Ch. 232

Since when had he been there?

It wasn’t often you met a human so devoid of presence that their very existence felt unpleasant. That was Rovenin.

Even though he was in plain sight, his energy was barely perceptible. The reason Ash hadn’t noticed him until he was so close was entirely because of Rovenin.

[I’m sure this time! Should I bite him to death!]

Why was the man who should’ve been in the middle of the arena standing here?

Rovenin walked straight toward us. He must’ve followed us.

I reignited my killing intent, and Rai growled with me. The more we did, the more anxiously Ash tried to shield me behind him.

“Rovenin!”

“Lord Fedri…”

[Red hair!]

I wanted to forget mage versus swordsman and just bite him to death.

Ash’s words were already gone from my head. My natural enemy—injured or not—had appeared in front of me on his own two feet, and Rai looked ready to pounce with gusto.

Then Rovenin opened his mouth and said something utterly unexpected.

“I wondered who it was.”

“……!”

“It was you.”

Was he recognizing me? I’d thought he didn’t remember at all, so that alone was shocking.

“It’s not often a human can emit such strong killing intent.”

He was three or four steps away now. Having Rovenin this close made every hair on my body stand up.

I stayed tense, teeth grinding. Yeah, you’re a person too—start recognizing me already!

“I didn’t expect to meet you here.”

But why was he suddenly speaking politely?

It was only when he gave a rough bow that I finally realized something was wrong.

It wasn’t me he recognized.

“Your Highness the Prince.”

“……Lord.”

Rovenin ignored me like I didn’t exist and stepped up close to Ash. The two stared at each other, exchanging looks I couldn’t read.

Hey. I’m the main character of my life. Aren’t you ignoring me a little too hard?

Before I could even get mad, the question of how Rovenin recognized Ash hit me in the back of the head.

“…Yes, it’s been a while.”

“Yes, it has.”

“You don’t seem to have been doing well.”

“Not really. Nothing special happened.”

“…Yes, I’m sure.”

I’d assumed he’d had a year as fantastic as mine.

Rovenin shook his head indifferently, like none of it mattered. Ash wore the same resigned expression he usually had when dealing with me.

Could it be that the reason Ash doesn’t get flustered when handling me is… because of this guy? Is he already used to it?

“More importantly—you. How did you recognize me?”

“……? I can tell just by looking.”

“My face is different. Everything is different.”

I recognized him too, but I had information—the scar on his hand, his childhood name, Rai’s intel operation. And, sure, my animal-like intuition helped.

“Your face… now that you mention it, it has changed a bit. I think you originally had black hair.”

No way. Yanma. That’s not all there is to it!

My whole body itched to argue. His face is different to the point it’s a whole new art style—how can he act like it barely changed?

“Aren’t the eye colors different too? We used to have the same eyes.”

“Ah. I see what you mean.”

“My current face is changed by magic. You’re the first to recognize me immediately, and that shouldn’t be possible.”

“I can tell by looking at your body. And your energy. That doesn’t change. Besides that—your muscles, your body lines… your eyes, posture, gait. The unique strength of a human. When it comes to recognizing people, faces aren’t important.”

Now I understood why it felt strange.

I wasn’t used to Ash speaking so casually to Rovenin.

Of course, the fact that Rovenin was using polite language toward Ash was also unsettling.

“…You haven’t changed. I guess it doesn’t matter since you can’t remember people’s faces anyway.”

Ash kept nudging me behind him even while talking.

Wait! I get it, you two are close, but let me hit him once—just once!

“Distinguishing people by strength must be a talent.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you. I also like that Your Highness is not a weak human.”

“…Hey! Ash is mine!”

Why are you confessing to Ash out of nowhere!

I tried to kick him in response to the non sequitur, but compared to those two, my physical abilities were worse than an infant’s. I couldn’t even brush him.

“What is this? You’re carrying around something fierce.”

“…Your rudeness is as ever.”

“You son of a bitch!”

