“Your Highness……”

Calix looked at me with a flushed face, seemingly embarrassed.

“I don’t know who cast that spell, but seeing it stopped, they must have run out of mana.”

Relieved that we survived, I buried my head against his chest and cried loudly.

“I thought we were going to die! When I told you to escape, why didn’t you listen to me!”

“……What?”

“Just hearing things!”

Calix’s hand hesitantly grabbed my hair.

And just as his hand was about to touch my waist.

“Your Highness?”

Something red splattered across my face. Calix’s finger gently brushed my face.

His body collapsed, heavily pinning me down.

“Y-Your Highness!”

What I saw was a sword piercing Calix’s back and a brown-haired woman who had appeared in my visions long ago.

My mind went blank. I couldn’t understand what was happening.

A sharp blade had penetrated and exited Calix’s abdomen, and warm red liquid began to flow.

“No, no!”

I frantically searched through my bag.

I had potions that I’d bought with all the money I’d saved, just in case.

Because I was well-prepared, I should have one.

I had to have one.

“Your Highness, stay conscious, Your Highness!”

Calix didn’t respond. I shook my bag vigorously, trying to find the potion bottle.

Found it!

I immediately grabbed the potion bottle with trembling hands.

“Stop it.”

I heard the woman’s voice but didn’t care. Saving Calix came first.

I desperately poured the potion into his mouth.

The momentary relief that I had from preventing an emergency situation was short-lived. I threw the empty bottle at the woman.

With a crash, fragments scattered, leaving scratches on the woman’s face.

“Who the hell are you? What are you doing?!”

I didn’t even know what I was doing.

I couldn’t think of anything.

“Damn it. I asked who you are, you bastard!”

“……!”

There was no way Posnian would come out. I was in a state of agitation, and I blurted out Korean curses while grabbing the woman’s hair.

“You……!”

“Stop it!”

But suddenly my hand lost all strength.

I doubted my ears.

Was that Korean that just came out of that woman’s mouth?

Korean?

“……I’m sorry, but I had no choice.”

It was clearly Korean. I had seen this scene before.

That day, when I collapsed after taking an arrow meant for Calix, clearly this woman…

“In the end, you would have ended up just like me.”

“What are you talking about? Who are you? Who the hell are you!”

“Because that man will eventually kill me!”

That’s when it happened. Behind the woman appeared a blond man in fancy clothes who grabbed my hand and shoved me away.

“Ah, what did you do while I wasn’t looking? Who is this woman?”

With a sense of danger, I stood in front of Calix to shield him.

Fortunately, the potion seemed to be working, as I could hear faint coughing breaths.

“Oh, the Crown Prince is alive? Not much of an achievement for rushing in to kill him.”

“……Archmage?”

Just then, the coughing Calix pulled me back and readjusted his sword.

“Oh, you recognize my face? Ah, yes. We’ve met once? When was it… Ah, that time! The Crown Prince’s investiture ceremony?”

“Keil, stop it.”

The woman restrained the person called the Archmage and faced me directly. She spoke to me again in Korean.

“I’ll visit you separately later. Let’s go.”

Before I could urgently grab them, they disappeared before my eyes.

“Damn it, what was that?”

Calix staggered and collapsed toward me again.

My head felt like it was going to explode, but I checked Calix’s condition first.

“Your Highness, are you conscious? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, thanks to someone who’s thoroughly prepared.”

He said to me with a frown.

But this wasn’t an injury that could be healed with just one potion bottle. He could barely stand.

Moreover, the temple was still burning.

“Your Highness, we need to get out of here first. Do you have any spare scrolls or something?”

“Magic is forbidden in the temple. It’s designed so that magic can’t be activated unless you’re an Archmage.”

“Then what about my necklace!”

“The magic kingdom of Braham Jeda. It still works perfectly even after hundreds of years.”

At those words, I urgently shoved the necklace into Calix’s mouth.

“Mmph! What are you doing?”

