Chapter 4

Knock, knock.

Cedric knocked on the door and entered.

“Your Highness. An unidentified person has entered the garrison…”

He stopped when he saw the unfamiliar woman standing face-to-face with Carion.

He instinctively looked toward Orbin.

Orbin was desperately signaling with his hands and feet for him to shut up and come over.

Cedric quietly walked over and stood beside Orbin.

Carion thought the woman standing directly in front of him had an unusually strong presence.

There was no fear in her green eyes.

It did not seem like she was simply putting on a brave front. It seemed to be part of her natural temperament.

It was interesting, but also irritating.

Whether she was truly a princess or not, how had she managed to get all the way into the administrative residence in the middle of a heavily guarded military garrison?

‘Discipline has become lax. I need to reorganize the security system and conduct a full inspection.’

Carion tilted his head slightly and said,

“I thought this was our first meeting.”

“If you’re asking whether we have met before, then no.”

“Let’s say you are a princess. Zephyros is, after all, officially an enemy of the Empire.”

The difference in their size was so overwhelming that calling Zephyros an ‘enemy’ was almost ridiculous, but officially, it was true.

“Do you understand how much risk I would be taking if His Majesty learned about this meeting?”

“Yes.”

“You also understand that I could arrest you here and have you sent to the imperial capital?”

“But you won’t.”

Rea replied with a slight smile.

Carion’s expression remained unchanged.

“What makes you think that?”

“I believe in the proposal I have to make to Your Highness. It will benefit you far more than arresting me and sending me to the imperial capital.”

“Is that proposal marriage?”

Rea cleared her throat before speaking.

“A more important introduction was left out.”

“Let’s hear this introduction.”

Rea glanced toward the others, and Carion said,

“There is nothing here that they cannot hear.”

Orbin and Cedric stood perfectly still, barely breathing.

It was their desperate way of saying, ‘Please pretend we don’t exist.’

The two men often clashed because of their personalities, but right now, they were thinking exactly the same thing.

Since entering the service of Prince Carion, they had never experienced a moment this exciting.

Rea took a deep breath and said,

“The Kingdom of Zephyros wishes to bow before the Empire’s glorious majesty and choose honorable submission. Your Highness, I ask that you present the flag of Zephyros to His Majesty the Emperor and claim the achievement of bringing the kingdom under the Empire’s rule.”

A suffocating silence descended over the room. Not even the sound of breathing could be heard.

The southern desert kingdom of Zephyros.

To the Empire, the Kingdom of Zephyros was like a thorn stuck in its fingertip.

For more than twenty years, the Emperor had waged war after war, winning battle after battle as he expanded his territory.

But when he attempted to invade Zephyros, he lost a huge number of troops.

The Emperor’s only painful failure was still a taboo subject in the Empire.

And now the Kingdom of Zephyros was willingly kneeling and asking to become a vassal state?

It was an event that would shake the entire Empire.

And there was no doubt that the position of the Fourth Imperial Prince, Carion, who would lead this achievement, would change overnight.

By now, Orbin and Cedric had wiped all expression from their faces and were watching their master.

Yet even with such an enormous opportunity right in front of him, Carion’s dry gaze remained unchanged.

Instead, he asked indifferently,

“There must be conditions.”

“Take me to the imperial palace. As your imperial consort.”

Rea was secretly troubled by his cold, unreadable gaze.

She could not figure out what he was thinking because he showed no reaction at all.

“The center of the world has already become the Empire. Zephyros has maintained an isolationist policy for a long time. The kingdom has no influence or connections within the Empire. I want to see and hear what is happening at the heart of the Empire. A princess who is merely a hostage of a vassal state cannot do that, but an imperial consort can.”

“I refuse.”

“…What?”

Rea thought asking someone to repeat themselves with a ‘What?’ made her look foolish, but she had no choice but to ask.

“If what the princess needs is a position as an imperial consort, there are other imperial princes besides me. I can gladly arrange such a marriage.”

“I want to make a deal with Your Highness.”

“Make that deal with another prince. I have no intention of seeking achievements, and I have no intention of getting married either. Cedric. Escort our guest out.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Rea bit her lip as she watched him walk away without hesitation.

