RNB 09

Chapter 9

At Dan’s rude reaction, Hayden fell silent with a terrifying expression, as if the cold looks he had worn until now had merely been a joke. Seeing his superior’s face, Dan felt a chill run down his spine, sweat dripping down his back.

“N-No, that’s not what I meant… I mean… uh… I was trying to apologize politely… no, I mean…”

His face turned red as he hurriedly tried to explain himself, but in his panic, his words only became more incoherent.

“Sir Brown.”

His superior, who always called him “Dan” or “Dan Brown,” suddenly addressed him by only his surname as though speaking to a stranger. Dan instinctively sensed danger. Without realizing it, he snapped into a stiff military posture.

“It seems your apology should be properly given another time, so you may leave for today.”

Looking at his superior’s expression, Dan instinctively realized that if he valued his life, he needed to leave immediately while he was still being allowed to.

‘I-I need to get out of here!’

“A-Alchemist-nim, I-I’ll formally apologize later! C-Commander-nim! I-I’ll be going now!”

The moment he finished speaking, Dan hurriedly bowed ninety degrees to his superior before fleeing the scene. Running with the single-minded determination of never catching his commander’s eye again, he soon found himself outside the knights’ headquarters in a secluded area.

Panting, Dan whipped his head around to check his surroundings. Once he confirmed no one was nearby, he braced himself against a tree and tried to calm his trembling heart.

“Wow. I never imagined it. That crazy sto— no, wait. To think that woman was the Magic Tower’s Princess!”

Who was the Magic Tower’s Princess?

She was the only nepotism hire in the entire history of the Magic Tower, pampered so excessively that those selfish Magic Tower mages—who only cared about themselves—even gave her the position of alchemist. She was the temptress who had supposedly bewitched the Tower Master himself, and the empire’s most infamous spendthrift woman, famous for borrowing huge sums of money from the Magic Tower and even going into debt!

That was why people mockingly called her “the Princess of the Magic Tower.”

“No wonder. The person who claimed she was just running errands was covered head to toe in jewels—hands, arms, neck, everything.”

So there was a reason. Completely unaware that those were actually protective magic accessories given by the mages, Dan shuddered at Yvonne’s extravagance.

“But still… someone like that runs errands?”

Weren’t nepotism hires supposed to laze around all day?

Suspicious, Dan rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger, narrowing his eyes. Then he suddenly remembered that the commander of the First Knight Order was his own superior and made a look of realization.

Who was his commander?

The elite among elites. His education and rank were top-tier. His reputation was legendary. His wealth was astronomical. Even his face and physique were absurdly perfect.

Hayden de Roelrn.

And unmarried, too!

“Ha! I knew it!”

She’s running errands? As if. A nepotism hire with a useless ceremonial position actually working? Even a passing dog would laugh at that. She only came running to the First Knight Order because Commander Roelrn was here. This was practically legal stalking under the excuse of work!

Dan repeatedly exclaimed, “Ha! Seriously!” while shaking his head.

“I figured it out. My powers of deduction are terrifying.”

Then he decided he should run to his commander shouting, “Extra! Extra!” to report his great discovery. He confidently took one step back in the direction he had come from—

—and immediately stepped backward again.

For some reason, he had the strong feeling that if he returned there now, his commander would personally destroy him on the spot.

And more than anything else…

“…Why doesn’t the commander hate her?”

Instead, he was worried about whether she might bruise or not.

Given the behavior of noble ladies he had dealt with until now, Hayden should have been disgusted by the Magic Tower’s Princess approaching him with ulterior motives.

“Wait… is she really just running errands? No way!”

Impossible. Their commander was Hayden de Roelrn. She obviously had hidden motives. If she really didn’t want to do it, she could just refuse the Tower Master, who doted on her like crazy!

Dan firmly believed that the Magic Tower’s Princess liked his superior, but at the same time, he couldn’t shake the strange unease creeping up inside him.

“Ugh, whatever.”

Frustrated, he absentmindedly scratched the hair Yvonne had nearly ripped apart earlier.

“AAAGH! Damn it!”

Overwhelmed by the pain, Dan clutched his head with both hands and immediately forgot all about his earlier suspicions.

Still, there was one thing he now knew for certain about the Magic Tower’s Princess.

Her temper was no joke!

Yvonne stared blankly at Dan’s retreating figure as he disappeared into the distance in an instant.

‘He’s really fast.’

For a second, she almost thought he had used a teleportation scroll. She was genuinely impressed by how quickly he had escaped.

Then a deliberate cough made her straighten up again.

When her eyes met Hayden’s, he was still expressionless as always, but somehow, she sensed hesitation in him now.

“Our knight…”

As Hayden carefully began speaking, Yvonne tilted her head in confusion.

Seeing her expression, Hayden let out a quiet sigh before continuing.

“Our knight was rude to you. I apologize on his behalf.”

Caught completely off guard, Yvonne’s eyes widened.

She stared intently at the man before her.

That face was still devastatingly handsome. Honestly, with a face like that, apologies should have been optional.

Yet this ridiculously handsome man was apologizing for his subordinate’s mistake, not even his own.

Meanwhile, the world was overflowing with ugly bastards who had terrible personalities and couldn’t apologize to save their lives.

‘Isn’t this cheating?’

