Alex stared intently at Leon.

It seemed the Crown Prince wanted to drive his own cousin, along with the Holy Knights, into a corner.

‘I plan to appoint Sir Leon Milonif Aranias as the leader of this expedition. He will do an excellent job.’

The Crown Prince’s eyes as he said that with a smile were hard to forget.

Alex closed his eyes tightly and opened them again. What he was about to say was something a Knight Commander should never say. But at the same time, for Alex as an individual who had strived to live honorably, they were words he couldn’t bear not to say.

“Leon. You’re different from us. Even if you ask your father, or find some way to get out of this expedition… I won’t blame you.”

It was difficult to get the words out, but the truth was, there was a fear of what would happen if Leon readily agreed. Faced with his own contradiction, Alex Redding felt the most severe disillusionment since becoming Knight Commander.

But Leon’s response was decisively blunt.

“I can’t do that, and I don’t want to.”

“…Why?”

“Because there is something I must protect.”

“Something to protect?”

“Someone I must protect.”

“…Whoever that is, you know that in order to protect someone, you have to survive first, right?”

“…Thank you for the advice. Commander.”

“……”

“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll be going.”

Leon rose from his seat and bowed with discipline.

“Hey, Leon.”

Alex hurriedly stopped him. He felt he had to say something.

The kid who always seemed lonely despite having everything. The urgency that this might be the last time he saw this kid pushed at his back.

Leon, unaccustomed to the Knight Commander’s unusual behavior, raised an eyebrow slightly but obediently responded.

“Yes.”

“Sometimes it’s okay to take the easy path. Sometimes bow down to the strong ones. Still, no one will blame you for it. That’s how everyone lives.”

This was also what Alex had been telling himself over and over to rationalize after his audience with the Crown Prince.

Hearing that, Leon grinned. It was a smile that made even the heart of the dark, middle-aged Alex sink.

‘This kid, even his smile has gotten bolder. They say people change when it’s time to die, but surely that’s not the case, you damn junior.’

Whether he knew Alex’s thoughts or not, Leon opened his mouth with an inscrutable smile on his lips.

“I can’t do that. Because there’s someone who’s already going ahead of me on the path I’m taking. From now on, the path that person takes is my path. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere I need to stop by.”

With those words, Leon bowed his head again and promptly left the room.

Alex just sighed heavily, staring out the window. Dusk was already beginning to fall outside.

Everything was already out of his hands. Even knowing that, he had no idea why he felt so uneasy.

How long had he been like that? Suddenly he raised his head.

“Ah. I forgot to mention that one more person is scheduled to join the expedition.”

Alex was about to send a messenger to let him know, but changed his mind.

“I can’t tell if he’ll be happy to know, or if he’ll get angry and make a fuss. It’s better to just let him find out directly tomorrow.”

Half an hour later. At the Lyuschino estate.

“Welcome, Sir Leon.”

As soon as Leon passed the butler to whom he had politely bowed, as expected, an angry bear-like face blocked his path.

“How long ago did I send a messenger, and you’re arriving only now?”

“…Viscount. I apologize. I’ve been so busy preparing for the expedition. As you know, the departure is tomorrow.”

At Leon’s attitude of readily offering an apology, Daril swallowed his descending anger for now. Now was not the time for Daril to be quarreling with Leon.

“Right. Did you read my letter?”

Leon crossed his arms with a serious expression.

“You said Kasha has been holed up in her room for four days straight, solely focused on magic tool research?”

“That’s what I’m saying! Except for going to the forge dedicated to magic tool production, she won’t take a single step outside her room. I tried forcibly dragging her out a few times, but now she won’t even let me enter the room……”

At Daril’s grumbling, Leon’s expression grew even more serious.

“I heard the production of magic tools utilizing Saintly Power was already completed. So what work is still left?”

Kasha had proposed to donate, free of charge, the magic tools she had showcased at the previous hunting competition to the Holy Knights for this expedition. Moreover, she sent the official proposal not to Leon, but to the Knight Commander.

She even stated that the production of the magic tools to be donated to the expedition had already been completed. When Leon first heard this from Alex, he was genuinely taken aback.

Leon recalled Kasha switching rooms with Eve to guard against intruders at Lake Elor.

Just what was she anticipating, and to what extent?

‘Since magic tools utilizing Saintly Power have no demand outside of us anyway, commercialization would be difficult. She said she’ll donate them for free, and only requested to conduct a simple study on the results of their utilization and satisfaction.’

‘……’

‘But that young lady, Lyuschino… Isn’t she your lover? And yet you’re saying you hadn’t heard anything about this at all?’

To the Knight Commander asking pressingly, Leon could give no answer.

