The dawn broke through the cold morning air, brightening the surroundings.

Returning to where the tent had been, I found Klaus lying on the cold ground.

“Sir Klaus!”

I immediately ran to him and shook his body.

Fortunately, Klaus slowly opened his eyes with a small groan.

“Your Highness…? How…?”

He raised his upper body and looked around with a bewildered expression.

“It’s alright now, Sir Klaus. The fog has disappeared.”

Finally grasping the situation, Klaus bowed his head with a troubled expression.

“…I am ashamed. I swore to protect Your Highness, yet I failed in my duty.”

Klaus didn’t remember being teleported here by the system, and believed he had collapsed while fighting the fog.

Thanks to this, I didn’t need to make excuses while explaining the situation.

But there was another problem.

Piya still couldn’t wake up.

As Piya fainted, the system was also blocked, so no system notifications, skill window, or inventory were visible.

Naturally, I couldn’t check the quest progress either.

The second quest in the Dreamlike Forest was to defeat the forest fog.

And judging from the original content, the third remaining one would probably be to recruit Ilei as a companion.

I hadn’t completely eliminated the fog yet.

‘When Piya wakes up and the system returns, I’ll have to find Ilei again, persuade him, eliminate the fog, and recruit him as a companion.’

While I was making plans, Klaus urged me.

“You’ve pushed yourself all night. I’ll take care of Your Highness’s pet bird, so please go inside and get some rest.”

“But you haven’t slept properly either.”

“I failed to protect Your Highness, so please allow me to serve you in this way at least.”

Klaus spoke in a sorrowful voice. It was the kind of voice that made me feel I shouldn’t resist any further.

“Alright. Don’t overexert yourself either.”

I handed Piya over to Klaus and glanced at Anselot.

As our eyes met, he smiled brightly as usual. But…

‘He’s different from usual.’

Although he seemed the same at first glance, Anselot had been subtly different from his usual self for a while now.

I recalled the conversation we had while walking here together under the breaking dawn.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘…?’

‘You’ve been spacing out alone since earlier.’

When I asked about his seemingly lost-in-thought appearance, Anselot hesitated for a moment before answering with a soft smile.

‘It’s nothing. I just remembered something I had forgotten.’

That was the end of his answer.

I was curious about what he had forgotten, and what he had remembered.

‘Come to think of it, Anselot. You’ve been like this from the beginning.’

Thinking about it, Anselot had always been a man with many secrets.

I don’t know much about him.

Why he became a bug.

How he knows so much about the system and players.

Why the half heart of the Light Dragon was in his possession.

What his purpose is in wanting to eliminate the Light Dragon.

Who he had been waiting for so long that he could say with such a lonely voice that he was confident in waiting.

And…

‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’

‘Don’t go. Let’s be together now.’

‘I won’t… lose you again…’

To whom was he so sorry? What was he so sorry for?

Who was the person he wanted to be with in the black fog, the one he didn’t want to lose again?

Why did a man who seemed to fear nothing in the world cry so sadly?

Remembering Anselot crying in the arms of the black figure made me feel strange.

His silent tears were so heartbreaking.

Anselot had attacked me to protect the one he met in the black fog.

It wasn’t his fault.

It was all because of the forest’s illusion.

Then why do I feel so upset about this fact?

He had tried to kill me when we first met too.

Why am I feeling this disappointment now when I didn’t feel it then?

When Anselot came to his senses after being bewitched by Ilei’s fog.

The first thing that caught his eye was Luibel’s beautiful face, crying and hitting him.

Luibel was on top of him, crying and hitting him mercilessly, but Anselot only thought, ‘I didn’t know our princess had such a violent side.’

To be honest, it hurt a little, just a little bit.

To be even more honest, it might not have been just a little.

No matter how tough Anselot was, no matter how delicate Luibel appeared like a fairy, Luibel was a Sword Master who could manifest sword energy.

Her body was tougher than others, and her fists were strong enough to impact even Anselot’s sturdy body.

However, Anselot didn’t think much about her hitting him.

He thought that since he had succumbed to the fog and was helplessly lying face down, the kind princess must have been afraid he might be in trouble and hit him to bring him to his senses.

This was a thought he could have only because he had no idea that it was Luibel who had pushed him down.

