Elena whispered in Rudfelix’s ear and then flinched. He had wiggled the finger supporting her and poked her buttocks.

‘This person plays around at the most inappropriate times.’

While Elena was looking at him in surprise, Rudfelix met Suharto’s challenging gaze head-on.

“So……”

Suharto squinted his eyes and waited with an air of seeing what Rudfelix would say.

“How will you take responsibility?”

“Is that what you should be saying right now?”

He was asking how Suharto would take responsibility for almost getting the soldiers killed with his incorrect signals, disregarding everything else.

“It’s not over yet. We can determine responsibility later.”

“No. My soldiers are returning. Your Highness must take responsibility.”

“Grand Duke.”

Suharto shouted in anger. Being humiliated in front of everyone caused blue veins to bulge on his forehead.

“According to imperial law, a commander who harms the military through incorrect command has his tongue cut off and is assigned to the military for life.”

“……You’re saying you’ll cut my tongue?”

Suharto raised his head and glared at Rudfelix with an incredulous expression.

“If anyone dares to lay a hand on my body…… Yes, come and cut my tongue if you can.”

Knowing no one would dare, Suharto raised the corners of his mouth in a sneer.

“Everyone, step back.”

Rudfelix issued the order while looking at Suharto. The knights bowed respectfully before leading the soldiers away from the valley.

“How dare they disobey my orders……”

Suharto muttered in anger as he watched the soldiers move away, when suddenly half his face contorted.

Rudfelix’s long leg formed an arc and strongly struck Suharto’s face. Suharto’s cheek caved in, and he fell backward with a blow so powerful it seemed his face might collapse.

“Kuk, kuah……”

Suharto raised his hand toward his face in burning pain. However, his trembling hand couldn’t reach his face and only twitched in the air. With phlegm bubbling in his throat, he couldn’t even groan. When he spat, blood came out mixed with saliva.

“Grand Duke……”

He seemed to be trying to say something like ‘How dare you touch me?’ When Rudfelix raised his foot again, Suharto instinctively raised his arms.

Suharto covered his face in fear of being hit again, but Rudfelix kicked him in the face regardless of whether he raised his arms or not.

“Keouk.”

Suharto rolled on the ground, unable to regain his senses.

‘Ah, that’s satisfying.’

Elena stroked her chest as she watched Rudfelix’s crane-like leg elegantly fly through the air and strike fiercely.

To be able to kick the face of the irritating Suharto, crown prince or not.

‘This is why I can’t help but love him.’

Rudfelix was truly a man deserving of love.

“You…… Kweuk. You.”

“Yes. I can’t kill you because you’re the crown prince. But even a crown prince feels pain when hit.”

Rudfelix remained calm, not looking like someone who had just delivered two blows to Suharto’s face while holding Elena.

“You think I’ll let this go?”

“Do as you please.”

Elena, who had watched everything up close while being held by Rudfelix, shook her head.

‘First Sekreya, now the Crown Prince…..’

They all threatened not to let things go. Each time, Rudfelix consistently responded by telling them to do as they pleased.

Still, after mercilessly striking the Crown Prince twice after everyone else had left, Rudfelix turned his back without hesitation. He didn’t look back, seemingly unconcerned whether Suharto might come after him.

Elena kept her eyes on Suharto until the end.

‘But what should I do?’

Seeing that Roina couldn’t leave the fallen Suharto’s side, Elena stuck out her tongue.

‘I don’t plan to let this go either.’

She would return Suharto’s selfishness in full.

Elena looked around with one eye closed.

‘I could have just closed my eyes from the beginning; I must be really stupid.’

Yet she had no intention of getting down from Rudfelix’s arms.

‘Thankfully, no one died.’

In the original story, Suharto gained public support thanks to Roina, but now things had progressed differently from the original. The fact that rocks curved above Roina’s head wasn’t revealed, and the joy of people who owed their lives to Elena created a bigger impact.

Today, Suharto had lost much, and Rudfelix had gained much.

Elena settled comfortably in Rudfelix’s arms.

“Am I not heavy for you?”

