CHAPTER 20
“Sit here, Kyle.”
Everett tapped the table in front of her.
Suspicion and confusion flickered in Kyle’s eyes.
Seeing it, Everett gave a faint smile.
‘Of course a noble lady being in a tavern at this hour would look strange.’
Daisy came out from the kitchen and set down a cup of warm tea in front of Everett.
“Miss, is your throat feeling any better? Still in pain?”
Kyle’s eyes widened slightly—he recognized Daisy from the plaza.
‘The maid who was with the young lady during the departure ceremony…? She’s working here?’
Only then did it make sense why Everett had walked into the tavern without hesitation.
Marsha approached and asked Kyle,
“Do you know our young lady, by any chance?”
‘Our… young lady?’
As Marsha looked between Kyle and Everett, Everett nodded once in confirmation.
“Oh, so you’re one of her guests. Welcome. Unfortunately, we’re about to close soon, so there aren’t many menu items left.”
“Can I try the ice kuna?”
Now that he was here, he decided to try the much-praised ice kuna.
“Of course! Excellent choice.”
“And… is there anything to eat with it?”
Having skipped dinner and thrown up what little was in his stomach, Kyle was starving.
“We can’t prepare a full meal at this hour… How about some thin-sliced fried potatoes? They pair well with the kuna.”
“Thin-sliced potatoes?”
It was a dish name he’d never heard before.
Marsha read from a piece of paper pinned to the wall:
“A taste so magical, once you try it, you’ll never escape. The Ice Kuna and Fried Potato Set.”
Kyle let out a snort of laughter.
“What is that?”
“It’s a special menu for guests who have trouble choosing. The fried potatoes are a creation of our tavern.”
“Did the owner come up with it?”
“No.”
Marsha replied while glancing quickly at Everett.
Everett was sipping her tea, soothing her sore throat.
Perceptive as ever, Kyle understood with that glance alone that Everett had made it.
He turned to look at her with a soft smile tugging at his lips.
“‘A magical taste,’ huh? Then I must try it.”
“Payment upfront. But you won’t regret it.”
As Marsha turned to leave, she asked Everett,
“Miss, Daisy made some soup. Would you like to share it with your guest?”
Everett mouthed a silent thank you.
There are days when misfortune piles up without mercy—and today was one of those days for Everett.
Dealing with difficult clients had already drained her, and to top it off, by afternoon her throat hurt so much that speaking was difficult.
She had barely managed to finish her appointments and didn’t even have the strength to make it home.
‘I was going to rest here at Kuna and leave with Daisy… but then I ran into Kyle.’
Everett watched Kyle as he chatted with Marsha about the menu.
‘Didn’t he say he was going North to hunt monsters? What’s he doing in the capital at this hour? From his clothes, it looks like he snuck out.’
Kyle, having finished his order, turned and met Everett’s gaze.
He gave a subtle, crooked smile, and Everett quickly looked down—like she’d been caught staring.
“Young lady, if you keep sneaking glances like that, how will you ever get a proper look at my face?”
Kyle leaned forward, propping his arm on the table.
‘Your Highness, when did you become this shameless?’
Not one to be outdone, Everett sharply raised her head and met his green eyes directly.
‘Black diamond.’
That name popped into Kyle’s head—the gem he’d seen in the North.
It was a beautiful, dark crystal embedded in the ceiling of a cave he’d stumbled upon while tracking monsters.
‘When I saw that… I thought of her eyes, didn’t I?’
As the memory surfaced, heat rose to his cheeks.
“What are the two of you doing?”
Marsha appeared and broke the silence between them.
‘Ugh, my eyes. Seriously. Can’t this guy just let the lady win once? Do royals need to win every little thing?’
Everett grumbled inwardly as she let the steam from her hot soup rise into her face, eyes fluttering shut and open.
“Here’s your magical taste set.”
A pewter cup filled with icy slush was placed in front of Kyle.
‘Huh? That’s a magic cup!’
Magic cups were expensive and uncommon in places like this.
Intrigued, Kyle studied the cup before taking a sip of the ice kuna.
“Whoa! This is—!”
