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“…Okay.” Illyna slowly nodded with suspicion. She was uncertain of the situation, so she just agreed for now. She went on to address Davey. “Then, let’s talk.”

“Hm…”

“To be honest, I have a lot of questions to ask you. However, you are not kind enough to answer everything.”

That wasn’t completely true, but Davey said nothing. After a moment, he said, “Well, I do feel a little guilty, so I’ll answer sincerely.”

“So, who are you exactly?” Illyna asked Davey.

“I am Davey O’Rowane, the First Prince of the Rowane Kingdom and the legitimate child of Queen Lennie Alishad.”

“What I am asking is…” Illyna let out a sigh.

‘I would’ve answered you if you asked properly.’

Princess Illyna clenched her jaw out of frustration and stared at Davey, who glanced over while trying to hold in his laughter. She said, “Sigh… Well, alright.” Then, she smiled coldly as if another thought had popped into her head. Strangely, it was different from the elegance and refined appearance she had shown when they had first met.

“I’ll lure you out slowly… I have a lot of time…” With a calm murmur, Princess Illyna put down the bundle of cloth that she held onto when she first came in.

“Is that the sword that you used then?” Davey asked, referring to the large sword that Princess Illyna had used before. It would be difficult for ordinary people to swing it, but she needed a sword that heavy to be able to use Sword Lord Ares’ [Longsword]. Although, Davey was using something else in place of the weight since he had risen to quite a high level.

“It’s a little different. This is my usual sword.” Illyna looked Davey in the eye with an unwavering gaze. There was a sense of thirst and yearning in her expression. “I won’t beat around the bush. Teach me the [Longsword] of the Sword Lord.”

“Can I decline?”

“I will keep asking.”

“What if I keep declining?”

“I have a way of keeping you.” Illyna smiled brightly. Then, she pulled out some papers from her chest.

“This is…” Davey frowned while skimming through the documents.

An eerie smile appeared on Illyna’s face. “An offer of engagement. I don’t know about you, but the royal palace will react differently. I am determined to get what I want; I have thrown away my dignity and everything else for this. I’m prepared to play dirty if I have to. Do you want to fight?”

-You. You thought about it for a moment, didn’t you?

‘It’s your imagination.’

-Don’t toy with me.

‘…’

Princess Illyna’s declaration clearly showed her crazy determination. She was also quite obsessed over the sword, almost in a slightly twisted way. She went on, “I will formally send this to the Rowane Kingdom if you keep avoiding me. Father vowed that he would give permission to anyone I choose, even if they are a slave. However, if they were the seigneur of the up-and-coming Heins Territory…”

Princess Illyna spoke truthfully. She was serious about sending the offer of engagement to the royal palace if Davey kept avoiding her.

“Then, what are you going to do if they accept? I think you don’t value yourself enough.” Davey revealed a bitter smile.

Princess Illyna’s bright smile never faltered. She still looked as cute and beautiful as ever. “Oh my, I’m not against it if it is someone as skilled, capable, and wealthy as you.”

Davey instinctively felt that Illyna wasn’t someone open to reason. He clicked his tongue and pointed at the window. “Tsk. Let’s not say anything we don’t actually mean. So, let’s have a more productive conversation the next time we see each other.”

When Davey calmly told her to get out, Princess Illyna glared at him silently. Then, she got up from her seat, slammed her hand on the table, and walked over to him. “No, I’m not giving up.” Then, she stared at Davey with determination.

Davey clicked his tongue at her obsession.

“I have a bad personality and I’m stubborn. So, I don’t hide in the back like other girls and walk on eggshells,” Illyna said. She grabbed Davey and quickly pulled him towards her with a bright smile. She declared, “Well, let’s see who is more stubborn.”

39. Decepticon Fleet Prototype, Megatron.

Illyna was obstinate and pushy; there were a lot of words to describe her, most of which suited her and her steely determination. Conversely, Davey was also just letting her do whatever she wanted because her blatant declaration of her goal was rather amusing.

“Aren’t you busy?” Davey, who was writing a few calculations for an experiment after finishing a few small tasks around the territory, asked. He stared at Illyna, who was writing on a bunch of documents and putting them inside her magic pouch before sipping her tea.

A floral scent faintly spread around the room as Illyna’s bright, honey-like hair swayed in the wind. Davey couldn’t help but sigh in admiration, looking at how she organized her documents with such familiarity. He looked at her petite, feminine physique despite having trained in swordsmanship and her glistening eyes.

“I am busy. That’s why I’m doing this here. They say that people need to be in close proximity with each other to grow close.”

Davey scoffed at Princess Illyna’s confident answer.

“That’s ridiculous! Do you know anyone who does their work in some other man’s office?” Winley asked in bewilderment, but her question went unanswered.

