Ruhan visibly flustered and started looking around.

‘Ruhan also seems to be from a quite good family, could he perhaps have a bad relationship with General Hades?’

Then again, considering Hades’ temperament, one would wonder if there was anyone who had a good relationship with him.

Thinking of General Hades, Ruhan’s reaction was immediately understandable.

“Lady Latifa! Oh my! I’m so glad I found you! I thought my life was over!”

Suddenly, she heard someone calling Latifa loudly from the opposite direction and turned her head. There was Yanan, waving her hand.

“General Hades has already returned to the estate. He’s not here! Ah, I’m so relieved to see you!”

“Yanan!”

As soon as Latifa saw Yanan’s face, she called out her name loudly, as happy as if she had met a long-lost family member.

Then Ruhan quickly wrapped his robe around himself and whispered quietly in Latifa’s ear.

“Lati. Please keep our meeting a secret from Yanan. I beg you. We will… well… we’ll be able to meet again someday. I swear by the guardian deity of the desert, it will definitely happen.”

“Ruhan?”

“Ah, until then, may the heat of the desert not take away your freshness.”

“Wait a moment! I haven’t even properly thanked you yet!”

As Latifa hurriedly tried to grab him, he playfully winked one eye. While Latifa blinked in surprise at his action, he had already disappeared into the crowded throng of people.

She shouldn’t have even thought of blinking comfortably. This was the Grand Bazaar, where everything changed quickly.

**

“You really didn’t have any trouble?”

“No. Nothing happened. But Yanan told me it was Gate 9, so I went there to look.”

Latifa decided to bury what had happened earlier, thinking that if she mentioned almost being kidnapped by thugs in the market, Hades would likely severely punish Yanan given his personality, and also because Ruhan had asked to keep their meeting a secret.

“That’s such a relief. I thought my heart was going to drop!”

“It’s my fault for losing sight of Yanan…”

“Next time I really must hold onto you tightly, young lady. It’s unbecoming of Kaleb’s head maid. I’m telling you this because I’m worried you might misunderstand due to my mistake, but Kaleb is absolutely not such a careless household.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry. Hehe. See, I’m perfectly alright.”

Having returned to the Kaleb estate, Latifa reassured Yanan and immediately headed to the lion’s cage.

She had been desperately focused on saving the gae-bakha in a last-ditch effort, but now that she had obtained it, her worries were no small matter.

‘What if the gae-bakha doesn’t work?’

Heaving all sorts of sighs, Latifa vigorously rubbed the gae-bakha leaves on a large log. Then she carefully inserted the log into the lion’s cage.

“I hope he likes it.”

“What’s that, gae-bakha?”

“General Hades!”

Latifa had to clutch her startled heart again at Hades’ sudden appearance behind her.

‘How many times have I been surprised today! I’m going to die of a heart attack before I even return to the Empire.’

“I heard you went to the spice market, but we missed each other. But do you think the king of the savanna will fall for such a weed?”

At his mocking voice, Latifa grumbled as she retorted.

“You never know. They say a king’s weakness is often something trivial.”

“Well. I wouldn’t know since I don’t have any weaknesses.”

“…”

To think she had been desperately looking for this man earlier.

‘Even among desert people, that Ruhan I met earlier seems much more gentlemanly and better than this arrogant man.’

As she was recalling Ruhan, who had been consistently polite and humble, Hades tapped her shoulder and murmured.

“Not bad?”

“Hm?”

“That lion.”

Following Hades’ gaze into the cage, an astonishing sight was unfolding.

The huge golden lion was lying on its back hugging the log like a docile cat, wagging its tail gently.

“Ah! It’s working!”

And if that wasn’t enough, a thin silvery spirit appeared around the lion’s head and his words started to be heard.

[Good! I like it!]

The lion was contentedly hugging the log, its long pink tongue sticking out and eyes narrowed into slits.

Latifa quickly approached and spoke to him.

“Can you hear me? Lion? Hm?”

“Are you conversing?”

“Shh, be quiet!”

After a few minutes of this, the lion suddenly stood up, approached the bars, and growled as he threw the log out.

[Lowly human, the scent has faded. Bring more.]

‘L-lowly human?’

The lion clearly conveyed his intentions in a solemn and threatening voice, as befitting the king of the savanna.

“Hey, you can hear me, right?”

– Grrr!

“Eek!”

Latifa quickly grabbed Hades’ wrist and pulled. The lion then let out another loud, threatening roar to urge me on.

[What are you doing! Hurry and bring more!]

– Roarrr!

“I-I’m doing it!”

It was a polite speech that had inadvertently burst out towards the lion. Latifa quickly rubbed more gae-bakha leaves on the log and threw it back to the golden lion.

[Good, I like it. This soothes my tired and old body. You are much better than other foolish humans.]

“Um, Sir Lion? I have a request!”

Latifa approached the bars cautiously, watching the lion’s reaction.

– Roarrr!

The lion roared loudly as if telling her not to come closer. And the silvery spirit disappeared.

“Ahh. It had just appeared!”

As Latifa made a dejected face, Hades tilted his head, not understanding what was happening.

“Didn’t work?”

“It doesn’t seem to be working yet. I could hear its words a little, but it doesn’t seem to want to listen to me.”

“We need to hurry. The inauguration ceremony is not far off.”

Ignoring Hades’ seemingly sarcastic words from the side, Latifa quietly mumbled to the lion.

“Right. We’ll need more time. Even for humans to become close, it takes eons of time. Why would you be any different?”

Emphasizing the words ‘eons of time’, Latifa glared at Hades.

