Chapter 137

Kyle’s index finger and thumb were tightly gripping the edge of my sleeve.

He was still talking to the nobles without even looking in my direction.

What is with him? Why is he holding on to me?

“...Kyle?”

Flustered, I ended up calling his name louder than I meant to.

“It was a pleasure speaking with you. If the opportunity arises, let us greet each other again.”

Abruptly cutting off the conversation, he naturally shifted the hand that had been holding my sleeve and closed it around my wrist.

“......?”

When someone as tall and massive as Kyle started moving, the people around us naturally made way.

I could feel Rowan’s gaze following us from where he had been waiting for me near the wall, but that was all.

Pulled along by a careful yet powerful grip, I followed behind Kyle.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere that doesn’t smell like poisonous weeds.”

“It’s not poisonous weeds. It’s the scent of southern flowers.”

“Flowers or whatever. The smell’s so strong it gives me a headache.”

No, that was...

Fair.

The fragrance was pretty strong. Mm.

I wanted to tell him he still shouldn’t say things like that, but considering even my heart had started pounding because of that flower scent...

“Kyle. But seriously, where are we going?”

“Somewhere the two of us can be alone.”

Now that I had suddenly disappeared like this, Father and Lucas would probably turn the banquet hall upside down looking for me again.

Ignoring that possibility entirely, Kyle hurried onward and brought me to Ariana Garden, which only direct members of House Kreutz were permitted to enter.

I had often come and gone from this place with Father when I was little, and even now we sometimes ate meals here together.

Kyle opened the door as naturally as if he belonged there, went straight inside, and sat me down on a bench.

Then he knelt in front of me, bringing his eyes roughly level with mine.

“I’ll explain everything.”

The restless atmosphere from before settled beneath the biting night wind.

“So tell me if there’s anything you want to know.”

Only when I saw the desperation in his eyes did I realize why he had brought me here.

***

Kyle had wanted to explain everything to Aisha all along.

Starting with why he had left her ten years ago without even saying goodbye, all the way to why he had startled her by arriving in a way that differed from what he had promised.

For one thing, the reason Kyle had arrived much later than Knox, despite setting out before him, was that as his body had grown, his thoughts had deepened as well.

Although he had spent ten years in the snowfield, he had learned how humans lived by observing messages sent from the ducal castle and the snow-dwellers who had formed their own small society.

Humans were divided into rulers and the ruled.

And depending on what form the ruler took, the atmosphere of society changed—or, more precisely, the environment in which the ruled lived changed.

One thought led into another until they ultimately converged on a single question.

Then am I a ruler, or one of the ruled?

Kyle would sometimes lose himself in that thought while watching Knox and the snow-dwellers.

In the snowfield, he was unquestionably part of the ruling class.

The fact that he could force countless monsters—so many they stretched into the distance like the horizon—to kneel all at once, or effortlessly rescue people in danger, made that obvious.

But what if the standard shifted toward Aisha?

Princess Aisha is extremely busy right now, and so are you. Wait a little. Meet her when there’s some reason for you to stop by.

Just as Knox had said, within the Frozen Kingdom Kyle was in a position where he had little choice but to accept most orders given to him.

Each time that fact sank in, Kyle would venture farther into the snowfield, control more powerful monsters, or train his swordsmanship.

Because it seemed like the only way he would ever be able to meet Aisha freely.

But when he noticed Knox hiding Aisha’s messages from him.

When, even after realizing it, he had been unable to confront Knox and instead could only make his own letters longer.

He understood.

He needed to establish his position not in the snowfield, but within human society.

So that’s why you came to find me?

It was a bleak dawn beneath a full moon.

That was why a massive figure shrouded in shadow had appeared outside the window of Grace’s office.

Because Grace held the most powerful status in the Frozen Kingdom, and Kyle thought that if it were her, she would be able to find a way.

So you’re saying you want to become a noble just so you can see Aisha whenever you want?

Grace did not ask how Kyle had breached the royal palace’s security and reached her room.

For ten years, she too had been receiving Calypse’s reports.

