At that moment, Scarlet, who had come up with this plausible suggestion, whispered,

“Those people like this kind of thing, don’t they?”

“What?”

“The mages, I mean. They pretend to be quiet and dignified, but they don’t like being completely left out. Deep down, they enjoy getting attention. In a gloomy way.”

“……That’s quite accurate.”

Tatiana responded with bewilderment while thinking, ‘How did she know?’ There wouldn’t have been many opportunities to interact with mages except during major national events. Even then, the three days she had recently spent with them would have been the extent of any deep conversations.

However, for the princess, who was seasoned in social circles, that was more than enough time. The princess seemed to have perfectly grasped the mages’ tendencies during those three days.

“Do they all have dual personalities? I’ve never seen anyone with mood swings worse than mine.”

“……”

“Timid, sensitive, selfish. Just like a bunch of children……”

“No, people with such difficult personalities aren’t……”

Tatiana intervened defensively without realizing it, but couldn’t finish her sentence. She couldn’t bring herself to deny it because it was somewhat true. Their personalities were indeed a bit strange.

‘That’s right. Facts are facts. It’s ancient history. This can’t be denied even if the sky splits in two.’

But why do I feel…

Tatiana tilted her head and looked at Gideon.

“Why do I feel like I’m being insulted right now?”

Gideon swallowed his laughter and pretended not to notice. Why? Because you’re a mage too, that’s why.

However, his wife’s personality wasn’t that complicated. Her thought process and behavior were quite straightforward.

If forced to categorize her tendencies, she was more like knights than mages. No, lately she seemed to get along best with the assassins.

But Scarlet, who had apparently accumulated quite a lot in just three days, continued to deliver her candid impressions without pause. And each time, Tatiana kept flinching.

Gideon patted the back of his wife, who seemed to be experiencing an identity crisis. Then he gave her more practical advice, just ignore his sister’s words, as she wouldn’t stop anytime soon.

* * *

In the afternoon, Gideon and Tatiana organized a search party and went outside the castle.

After diligently burning monsters with magic for several days, it was time to strike their stronghold. Today’s search was a preliminary survey for that purpose.

Tatiana inhaled the cold air as she stood shoulder to shoulder with the assassins. Her expression showed a fresh sense of appreciation.

‘Ah, finally……’

Can I also take to the field now? Every time I watched from the castle walls, I was so envious I almost cried.

Tatiana and the search party rode their horses vigorously. They headed toward the foothills where the monsters’ stronghold was presumed to be.

However, even during their journey, the group encountered considerable numbers of monster groups at various times.

Occasionally, they dismounted to engage in combat with them.

Despite the enormous number of monsters they had slaughtered and burned so far, it seemed impossible to fundamentally resolve the issue without eradicating the root.

She could fully understand why the northerners had been struggling. The reproduction rate was beyond imagination.

‘These really have such an unappealing appearance.’

Tatiana shuddered as she drew her sword, looking at a monster that was oozing sticky fl*id.

Gideon and the assassins all took up attack positions simultaneously.

This was actually a somewhat trivial fight for them. Even more so for Tatiana, who enjoyed dueling opponents from whom she could learn. It was impossible to discover any technical peculiarities from these mindless creatures.

But as they say, even a lion gives its all when catching a single rabbit. Tatiana set her own goal, to eliminate more monsters than any of her excellent companions here.

She swung her sword vigorously. It was a moment of compensation for the time of endurance she had to spend on the castle walls, facing the falling snow.

The assassins merely thought that the prince’s consort was in particularly good condition today.

Tatiana, engaged in her solitary competition, moved aggressively as if intending to handle everything herself. When repetitive thrusting and slashing became monotonous, she would glance around to see how others were doing.

This included her husband.

But then something strange caught her eye. A haze-like energy was emanating from Gideon’s sword.

Thinking she might have seen wrong, she rubbed her eyes, and the misty energy completely disappeared. But when she looked again suddenly, the smoke was once more swirling around his sword.

She repeated this action several times.

It felt like playing a game of hide-and-seek.

