CHAPTER 23…………………………………..
Sapphireos called Adamas outside, who was frowning deeply.
Sapphireos walked slowly up the mountain path.
“Sapphireos… how far are you going? Hey, why are we even out here? We should be throwing those people out of the house.”
No matter how much the house looked like it had nothing worth stealing, this wasn’t right.
“Let’s go back. Even a baby boar is dangerous, and Ruby is there too… Answer me. I’m tired.”
“You seriously need exercise!”
“Are you making me work out right now?”
“No. That’s not what I mean. Why are you reacting so sharply to those brothers?”
“Because they’re suspicious! Don’t even deal with them, just ignore them. Ah—let’s go home first. Lady Onyx is alone inside. We need to hurry back and keep an eye on her!”
“……”
“Sapphireos!”
“…Those brothers are stronger than Lady Onyx. I want to test them.”
Young swordsmen with skill rarely seen in the Mano marquisate.
That alone kept stirring Sapphireos’s competitive spirit.
“So that’s what it is?”
In the end, you were interested in them from the start.
“If you get a proper duel, will you throw them out afterward?”
“……”
“Answer me, Sapphireos.”
“Why are you so sensitive? Anyone can tell they aren’t from the Kingdom of Loviana.”
“Just bad luck.”
“You say I’m bad luck sometimes too.”
“That’s different!”
“And why are you especially sensitive about Pantheon?”
Sapphireos gripped Adamas’s shoulder as he asked.
Adamas avoided his gaze as she answered.
“…I think I’ve seen him before.”
“What?”
“I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere. But… he’s someone I shouldn’t have seen.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he’s dangerous.”
“Exactly what is?”
“Just… just everything.”
Sapphireos stared for a long time at Adamas’s clear green eyes as she kept avoiding him.
“Look at me, Adamas.”
“Hm?”
“I’m your guardian.”
“I know. Who else do I have to rely on here besides you?”
“No. I don’t think you really understand.”
Slowly, Sapphireos drew his sword from his waist.
It was the longsword embedded with Adamas’s Bigsbite gemstone—
A blade he hadn’t even drawn during his duel with Stephan.
“I’ll win. I’m stronger.”
“I…”
“I swear on this sword. I will protect you.”
“I’m worried about you. That you’ll be the one in danger.”
Adamas answered while still avoiding his eyes.
You always look like you’re walking with death at your back.
In truth…
You were someone who should already be dead.
Sapphireos grinned at Adamas’s anxious gaze.
“Then let’s do this.”
“How?”
“You protect me, and I protect you.”
He spoke softly.
“Come to think of it, we’ve always been that way, haven’t we? Ever since the Baran River.”
A breeze brushed past, tickling their hair.
Sunlight filtered between the tall trees.
And between them, a blue gemstone glimmered.
Adamas rose on her toes and ruffled Sapphireos’s hair.
“Ah, seriously—don’t!”
“…Sapphireos.”
“What?”
“I think… you’ve gotten taller.”
Their eye level had once been the same.
When had her gaze started naturally drifting upward?
“I’ll grow even more.”
Sapphireos puffed up with pride in a way unlike his usual self.
It was so cute that Adamas laughed.
She stepped closer, leaning quietly against his chest.
Listening to his fast-beating heartbeat, Adamas murmured,
“I’ll look forward to it.”
To the future you—more wonderful than now.
To the you I don’t yet know.
* * *
“Buying new bedding with Ruby was the right choice.”
“Yes. Fortunately.”
Adamas lay on the bed and turned her head to the right.
On the floor beneath the bed, Sapphireos was lying down.
“Even if it’s uncomfortable, just bear with it a little. I’m sorry, Sapphireos.”
“It’s fine. It’s not winter. What’s the worst that can happen? My back hurts a bit.”
After deciding to hire Onyx Privetina as a mercenary for the desert expedition,
Adamas offered her an irresistible condition for any runaway minor:
Room and board.
‘Okay. Call me Tina. And speak casually too.’
‘Excellent choice, Tina. Call me Mas. This is Sapphireos. Now, shake hands!’
Because Privetina made her decision so quickly and clearly,
Adamas gave her the room she’d been using.
And she moved into Sapphireos’s room instead.
“Stealing the homeowner’s bed… If Father knew I grew up into such an ill-mannered woman, he’d scold me terribly.”
“Was he strict?”
