Gideon seemed to know this fact well too and shook his head.

“Though I hoped he was alive at times…… now I suppose we must consider him dead.”

“I didn’t know Your Highness still held this matter in your heart.”

Gideon carefully observed Sir Muller who hung his head as if feeling utmost responsibility. And this time he spoke while staring at Tatiana, spitting out each word with emphasis.

“Though I haven’t lived constantly reminiscing about that day in the past……”

“……”

“I still haven’t forgotten.”

“……”

“Because I made a promise to my wife.”

Tatiana, who couldn’t hide her troubled feelings since the story of her birth father came up, stared at Gideon as if enchanted.

Her emerald eyes held confused light and shook uncontrollably.

Realizing that she wasn’t managing her emotions well right now, she quickly lowered her head.

* * *

Let’s go back to the past for a moment.

After first visiting the Bloom household to present a medal, Gideon left his mark at Tatiana’s home several more times. Though not hundreds of times, he must have filled up about a hundred visits.

Gideon wasn’t idle enough to count each one precisely, so the exact number isn’t clear.

Sir Bloom was someone who valued family dinner time and always maintained punctual work hours. However, when a prince visits, what could he do?

Gideon would learn swordsmanship late at night in the training grounds prepared at the Bloom residence. Though Sir Bloom might have felt wronged, he couldn’t chase away a prince. 

 Moreover, unlike Sir Bloom, his wife wasn’t someone who particularly valued dinner with her husband. Sometimes she seemed not to even know the time of her husband’s return. Even when the prince made his precious visits, she often stayed cooped up in her study without looking outside.

It was quite rude, but mages were a special profession where such rudeness was tolerated.

Instead, in that beautiful mansion, there was one small child who eagerly awaited the prince.

Back then, Tatiana hadn’t yet developed her preference for military green and black. She couldn’t skillfully hide her footsteps or presence like she does now.

Gideon easily noticed Tatiana hiding behind trees.

What did Gideon think at that time?

‘……She’s really annoying.’

It was probably something like that.

But everyone has moments of misunderstanding, and living life, one or two pieces of the past you want to erase naturally occur. Gideon was no exception. He had made a misunderstanding, that is.

Gideon thought then that Tatiana was acting that way because she liked him.

However, his temperature towards Tatiana didn’t change in an instant.

He was born receiving comparable or even greater attention and blessings than her. While many envied and hated him, even more people admired him. It was difficult to cherish someone’s feelings just because they liked him.

Gideon just thought it was somewhat bothersome.

However, the moment of realizing this was all his misunderstanding came not long after.

Gideon was having tea with Sir Bloom after finishing their sparring.

When he looked out the window, Tatiana was earnestly swinging her sword in the training grounds where he had just been.

Watching that scene carefully, Gideon realized.

‘She’s…… copying my swordsmanship?’

Tatiana wasn’t interested in Gideon, but in Gideon’s swordsmanship.

Perhaps she envied Gideon who received separate teachings from her father. She might have even hated him a bit in her young heart.

When the misunderstanding he had naturally held until now shattered in that moment, Gideon felt somewhat empty and dumbfounded.

Strange as it may be, he seemed to feel slightly unpleasant too.

Why did he feel that way? Even Gideon didn’t know the reason then.

Nevertheless, his visits to the Bloom household continued afterward.

Tatiana’s peeking continued without fail, but at some point, she seemed to know that this surveillance had been discovered.

Wouldn’t most people usually stop out of embarrassment? She wasn’t too young to know about face and shame. It was an age when girls were quite conscious of boys their age.

Tatiana did find her actions embarrassing and shameful. However, her curiosity about swordsmanship was greater than momentary embarrassment.

So regardless of what Gideon thought of her, she gently pushed aside things like face. 

 That’s how little interest she had in Gideon as a person.

‘What kind of person is this?’

Gideon thought just that much even then.

Well, let’s see how long you can keep hiding and doing that, he might have had such thoughts too.

But surprisingly, he was the one who fell first.

Because the weather wasn’t always bright and nice. Some days it rained too cold to ignore.

Gideon left Count Bloom’s training earlier than usual, bothered by Tatiana getting soaked in the rain behind the wooden pillar.

