“You seemed to be doing something earlier… Did I interrupt you by saying I wanted to take a walk?”

Aris stopped walking with an apologetic look. Mishuan tilted his head sideways, then eventually let out a short sigh and smirked.

“It was nothing. I just received a letter from one of the inn’s staff earlier.”

“Was it a love letter?”

Aris asked with sparkling eyes like a young girl. Mishuan nodded his head.

“That’s right.”

“What happened?”

With her cheeks turning peach-colored, she showed her curiosity. Mishuan smiled, pulling up the corners of his mouth with his angel-like handsome face, and said.

“I threw it away.”

Hearing his casual and gentle tone, Aris doubted her ears for a moment.

“What? Threw it away…?”

“Well, I was tearing it up and throwing it away. Usually I burn them, but there wasn’t a suitable place.”

The place Mishuan pointed to was where he had been standing until Aris called him earlier. Aris looked at him with shocked eyes. She couldn’t hide her bewilderment.

Could it be because he receives so many love letters… that he’s tired of them?

“Do you… always do this?”

“Yes, I usually don’t even read them. They make me uncomfortable.”

Mishuan frowned. His expression clearly showed his genuine dislike. Aris hesitated for a moment before finally asking.

“Even though they did it because they have feelings for you, Sir Mishuan… may I ask why you think that way?”

From Aris’s perspective, Mishuan wasn’t someone who would ignore others’ feelings and sincerity without reason. As they walked together along the garden path with its uneven bushes, Mishuan chuckled.

“These people, they only see my exterior, don’t they? I don’t even know who they are, but they keep watching me from behind, following me around, and coming to find me without permission. Do you know what’s written in these letters?”

“…What is written?”

“That they’ve been watching me for a long time. That they’ll have no reason to live if I don’t accept their feelings. They push the responsibility of their lives onto me. Yet I don’t even know their names.”

Mishuan furrowed his brow. Even that expression was sculpturesque in its beauty, without a trace of awkwardness.

“I don’t carelessly eat things others give me either. I’m worried about what might be in them.”

“…Surely that hasn’t actually happened?”

“Yes, it has. They’ve put things like sleeping pills and aphrodisiacs in them.”

Aris couldn’t close her mouth at this shocking revelation. Mishuan showed an even deeper smile as if it was nothing.

“So these things make me uncomfortable. Just thinking that this person has been watching me from behind too — isn’t that creepy?”

“…I’m sorry, Sir Mishuan. I didn’t know and thought badly of you for a moment. You’re such a kind and good person…”

Mishuan burst into laughter. Finding something amusing though unclear what, he held his stomach and let out a bright laugh before saying.

“Kind? You must be the only one who evaluates me that way, Doctor. Even the people who send me letters like me because I’m a bad guy.”

“You, Sir Mishuan? But you’re so kind…”

“That’s only because it’s you, Doctor. If it was someone else, I would have ignored them just now without even acknowledging them.”

This time Aris laughed, telling him to stop joking. Mishuan insisted it was true, but when she showed no sign of believing him, he raised both hands in surrender, telling her to think what she wanted.

“And if you’re apologizing just for thinking that way about me, I should be prostrating myself before you, Doctor.”

“Prostrating?”

Mishuan shrugged his shoulders and continued in a light tone.

“I hate materialistic people.”

“Surely I don’t appear materialistic to others…?”

Aris asked in a shocked voice. Mishuan stared at Aris for a moment before answering.

“No, that’s not it, I just misunderstood you on my own.”

“If it was a misunderstanding…”

“It’s because you’re from the East. You know, there’s that thinking — that eastern people are materialistic and won’t hesitate to do anything dirty for wealth, honor, and power.”

“……”

“It’s strange, isn’t it? I’m from the East too, so you might wonder why I think that way.”

“No! That’s up to each person to think…”

It was surprising that Mishuan viewed fellow easterners so negatively. Perhaps that’s why he left the East and was living well in the West, displaying his abilities there.

But Aris didn’t completely fail to understand him. After all, even she knew of easterners who were exactly like that. Her own parents, to be precise. She knew better than anyone how materialistic they were.

His smile faded, and he spoke in a deflated voice.

“I came to dislike eastern people because of my father, who only cared about money and women. His mistresses coming and going made my mother sick with anxiety.”

