Bennet snorted at Elise’s innocent reaction.
‘As if you haven’t rolled around with Karan yourself.’
Bennet had been quietly observing Elise. She had even conducted an investigation on her.
Bennet knew how the two had met.
‘To think they’ve come this far from a one-night fling.’
As the fire that started as a game began to smoke excessively, Bennet became quite uncomfortable.
“Why don’t you say something? I’ll get up first.”
Whether drunk on sleep or not, Tyllo stumbled as he got up, regained his balance, and disappeared behind the curtain.
“We don’t need any words of encouragement.”
Karan stood up. At the same time, Bennet sat down in the spot Tyllo had warmed.
“It’s hurtful to say that. Am I not your mother? And Elise’s mother-in-law? Don’t I have the right to say a warm word to my son and daughter-in-law leaving for a dangerous place?”
“Dangerous place?”
“I hear the gate situation is not good. If not dangerous, how else should I describe it?”
“It’s not that there are no words to describe it, but rather that you wish for it to be so, don’t you?”
Karan’s words were sharp. Elise took his hand as if to calm him. Karan’s breathing noticeably quieted.
Bennet looked intently at Elise while making a long nasal sound.
“I thought you only knew how to tame wolves, but it seems you can tame people too.”
“Your words go too far, Your Majesty.”
As Elise responded formally, Bennet’s interest quickly cooled. It was easy to provoke Karan, but difficult to provoke Elise.
‘If she were to fall, Karan would fall too.’
She still didn’t know how to bring Elise down. If she attacked without proper preparation, she’d likely end up like Duke Odilon.
Bennet had learned a lot from watching how the incident involving Duke Odilon and Chase was handled.
“Have a safe trip.”
It was time to let it go; it was obvious that Tyllo wouldn’t like causing a commotion in the morning.
At this dismissal, Elise also stood up. Elise bowed her head politely while Karan merely nodded. Just as they were about to leave quietly, Elise suddenly stopped.
“Oh, by the way, Your Majesty.”
Bennet, who was returning to bed to catch up on sleep, turned her head while holding the curtain.
“When we return, you’ll introduce us to Young Master Cowett, won’t you?”
Bennet’s body trembled.
“I’ll be looking forward to it, Your Majesty.”
Elise’s voice was full of amusement.
Bennet bit her lower lip hard. Although Elise had asked for an introduction, to Bennet it sounded like a warning that she wouldn’t leave Cowett alone.
She didn’t know her enemy’s weakness, but her own weakness had been firmly grasped. Bennet’s lip burst, spreading a fishy taste in her mouth.
****
Magnus, in front of Gate 3
The magicians looked disdainfully at the panting soldiers. One of them was Iris.
Her appearance was different from usual. Her smooth skin had roughened, and her long nails were all broken. Her hair, not properly combed for days, was a tangled mess, and her eyes were sunken from lack of proper sleep.
Not like the Rose of Bedrokka.
‘Useless fools. What’s the point of us clearing the way if they can’t even go inside?’
Iris stared at the gate hole that made strange gurgling sounds.
The number of monsters increased day by day. No matter how many they killed, there seemed to be no end.
A few days ago, they had managed to penetrate to the middle of the gate, but now they were struggling just to deal with the monsters crawling out.
‘This is endless. I’ll be worn out at this rate.’
Her head was spinning from how much magic she had used today. Iris sighed and flicked her finger.
Her attendants placed a chair and opened an umbrella. Iris sat down and reclined.
It was quite a different sight from those resting sprawled on the ground.
Ilaria’s face wrinkled as she watched this scene.
‘Did she come here to recuperate or to help? She was so confident on the first day.’
Ilaria despised Iris’s arrogance. However, she had treated her respectfully when she first appeared in Magnus. She had expected her to be a great help in conquering the gate, given her reputation as a skilled magician endorsed by the Ivory Tower.
But watching Iris’s performance, she seemed no different from Magnus’s soldiers. She could kill many monsters at once but couldn’t open the crucial path to the center.
Without penetrating to the center, conquering the gate was impossible.
Hearing the groans, Ilaria moved with heavy steps.
“Lady Iris, when do you think the path will be cleared?”
Iris’s eyelids, which had been closed leisurely, opened.
“What did you say?”
“I asked when the path might be cleared.”
“Princess Ilaria, ha, are you pressuring me now? Have I been slacking off?”
Even though the princess had come, Iris didn’t even bother to stand up. As Ilaria’s aide shifted his weight forward to point out this rudeness, Ilaria stopped him.
“You’ve worked hard. I know that. But it’s also true that the path hasn’t been cleared. Bedrokka promised Magnus they would clear the way.”
