“Cousin?”

Erdene’s voice, repeating the word, was mixed with half curiosity and half wariness.

Sophia scanned the characters Erdene had written—she had finally succeeded in getting her to hold the textbook—and nodded with a rather satisfied expression, saying,

“Yes, Your Highness. Prince Pellehar is the son of the late king’s elder brother, making him a cousin to His Majesty Arkan. They are the same age.”

Sophia, who had been setting down the textbook page that Erdene had carefully written, suddenly furrowed her brow as if she had just remembered a serious matter.

“By the way, Your Highness.”

Erdene, who had been lost in thought with an indifferent expression after tossing aside her pen, turned her gaze.

“I just realized that I didn’t know how old Your Highness is.”

“What difference does it make whether you know or not? I’m twenty-three this year, twenty-four after my birthday.”

“I see. I’ll remember that.”

At this, a subtle smile—whether it was a smile or a smirk was unclear—appeared on Erdene’s lips.

“I don’t even know if His Majesty is older or younger than me.”

Sophia said,

“His Majesty Arkan celebrated his birthday in the spring. He’s twenty-six this year.”

His birthday is in spring. Erdene thought. Twenty-six was somewhat unexpected.

There were times when she caught glimpses of Arkan that made him seem younger than her, like a boy who had just come of age.

Perhaps that was why Erdene often felt the urge to tease him whenever she saw him.

Even though she no longer thought of him as the greenhorn she had initially assumed him to be.

One of the maids working in the outer living room carefully entered.

“Your Highness, the Duke of Sonetum has arrived.”

Erdene glanced at the maid Anne’s face. Anne, as if realizing her mistake, slightly flinched her lips before quickly composing herself with a smile and adding,

“Prince Pellehar has arrived.”

“Ah, the so-called cousin.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Show him to the reception room and prepare some refreshments.”

Anne curtsied and quickly disappeared. The new maids Sophia had brought were all calm and quick.

Especially Anne, who was originally employed by the Fiddlers marquis family, had adapted remarkably fast despite how difficult it must be to work in an unfamiliar royal palace.

Erdene stood up, pushing away the table. Her hands were stained with ink from practicing her writing.

“I thought I’d see his face in the evening, but he’s quite impatient.”

Sophia moistened a handkerchief slightly and wiped the ink off Erdene’s hands.

“He is a bit impetuous, yes.”

“Who, this cousin you speak of?”

Sophia nodded as if to confirm. The ink stains, though not completely gone, were now quite faint.

Erdene seemed to be imagining something as she slowly moved her eyes, then shrugged her shoulders and said,

“Sophia, if what you say is true, it won’t be boring at least.”

Pellehar, guided to the reception room, carefully observed the interior that had changed quite a bit since the time the late queen had stayed there.

Nothing had changed in terms of decorations, furniture, or utensils.

Only the curtains had been replaced, and a few paintings and tapestries had been changed.

Nevertheless, Pellehar felt that he could no longer sense the shadow of the late queen, who had been his aunt.

“Her Highness the Queen Consort is entering.”

Hearing the servant’s words, Pellehar raised the corners of his mouth and stood up.

Erdene entered the reception room, almost kicking up the hem of her dress.

It was due to her large strides, and the deep green dress, as if carrying the deepening summer greenery, oddly suited her vigorous gait well.

Her long hair was styled up, revealing her cool white nape.

Pellehar briefly glanced at the small scars near her ear and under her jaw, then grinned.

“Pleased to meet you, Your Highness. I am Pellehar Cyprosmine.”

“Glad to meet you, Duke. Please, have a seat.”

Erdene’s response was concise. But Pellehar knew she was observing him closely, like a predator lurking in the grass.

Every time her light blue eyes moved nimbly, he felt the urge to subtly cover his neck.

Sophia and Anne brought in refreshments together.

Anne went out, while Sophia, as always, stood a little distance away from Erdene.

“Sophia, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Erdene turned sharply to look at Sophia.

Sophia lowered her gaze slightly and curtsied lightly.

“It’s been a while, Your Highness Pellehar.”

“How is your mother doing?”

A slightly mischievous smile appeared on Sophia’s lips before quickly disappearing.