“You’re like a doll. So light that I could carry you around all day.”

Is that so?

“I thought I knew you well, but there’s still so much we don’t know about each other. A doll? Even a wooden doll would be lighter than me.”

Elena didn’t know Rudfelix was a knight who emitted golden light, and he had seen her eye color change for the first time.

“We’ll have a lot to talk about when we get back.”

“First, I need to check if you’re safe.”

Rudfelix shook his head.

“I’m fine. I wasn’t hurt at all.”

She was tired from using so much mental energy on the papers, but she wasn’t injured.

“I’ll see that for myself.”

Elena sensed something strange in his words.

‘For himself?’

***

As soon as they returned to the Grand Duke’s residence, Rudfelix headed straight to his room.

“Your Grace, shall I call for a doctor?”

“No.”

Quiet, who was shocked to see Rudfelix carrying Elena, stuck close to him. When he tried to examine whether she was injured, Rudfelix turned his body to prevent him from seeing Elena.

“Is Aide Elena injured?”

“She didn’t even get scratched by a branch, so there’s nothing to see.”

Even at a glance, there were no injuries.

“Then why are you carrying her?”

“Because she’s tired.”

For a moment, Quiet almost replied, “Ah, I see.”

She wasn’t injured at all, yet he was carrying her because she was tired? He didn’t even want to think about what else it might mean.

“Of course. If she’s tired, you should carry her. That’s how people who love each other interact.”

As Quiet retreated with a disgusted face, his eyes met Elena’s.

Elena, who mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ in apology, seemed embarrassed by the situation and had one eye closed.

“I wonder if I should just tell Count Jellisto that she’s safe.”

He would want to see for himself that his daughter was alright, but there was no way to bring her out from the room she had entered.

Quiet turned around, briefly looked down at the knights and soldiers lined up outside the window, and then moved.

The scene remained unchanged from before they went to the valley. Like a spot-the-difference puzzle, there were very slight changes. However, Quiet, who only glanced briefly, failed to notice that two people were missing.

After entering the room, Rudfelix gently placed Elena on a chair. Elena, who had been holding tightly to his neck, smiled and released her arms.

‘He really didn’t put me down.’

She had turned to face him while on horseback, but other than that, he hadn’t set her down even once.

‘Was it really because of my eyes?’

He had told her to hide her face in his arms to conceal her eyes, but she suspected there were other reasons too. Since it seemed related to the danger she had faced in the valley, she couldn’t bring herself to ask him to put her down.

‘I thought I would never see Alix again.’

Although she had done it to save others, it was an unforgivable act toward Rudfelix. Out of guilt, Elena obediently followed his instructions.

“I’m sorry about earlier. I prepared plenty, but in the end, I was short one sheet to save myself.”

“Is that all you prepared? Tell me everything about what you were thinking when you went.”

Now that they could talk calmly, Rudfelix sat across from Elena and questioned her in detail.

Elena decided to reveal everything since there was nothing left to hide. How Crown Prince Suharto would handle matters, how his plans would unfold, what would happen next.

“Crown Prince Suharto always tries to overturn situations where he falls behind you, Alix. Since mere checks and balances aren’t enough to secure the throne, he tries to establish his position before His Majesty passes away. For that, he needs something beyond the support of the nobles. And then, strange things start happening on the continent.”

Elena explained calmly while observing Rudfelix’s expression. Since he already knew all of this, he wasn’t surprised but rather curious about Elena’s thoughts on how to use the situation to their advantage.

“When the Crown Prince requested your support for the valley incident, I expected him to demand command authority first. If successful, not only could all credit go to Crown Prince Suharto, but it would also be an opportunity to show that he could control even you. I wanted to prevent that.”

‘And since the price of his plan’s failure would be the death of Alix’s soldiers, I couldn’t just stand by and watch.’

Elena took a paper from her pocket. It had been neatly folded in half when stored, but it was full of small wrinkles from being tightly gripped just before the rocks fell.

“It’s paper that functions similarly to a magic formation by mixing magic and spells.”

She handed it to Rudfelix.