Gideon kicked open the door with melting metal and pulled Tatiana.

“Titi, let’s go now.”

Vaikal smiled faintly at Tatiana who stood rooted to the spot. Then he gestured for them to hurry.

After hesitating briefly, before turning away, Tatiana silently moved her lips to convey her feelings. Thank you, she said.

* * *

Gideon’s people noisily escaped the capital, waking everyone living around the castle. Tatiana contributed to this as well.

As soon as her magical power depleted from creating illusions recovered, she immediately began amplification magic.

However, first attempts are always accompanied by trial and error.

Gideon wanted to stop evaluating what his wife was doing, but he had to say something.

‘Titi, we’ll go deaf at this rate.’

The assassins with sensitive hearing were also suffering. Though they couldn’t show it, their eyes were all slightly contorted.

‘I’m sorry. This is my first time with amplification magic too.’

‘……’

‘I will improve with practice.’

How could one expect to succeed on the first try? Of course, the battlefield wasn’t a place for practice, but she had only recently acquired magical power. Without sufficient training time before being deployed to the field, not everything went smoothly.

Tatiana then made the mistake of shrinking people’s voices until they sounded like the footsteps of ants. However, after three attempts, she found the perfect volume. As she had promised, she showed rapid growth in a short period.

They swept through the civilian houses and left the capital just before pursuit teams were sent from the castle. After that, no one looked back.

Gideon’s party met with their adjutants at the agreed location. Connie, who had evacuated ahead of them, was also there. And one more welcome person caught their eye. It was Scarlet.

“Tatiana!”

“Princess. You must have had a difficult journey. Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m always fine!”

The two women grabbed each other’s hands and exchanged greetings. The princess was grinning widely, apparently delighted to see Tatiana. At least until that moment.

‘What’s this, are you crying? So suddenly?’

Tatiana was extremely flustered when Scarlet’s eyes, which had been full of smiles, suddenly welled up with tears. The two had only just confirmed each other’s safety without exchanging any particular conversation.

Perhaps something had happened at the magic tower? Tatiana looked at the mages who had come with Scarlet. Her eyes questioned suspiciously, What did you do to my sister-in-law?

The mages shook their heads first, not understanding what was happening either. Then they felt slightly wronged.

The princess had been treated exceptionally well at the magic tower. If anyone had suffered, it would be the mages who had to accommodate the royal family member. They had even brought their frail bodies all the way here to safely hand over the princess. They felt they had done their part.

‘But what more could we have done better……?’

Fortunately, Scarlet offered an explanation before conflict arose between the two sides.

She dabbed at the tears in her eyes with very elegant hand movements and said,

“I’m just so happy to see your face after so long.”

Oh, I thought it was something else.

“……But didn’t we see each other just three or four days ago?”

“That’s what I mean. So much time has already passed.”

“……At this rate, you’ll wail uncontrollably when your husband returns.”

Scarlet said that might indeed happen and continued dabbing at the corners of her eyes. Then she suddenly hugged Tatiana tightly.

Embraced by the petite princess, Tatiana wore a somewhat awkward expression.

‘No, don’t do this. I’m a married woman.’

Her husband was watching right beside them. Being suddenly embraced like this…… made her heart flutter too.

Tatiana stared at Gideon and silently moved her lips to ask,

‘Your sister seems a bit strange right now.’

Gideon silently asked back,

‘How so?’

Instead of answering, Tatiana drew up and down wave patterns with her finger. Laughing, crying, laughing again—isn’t this excessive? Is this really such a joyous reunion? Perhaps pregnancy effects?

Gideon had never been pregnant either, so he couldn’t know that much. However, he knew his sister very well.

He appeared unsurprised.

“See, I always said she’s a bit excessive in everything.”

As Gideon left with a weary expression, Scarlet sniffled and said to his back,

“Ugh, he’s so emotionally dried up.”

Tatiana thought ‘That’s not true……’ to herself, but patted Scarlet’s back, saying she must have had a difficult journey. She also nodded acknowledgment to the magic tower mages who had accompanied her. This also implied they could leave now.

However, the mages didn’t mount their horses but lingered in place. They seemed to have something more to say.