“Please stop being stubborn and go to Lord Ruel immediately. Please, Your Highness!”

But Calix spat out the necklace’s jewel from his mouth.

“You seem to think I’m some kind of paper human, but I don’t die that easily, so stop making a fuss.”

As if to prove it, he tore his blood-soaked shirt to show me his abdomen.

“See.”

Is he not human? Just as he said, the wound was visibly healing rapidly.

“……Stop looking.”

Anyway, he really seemed to be fine.

Regardless, I could only mess up my hair in the middle of the burning temple.

I had no idea what was happening.

Who was that woman? Why did she speak Korean? Why was she with someone called the Archmage, and why did she attack Calix?

Calix will kill that woman? What nonsense is that?

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to escape?”

But I couldn’t just keep worrying.

The temple was already completely destroyed and was burning down. We needed to get out as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, someone shouted.

That doom had arrived and the empire would perish.

***

The temple had completely burned down, and people were now going around shouting that doom had arrived.

This happened just three days after the accident.

And as soon as I returned to the imperial palace, a letter addressed to me had somehow arrived. A letter written in Korean, no less.

[If you want to know about me, please come out of the imperial palace discreetly. I will find you myself.]

It was strange. Clearly, that woman had tried to kill Calix.

But I felt like I needed to meet her.

‘I guess it makes sense… she might be from Earth like me.’

Actually, it wasn’t difficult to guess the woman’s identity.

The suddenly disappeared female protagonist.

And her hostility toward Calix.

“This is crazy.”

Why did that woman burn down the temple, and how did she get the Archmage involved?

I was anxious.

As soon as Calix returned to the imperial palace, he was grinding his teeth, determined to capture and kill the woman who had stabbed him in the back.

Because Calix shows no mercy to those who try to kill him.

Moreover, the Archmage was also involved in this incident. It was natural to be sensitive about it.

But was it right for me to meet the woman? It could be a trap.

But I felt like I needed to go.

Without Calix or Ruel knowing, just me alone.

The only thing that worried me was the shadow Calix had assigned to me.

“Excuse me, are you nearby?”

Just in case, I spoke to the empty air.

And what do you know?

A head popped out from the window and spoke.

“Rooms are off-limits, I was told.”

“Ah! You scared me!”

“But human woman. Are you in danger? Why did you call me?”

This is ridiculous. Isn’t this the fourth floor? A cheetah beastman hanging from the window was looking at me with bright eyes.

“Come in right now!”

“No. Master’s orders. Human woman’s room is off-limits.”

“You almost made my heart drop, so come in quickly!”

“……If heart drops, human dies. What to do? But master said not to enter human woman’s room……”

I pressed my forehead. This is driving me crazy.

Eventually, I went to the window and grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him into the room.

“Not allowed! Human woman’s room is off-limits!”

“I give you permission.”

“……Aha!”

The cheetah beastman called a shadow quickly entered the room and sat on the table.

“Excuse me, there’s a chair right there. Could you sit on the chair?”

“This is comfortable.”

To meet the woman outside the imperial city, I needed to shake him off.

But how do I do that?

“Excuse me.”

“Why call, human woman.”

“If I tell you not to follow me, will you not follow?”

“Not allowed. When master is not around, I protect human woman.”

“……What’s your name?”

“Martin.”

“Martin. Does Martin only do what His Highness orders?”

Martin nodded at my question.

“Then, reporting what I did isn’t something His Highness ordered, so you only need to tell him, right?”

He nodded again.

“Then can’t you do me one favor?”

“Empty-handed?”

He wagged his tail and grinned widely.

“I like chicken. Human woman. Very plump hen!”

“……That’s all you want?”

“What’s the favor?”

I looked at him with slight disbelief.

“Come somewhere with me. Keep it a secret from His Highness.”

“Hmm…… That’s three hens.”

“I’ll give you four.”

“Good!”

And I pressed my forehead. My heart was pounding.

Was meeting her truly the right choice?