As Erdene finished speaking, the wind blew suddenly.

There was a rustling sound as if something was moving, which continued and gradually got closer.

When Erdene and Sophia turned their heads, a sturdy man approached the two with a bewildered look on his face.

He first knelt on one knee in front of Erdene.

When Erdene extended her right hand, he very carefully kissed her ring and then quietly raised his eyes.

“Your Imperial Highness.”

Despite his rough appearance, his voice was rather calm.

When Erdene nodded, signaling that he could stand up, he carefully rose to avoid stirring up dust.

“Are you the Knight Commander Wizard?”

“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”

Erdene almost burst into laughter at the brief answer that conveyed both embarrassment and wariness.

Bellen stared at Erdene’s face strangely for a moment, then turned his head towards Sophia.

As there was no noble in Betor who didn’t know her, of course Bellen knew who Sophia was.

“What brings the young lady of the Fiddlers Marquis family here?”

“I escorted Her Imperial Highness, Sir Wizard. It’s been a while since we exchanged greetings at His Majesty’s birthday celebration, hasn’t it?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

As he nodded with an awkward expression, the redness visible on the back of his neck was noticeable.

Erdene believed it was due to shyness caused by Sophia, but the reality was different.

Bellen had no time for such a luxurious emotion as shyness right now. Because…

‘Damn! It’s clear that my disguise as a coachman has been exposed. How should I explain this? If I honestly say that His Majesty ordered me to do it…’

Of course, Arkan would give him a hard time.

He would lecture for two hours in a soft voice, occasionally mixing in sighs, until Bellen felt like saying, “You might as well behead me instead.”

But without using Arkan as an excuse, there seemed to be no smooth way out of this situation.

If he had gone as the Knight Commander himself, he could at least claim that the kingdom was paying respect to the empire’s princess, but he had even disguised himself as a coachman!

This could only be seen as taking preemptive action in case Erdene tried to run away or use violence.

And that… while it wouldn’t matter if the person involved didn’t know, from the moment they found out, it was a great disrespect.

“You.”

At Erdene’s voice, cold sweat trickled down Bellen’s neck.

At least his pride as the greatest Knight Commander of the inland, and the courage befitting that pride, prevented him from appearing to be in an embarrassing fluster.

Erdene called him but said nothing more. She just stared intently at Bellen’s face.

If he could, Bellen wanted to go and put on a helmet that covered his entire face right now.

‘And then I could have made an excuse that it was too tight to take off.’

While the tense Bellen was lost in absurd thoughts and useless regrets, Erdene turned to Sophia and said,

“He looks like a potato, but what exactly are you saying he’s not?”

Suddenly, why a potato?

Bellen’s eyes widened. However, Sophia’s next words were even more baffling.

“I never said he wasn’t, Your Imperial Highness. I just said he was a smooth potato.”

Erdene looked Bellen up and down again—with a gaze as if checking whether a fish on a stand was fresh or not—and nodded with a ‘hmm’ sound.

“Well… Yes. He’s smooth enough to be steamed whole and served.”

“Indeed.”

Although he couldn’t grasp what the two were talking about, Bellen was somehow overcome with a feeling of severe insult.

Clearing his throat, he slightly bowed his head towards Erdene and said,

“Your Imperial Highness, how did you come here?”

“I walked on my own feet?”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

Bellen’s words were cut off in confusion. Finding his appearance amusing, Erdene started to giggle.

Sophia, on behalf of her who was busy laughing, solved Bellen’s confusion.

“Her Imperial Highness wanted to see the soldiers training, so I guided her here, Commander Wizard. But…”

Sophia looked around the almost empty training ground, pouting her lips and shrugging her shoulders.

As if to say, ‘There’s nothing here?’

Erdene had now stopped laughing and was staring at Bellen with eyes demanding an answer.

He seemed at a loss for words, ruffling his hair as if unsure what to say.

“Well… um, today is…”

After glancing around nervously, Bellen seemed to make up his mind and cleared his throat again.

“It’s a day off.”

Erdene’s eyes widened slightly.

Her eyes already looked fierce due to their light iris color, but when she opened them wide with force, it felt like one should apologize even without having done anything wrong.