“……”

“So… I misunderstood you for a while too. I’m sorry.”

Hearing his apology, Aris briefly recalled his appearance from her past life.

Unlike previous empresses who typically managed military affairs alongside the emperor, Aris had been physically weak and couldn’t participate in such matters.

Therefore, she rarely encountered the knights, but she had occasionally seen Mishuan in passing. At that time, there had definitely been contempt in his eyes when he greeted her.

Aris had thought he looked at her that way because her position was precarious. Because everyone else did too.

But perhaps, as he just explained, rather than her position, it might have been because she was from the East. That she had simply seized the position of empress for wealth and power.

“But you don’t think of me that way now, do you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then it’s fine. Actually, I found you a bit scary at first too, Sir Mishuan, so let’s call it even.”

“That works for me. You really are wise, Doctor.”

“P-please don’t say that…”

Aris lowered her head bashfully. Mishuan chuckled playfully and began telling other interesting stories to keep her from getting bored.

* * *

Finally, the day to set out for exploration again dawned. Aris steeled herself and left her bedroom carrying a large bag. Mishuan, who had been waiting in front of the room, greeted her.

“Doctor, shall I carry that bag for you?”

“No, it’s fine, Sir Mishuan.”

“Then at least let me carry it when we return. The bag is bigger than you, and with your injured back, it’s dangerous.”

“I’m really fine… Alright.”

Leaving the inn with Mishuan, Aris was surprised to find another person waiting outside.

“You’re both late coming out.”

Kalaian, who had been leaning against the wall, approached them. Except for that brief time when they had meetings while Aris was resting, he hadn’t shown his face at all. Since he had even taken his meals separately, she hadn’t had any occasion to see him.

After not even seeing his shadow for three days, Aris had completely forgotten about his presence. With stiff tension in her body, she greeted him.

“Good morning, Your Highness.”

“Yes. Good morning, Miss Aristena. Has your condition improved somewhat?”

“Ah, yes… It’s much better, thanks to you.”

Kalaian gave his usual slight smile and began walking ahead without a word. Aris followed behind him, with Mishuan escorting them from the rear.

‘Come to think of it, His Highness was deployed here with Sir Mishuan. Then I might be able to get more information.’

Aris hesitated internally for a moment but soon gathered her courage to speak to Kalaian.

“Your Highness, when you were deployed here, did monsters appear from underground like what I saw?”

Kalaian, who had been walking ahead, slowed his pace. Aris was able to quickly catch up to his side. He looked at her with a slightly puzzled expression.

“Are you referring to when the rift appeared here?”

“Yes, of course.”

“That’s strange. I’ve never been deployed here.”

“…What? But Sir Mishuan…”

As Aris’s voice trailed off, Kalaian slightly narrowed his eyes and looked back at Mishuan who was following them. Mishuan was shaking his head vigorously and mouthing something. When Aris turned to look back as well, Mishuan immediately shut his mouth.

After exchanging glances with him briefly, Kalaian frowned and managed to say,

“Come to think of it… I might have been deployed here…”

When even the reliable Kalaian gave such an ambiguous answer, Aris tilted her head with an increasingly puzzled expression. Could it be that the monster had used magic that induced mental confusion?

Since there could be side effects after battles with monsters, it was entirely possible.

“You don’t remember well either, Your Highness?”

Finally thinking there would be no useful information again, Aris spoke dejectedly. It was closer to muttering to herself than asking a question. Seeing her, Kalaian pressed his lips together with a serious expression.

After the topic of conversation between Mishuan and Aris had changed twice, he spoke up.

“At that time, I believe ordinary ground-walking monsters appeared. That’s how I remember it, though I’m not certain.”

“Ah, yes! That’s right, Doctor!”

Mishuan responded enthusiastically as if he had just remembered. Aris’s face brightened after finally obtaining some information.

She looked up at Kalaian and said in a cheerful voice:

“I see! Walking on the ground — that’s quite different from the characteristics of the monster I saw last time. It would be troublesome if there were no commonalities… Though it’s a bit dangerous, we’ll have to investigate underground ourselves.”

Looking at her chattering away in her thick clothes, Kalaian’s lips curved upward. He looked into Aris’s eyes with a gentle gaze and said,

“I’ll help you.”