“And I’m sorry for being late as well. I didn’t expect the training to be delayed this much. I hurried as much as I could, but because of that, you ended up dealing with trouble you shouldn’t have had to face.”

It really was unfair.

Saying things like that with a face like his. Holding a position like his, yet apologizing so sincerely.

What had it been like until now?

At departments like Personnel, Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and dozens of others, being ten or twenty minutes late was normal. One bastard from the Administration Department had even been an hour and twenty-three minutes late once!

Yet not a single one of them—including that administration bastard—had ever apologized for being late.

And now this man was apologizing politely over being merely ten minutes late, for a perfectly understandable reason like delayed training.

It was the first time in her life.

‘Sniff… I haven’t lived my life in vain after all.’

Yvonne nearly covered her mouth with both hands and burst into tears on the spot, but somehow managed to hold herself back.

In this imperial palace full of people who seemed physically incapable of apologizing, Hayden’s single apology warmed her heart so much that she decided she would never write Commander Roelrn’s name in Volume 12 of her Revenge Notebook—even if he showed up ten hours late in the future.

“Uh… well… I was at fault too. Protecting the contract documents is part of my job, but even though there was security magic on them, someone else still ended up touching them, and the documents were ruined. I’m truly sorry as well, Commander Roelrn.”

Yvonne bowed her head deeply.

Earlier, while Dan was there, she had intended to somehow smooth things over casually. But after Hayden’s apology, she sincerely apologized as well.

“So, um…”

Carefully starting the conversation again, Yvonne nervously glanced at Hayden before speaking.

“If I go back to the Magic Tower and return, I think it’ll be around seven o’clock… Would that be alright with you?”

“Haha… that’s too late, isn’t it?” she added awkwardly.

The pocket watch she had secretly checked earlier from inside her uniform pants showed the current time as 5:30 PM.

Even if she used an emergency teleportation scroll for one person, it would still definitely take over an hour. If she used a carriage instead, it might easily pass eight o’clock.

‘Ugh. If not for those checkpoint bastards, I could’ve arrived an hour earlier! I swear I’m not letting this go!’

This was all because of the checkpoint guards.

Ten minutes from here to the checkpoint. Thirty minutes wasted at the checkpoint. A few seconds by teleportation scroll to the inner Magic Tower. Three minutes from there to the Tower Master’s office. Seven minutes to retrieve the copied knight order documents and prepare the written explanation and official seal needed to re-enter the imperial palace. A few more seconds by teleportation scroll. Another thirty minutes at the checkpoint. Then ten minutes back to the commander’s office.

It was an unbelievably inefficient and miserable use of time.

‘Should I just postpone it until tomorrow…?’

If she handled it now, there was a high chance she could keep it hidden from the Tower Master.

But that would mean making the commander wait at least an hour and a half, which felt horribly rude.

So perhaps postponing it until tomorrow would be better.

In Yvonne’s mind, visions flashed by of the Tower Master scolding her and the mage uncles laughing and teasing her, but she forced herself to ignore them.

‘More importantly… would he even have time tomorrow?’

What if he didn’t?

As countless thoughts crowded her head, Yvonne cautiously glanced at Hayden again.

After briefly considering her words about it taking over an hour, Hayden finally seemed to reach a decision and spoke.

“Hmm. Then perhaps it would be better if I accompany you to the Magic Tower.”

Yvonne’s eyes widened into circles at the completely unexpected suggestion.

“…Pardon?!”

“I think it would be more efficient for me to go with you than for Knight Hiwen to keep making trips back and forth. Wouldn’t it be better for both of us to simply leave work from there directly?”

“N-No, um…! Wouldn’t it be better if I came again tomorrow instead?”

“Tomorrow’s schedule is rather packed, so that may be difficult.”

Hayden looked genuinely troubled, as though he truly had a full day ahead of him tomorrow.

“So wait here for a moment. I’ll stop by the commander’s office briefly and return.”

With those words, Hayden swiftly disappeared back into the knight order building.

Left behind, Yvonne could only weakly mutter toward the empty spot where he had vanished:

“Ah… um… no… Commander, that’s really not…”

‘Aaaah! We’re going together from the imperial palace to the Magic Tower? Just the two of us?!’

Left alone for a moment, Yvonne was horrified by the unexpected situation.

She quickly began seriously calculating the odds that rumors wouldn’t spread tomorrow if the two of them traveled together from the imperial palace to the Magic Tower.

As someone practically considered a master of gossip herself, she estimated the chances were slim to none.

After all, the road between the palace and the Magic Tower was the busiest street in the capital.

‘And during the evening rush, too…’

I’m doomed. Completely doomed.

The streets would be packed with people.

The spendthrift woman and the empire’s number one bachelor going somewhere together alone?

That was prime gossip material.

The rumors surrounding herself right now were still at the relatively harmless level of:

“So that’s the Magic Tower’s Princess? Whisper whisper…”

But the moment Duke Roelrn became involved, the scale of the rumors would explode beyond control, which was extremely troublesome and unpleasant.

‘I can already see it.’

Her name would become even more infamous. Crowds would gather in front of the Magic Tower just to catch a glimpse of the spendthrift woman seen together with Duke Roelrn. Even going out normally afterward would become exhausting.

And on top of that, there was something else that terrified Yvonne the most.

‘And the scariest part is…’