He carelessly opened the envelopes. Still not fond of parties, he consistently declined to attend unless it was an important occasion.

But today, one envelope caught Gideon’s attention. It was a wedding invitation.

Normally, he would have treated such invitations with indifference. Why should he care about other people’s marriages? The sender probably sent it merely to inform rather than genuinely expecting his attendance.

However, this sender was someone who occupied a fairly high position in Gideon’s mind.

“Jane Lorel…… If she’s the second daughter of the Lorelay family, isn’t she the Queen’s friend?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

While Tatiana was known to every Royal Guard knight and even socialized with people much older than herself as if they were distant relatives, she had only three female friends. This made it quite easy for Gideon to remember them.

Since the beginning of their marriage, Gideon had consistently maintained a policy of treating his wife’s friends well whenever possible.

Without in-laws, he didn’t have many people around to impress, and he acknowledged that his sister and his wife’s friends filled gaps that he couldn’t.

Even now, Tatiana would play with his sister, putting some sort of frog skin-like masks on their faces. Sometimes they would engage in what seemed like doll play or coloring exercises, using their faces as canvases to recreate eyes, noses, and mouths. No matter how hard Gideon tried, he simply couldn’t join in such activities……

He had long since decided to support his wife in spending quality time with his sister and her friends.

“Does the Queen know about this news?”

“Well, I would assume she does.”

Gideon thought so too. Since they still met frequently to chat, they must have discussed the man involved in this marriage. She probably already knew the wedding date. If so, this invitation might be unnecessary, but……

Gideon fiddled with the pale pink envelope and asked while looking out the window,

“The Queen is scheduled to return in three days, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“That’s too long.”

“……Pardon?”

“I mean the field training schedule.”

In any case, since this invitation was addressed to her as well, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to deliver it personally. In fact, he had been thinking of visiting her today or tomorrow anyway.

It was autumn with beautiful foliage. Once winter arrived, outings would become difficult, so going north to view the reddened mountainsides and staying overnight would make for a good memory. Though he didn’t enjoy parties, he rather looked forward to attending someone else’s wedding ceremony with his wife.

“I should go pick up my wife.”

Gideon rose from his seat, having apparently made up his mind. The wrinkles that had formed between his brows while reviewing documents had disappeared, and a smile now graced his lips.

* * *

When the king’s entourage arrived without warning, the Magic Tower fell into commotion. However, most of those who came out to greet them were lower-ranking mages, with no sign of any senior officials. This was a disrespectful and presumptuous attitude considering the king himself had arrived.

But Gideon disregarded this and moved on without making an issue of it. This wasn’t because he thought “that’s just how those fellows are,” but because he was roughly aware of the situation at the Magic Tower.

The high-ranking mages were currently in the principality. They were there to establish a Magic Tower branch and to research that strange creature—whether it was a monster or a tree, its identity remained unclear. In fact, the real reason the mages were insisting on establishing a branch in that remote mountainous region was because of the tree.

Of course, Gideon hadn’t initially approved of the location.

‘Can’t they just dig up the tree and bring it back?’

Though he had once used the principality as his political stronghold, he was now a king who needed to extract maximum efficiency from minimum cost.

Major facilities like the Magic Tower are better situated in populous areas. However, Tatiana had cautiously suggested that the mages would likely disagree.

Sure enough, they had rushed in en masse and pleaded as if staging a protest.

‘Your Majesty! Every grain of soil there! Even the air surrounding it has research value! We cannot simply bring back just the tree!’

Gideon had looked at Tatiana then, as if asking if what they were saying was true. He could accept the soil argument, but the air seemed a stretch.

Tatiana had nodded awkwardly, confirming that the Magic Tower’s position was correct, and Gideon had granted his approval.

In truth, he had approved it because the Magic Tower’s head had rolled his eyes back and pretended to faint while saying, ‘This is my final research in life! Please grant your permission!’ Gideon had thought, he’s really putting in effort at that age, and gave his consent.

As it happened, this schedule had overlapped with the Royal Guard’s field training, so the mages and knights were now together. And surprisingly, they were conducting joint training exercises.

This was extraordinary considering that during peacetime, they usually behaved like rivals, each claiming superiority over the other. This was evidence that relations between the mages and knights were more harmonious than ever before.

The fact that the Queen, a magic swordsman, was serving as a bridge between them couldn’t be ignored either.

In fact, even now, people in society were gossiping that the king must have proposed to the Queen after considering and preparing for all these factors, calling him “truly terrifying.” Even though he had simply proposed because he loved her.

‘They’re like frogs.’

What was the point of explaining the truth to them? They would just croak as they pleased.

Having unconsciously adopted Tatiana’s habit of speech, Gideon strode forward until he reached the gate. Passing through this portal would bring him to his wife.

The gate, which people frequently passed through, suddenly felt quite different from usual. The mages began raising their magical power, preparing to activate the gate.

As Gideon waited for them, he scanned his surroundings and noticed a figure he hadn’t seen earlier. When their eyes met, Vaikal bowed his head almost imperceptibly as a sign of respect. Even in that brief gesture, his inner conflict was palpable.

He must have debated whether it was better to hide in his room, unnoticed, or to come out and greet him from a distance. Both the deliberation and the decision to come out were characteristic of Vaikal.

Gideon did not ignore his greeting and consideration. He gave a slight nod, just enough for his younger brother to recognize. In response, Vaikal bowed even more deeply than before.

“He’s put on some weight.”

“Pardon?”

When Gideon muttered to himself, a nearby aide inquired, but he shook his head.

“It’s nothing.”

When at the castle, Vaikal had appeared somewhat gaunt and faint. There had been a certain shadow over him.

But now Vaikal’s face looked much better than before. He even appeared healthy. Despite the Magic Tower’s ample finances, its environment, including meals, couldn’t possibly be better than the royal palace.

Gideon could easily identify the reason.

‘He must be at peace now.’

Perhaps life had become more bearable now that he could freely do what he wanted. Gideon smiled faintly as he stepped into the center of the gate. The mages’ repetitive incantations echoed around him, and a brilliant light enveloped his body.