After Putting the Slayer of the Night to Sleep, I Ran Away - Chapter 84

Ayla appeared through the opened doorway.

She smiled brightly when she saw Leo and opened the door wider.

“I heard you were in a meeting, is it over now?”

“Yes. Did you enjoy the art festival?”

“Yes! I even found an artist to sponsor! And they’re from Eisenfelt!”

Leo smiled at her, who was speaking proudly with a pleased expression, then took her hand and led her into the room.

“I have something to talk about.”

“Talk about?”

Leo sat her down on the couch and settled down opposite her.

Seeing her eyes sparkling with curiosity about what he wanted to talk about, he felt a strange sense of unease.

Where should he start?

By asking what he talked about with his uncle?

Or by telling her that he had to leave for an expedition as soon as he left this room?

After a moment of deliberation, Leo made up his mind and opened his mouth.

“I heard my uncle was waiting for you.”

“Ah!”

“May I ask what you talked about?”

A troubled look crossed Ayla’s blue eyes.

After hesitating for a moment, she lowered her gaze, bit her lip, and then looked back at him and answered.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you.”

Her tone was firm, mixed with apology.

Leo felt a moment of disappointment.

Was it that he had believed that Ayla would tell him everything?

He belatedly realized that they couldn’t share everything, and he knew that he also hadn’t told her everything. Still, he felt hurt that she was so firm in saying she couldn’t tell him.

“…I see.”

So no words came out.

No question of why.

No retort that she didn’t trust him.

He couldn’t bring himself to say any of it.

“I’m sorry! I don’t want to keep secrets from you, but it’s not something I can say.”

Ayla explained the situation with much apology, but Leo didn’t want to hear anything.

This was also quite a new feeling.

He had vaguely thought about it, but he didn’t have the energy to think about it deeply.

“It’s okay. There may be things you can’t say.”

Leo, pretending to be okay, got up from his seat.

He looked at Ayla, who was looking up at him in confusion, and delivered the remaining words.

“A gate has appeared in the Trazen Mountains. I think I need to go, so I’m about to leave for an expedition.”

“An expedition?”

“Yes. I don’t know when it will burst, so I have to leave right away.”

“Now?”

Surprised, she got up as well.

Leo shook his head and said to her.

“It’s nothing serious, so you don’t have to come out. Expeditions are always happening in the North.”

“But…”

“It will take a few days. The Count will remain, so talk to him if you have any difficulties.”

Leo turned away, turning his back on her, who was confused.

He could feel Ayla hurrying after him from behind.

His head told him that this wasn’t right, but his heart, already hurt, wouldn’t follow.

“Leo, wait a moment.”

He heard Ayla’s voice calling him from behind, but Leo didn’t turn around.

He closed the door as if to block her from following, and quickly moved away from the mansion.

The Knights, ready for the expedition, were waiting for him at the entrance.

As Leo jumped onto his horse and took the reins, Dex asked with a puzzled look.

“What, why are you coming out alone? Where’s the Princess?”

“I told her not to come out.”

“She’s not coming out even if you told her not to? It’s an expedition, not something else?”

Dex frowned as if he couldn’t understand, and Leo sighed and added an explanation.

“I shook her off when she tried to follow. Don’t say anything more.”

“No, why? She should come out and cheer on the knights. Huh? Morale rises when she sees them off. It also solidifies the Princess’s position.”

“…”

He hadn’t thought of that part.

Only then did Leo think that he had gone too far, but then he grumbled under his breath, thinking that Ayla was the one who had gone too far.

“That’s right, why make something you can’t talk about?”

Dex’s eyes narrowed at the sincerity that came out without him realizing it.

He had just heard about what had happened from Ian, who had been badgering him because of his worried expression.

‘I don’t know what it is, but it looks like he asked and she didn’t tell him?’

Dex, who quickly grasped the situation, chuckled and grabbed the reins of his horse.

“So you’re sulking?”

