“Hey, Your Majesty. Didn’t you just smile?”

Rose remembered something Casalyn, her sister, once said before her debut in society. Showing your emotions in public is like shedding your armor on the battlefield.

She covered her face with her hands.

Overwhelmed by shock, she bowed her head into her knees, feigning a breakdown, and sobbed.

“It can’t be. My only sister!”

As Rose crumpled to the floor, Challen, his suspicions cleared, helped her up. The guards also hurried to take the Queen to her room.

“Your Highness. I desperately need my sister. She’s my most precious family. Please, tell me she’s still alive!”

“Don’t worry. She must be alive somewhere, waiting for rescue. I’ll issue a command to find her.”

Challen escorted Rose to her room and ordered the soldiers to continue the search.

The search team leader, with a troubled look, suggested, “Your Highness. Since Miss Casalyn disappeared near the border area, it might be prudent to contact the Lernel Empire for permission to safely continue the search.”

“Permission?”

Challen raised his voice, maintaining his pride even in such a situation, “Khan Kingdom and Lernel Empire are equal brother nations. Have you forgotten? Requesting permission would imply subservience!”

“My apologies, Your Highness.”

The Lernel Empire and Khan Kingdom, sharing a common heritage, had long ago abolished border controls, calling the area a free border zone, symbolizing their friendship.

But it was common knowledge that the Lernel Empire unilaterally protected the Khan Kingdom. In terms of national power, they were worlds apart. If Emperor Parnes chose to, the Khan Kingdom could easily become a part of the Lernel Empire at any time.

“Find Casalyn and bring her to me. She couldn’t have just died so meaninglessly.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Challen repeatedly washed his face with trembling hands, trying to hold on to hope.

“She must be alive.”

“She can’t have met with misfortune.”

「You’re all talk and no courage to actually die!」

The words Challen spat out just before Casalyn was flung from the carriage left an indelible wound in her heart.

‘Even so, he shouldn’t have said such things. I can get hurt too.’

Casalyn, with a splitting headache, lifted her heavy eyelids.

With her consciousness still foggy, she looked around. The room was bathed in sunlight filtering through the curtains, and there was a faint smell of medicine. Realizing she was in the Lernel Royal Palace and that Parnes had saved her, she felt an odd sense of relief.

‘How long have I been lying here?’

Casalyn pushed back the covers and extended her stiff legs outside the bed.

Without much thought, she tried to stand up, but pain shot from her pelvis down to her knees and ankles.

Startled by the chilling sensation of complete paralysis, she was about to fall when suddenly…

“Oops!”

Parnes, entering the room, caught her in his arms.

The feeling of being embraced by a solid rock left Casalyn dazed, and she looked up.

“Your Majesty.”

“Why do you always choose the most dangerous actions?”

Taken aback by his sudden scolding, Casalyn widened her eyes.

He furrowed his brows irritably, yet, strangely, there was no sign of blame for Casalyn in his eyes.

“Really, you are such a nuisance.”

The person who found her annoying had saved her in the early hours, treated her, cared for her, and guarded her.
Casalyn gazed at him with her light green eyes, shimmering with pure curiosity.

“Did you worry about me?”

“…….”

The two were now so close that they could smell each other’s scent.

Parnes looked down at Casalyn in his arms, his eyes a contradictory mix of anxiety and relief, flickering like small flames.

He slowly tightened his arm around her waist, as if to hold her without any gap, then suddenly retreated, like a monk renouncing worldly desires.

“Who would worry about whom?”

He returned to his usual inscrutable expression, though his voice still carried a hint of agitation.

“If you had left without a word, I might have gone after you. You were already turning your body to mush, and then you show up in front of me like this.”

“It’s not that I wanted to leave. There were… complicated circumstances.”

“Whatever it is, stop disturbing my mind.”

Parnes spoke in a low but earnest voice.

“Don’t step into danger without my permission, and don’t think of straying too far from where I can see.”

“…….”

“If you defy me again, I won’t forgive you next time.”

Casalyn knew his gruff words were his way of showing concern.

She quietly nodded in agreement.

Seeing her behave so meekly, Parnes raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“You’re not talking back? It seems like that near-death experience killed off your old self.”

“Thank you for saving me. If it weren’t for you, I might be…”

“That’s enough. Don’t say things that don’t suit you. Just lie down and rest.”

Casalyn tried to get back into bed but collapsed again, her strength failing. Leaning on a table, barely able to stand, she was frustrated by her uncooperative body.

Parnes watched her with a complex look and rang for a doctor.