‘What on earth is that?’

Before confirming directly with the person involved, Tatiana looked around to see if there were any other witnesses.

She approached Kay, who was slicing monsters with an indifferent expression, and tapped his forearm.

“Can you see that too?”

Kay glanced briefly at where Tatiana was pointing and shook his head. Even while doing so, he continued to slice monsters with his sword.

It was quite a mechanical movement, but notable words flowed from his mouth.

“But I can feel something.”

“Right? I’m correct, aren’t I? Since when has it been like that? Has it happened before?”

“It seems to have been going on for quite some time. Not frequently, but similar phenomena have occurred occasionally.”

Tatiana pondered for a moment and then nodded.

That was definitely sword energy. It could be considered a type of killing intent, but it was distinctly different.

Even ordinary people can emit killing intent. Doesn’t everyone’s gaze change when overcome with intense emotions? In the world, there are occasionally anecdotes, almost like ghost stories, about someone biting a person with such malice that the victim died. In fact, such a thing isn’t entirely impossible.

However, ordinary people cannot control this killing intent at will.

Knights and assassins are groups capable of doing so, and their energy is much more refined. That’s the only difference.

But imbuing one’s energy into a cold, metallic weapon was an entirely different matter. That was a realm only skilled swordsmen could achieve.

Yet it wasn’t necessarily proportional to skill. Depending on the style of swordsmanship one pursued, it might manifest or not. The only certainty was that it would never happen to someone with no skill at all.

‘So this is why.’

Tatiana finally understood why Gideon’s swordsmanship hadn’t deteriorated. During the three years they were apart, he had already experienced stepping into a completely new realm.

Whether one has experienced that unknown world or not makes an enormous difference. Once you’ve set foot there, you can travel back and forth frequently. The frequency naturally increases over time, and as a result, your skill rarely drops below that level.

Of course, his technique was still imperfect. The sword energy would faintly appear at the tip of the blade but quickly dissipate.

The reason Tatiana could detect that fleeting moment, even capture it with her n*ked eye, was probably because she too had opened a completely different field of vision after gaining magical power.

After observing her husband intently for a while, Tatiana spoke up.

“Honey?”

It wasn’t a particularly loud voice. But even amid the monsters’ horrific screams, Gideon immediately responded to his wife’s voice.

“What’s wrong?”

Why is she suddenly calling me honey? Did I do something wrong again? It doesn’t seem like it.

Gideon looked at his wife with suspicious eyes.

Meanwhile, Kay stepped forward to handle the monster Gideon had been facing. He intended to use this as an excuse to quietly slip away.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what? Speak so I can understand.”

“You understood just fine!”

“……”

“That was sword energy just now.”

Tatiana wore a prim expression, as if wondering how he could not have mentioned something like this.

Gideon couldn’t help but smile at her aggrieved look, as if she had been deceived in some marriage fraud over such a trivial matter.

“As you can see, it’s not at a complete stage yet.”

Are there men who want to show off their clumsy skills to their wives? If he had thought it was worth boasting about, he would have done so long ago. What just happened wasn’t even intentional. As often happens, it had flowed out by chance.

While it might be a profoundly significant moment for a swordsman, Gideon believed that power one couldn’t control at will had limited practical value in actual combat. After all, one cannot formulate tactics based on uncertain premises.

Of course, Tatiana’s thoughts were completely different.

‘How can my husband use sword energy and still be so nonchalant about it?’

This was a realm that not just anyone could aspire to, regardless of technical completion. It was absolutely not something to react to so indifferently.

Tatiana made a complicated expression and then widened her eyes.

“Anyway, congratulations.”

“Well. There’s not really anything to congratulate……”

“Oh, come on. I really, really congratulate you.”

“……Uh, thanks.”

When Tatiana congratulated him so firmly, Gideon reluctantly nodded. It seemed like one more denial would lead to serious trouble.

However, he soon made a strange expression. While she was verbally congratulating him, why did his wife have such a solemn look in her eyes? She looked like someone who had been thoroughly provoked by something.