"Liana.

It’s been a while."

With his usual flamboyance that made it seem as if roses were blooming behind him, Crown Prince Gent Kajin smiled.

His shimmering blond hair, blue eyes, and beautifully refined features made him look exactly like a prince out of a fairy tale.

"It has been some time, Your Highness Gent."

Liana gave a simplified bow.

Since she never knew when she might be ordered out on a subjugation, Liana usually wore a shirt and trousers like the male clerks rather than a dress.

In such attire, she could not perform a formal court bow.

Gent pulled Carla closer, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her cheek.

Carla, as if she had left her usual malice somewhere else, blushed sweetly and buried her face against Gent’s shoulder.

"My, haven’t you lost some weight?

If you serve at the palace, you should pay more attention to your appearance.

I won’t go so far as to demand that you become as beautiful as Carla, of course, but shouldn’t you at least make an effort?"

"…Yes."

Liana felt her face threaten to twitch at the sheer skill with which he flirted with his fiancée while insulting her, but she forced herself to remain expressionless.

"Now then.

I actually wanted to give you a bit of advice today, Liana."

"Advice?"

Liana frowned.

Advice from this incompetent crown prince could only mean trouble.

"Yes.

You see, I heard from Carla.

Apparently, Liana, you once refused to help with Carla’s duties even though she was injured?"

Still smiling, Gent tilted his head as if looking at a troublesome child.

"That won’t do, Liana.

Carla will one day become crown princess.

She may be an excellent mage, but her body is as precious as that of royalty itself.

You retainers exist to support her, you know?

Just because Carla is capable doesn’t mean you should rely on her too much.

Even if you were friends at the academy, you must not forget your proper duty as a subordinate."

In a gently admonishing tone, Gent lectured Liana.

Liana silently lowered her gaze.

"…I apologize."

"I’m glad you understand, Liana.

I want you all to get along.

After I marry Carla in the future, I can’t make you a consort, but if you work harder than you do now, I could at least make you a concubine.

As an orphaned commoner like you, you won’t have any decent marriage prospects anyway.

Out of consideration for our days as classmates, I’ll allow you to occupy a small place in my harem.

That sounds good, doesn’t it?

Carla?"

When Gent turned his gaze toward her, Carla nodded gracefully.

"Yes.

If that girl understands her position properly, then I suppose I can tolerate it, even if she is a commoner orphan."

Carla might have thought she was being magnanimous, but the eyes she turned on Liana were filled with hatred.

Sharing Gent’s favor was something she clearly could not truly tolerate.

"And if I fail to produce greater results than I do now?"

Liana asked in a trembling voice, making herself look anxious.

"Well…

If you achieve nothing, then a commoner like you has no value.

You wouldn’t be suitable for my harem.

Continuing as a clerk would likely be impossible as well."

Gent smiled gently and softly patted Liana’s head.

"It’s all right, Liana.

You just need to work harder than before and prove that you are useful to me.

You’ll do your best for my sake, won’t you?

I know you can."

Keeping her expression dark, Liana bowed and left the room.

Behind her, Carla followed.

"Wait, you lowly commoner."

She called out in a cold voice.

When Liana stopped and bowed deeply, Carla roughly struck her shoulder with her fan.

Liana involuntarily held her breath.

"Do you understand your place now?

You are only allowed to remain in the palace thanks to the kindness of Lord Gent.

You may want to believe the fairy tale that you are loved by him, but you should face reality."

Carla tossed her luxurious black hair over her shoulder and twisted her face into a smile.

"A vulgar commoner like you is destined to be discarded once Lord Gent grows tired of you.

For now, you should cling desperately to his charity."

Liana silently bowed to Carla as she returned to Gent’s office.

After walking for a while and confirming that no one was around, Liana let out a breath and muttered flatly.

"No, seriously, try looking at my face instead of my chest at least once."

Recalling how Gent’s eyes had never left her chest, Liana rubbed her arms, which had broken out in goosebumps.

Carla’s blow had felt no stronger than a kitten’s punch to Liana.

Rather, the crown prince’s damp, snake-like gaze had been far more mentally distressing.

Even if he was the crown prince, she genuinely could not understand Carla’s taste in liking such a vulgar man.

What was appealing about him?

His face?

His face and his status?

After work ended and she returned to the dormitory, Liana informed the dorm manager that she would be moving out the next day.

The manager said that the prepaid month’s dorm fee could not be refunded and told her to vacate the room first thing in the morning.

