Kirian and Esmeralda, with their arms linked, left the classroom. Esmeralda looked back in case Reina would follow, but Reina was standing still in her place.

She was looking at the floor, so her expression was not visible, but it didn’t seem like she would follow.

As they left the building, Kirian quickly pulled his arm away and bowed his head slightly.

“Thank you for agreeing with me.”

Esmeralda slightly smiled and nodded her head.

“It was nothing, really.”

“I will thank you properly later. Then—”

Esmeralda quickly grabbed Kirian, who was hurrying away.

“Just a moment!”

Kirian slightly frowned, perhaps bothered by the increasingly heavy rain, but stopped politely. Being Reina’s friend, he needed to maintain a minimum level of courtesy.

“Is there a problem?”

Esmeralda quickly pointed at the darkening sky.

“Can I go with you?”

“What?”

Esmeralda showed the miniature magic book she was wearing as a necklace.

“I may not look it, but my magic skills are not lacking, so I won’t be a hindrance.”

As Kirian hesitated, Esmeralda gestured back toward the classroom.

“The princess only knows we’re together, so if she sees me somewhere else, she’ll surely suspect. Wouldn’t it be better to go together?”

Kirian slowly nodded. Esmeralda didn’t miss the opportunity and linked arms again.

If she could get close to Kirian through this opportunity, her mother would surely be satisfied.

“Then, let’s hurry. Before the lightning strikes, we need to move quickly.”

Kirian pulled his arm away again, wearing a faint smile.

“You have a carriage?”

“Yes?”

“Come by carriage. I will walk.”

When Esmeralda opened her eyes, Kirian was already gone.

“Sigh…”

Esmeralda let out a giggle. This was unexpected. Kirian, who could have taken her with him, did not.

No, rather, she had hoped to use this opportunity to get closer.

‘Mind follows the body,’ her mother always said.

Thinking about her surely disappointed mother, Esmeralda’s head began to throb with pain.

“Just do well when you get there.”

Esmeralda muttered softly and hurriedly set off to prepare the carriage.

(This is a time separator.)

When they arrived near the village Gerald was taking care of, a heavy rain began to pour, and thunder could be heard in the distance.

Esmeralda tapped the carriage wall twice, signaling the coachman to hurry. The sound of the whip cutting through the air was heard, and the carriage began to pick up speed.

Then, with a thud sound from the ceiling, the carriage shook.

Esmeralda clenched her magic book and opened the window slightly. Her other hand automatically searched for the fire spell.

As she was about to open the window a little more.

The window was thrown wide open.

“Ahh!”

When Esmeralda put all her strength into the spell, a large flame erupted.

“Saving your power would have been wise.”

Kirian, who had entered the carriage, simply extinguished the flame with his hand.

“Trying to burn the carriage we’re riding in, what were you thinking?”

“Du, Duke.”

Esmeralda brushed down her surprised heart.

“I thought you were an Elding.”

Kirian leaned back and looked out the window indifferently.

“That’s unlikely. There’s no lightning striking nearby.”

Esmeralda blushed in embarrassment, but Kirian continued without even looking at her.

“You need to be fully alert from now on. If you really don’t want to be a hindrance, that is.”

It was an utterly plain tone, just pointing out the facts without sarcasm. But that indifference was even harder to bear.

Esmeralda clenched her fist.

To woo and pursue a marriage with such a cold person, she felt suffocated.
The carriage soon stopped on the outskirts of the village. To avoid the eyes of the villagers, the two hid in an alleyway. Gerald, who was commanding the punitive force in the square, was seen around the corner.

“Everyone, keep your eyes wide open! You never know when or where they will appear! They appear when lightning strikes. Never let your guard down!”

Trying to make himself look a bit taller, Gerald held his spear high and shouted meaningless words. There was no shortage of heroic play.

Kirian swallowed a snort.

During the first hunt, he trembled as if he would faint at any moment, but after a few hunts, realizing that no matter how foolish he acted, Kirian would take care of everything, he had become immersed in playing the hero.

“Indeed, the second prince!”

“Coming personally to save our village again today!”

Even though they had heard the same words for several days in a row, the punitive force looked at Gerald with enchanted eyes, as if hearing them for the first time.

With the full faith and response of the villagers, Gerald’s shoulders seemed to rise higher and higher.

Finally, a bright light pierced through the gloomy sky, and thunder resounded nearby.

Kirian concentrated on the sounds that came, silencing his own movements.