Chapter 10
At last, Kendrick received Maya’s letter late, after it had already been sent from the capital she left behind.
He crumpled the paper in his hand, trembling.
“Maya is getting married?”
That made no sense.
The Maya Pendragon he knew had little to do with men.
And yet she was going to marry that Grand Duke Bayarden.
“What is it, Kendrick Aksia?”
The senior mage standing in front of him frowned.
But Kendrick was lost in other thoughts.
Once he entered the Mage Tower, he would not be allowed to leave until he passed the advancement exam.
Still, that was a normal step if one wanted to become the tower lord.
I thought Maya would be fine.
Since the day he first met her, he had acted coy and careful just to win her favor.
“To think you would propose to someone…”
Did that make sense?
Kendrick ran a hand through his hair and scowled.
“It is time to go to the tower now.”
He brushed off the warning-like words and asked instead,
“When is the earliest advancement exam?”
To everyone except Maya, his personality was rather terrible.
The senior mage, already used to Kendrick’s rudeness, let out an irritated sigh.
“Tomorrow. But the advancement exam usually requires months of preparation and training. You know that, don’t you?”
If one failed the first advancement exam, they could even be expelled from the Mage Tower entirely, so everyone prepared carefully.
“I’ll take it tomorrow.”
Of course, that did not apply to Kendrick, whose mind had gone completely wild after hearing about Maya’s marriage.
“…What?”
“I have someone I need to meet as soon as possible, so I need to advance quickly.”
The reason he had set the tower lord as his final goal was because he believed it would let him fully support Maya using his own abilities.
But now that she was getting married, wouldn’t all of his preparation be meaningless?
I can’t just let her go like this.
Thinking of Maya, Kendrick gave a sharp smile.
Maya was guided to her room. Since she was not yet married, she was given a guest room, but even that was a luxury to her.
For one thing, the room seemed at least twice the size of her room in House Pendragon.
More than that, the room was full of life.
A fireplace burned brightly inside, warming the room.
The space, decorated mostly in black and white—the colors of House Bayarden—felt both neat and cozy. Outside the window beside the bed, snow was falling heavily.
Even the deep black darkness seemed to be eating the white snow.
“Wow…”
She had seen snow on the way here too, but this kind of heavy snowfall was new to her. The snow piled softly like cotton, lighting up the surroundings and fading the darkness.
It was a place where day and night seemed to meet.
“First of all, it looks like the contract went well.”
Maya held the contract she had exchanged with Tristan tightly in her hand and thought carefully before sitting down at the desk.
The guest room was well maintained too—inside the drawer were clean paper, a pen, and even ink.
“It would be good to整理 what I need to do next.”
The deal had gone well, but honestly, acting as House Bayarden’s representative and meeting the Emperor was unpleasant.
She would need to be extremely careful.
He might cut my throat on sight.
Meeting Tristan made her realize that the emotions from her life before regression were stronger than she had expected.
If she lost control of her anger and caused trouble, she might turn the hero who was meant to bring down the tyrant Emperor into a traitor.
To avoid that, it would be better to break Tristan’s curse quickly so he could go out himself.
Maya loosely organized the situation in sloppy handwriting.
Tristan proposes marriage → hunts monsters in the North and awakens → gets summoned by the Emperor.
To break the curse, awakening was essential.
She could not remember how many monsters she had faced during her original awakening, but…
I guess I’ll do it the same way as before.
Monster hunting would be the fastest route.
During her talk with Tristan today, there had been something that bothered her.
He was desperate to persuade me.
When Maya showed signs of avoiding contact, Tristan had gone so far as to set aside all the pride of a Grand Duke and appeal to her desperately.
But in her previous life, after Maya became Knight Commander, Tristan never appeared again.
That was strange.
There are only three possibilities.
First. After Maya became Knight Commander, Tristan gave up on her.
That makes no sense.
He was definitely not the kind of person who would give up after being rejected once.
No matter how reclusive he was, if Maya had become a clue to breaking his curse and then rejected his proposal, he would have rushed to the capital out of desperation.
Second. Tristan could not contact her at all because of the tyrant’s interference.
That was also a little odd. Of course, after becoming Knight Commander, Maya faithfully followed the tyrant. But the Emperor’s power was not overwhelming from the start.
It would not have been possible to completely block all communication from House Bayarden.
Then there was only one possibility left.