Aside from Liana, only a handful of servants and low-ranking commoner soldiers lived in the run-down, cramped dormitory.

Drafts were constant, rats and insects were common, and the food was both bad and scarce.

Only those who were truly poor and lived far away stayed there.

Living anywhere else in the capital would offer a far better quality of life.

That night, Liana gathered her few belongings and placed them into a storage pouch she had made herself.

The small pouch, about the size of a canteen and worn at the waist, contained a storage magic circle Liana had developed, granting it a hundred times its normal capacity.

Living things could not be stored inside, but if slain magical beasts were placed in it together with an ice magic stone, they could be preserved in good condition, making it extremely useful.

Liana carefully stored the money she had slowly saved up in the pouch and went to bed excited about her departure the next day.

The next two days were originally scheduled days off, so no one would find it strange even if she did not come to work.

That bought her time.

With a gentle smile, Liana pulled the thin blanket over herself and fell asleep.

The next morning, Liana left her room as soon as the sun rose.

After returning the key to the dorm manager, she received a hard loaf of bread as a substitute for breakfast and hurriedly left the dormitory.

Leaving the palace and descending into the royal capital, Liana headed straight for the adventurers’ guild.

Dalkas had advised her to get an identification card made there.

At first, the overly cautious Dalkas had insisted on changing his plans and accompanying Liana to the Dawn Empire.

He had suggested waiting in an inn in the city until her resignation was complete and she had vacated the dormitory.

However, knowing that he was in the middle of an escort job taken on with his companions and needed to hurry after them, Liana had politely refused.

She was not a small child needing an escort, and there was no guarantee she could resign smoothly, so she eventually persuaded him to head to the Dawn Empire first.

Dalkas gave her detailed instructions, including his home address, the location of the adventurers’ guild in the city of Yank, and to go to a church if she got lost.

When they parted, he kept looking back at her again and again as he returned to the Dawn Empire.

It was the first time anyone had worried about her so much, and Liana felt a ticklish happiness the entire time.

Following Dalkas’s advice, Liana created an identification card at the adventurers’ guild.

As an orphaned commoner who had never possessed any form of ID, she had been half skeptical that it was even possible.

But all she had to do was write her name, age, and place of origin on an application form and place a single drop of blood on a mana-registration crystal inside the guild.

It was created with surprising ease.

The adventurers’ guild was not a state institution but an independent organization spanning multiple countries.

It protected the rights of adventurers while also strictly regulating them.

That strictness applied to punishing adventurers who committed crimes, not to unjustly harming them.

For the first time in her life, Liana was treated not as an orphan or a commoner, but as an individual adventurer.

The reason adventurers were not very active in the Kingdom of Kajin seemed to stem from the country’s closed and authoritarian atmosphere.

The guild receptionist gave a wry smile and said that Kajin disliked outsiders, making things uncomfortable for them.

After finishing her registration, Liana suppressed her impatience and walked through the capital as naturally as she could.

Passing the familiar streets, she followed along the outer wall surrounding the capital and exited through a large gate.

Fields spread out beyond the gate, and farther on, a dense forest would come into view.

She walked along the road so as not to draw the attention of the people working in the fields.

Gradually, the number of people dwindled, and by the time she reached the forest entrance, there was no one in sight.

If she passed through the forest, she should be able to reach the Dawn Empire by the shortest route.

Of course, magical beasts roamed the forest.

Once past the forest’s midpoint, she would be outside the barrier, and their numbers would increase even more.

However, Liana was confident she could pass through alone.

She had entered forests alone many times for work and had grown up with the mistaken belief that magical beasts were meant to be hunted solo.

The shock she felt when Dalkas told her that even adventurers hunted salamanders in teams had been immense.

When she told him about the terror of fighting while her left side was badly burned, her left eye blinded, and desperately casting healing magic, Dalkas had burst into tears.

Part of her reason for choosing the forest was her eagerness to reach the Dawn Empire quickly.

Another was her concern that if she took the road and moved slowly, pursuers from the Kingdom of Kajin might catch up to her.

Liana was still somewhat skeptical, but since Dalkas had warned her to be careful, she decided to take the best precautions she could.

Dalkas did not know she intended to cross the forest alone, and if he had, he would have stopped her without question.

That was why she deliberately did not tell him this plan.

"Well then.

Let’s go."

Unlike the times she had entered the forest reluctantly for work, Liana looked up at it with an excited heart.

Thinking that hunting a tasty magical beast might make a good souvenir for Dalkas, she stepped into the forest in high spirits.

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