“Oh my, what do you mean ‘some other man’, Princess Winley? I heard friends often do this. In fact, Duke Orba, the minister of the empire, visits Count Perdoom’s place quite often,” Illyna pointed out.

“Eek! I don’t understand when Big Brother became your friend, Princess Illyna!”

Illyna quickly put all the signed documents away and savored her tea one sip at a time. She looked amused by how Winley was anxiously yelling like a child who was about to lose her favorite toy. “You’re right. Let’s stop with all this work.”

“Eek!” Winley stared at Illyna in bewilderment, realizing that the princess was unreasonable.

“Hm…”

“More than that, I’m curious as to why Class-5 Yulis is here.” Illyna asked a very aggressive question, with a harsher tone than usual.

Yulis smiled. He looked at the princess like he was looking at a grumpy younger sibling. “I don’t know. I don’t think it’ll be a problem since Sir Davey and I are friends.”

“Since when?”

“Um…. I don’t know since when.”

Illyna immediately stared at Davey. She demanded, “And yet you don’t even want to be involved with me? What did I do wrong?”

“Um… I thought that I would create a lot of enemies if I were to befriend you.” Davey shrugged.

“Eek! I’m fine! Let’s be friends! And speak informally!” Illyna said.

It was a battle between three… no, four: Winley, who had her claws out toward Illyna, Yulis, the youngest elder of the Red Tower who was chuckling at the amusing situation, and Princess Illyna, who was complaining about how they were being cheap and not including her.

Princess Illyna was trying to get close to Davey in any way she pleased, but Davey liked her character. He wouldn’t have agreed to meet her in the first place if her personality seemed twisted, even if she was the emperor of the Pallan Empire.

Unexpectedly, Davey was living however he wanted after he had regained some of his power. He was very aware of this fact himself.

-You act like this despite knowing that fact?

Perserque, who was sitting on Davey’s shoulder and yawning, giggled while pulling his ear.

-Hm? Tell me, or I will put my entire arm inside your ear.

‘That’s terrifying. Please don’t do that even in my dreams.’

“Now that I think about it, you two look quite close, Princess Illyna and Yulis. Do you know each other?” Davey asked.

“You didn’t know? The story about them is quite famous.”

For a moment, Davey was intrigued by Winley’s revelation. Although she was tomboyish, she was a princess, so she had gone to quite a few informal social events before her actual debut. Because of that, she knew what was going on in the world.

“Wasn’t there news about an arranged engagement? I know about it since I’ve heard about the rumors,” Winley said.

‘Aha. No wonder Winley’s hostile towards her from the beginning.’ Davey nodded to himself. To Winley, Princess Illyna was a woman rumored to be engaged to a man she liked. Davey thought, ‘She has a reason to be wary of her.’

-Stupid…

[Huh? Is he an idiot?]

After he was done mumbling to himself, Davey could hear Perserque and the cheeky Caldeiras talking. He just ignored them.

Winley looked like a small cat that was hissing at its enemy, and Illyna just looked like a calm fox.

“Anyways, don’t you have things to do at the division of the Red Tower, Yulis?”

“Well, there’s nothing for me to do there, honestly. I actually have things to do with Prince Davey here right now. Perhaps something about magic,” Yulis said.

Although it was phrased strangely, Yulis was very interested in the nonverbal casting Davey had performed out of the several unbelievable magic spells he had shown. One wrong move and Davey would receive all the attention of those insanely inquisitive mages, and he absolutely did not want that. However, Yulis was keeping quiet like he wanted to be considerate of Davey. Davey was beginning to feel a little grateful for how considerate and thoughtful Yulis was.

Knock knock.

“I have gotten everything you asked for and moved them into the storage in the basement, Your Highness.”

“Oh, they’re finally here? Good work.”

Yulis, Illyna, and the growling Winley all glanced at Amy, who peeked into the room and reported to Davey.

Amy had now officially taken on the management of the territory in place of Davey, but she was still wearing her lady-in-waiting uniform. Of course, the material and color of her clothes were different, and she had on some accessories to show the status difference, but there was no way of knowing why Royal Attendant Bernile had allowed that when he was always meticulous and rational.

“She’s…not a lady-in-waiting?” Illyna cautiously mumbled after Amy went away. Her presence had caught Amy off-guard.

“Amy is Big Brother’s personal lady-in-waiting,” Winley said.

“Now she is the alternate manager of the estate. She has received the title of a baron,” Davey revealed.

“Really?” Winley widened her eyes in surprise, since it was a hundred times harder for women to receive a title compared to men in this world.

“Outstanding.”

“It’s probably difficult for the royal palace to think about these things, since that place is chaotic right now.”

The political fight between the royalists, led by Marquie Peiltris, and the nobility, led by Duke Bariatta, was currently at its climax.