After I close all the rifts and retire, it was a question of whether it matters if my partner is not necessarily a knight.

After pondering briefly, I answered Frit.

“I haven’t thought that far… Yes, I think it would be fine. Since I’ll be safe after retiring. I wouldn’t feel like I’m committing a sin by pairing with someone who’s not a knight.”

If I retire, at least I’ll be free from the fate of not knowing when my life might end, so it seemed okay to meet an ordinary person.

If my relationship with the Commander is still the same by then, there would be no need for that as I would marry him.

By the way, if I marry the Commander, whose heroic tales should I tell our child first?

Since we’re both knights who fought on the front lines, we would have endless heroic tales to tell.

I guess it would be better to tell my heroic tales first?

I was lost in such trivial thoughts when suddenly Frit’s voice brought me back to reality.

“Then when all the rifts are closed, will I have a chance?”

“…A chance? What kind of chance are you talking about?”

It was difficult to understand what he was saying because I had been distracted by other thoughts.

Frit gave me an even brighter smile than before as I asked in confusion.

“Didn’t you say that when you close the rifts and retire, you would look for a partner even among ordinary people?”

“Ah, I tend to prefer natural encounters, so I don’t really plan to actively search for a partner—”

“Anyway, you said it would be okay even if the partner is not a knight by then, right?”

I nodded since I had certainly said that, and he pointed to himself with his fingertip.

The question I heard from him next… once again gave me a shock as if I had been punched in the back of the head.

“How about me as your partner?”

I didn’t drop my teacup, but that was because I had already placed it on the table.

If I had been holding it, I surely would have dropped it on the floor this time.

The question Frit suddenly threw at me was that shocking.

“You’re asking how about you? As my partner?”

I asked like that, unable to believe what I had heard with my own ears despite hearing his question directly.

Unlike me who was greatly surprised, Frit replied to me with an unfazed expression.

“Yes, didn’t I tell you before? That I’m in love with you.”

“I thought that just meant you cared for me a lot—”

“So how about me? Do I seem like a suitable man to be your partner?”

“Ah… That…”

As I was trying to somehow give an answer with lips frozen in embarrassment, he spoke first.

“Of course, I don’t intend to rush you for an answer right now. You said you would only meet knights until all the rifts are closed.”

“…”

“But after all the rifts are closed, wouldn’t I be qualified too?”

After saying that, he rested his elbows on the table and cupped his chin.

Facing his handsome face with a kind expression like that made me feel a bit calmer.

He calmed me down like that, then asked in a more serious manner.

“I won’t rush you for other answers, but please tell me just this one thing. When the era of peace comes… will I also be qualified to be Yulia’s partner?”

The look in his eyes as he gazed at me now was too fervent to brush off.

He seemed ready to ask the same question over and over until I gave a proper answer.

So I managed to open my lips with difficulty.

“Of course, Your Highness is more than sufficient, even overqualified. You’re too wonderful to need to wait for someone like me to be your partner.”

“No, please don’t speak as if lowering yourself like that. ‘Someone like me,’ you say.”

He reached out his hand.

Then he carefully… very carefully covered my hand that was resting on the table.

“You are my savior. Thanks to you, I who had been tormented by guilt my whole life for prophesying the world’s destruction have been saved.”

“…”

“So when I said I’m in love with you, it wasn’t simply meaning that I care for you.”

To think that his love was sincere.

I lifted my teacup to try to calm my confused mind.

Unfortunately, the teacup was empty.

It seems I had already drunk it all while sipping to quench my thirst earlier.

So I put down the empty teacup and replied to him with difficulty through my parched lips.

“If you are truly sincere about me, I would like you to wait. Until the era of peace comes. By then, I’ll be able to meet anyone.”

I decided to just say that for now.

After all, I couldn’t tell him ‘not you’ now when I had said I would look for a partner even among civilians once the rifts were closed.

He’s not just a nobleman of low rank, but one of the three pillars supporting the empire.

If I uttered words of rejection when someone like that was being so humble towards me, it could be taken as an insult.

Yes, let’s just leave him to wait. He probably won’t really wait for me until all the rifts are closed anyway. He’ll end up marrying some other woman before then.

I assuaged my guilty conscience like that.

Meanwhile, he expressed his gratitude.

With a smile so bright it was almost pitiful.

“Thank you so much, Yulia. I will wait until the day the empire’s last rift is closed, no matter how long it takes.”

After our various conversations during tea time, Frit didn’t call for me for a while.

I heard he suddenly became very busy due to some incident in a nearby territory?

Anyway, he said he would take responsibility for delivering the letter I had given to the Commander, so I was able to devote myself to rest with peace of mind.

After about three more days of resting like that, it was around that time.

Now that my body had fully recovered, I was thinking I should start doing something soon when an opportunity for me to take action conveniently arose.

“Ah, so you’ve been busy lately because of a rift?”

Frit called me out after a while and told me the reason he had been busy while we were eating together, and it was because of a rift.

So when I asked that, Frit immediately nodded.

“Yes, it was all because of that rift. Corrosion suddenly occurred, causing the territory’s people to flock to the grand temple for refuge… I was so busy taking care of them that I barely had time to eat properly.”

“Oh my… I thought you looked extremely busy, but I didn’t know such a thing had happened. I had no idea.”

“I didn’t allow the refugees to enter the main building where you are currently staying. They are now staying in the annex. Due to the many patients affected by the rift’s poison, all the treatment rooms in the annex are completely full.”

The situation seemed worse than I had thought.

But there was no need to despair greatly.

I was already feeling restless, and now this work had come looking for me on its own.

“I’ll close it.”

“Pardon?”

“That rift where the corrosion occurred. I’ll close it. Then the territory’s people will be able to return home, and you’ll be able to take a breather too, Your Highness.”

Frit stared at me with a surprised face, as if he hadn’t expected me to volunteer like this.

Contrary to my expectation that he would soon smile with joy, he expressed concern.

“By yourself?”

“Yes, of course by myself. It’s not something I can call the Silver Knights for, after all.”

“Then I can’t let you go. Isn’t it too dangerous?”

He who had been so devoted that he would pluck the stars from the sky at my request.

For some reason, he was firmly refusing this time.

I smiled gently to reassure him.

“It’s fine because I’ve already closed more rifts alone than I can count on both hands. The Silver Knights are always suffering from a shortage of manpower. So there have been quite a few times when I went on solo missions.”

“…”

“I have plenty of experience already, so don’t worry. I’ll close it safely and return.”

To be honest, I was a master at closing rifts alone.

My ability itself was specialized for combat, capable of attack, defense, binding, and so on, so once I knew the Queen’s location, the mission was easy.

So I was waiting for Frit’s permission with a confident face, when he suddenly sighed.

“But my lady… It seems you’ve forgotten one thing.”

“Yes?”

“That your ability has been sealed.”

“…!?”

I had completely forgotten because I hadn’t had any reason to use my ability lately while just lazing around.

Come to think of it, my ability was currently sealed.

I scratched my cheek awkwardly and smiled.

“That’s right. My ability is sealed. Has that awakened one who will release me not arrived yet?”

“I received a letter saying they will arrive tomorrow. However—”

He trailed off mid-sentence and continued speaking while staring at me sternly for some reason.

“Somehow I’m worried about unsealing you. Because I feel like you’ll insist on going to close that rift once the seal is removed.”