When Tael couldn’t bring himself to either bite or spit out the cookie, Melia moved his jaw, forcing him to chew.

“Wait, just a moment!”

“Isn’t it delicious?”

Tael found himself chewing the cookie before he knew it. It was indeed delicious.

“I will repay this humiliation someday.”

“Okay!”

When Tael subtly extended his hand, Melia gave him another cookie that had fallen on the ground.

In the distance, there were children Melia’s age catching grasshoppers. They saw Melia and Tael eating cookies off the ground and shouted:

“Beggars! Beggars!”

While Melia was too busy munching on her cookies to care about being called a beggar, Tael jumped up, infuriated.

“I am not a beggar! I merely picked it up to eat!”

“You’re eating dirty things~ Hahaha! Beggars! Beggars!”

As the children continued to taunt them, Tael grew even angrier.

“You fools! You should try it too! It’s delicious!”

He shouted enthusiastically:

“This is the proper way to enjoy food!”

Just as he was about to chase after them, someone grabbed his arm. Tael turned to see Aila.

Aila stared at him with sharp eyes and raised one corner of her mouth.

“Found you.”

“!”

“Playing around again?”

Aila looked disapprovingly at the potato smeared on Tael’s mouth and wiped it off with her finger. Tael flinched nervously and stepped back.

“Oh, come on!”

When Aila raised her fist, Tael flinched again, despite his arrogant expression. Aila asked, restraining herself:

“Did you sweep properly?”

Tael pressed his lips tightly together.

“So you didn’t.”

“I did.”

“Properly?”

“…Yes.”

Seeing his obviously dishonest attitude, Aila sighed deeply.

“Fine. Get ready.”

“?”

“From today, we’re going hunting for two days.”

“Hunting?”

“Yes. I’ve made plenty of potato soup, so Serna and Melia will be fine for two days. We need to eat meat too.”

“!”

Tael’s face visibly brightened.

“Are you that happy?”

“How have you been feeding me until now? You’ve only worked me hard without feeding me properly. I can’t control my emotions at the word ‘meat’.”

Aila rolled her eyes. His build, shoulders, muscles—his body had clearly been well-fed with good food.

Instead of answering, she handed him a knife and a bow.

“Follow me.”

–

Aila gathered all the weap*ns she could carry—worn arrows, an axe—and headed to the mountains with Tael.

The forest was dark and deep, making Aila extremely tense. This was the first time she had ventured so deep into the forest. She had ended up here after choosing remote paths to avoid Targaniel’s soldiers.

The deeper the forest, the more dangerous animals there were. As if confirming her ominous feeling, after walking for quite some time, they spotted a massive animal in the distance. It was a bear.

“My goodness! What bad luck!”

Of all animals to encounter first, it had to be a bear. Aila quickly turned around.

“Tael! Let’s run!”

Aila ran blindly in the opposite direction. But something was strange. Tael didn’t seem to be following. When she turned her head, she saw the bear collapsed and Tael standing beside it.

An arrow was lodged precisely between the bear’s eyes, and Tael was holding the bow, looking at the bear with confusion.

“Why am I so good at archery?”

Tael tilted his head.

“As if I’ve been trained since childhood.”

Aila, who had been cautiously approaching, felt her heart sink even further than before.

“No matter how I think about it, you’re suspicious. Do slaves normally shoot arrows this well?”

Aila’s hands trembled.

‘This fool is an emperor!’

The thought that this fact must not be discovered consumed her.

‘If I say the wrong thing, I’ll be the next target!’

“You, you… you are…”

This time, she couldn’t think of what to say at all.

“Aila.”

Aila whimpered.

“You are…”

“I’ll feed you lots of meat.”

“?”

Tael shot another arrow somewhere, then quickly drew his sword and charged straight ahead.

Aila blinked, wondering what had just passed by so quickly, then turned around and was startled.

“A-a wild boar!”

A massive wild boar was fighting with Tael. Despite taking an arrow to its side, the boar was still ferocious. Watching the scene, Aila’s heart pounded heavily.

‘Tael mustn’t get hurt!’

As if Aila’s thoughts were a curse, Tael lost his grip on his sword and fell backward with a thud.

Alarmed, Aila shouted loudly:

“Horse dung!”

Aila grabbed her own sword and rushed recklessly toward the wild boar.

“I’ll save you!”

She stood in front of Tael, wildly swinging her sword at the boar.

“Hide behind me!”

Though terrified, she glared at the wild boar.

“I’ll save you somehow.”

If Tael died here, Aila felt that eventually she and her sisters would all die too.