The temper I’d been holding down while trying to parse the situation flared up in a snap.

But all I could do was struggle uselessly while Ash restrained me.

“Is that your taste?”

“…Don’t say anything.”

“I thought you were less interested in women than I am.”

“I said don’t…….”

I kept catching the stink of a kindred spirit from Rovenin, and I prayed it was just my imagination.

There were two famous unreachable figures in the Imperial Palace. Who were they? Rovenin and Epiros. The two of them were uninterested in women in completely different ways.

“If it’s Your Highness’s, I won’t kill it even if it’s presumptuous.”

“Rovenin.”

“Yes.”

“Watch your words. She doesn’t belong to anyone.”

That was when I got a clear sense of how close Rovenin and Ash really were.

Ash—uncharacteristically—raised his voice, anger and killing intent flashing at once.

And Rovenin smiled, completely at ease.

[Huh? Are they close, Master? They’re the human you like the most and the human you hate the most.]

[I hate to admit it, but I guess so!]

And I also learned something else.

The human I hate really likes the human I like.

That was disgusting.

How dare he. Don’t put your hands on Ash, Rovenin.

I was so caught up in that stupid love triangle that I didn’t even notice time passing, until a large crowd started pouring out into the hallway.

People were leaving the stands.

There was no way the event was already over, so the reason was obvious.

The so-called victor of the day wasn’t doing any fan service. Instead, he was flirting with my man right in front of me.

I hated it.

If I were an animal, I would’ve bitten him already. But I’m a rational human being, so I was holding back.

“Your Highness, my body still isn’t fully recovered because the Count fought so weakly. Please spar with me. When I think about it, the most enjoyable time was when I was with you.”

“Gack! How dare you! Get lost!”

“Geenie, wait. Lord, wait…….”

Ash let out a deep sigh, then lightly picked me up and headed for the exit.

He was clearly holding me because if he left me alone, I would absolutely fight with Rovenin.

“Lord, follow me for now. It’s better to leave this place. I don’t want to be the center of attention.”

“Me neither.”

“Get lost! Then why did you do a public duel!”

“I still find it annoying. Can I just kill it?”

“You’re the one who’s going to die! You can’t even remember me……!”

“…Perhaps, we…….”

“We didn’t! I’m Geenie Crowell, you idiot!”

I couldn’t let him say that ridiculous thing again in front of Ash.

The moment I shouted, we were out of the arena—

—and, to make it worse, Rovenin was right beside me.

This had to be a dream.

A nightmare.

[Ah, I get it! The one who wins the fight gets Ash!]

[That’s not it!]

I’d given up struggling and was just hanging limply over Ash’s shoulder.

I fully agreed we needed to get out of this area as soon as possible, because Rovenin had started looking at me like prey.

I’d just watched him crush the Count at a speed I could barely track. If you asked whether I was confident I could win against him right now, I couldn’t answer cleanly.

But I was very confident about one thing.

I wouldn’t lose when it came to having a bad temper.

I refused to back down and glared at him.

“Grrr……!”

[You bastard!]

“Krrr!”

[Can’t you wipe that look off your face!]

[Don’t translate!]

That makes me sound like an animal!

Normally Rai would be the one baring his teeth, but right now he’d turned into a snake and was hiding deep inside my clothes.

So the threatening was entirely my job.

I kept hissing at him viciously.

Just because I’m being carried like luggage doesn’t mean you get to look down on me.

Judging by the deep smile on his face, the threat wasn’t working at all.

Rovenin even looked… happy.

“Shall we fight?”

“Bring it on!”

“Both of you, stop!”

I kicked Rovenin as hard as I could. Ash kept stroking my back, probably telling me to endure it.

Rovenin was the only one enjoying this.

[Bite him! Master!]

I should add Rai too. That damn bastard who takes joy in his master’s misery.

<End of Season 1, to be continued in Season 2>

(T/N: Wooooooow. We made it! Finally, we can now pick up from the last chapter of the webtoon! Hurray!)