Isla finally stirred awake.

She rubbed her eyes open as she yawned deeply, her blurry vision gradually returning as she stretched her arms. Her shoulders cracked lightly with the motion.

The first thing she noticed was the sunlight, bright rays filtered gently through the window.

"Did I oversleep?" she said out loud.

She paused briefly. Something felt... off. This room was far too clean and too orderly to be hers.

"...Wait..."

Her breath quickened.

"Where am I?"

Panic set in as she hurriedly searched through her memory.

Last night, she had gone to visit Sir Elion late into the night, and they had talked for a bit after she tried to leave, but then...

Her eyes widened.

"What happened after...?"

Her face flushed a deep red.

"It can’t be..." she whispered.

Her mind immediately jumped to the worst conclusion, the kind of situation that always happened in the romance novels she secretly read, the grave mistake every female protagonist seemed destined to make.

"No, no, no...."

In a panic, she quickly checked herself beneath her dress, but to her relief, she found nothing amiss. Everything was normal, and all the grave signs were not there. She froze and let out a deep breath.

"...Ah..."

Relief washed over her. Her trembling hand rose to her chest.

"Thank goodness..."

A small smile formed on her lips.

"What a gentleman..." she murmured. "He didn’t even touch me... and let me sleep in his bed through the night..."

Her cheeks warmed slightly, and she blinked.

"...Wait."

She looked around again.

"Where did he go?"

She shook her head lightly.

"Not everyone is as tedious as you, Isla," she muttered to herself. He probably had important things to do.

Regardless, a faint pang of disappointment stirred in her chest. But that wasn’t the main problem right now. Her eyes widened again.

’How am I supposed to leave without being seen...?’

By now, there would definitely be servants in the halls and people moving around. If she was seen leaving this room this late into the morning, in this dishevelled state no less...

Her face turned red again.

"No, no, no..."

She quickly got out of bed and rushed to the mirror, fixing her appearance as best as she could. She straightened her hair and adjusted her loose nightgown, trying to look as decent as possible.

Once she was satisfied, she moved to the door, slowly and carefully, she opened it just a crack and peeked through.

She listened intently and was met with silence. Her heart pounded resonantly as she gathered up her courage. She opened it a little wider and leaned her head out, glancing left, then right.

The hallway was empty. She nodded to herself.

’Now.’

Grabbing her indoor shoes in her hands, she slipped out quickly, weirdly light on her feet, her barefoot steps barely making a sound as she hurried down the corridor.

Within moments, she turned and disappeared. However, at that exact moment, a figure appeared from another adjacent corridor.

A middle-aged lady, dressed in an elaborate gown, a fan held delicately in her hand. She paused, her eyes narrowing slightly as she looked in the direction Isla had just vanished. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"...Was that Isla?"

A slow, knowing smile spread across her face.

"Fufu..."

She raised her fan, covering her mouth as she chuckled softly.

"...How interesting."

....

Alexander only woke up late into the night. Elion hadn’t bothered taking him to a healer or anything like that, deciding to let his body’s natural recovery do its thing.

Instead, he had simply asked one of the staff where the prince’s room was and carried the boy there, slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Apparently, that had caused a bit of a misunderstanding. The servant he had asked for directions had assumed Elion had done something to the prince, which had somehow reached Melroy.

Elion had been briefly summoned, and when he explained what had actually happened, the king had laughed like a madman. It seemed he approved of his methods.

Back in his room, Alexander groaned as he forced himself upright, every inch of his body protesting the movement.

"...Ahh..."

He barely managed to sit up when he froze. Across the room, leaning casually, with his arms crossed, was Elion, watching him with a very satisfied smirk on his face.

"Sleep well, princess?" Elion taunted.

Alexander’s expression darkened instantly.

"Bastard..." he hissed.

Elion raised a finger, wagging it lightly.

"You mean, thank you."

He tilted his head slightly, grin widening.

"Thank you, master, for the valuable teachings."

His tone was very smug. Alexander gritted his teeth so hard his jaw tensed visibly. There was no way he was going to say that. So he didn’t say anything and just kept glaring silently.

Elion clicked his tongue.

"Tch... ungrateful brat."