A vision flashed through her mind of the army invading and dragging her away.

“Aaaah! I’m going to survive!”

As Aila tried to stab the boar with her sword, a strong arm suddenly wrapped around her waist. In the blink of an eye, her sword was taken from her and forcefully thrust between the wild boar’s eyes.

When Aila looked up, she saw Tael looking at her. He was silent for a moment.

“Don’t do this again.”

His expression was subtle—calm yet surprised. Soon, he quickly hid his surprise and said nonchalantly:

“I need to earn my keep so you won’t mistreat me.”

“……”

“If you get hurt, I can imagine how much you’ll mistreat me. It’s crystal clear even without seeing it.”

When the boar twitched, Tael held Aila more tightly in his arms and raised his sword. But the boar could no longer attack and collapsed weakly.

Tael released Aila and slung the boar over his shoulder. Though the boar was very large, it wasn’t too heavy for Tael to carry.

“Let’s go.”

Carrying the heavy load, he spoke lightly and began walking ahead.

Following behind, Aila could still see him clearly despite the setting sun, perhaps because of her joyful mood.

‘Tael is alive anyway, and tonight we’ll have meat!’

Aila gazed contentedly at his back, then scurried forward to praise him.

“Our horse dung, you’re so strong!”

Tael, who had been walking indifferently, raised his head slightly.

“Indeed.”

“Without you, we would have had to leave it behind… no, we wouldn’t have caught it at all!”

“My contribution is significant.”

His hand had already moved to his waist.

“See? Because you fed me potato soup, a day has come when I earn my keep.”

“Yes, yes! Horse dung, you’re the best!”

Tael was full of confidence.

“That horse that ran away, I’ll repay you for it soon, so don’t worry. I am one who can even catch wild boars.”

“I believe in you alone! Horse dung!”

Tael became increasingly excited at Aila’s words.

“If necessary, I’ll even catch that Targaniel fellow and teach him a lesson.”

At those words, Aila stopped walking and stared at Tael.

“What? Don’t you believe me? I now see that I have many talents. There’s nothing I can’t do.”

“……”

“You don’t believe me. Let’s go right now. Should we go to the imperial palace? There’s nothing to fear, even if he is an emperor.”

“……”

“No matter how strong he is, he can’t be stronger than me. Am I not a slave who can lift wild boars?”

As Tael confidently quickened his pace, Aila firmly grabbed his arm.

“I dislike that guy too, but I’ve decided to let him off today.”

“Why? Isn’t he your enemy? I’ll take care of him for you.”

“It’s fine. There’s something about it.”

A river appeared in the distance. Aila slapped his back with a loud smack.

“Since you caught the wild boar, I’ll let you wash up first!”

Aila smiled contentedly at the wild boar.

“Even enemies seem lovable today!”

Tael agreed.

“I’m glad you’ve finally recognized my value.”

Aila pulled the boar down to the ground and pushed Tael toward the river.

“Go on, hurry and wash up! You must be tired from catching the boar. I’ll keep watch so no one comes, so don’t worry!”

Tael nodded.

“Considering my hard work, I should wash first.”

Tael strode toward the river. Aila kept watch from a reasonable distance. It was a night when the moon was as bright as Aila’s heart.

She had never eaten wild boar meat in her life, so her heart seemed to shine as brightly as the moon.

“We’ll eat the meat, and sell the hide and tusks for money!”

Giggling, Aila glanced in Tael’s direction.

“He’s good at archery—is it because he’s an emperor?”

It seemed as if his body remembered.

“Surely his memories won’t return, will they?”

That worried her a bit.

“That wouldn’t be good.”

Her worry deepened.

“Should I treat him better from now on? I want to beat him up whenever he speaks, but is that possible? My fists move faster than my brain—can I control myself? Can I really tolerate him stealing potatoes?”

Aila shook her head.

“No, no. I must control my desire to hit him. Yes. His memory absolutely must not return, but just in case it might, I shouldn’t hit him. I should treat him well. I don’t know if I can endure, but he’s an emperor, right? If he gets hurt, something worse might happen to me… Oh, I should have caught that wild boar myself earlier to make sure he was indebted to me.”

Suddenly, Aila saw something black swiftly pass by the water she had been staring at blankly.

“?”

It wasn’t an illusion. Something quite large was heading toward Tael.

“What is that…?”

Not knowing what it was made her more anxious. The more anxious she became, the more pale she grew. It hadn’t even been half a day since she decided to keep him from getting hurt.

“No!”

Aila jumped into the water.