Rather, something else preoccupied his mind.

“…”

Anselot furrowed his brow as he vaguely recalled what he had seen in the fog.

‘How unpleasant.’

They said it was fog that dug into a person’s inner weaknesses.

What the fog had shown him was ‘her’.

Then, was ‘she’ his weakness?

The moment his thoughts reached that point, Anselot burst into laughter.

‘Yes, you were my weakness.’

Anselot readily admitted it.

He had almost found solace in embracing an illusion.

Imagining the deeper emptiness that would follow after the illusion disappeared, his mood sank endlessly.

If it hadn’t been for Luibel’s voice calling him, he might have continued to surrender himself to that illusion.

Anselot’s thoughts slowly shifted to Luibel.

After returning to where the tent was, Luibel seemed to be in a constantly gloomy mood.

She was like that even after waking up from a good sleep.

Anselot thought it must be because her beloved bird was injured.

“Prince Anselot.”

Klaus called out to Anselot, who was like that.

“I’d like to have a word with you.”

Anselot turned to Klaus with a slanted look.

“A word? You and me?”

“What did you do to Her Highness Luibel while I was unconscious?”

“What?”

“Don’t try to deny it. What did you do to make Her Highness so depressed?”

“…?”

“You, do you really not remember anything?”

Anselot, who had been silently staring at Klaus, raised one eyebrow.

“Not remember? What are you talking about?”

“…You really don’t remember.”

Soon, the things that Anselot didn’t remember doing flowed out through Klaus’s mouth.

Anselot’s expression hardened as he listened to it.

‘You attacked Her Highness.’

Luibel, who had just woken up and said she was going for a walk, had not yet returned.

‘Your eyes were dyed black because of the dark fog. It seemed like you didn’t recognize Her Highness at all.’

Anselot searched the forest for Luibel.

‘I don’t remember what happened after that because I collapsed first. Do you really not remember anything?’

After searching the forest for a while, Anselot found Luibel sitting by a stream beyond the bushes.

Anselot stopped running and caught his breath while looking at Luibel from where he stood.

There was still a thin wound on her cheek.

So that wound on our princess’s fair face was made by me.

I attacked her, they say.

Swayed by a mere illusion, not even recognizing her.

Anselot bit his lower lip.

‘You don’t remember?’

No wonder she was looking at me like that while asking.

It was Anselot himself who had attacked her, attacked her knight and her bird.

Anselot approached her with large strides.

Lost in thought, she didn’t notice his arrival until he grabbed her wrist.

“Ansel…?”

As Luibel belatedly turned to look at him.

“Did I.”

Anselot cut off Luibel’s words and asked.

“Did I attack you?”

“What?”

“Did I attack Your Highness?”

At this, Luibel’s eyes widened.

“You, how did you…”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Were you planning to keep it a secret?”

Anselot asked her fiercely. As if he was angry.

Luibel answered hesitantly, a bit flustered.

“You didn’t do it on purpose, so what’s the use of bringing it up? Besides, I already beat you up plenty.”

“…”

Anselot’s expression twisted strangely upon hearing her answer.

“Anselot? Are you angry?”

“…”

It was an expression she had never seen before, despite having been close for a while.

“…I’m sorry.”

After a long while, an apology flowed from his lips.

“I promised to protect you, but I couldn’t and hurt you instead.”

“No, this isn’t really your fault…”

Luibel thought it wasn’t his fault, regardless of her feelings of disappointment towards Anselot.

“The quest to confront the forest fog was originally assigned to me.”

“But I’m the one who dragged Your Highness into it.”

However, Anselot didn’t seem to think so. He looked at Luibel with a dark expression.

“So all the responsibility lies with me.”

And he said.

Everything was his fault for making her a player and dragging her into this.

“That’s not necessarily true. If you hadn’t helped me in the first place, I would have been…”

“No.”

Anselot firmly cut off her words.

“It’s all because of me. So.”

His hand gripping Luibel’s wrist tightened firmly.

“After everything is over, just resent me, Your Highness.”

A lonely smile appeared on Anselot’s face as he whispered those words.

Everything.

So, after plunging the sword into the Light Dragon’s chest, carving out its heart, and after everything that follows…

At that time, please resent me, Luibel.