“…What?”

“He’s sulking, he’s sulking. So he’s going on an expedition as if he’s just informing her. Isn’t he just running away after saying it? He ran away so the Princess couldn’t see him off, huh.”

“…Nonsense.”

Leo frowned and dismissed it.

But Dex didn’t care and teased him, chuckling.

“What nonsense. I’ve lived to see you sulk.”

“What’s this crazy guy saying?”

“I never thought it would happen. You must be head over heels for the Princess. Right?”

Leo, who was frowning deeply, kicked his horse’s side, following Dex, who was laughing loudly and turning his horse’s head.

Then, he glanced up at the mansion window and saw Ayla looking down at him.

“…”

Seeing her worried expression, his hurt feelings were washed away in an instant.

Leo looked up at her for a moment, then nodded slightly and turned his horse’s head.

It was just another expedition, but today his body felt heavy.

‘…I don’t want to go.’

Leo, who found the reason after a long time, laughed and increased the speed of his horse.

Then, he recalled what Dex had said and wondered if he was really sulking.

‘…I guess so.’

Because he was upset that she was keeping secrets from him.

So he wanted her to feel upset because of him?

I’m this upset, so I want you to be upset because of me too.

‘How pathetic.’

Only then did he let out a self-deprecating laugh and vowed as he rode ahead of the group.

He had to finish the job quickly and return as soon as possible.

And then…

‘I have to be honest.’

About his feelings. About his curse.

Without exception, he had to be honest about everything.

“…Please come back safely.”

Ayla watched Leo’s receding figure through the window and offered a greeting she couldn’t deliver.

His figure, leaving as if running away, seemed to linger before her eyes, as if he was upset that she had kept the matter with Alexander a secret.

“Should I have told him.”

Regret washed over her belatedly.

He wouldn’t change his attitude just because he knew about it.

He wouldn’t use that information to plot any schemes.

Still, how could she say with her own mouth that Edward was actually Alexander’s son?

She just didn’t want to tell him hurtful things with her own mouth.

It wasn’t because she didn’t trust him.

“Was he disappointed in me…?”

Remembering Leo’s unusually stern expression, one side of her chest ached as if it was being squeezed.

If she had known in advance that he was going on an expedition.

Would she have answered differently then?

Ayla followed Leo’s direction, now invisible, with her heart and thought to herself.

She had to explain it properly when he came back.

So somehow, safely. And she hoped he would come back soon.

Beside her, the cat Night was also looking out the window for a long time.

“Leo went on an expedition?”

Friedrich, who was preparing to announce the contents of the Crown Prince Competition, narrowed his brow at the news he had just received.

“Yes, Your Majesty. He left on an expedition last night.”

“…Is the situation so urgent that the Prince himself has to go?”

“I heard that one gate is the problem. A gate the size of the one that happened decades ago.”

“…The consecration ceremony is soon.”

Friedrich let out a worried sigh and leaned back in his chair.

Then, after much deliberation, he ordered the modification of the announcement.

“I will change the first competition’s event to monster subjugation. Order Edward to form a knight order and join him.”

Now was also an appropriate time, as the relevant content had already been reported in the Imperial Newspaper.

“Edward needs to experience monsters directly.”

Still, if he sent him with the Imperial Knights, which were composed only of elites, he wouldn’t be a burden.

It would be a small help to Leo, and a good opportunity for Edward.

There was a big difference between knowing and preparing for something and not knowing and preparing for it when dealing with a task.

‘After all, the goal was to have Leo win the first competition.’

In the first place, there were two reasons why Friedrich decided on the Crown Prince Competition.

The first was to give him the opportunity to think and choose as the ‘First Prince’ that he had been deprived of.

The second was to give Edward, who had always won, the opportunity to learn ‘how to lose well’ and to think about what kind of king he would become as a result.

That was what Friedrich thought was his duty and responsibility as a father.

“…Please come back safely.”

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