Chapter 1.3

“Jespa, what do you think? Is there anyone, whether a woman or a man, who might match Ragaen’s taste? Or anyone he’s shown interest in?”  

“Your Highness, with all due respect, please consider the Duke’s position.”  

“I’m just worried that he’ll live his whole life so lonely….”  

The Crown Prince trailed off. Jespa and Terry could only bow their heads. They knew how much he had grieved over Ragaen’s lost arm, how he couldn’t lift his head in guilt.  

Jespa, biting his lip for a moment, finally spoke with difficulty. 

“Please do not say such things, Your Highness. The Duke would have considered it an honor to give his life for you.”  

“If it were his life I needed, I wouldn’t have brought him back. Ha, I really need to get him married.”  

“Your Highness, with all due respect, perhaps….”  

“Perhaps?”  

“The Duke seems to prefer natural encounters.”  

“Natural encounters…!”  

“Yes, it’s a term currently trending among young nobles.”  

“I know it well. I’m not an outdated leader, you know. It’s an abbreviation for ‘seeking natural encounters,’ isn’t it? But I doubt Ragaen even knows the term. Is it innate? Natural encounters, natural encounters….”  

The Crown Prince muttered to himself for a long time afterward. Terry glared at Jespa for making such an unnecessary comment, but Jespa pretended not to notice.  

‘Our Duke must be someone who prefers natural encounters! Otherwise, how else could you explain why our great Duke hasn’t had a single romantic relationship in years?’  

Unfortunately, there was no Ragaen present to dismiss the misunderstanding about natural encounters.  

“The conversation has gone on too long. You may leave now, Jespa. Tell Ragaen not to worry about today’s rudeness, as usual.”  

Of course, even without saying so, Ragaen would never concern himself with any rudeness he committed.  

Meanwhile, having stormed out of the Crown Prince’s chambers, Ragaen sighed. Though it was a weekly occurrence, it was no less agonizing each time. He knew nothing of romance or relationships between men and women. His understanding of such relationships was limited to fleeting nights of passion to satisfy carnal desires. He had lived a harsh life devoid of opportunities to experience healthy relationships.  

After entering noble society and encountering various forms of relationships, he had occasionally imagined meeting a good woman and building a harmonious family, but he had never thought it truly possible. Even maintaining the necessary social relationships to remain by the Crown Prince’s side was overwhelming. That made the Crown Prince’s unnecessary kindness all the harder to bear.  

He wast just not interested. And besides, did they even consider those women’s opinions when arranging this? Isn’t it too rude to set up such meetings without their consent?  

The mention of women brought to mind an incident at a recent hunting competition. Unlike the Crown Prince, who had a seemingly innocent face but cold blood running through his veins, the genuinely simple and cheerful fool of the Second Prince had declared he would win first place, only to fail to even place.  

During the Ayarn Quail Hunting Competition, a woman had encountered a bear.  

In truth, the bear had woken early because of the Second Prince. Venturing deep into the forest to catch more quails, he stumbled upon a bear sleeping in a cave. Foolishly prodding the bear, whose sleep had already become light with the arrival of spring, he ended up waking it. Fortunately, while the bear was still groggy, he threw the quails he had caught and fled, escaping unharmed. However, an innocent person bore the brunt of his actions. That person was the youngest daughter of the Count of Lievo.  

‘Greta, that was her name.’  

Ragaen had seen the woman, who was at least a head or two shorter than him, fearlessly locking eyes with the bear. He had even witnessed her roaring back at the bear. Her roar was so pitiful that even a chick’s chirping would have been more impressive. It was such an absurd sight that it left him speechless, yet for some reason, it remained vividly in his memory.  

She had even managed to avoid the bear’s attack and shoot an arrow into its eye. What was more remarkable was that, despite failing to catch a single quail afterward, she still placed second in the competition.  

The Crown Prince’s question about whether he was interested in anyone had briefly brought to mind the image of the small woman roaring at the bear, though there was no particular reason for it. It was simply too memorable, nothing more.  

Ragaen glanced at the empty space where his right arm used to be and then continued walking.  

***

Ragaen Sol Adantie was a famous figure. So famous, in fact, that even people living in nameless villages deep in mountain valleys might not know the name of the current Emperor but would certainly know the name of the hero, Ragaen.  

Revived after decades, the Adantie Dukedom, and particularly Ragaen, appeared almost mythical to commoners. Even his unfortunate childhood played a part in enhancing his image as a hero.  

Ragaen was a man who inherited nothing but his name. As is often the case with the impoverished, his parents and younger siblings succumbed to an epidemic one day, leaving the world too soon. Although they were very poor, the memories of his childhood spent with his family helped him endure the countless hardships he would face as he grew up.

In any case, he was just one of the many orphans, but he was fortunate. A passing mercenary group took pity on him and brought him along as an errand boy. Now, with proper meals, hygiene, and care, he could be considered a fine-looking man, but back then, the orphan Ragaen was nothing more than a scrawny, dried-up corn kernel of a boy. However, well-fed and nurtured within the mercenary group, he learned exceptional swordsmanship and eventually grew into a highly skilled mercenary.

It was the era of the Great Demon War. Ragaen participated as a mercenary and achieved great feats, catching the eye of the Crown Prince, who awarded him a knight’s title and made him one of his close aides. Fighting alongside the Crown Prince to lead the war to victory, Ragaen threw himself into the fray during the final battle to protect the Crown Prince from the most powerful demon, Cerberus, and as a result, lost his right arm. 

With his remaining arm, Ragaen decapitated the ferocious Cerberus, personally bringing the Great Demon War to an end. He became a hero and was granted the title of Duke of Adantie, a title reserved only for the Empire’s First Knight and hero. Thus, the Adantie Dukedom found its master for the first time in over seventy years, since the death of Pint Adantie, who had achieved tremendous feats during the fierce war between the Empire of Yeogahen and the Kingdom of Orden.

This story is detailed in the Imperial publication, <The Memoirs of Ragaen Sol Adantie>.

During the height of the war, when Ragaen’s name was renowned, he was the most eligible bachelor after the Crown Prince. Without even seeking it, he had become the most sought-after man. In the capital city of Hiteria, far from the battlefield, photographs of Ragaen were traded at exorbitant prices. However, after losing his arm and rising to the highest position he had ever achieved, not a single marriage proposal came his way. 

In the Empire of Yeogahen, known for its archery, no parent would want to give their daughter to a one-armed man who couldn’t shoot a bow. Moreover, being a commoner-born man with a single-rank title that carried only honor made matters worse. Although there were some complex political issues intertwined, the public didn’t care about such irrelevant matters. Thus, the current Duke of Adantie was often referred to as a “shiny but bitter fruit.”

What Greta knew were only these vague stories known to the public. She was six years younger than Ragaen Sol Adantie, and five or six years ago, when he still had both arms and roamed the battlefield, she was living a peaceful academy life far removed from the war. As such, she knew even less about the rumors than others. How could she know more about someone she had only thought of as an extraordinary person? She had never even dreamed that she would come to like such a person.

‘Ugh, I should’ve listened more when my friends talked about Duke Adantie!’

She needed information.

What kind of woman did Ragaen Adantie like? No, should I first find out if he even liked women? What if he was a romantic soul unable to forget his first love? What if that was why he had no intention of meeting anyone else? Or worse, what if he was secretly in a relationship with someone right now?!

“No way!”

She needed information, and she needed it immediately.

Greta sprang to her feet and ran to find her second brother.