On the evening after meeting with Viscount and Viscountess Worton, Elise felt briefly depressed thinking about her birth mother, but soon regained her cheerfulness.
Karan and Elise properly enjoyed Bedrokka’s New Year festival. Setting aside their status as King and Queen for a moment, they spent time like an ordinary couple.
On the last day of the festival, they had lunch with Deboa and Jasmine.
“I’m really envious. I’m jealous,” Jasmine pouted.
“If you’re jealous, Jasmine, you should date too,” Deboa said nonchalantly while stabbing her steak with a fork.
Jasmine pursed her lips. “That’s mean, Deboa. Are you teasing me because you’re popular?”
Deboa’s eyes widened.
Her? Popular?
That’s nonsense.
Deboa was scolded daily at home because the noble young men she met for arranged marriages rejected her, saying that Deboa, who ran a newspaper company, was too aggressive. Jasmine must be saying this because she doesn’t know this fact.
“Oh my, how sly. Do you really not know, or are you pretending not to know?”
“I really don’t know.”
“Leber likes you, doesn’t he?”
“Pfft.”
Deboa spat out the drink she was sipping. Karan immediately frowned. Elise held out a handkerchief and checked on Deboa.
“Are you alright, Deboa?”
Elise called over a passing waiter to order a new drink and wet towels to clean up.
Meanwhile, Deboa roughly wiped her hands and mouth with Elise’s handkerchief. Fortunately, they had finished their meal. Otherwise, they might have had to reorder all the food.
“Leber and I are just friends.”
“That’s what you think. Isn’t that right, Elise?”
Elise smiled faintly. The feelings Leber had for Deboa were not something Elise should casually mention.
Whether reflecting on past lives or looking at current choices.
“Did you really not know?”
When Deboa just blinked with wide eyes, it was Jasmine who was surprised instead.
“You have an amazing nose for scoops, but you’re so oblivious about your own affairs.”
“That’s because it’s not true,” Deboa shrugged. Elise sighed inwardly. As Jasmine said, Deboa was indeed very oblivious about her own matters.
This makes Leber too pitiful.
Elise remained silent for a while, then looked at Karan.
“Yes, Elise. Speak.”
Though looking elsewhere, Karan responded quickly to Elise’s gaze.
“We’re about to establish the medical academy soon, right?”
The realization of Elise’s purpose in bringing Leber to Tetris was just around the corner.
“How about holding a banquet for those who worked hard?”
“As long as it doesn’t tire you out, by all means.”
Banquets were entirely the Queen’s domain. That’s why Karan had significantly reduced the number of banquets held directly at the palace since becoming King.
But if Elise wanted to do it…
“Not a big one, just a modest gathering. I’ll invite Jasmine and Deboa too. You both will come, won’t you?”
“If it’s a Tetris banquet, I’d drop everything to attend. It’s so much fun!” Jasmine clapped her hands excitedly. Deboa also expressed her intention to attend.
“When are you thinking of holding it, Elise?”
Just as the banquet was becoming more concrete under Jasmine’s lead, an announcer appeared on the stage set up in the square for the festival.
“Now! We will begin the treasure hunt game.”
The square buzzed with excitement. Karan frowned as if it was too noisy, while Elise ate the cake served as dessert, seemingly uninterested.
In contrast, Deboa and Jasmine’s eyes sparkled.
“We will now announce the treasure hunters and the treasure.”
“Karan, try this,” Elise placed a small piece of cake on Karan’s plate.
“You two should listen carefully too.”
“It doesn’t concern us. Didn’t they say you had to apply separately?”
Bedrokka’s treasure hunt was conducted with a very small number of people selected by lottery for safety reasons.
If you submitted an application in advance, the announcer would pick the person who would be the treasure and the treasure hunters who would catch that person on the spot.
There was one treasure and a total of ten hunters.
The rest of the people bet on which hunter would find the treasure, like predicting the winning horse at a racetrack.
Jasmine and Deboa exchanged glances.
Karan and Elise were too focused on each other to notice this subtle exchange.
“The first hunter is!”
The drums rolled.
“Sir Pel Llewellyn, the captain of Bedrokka’s knights! He found the treasure last year! He submitted an application without fail this year too.”
The announcer drew applications without hesitation. Second, third… and finally, when he picked the tenth and final hunter, he paused.
“Oh, um, well… Did this person really apply?”
The announcer turned to look at the festival staff. The staff member shrugged.
“Looks like there’s a problem,” Elise said casually. Jasmine and Deboa’s eyes filled with anticipation.
‘Is it that interesting?’
