Karan helped Elise straighten her disheveled dress.
This was because Elise had declared she couldn’t possibly call a maid after what they had done, which wasn’t fitting for an office.
It had been two hours since Karan started his meal.
“There are too many strings. Don’t wear something like this next time,”
Karan said as he laced up the back of her dress.
He thought it would be better if such dresses, uncomfortable to both take off and put on, just disappeared.
“I didn’t expect this to happen,”
Elise said. She had only intended to make sure he ate lunch since she heard he was hungry.
The back of Elise’s neck was red.
“Your Highness, I have something to tell you.”
As they were finishing up with the dress, Elise brought up her real purpose.
While Elise had come to Karan’s office to ensure he had lunch, she had one more reason.
“What is it?”
Karan turned around while buttoning up his shirt. His shirt was still half open as he had attended to Elise first.
Elise found herself flustered as her gaze kept drifting to his exposed chest.
“Well, I’ll tell you after you’re fully dressed.”
Karan’s fingers paused as he noticed Elise’s gaze.
He wished she would look a bit longer, and wouldn’t mind going to the bedroom like this.
While Karan’s body heated up under her gaze, she turned her head away, cutting off the possibility like a lizard shedding its tail.
It must be important, he thought.
Karan quickly finished dressing properly.
However, with his tousled hair and the lingering sensual atmosphere, they couldn’t quite return to the previous wholesome mood.
In the past, he might have thrown off his shirt, telling her to look more.
After regaining his memories, Karan found a sense of ease in his relationship with Elise.
She had come to him, and he could guess why.
She had a goal in her life. Karan had seen over two lifetimes how goal-oriented she was.
‘Elise won’t leave me until she achieves her goal.’
Karan knew Elise’s goal.
Revenge against Iris and Chase.
She wouldn’t leave him until her revenge was complete.
As Karan was smiling with this sense of ease, his expression suddenly hardened.
A thought had struck him.
‘What about after the revenge? After she achieves her goal?’
What would become of him and Elise?
Karan suddenly felt afraid. His fingertips trembled.
It was no time to be complacent.
He had regained his power, become the crown prince, and Elise was consistently kind to him, but he became anxious.
“Your Highness, I’ll be attending the Continental Alliance meeting this time.”
“…”
“Your Highness?”
“Huh? What did you say?”
Elise blinked and moved closer to him. She placed her hand on Karan’s cheek, who seemed unable to focus on the conversation.
With a gentle pressure on his cheek, she tilted his face towards her. Their eyes met.
“Your Highness, I said that I’ll be attending the Continental Alliance meeting.”
“Ah… you?”
The Continental Alliance meeting was to be conducted with only a select few representatives for mobility and secrecy reasons.
For this reason, Elise had initially been told she couldn’t attend.
“Yes. I decided to donate money to the Continental Alliance. There’s always a shortage of supplies and funds during wartime.”
So Elise had secured a position by making a large donation. To be precise, she had bought her seat.
“Isn’t that a waste? You might not get compensation.”
“Well, if I just sit idle, I might not. But if I participate directly, it’s a different story.”
Karan nodded, remembering the incredible items Elise had found in seemingly insignificant gates.
“You certainly know how to use money effectively. But where did you get such a large sum… Ah…right, you’ve been running various businesses.”
Karan hadn’t paid much attention to the money she earned from her businesses.
Wanting to let her freely pursue her goals, he had filtered the business reports he received to an appropriate level.
Often, if there were no issues, he would skip the reports entirely.
Were those businesses now large enough to invest such a huge sum in the Continental Alliance?
“It seems they’ve had difficulty recruiting sponsors due to the uncertainty of victory. For merchants, even war is just business.”
Moreover, it was an alliance. Unable to gauge how profits would be divided after the war with Ragnaros, many were hesitant.
If they were really short on funds, they might have resorted to persuasion or threats towards businesspeople and nobles, but Elise had volunteered before that.
And she had thrown in far more money than expected.
Considering the amount of her donation, her status, and her achievements so far, Elise was now set to play a significant role in the Continental Alliance.
“I didn’t receive any notification.”
“I only informed King Tyllo and proceeded. I thought if Your Highness intervened, others might see it as unfair.”
“It’s a position no one wants, so…”
“I just don’t want Your Highness to receive even the slightest criticism from others.”
Karan fell silent. He quietly gazed at Elise, his look observant.
‘Did I say something wrong? Was there something strange about what I said?’
Elise nervously swallowed.
Though his gaze was mostly kind with just a hint of observation, she felt a sense of distance and pressure.
It wasn’t his intention.
It was simply because he was born to be a ruler.
His appearance played a part too. Karan’s sculptured features were more sharp than soft, looking cold enough to chill one’s heart when he wasn’t smiling.