She had a feeling she needed to retreat for now.

She obediently followed Cedric out.

Cedric guided her to a guest room inside the residence.

In a flat tone that matched his neat and strict appearance, he said,

“Please refrain from going outside until your identity has been confirmed. Someone will be sent to attend to you shortly.”

“All right. People from my kingdom will be visiting within a few days.”

“Yes. I will inform you as soon as I receive word.”

Once she entered the room, Rea collapsed onto the sofa.

It felt as though all the tension suddenly left her body.

She stared at the closed door.

There were undoubtedly soldiers standing guard outside that door.

She had been prepared for much worse treatment, so she had no complaints.

Rea leaned back against the sofa and went over the conversation she had just had with Carion.

She had only heard rumors about him.

The wandering commander, the unleashed hound, the outlaw of the Northeast…

She did not know whether people still called him those things now, but ten years later, he had earned plenty of unpleasant nicknames.

So, before meeting him, Rea had imagined Prince Carion as eccentric, fierce, and much more emotional.

And since he was only in his early twenties now, wasn’t this the age when emotions tended to run wild?

But the man she had actually met hardly felt like a rough soldier at all.

Instead, he seemed unusually good at controlling his expressions for someone his age.

‘…He looks like her.’

She had been shocked the moment she first saw him.

If he had not been wearing a hood, she probably would have stared at his face in a daze.

‘I never knew Prince Carion was that handsome.’

At times, she could almost see the face of his mother, Nella, Queen of Nortia, superimposed over his.

Who could possibly say that he was not her son?

He had inherited Nella’s cold yet captivating eyes and perfectly sculpted nose.

Nella had a strong jawline for a woman, but on a man, it suited his face perfectly.

It was amazing how much a son could resemble his mother.

‘Oh, dear.’

Rea covered her face with both hands.

For the first time in both of her lives, she had finally proposed marriage to someone, only to be rejected immediately.

The humiliation hit her only now.

⌜It’s a deal where both sides have something to gain. He’d have to be an idiot to refuse.⌟

This marriage was the plan Nella and Rea had come up with together, and they had considered it their best strategy.

‘What should I do, Your Majesty?’

Your son was an idiot!

She had never even considered the possibility that he would reject the marriage.

‘Does he not like me? …Of course, that could happen.’

Rea covered her flushed cheeks with her hands.

What had given her such confidence?

Why had she simply assumed that the other person would agree when she asked him to marry her?

At dawn, Carion tossed and turned in bed before suddenly sitting upright.

His forehead was drenched in cold sweat.

Suppressing a groan, he grimaced and clutched at his chest.

It felt as though he had swallowed a ball of fire, and that fire was rampaging through his body however it pleased.

“Haa…”

His stomach felt as though it were burning from the inside, and hot energy rose up through his throat, making it feel as though his throat would burn every time he breathed.

The pain was just barely bearable, yet at the same time, he felt an overwhelming urge to jump into a pool of ice-cold water.

But he already knew.

Even if he submerged himself in ice water until his jaw trembled, or drank as much cold water as he could, it would not help.

These cursed attacks, which occurred at irregular intervals, had no known cause or cure.

All he could do was grit his teeth, endure the pain, and wait for it to reach its peak.

He felt as though a scream would escape if he relaxed his clenched jaw.

Then, once the goosebumps crawling up the back of his neck began to fade, the pain slowly started to subside.

Sweat dripped down along his tightly clenched jaw.

Soon, the veins bulging on his forehead gradually disappeared.

“Phew…”

He let out a long breath and collapsed back onto the bed.

He stared at the dark ceiling while breathing heavily.

At least he could take some comfort in the fact that there were no aftereffects.

It was also fortunate that the attacks usually happened at night, so no one was likely to notice them.

After lying there blankly for a long time, dawn had already arrived.

He slowly got out of bed.

He knew he would not be able to sleep anymore anyway, so he went out into the inner courtyard to breathe the early morning air.

‘Wind?’

Carion felt that the wind brushing against his face was unusually warm for this early in the morning.

With a strange feeling of regret, he turned his head in the direction of the wind.

Then he suddenly stopped when he saw Rea, who flinched in surprise.