Only when the Guildmaster’s lips moved slightly did I jump up from on top of him like a startled thief.

“A-are you awake?”

There was no response to my careful question.

He hadn’t regained consciousness but had just moved his lips as if sleep-talking.

I tilted my head and put my ear close to the Guildmaster’s face. I could hear his steady breathing.

“You’re really asleep, right?”

I double-checked to make sure.

Even after waiting for a while, he only responded with silence.

“So you’re going to sleep peacefully, not knowing what just happened between us?”

Then he probably has no idea that I deliberately kept our lips pressed together.

That’s a relief.

I took off my robe and covered him with it.

“I’m sorry, but please sleep here tonight.”

I wanted to move him to the sofa, but no matter how much I pulled his arms, he wouldn’t budge, so I had no choice.

“If you’re upset about this, you shouldn’t have gotten drunk.”

I couldn’t help but smile at the situation of talking to myself like a crazy person.

The Guildmaster would have no idea that I had been staring at his lips the entire time I was talking to myself.

I gently rubbed his lips with my fingertips.

The smooth texture without any chapped areas was excellent. So much that I wanted to kiss him again if I could.

Moving my hand from his lips to caress his cheek, I grabbed the edge of the hood covering his eyes.

“Come up…”

Though I tried pulling up the hood just in case, it wouldn’t lift at all.

“You really had this specially made not to come off, didn’t you?”

“……”

“Are you really never going to show me your face? Am I supposed to keep falling for someone whose face I don’t even know?”

If I kept liking the Guildmaster, I knew I would end up heartbroken, unable to bear the difference in the weight of our feelings for each other.

I was certain this would become an unrequited love that could never be fulfilled.

But I couldn’t hate him or give up on him right now. At least until the warmth of his lips faded from mine, I would continue to like him.

“Sigh.”

Just as I was sighing in frustration, I noticed a white envelope that seemed to have fallen from inside the Guildmaster’s robe.

What envelope is this?

I picked it up and unfolded the paper inside.

I thought perhaps the cause of the Guildmaster’s drunkenness might be written in here.

The writing style filling the paper was clearly elegant at first glance.

「My child. How is your life there?

I get angry twelve times a day. I can’t believe you’re stuck as the leader of such a vulgar organization.

I have already forgiven you. And your position is still here.

If you just come back, we can get along well like before.

You might be a worthless man when alone, but with me, you could be superior to Kenneth.

Do you think I’m doing this for my own sake? This is all for you.

Remember this. This country must become yours.」

Though the tone was undoubtedly gentle, it somehow gave me chills.

It seemed more like a threat than persuasion.

Then who would dare send such a threatening letter to ‘my Guildmaster’?

Based on the address ‘my child,’ it was likely from his parents. Judging by the tone, probably his mother.

And the most striking word in the letter was ‘Kenneth.’

It was a name I had seen in a newspaper recently. I recalled his full name.

‘Kenneth Eldora.’

The Crown Prince of the Eldora Empire and the man opposing Empress Patricia.

No, w-wait a minute. Then that last line in the letter…

「This country must become yours.」

Could the Guildmaster be the missing second prince?

“…!”

I covered my mouth with both hands. Otherwise, I might have gasped out loud.

At that moment, all our previous conversations flashed through my mind like a kaleidoscope.

“You see, I turned my back on someone in crisis and ran away.”

“Why don’t you understand… that there’s nothing more painful than being the first to let go…”

Could that unforgettable lover from his past actually have been ‘Empress Patricia’?

If the Guildmaster, as the second prince, had left the palace abandoning everything when the Empress needed him most…

“……”

My head was spinning from reaching this unbelievable conclusion. It felt like my drunkenness had completely vanished.

And was it just the alcohol that disappeared?

The dreamy state from our kiss also suddenly cleared up.

This was serious trouble.

I had resolved to stay away from anyone with imperial blood, yet here was a prince right under my nose.

After putting the letter back in his robe, I fled from the office.

The unusually bright moon kept shining on me the whole way back to the inn.

It felt as if the sky itself knew that I had discovered his secret.

***

“…I ended up staying up all night.”

When I opened my weary eyes, I saw the brightened surroundings.

I had spent the long night sleepless because of what had happened last night.

During that long night filled with thoughts, two issues tormented my mind:

The kiss with the Guildmaster and his true identity.

I worried about how to treat him going forward if he really was the missing prince.

Then I realized that him being a prince probably wouldn’t matter much to me.

After all, I wasn’t someone connected to the imperial family, just an extra living in the frontier. Besides, the Guildmaster didn’t seem to have any intention of returning to the imperial family.

On the other hand, I now understood why he kept his identity so carefully hidden.

‘With such complicated family circumstances, I’d want to hide too if I were him.’

When my thoughts reached that point, I suddenly felt sorry for him.

He couldn’t freely reveal his name or face while running the guild, yet he still couldn’t escape his mother’s shadow and even received threatening letters from her.

I thought it would be better to stop pestering him about showing his face now.

While the Guildmaster handled other matters with razor-sharp precision, he seemed unable to cut ties with his mother.

If he really wanted to, he could probably hide so well that even letters couldn’t reach him.

In fact, the Guildmaster had some rather peculiar abilities.

With those abilities, his wit, and that smooth way of his, he could probably live well doing anything anywhere.

I wanted to help the Guildmaster who couldn’t break free from his past.

I wanted to be a source of strength for him, who couldn’t freely reveal his identity.

If anything happened to him while he was in hiding, I wanted to be his support.

“Why don’t you understand… that there’s nothing more painful than being the first to let go…”

So that he would never have to let me go first.

My resolution to stay away from anyone with imperial blood had completely vanished.

Was it because I liked him? Or because of all the help he’d given me until now?

Probably both.

Since I’ve received so much help from the Guildmaster, I should repay his kindness.

“I’m in no position to criticize Honey for being too emotional.”

As my thoughts settled, my mind, which had been as hazy as if covered in fog, felt refreshed.

I got up from where I’d been lounging in bed.

Having decided to repay the Guildmaster’s kindness, I couldn’t just sit still.

“Bless! Let’s go to work!”

Let’s find something that can make money here too.

Coming from an unremarkable family and without any esper abilities, the best I could do was fill the Guildmaster’s pockets.

‘Money can’t buy everything in the world, but there’s nothing it can’t help with.’

There must be work here for Jinjijo Transportation too. Definitely.

Early in the morning, Bless, who had been watching over me, flew over and perched on my shoulder. I put on a new robe and left the inn.

Bless kept interrogating me the whole way to the branch office.

‘Did anything happen yesterday?’

Yesterday, Bless had gone out for a night flight, reassured that I was with the Guildmaster.

He probably went to meet his friends in the Pandora Forest, who were also his reliable allies.

They would regularly meet and endlessly discuss something.

Of course, I didn’t bother asking Bless about the monster birds’ circumstances. I didn’t think the few monster birds would cause any trouble.

It wasn’t that I ignored them; I was just confident because I trusted Bless.

Though Bless sometimes showed an evil smile like a corrupted monster bird, he was a righteous bird.

After all, he hadn’t ignored when the powerless and weak Potas was being abused.

Such a monster bird couldn’t possibly be planning to taint the world with evil. Yep, definitely not.