Chapter 21

  Imagine The Fire

  This might be one of the few times in Princess Nora’s life she’s ever had to feel it—and precisely because she’s almost never felt it, the impact on her was tenfold compared to everyone else.

  Losing on points by a single sliver.

  Maybe it was the moment Rafinya flipped the match, or the strikes to her death points… whatever the cause, the result was set: Princess Nora lost by one point.

  A loss is a loss.

  Nora’s eyes were fixed and glassy. Even two days after the event, she was still in a daze. She couldn’t believe it had happened—yet it had… in the end.

  “Let it go. It’s just switching groups for the project.”

  The boy allowed into her quarters at will by special privilege—Dan—was trying to comfort her.

  “Mr.Fury… I…”

  On top of the tight ache in her chest, Nora was furious—furious in silence.

  No sacred healing could wash away a humiliation like this.

  “It’s done, Nora. Too late now. Talking won’t change it.”

  What Fury said was true, and that only made her feel worse.

  She shouldn’t have accepted the terms to begin with.

  But since she had… it was time to take responsibility.

  “Accept the consequences.”

  Nora’s expression dimmed…

  Fury wanted to help her.

  He had a hundred ways to cheat Rafinya blind, but when the “wife” had ordered him not to, would he defy her? Of course not.

  “Your Highness.”

  Roma, crouching and munching an apple, turned.

  “That brat did this to Lady Nora. Are we really not going to kill her?”

  “Your Highness…”

  Valencia raised a hand.

  “I… call… the right… to her arm…”

  “Are you stupid, you hag?”

  Freya smacked Valencia on the head.

  “We’re in the humans’ house. You can’t just make a scene like that. You kill them in their sleep.”

  Fury was too tired to scold them; he simply ignored the lot. He set a gentle hand on Nora’s shoulder and spoke to her.

  “Rest, Nora.”

  “Mr.Fury…”

  He gave her a soft smile, then turned to go.

  The royal guards rose and followed their lord out.

  Livramento nodded to Nora, then left last.

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  Nora clenched her fist, teeth grinding.

  A wide shot of the bedchamber—palatial, yet holding only her—and the quiet click of the closing door.

  The streets of Artheris.

  Dan Burn stood ringed by the four royal guards.

  Arms folded, eyes down.

  “Report.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  Roma went first.

  “I can move between here and Mathema as a traveler now. Politics in Mathema are tense. President Fofana just announced permission for our ships to pass their waters. There’s no small amount of backlash.”

  Fury nodded and flicked his fingers for the next.

  “I’m now registered as a bounty hunter in Velmount… Your Highness…”

  Valencia reported.

  “That easy?”

  “They… don’t check backgrounds… I showed what I can do… They were satisfied…”

  “Still judging by ability—same as ever.”

  Fury dropped his hand and pointed a warning.

  “But don’t show off. You’ll end up with a life as messy as mine.”

  “I understand… Your Highness…”

  “Be careful. Velmount draws people from everywhere. Even if you keep your true form, if they catch you off guard before you can change, you’re dead.”

  “I’ll be careful… Your Highness…”

  “As for Livramento, I know your status already. No need to speak. Spend your time studying human language.”

  Livramento nodded.

  “But I have a task for you.”

  Fury ordered him.

  “Remember that man from twenty years ago?”

  Livramento nodded.

  “Find anyone connected to him who’s still around. I want to know where they are.”

  Livramento accepted the order with a bow.

  “Go.”

  The three guards scattered at once.

  Only Zeedee remained with the prince.

  “Your Highness,” Zeedee asked as they walked back, “you’re really going to stay with that hot-headed girl? What about your mission?”

  “I’ll wrap up the Rafinya matter fast. Two days at most.”

  He said it plainly.

  “Go in, say hello, say no, and take my leave. Easy.”

  Zeedee nodded, not entirely convinced…

  Rafinya’s dorm room.

  Two days had passed, true—

  But Rafinya’s condition hadn’t recovered nearly as fast as Princess Nora Ophilis’s.