“Oh, not really. I’m exaggerating. I did get hit on the calf once, though…”
“Did it hurt?”
Sapphireos started to sit up, but Adamas stopped him with a laugh.
“No. I cried because it didn’t hurt. Father was very frail.”
Her voice trailed off as she recalled Dos’s pale face.
“Still… hitting his daughter’s legs…”
“I didn’t understand then, but now I think I probably deserved it.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I tore up a precious book. When I was little, I thought Father loved that book more than me. Funny, isn’t it?”
“I see.”
“Aren’t you going to ask? What book it was?”
“If it was precious, wasn’t it expensive?”
“No. It was free.”
“And that was precious?”
“Because Father made it himself.”
It was the story of a hero not widely known.
“I heard it so often I got sick of it. Back then, I wondered if Father loved that hero more than me.”
She smiled faintly.
“Of course… now I know that wasn’t true. And I love that hero more than anyone.”
“Hmm…”
“Like early education.”
“Impressive. A hero… was it Lion King Shuon?”
Lion King Shuon was the name of the first emperor of the Francis Empire.
“You don’t know. I told you. He wasn’t famous.”
“Then someone from the capital? A swordsman? A mage?”
Adamas smiled quietly at Sapphireos’s bright, curious eyes.
He was from Mano.
A swordsman with black hair like deep night,
And blue eyes like dawn.
“Secret. I can’t tell my hero’s story so easily.”
“Adamas… you can be unfair sometimes.”
“Mm. If it’s only sometimes, that’s not so bad!”
She grinned.
“Then good night, Ros.”
“…Good night, Mas.”
A soft, breathy laugh sounded.
Adamas forced down the smile tugging at her lips and pulled the blanket over herself.
* * *
Crackle, crackle—
Two men sat before the burning fireplace.
The one-armed man casually tossed a piece of wood into the flames.
The other stared silently at the window trembling in the wind.
“Should we call it fortunate that they didn’t throw us out, Brother?”
“I suppose so. At least we avoided the night dew.”
“What will we do?”
Stephan asked.
“Hm. What should we do?”
Pantheon replied with a smile.
“Ah, Brother. That’s so irritating. You don’t have to act mysterious even with me.”
“Stephanos. Shh. You’ll wake the homeowners.”
“Ugh… this is suffocating…”
“I need to fix that habit. But it isn’t easy.”
Pantheon spoke while massaging his aching left knee.
It had already been over a month of this uncomfortable limping life.
Every night, both knee joints screamed.
His vague attitude had led them here.
No—
More precisely, it had made them prey for monsters.
“Give it here.”
Stephan lifted Pantheon’s injured leg onto his thigh and began to massage it carefully.
“Does it hurt a lot, Brother?”
At dawn, when people sank into deep thought,
his soft-hearted younger brother always grew teary with regret.
“I’m fine. But you…”
A bad leg was manageable for Pantheon.
His abilities more than compensated for it.
At worst, he limped.
But his brother…
His brother would be missing an arm for life.
If only I had defended Stephan more strongly back then…
His arm would never have ended up like that.
“We need to confirm Sapphireos’s strength. If he’s truly someone useful, we must make him help us—no matter what.”
Enough power to compensate for his one-armed brother’s loss.
Pantheon desperately hoped Sapphireos was as skilled as the rumors claimed.
“Will it work? That woman, Adamas… she isn’t easy.”
“It’ll be fine.”
Pantheon’s gaze turned cold.
“If she becomes an obstacle… we can’t simply leave her be.”
Stephan knew exactly what kind of man his brother was.
Once Pantheon decided something, no one could bend his will.
“What about finding the Dirty Diamond? Should we postpone it for now?”
“No.”
Pantheon shook his head firmly.
“Stephan. You’ve been through this marquisate since last night into this morning. You know.”
“…Then?”
“It’s desert.”
“There’s definitely a Dirty Diamond there.”
“…Yes. I thought so too.”
“Then it’s certain.”
Pantheon’s voice hardened.
“No matter what happens, we’re going to the desert with Sapphireos’s group.”
“…Understood, Brother.”
Stephan swallowed hard and nodded.
Pantheon glanced once toward the room Sapphireos and Adamas had entered…
Then toward his troubled younger brother.
Confirm Sapphireos’s ability.
Draw him into their plans.
Find the Dirty Diamond.
That was the only way to kill the monster that had ruined them—
And the fastest path to reclaim the stolen crown.
