“Don’t tell me you’ve been following me since the square? Or the dormitory?” Rukna couldn’t estimate how long he had been following her since she hadn’t sensed his presence at all.

“Was it something from the intermediate combat arts lecture? The method to corner the target when they flee.”

Large footsteps echoed as they approached and abruptly stopped in front of the table where Rukna was hiding.

“After misleading the target’s movement with footsteps, secretly wait at their expected escape route and catch them.”

The alley, which was originally dark without much light, became even more shadowed as he stood in front of her.

“Most targets are bound to come out within 30 minutes.”

Matian knocked on the worn plank of the table as if tapping.

Despite knowing she had been caught, Rukna’s shoulders flinched at the sound, startled.

‘Damn, how embarrassing.’

Whether it was because she didn’t want to be discovered by him until the end or because her legs lost strength, Rukna didn’t come out right away and buried her face in her knees.

She heard his long sigh, but still didn’t move.

“What’s the problem?”

The voice that had been above her head was now right in front of her.

Slightly raising her head to look ahead, she saw Matian kneeling on one knee to meet her eye level.

“Need help?”

Matian extended his hand to Rukna.

She had only been trying to return the holy sword to its place when she got caught and ran away, but seeing that hand strangely made tears well up.

She couldn’t understand why he was offering his hand now when he had thoroughly ignored her before.

“You pretended not to know me… Are you in a good mood today?”

Her confused feelings poured out in a sarcastic tone. Even at her biting remark, Matian calmly continued.

“My mind has been complicated, but now my thoughts are a bit organized.”

“Oh my, is that so.”

“Can I touch you?”

“What?”

“I’m going to touch you.”

With those words, Matian’s two hands abruptly entered under the table.

One hand supported under Rukna’s knees while the other supported her back, lifting her body out from under the rickety table.

The startled Rukna immediately swept her palm over her eyes. She absolutely didn’t want to show him a face damp with tears.

“What are you doing? Put me down.”

Rukna, who ended up being held like a princess by Matian, tried to wriggle out of his arms. He tightened his grip around her.

“If you wanted that, you should have come out on your own two feet.”

“I was going to come out!”

“Time’s up.”

With those words, Matian turned his head to gaze at the end of the alley.

Slightly furrowing his brows, he stepped on the table Rukna had been hiding under and jumped, landing his feet on the store’s roof.

‘Does he have springs attached to his soles?’

It was surprising enough that he leaped such a tremendous height while holding someone, but there was no sound of footsteps either.

Matian took a couple steps back and hid in the shadows of the adjacent building. Soon, the security guards rushed into the alley where Rukna had been.

They kicked the table Rukna had been hiding under and were flustered to see no one there.

“Strange, Captain. She must have been hiding here or over there. We blocked all the escape routes, so how did this happen?”

“The rooftops!”

“Five people are watching from each direction. If she had stepped on the roofs to flee, she would have been detected.”

“Damn it! Then search the alleys near District 4 more. There’s nowhere else for her to go now.”

“Yes, Captain!”

And the security guards left the alley.

Rukna stared at Matian with wide eyes without a word. His ability to read the opponent was truly extraordinary.

If it were the usual Matian, he would have shown a mechanical smile in response to Rukna’s gaze.

However, Matian turned his head, avoiding Rukna’s gaze. His expression was stiff and hardened.

‘He knows the holy sword is with me, right? He seems angry because of that.’

This damn holy sword had started to make her let her guard down and talk to Matian when he was around. As expected, he must have sensed the sword’s energy.

Rukna let out a deep sigh and lowered her head. Hearing her sigh, Matian’s arms flinched in response.

“The reason I’m not moving right now is because the security guards are still patrolling nearby.”

Matian explained, thinking Rukna was frustrated because he wasn’t moving.

“They’ll leave their positions in less than 5 minutes, so please bear with it until then.”

As he spoke, Matian didn’t look at Rukna even once. Rukna nodded her head, somewhat disappointed.

5 minutes later, just as Matian said, the security guards left their positions.

Matian, who had been holding Rukna until then, descended back into the alley and started running.

And only after arriving in front of the academy’s western wall did he regretfully set Rukna down from his arms.

“Shall I lift you up?”

“You’re going to help me climb over the wall?”

