"You… Then, was the reason you were obsessed with me only because of the title?"
"Huh? What…"
It was for the sake of the act, but…the words felt a little strange.
"After chasing me like that for 8 years, your purpose is gone, so you're going to leave me like this?"
These were lines that could be used for a very bad woman who clung to a man to raise her status and threw him away when she no longer needed him.
"I'm not leaving… I'm just letting go, like this?"
Ian seldom responded with a loss of composure, but was interrupted by Robert's haste words.
"Wow. Calm down. As expected, it is also the rival of the century."
Robert patted Ian on the shoulder.
"Ian, you were a little harsh this time. Miss Annabelle spoke quite nicely, unlike usual."
"Well, it's okay."
I shrugged and said calmly.
At my words, Robert smiled and nodded his head.
"After all, you haven't fought for a day or two, so don't feel offended like this."
And he continued to speak as if he thought he had stopped the fight.
"Actually, that's why I called you the Imperial Palace. Caronda was getting too far into the topic."
"What?"
"This is really my gift, Miss Annabelle."
Robert handed me a jeweled ring.
"It's a magical item, but it can warp space to anywhere you want. Since it can only hold one accompanying person, you can take Ian back and forth."
"Warp? Wow…"
"But there is a strict condition that the user must be registered in the Imperial Palace."
Bewildered, I received an item that looked like an ordinary ruby ring.
I had never heard of a warpable item.
The fact that even user registration had to be done in the Imperial Palace seemed to be a secret item made only for the royal family from the magic tower.
"You need to destroy a relic of an imperial palace that is more than 100 years old while wearing it."
"Wow, that's an expensive and violent way to register."
Anything from the Imperial Palace would be quite expensive.
I clicked my tongue, and Robert answered.
"We put limits on the high-level magic items so that it can't be abused. The old relics of the imperial palace are difficult to destroy even for the imperial family. It's also easy to track whether the item is being used or not and where it's being used. Of course we don't care if we get tracked, since we're doing work for the Empire."
"But, it's a secret that I'm using it…"
"Right."
Robert smiled and continued.
"Fortunately, Miss Annabelle is a commoner, and she has a bad reputation, so she might as well break anything."
In the end, he meant that it was not strange to use some of those violent registration methods.
It was a moment when my low status and messy past helped.
"Say you were going to the bathroom, so when you get out of here, turn around the hallway on the right and go all the way to the end. There's a bird-shaped vase, and you can break it."
Perhaps the vase was a relic with a history of a hundred years.
"I guess I can handle such vandalism."
Robert then added with a slightly worried expression on his face.
"But… Anyway, I'm really serious, will you be okay?"
In the end, it was too easy for me to make a mess in the imperial palace.
Even compared to what I had done at the Duke of Wade's, it was really nothing.
"Leave it to me. The shameless red flags are the very footsteps of my life."
I got excited and jumped to my feet.
~*~
(3rd person pov)
Only Ian and Robert remained in the drawing room after Annabelle left, saying she would crush an artifact of the imperial palace.
"Thank you, Ian."
Robert smiled softly at Ian and said.
"This time, it was really hard to ask for a favor because I had no shame, but you said you'd help me…"
"It's fine."
Ian took a sip of the tea quietly because he didn't feel the need to correct it.
In fact, he said he would go impulsively. It was an extremely rare experience in his life, so he talked before he thought.
Apart from Annabelle's skills, he didn't want to send her alone to such a dangerous place.
That was probably because he kept looking at her these days.
At one time, she was a very hateful and annoying opponent, but at some point, all of that emotion seemed to have disappeared.
When Ian was lost in thought, Robert suddenly brought it up.
"Isn't Miss Annabelle cute?"
~pls read only at pinkmuffintl~
Ian was stunned for a moment by Robert's words, and asked with a cracked voice.
"What?"
"I didn't have a good first impression of her because she was so careless with you, but it became more fun as we got along. I wanted to keep talking."
"…"
"In fact, it is true that I wanted to help Miss Annabelle get revenge again this time because I wanted to follow Carlon. But it's weird. Obviously, I'm trying to take advantage of her, but I keep thinking strangely."
It was no secret that Robert was aiming for the throne.
In addition, since it started, it was a matter of survival.
When Crown Prince Carlon ascended to the throne, Robert would be purged as the first priority.
Therefore, for Robert, the priority was the throne, and he was also a man who could use anything in his way to achieve it.
But he said that he was thinking 'strangely'…
"It's weird. I was originally going to coax her and send you, but I became worried as I talked about it with her. I probably wouldn't have persuaded her anymore if she said she wouldn't go."
"…"
"It's the first time I feel this way. I keep thinking about it over and over for no reason. Maybe I…"
It was the first time Ian wanted to force Robert to stop talking. His stomach churned and he felt uncomfortable.
Ian was also worried about her, and he thought about it from time to time for no apparent reason.
Or, just recently, when she said she was doing something "bad" when it came to breaking a vase…
Maybe it was cute…
"I want to protect my family. I want to live comfortably without fear."
Still, wasn't it cool that she pushed forward without being intimidated?
It was like Annabelle to make a head-on breakthrough rather than dodging the problems.
It was infinitely cute, and Ian almost laughed out loud.
'Wait a moment… Cute? Annabelle Rainfield? You're crazy, Ian Wade.'
Ian sighed inwardly and frowned.
'It wasn't just cute…'
Her figure holding the sword and looking at him with serious eyes was so cool that his body hardened.
Such coolness was something he hadn't felt since he first saw her at the swordsmanship contest eight years ago.
"I really don't care, so you can easily win first place again this time."
What made him so sad at those words was that it seemed to cut off their relationship that had been going on for 8 years too easily.
It was really surprising. The person who wished the relationship could end for 8 years was him at first.
Come to think of it, Annabelle had always been looking at him for eight years, even if it was due to disgust and her inferiority complex.
However, the sight of her who had cast off all those dark emotions and began to become entangled with others made him feel strangely abandoned.
Especially when Robert and Annabelle looked at each other with a smile, he was so angry that his stomach burned.
'I think, maybe…'
Ian reached out to the teacup to hide his hardened expression.
It was not easy to admit.
It was Annabelle, not anyone else. A woman he hated for eight years.
But wasn't it ridiculous that his heart fluctuated just because she stopped swearing?
Thinking that she could look well with Robert made him feel strangely anxious.
Come to think of it, he had never struggled with anything so far.
Ian sighed once more lightly.
His heart seemed to drop just thinking about the time their hands touched when she gave him the water bottle, and when she held his arm suddenly at the slave market.
When Annabelle said she was sorry to embarrass him, he was too stiff to respond properly, but it was actually good.
'This is… I'm not even a 14-year-old adolescent boy who saw Annabelle Rainfield for the first time…'
In the past, there were times when he bumped into her even more because of the ridiculous fights, but he was never excited about it until recently.
'If I'm not crazy, there's no way I'd like Annabelle Rainfield. I've heard all kinds of swear words from her at me, so what kind of crazy guy likes a girl like that?'
"Whenever I get involved with her, it feels precious to me even though it was not a big deal… Wasn't the feeling something strange like anger boiling up when you think that she can do well with another man?"
However, Ian was easy to catch up with Robert's words. He breathed a few times and lifted a teacup to hide his stiff expression.
"Wait, Ian."
Robert carefully asked Ian, who was drinking tea silently.
"Why do you put your mouth near the handle from a normal teacup?"
"…It's because I'm a crazy guy. Now I've decided not to run away from that fact." (pr/n: Shdhhfhf)
Robert was speechless for a while.
From far away, they could then hear the screams of servants with a crash.