Manut said as he dripped the yellowish hollandaise sauce over the roasted lamb.

“It’s a fierce competition.”

Irgos, sitting across from Manut, downed a glass of fruit wine in one gulp and replied.

“Just a competition? This will be the fight of the century that even the Sultan can’t stop.”

“Irgos. No matter how wise the Sultan is, there’s no clever way to stop the battle between General Hades and Iota. Someone has to back down and take a loss.”

“Prince Tarek was injured, so this is clearly a crime of attempted regicide. If it were anyone else, they would’ve been dragged to the palace for interrogation immediately. It’s that serious of a situation.”

“Nothing has happened yet.”

“No. Even for an Ignite, the rule is that attempting regicide is severely punished. Think about it, Manut. How did you even graduate from Palaestra with that brain of yours?”

Irgos said nastily as he popped a roasted ginkgo nut from the silver tray into his mouth.

“If what you’re saying is true, General Hades would’ve been summoned to the palace right away! Why haven’t they charged him with attempted regicide yet?”

To Manut’s dull question, Irgos rolled the ginkgo nuts he was eating and said,

“They used the crowd. Many of Prince Tarek’s supporters attended the Frau appointment ceremony banquet. They were all Iota’s political connections, money sources, or relatives, and many weren’t very friendly to our Prince Ruhan.”

Irgos lined up those ginkgo nuts and continued explaining to Manut, who still didn’t understand.

“Meanwhile, Prince Tarek was injured by the lion’s claws, and that’s when the mad dog General Hades provided quite a spectacle.”

“Right. That silver-haired Frau.”

Manut replied, grimacing as if his stomach hurt again.

“Prince Tarek was bleeding and collapsed, gasping for air, but no one paid attention to him except for his guards. Even those connected to Prince Tarek, even Lord Serja, were staring at Kalende in a daze.”

Manut seemed to grasp the situation from Irgos’s explanation and started eating the lined-up ginkgo nuts one by one.

“Oh, I see. To punish General Hades, they’d have to punish all those who didn’t care about Prince Tarek at that time for aiding and abetting. That would naturally result in cutting Iota’s connections. So that’s why they’ve been quiet.”

“Manut! Don’t just eat them as you please! I ordered those ginkgo nuts as snacks!”

Irgos lightly grumbled and slapped Manut’s hand as he was picking up the ginkgo nuts.

“You’re so stingy for someone with a steady administrative job and good pay! Ah well, I find politics too confusing, so I’ll just stick to swinging my sword like a real man.”

“Manut. Don’t just complain about headaches. It’s time for you to start reading the political situation.”

“What?”

“You’ve gained recognition for leading this victory parade, and you’re known as General Hades’ closest confidant. You’re already caught up in this muddy fight. Many people are probably trying to recruit you or turn you into an enemy already.”

“Damn it.”

Manut could only grimace at Irgos’s logical words, unable to say anything.

“That’s what it means to be entangled with General Hades, the flame among flames, the Ignite.”

“Yeah. Now all attention will be focused on that Frau too.”

Seeing his chance at Manut’s blunt response, Irgos bombarded him with questions.

“Everyone in the Grand Bazaar is talking about that woman, Manut! What exactly is she? Even General Hades couldn’t have really brought a Kalende, she must be a captive from the Empire! Besides, it’s impossible to tame the golden lion known for its ferocity! What exactly happened with all of this?!”

“Ha. So there are things even the model student Irgos doesn’t know.”

Manut finally seemed to have found a chance to tease Irgos and chuckled as he mocked him.

“That Frau is from the Empire-. Ah! Right. I won’t tell someone who’s too stingy to even share ginkgo nuts.”

But eventually, Manut gave in to Irgos’s earnest pleas and began to quietly explain how Hades and Latifa had crossed the desert to get here.

“Still, to appoint a person as a Frau. No matter how I look at it, General Hades is out of his mind.”

Irgos laughed heartily after hearing the whole story.

“Don’t tell anyone except Prince Ruhan. The Frau story is sort of top secret.”

Irgos spent an enjoyable time with his close classmate who had just returned from the battlefield, and the next day he went to the palace and relayed the entire story about Latifa to Ruhan.

But perhaps he was too excited in telling the story, as he failed to notice that Ruhan’s brown eyes were sparkling unusually brightly as he listened to Latifa’s story, and his cheeks were slightly flushed.

**

The strong morning sunlight of the Grand Bazaar was still broadly illuminating the Kaleb estate.

-Clink, clink.

Along with the cheerful sound of metal bracelets clashing, the desert man with black hair, Hades, was hurriedly walking along the wide colonnade corridor.

At his side was a small, tightly woven brown basket filled with fresh, well-ripened pale yellow pomelos.

“General Hades!”

He sharply turned around at the sound of someone calling him as he was walking briskly.

Under his cold gaze, in contrast to his previously cheerful steps, stood a messenger from the royal palace.

“A message from Prince Ruhan.”

“I’m busy now. Tell me later. Or tell Yanan.”

At his arrogant wave of dismissal, as if shooing away a fly, the servant quickly prostrated himself and bowed his head.

“I’m sorry. It’s an urgent message, so I must tell you now.”

“Haa. Are all the people from the palace this persistent? Didn’t I say I was busy?”

The servant hurriedly stated his business at Hades’ long sigh, which seemed to say, ‘I was in such a good mood, and you ruined it all.’

“Prince Ruhan says he will visit the Kaleb estate.”

“Tell him it’s not possible.”

The messenger’s face was instantly filled with great despair at his straightforward rejection without a moment’s hesitation.

“Th-that. This time, the prince said to please make time if you don’t have any particular reason, and not to reject him!”

“A reason… Tell him I drank too much at the banquet and have a terrible hangover.”