The dumbfounded Rukna looked up at Matian.

Matian silently stared at the red bricks of the wall, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Did you think I couldn’t climb this?”

“That’s not it.”

“Then why are you offering to help?”

“The iron spikes at the top are sharp.”

Matian’s voice gradually grew smaller.

“What?”

“…You might get hurt if you make a mistake.”

At those words, Rukna let out a hollow breath.

What did he eat wrong? He said the Crown Princess had a body that could perish, but is he really sick somewhere?

‘I can’t get a grasp on him.’

Rukna climbed the wall without a word. After grabbing the iron bars and nimbly jumping over, she quickly walked towards the dormitory.

Matian followed behind Rukna without taking the lead.

I need to arrive before Matian and sleep…

‘No, I should wash up. My mind is too muddled to sleep like this.’

Rukna turned directions and headed to the bathroom. Glancing behind her, Matian who had been trailing after her was nowhere to be seen.

‘He must have returned to the room.’

She then examined the interior of the bathroom.

There was no way anyone would be here past midnight, but Rukna double-checked that it was empty before locking the bathroom door and quickly dousing herself with water.

It took less than 10 minutes to dry herself with a towel. She was probably the fastest bather among women in this empire.

Rukna was admiring her own speed as she reached for the short-sleeved tunic she had been wearing.

The locked bathroom latch glowed red and moved on its own with a creak, unlocking itself.

‘Magic?’

She tried to close the door again, but the speed at which the door opened was faster.

“Hello, Luca. I wondered why the bathroom was locked, and it was you?”

Chad narrowed his eyes nicely and waved at Rukna.

“Chad?”

“I didn’t come here to see this, but I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t seen it.”

Despite saying that, Chad’s gaze didn’t thoroughly scan Rukna’s body.

He was known as a playboy, but was he being mannerly or just uninterested?

“Why are you just standing there, Luca?”

“What?”

“Normally, you should scream first when showing bare skin, right? Like this.”

Help me, save me! Chad imitated women, informing Rukna of the reaction he had expected.

What is he saying? Rukna looked down at her body.

The tunic covering above her knees was close to a short dress in modern terms.

It wasn’t like she couldn’t get her underwear, she just couldn’t put on pants in time. There was no reason to be greatly embarrassed.

Of course, given the era, her toes fidgeted a little as if shy.

“What if I scream? Will you leave? Then I’ll scream now.”

“Hahaha! You really are fun, I’m telling you.”

Chad laughed while holding his belly. He then wiped the corners of his eyes as if tears had welled up, and unbuttoned his shirt one by one.

“…What are you doing?”

“I came into the bathroom to take a bath, not to study, right?”

“Ah, yes. Then wash up thoroughly.”

Rukna quickly grabbed her pants and inserted her legs. She planned to run out of the bathroom faster than the speed at which that guy undressed.

Finally, as she was tightening the drawstring of her pants, Chad, who had taken off his shirt and approached, grabbed Rukna’s wrist.

“Luca, I have something to ask you.”

That hand went down her wrist and groped Rukna’s bulging pant pocket.

This time, Rukna grabbed Chad’s wrist.

“I thought you knew to be polite to a lady, but are you blatantly trying to pickpocket my pants?”

“Haha, of course not. I have something to check.”

“What do you want to ask and check?”

“A theft occurred, and I’m wondering if you’re the thief.”

At those words, Rukna narrowed her eyes.

“You think I’m the holy sword thief like Matian does?”

“…Haha! That’s a decent excuse.”

Chad burst into laughter, shoved his hand into Rukna’s pocket, and pulled out the item inside.

The identity of the crinkly item was a crumpled, empty bread wrapper.

“You really do love bread.”

An irritated Chad rolled his eyes and flicked Rukna’s forehead with his finger.

“Ow!”

He hit her so hard that her forehead immediately swelled up. It bruised! Rukna rubbed her forehead and glared at Chad.

“This bread wrapper saved Luca today… Espina de hielo.”

Chad abruptly chanted magic in the middle of his sentence.

While low-level magic could be performed with a simple snap and mental calculation, as the difficulty increased, one had to use verbal chanting or directly draw a magic circle.

So the magic Chad was deploying now meant it was at least intermediate level or higher.

‘What’s going on?’