Chapter 179

“Are you alright?”

Karmen asked cautiously, his eyes flitting over Siervian’s face. The sight of Siervian’s perpetually bitten lip was more than a little disconcerting.

Feeling a pang of guilt for possibly taking her anger out on Karmen, Siervian let out a weak sigh and replied, “I’m okay. Sorry.”

Thus, several days had passed since the so-called ‘I hate Dad incident.’

Siervian was mortified by the name of the incident, which Ellie had relayed with barely suppressed laughter, but it was already irreversible. Rumors had already spread throughout the Imperial Palace that the princess had run out of the Emperor’s Palace, shouting, “Dad, I hate you!”

“Then shall we go?”

“Yeah.”

Taking Karmen’s hand, which he politely offered to her, Siervian was overcome with a strange feeling.

‘When did Karmen’s hand get so big?’

He used to be a child like her, but now his hand was becoming a man’s hand with prominent knuckles.

“Why?”

“Um, nothing.”

Siervian, who had been unconsciously stroking his hand as if in a daze, shook her head in surprise. She felt Karmen raising his eyebrows and observing her because of her strange behavior.

“Ahem. Today is the eastern city, right?”

Siervian quickly turned her head away, feeling unaccountably embarrassed.

“Yeah.”

Karmen’s voice was strangely very low.

She looked back, wondering if something was wrong, but all that remained was the flickering trace of the status window that had already disappeared.

‘Was Karmen’s voice always this low?’

A strange feeling kept coming and going in Siervian.

As she stared blankly at Karmen’s beautiful lips again, Karmen, who had been escorting Siervian, suddenly stopped walking.

“You’re acting strange today.”

“Uh, yeah?”

Suddenly, Karmen’s face came closer. It was so close that she could see his platinum eyelashes strand by strand.

Siervian froze in surprise.

However, Karmen only put his free hand on her forehead.

“You don’t have a fever… If you’re tired, go inside and rest. You can call Damian.”

“No!”

The surprise that had startled her quickly disappeared with the following suggestion.

It was because Siervian remembered the reason she had come out to the magic circle patrol.

Her father had sent another message asking her to wait until more guards were added, but she had sent a reply saying no.

She refused to take the guards with her.

‘The guards are already twice as many as last time!’

Once she thought that her father’s actions were excessive, her anger continued.

Perhaps her father didn’t believe Siervian’s claim that nothing had happened when the mana storm occurred in her previous life.

Reason told her that she didn’t need to act like this, but the effect of the status abnormality was tremendous.

‘Why do I keep feeling so upset?’

She knew that her father was naturally like that.

Even though she had the ability of the status window so that she wouldn’t misunderstand her father’s intentions.

Even this time, her father never told her that he was worried about Siervian when he increased the number of guards.

‘I’m upset because he didn’t tell me.’

Siervian straightened her head, unconsciously ruffling the hem of her dress.

“Let’s go!”

“…Yeah.”

Karmen had been watching Siervian closely all day and now took another step forward.

“I called the carriage in advance.”

“Yeah.”

A luxurious carriage with the Imperial emblem clearly engraved on it was waiting in front of the Princess’ Palace.

As she got into the carriage with Karmen’s polite escort again, Siervian felt a smile creep over her face.

‘Karmen, you’ve learned a lot of etiquette.’

It was true that he was studying hard, and now even Siervian couldn’t find fault with him.

‘He was popular with the younger children…’

As she was thinking about Karmen’s popularity, which she had witnessed at the table hopping meeting, she suddenly felt strange.

However, it wasn’t the first or second time that Siervian had felt strange lately, so she didn’t pay much attention to it.

“We have to go around the magic circles of two cities today and come back, so the schedule is going to be tight.”

“Yes. Both of them are magic circles that we’re going to for the first time this year, right?”

“Yeah. It’s Anduham and Tiham city. It’s strange that there hasn’t been a request, but I guess they’ll just do it when the time comes.”

Siervian tilted her head at Karmen’s guess.

The two cities were among the first to observe the magic circles after the truth about Harmin tea was revealed.

This was because they were large cities located in the eastern part of the Empire.

“Yeah?”

“Why? Is there something wrong?”

“No. It’s just that usually, everyone contacts us first because they’re worried that something might be wrong with the magic circle.”

The magic circle itself was solid. It was a mere formality for the Imperial Family to inspect it in person.

Even though she had explained this fact sufficiently, the cities were strangely quiet.

‘Maybe they think that the Emperor can threaten the safety of the city at any time using the magic circle as an excuse to strengthen his imperial power.’

In fact, her father’s imperial power was now so strong that it was said to be on par with the first emperor.

It was said that it was a means to efficiently govern each city.

‘It’s certainly true that Marco is deeply involved in each city, so it’s easy to gather rumors.’