He looked up at Marsha with wide eyes.
“This is amazing!”
Then he gulped it down eagerly.
“Wow! Alfre—no, anyone who tries this would want it again.”
He couldn’t put the cup down. Marsha smiled, satisfied with his reaction, and turned away.
“You’ve had this before, haven’t you?”
Everett nodded as she swallowed her soup.
‘Yes. I made it, after all.’
“This taste is incredible.”
After months of dry, bland food in the North, the flavor was a revelation for Kyle.
He drained the rest of the ice kuna in one go.
He wanted another, but this wasn’t the time.
He glanced at Everett, quietly eating her soup, and asked,
“You must come here often? I think I saw your maid working here too.”
A noble lady he’d bumped into a few times.
At first, he’d thought her simply quirky and endearing.
But the more he met her, the more he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
A noblewoman eating soup at a tavern late at night, inventing menus no one had seen before.
Kyle realized he wanted to know more about Everett.
‘How do I even talk to her…? We can’t exactly have a written conversation.’
It was hard to keep the conversation going.
He wasn’t even very talkative by nature—carrying it alone was tough.
“Hm… this is a problem.”
Kyle murmured as he rested his chin on his hand, staring at Everett.
‘Your Highness, please stop staring while I’m eating. I can’t tell if the soup’s going into my nose or my mouth.’
Noticing her discomfort, Kyle gave a brief chuckle.
“Ah, sorry. Go ahead and eat. I should be heading out soon anyway. And… about the foot towel I gave you—”
At the mention of the foot towel, Everett suddenly choked and burst into a coughing fit.
Kyle quickly pushed the water glass toward her.
Even after drinking the water Daisy brought, her coughing didn’t stop for a while.
“Was I really that hard to look at?”
‘No, you just startled me by bringing up that foot towel!’
Kyle watched Everett with a mischievous smile as she blinked up at him in surprise.
“I told you at the send-off, didn’t I? That I’d take the towel back next time we met. You didn’t forget, did you?”
‘Ugh, that stupid towel. Maybe I should just buy a new cloth. But seriously—it’s been months! Do I really still owe him that?’
Everett nodded once, then quickly shook her head, looking flustered.
A series of expressions flashed across her face in seconds.
Kyle stifled a laugh. She looked adorable.
“You probably don’t have it with you, huh?”
Rubbing his chin as if pondering something deeply, Kyle said,
“Young lady, today is my birthday. So I won’t take the foot towel back just yet. Instead…”
He trailed off, then suddenly extended a hand toward her.
“Grant me the honor of receiving a birthday present from you.”
Everett nearly snorted in disbelief.
‘What is this, a kid demanding a gift? “The honor”? Really?’
She pouted at his over-the-top request but couldn’t stop the corner of her lips from lifting.
Kyle wiggled his hand expectantly.
“Young lady, hurry up. I’ve got somewhere to be.”
Of course, there was no gift waiting in a tavern.
Thinking for a moment, Everett got up, grabbed a notebook and pen from the bar.
It was the reservation book for her tarot clients, torn and frayed.
She tore out one of the cleanest pages.
‘Hold on, Your Highness. I’ll give you something very special.’
She began writing something on the paper.
Kyle tilted his head, unsure what she was doing.
‘Done.’
It was a playful scrawl of symbols—rune letters.
‘Ta-da! This is called rune script.’
She handed him the page.
“What’s this? Doesn’t look like writing. Not exactly a drawing, either…”
To answer, Everett wrote a single word: Talisman.
“A talisman? This is a talisman?”
Kyle looked again, then smiled.
“A talisman, huh? That’s perfect for a birthday gift. Thanks, young lady.”
He carefully folded the paper and tucked it into an inner pocket.
“But what does it mean…?”
He suddenly stopped speaking and moved toward her.
“Hey, be careful.”
Kyle’s voice was sharp from behind her.
‘What happened?’
Everett turned around to see Kyle blocking a man from getting close.
“What the hell? What did I even do?”
The man shouted angrily.
“I just saved you from falling, and no thanks at all? If I hadn’t stepped in, you would’ve hurt this young lady. Don’t you think?”
