It was a strange luncheon.

A half-demon from the Elder Council, a Player, and the mage from the Hero Party were present.

Seated next to them were a middle-aged female knight from the Royal Guard, and Rebecca’s younger brother—Prince Joshua.

Traditionally, the Kingdom of Hiaka revered the sword, and the royal family was especially full of swordsmen.

Clinking sounds filled the air. The noise of utensils on plates.

The only one silent was Rebecca. It was supposed to be a formal meeting for an arranged engagement, but perhaps due to the awkwardness of it all, she didn’t touch a single dish in front of her. She merely sat there, wearing a faint, serene smile.

In contrast, I was cutting into my steak.

All the while thinking—this is where it begins. From this moment on, I had to find a way to derail this engagement and ensure Rebecca became a mage.

“It’s quite a beautiful scene, seeing everyone gathered like this. Truly a joyful occasion.”

That’s when the Elder Council Chair, the half-demon Setian, opened his mouth.

“Professor Dante.”

“Yes?”

“I ask that you only speak about matters related to the engagement at this table. His Highness arranged this meeting specifically for that purpose.”

The resistance came swiftly.

An unspoken command not to speak about mages or anything else. That was why the old man was even here.

“...Understood.”

Before royalty and their retainers, refusal wasn’t an option. My trust score with the royal family was essentially a bullet train to the Bad Ending.

Now what the hell do I do.

Still, I had to speak. The engagement had to be nullified. Rebecca had to become a mage.

That was today’s assignment.

“Hmmm.”

That’s when the young prince—bright blond hair, pink eyes—turned to me.

“But Professor, why’d you even think that?”

“Think what?”

“That you wanted to get engaged to my sister.”

The prince had arrived late and clearly hadn’t been briefed on the situation between me and the royal family.

“......”

The elder’s eyes turned to the prince, then came back to me.

It was an inconveniently sharp question.

“Before we even speak of such things, I must say—who in this land could possibly refuse Princess Rebecca? When the royal family presented me with such a precious opportunity... well, for a mere professor like myself, it was far more than I deserved.”

I made the words up as I went.

① I never confirmed the engagement.

② I never said I wanted it.

③ But I still upheld Rebecca’s dignity.

“Ah... I see. Sorry. I came here without being properly briefed.”

The prince popped a potato into his mouth and mumbled as he chewed.

He gave off the vibe of a perpetually drowsy teenager.

“But still, the picture’s not bad. Right now, there’s not a single noble in Hiaka who doesn’t know your name, Professor.”

“...Is that so.”

“Yeah, all the noble ladies keep talking about you. Apparently, you’re all they talk about these days.”

“......”

“It’s kinda surreal seeing you like this. Feels like I’m meeting royalty from another country.”

He chuckled and gave my arm a light tap.

“Dunno how this engagement’ll go, but... personally, I’m all for it.”

He raised a champagne flute and spoke languidly. He’d looked annoyed since the beginning.

“Honestly, being a priest doesn’t suit my sister. That path is too harsh.”

Rebecca, seated beside him, looked calm.

With serene eyes, she watched her half-brother.

“It hasn’t been that hard.”

“Everyone knows it’s been rough. You’ve been struggling all over the place. Hell, I heard you can’t even have a handmaiden in the clergy? You’re doing your own laundry, aren’t you?”

“That’s true.”

“Why live like that? If you’re royalty, you should live like royalty. Everyone’s got a role.”

“...Maybe so.”

“Don’t play coy. You know exactly what I mean.”

That’s when I realized the nature of their relationship.

Rebecca was the older sister who kept failing.

And Joshua was the younger brother who couldn’t understand why she was like that.

“Are you even eating? You’ve gotten even skinnier, and you were already thin.”

“Thank you for your concern, Joshua.”

“Good. Since you get it, please stop making me worry. Go get engaged to a good man and live a little easier. You like this engagement too, don’t you?”

I expected Rebecca to shoot it down without hesitation. But instead, her lips gently curled.

“...Mm.”

...Mm?

Did she just say “Mm”?

And the Elder Council Chair, who had taken the bait, asked immediately.

“So Her Highness is pleased as well?”

“Yes.”

“What do you find pleasing, if I may ask?”

“His face...”

“His face?”

Rebecca’s eyes met mine. She murmured softly, “Just...”

Back in the casino, Rebecca once said she’d spent her entire life acting. That only a handful of people knew her true self. It wasn’t a lie.

“...He’s handsome.”

She bit her tongue ever so slightly, lowered her eyes, then looked up again, her gaze hovering near my face.

Anyone would think she’d fallen at first sight.