Third. Around the time Maya rejected the proposal and became Knight Commander, Tristan must have faced a major problem that prevented him from finding her.
It wouldn’t be something small for a Grand Duke.
Even back when he was not well known, if anything serious had happened to him, rumors would have spread somehow.
If it wasn’t Tristan himself, then the people around him were the only clues left.
Someone close enough to keep him occupied for a long time, and important enough to have a real role.
Who would that be?
“I’ll have to think about it.”
For now, awakening came first.
Then even if something big happened later, she could deal with it.
“Maybe I should start climbing the mountain range tomorrow.”
When she was in the Imperial Knights, she had heard that part of the northern mountain range was under the care of House Bayarden’s knights.
Tomorrow, she could speak to Tristan and say she wanted to go hunt monsters with the knights.
Two weeks should be enough.
It had originally taken about three weeks, so if she barely slept, she should be able to shorten the time.
“Perfect.”
Maya, who usually solved problems with her body rather than her head because she had been born with excellent physical abilities, quickly came to a conclusion and praised her own careful planning.
“Thinking is tiring.”
She sighed and tore the paper into small pieces to destroy the evidence.
Anyone else who read it would surely think she had lost her mind.
After firmly refusing a maid’s help and finishing her bath in hot water, Maya dragged her tired body to bed.
As expected, it was just as soft as she had hoped.
I’m happy.
The first step toward her new life was very satisfying.
After destroying the evidence, Maya suddenly remembered that her birthday was only a week away.
“My birthday…”
It was a day that had never once been celebrated.
This time too, it would probably pass without incident while she was out hunting monsters.
She felt nothing special.
That was Maya’s life.
“So… no matter how I think about it, I still believe there should have been another way.”
“I’ve already finished the contract with Maya Pendragon. Don’t be rude, Alec.”
“Damn it, Tristan! Do you know what kind of family she comes from? Bloodlines do not change so easily!”
Alec, who had come to see Tristan at the crack of dawn, had finally thrown all courtesy out the window and was shouting at his friend.
Of course, Tristan didn’t even blink.
“To question my decision is highly disrespectful for a knight who swore loyalty to House Bayarden.”
“Seriously…”
Alec groaned and clutched his head in agony.
Tristan looked at him and sighed inwardly.
This argument is going to take longer than I thought.
That was unwelcome for Tristan, who preferred a disciplined life.
He was even more disappointed because his friend was doubting his judgment.
Knock, knock.
But their argument had to stop before it even really began.
“…Robert?”
Robert’s voice came from outside.
“Grand Duke. Lady Maya is here to see you.”
But that wasn’t all.
It was currently 4 a.m.
Did she not sleep well?
They had finished talking late in the evening, so she could only have slept three or four hours at most.
“Let her in—”
Tristan stopped mid-sentence.
He suddenly remembered what form he was currently in.
A boy’s face, still youthful.
Compared to Maya Pendragon, his height would be similar, but the boy she had met just a few hours ago was clearly different.
Maya Pendragon already knew about his curse.
So why did he hesitate to meet her in this form?
Was it his useless pride?
“Oh my, seems we have an unexpected guest.”
Alec seized the opportunity, eyes gleaming, and opened the door.
There stood a woman with a gentler-than-expected appearance, her brown hair tied back tightly like tree bark.
“I’m sorry, but the Grand Duke is talking with me right now, so that won’t be possible, Pendragon.”
His mocking tone was deliberate. He wanted to provoke her and see her true nature.
After all, she was a Pendragon by blood.
But it had no effect at all.
“I assume if you opened the door, you can hear my voice. May I use the training grounds here?”
The obvious hostility in front of her was not worth responding to. She had already dealt with people like that many times.
Maya continued calmly,
“Just tell me what time the Grand Duke has breakfast, and I’ll return by then.”
Such a very Maya-like answer made Tristan burst into a cheerful laugh.
Just as he expected, Alec’s provocation had no effect on her whatsoever.
“Tch…”
Instead, Alec seemed irritated that Maya was not even paying attention to him.
“…Grand Duke. May I personally guide Maya Pendragon to the training grounds?”
Alec asked, grinding his teeth.
“That—”
There was no way Tristan would agree to such an obviously malicious request.
He was about to refuse.
“Please do.”
Until Maya spoke.
Peeking through the door, Maya looked at Tristan with an unwavering face.
“Please let me go with this person, Grand Duke.”