“She should be well. I’m not sure about my elder sister, though.”

Pellehar burst into laughter. It was an open, hearty laugh. Erdene watched him with a more curious expression before saying,

“Are you well acquainted?”

“Ah, excuse me. If you’re referring to Sophia and me, you could say we know each other well. In fact, it might be harder to find someone in Betor who doesn’t know Sophia Fiddlers.”

Sophia said nothing.

As if Pellehar’s rambling about her was nothing new, she maintained her usual indifferent expression.

Pellehar grinned once more and faced Erdene.

“But now, there’s someone even more famous than Sophia right before my eyes.”

“I’m famous?”

“You wouldn’t deny it, would you?”

Erdene laughed amusedly.

“Well, I’ve never not been famous, so I don’t have the leisure to worry about where my name is being mentioned now.”

Her response seemed unexpected, as Pellehar’s eyes widened slightly. Then he burst into laughter once again.

“I suppose that’s true. Your name could be heard everywhere I went.”

“You seem to have traveled quite a bit.”

“I’m not the type to stay in one place for long.”

“You must have seen and heard a lot then, haven’t you?”

“Of course. That’s my only pride. My cousin, His Majesty Arkan, has a calm, wise, and delicate nature, but I’m quite far from such qualities. I rather enjoy roaming about aimlessly.”

Then, Pellehar suddenly displayed a genial yet somewhat playful smile.

“Actually, I’ve seen Your Highness once before, a few years ago.”

For the first time, a light appeared in Erdene’s eyes, which had been thoroughly examining the person before her.

She had been ready to leave at any moment if he started rambling on boringly, but this was unexpected.

“You saw me? Where?”

“About four years ago. You must remember the battle at Renoldoer Gorge.”

A clearly surprised expression appeared on Erdene’s face.

“How do you know about that?”

“The archers and spearmen of the Blatchard Kingdom ambushed the imperial soldiers passing through the gorge. At that time, I was among the Blatchard Kingdom’s soldiers.”

Even Sophia couldn’t hide her surprise at his words.

However, Erdene, who vividly remembered the situation at the time, immediately grasped the implication.

“You were a mercenary, you mean?”

“I knew you’d remember.”

The Blatchard Kingdom had recruited mercenaries from various places to face the imperial army.

In fact, Erdene and her soldiers weren’t on a war mission at that time.

They were merely exploring the fastest route to the coast on the orders of the Emperor—Erdene’s father.

The Empire was surrounded by steep mountains and difficult-to-cross valleys, making it necessary to pass through inland to reach the sea.

To overcome this situation, the imperial court had been meticulously surveying routes for several years.

“In the gorge, the Blatchard army and mercenaries ambushed Your Highness’s—you were the Imperial Princess then… Anyway, they attacked your party of less than a hundred.”

Erdene snorted.

“That’s right.”

“The Blatchard spearmen led the charge, but they were swept away like fallen leaves under the imperial soldiers’ blades. Seeing this, the archers trembled without even nocking their arrows, and half the mercenaries fled. When I saw you charging up the sloped gorge on horseback, the mercenary next to me screamed and fainted.”

The Blatchard soldiers who had targeted Imperial Princess Erdene, thinking her numbers were few and unprepared for battle, suffered thorough retaliation afterward.

“You managed to survive.”

Erdene stared at Pellehar intently.

Her eyes seemed to burn fiercely, and her smile, revealing white, even teeth, was like a fierce leopard that had found its prey.

Pellehar’s presence as a mercenary there wasn’t due to any animosity towards the Empire or affection for the allied country, but out of curiosity.

Though armed, he had no intention of going down to the bottom of the gorge to engage with the imperial forces.

He merely watched from the cliff top as the spearmen who had rushed down became entangled among themselves and were then cut down by Erdene and the imperial officers.

“Come to think of it, the king of Blatchard was quite foolish. He raised such cowardly individuals as archers, who thought of fleeing at the first sight of that scene. I wonder if the situation would have been different if they had just done their part?”

Erdene tilted her head slightly, wearing a leisurely smile.

“Surely not. By the way, it’s quite a coincidence. I didn’t let many of them live back then, yet you were among them.”