Elise was thinking it wasn’t fun at all when…
“The tenth treasure hunter is Karan, His Majesty Karan Lysandro Tetris.”
Clank. Elise dropped her fork.
“Karan, when did you submit an application?”
“I never did. It seems someone played a prank.”
Karan’s gaze turned to Jasmine and Deboa. Seeing the two women pretending to be oblivious, he roughly understood the situation.
Sighing, Karan stood up.
“I’ll talk to the organizers and have this canceled.”
Just as Karan was half-risen…
“And today’s treasure is… Ah.”
The announcer’s voice faltered again. The staff member standing below the stage gestured that there was no time and to proceed quickly.
The announcer closed his eyes tightly and shouted.
“Today’s treasure is Her Majesty Elise Lysandro Tetris! The game starts now.”
Bang bang bang bang!
Loud fireworks exploded. Karan whirled around to look at Elise.
“Elise, run quickly.”
“Ah…”
While Elise was still stunned, Deboa and Jasmine quickly lifted her up and dragged her into an alley.
While Karan was momentarily stunned by the absurd situation, Elise disappeared into the crowd.
“This is insane,” Karan muttered. He then called over a passing staff member and asked for ice water.
He was fuming inside at the cute little play staged by Jasmine and Deboa. He wanted to overturn the stage and end the festival right away, but he held back.
It was someone else’s country, after all.
‘Anyway, I’ll be the one to find Elise.’
The die was cast, and now that he was a player, he was determined to find the treasure by any means necessary.
The one who had been his treasure from the beginning.
“Here, here it is,” the waiter, intimidated by Karan’s aura, hesitantly offered the ice water. Karan drank it in one gulp, crunching on the ice, and then plunged into the crowd.
****
“How did this happen, Jasmine?”
Only after they were two blocks away from the square did Jasmine finally let go of Elise’s hand.
“Whew, haa, no one’s chasing us yet, right?”
While Jasmine was catching her breath, hands on her knees, Deboa checked the alley exit and nodded.
“First, let me apologize. We submitted your applications along with ours. But we didn’t expect both of you to be chosen.”
Deboa nodded at Jasmine’s explanation. Elise sighed.
Now was not the time to blame anyone.
“You can’t let just anyone catch you, Elise.”
“But how will people know to catch me?”
When Elise tilted her head in confusion, Jasmine and Deboa blinked.
“Everyone… knows you, right?”
Elise and Karan were celebrities. Not just in Tetris, but also in Bedrokka, Magnus, and other countries.
“Why?”
“Elise! You’re the hero who caught Ragnaros. Elise, you tend to underestimate your own achievements!”
“That was so long ago!”
“Heroic tales tend to become more grand as time passes.”
Elise couldn’t understand Jasmine’s logic. But now wasn’t the time to argue about that. There were more important matters at hand.
“By the way, if you’re selected as a hunter, you receive a flyer with a portrait of the person selected as the treasure.”
“Ah…”
“Of course, most people probably don’t need the flyer since everyone knows Elise.”
Deboa continued her explanation.
“You can’t get caught too quickly, Elise. If that happens, the game will be invalidated.”
Elise, who had been planning to quietly turn herself in to Karan, flinched.
“Understand? You need to run away for at least thirty minutes. Ten minutes have passed already. Run, Elise!”
Deboa and Jasmine pushed Elise’s back. Elise hesitated for a moment before she started running.
****
Haa, haa.
Her breath came up to her chin. As Elise was counting how long it had been since she’d run until she was out of breath, she leaned her back against the wall.
“She definitely passed by this way.”
One of the hunters passed by the path Elise had just taken. Elise crouched next to an empty wine barrel on the street and peeked out.
“Where did she go?”
The person chasing Elise looked around and then disappeared from her view.
Pfft, Elise burst into laughter.
Though she had started the game on impulse, it was more fun than she expected. She also got to run freely after a long time.
And above all, she was excited.
Would Karan be able to find her?
Elise fiddled with the ring on her finger.
If she just called, he would appear before her with a poof at any time.
But if she didn’t call?
‘Will he be able to find me?’
With a small curiosity, Elise stood up. As she was patting her thighs, which were spreading with a tingling pain, she turned the corner of a narrow alley.
Karan was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He slowly turned his head.
“Aren’t you a bit late?”
He spoke as if he had been waiting. Elise’s eyes widened.
“When did you get ahead of me?”
“I didn’t get ahead, I came here first and waited.”
“How did you know I’d come here?”
“So you really don’t remember.”
A flash of disappointment crossed Karan’s face.
