ELSML 04

Chapter 4

From there, I immediately ran straight to the guild.

This place didn’t have fixed business hours. I had been holding myself back from coming here since dawn yesterday. The streets here weren’t exactly safe at night. I couldn’t afford to do something dangerous just because I was looking for him.

Jingle.

I pushed the door open roughly and stepped inside, slamming both hands onto the counter.

“Oh my, Milena! What happened to your eyes? You didn’t sleep at all?”

The staff at the counter looked at me in surprise. I could no longer even hide my urgency.

“Kaiser didn’t come back yesterday. Do you know where he is? He left for a mission and hasn’t returned since. I’m wondering if the job was delayed or if something happened there… or maybe there was a problem…”

“We haven’t heard anything. Hmm… maybe he got a woman?”

The staff member said it casually.

In the mercenary world, people disappearing wasn’t uncommon. That’s why she could say it so calmly. But Kaiser was not originally a mercenary!

“He can’t even talk to women properly!”

The only words he could speak in this country were things like “rice,” “hungry,” “hello,” and “goodbye.”

I had taught him the most essential words first. If you want to survive, you at least need to be able to say you’re hungry.

But none of those words were romantic. There was no way he could seduce a woman with that.

The staff member flinched slightly.

“Well, I mean… sometimes looks do the talking. Isn’t that how men and women usually are?”

“Kaiser is a clean freak.”

“Oh. I didn’t know that.”

He hated even the slightest contact with strangers. In the original story, that trait caused many misunderstandings. Even the heroine had been involved with him because of it. The original timeline hadn’t even properly started yet, but that personality was still the same. He still hated dirty environments the most.

Even here, he was enduring life by suppressing himself—but his nature hadn’t changed.

Sleep with a stranger overnight?

Impossible.

And above all, he wasn’t the type to disappear without a word knowing I would worry.

Even if his face was a weapon, he wasn’t someone who would use it like one. He was upright and principled.

“For now, we haven’t received any reports. He didn’t come back all night either.”

“Ha… can I see the request he took yesterday again?”

“You’re going to look for him? If something happened, you might get involved too. I don’t recommend it.”

“I still need to find him. Just give it to me.”

The staff member hesitated, then pulled out Kaiser’s request from the shelf and handed it over.

It was exactly the same one I had chosen yesterday. Something he could handle easily. Something must have gone wrong there.

“This is it. I need to get a carriage or a horse right away.”

“What if Kaiser is injured?”

“Then I’ll bring him back and treat him somehow.”

“You two seem very close. Didn’t you say you weren’t related?”

“Yes. Let’s talk about that later. I need to find Kaiser first. Thank you!”

I grabbed the request and rushed out of the guild. I planned to hire a carriage immediately.

I glanced toward where the carriage drivers gathered—and then one stopped right in front of me.

I lifted my head at a strange feeling of pull—

“…Oh my god, Kaiser!!”

Kaiser stepped down from the carriage.

My heart dropped.

He looked at me with a tired face. Without thinking, I grabbed his wrist.

I had apparently been terrified the entire time he hadn’t returned. Tears almost came out from relief.

He was back.

I was not alone in this unfamiliar continent. Kaiser was still by my side.

Only now did I realize it. I was truly lucky not to be alone here. His presence in my life had become far more important than I thought.

I took a breath and burst out,

“Where on earth were you all night? Were you still on the mission? Was the wyvern hunt that difficult?”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what?”

“…That driver misunderstood the directions. I clearly said to go right, but he went left. So I wandered around all night until now.”

“…What?”

For a moment, I felt like my head was going to explode.

So he had been dragged around unfairly the entire time? Wandering the streets all night?

I held my breath—and then shouted, mixed with frustration and relief.

“Don’t you know body language?! You could’ve just pointed left or right!”

“…Are you angry at me right now?”

The cold, indifferent man looked at me with wounded eyes.

And the moment I saw that, all my strength drained away.

Right. He must have been scared too. He was lost, couldn’t communicate, and had no way to return. It must have been terrifying. He almost became a wandering stranger in this world.

My anger disappeared completely. Only frustration and worry remained.

I sighed deeply.

“No… I’m not angry. I’m just frustrated.”

Kaiser looked at me with a resentful expression, then turned his head away sharply.

Right, I told you to learn more words. Why are you still stuck like this? In the novel, he was supposed to be smart and quick to learn. Where did that male lead go?

Ha. Seriously, when are we going home?

Afterwards

We ended up walking home while still sulking at each other.

A sigh naturally escaped me.

Honestly, the moment I saw Kaiser, I should have asked first if he was okay or injured.

All night, I had been tormented by images of him getting horribly hurt.

That distant fear of being left alone in this vast, harsh continent—Kaiser would never know it.

I had spent the night staring at the closed door, imagining being left alone in the house.

Even though it was much smaller than my mansion in the Luikaron Empire, it had felt enormous. The sofa where Kaiser always sat had been empty.

Realizing I was truly alone, I waited for him.

It was a night where I missed my family more than usual, and even the people in Luikaron who might be looking for me.

Breaking the silence that didn’t suit us, Kaiser spoke first.

“…I’m sorry for making you worry. I didn’t mean to, but that’s how it ended up.”

Now that I heard an apology, I couldn’t stay sulking.

And honestly, I wasn’t even that angry anymore. I was just a little upset—and very worried. Compared to me, Kaiser must have suffered more wandering around lost here.

“…I’m sorry too, Your Grace. I wasn’t trying to be angry. I just… got emotional when I saw you. I couldn’t sleep at all waiting for you.”

“I clearly explained it properly, but the carriage kept going to strange places.”

Kaiser’s gaze darkened.

He was someone with a good sense of direction. Being dragged along a wrong route must have been frightening for him.

Even for him—cold and composed as he was—there was no way to erase that helplessness completely.

“That must have been scary,” I said.

Kaiser gave a bitter smile.

His quiet acceptance without denial only made my chest feel heavier.