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Chapter 26
Alina raised a hand to stop Richard from speaking. Before he could say anything else, she pulled him toward her and wrapped him in a tight embrace.
Richard accepted the hug without resistance and asked her,
“Alina, what’s wrong?”
“…Is ‘Alina’ a common name in Malehark?”
“Huh?”
Richard blinked at Alina’s disjointed question.
There was something strange about her today.
The way her eyes kept darting around as if someone were chasing her from behind, and the way they stayed constantly moist.
Noticing that the tips of the hands wrapped around him were trembling slightly, Richard narrowed his eyes.
“What are you afraid of?”
At his question, Alina’s body flinched. She hugged him even tighter and slowly spoke.
“Nothing.”
A lie.
Richard instinctively recognized it as one.
When he remained silent, Alina pulled away and muttered,
“I’m going to the academy, so I guess it just felt overwhelming and I hugged you too hard.”
Another lie.
Richard’s gaze, fixed on Alina, flashed like that of a beast.
Whatever the reason, Alina was deeply afraid—and yet she was desperately trying not to show it to him.
‘Because I’m not strong enough.’
Richard clenched his teeth.
All the more reason he had to go to the academy, even if it meant enduring three months away.
He had to grow stronger, and learn how to protect Alina from whatever it was that made her tremble.
“Promise me.”
Richard took Alina’s hand. As he gently traced her neat fingers, her nails trimmed short, he made a vow.
“Until I grow a bit more—promise you’ll wait for me.”
“You’re fine just the way you are, Richard.”
“No. I’m not.”
At his rebuttal, Alina lowered her gaze to their clasped hands.
The back of Richard’s hand, large enough to fully cover hers, bulged with veins.
Suppressing his impatience, Richard continued,
“We’re going to stay together anyway, right? If we repeat these three months a few times, I’ll graduate from the academy before you know it. So… wait for me.”
“……”
Alina didn’t answer easily. Richard let out a long sigh at her hesitation.
It was understandable. Even he thought he was still lacking.
Rising onto his toes, Richard pressed a kiss to Alina’s smooth forehead.
It was a brief kiss, fleeting as a moment.
“Richard?”
Startled, Alina tried to step back, but he held onto her hand and smiled faintly.
“It’s a farewell. We won’t see each other for three months.”
“Ah… right.”
At his words, Alina’s eyes reddened.
Seeing the tears welling up on her face, Richard silently resolved himself.
Three months.
For now, he would wait just three months.
But this calculation would become the greatest mistake of his life.
He did not know that this day would be the final meeting between the boy Richard and the girl Alina.
Six years later, the Imperial Palace of Malehark.
An orange-haired young man walked into the building of the Blue Lion Knights, its pale ivory walls gleaming. The documents in his hands contained the results of a search for a single person.
Standing before the door to the knight commander’s office, the young man—Ulrich—knocked carefully.
“Commander, this is Ulrich.”
“Come in.”
At the permission from within, Ulrich placed a hand on his chest and took a deep breath.
Moments later, he opened the door and stepped into the classically furnished room.
Before him sat a young man at a desk, reviewing documents.
Ulrich bowed respectfully and spoke.
“The investigation results are in.”
At his words, the silver-haired man at the desk lifted his head.
Clad in a deep-blue uniform adorned with ornate gold embroidery, his face was beautiful enough to leave even those who saw him daily momentarily breathless.
Sitting upright, the knight commander silently extended his hand. Nervously, Ulrich handed over the report.
The commander took the documents and began flipping through the pages.
Rustle.
As only the sound of turning pages filled the room, Ulrich finally broke the silence.
“But… who exactly is this? This is already the twelfth report about searching for this person.”
At the question, the pale fingers turning the pages paused.
Then, from behind the desk, came a low, heavy voice.
“…My first love.”
“What?”
Ulrich stared, dumbfounded, at the unexpectedly embarrassing confession from his superior.
“You could’ve just told me not to ask. Why would you say something so terrifying? All right. I won’t ask anymore.”
Richard shrugged at his aide’s reaction and continued turning the pages.
His unusually colored golden eyes scanned the contents swiftly.
Then his sharp gaze caught on a single word, narrowing.
“Alvib Market District? That’s a border area.”
Alvib was a small town more than six hours away by horse from the capital, Solk.
But the location didn’t matter. Only the accuracy did.
