he didn’t realize it at all.