“Um……”

“What is it?”

In that brief moment, Tatiana considered several possibilities.

In fact, she had been thinking it might not be bad to travel with the mages all the way to the north. Of course, they wouldn’t help speed up the journey. It would be fortunate if they didn’t slow them down.

But Gideon’s party already included Scarlet and Connie. Whether there were two or four non-combatants made little difference to them. Instead, after enduring a few days of harsh journey, the mages would be of great help in resolving the monster situation. After all, monsters were magical power itself.

However, Tatiana wasn’t the only one calculating what more could be gained. The mages began with “Forgive our presumption……” then said,

“The tower master asked us to inquire when Your Highness plans to share Lady Enya Bloom’s magic books.”

Tatiana’s expression gradually soured before turning completely cold. Though both sides harbored ulterior motives, and she well understood what kind of special group mages were, she couldn’t help but criticize in this moment.

“Mage, our house burned down.”

“……Pardon?”

Did they not understand? The building jointly owned by His Highness and me burned down. Look, I haven’t gone on a trip—I’ve been thrown out onto the streets. And now you’re asking me for something? At a time like this?

“Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

Tatiana shook her head, wondering if she’d ever seen such selfish and cunning people.

Gideon stopped in his tracks and touched his lips. He could sense that his wife’s criticism was somewhat contrived. Tatiana simply wanted to gain an advantageous position in negotiations using the magic books as leverage.

However, the mages seemed to have taken Tatiana’s criticism at face value, looking embarrassed. In truth, they had felt a twinge of guilt when bringing it up.

“No, we’re not asking for them now…… we just wanted to gauge when it might be possible.”

“Let’s see how things are once we reach the north.”

“……”

“If the monster situation is serious, I’ll ask for your help then.”

And while you’re helping, a statement of support for the First Prince would be much appreciated. But don’t announce it carelessly at any time. We shouldn’t give the impression that we’ve joined forces yet. Everything has its appropriate timing. So…….

“Make sure you answer when we contact you.”

Tatiana wore a fierce expression suggesting that if they ignored her, they wouldn’t get the magic books or anything else. However, since this was feigned firmness, she soon glanced furtively at her husband.

Her eyes asked, ‘Is this okay?’ and ‘Am I being too harsh?’

Gideon looked at Tatiana and then turned his gaze to empty space. He wondered why she was asking now after having already said everything. And she had done it so well on her own.

His wife’s presence was essential when dealing with mages. Though he had met with the magic tower side to the point of tedium, the difference with and without his wife was considerable.

Not only was Tatiana a mage herself, but having grown up watching her mother, she had an extremely high understanding of them. She practically read their minds—knowing what they needed and what they feared.

Moreover, mages were inherently a closed group. It was often noticeable that they were much more friendly toward Tatiana, a fellow mage, than to Gideon, a prince.

When Gideon didn’t answer and just looked away, Tatiana grabbed his arm and gently shook it. Gideon nodded several times, saying why did she keep asking, just do whatever she wanted.

Tatiana confirmed this signal and quickly pushed the mages away, saying, “See? My husband says he’ll contact you. So hurry along before it’s too late.”

The mages tilted their heads wondering when exactly they would get the books, but didn’t bring it up again and mounted their horses.

After returning to the magic tower, their fate would be to wait longingly for contact from the First Prince’s side.

* * *

The day was growing dark. The party had ridden for two nights without rest. During that time, they could feel the temperature dropping moment by moment.

The cold penetrated through their collars. This was evidence that the north was drawing near.

However, they couldn’t push harder and had to stop their horses midway.

They had already eaten one meal on horseback and skipped many more. Sleep was out of the question, of course.

Though they should hurry more since pursuit teams might be coming, the journey was somewhat harsh for a pregnant woman.

In fact, the assassins had long surpassed the level of ordinary people, making it difficult for them to gauge what was appropriate for normal individuals.

Resting in the forest, they decided to get at least one or two hours of proper sleep.

The assassins gathered branches to make a fire, and Kay looked at the cold ground and reported to Gideon,

“We should set up one or two temporary tents.”