But all acting has purpose. Rebecca had a goal, and that’s why she was saying something she clearly didn’t mean.

“...But, would it be all right if we got to know each other more?”

Rebecca’s true aim was delay.

Feign agreement and buy time.

“I agree as well. There’s no need for a noble princess to hastily choose her lifelong partner.”

I added my own support.

Whether engagement or annulment, this wasn’t the time or place to decide it.

This setting was stacked against me.

“Get to know each other more?”

Joshua repeated.

“I still don’t know the Professor that well.”

“But we were told the two of you were already quite close.”

“Sure, Setian. As student and teacher, yes—but romantic relationships are a different matter, aren’t they?”

Joshua waved a hand.

“Sis. Why not just seal the deal and go from there? You can tell he’s a good guy.”

“You’re right. He is a good man.”

“Professor, you’re healthy, right? No hidden illnesses?”

“None.”

“Perfect. Healthy, handsome, capable—what’s the problem? A lot of love comes after the contract, you know.”

At that heavy-handed push, Rebecca gave me a fleeting glance—and blushed.

“Mm. I like him a lot too. But... could you give me just a little more time?”

We kept holding our ground, and that made the elder and prince’s expressions shift.

The elder’s smile faded.

The prince’s brow furrowed openly.

The atmosphere, which had just been warm, turned tense.

“......”

“......”

Several seconds of silence.

Then the prince spoke.

“How long are you going to keep being so stubborn?”

The words came out in a low, cutting voice.

“...What do you mean? Stubborn?”

“Sorry. But it’s true. Ever since we were kids, from me to Father, to the Elders—everyone kept asking you to give up the sword. But you held out for years.”

“......”

“Sir Hashimoa. Didn’t you try to stop her back then?”

At this, the knight from the Royal Guard nodded.

“I did. Because swordsmanship didn’t suit Her Highness. As her mentor, I always felt terribly guilty.”

See? said the prince.

Rebecca wore an embarrassed smile now. A kind of laugh that didn’t know where to go.

But to me...

It felt different.

Her fingertips were trembling above the tablecloth.

Her act was cracking.

“In the end, you overdid it during sparring and got stabbed in the neck. Then what was next again?”

“......”

“You enrolled in the Assassin Academy. Ruined Father’s birthday celebration with your stubborn nonsense. Remember that?”

“Joshua, that was a long time ago.”

“You always brush it off as ‘a long time ago,’ and then repeat the same thing. I told you from the start it wouldn’t work. Why don’t you ever listen?”

“...But I made good connections there.”

“And have any of those connections ever visited you even once?”

Rebecca frowned.

“Joshua. Please stop. I’m really tired.”

“If you're tired—!”

Bang!

The prince slammed the table.

“Your Highness.”

“Ah, I apologize.”

Setian, the elder, was like a grandfather to both the princess and prince.

At his gentle scolding, the prince lowered his head.

“If you’re tired, then don’t do it. I just hate seeing you constantly suffer while ignoring the easier path. Please, just try living an easy life. Yeah?”

It was now clear—the half-demon elder had brought the prince here for this moment.

“I happen to agree as well. From what I’ve heard, even the Order is troubled because your divine power just won’t manifest.”

“...What?”

“What did you say? She doesn’t have divine power?”

At that, both the prince and the female knight widened their eyes.

“Is it true, Your Highness? That you lack divine power?”

The knight asked.

“......”

Rebecca lowered her head deeply.

Both her hands gripped the tablecloth tighter.

“No divine power—how the hell are you trying to be a priestess...? God, I’m losing it. I at least thought you had faith.”

“I do. I have faith.”

Rebecca’s voice trembled.

“I do believe. And I lived faithfully in the Order. The divine power was... just a little delayed, that’s all.”

“It’s not ‘a little delayed,’ Your Highness.”

The knight’s voice turned stern.

“Nearly every gift is defined from the moment it awakens. From the first time Your Highness held a sword, I already knew what kind of swordswoman you would be.”

“Sir Hashimoa. Please... stop.”

“How many times did I tell you this as your teacher? That it would only end in misery for you.”

“Listen, I...”

“Why do you always ignore the advice of those around you, Your Highness? Is it because of what you once said? That you’d achieve something great and grand?”

“......”

“Do you remember quitting the Academy? When I got down on my knees and begged you not to leave the palace? I told you there would only be pain if you left. And yet you ignored me and joined the clergy. And what did you accomplish there? Faith that’s ‘a little delayed’? Is that your great and grand ambition?”

No gestures. No sighs. No clucking of the tongue.

The knight merely spoke, with blunt finality—and stopped.