But a few days later, Sir Bloom sighed and brought up this story to Gideon.

‘Your Highness, girls are really difficult.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Has puberty come, I wonder, now she doesn’t even look at her father when he leaves home. The farewells must be over already. I shouldn’t show that I feel hurt, right?’

‘……Could she just be sick? Like a cold?’

‘A cold? Our Tania?’

My daughter who eats three plates of meat? 

 Sir Bloom shook his head as if that couldn’t be possible, and Gideon then said something to his teacher who was old enough to be his father.

‘Are you sure you really love your daughter?’

‘……Pardon?’

‘Your daughter whom you cherish more than your own eyes…… is sick right now.’

‘How can Your Highness be so sure?’

‘……’

Tatiana really was at an age where she ate three plates of meat, so she quickly recovered and got up.

But perhaps her father’s judgment was right too. She stopped the behavior of peeking at Gideon’s training.

Even when they met in the hallway, she would ignore him or avoid him like a stuck-up teenager who had hit puberty.

Gideon felt somewhat wronged. There were many times he wanted to grab her shoulders and ask what her deal was.

Making someone misunderstand by looking at them with such admiring eyes. Burning with competitive spirit alone then getting tired of it on her own and hating him. What did I even do.

‘Have you lost interest in me now? Is it because there’s…… nothing more to gain from spying?’

But from around that time, Gideon became very busy too. After his coming-of-age ceremony, he began handling his duties as a prince and naturally became negligent in swordsmanship.

In fact, unlike Tatiana, he never had any desire to see things through with the sword from the beginning. He just thought he needed enough discernment to gauge knights’ abilities.

So he started it casually as exercise, but who knew, it turned out he was a genius.

Sir Bloom often felt very regretful watching such a disciple. Though a prince’s path must differ from that of an ordinary swordsman, it’s unavoidable for a teacher to feel greedy when seeing talented material.

‘Your Highness learns faster than any young person I’ve ever seen. But that good head sometimes becomes a stumbling block when learning swordsmanship.’

Does his commoner origin show like this sometimes? Or was it just his naturally plain disposition? Count Bloom was so honest with Gideon that he didn’t spare even painful advice at times.

And Gideon found that interesting. Because no one else spoke to royalty this way.

‘How does teacher think so?’

‘Outstanding observational skills and the ability to apply them immediately are indeed talents. But to truly make something your own, you need to invest more time.’

‘……’

‘Your Highness, what comes out reflexively in crisis situations isn’t what you’ve memorized with your head, but habits that have become thoroughly ingrained in your body.’

‘……’

‘You need to fail many times to repeat many times, but Your Highness always succeeds too easily.’

Gideon actually understood the Count’s advice immediately because of his intelligence. He just lacked the will to follow that advice.

Even for royalty born with the best silver spoon in Valter, he has the same equal day composed of 24 hours. Gideon couldn’t invest his time solely in swordsmanship.

‘Isn’t that why I keep excellent knights like you by my side? ……Your daughter also seems like she’ll become an outstanding swordsman like you later.’

The corners of Sir Bloom’s mouth twitched as he was giving sharp yet affectionate advice to his cherished disciple. It was an inevitable father’s expression.

‘Your Highness, if it’s not too presumptuous…… may I talk about my daughter a bit……’

‘If that’s presumptuous, you’ve always been presumptuous with me.’

‘……’

‘Go ahead, brag about your daughter.’

For a moment then, Count Bloom looked at Gideon, smiled slightly and narrowed his eyes. It was the expression of an adult watching a child trying to hide their true feelings.

Though that knowing smile disappeared in an instant, Gideon sensed that he had been seen through.

However, he couldn’t say that the Count had misjudged him or rebuke him for being disrespectful. Because he was truly curious about how Tatiana was doing.

‘Your Highness, I hate to say this but my daughter is definitely a genius.’

‘……If you say so, then she must be.’

‘Yes, Your Highness. No one in the world can match a persistent genius. My daughter will surely surpass me someday.’

‘That’s good. Won’t she be a great help to Valter in the future?’ 

 ‘But I don’t want my daughter doing dangerous things.’