After hearing the whole story, Sierra clicked her tongue in disbelief.

“You’ve known each other for ten whole years, and you went through your entire time at the academy pretending not to know him? You’re unbelievable. Did you really have to go that far?”

She shook her head as though she couldn’t comprehend it.

Tislin gave an awkward smile.

But in truth…

It hadn’t been nearly as difficult as it sounded.

Classes at the Royal Academy were generally held by department.

Among all the departments, the Knight Department was especially isolated, with most of its classes and training conducted internally.

They rarely interacted with students from other departments.

On top of that, Damian belonged to the Royal Guard, so he was often dispatched outside the academy.

Monster subjugations.

Diplomatic missions.

Administration of occupied territories…

Those were only the assignments everyone knew about. There were surely many more that even Tislin didn’t know.

As a result, unless the Administrative Department and the Knight Department happened to share a required class, she almost never had a chance to run into him.

And those required classes?

There was only one each year.

First-year History.

Second-year Royal Etiquette.

And now, International Relations.

The problem was…

The first-year History course had ended before Damian transferred into the academy.

During the second-year Royal Etiquette course, Damian had been called away on Royal Guard business halfway through the semester and never returned before it ended.

So it wasn’t that Tislin had exhausted herself pretending not to know Damian.

To be precise…

She had never really needed to.

They simply didn’t meet very often.

Whenever they did happen to cross paths…

…she merely pretended she hadn’t seen him.

Admittedly, she had struggled to keep herself from instinctively looking his way.

But considering that even Sierra had never noticed, it hadn’t happened many times.

“Still, during vacations Adel would come all the way to Viera, so we stayed together at the Luxen residence. It’s not like we never saw each other.”

“Wait, wait.”

“The Grand Duchess came to Viera?”

“Then how come I never knew?”

“Because she never went anywhere.”

“That was one of His Grace’s conditions.”

The day Tislin’s admission to the Royal Academy was confirmed, Adelind cried for the entire day.

The Grand Duke had even quietly asked Tislin whether she truly had to enroll.

But once the admission had been decreed by royal order…

There was no way to refuse.

Then, in June, Damian enrolled in the Royal Academy as well.

That was the final straw.

Feeling as though the academy had stolen away the two people she loved most, Adelind declared she would follow them to Viera.

She even went on a hunger strike.

Eventually…

Her stubbornness won.

Naturally, she was still far too young to attend the academy.

Instead, during the academy’s vacations in January and July, she was allowed to stay briefly at the Grand Duke’s residence in the royal capital, Viera, so she could spend time with the two of them.

However…

Adelind’s safety came first.

She was forbidden from leaving the estate under any circumstances.

Likewise, Damian and Tislin’s visits to the Luxen residence were kept strictly confidential.

Though…

Anyone important enough probably knew anyway.

The important part was that only those people knew.

“Whew… If that rumor ever got out, all of Viera would lose its mind.”

“But it’s stayed quiet this whole time.”

“We’ve managed to keep it secret until now.”

“So if rumors suddenly start spreading…”

Tislin narrowed her eyes.

“…you’re the culprit.”

“Huh? I guess that would make me the culprit.”

“Oh, right.”

“So…”

“When did your crush actually begin?”

“Um…”

“It really wasn’t anything special.”

Muttering shyly, Tislin rested her cheek on her knees.

As a faint blush spread beneath her eyes and over the tips of her ears, Sierra stared at her in shock.

“What?”

“You’re actually embarrassed?”

“You asked first!”

Tislin threw a pillow at her before searching through her memories.

It had happened…

Exactly five years ago.

---

Damian Ksanov had gone to war against Parfanan at the age of only sixteen.

Ruled by the tyrant Hezra, Parfanan had once been known as a great empire.

Roughly fifty years earlier, Prince Hezra—already regarded as the greatest Magic Swordsman of his era—had murdered all of his brothers and seized the imperial throne while barely in his twenties.

At first…

He had been a brilliant conqueror.

Countless nations fell beneath Hezra’s sword.

Nearly a quarter of modern Parfanan had been conquered during the early years of his reign.

But everything changed after he lost his eldest son.

Hezra lost all interest in conquest.

Instead, he surrendered himself to luxury, indulgence, and merciless slaughter.

The once-overflowing imperial treasury emptied almost overnight.

His tyranny, however…

Knew no end.

Hezra appointed four dukes to rule the four corners of the empire.

They extracted everything possible from the lands under them.

Food.

Luxury goods.

Even human lives.

Among them…

The Duke who ruled southern Parfanan—known simply as the Southern Duke—was a Magic Swordsman said to rival even Hezra himself.

His personal strength alone was considered equal to three elite knight orders combined.

Even after Hezra abandoned conquest, the Southern Duke’s army fought endlessly against the nations bordering the south.