But that silence, to me, felt louder than anything. It reeked of contempt toward Rebecca.

It felt like someone who had truly given up on her.

“Sir Hashimoa, that’s enough. This is supposed to be a meeting about the engagement.”

“My apologies.”

The knight even bowed to me.

It was absurd.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that the half-demon elder had orchestrated all of this—deliberately bringing these two to this very meal.

Not that I particularly cared if Rebecca got scolded or not.

To me, she still seemed like a mad killer with a saint’s mask.

But the fact that she hadn’t snapped—even after all these verbal grenades—made me uneasy.

What is she thinking?

Clatter...

Clatter clatter...

The only sounds afterward were of cutlery and plates, until—

Rebecca cautiously broke the silence.

“If it’s all right... may I speak with the Professor—no, with Mr. Hiakapo alone for a moment?”

“About the engagement?”

“Yes.”

At Rebecca’s request, the prince, knight, and elder rose and stepped away.

Now it was just the two of us at the table.

“......”

“......”

Even alone, the silence persisted—because we both knew the conversation was being eavesdropped on.

No.

It wasn’t just eavesdropping.

In the palace, everything was transmitted through magic—what was heard, what was seen.

“Mr. Hiakapo. Could you come closer? I’m feeling a bit down, and I’d like to see your handsome face up close...”

I stood and moved to the seat beside her.

“It’s embarrassing... in such a formal setting, ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) showing you such shameful sides of myself.”

“Please don’t concern yourself, Your Highness.”

“I’m like this. Someone the royal family can’t really trust. And yet... would you still want to be engaged to someone like me?”

“...I’d like to get to know you, slowly.”

I answered in line with royal decorum.

“Shall we go for a walk?”

“I’d like that.”

And so, I led Rebecca out into the palace’s vast garden.

We didn’t speak as we walked.

Everywhere we went, both sound and vision were carried by magic.

It was the Level 8 [Stigma] spell: 『Reverse Field of Surveillance』.

I was sensitive to mana’s directional flow, so I could sense it. And Rebecca, possessing the [Master of Mana] trait, would instinctively know as well.

We were being watched in every way.

│ㅅㅇ)

Just then, the spell’s caster poked his head out from a tree.

The one I always considered a worm.

Lately, I’d been rethinking that.

│ㅅㅇ) ↘

He pointed in a direction.

“...Your Highness. On the way here, I noticed the Hassusen flowers were in full bloom. Would you care to see them?”

“They must be beautiful. Let’s go.”

Following his cue, we walked—and a flower field spread out just beyond the woods.

Between two trees there was a small open space.

A faint gap between overlapping magical fields.

Too small.

Roughly the size of a baseball.

Way too small for any proper conversation.

Or so I thought—

Suddenly, she grabbed my hand.

Rebecca took my hand and pulled me toward that narrow space.

Once we were between the trees, she turned to face me directly.

What is she doing?

“Professor, could you... just hug me once?”

This was being transmitted.

Visuals included.

But the observers probably didn’t realize she knew.

I was new to the palace, and Rebecca was known to be hopeless with magic.

“Yes.”

It was unexpected—but a smart tactic.

I bent down to fit within the baseball-sized pocket.

There was a considerable height difference, so Rebecca had to tiptoe.

Even then, it wasn’t quite enough—so I lifted her slightly while holding her.

Her feet rose off the ground.

Like that, the two of us were pressed into a narrow space, our lips and ears close.

From within the brush, she whispered so faintly only I could hear.

“Help me...”

Being so close, I could hear her breath trembling, raw and unfiltered.

“Help me go back to the Order... please...”

This...

This was the first time Rebecca had shown a sliver of sincerity.

Not performance—genuine emotion.

It surprised me.

Until now, I thought she only joined the Order to milk it for money. So the emotion in her voice felt strange.

Why?

“I want to become a bishop...”

Why bishop?

“I want to become a cardinal...”

And why cardinal?

“Because... that’s the greatest and grandest thing I can ever accomplish...”

Something great and grand. The moment the knight said that earlier, I had a hunch.

Now I understood.

Rebecca’s fate was to become the mage of the Hero Party.

Just like Glory and Eve had instinctively joined the Holy Sword conflict—without knowing why—Rebecca, too, had said she came because “it just felt like I had to.”

Her destiny was constantly pulling her upward.

“Only you can help me... please...”

Whether it was her old vow to assassinate the Emperor, or her dream of becoming a cardinal—those were just misaligned expressions of that pull.

So there was only one thing I could say.

Rebecca...

I whispered into her ear.

“I can’t do that.”