He rolled his shoulders slightly, clearly unimpressed.

"I didn’t even get the chance to commission a nice new sword and armour because of you," he added with a faint scowl. "Tch. You’ll pay for this."

His eyes narrowed, "I think you haven’t suffered enough."

Alexander’s face darkened instantly, "...Please, no." He slipped off the bed and dropped straight to his knees, "Anything but that!"

Once again, the proud prince of Haven found himself begging and pleading with his supposed teacher, trying to smooth things over with hurried words and desperate promises.

"I’ll compensate you! I swear!"

"I’ll get you some nice items in addition to the equipment you are going to commission!"

"Just... go easy on me next time!"

Elion opened one eye slowly and looked down at him. He sighed reluctantly,"...Fine." Or at least that’s how he made it seem.

Alexander let out a breath of relief. Elion closed his eye again, hiding the faint smirk tugging at his lips.

’...Too easy.’

He just liked messing with the young prince far too much.

’Maybe all nobles aren’t that bad,’ he thought idly.

’I just happened to run into the worst kind the first time.’

Was this daylight robbery of a young, innocent prince? Maybe. Did he care? Not one bit.

These people were filthy rich. His shameless exploitation of the young prince would go completely unnoticed.

Elion’s lips curled slightly.

’I hope he gets me something good...’

Rare, maybe even another legendary item.

The thought alone was enough to make him chuckle inwardly. It wouldn’t hurt to have a few spare Epic-grade swords lying around, would it?

...

It was no surprise that the first thing Elion did the next morning was head straight toward Alexander’s room.

Today, they were visiting this so-called greatest crafter in the human kingdom before doing any training, a Grade Four crafter, according to the prince.

It just went to show how ridiculous Isla being a Grade Three crafter was.

Elion already knew that there was supposed to be a difference in skill even among crafters of the same grade, but just being counted among them was a huge feat.

After all, the best-known crafter in the entire human kingdom was only in the Fourth Grade. That alone spoke volumes.

When Elion had asked about the elusive Fifth Grade, Alexander had simply shaken his head.

"There’s no one of that level who’s publicly known," he had said.

Apparently, there was always the possibility of hidden experts. People in that profession tended to be reclusive hermits, more often than not.

Alexander finished getting ready, grabbed his coat from a nearby chair, and threw it over his shoulders.

"Follow me."

They walked in silence for a while. The castle was already active, but their destination wasn’t inside the castle. Elion noticed that quickly as they began heading toward one of the outer passages.

"...We’re leaving?" he asked.

Alexander nodded.

"Of course."

A faint smirk tugged at his lips despite the lingering soreness in his body.

"You didn’t think the greatest crafter in the kingdom would be sitting inside the palace, did you?"

Elion raised a brow.

"...I wouldn’t have been surprised."

Alexander chuckled lightly.

"No. People like him don’t like being watched."

They stepped out onto a stone pathway that led down along the mountain. The city of Haven stretched below them.

Elion noticed that there were multiple well-spaced estates on either side of the pathway leading up to the castle.

’No doubt residential properties owned by the upper echelon of Haven...’

He took it in quietly as they walked. He also took into account the possibility that maybe the city itself wasn’t their destination after all.

Perhaps, if the greatest crafter in the human kingdom lived anywhere, it would be here, among the elite.

And sure enough, that eventually turned out to be the case.

"Elion," Alexander said after a moment.

"What?"

"...Don’t say anything mildly infuriating when we get there."

Elion glanced at him.

"...Define infuriating."

Alexander stopped walking, turning and looking him dead in the eye.

"Everything you usually say."

Elion smirked.

"...I make no promises."

Before long, they veered off the main path and began walking up a smaller stone pathway that led to one of the mansions.

Elion’s gaze swept across the area, noticing that there were no gates, walls, or fences closing off each residence.

Each estate stood open, yet distinct, as if the very idea of intrusion didn’t exist here. Or rather, no one would dare attempt it.

His lips curved faintly.

The whole setup felt appropriate. What kind of person would be courageous enough to even attempt doing anything funny in this place? A madman, that’s who...

They continued up the path, the mansion growing larger with each step.