She had heard that numerous women had fallen for his face but gave up approaching him due to his expressionless demeanor.
Even Elise had initially misunderstood, wondering if he disliked her.
But that was only for a moment. Even when Karan was expressionless, he often exuded an inexplicably gentle atmosphere.
But now it’s a bit different…When have I seen Karan like this before…
‘Ah! When he’s working! It’s the expression he has when discussing important matters with Haltbin.’
It was the expression and atmosphere that could be seen when Karan was analyzing important issues one by one with Haltbin. Haltbin is truly amazing.
“Your Highness, do you have something to say to me?”
Elise lightly touched Karan’s hand, which was dangling on the side.
“…It’s nothing.”
Karan swallowed. Then he pulled Elise into his arms.
He held her as if trapping her in his large body and slowly inhaled the scent coming from her neck for a long time.
This was Karan’s way of calming his anxiety.
****
“Brother, I want to go too!”
As David came out after finishing the meeting in Bedrokka, Chase, who had been waiting for him, rushed over in one breath.
It was a meeting to decide the scale of support for the Continental Allied Forces.
David’s normally bright face was darkened due to the grueling meeting.
“Chase, what brings you here?”
“Brother! I want to join the Continental Allied Forces too.”
David almost laughed at his brother’s desperation.
To call him ‘brother’, he finally heard the words he had longed to hear after knowing Chase’s true intentions.
‘Calling me brother while considering me an obstacle, how shameless.’
David couldn’t hide his bitterness.
“The participants for the Continental Allied Forces meeting were decided long ago. You don’t have the qualifications.”
“Brother!”
“I don’t want to argue about something that’s already been decided. More importantly, have you found Iris?”
What Chase should be concerned about now is finding his fiancée, Iris, who is essentially a deserter.
After hearing about Iris’s misdeeds during the 3rd Gate Subjugation, David clearly understood how much of a threat her very existence was to him.
‘She’s someone who will stop at nothing.’
He had to find and deal with her by any means necessary.
“I’m searching everywhere.”
David scrutinized Chase sharply. There was no sign of lying.
‘It seems he’s not hiding her while in contact.’
David sighed and moved on, feeling deeply skeptical about their brotherly relationship that had to find relief in such trivial facts.
“Brother, I’m sure I can be of help. As you know, my swordsmanship skills are useful.”
Chase was persistent.
Had he ever followed David looking at his back? He was always the child who turned his back first and walked away.
David was almost looking forward to seeing how many new sides of himself Chase would show today.
But he couldn’t waste any more time on him. His schedule was extremely tight.
“There are many with swordsmanship skills of that level, Chase.”
Chase’s eyebrows twitched.
David approached Chase, who didn’t seem to understand his meaning.
Now that he looked closely, Chase was slow on the uptake. And lacked perceptiveness too.
While patting Chase’s shoulder, David spoke.
“Chase, you weren’t recognized for your swordsmanship skills. Yes, it’s better than having nothing. But you know too, don’t you? What can you do with just swordsmanship skills? How many enemies can you cut down if you go to war? What brings great victory is this.”
David tapped his head with his finger.
The mind that devises strategies.
“Or, this.”
David tapped Chase’s chest.
The heart that yearns for victory.
“And if you don’t have that either, sigh.”
As if even speaking was irritating, David clicked his tongue and then made a circle with his finger.
Money to support the war.
“You don’t have any of these. So just stay put. Even my ability to shield you from His Majesty’s wrath has its limits now.”
Chase stared stiffly at David as he walked away.
How did that once-docile David, who had acted like a tail-wagging dog just wanting to hear the word ‘brother’ from Chase, change like this? Since when?
“Your Highness, let’s go back.”
An aide approached Chase, who stood staring blankly at the end of the now-empty corridor.
The aide, who had accompanied his master through his growth, glory, and now the path of downfall, was deeply worried about him.
It would be fine if he just fell, but it would be troublesome if he caused an incident.
‘If only Miss Elise were here to seek advice from at times like this…’
The aide suddenly realized how important Elise had been to Chase.
She knew how to appropriately control Chase’s greed, and when he couldn’t let go of his desires, she would somehow fulfill them.
Because of this, Chase rarely had reason to get angry or burst out in rage. This also made it comfortable for his subordinates to work.
And they shared a dream.
Someday, our lord will sit in that high position.
But now, far from dreaming, there was a mountain of worry that he might fall into an endless abyss.
The aide felt frustrated that there was nothing he could do in this situation.
As he escorted Chase back to the palace, the aide kept pondering.
Is there anything I can do to help our lord?
–There is a way.
At that moment, his mind rang clearly. It was the call of a familiar woman.
