Leona glanced around. This was the bedroom she’d slept in her entire life. She slowly confirmed reality. Leona ran a hand through her blond hair, which was still a little short, but much longer than it had been, and then flopped back down on the bed.
The victory ball. Yes, Aslan would be here soon, and maybe they’d get to meet face to face. What would they say when they saw each other? Would he be surprised? Would he get angry? Would he be happy? If he said something mean, she’d shove bread in his mouth…
Muttering to herself, Leona slowly drifted off to sleep. Even the nightmares were sweet.
* * *
“It might not have been human.”
Because the person who said those words was a military officer of Aslan, Reiner Cade, Senis smiled gracefully with his shaded, elegant face.
“Sir Reiner Cade, if you want to preach something you don’t believe in, you should at least have the sincerity to burn yourself to the ground.”
“You actually hate me, don’t you?”
“Hate is such a harsh word.”
“Anyway, Lord Mayer, think about it, that thing… it was hardly human…”
“Well, it’s hard to believe a person could make tea that badly.”
“Right!”
Reiner tapped the desk as he spoke, but the person he wanted to hear their conversation was currently outside the tent. Since they were about to completely dismantle the camp and withdraw in a few days, Aslan was looking around.
He was still searching for the missing ‘Leo’.
Reiner recalled the day he first drank tea made by Leo. It was on her first day, everyone thought she was a child of the Rashid family, as she was still dressed like a boy. Aslan had taken her as a squire because he couldn’t just leave her anywhere. No one expected that when he asked her to bring tea during a military meeting, she would make something akin to poison.
Paulus Heian, a new officer, almost lost his life after drinking Leo’s tea. Shocked, Rainer tasted it and shouted that it was an attempted poisoning.
‘Pfft! Is this… poison?’
‘Sir Cade! Don’t make such reckless remarks.’
‘Lord Mayer, if you tried it, you wouldn’t be saying that.’
Hearing the murmurs of the officers, the young squire looked utterly dejected and confused, not knowing what to do.
‘I’m… I’m sorry! I’m not good at making tea.’
‘It wasn’t that you made it poorly; it was practically poison.’
Rainer remembered how Leo pouted at his comment. As Rainer wore a bitter expression, Senis spoke up.
“But honestly, I never expected you, Sir Cade, to suggest it wasn’t human… You’re someone who always thinks based on logic and reality.”
“That’s exactly my point. Suddenly, out of nowhere, this person appears and saves all the senior officers in this army, right? And the weather… Who could’ve predicted such heavy rain for exactly three days in this season? Not even astronomers could do that.”
“…”
“On that topic, how could they disappear like this without leaving any traces? Think of the glory and riches that were waiting for them. Even the general hinted at it. It’s not easy for a human to turn that down, unless they already had something much greater, which is highly unlikely.”
“That’s true.”
Rainer sighed deeply.
“It’s like the goddess of war herself briefly blessed us with a golden ruby of victory.”
“…Her name, where did it come from?”
“Leo herself said it! I kept pressing her about her identity!”
“…”
Senis’s expression seemed to say, ‘You’re quite the romantic’. Rainer patted his chest and sighed again.
“I understand the general’s desire to find Leo. I want to find her too. Don’t you, Lord Meyer?”
Rainer looked down at the clear water in his teacup. He owed her his life. But that alone couldn’t capture the essence of what she’d done. She predicted the weather, saved the army, and was the first to mention the possibility of a peace treaty with the Empire.
They had received so much, and just as they thought they could slowly repay her, she suddenly disappeared, leaving them with debts they couldn’t repay.
“If Leo wanted to leave, she must’ve had a reason.”
“That’s true, but…”
“If Leo wants, we’ll meet again.”
“Oh, you’ve reached enlightenment all by yourself.”
Reiner chuckled as he looked at Senis relaxing. Senis, smiling, mumbled, “Still, in this situation, I kind of miss Leo’s tea,” which startled Rainer.
As soon as the sun rose the next day, Aslan and his generals departed for the capital. They still hadn’t found the missing Leo.
At that time, a carriage traveling from the north began to head towards the capital where the royal palace was located. Inside the carriage were a young man and an elderly lady with a stern demeanor.
It was the carriage of Marchioness Erazem, Themis Erazem, and her aide, Ian.
* * *
It was five more days before Leona was completely back on her feet. In that time, she’d grown quite accustomed to other guards besides Julius.
“Do you have a lady to accompany you to the victory ball?”
As Leona sat at the tea table in the garden and gestured elegantly, she covered her mouth with a fan, and asked a mischievous question. The face of one of the two knights standing guard turned bright red. The other immediately became sullen, making her realize.
“You still don’t have a girlfriend? Hmm?”
“I’ve been busy with work.”
“So, it’s my fault, huh? Maybe you don’t have one because you keep blaming others.”
“Your Highness…”
“Why, should I introduce someone to you?”
“No, thank you, really…”
The guard, now pale, waved his hands in refusal. Leona burst into laughter and waved her fan.
“Alright, I’ll stop.”
The two guards sighed in relief. Leona rested her chin on her hand and looked around the garden.
Victory. Peace. The end of the war. She heard praise for Aslan a dozen times a day. Initially, it made her very proud. She’d gone to great lengths to save him, and now he was a triumphant general. How could she not be happy? But…
‘The war went well, however…’
While she lay ill, the King and Queen visited her twice daily, but her brother Aiden only sent get-well gifts and never came to see her. In retrospect, Aiden had never visited her when she was sick.
Until now, she’d always believed that they were close siblings.
‘Will things be okay like this?’
Her memories of the resistance members, who’d been pushed to the back of her mind because of Aslan’s work, began to creep in. Her brother Aiden had tried to hand her and the resistance over to the Emperor of the Empire. Millard, her cousin, died protecting her from Aiden.
Leona had no idea Aiden hated Millard so much. Who would’ve imagined that her older brother, whom she thought she had a good relationship with, would keep their cousin in check by feeding poison to his younger sister, himself.
She remembered helping young Millard a few times when she saw him fall into a well or get injured. She liked her friendly cousin. She thought she had to protect her weak and accident-prone cousin. But at some point, whenever such incidents occurred, all she heard was ‘Get away’ or ‘Scram’. They hadn’t been close since then. She never imagined Millard harbored goodwill towards her.
It was Aiden who pushed Millard down the stairs or into the pond and injured him by swinging a weapon, pretending it was a prank, but she’d interfered with that plan several times without knowing anything. Angered, Aiden poisoned or injured her, and Millard kept his distance to protect her. She, knowing nothing, just felt hurt.
At that moment, a bell rang in the distance. At the sound of the bell, Leona strengthened her resolve.
“Your Highness, where shall we go?”
“I need to see Brother Millard.”
“Arriving without notice, His Highness might…”
Would he be angry? Of course he would. It was a known fact to everyone in the royal palace that he was cold to Aiden and Leona. Nodding, she walked with determination, then bit her lip in anger.
‘And Brother Millard, too. After all the effort I went through to save him, how could he push me away like this?’
* * *
By the time Leona reached Millard’s residence, the sun was setting, casting a twilight glow.
Perhaps due to his position as the first son of the previous crown prince, Millard’s residence was simple yet maintained a certain air of dignity. The palace attendant was about to announce her arrival, but Leona shook her head and dismissed him, and then her knights escorted her to the entrance where she entered alone.
Most parts that were difficult to manage were covered with cloth, and the windows were closed, making the inside dim. Only her footsteps echoed in the quiet interior. Leona strode towards Millard’s bedroom, a place she remembered from her childhood.