Anyway, it was strange that the cities were so quiet even though it was their turn to patrol the magic circles.

“Maybe it’s the result of all the hard work you’ve done over the years.”

“What?”

“They can choose to believe in the royal family without being swayed by useless rumors.”

Karmen had witnessed Siervian’s efforts more closely than anyone else.

Her heart swelled with pride every time she was recognized like this.

‘As expected, I can’t just leave something dangerous alone!’

Although her emotions had become more volatile, it was not often that she was as energetic as she was today.

With a mischievous smile, Siervian rested her head on Karmen’s shoulder.

“Thank you.”

“….”

Instead of a reply, Karmen’s body stiffened.

Siervian tilted her head in wonder at the strange reaction she clearly felt.

“…Go to sleep if you’re sleepy.”

A very low voice, just like before, flowed out.

Following Karmen’s reaction, as if he were struggling to squeeze it out, a strange status window popped up.

[Karmen Kasselov]
Thoughts: Don’t tell her to get off. Close your mouth carefully, close your mouth carefully.

‘Is he watching my mood because I’m not feeling well today?’

Although she was puzzled, Siervian leaned her head on his shoulder again.

The carriage they were riding in was specially made for Siervian by her father.

The interior of the carriage was quiet because it was under an excessive stability spell that made it impossible to tell if the carriage was even moving.

‘I didn’t think it would be good, but I’m sleepy….’

Last night, she couldn’t sleep because she was worried about her reflection in the mirror.

It was because she still looked childish, even though it was a face she saw every day.

‘I want to be an adult soon.’

As she leaned against Karmen’s strong shoulder, that thought grew even stronger.

It was because she was envious of Karmen, who was three years older than her and seemed to be an adult first.

With such pubescent worries, Siervian fell into a deep sleep.

“…Siervian. Wake up.”

“Huh?”

Much later, when Karmen woke her up, she was surprised to find that they had already arrived at their destination, the city of Anduham.

“Uh…?”

“We’re here.”

She felt dizzy as she raised her body from her leaning position.

But what surprised her even more was Karmen, who had been her pillow throughout the carriage ride with a straight posture.

‘I shouldn’t have slept for so long!’

She was embarrassed because she thought her sleeping face must have been very funny.

“Thank you. It must have been hard.”

“It’s okay.”

Karmen turned his head away as if it were nothing.

[Karmen Kasselov]
Favorability: +100

However, the status window approached Siervian as if it were being offered to her, in stark contrast to his words.

‘…What?’

There was a sound from outside the carriage where they had arrived.

Siervian quickly adjusted her clothes and got out of the carriage with Karmen.

As soon as they left the carriage, they could see the long mountain range behind the city’s huge walls.

‘That’s the Hakan Mountains.’

Surprisingly, it was easier to get to the southern continent from the eastern part of the empire.

This was because the Hakan Mountains, located in the east, stretched all the way to the south, grazing the eastern forest.

The mountains were unusually formed with a deep and wide valley in the middle.

‘I want to see the valley later.’

She could reach the southern continent by following the bottom of the valley without having to climb the mountains.

Although it was difficult to use during the rainy season due to the terrain, the fact that large wagons could pass through was a great advantage.

‘Now, even the grain from Navafal will come here.’

In the end, their excuse that they were worried about the grain spoiling if they used the eastern forest as a trade route was a lie.

Now, they had almost cut off Navafal’s grain imports, but thanks to this, the Hakan Mountains had become even more important.

It was a good passage for transport with not only Navafal, but also many kingdoms located on the way to the south.

“Huh? We’re still outside the walls?”

“Um….”

Siervian had been dazedly looking at the scenery of the mountains because she hadn’t fully woken up and finally came to her senses.

She thought they had already entered the city and arrived in front of the lord’s castle after the carriage had entered the city. However, her party was still in front of the city wall outside the city.

“Your Highness. There’s a problem.”

“A problem?”

One of the mages who had accompanied them approached and spoke.

It was a senior mage who had worked with her before.

“That’s….”

However, the senior mage’s face contorted in embarrassment as if he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Just as she was about to check his status window to see what was going on…

“Oh! How dare you impersonate the princess!”

“Insolent! How dare you insult Her Highness by calling her an impersonator! Kneel before me at once!”

The guards on the city wall were holding the city gate closed and resisting.

The guards, who dared to insult the sovereign they served, were rebuked by one of the knights who thought it was an insult to Her Highness.

However, the guard stood tall and shouted bravely at the knight with a sharp gaze.

“The kind and beautiful Princess, Her Highness, has already visited a few days ago!”

As if he had no doubt in his own words.

‘Huh…?’

She encountered an unexpected situation during her casual magic circle patrol.

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