How much money had they demanded in return? Ilaria hoped Iris would clear the path while also partly wishing she would fail completely.
“If it’s too much for you, how about requesting more magicians from the Ivory Tower or reinforcements from Bedrokka?”
Iris’s face wrinkled. She exhaled in irritation.
“Too much for me? I’m a candidate for Sage. If I can’t do it, no one else can. Things might be different if the Sages themselves came, but even the Sages have acknowledged my attack magic. I can do this.”
She had to do it herself. That’s how she would gain Lange’s trust.
“We know you’re a master of attack magic, Lady Iris. However…”
“However, however, however! However, what? If you know my attack magic is the best, just watch. Why are you talking so much when you couldn’t even have seen the gate without me?”
Iris snapped viciously.
Was this really the personality of the one called the Rose of Bedrokka? She was known to be cold, but never heard to be of poor character.
‘I can’t imagine her being sisters with Elise. Elise should have been the Rose of Bedrokka. The people of Bedrokka have terrible judgment.’
Ilaria harshly criticized the people of Bedrokka in her mind.
“If you’re confident, we’ll wait. But know this. You have one day. By tomorrow…”
Ilaria smirked as she thought of the next day. Her dear friends would arrive. Karan and Elise.
Although she couldn’t guarantee they had a perfect solution, Ilaria had a baseless belief that once they arrived, the gate problem would be cleanly solved.
A belief that could be called blind faith.
“What about tomorrow?”
Feeling Ilaria’s smile was meaningful, Iris demanded an explanation.
“Because His Highness Karan and Lady Elise will arrive.”
Iris, who had been half-lying on the chair until now, straightened her back.
“They’re arriving tomorrow?”
She knew Elise and Karan would come, but it was much earlier than Iris had expected.
They were supposed to come after Iris had established her merit. Now… it wasn’t the right time…
Iris, who had been gnawing on her lower lip, stood up. She bumped into Ilaria’s shoulder as if pushing her aside and headed towards the gate.
“Where are you going?”
“Didn’t you ask me to clear the path?”
“The soldiers are exhausted now. After resting…”
“I’m not asking you to follow. I’ll clear the path alone and wait, so you can rest or not, as you please.”
As Iris moved, the magicians hurriedly followed behind her.
Ilaria didn’t stop her. Because Iris’s fighting spirit seemed higher than ever before.
****
It was late at night when Karan, Elise, and their accompanying warriors and Uls arrived at the campsite in front of Gate 3.
“You must have had a difficult journey.”
While everyone else had gone to rest in the tents except for the soldiers on guard duty, Ilaria remained outside.
“It wasn’t difficult at all.”
“Wasn’t night travel challenging?”
“It was fine, Your Highness. The moon is full, you see.”
Elise pointed to the sky. A large full moon was directly overhead.
“I’m glad it wasn’t hard for you. How was it for you?”
Ilaria looked at Karan only after examining Elise’s complexion. Karan just shrugged and surveyed the surroundings.
“It seems things haven’t been going smoothly.”
Karan easily guessed the situation just by looking at the soldiers’ faces and the state of the tents.
“We’ll talk about it later. Let’s unpack first. The tents for the Tetris warriors are over there.”
“I’ll guide them.”
Ilaria’s aide stepped forward.
“I’ll do it.”
“Why don’t you go rest?”
Despite even Karan’s dissuasion, Ilaria personally guided them to the tents. She had prepared a separate campsite in a wide open space for their convenience.
“Andy and Bernard, unpack. Haltbin, organize patrol shifts.”
The warriors moved at Karan’s orders. As people dispersed from around them, something unusual caught Ilaria’s eye.
“What’s that?”
It was Uls, confined in a cage.
“It’s a silver wolf, Your Highness.”
Elise hadn’t intended to bring Uls to this dangerous place. But strangely, Uls wouldn’t leave her side.
Somehow they set out together, but Uls started showing strange behavior. As they got closer to the gate, it bared its teeth and became violent. Eventually, it had to be caged.
“It doesn’t seem to be… a pet.”
Seeing Uls baring its teeth up close, Ilaria reflexively gripped her sword. That’s how threatening Uls was.
“It would be perfect as a guard.”
“It’s cute. It’s just sensitive now, but it’s not fierce.”
Elise reached through the cage bars to pet Uls’ head. Ilaria stepped back with an awkward smile. It might be cute to Elise, but not to her.
“Your Highness, please go in first. I’ll join you after I feed Uls.”
Karan nodded. Uls had been behaving sensitively towards Karan.
He didn’t mind if it lunged at him, but he was worried Elise might get hurt in the process, so Karan avoided being present when Uls’ cage was opened.
“Let’s hear about the gate situation.”
Thanks for the translation.