Hades tossed out a single remark as if the messenger wasn’t even worth dealing with anymore and immediately turned his back. The royal messenger became urgent and quickly replied.

“It’s a message from the Basili royal family…!”

A pause.

At the mention of a royal order, Hades slowly turned around and glared at the messenger, saying:

“Is this truly a royal order, or merely a message sent to a friend? You dare to impersonate the Basili royal family to try and manipulate me?”

The surrounding servants of Kaleb had already started to leave at his voice, which seemed to be suppressing his last bit of patience.

“Hii, hiik…”

The messenger’s small mind began to fill with confusion, as Hades had never rejected a visit from Ruhan before.

Wasn’t Prince Ruhan the ‘leash of the Grand Bazaar’s mad dog’? Wasn’t General Hades the man who would even pretend to die at Prince Ruhan’s command?

The messenger trembled, his eyes tightly shut.

Hades, who had been rubbing his forehead, finally started shouting at the passing servants.

“Bring my sword! A royal messenger who impersonates the royal family to threaten others is quite unsatisfactory. What else could be more damaging to the Sultan’s honor than the likes of you!”

As he raged, the servants of the Kaleb estate began to rush about in confusion, hurrying to fetch his sword.

And at that moment, a silver wave shimmered dazzlingly in the morning sunlight from behind a pillar in the colonnade.

“Hm? General Hades…? Is something wrong?”

Latifa’s deep blue eyes blinked towards Hades, and soon she slowly walked out, clutching a long, thin cream-colored gown that was so long it dragged on the marble tile floor.

“Latifa?”

Latifa yawned softly, carefully taking one step at a time on the floor as if she was still not fully awake.

Seeing this, Hades’ pupils dilated and then slowly contracted, but he said nothing and just stood there, clutching the pomelo basket tightly.

“General Hades! Here they are.”

The Kaleb servants rushed past Latifa, each laying down the swords they had brought in front of Hades.

“…”

Latifa looked back and forth between the strange tools, the man trembling and prostrated on the ground, and Hades standing with a blank expression, trying to understand the situation.

“Um… What’s this? What’s going on?”

“…This fellow wasn’t doing his job properly, so I was about to kill him.”

Latifa stood there blankly, wondering if she had misheard the desert language at Hades’ calm voice.

The desert language, not her native tongue, was still swirling in Latifa’s half-awake mind.

Latifa, who had barely understood the sound ‘juk’ from Hades’ words, asked him again.

“…What? Kill? You mean, eat porridge? Here?”

She thought, even if it was in her sleepy state and not her native language, he wouldn’t have said he was going to ‘kill’ someone on such a bright and refreshing morning, right? Surely he must have meant eating ‘porridge’.

“…Pfft.”

Hades, who finally let out a small laugh at Latifa’s unexpected words, met the eyes of the messenger kneeling on the floor. Then, in an exaggeratedly generous voice, he said to him:

“You, you’re quite lucky. The Moon Goddess has appeared and preserved your life. I’ll have a bowl of hot porridge with lentils, barley, and sage prepared for you, so eat it here before you leave.”

And then, as if nothing had happened, he got up and whistled nonchalantly as he put his arm around Latifa’s waist.

Since the Frau appointment ceremony, Hades had been treating her like a real goddess in front of others, just like he had moments ago.

“How could I disregard the words of a goddess? Killing here, haha!”

“What are you talking about? And who is that person?”

Hades, who was about to drag the still confused Latifa back to his room, turned slightly and said to the royal servant who was still prostrated:

“You eat the porridge and tell Prince Ruhan that I will soon enter the palace to see him in person, so there’s absolutely no need for him to come.”

“Th-thank you for your mercy! May the desert god’s blessing be upon General Hades!”

The messenger continued to offer thanks and pay respects at Hades’ mercy, while Latifa kept glancing back curiously.

Hades pulled Latifa close and pushed her back into his bedroom archway, saying:

“Why did you come out when you should be sleeping more? You’re such a late riser.”

He sat her down on the wide blanket and pile of cushions on the carpet.

Although they shared the same bedroom, Latifa didn’t sleep with him, but rather fell asleep at the foot or below the platform where Hades lay.

“I heard the sound of the General getting angry outside in the corridor. Everything can be heard very clearly here because all the doors and windows are wide open.”

To block the pouring morning sunlight, thin silk and linen cloths in pale colors hung fluttering beside the large windows.

The hot sunlight entering the room was transformed through these cloths into soft shades of light pink, yellow, light green, and other cozy colors that filled the room.

The colorful and beautiful hues evident not only in the bedroom but everywhere else splendidly showcased the lively and vigorous spirit of the desert people.

“Oh my, it seems I woke you up. Since you’re awake anyway, eat this and go back to sleep. Ah, I can’t help but envy your life of just eating and sleeping.”

‘From what I can see, you seem to be doing plenty of eating and sleeping yourself?’

Since the Frau appointment ceremony, Hades hadn’t left the Kaleb estate and spent his time leisurely reading books or drinking tea.

Sometimes he would follow along when Latifa went out to the courtyard to tend to Caesar’s wounds or play with the fennec fox, but he didn’t do much else.

Hades handed the pomelo basket to Latifa and then took just one small fruit for himself before sitting on the large windowsill.

“Ah, thank you!”

Latifa sat down, seemingly genuinely happy, and began peeling the pomelo with her small white fingers to eat.

During a brief silence, Hades tossed and caught a small fruit in the air, looking at Latifa with a somewhat strange expression, before finally seeming to make a small decision and opening his mouth.

“Hey. What does ‘Lati’ mean?”

“Cough-!”

Latifa, who had been licking her fingers while tasting the sweet flesh of the fruit, began to choke at hearing her nickname from his mouth.