  She was running a high fever, bedridden, barely able to move, breathing hard and in pain, her skin slick with sweat along face, neck, and shoulders—the damp smell carried even at a distance.

  Fortunately, she had a good roommate, so Rafinya didn’t have to strain herself with daily tasks.

  Why? Simple.

  She’d pushed her body into a state of extreme heat—thousands of degrees—from the Pauli family’s combat augmentation, then been flash-frozen by Princess Nora’s level-8 black ice. Scalding—freezing—scalding—freezing, back and forth. Her system went into shock.

  That she didn’t die right there in the arena was luck itself.

  No one but Rafinya could answer whether being called “winner” had been worth the aftermath.

  Even so…

  As she lay half-dead, fighting the fever with one arm flung over her eyes… Rafinya’s other hand clenched into a fist.

  No. This isn’t it. This feeling isn’t it.

  Fine—she now understood perfectly how Princess Nora’s ice could smash her to pieces, fracture bone—

  But this… was nothing compared to when Dan Burn’s punch launched her off the platform into a colonnade.

  In that instant, under a power she’d never felt before, she genuinely thought she might die.

  The last time she’d felt anything like it was at eleven—only her father had ever made her feel fear in a duel.

  But this had been a bare fist… and still, Rafinya felt it.

  And then there was that image seared into her mind—him glaring, biting down until the practice blade shattered between his teeth…

  Gooseflesh rippled over her.

  And at the same time—

  She thrilled.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  “…”

  Her roommate, working at her desk, got up to check the peephole… and opened the door to a maid from the women’s dorm.

  Rafinya didn’t care at first… but then—

  Her roommate’s face drained. She turned.

  “Rafinya… the maid says… someone’s here to see you…”

  Rafinya exhaled long, forcing her feverish head toward the doorway.

  “……Who?”

  “Dan.”

  !

  Her eyes opened; the arm slid from her face.

  “Male students aren’t allowed up here… and you’re in no shape to go down. What should we—”

  “I’ll go.”

  Rafinya jerked upright—and the spike of fever yanked her straight back onto the mattress.

  “—ngh!”

  “Don’t, Rafinya!”

  Her roommate rushed in, alarmed. The fever was bad enough that even two or three steps could be dangerous.

  “You need to stay put…”

  “I’m going down!”

  “…”

  The roommate looked to the maid.

  “If it were a special case, could he come up… Miss Ribbon?”

  “By regulation, no…”

  the dorm maid said.

  But taking in the pitiful sight of a girl trying to crawl to the door—

  “…But… if she’s under Lady Maximin’s care, a strict ten minutes could be… overlooked.”

  That bit of kindness—

  Let Dan, waiting casually downstairs, be summoned up.

  “Pardon? Isn’t that against the rules?”

  “For ten minutes, we can look the other way… and she’s unwell.”

  “…”

  Dan nodded lightly.

  He followed the maid up to a lovely carved golden door, nameplate reading Rafinya and her roommate—Department of Magical Engineering.

  Knock, knock.

  The door opened. Dan nodded to Rafinya’s roommate.

  “Hello.”

  “Y-Yes…”

  “May I?”

  “Nods Yes.”

  He stepped inside—only for the roommate to slip out to wait in the hall.

  “…You won’t come in too?”

  “Um… it’s probably better if you two talk in private…”

  The tone was anxious…

  Likely she’d witnessed the chase that day.

  “Shouldn’t a maid or a third party be present? For, you know, safety?”

  “That’s for normal people.”

  “Oh… right.”

  Dan nodded, then—

  “Wait—what’s that supposed to mean?”

  Thud!

  He’d been dropped into the den alone…

  The boy moved past the study desk and the bath. The room smelled of clean, floral soap—the hallmark of the women’s dorm—and as he turned the corner, there she was.

  Seated on the bed, trying her best to look composed,

  though the flushed, clammy sheen of her skin didn’t lie.