Even to his randomly asked question, Latifa didn’t flinch and answered with a smile. After all, Hades was originally a strange and eccentric man.

Now she had the confidence not to be surprised no matter what he said.

“You are Hades Caleb, who received the honor of Flame within Flames, the Grand Bazaar’s commander.”

“And?”

Feeling his voice, which spread drowsily and hazily, Latifa murmured quietly.

“A tyrant who is violent, irrational, strange, and unpredictable.”

“…….”

“A man who burns passionately like the scorching sun but sweeps everything away like a sandstorm, coldly.”

He said no more, apparently having fallen asleep.

Silently wiping his nose, Latifa softly spoke.

“A man more resembling the desert than anyone else, Hades.”

“That suits me the best.”

Suddenly, Hades’ arm rose, and he pulled Latifa’s face towards him.

Closing her eyes quietly, Latifa also felt the warmth of his lips.

In this heat, I’m also quite exhausted. There’s nothing I can do. While thinking so.

**

In the Grand Bazaar’s busy street, a little away from the downtown, a place connecting the fabric market and the jewelry market, known as the Monkey Alley, was filled with large and extravagant tents with thick whale leather dyed in various colors.

Attached to the support poles of the considerably old tents that had settled down for quite some time, there were traces of dust from the passage of time, and graffiti that looked like pocket knife carvings covered them, but they seemed sturdy enough to withstand another fifty years.

Usually, the streets connecting markets were lawless zones with ambiguous administrative boundaries, but this long-established traveling troupe had started as a small wanderer’s troupe and expanded to this extent.

Correspondingly, the leader of the troupe, ‘Scorpio,’ who had expanded to this size, in a blue belt with a worn but splendid yellow turban, picked his nose with an air of arrogance.

In his younger days, he was quite handsome, and his fingers, despite the unmistakable signs of a wandering lifestyle, once adorned with large and flashy rings, still had around six of them now. Somehow, he couldn’t hide the crude charm peculiar to wanderers.
“Even if you are a prince and a commander, we are such losers with nothing to lose and nothing learned. Please forgive our sorry appearance.”

-Kang!

At that moment, right in front of him, a long sword was thrust, and Hades’ growling voice echoed.

“How dare you blabber without even knowing your place.”

“Hades.”

Beside him, Ruhan raised his hand quietly, restraining Hades.

Ruhan, looking around the chaotic troupe with wooden stage equipment, canvas, pots, and bags, buckets, even a couple of baby goats and monkeys, spoke softly but firmly.

“Illegal occupation of public land, inappropriate livestock farming, illegal installation of facilities, provocative promotional activities, and many more offenses. Should we add insulting a member of the royal family to the list?”

Ruhan, with a wry smile, glanced at the troupe leader. The troupe leader, with a slightly embarrassed look, shrunk his body.

He had heard that, excluding the madman, Ruhan was a weak prince who couldn’t even make a single unpleasant remark.

Ruhan looked straight at the troupe leader with an imposing voice.

“For a troupe of this scale, even if they face a temporary suspension of business, the impact will be negligible. And even if they are put in prison, they probably have connections to pay the bail. So, how about a permanent expulsion?”

“E-Expulsion?”

Hades, looking at Ruhan like that, made a subtle expression, and the troupe leader, hearing the stern words of permanent expulsion, changed his attitude a bit and inclined his upper body.

“What does the prince want?”

“We intended to make a deal… But no matter how you look at it, this doesn’t seem like the right place, Hades. Go elsewhere. The guards will come here soon for an investigation, so pack up your things before expulsion.”

Ruhan, seeming already irritated, unabashedly turned his back on the troupe leader and tried to leave.

“Just a moment, Prince Ruhan. Please wait! Isn’t this too sudden? I’ll offer you at least a cup of tea in honor!”

Seeing Ruhan leaving coldly, the troupe leader, understanding the situation, quickly blocked his way and lowered his head.

Ruhan, trying to leave while holding up the shade, finally glanced down at him with a sneer.

“Now, it seems we can communicate. Hades, can you wait outside for a moment?”

“…….,”

After a moment of silence, Hades, gesturing to Irgos next to Ruhan to watch, pulled out the sword stuck in the ground and sheathed it at his waist.

Then, he glanced briefly at the troupe leader, who had become somewhat disconcerted by Ruhan’s firm words, and went out of the tent.

In the past, from Prince Ruhan’s mouth, the words ‘forced expulsion’ would not have come out unless he was mentally disturbed.

“Now he shows the demeanor of a true ruler.”

Leaning against a half-standing stone wall where there used to be a building, Hades, devoid of worries, looked quietly at the street of entertainers, the Monkey Alley.

It was a bit quiet on a day without a performance, but there was an old man spouting fire tricks in front and people enjoying the spectacle.

Whenever coins piled up in front of him, the old man spat fire from his mouth, lighting a torch on a pole, and each time, children clapped their hands, and women giggled and clung to the arms of the men next to them.

“I should have brought him along…”

If it were Hades, it might be a crude entertainment, but to someone, it was worth watching.

Not the old man spouting fire but the men who affectionately patted the chests of their fellow men, laughing heartily, and the men who lovingly cared for them. Hades stared blankly at them.

“Hades, have you waited long? It took some time to write the contract.”

Ruhan, covering his face with a robe and hood, emerged from the tent.

After asking Irgos, who was following him, to prepare to return, he approached Hades. Then, secretly, he handed something to Hades.

“This. Can you convey this to Latifa?”
What he offered was a letter.

“Ruhan, don’t create any trouble that can be used against you.”

Hades shook his head and promptly rejected Ruhan’s request.

“If it’s not a friend’s request but an order?”