Leon had broken up with Kasha immediately after the picnic ended. Without having any conversation about the expedition.

Because he clearly remembered the face of the Crown Prince when he said this at the end of the picnic:

‘As for what reward to bestow upon Lady Kasha Lyuschino, let’s discuss it again after this matter is settled.’

So he hadn’t contacted or visited her since then. He tried to focus solely on safely completing the expedition and returning. Because only then could he properly protect her.

Yet contrary to his concerns, she had become even more officially and fully involved in this expedition.

Lost in thought, Leon heard Daril’s reply.

“The development of magic tools utilizing Saintly Power is already finished, but she’s now producing long-range attack magic tools. The design is complete, but she’s unsatisfied with the samples, so she’s fixated on it without even sleeping. She’s not even eating!”

“Why is she going so far?”

As Leon’s complexion darkened, Daril raised his voice as if frustrated.

“Acting all lovey-dovey as lovers, but even though the girl is in this state, you haven’t come to see her in days. The departure is tomorrow, isn’t it? If I hadn’t sent a messenger, were you really planning to leave without even saying goodbye to Kasha?”

Leon couldn’t give any answer.

His thought of excluding Kasha from this dangerous expedition was definitely arrogance.

She had probably been thinking about and preparing for more than even Leon himself, the leader of the expedition.

And all alone, carrying all that burden.

Thinking of that, Leon’s expression suddenly turned resolute.

“So, did Kasha skip dinner tonight as well?”

Seeing the look in his eyes, Daril grumbled discontentedly.

“You think? I heard she hastily had soup and salad for breakfast, but hasn’t eaten anything since then.”

“…Have a meal prepared and brought up to her room right away. Something easy to digest.”

“All right. But let me warn you, even if you go into her room, don’t think of doing anything foolish.”

“…I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Leon, responding half-heartedly, turned and began ascending the stairs leading to Kasha’s room.

Then Daril shouted loudly from behind.

“You’d better remember my warning. Keep in mind who you’ll be meeting on this expedition!”

Leon didn’t stop walking, but his face noticeably tensed upon hearing that shout.

The person he would meet on this expedition. None other than Count Lyuschino. Malik Lyuschino, Kasha and Daril’s father and the Guardian of the North, a veteran of a hundred battles.

Other than knowing he resembled Daril a lot but was much more taciturn, a typical northern man, Leon knew nothing about Count Lyuschino.

‘This expedition is troubling in many ways from the start.’

Lost in such thoughts, he soon arrived in front of Kasha’s room door.

Knock knock knock

He knocked on the door, but there was no response.

Knock knock knock

He knocked once more and waited for a moment.

The maid who would have usually appeared by now with a friendly greeting seemed to be absent today as well.

Suddenly, he had an ominous feeling.

‘I heard she hasn’t been eating properly or sleeping, could she have collapsed while alone…?’

With that thought, he couldn’t wait any longer.

“I’m coming in.”

After loudly declaring that, Leon slowly opened the door. But as soon as he stepped into the room, he was at a loss for words at the surprising scene.

“Who is it? I told you not to come in. The room is a mess, you might get hurt.”

A thin, high-pitched voice came from behind a pile of unidentifiable junk.

“……”

Without responding, Leon began walking through the items filling the room, pushing them aside. Toward the direction the voice had come from.

Here and there in the room, wood scraps, metal pieces, magic stones, paper, cords, and all sorts of junk were piled up like mountains.

This room had always been messy before, but the degree was much more severe. On the bed lay a heap of magic tool samples, and the entrance to the dressing room wasn’t even visible.

Leon picked up the design blueprints strewn about the floor here and there as he advanced step by step.

Finally, at a spot where only traces of a desk remained, Kasha’s frail back appeared. She was intently searching for something with a dozen books opened simultaneously.

“I’m sure it was in this book… Should I check the Great Mage Elios’s guide to magic characters?”

Muttering something to herself, Kasha reached out toward the books piled up like a mountain on the desk. Trying to pull out the book she was looking for from the middle, she began struggling with all her might.

Leon silently approached behind her.

Not even noticing his approach as she grunted with effort, Kasha was startled and turned around as Leon smoothly extended his arm over her head.

Almost simultaneously, Leon’s fingertips touched the book Kasha was searching for, and Kasha nearly buried her nose in Leon’s chest.

Hair hastily tied up without even noticing for days, shadows under pitch-black eyes, eyes that looked severely bloodshot behind glasses.

The very eyes he had tried so hard to erase from his sight these past few days.

The moment he faced them, Leon almost lost his patience and embraced her tightly.

If not for the voice, cold to the point of being brusque rather than calm, coming from her pale, dried lips.

“Why are you here?”