She knew that Kyle had simply faded from people’s minds because he had quietly remained in the snowfield all that time, even though he had become the most powerful being in the world.

But to think the reason he had run all the way from the snowfield to the south was merely because he wanted to see Princess Aisha.

Grace let out a hollow laugh.

She found herself wondering what she was supposed to do with this innocent young man.

If you’re thinking of entering this world for that one reason alone, you should think about it a little more. Stepping into human affairs is more complicated than you think.

If that one reason alone is why I’ve been saving humans from monsters all this time, is it really such a trivial reason?

......?

Grace’s eyes widened slightly at the low voice that stopped her.

When she turned back toward Kyle, she finally realized it.

This demon was no longer the innocent boy she had once known.

***

After their conversation that dawn, things progressed quickly.

Grace made her decision almost immediately after observing Kyle’s attitude.

That demon, who now spoke and thought remarkably like a human, was the largest magnet in the world.

Depending on the direction Kyle moved, he could either draw incidents and disasters toward himself or push them away so thoroughly that not even a whisper of trouble remained.

And Grace knew.

Even if she had refused him for the sake of the kingdom, Kyle would eventually have found some way to meet Princess Aisha.

The reason he had remained quietly settled in the snowfield for ten years was not because he was particularly tolerant.

It was simply because of Princess Aisha.

In that case, it would be better to keep Kyle close as one of her own people.

Princess Aisha was also a member of House Kreutz, so keeping Kyle attached to her would effectively place the kingdom’s most elite military forces in the Frozen Kingdom’s hands all at once.

By the way, does Duke Kreutz know about this?

He does not.

Grace fell silent for a moment at the shameless answer.

It seemed this demon who had barged in without warning was about to create a great deal of work for her.

First, she sent a message to Duke Kreutz.

Calypse did not even send a reply.

Within an hour, he arrived in the kingdom through a portal.

Perhaps he had already heard something from Knox, because Calypse neither showed surprise at finding Kyle there nor asked why he had come.

Instead, he made a suggestion.

You cannot spend the rest of your life taking potions to hide your violet eyes.

After a languid sigh, he continued.

We may as well reveal your eye color and announce it as a new power.

A new power?

The ability to control monsters is still an ability, is it not?

And just like that, Kyle ceased to be a demon and became a newly discovered power user.

With Duke Kreutz’s help, they also paid Baron and Lady Rirrita, who had been living quietly and without influence in the northern countryside, to create a new identity for Kyle.

If there was one minor obstacle in what was otherwise a remarkably smooth process, it was Marquis Schletz.

I heard House Schletz still has no heir. I may be lacking, but I will do my utmost in place of Her Majesty Grace, who now sits upon the throne.

Kyle obediently lowered himself onto one knee as he brought up the matter of the “heir,” just as Grace had instructed him beforehand.

But the Marquis was not so easy to deal with.

How am I supposed to trust some ill-mannered bastard who rolled in from who-knows-where? And he’s a demon? A de-mon?!

More precisely, I am Lord Kyle of House Rirrita, and—

You dare bring up a fabricated identity before House Schletz?!

They had prepared that identity in advance specifically for this situation, yet the Marquis immediately saw through even that.

Of course—

...I possess a power capable of controlling monsters.

A new wind will blow through House Schletz.

The moment he heard Kyle was a new kind of power user, he readily signed the oath admitting him into House Schletz’s direct line.

“That’s what happened.”

The banquet had ended, and night had fallen.

Sitting on a bench in Ariana Garden, Kyle kept glancing at Aisha’s expression beside him.

Among all the things he had explained, he had neatly left out the reason he had “suddenly returned to the kingdom,” and he was worried Aisha might not have properly understood everything.

Another reason was that the banquet had been so chaotic that he had barely gotten the chance to look at her properly.

Seeing her again after ten years, she was so...

“So, in conclusion... you laundered your identity from demon to Lord Kyle of House Schletz?”

“Yeah.”

Kyle met her eyes as he answered, and for a moment, he felt his breath stop.

“That’s basically what happened.”

He nodded as though nothing was wrong, but it felt as though someone were mercilessly tickling his heart with a feather.