At Hades’ brazen expression that seemed to say ‘What did I do?’, Latifa just sighed and poured more gae-bakha leaves.

**

“Lati…”

Under the sky where the hot sun had just set, mixing pink and purple hues to create a beautiful evening glow, Ruhan sat absentmindedly on the palace wall.

“Was she a slave at the Kaleb estate? Probably a war trophy Hades personally took from the empire.”

Ruhan muttered quietly to himself.

“Hades has no interest in women, so she’s probably just a slave trophy he brought without much thought. Maybe if I offer him a good price, I could bring her here.”

But after bringing her?

What should he do after bringing Latifa here to meet her?

Even if Ruhan brought her to the palace, all she could do here was become a maid serving Ruhan.

Her status was merely that of a prisoner of war slave who had lost her country, and he, as a prince, could do nothing for her who wasn’t even a desert person.

The Sultan was old, the princes had come of age, and public attention was focused on who would be the next successor.

A prince of a nation taking a woman from a fallen country, one who looked so clearly different from them? It was a huge scandal not worth considering further.

“The proud desert people would not accept me, and Iota and Tarek would jump at the chance to tear me apart.”

The bustling Grand Bazaar barely visible beyond the castle walls still looked busy even though the sun was about to set.

The alleys were lined with merchants selling roasted leeks and lamb, pepper bread with sauce, and fruit wine made from all sorts of fruits, comforting tired merchants from the day, as people happily welcomed the night hours.

That was the precious daily life of theirs that Ruhan would have to protect in the future.

Feeling the heat carrying the delicious smells with his whole body, Ruhan quietly muttered.

“Everyone is busy. While I stand still, everyone is busy.”

– Everyone in the Grand Bazaar was flowing by busily.

Recalling when Latifa had blinked and looked up at him in the market, Ruhan gently closed his eyes.

When he met Latifa, Ruhan felt as if everything had stopped. He smiled softly, remembering that quiet feeling of being tied to a space where only he and she existed, with everything in the world silent.

“Lati. Today too, the sun of the Grand Bazaar sets safely. Until tomorrow’s sun rises, may your night be peaceful as well.”

In Ruhan’s dark brown eyes that flashed open, a youthful longing was deeply embedded.

**

In a wide open space deep inside the Kaleb estate.

Latifa pushed aside the steamed rice on the silver tray she had brought for dinner and walked back to the front of the lion’s cage.

Now it was just one day before General Hades’ mentioned Frau inauguration ceremony. In this situation, there was no way she could have any appetite left.

Had she become friends with the lion in the meantime?

That was ambiguous.

Even humans often converse well, but being close to that person is a separate matter, isn’t it?

[Bring more of that fragrant wood, lowly human.]

The lion’s spirit appeared and disappeared, behaving capriciously. Moreover, he was the most intelligent spirit she had seen so far, but equally arrogant.

“The lowly human is the one who caught you…”

Latifa grumbled as she threw him a new piece of fragrant wood.

[If I get out of here, I could swallow a human like you in one bite.]

At the lion’s words that sounded like he was giggling, the image of someone with black hair overlapped, but Latifa deliberately ignored it.

That someone with black hair had been too busy to show his face near the lion’s cage for a long time now.

“Sigh. But Sir Lion, how did you end up getting caught?”

The lion’s yellow eyes, which had been narrowed due to the gae-bakha, flashed as he looked at Latifa. Perhaps because she had been trying to gain his favor, the sense of threat was a little less intense than before.

Latifa gathered her courage and took one step closer to the cage.

[I was an emperor who had eight females and ruled the widest territory. But as soon as I got old, a young male cub who hadn’t even grown a proper mane immediately took them away. After suffering a humiliating defeat by that guy and leaving the pack injured, you humans caught me.]

The lion stared intently at Latifa while growling low and long. Focusing on the lion’s voice that kept echoing in her head, Latifa spoke.

“I’m sorry you were captured. Of course, I wasn’t the one who caught you. But I’m sorry I can’t set you free.”

Then the lion snorted loudly and flopped down on the floor of the cage.

[It doesn’t matter. I had already lost everything before losing my physical freedom. My territory, my females and cubs. All that glorious stuff of being an emperor. I was their emperor in the past.]

The lion looked into the distance with somewhat empty eyes and then paced around inside the cage.

[So what becomes of me now?]

This was the first time the lion had asked Latifa something.

[If it weren’t for this fence, I could instantly end your life with my teeth, but do I have to spend the rest of my life as a spectacle for you weak humans, eating only dead meat? In this cramped place where the only pleasure is the fragrant wood you throw?]

“I’m not in a different situation from you. The place where I lived has been destroyed and disappeared, and I too will soon be just a spectacle here. Tomorrow, people will flock to see you and me.”

[It seems our survival is entertainment for them.]

The lion groaned, baring his four large fangs.

“I have something I must do. For that, I’d like you to cooperate.”

[Is that your request, or the request of that human male behind you?]

“What?”

Latifa was startled by the lion’s words and looked behind her. But there was no one there.

“There’s no one here though?”

The lion’s yellow eyes sparkled with interest, then he straightened his back and majestically took one step, then another, bringing his head close through the iron bars.

[Come closer. You lowly yet strange human who can communicate with me.]

Latifa slowly took steps at the lion’s words and put her hand on the wooden bars.

[A little closer. I want to see your face.]

Latifa swallowed hard as she watched the lion’s reaction. The lion was sitting quietly in the cage like a cat and showed no signs of harming her.

Having no other choice, Latifa carefully squeezed her face between the bars.

Suddenly, the lion quickly raised his large and threatening front paw.

– Roarrr!