For six years, Richard had searched for Alina whenever he had the chance—and every time, it had been a dead end.
Today’s report was the result of secretly assembling a new team of mages highly skilled in tracking magic.
“—Probability that the tracking results are correct: 99.95%.”
A frown formed between Richard’s brows as he read the final paragraph.
“It’s not 100%.”
“That’s practically 100%.”
“We’ll know whether it’s truly 100% once we go and see.”
Richard closed the report and rose from his seat. After staring at it with obsessive intensity, he issued an order.
“We leave now. Get ready.”
“Now? Right away? You’re supposed to meet Her Highness the Princess later. Didn’t you say there was a meeting about the Zenotat royal family?”
“What are you doing? Hurry up and prepare.”
Richard replied indifferently, as if he hadn’t heard a word.
Ulrich, worried, tried to persuade him.
“Commander, I don’t know who this person is, but wouldn’t it be better to prioritize the search for the Zenotat royals? His Majesty the Emperor is critically ill, and at a time like this, capturing the Zenotat crown prince or the youngest princess would—”
Before he could finish, Richard strode forward and grabbed Ulrich by the collar.
“Ghk!”
Ulrich’s feet lifted off the ground as the tallest man in the knights held him aloft.
Staring coldly at the choking aide, Richard spoke in a sinister tone.
“And then what? Kill them? Or make them wish they were dead?”
“But—that’s the fastest way to suppress Lord Lysian!”
At Ulrich’s shout, Richard released him.
“…So that’s what you meant.”
“What else would I mean?!”
As Ulrich collapsed to the floor coughing, Richard handed him a glass of water and spoke quietly.
“I understand your point. But Ulrich, never bring up the Zenotat royal family again. Especially the youngest princess.”
“Huff… yes. Understood.”
Ulrich answered immediately after catching his breath.
Normally, the knight commander was rational and composed—but when it came to this matter, he burned like fire.
‘I should’ve kept my mouth shut when reporting this.’
Ulrich lamented forgetting the hard-earned wisdom of the past two years.
He must have been careless from pulling an all-nighter to finish the report.
While Ulrich reflected, Richard draped a navy cloak over his uniform.
With his lean yet solid build, and the ornate embroidery of the knightly cloak, he looked like a sculpture carved from ice.
Ready to depart, Richard slipped a hand beneath his uniform and grasped the necklace around his neck.
It was a crude necklace made of a blue glass bead tied with a leather cord—something he always kept close.
Each time he reported on this matter, the commander would hold this necklace and close his eyes, as if praying fervently.
What he prayed for, no one knew.
No one dared ask such a suicidal question as, Commander, what is that?
Ulrich rose from his seat and quietly waited for the ritual to end.
“We depart.”
Richard finished his prayer and threw open the door. His eyes shone brightly, reflecting the sunlight.
The woman he had searched for over six long years.
Richard’s Alina.
At last, he was going to meet her.
“Um… sir?”
Alina hesitated as she looked at the customer staring at her as though he could see straight through her. She couldn’t immediately grasp the situation.
Today had been an ordinary day—ordinary customers, ordinary business.
As usual, Kaiden, a regular and investor, had stopped by, and she was about to close for the evening after finishing his order.
There had been no sign that anything out of the ordinary would happen.
Even when an excessively handsome customer walked in, she’d only thought it was unusual.
That was, until he approached her so familiarly.
“You were hiding so well—it took me a long time to find you. Opening a shop in a backwater like this.”
“I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else, sir.”
When Alina panicked, the silver-haired customer replied calmly,
“No. I’m not mistaken.”
He looked straight at her and smiled.
Contrary to his cold first impression, the smile was so bright it seemed as though flowers might bloom around him.
Still smiling, the man leaned down toward her.
Bringing his lips close to her ear, he whispered softly, in a voice only she could hear,
“I found you. My Alina.”
At those words, Alina felt as though her heart dropped straight to the floor.
My Alina.
In this world, there was only one person who would ever call her that.
Clutching the serving tray tightly, Alina spoke the familiar, dearly missed name.
“Ri… Richard?”
“Yes. It’s me.”
Richard took the tray from her hands, set it on a nearby table, and gently took her hand.
He brushed a light kiss over the back of it and said, enraptured,
“At last, we’ve met.”
“……”
Alina froze, staring at Richard. Tilting his head, he spoke with a hint of hurt in his voice.