The anti-Parfanan alliance—formed by the Grand Duchy of Luxen, the Kingdom of Cassidy-Manorca, and numerous other nations—had failed to conquer even southern Parfanan for half a century.

Until that year.

Until a sixteen-year-old Magic Swordsman named Damian Ksanov cut off the Southern Duke’s head.

---

Luxen’s summers were cool.

The young knight beneath the helmet looked equally cool.

Tislin still remembered standing beside Adelind, holding tightly onto the little girl’s shoulders to stop her from running into the parade as they watched the victory procession.

The streets glittered with glory.

Flags danced in the wind.

Cheers echoed everywhere.

The air smelled of steel and flower petals.

Up until then…

Damian had simply been Adelind’s Damian.

Someone close…

Yet somehow distant.

She had never wanted to become any closer than they already were.

Like everyone else, Tislin had admired the delicate curve of his cheeks and the vivid blue eyes revealed beneath his slightly damp hair when he removed his helmet.

But…

That was all.

Or so she thought.

Everything changed…

Only half a day later.

---

After spending the entire day being congratulated and summoned from one person to another alongside the Grand Duke…

Damian finally arrived at Adelind’s drawing room that evening.

“Here.”

“A gift.”

As casually as if he had simply returned from a trip…

He held out two identical bracelets.

One for Adelind.

One for Tislin.

Each bracelet bore a Parfanan-style pendant inlaid with gold and agate.

The design itself was simple.

But the craftsmanship rivaled even the finest jewels in Countess Ermiz’s jewelry box.

“Wow! We have matching ones!”

“There’s one… for me too?”

Tislin blinked in surprise.

She hadn’t expected to receive anything herself.

The cool weight of the bracelet resting against her fingertips felt strangely unfamiliar.

The Grand Duke laughed heartily and teased Damian.

“You actually managed to find two matching bracelets in the middle of a battlefield.”

“There were two girls.”

Damian answered simply.

It wasn’t even directed at Tislin.

It was such an ordinary remark.

Yet…

Even now, Tislin couldn’t explain why those words alone had left such a deep mark on her heart.

“…Thank you.”

She whispered the words so quietly they were no louder than an ant’s footsteps.

Whether Damian heard her…

She never knew.

Her face had grown so hot that all she could think about was hiding it.

She had no room to pay attention to anyone else’s reaction.

---

---

“That’s it?”

“Seriously, that’s all?”

“This is Damian Ksanov we’re talking about!”

“He didn’t dramatically save you from danger or anything?”

“No.”

“Nothing like that.”

Sierra let out a disappointed sigh.

With names like Damian Ksanov and the Grand Duchess of Luxen involved, she had expected some incredible romance.

Instead…

The story turned out to be surprisingly ordinary.

The only real reward was seeing Tislin’s ears turn bright red.

She’s seriously this embarrassed?

She’s not calming down at all.

That alone was entertaining enough.

Sierra didn’t ask how things had escalated all the way to a confession.

There was no reason to reopen an old wound.

Besides…

Tislin’s engagement letter had revealed something Sierra herself had never known.

Damian Ksanov had actually been available for marriage.

Considering his legendary achievements and his guaranteed future as the Grand Duke of Luxen’s only disciple…

Why hadn’t marriage proposals flooded in?

The answer seemed obvious.

Because everyone assumed Lord Ksanov was going to marry Lady Adelind of Luxen.

The seven-year age difference meant nothing among nobles.

It made perfect sense.

The Grand Duke had lost Adelind’s parents early.

Naturally, everyone believed he had arranged for Damian—the boy who had practically grown up beside her—to become her future husband.

Even the extraordinary bond between two people with no blood relation seemed perfectly understandable under that assumption.

But…

That wasn’t the case.

The person presiding over Damian Ksanov’s engagement was none other than his master and liege, the Grand Duke of Luxen himself.

Which meant…

The Grand Duke had never intended to marry Damian to Adelind in the first place.

Someone might argue that this engagement was only a smokescreen…

That Damian would eventually marry the Grand Duchess later.

But if everyone already believed Damian and Adelind were destined to marry anyway…

Such an elaborate deception served no purpose.

There was no reason Count and Countess Ermiz would risk ruining their daughter’s reputation just to participate in such a scheme.

Unless something unexpected happened…

This engagement would almost certainly end in marriage.

It was a conclusion so surreal that Sierra couldn’t believe it.

My friend?

Marrying Damian Ksanov?

“So, Tislin…”

“What are you going to do?”

“What else?”

“…I’m going to break off the engagement.”

The cheeks that had been flushed pink moments earlier while talking about her long-time crush were now completely pale.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of excitement left.

She meant every word.

Tislin Ermiz had absolutely no intention of marrying the man she had loved in secret for the past five years.