“We meet again.”
“It is an honor to greet Your Imperial Majesty.”
With an expressionless face, the man offered a slight bow.
“So, what are the two of you doing in such a secluded spot?”
“It is merely the shade of a tree, completely open on all sides. It can hardly be considered secluded.”
“Exactly!”
When the man calmly pointed out the truth, Dalia chimed in at once.
The Emperor’s brow twitched sharply.
“Young lady, I do not believe that answers my question.”
“…Young lady?”
The unfamiliar man echoed the Emperor’s title for her, casting a curious glance in her direction.
Meanwhile, Dalia rolled her wide eyes, frantically trying to spin an excuse in her head.
‘Do I say I covered his mouth because I thought he recognized me?’
When she looked over at the man standing beside her, she found him regarding her with a puzzled expression.
‘I’m concealing my identity just to set foot in this empire… but how did he even know who I was?’
Caught between the Emperor and the stranger, Dalia looked back and forth between them, her lips parting and closing without making a sound.
At that, the man looked away from her and spoke first.
“We were simply talking.”
“Yes, that’s right!”
Dalia hurried to agree.
For a beat, the Emperor stared at her as though her response hardly counted as an answer, then shifted his gaze back to the man.
“Commander Luand. I took you for a man of few words, but it seems you enjoy a joke as well.”
Dalia’s eyes widened in surprise, and she lifted her head to look sideways at him.
Commander Luand?
‘Luand Oferian… the one they call the Messenger of the Ruler?’
Not long ago, the Halin Empire had been abuzz over the rise of its very first Sword Master, and the news had naturally spread across the border to the Kingdom of Wyvern.
“I am not certain what you mean.”
Luand replied curtly, prompting the Emperor to tilt his head slightly to one side.
“With your mouth covered, how could a conversation have possibly taken place?”
Despite the Emperor’s challenge, Luand remained utterly composed, as if the matter were beneath concern.
“We spoke before my mouth was covered.”
“Is that so? Then why did the young lady cover your mouth to begin with?”
“That’s, well…”
When Dalia hesitated, Luand looked down at her.
Their gazes met in midair.
“Young… lady, I was out of line. Please forgive me.”
He stumbled over the title, bowing in apology.
“Oh, no, it’s quite all right. It was an easy misunderstanding.”
“I am Luand Oferian. Might I ask your name?”
“Lia Herdlan.”
The moment she finished speaking, a faint smile brushed Luand’s lips.
“Lia…”
“Commander, an introduction hardly grants permission to speak a name so familiarly.”
The Emperor’s voice cut in, cold as ice.
“My apologies. I seem to have mistaken her all the more because her name resembles that of someone I know.”
Luand continued to look at her without blinking.
Dalia’s violet eyes wavered as if struck by an earthquake.
His quiet, steady gaze seemed to demand: Aren’t you the Princess herself?
This was surely their first encounter, so how could he be so certain she was royalty?
Dalia answered, reluctantly avoiding his gaze.
“Lia is a very common name.”
“It is a lovely name. Would you permit me to address you by it?”
‘There’s something very odd about this man… the way he says “young lady” feels completely unnatural!’
‘And why is he helping me keep up a lie when he knows full well who I am?’
Dalia looked up at him, her eyes brimming with curiosity.
“Go ahead.”
“Thank you, Miss Lia.”
His voice trembled faintly, and the corner of his mouth curved upward in a slow smile.
Just as her attention was caught by that gentle smile—
“Commander Luand!”
A man came running from a distance, calling out his name.
Luand glanced briefly in that direction, then brought his gaze back to her.
“It seems I must take my leave now.”
“Yes, goodbye.”
‘Go, hurry.’
Dalia nearly waved him off, but held herself back and settled for a bright smile urging him on.
Giving the Emperor a brief bow, Luand walked away.
Dalia watched his retreating back and breathed an inward sigh of relief, only to snap her head up at the weight of a piercing stare.
The Emperor’s sharp eyes were locked onto her face.
“Why are you…?”
“This makes our second meeting.”
‘No way!’
Dalia hurriedly clamped both hands over her eyes.
Instantly, darkness fell before her.
“What are you doing?”
“Aren’t you trying to cross off our second meeting right now?”
“Indeed.”
“I haven’t met with Your Majesty at all! I was only meeting with the Commander just now.”
“And what of it?”
“I cannot see anything right now, and I have no idea where Your Majesty is even standing. So if you will excuse me, I shall take my leave.”
Dalia took a cautious step forward, her hands still covering her eyes.
“Young lady, if you keep walking like that, you are bound to take another fall, are you not?”
‘I know that. But I have to get away from the Emperor right now, no matter what.’
“I’ll be fine.”
“I take back what I said about this being the second meeting.”
“Truly?”
Dalia’s face brightened, and she promptly dropped her hands.
A look of wry disbelief settled across the Emperor’s handsome face.
“Just like that? Do you not know the meaning of refusal, young lady?”
“Me?”
“You drop your hands at the slightest prompting, just as readily as you give away your name to strangers.”
Was it only her imagination that his voice had grown noticeably colder?
Dalia took a small step back from the Emperor, who appeared unusually displeased.
“But you were the one who said someone walking blind would fall, weren’t you?”
“And your name?”
He crossed his arms and tilted his chin, demanding an explanation.
“My name, well…”
‘I can hardly tell him it was the price for his help in keeping up my lie.’
As Dalia racked her brain for an excuse, the Emperor narrowed his eyes.
“I can practically hear the gears turning in your head from here.”
Dalia quietly retreated another step.
Gray took in the widening distance between them with a brief glance, then pressed her.
“And your answer?”
“Could you give me just one minute?”
She raised a single index finger and offered a faint smile.
Watching her prepare to lie with such brazen transparency, Gray knitted his brows.
In truth, even he could not fathom why he was standing here interrogating her.
Whether she gave her name away to others was none of his concern.
And whether she covered another man’s mouth had nothing to do with him.
So why had he come all the way out here to waste his time like this?
Where on earth was this irritating sensation coming from?
Just then, a passing breeze caught the strands of her pink hair, fluttering them like petals across a flower field.
His eyes were drawn, unbidden, to her brow furrowed in concentration, and to her tightly pressed pink lips as she schemed up an excuse.
Gray tore his gaze away by force, hastily searching for justification.
‘Was she not harassing a man in a secluded spot?’
Granted, she was less than half the man’s size.
And granted, that man was a Sword Master capable of wielding aura to slice through iron with ease…
Still, he had witnessed a clash between a small kingdom and an empire with his own eyes, so it was only natural for him to intervene.
Besides, looking after the foreign delegations attending the foundation celebrations fell under an emperor’s duties.
Yes, that was the reason.
There could be no other explanation.