“A day off?”

A voice tinged with nervous laughter came out. And it didn’t stop there.

“A day off? Did you say a day off?”

“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”

At Bellen’s answer, Erdene’s shoulders shook for a moment as if she was about to burst into laughter, but instead, she snorted.

“It seems Betor guards the country quite leisurely.”

Bellen’s shoulders flinched momentarily at Erdene’s sarcastic remark. And a stubborn, rigid expression appeared on his face.

Bellen said,

“When our inland allies were in danger, we sweated on the training ground every day, but now I believe the threat has disappeared.”

At that moment, he knew he was speaking out of turn but couldn’t stop his moving mouth.

By the time he realized he had made a mistake, the words meaning ‘Since your country won’t come to take more land, what’s the big deal if we rest a bit?’ had already reached Erdene’s ears.

Even Sophia felt a pang of guilt at Bellen’s momentary rudeness, but surprisingly, Erdene didn’t get angry at his defiance.

Far from anger, her eyes seemed to fill with joy or a similar emotion, appearing to spin along the sparkling surface.

Of course, if the aides familiar with Erdene’s patterns had seen this, they would have run away with their tails between their legs, prepared to die next time if necessary.

Because usually, when Erdene had such an expression, it was when she had found a good reason to beat something—or someone—excitedly.

Erdene said,

“Yes, your words have a point. Then I suppose the border soldiers also play one day and guard the gates the next? How about holidays in the border areas? Do they leave the gates wide open and eat roasted chicken in a pot?”

Deeper wrinkles formed between Bellen’s eyebrows, but this time it wasn’t due to defiance or sudden anger.

Still, he was quite a skilled military officer.

He couldn’t fail to notice the aura emanating from Erdene’s entire body, an atmosphere that suggested only crossing swords and swinging them around right now would relieve this itching feeling.

“Well…”

“Well, I’m not trying to argue about that with you now, so don’t worry. Rather, Sophia?”

Sophia turned her head towards Erdene.

“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”

“What do you think? Will you speak now?”

Bellen was puzzled again. He couldn’t guess at all what kind of conversations they had been having since earlier.

Sophia glanced at Bellen’s confused expression, then looked down at her own clothes and said calmly,

“It seems a bit early today. I haven’t made any special preparations. And I’m not particularly pleased with my clothes. Please be understanding, Your Imperial Highness.”

Erdene’s eyebrow raised slightly.

“Is it related to things like clothes?”

“I suppose it is.”

At that moment, Bellen interjected.

He couldn’t shake off the uncomfortable feeling that he was tied up and placed on the chopping board of Erdene and Sophia without knowing it, not to mention the incomprehensible conversation.

“I apologize, but I have no idea what you two are talking about.”

“Sophia says she’s not ready, so you don’t need to know anything yet. Let’s go.”

Erdene turned around. Or rather, she was about to turn around.

As Sophia lightly bowed to Bellen to follow her, Erdene suddenly turned back.

“Sophia.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”

“You say you’re not ready, but it would be alright for me to warm up a bit, wouldn’t it?”

Sophia’s intelligent eyes blinked a couple of times. She looked at Bellen blankly—his expression seemed to ask why she was looking at him—and then said,

“As long as you don’t take too long. And I’ll consider today’s results as having nothing to do with me.”

“Good.”

Erdene, with her hands clasped together, stretched her arms forward. A cracking sound came from her fingers, which showed faint scars.

When she didn’t stop there and started to loosen her shoulders by turning her neck this way and that, Bellen felt a chill run down his spine with an ominous premonition.

“Commander Wizard.”

“Ah, yes. Your Imperial Highness. Please speak.”

“Go and bring two swords. Real swords would be fine, but I haven’t moved much lately. I might not be able to control myself, so wooden swords would be better.”

Her sudden order seemed to have caught Bellen completely off guard.

When Erdene put strength in her eyes, he turned around as if possessed and took a step to fetch the swords.

As Bellen walked away, Sophia asked,

“Are wooden swords safe, Your Imperial Highness?”

Erdene shrugged her shoulders.

“At least nothing will get cut off, so don’t worry.”