Carlon was such a careful villain that it was not easy to step on his tail.

In the original story, Carlon's crimes were revealed when he attacked in front of everyone and everyone knew about his atrocities.

So when I guessed that the origin of the third black magic was probably the bamboo forest, I exclaimed inwardly.

The method was different from the original work, but anyway, revealing in front of everyone is the same, so I thought, 'Oh, I can finish everything at once'.

And although there was a variable called Ian, in any case, Carlon effectively got caught.

"Oh, that's strange."

After it was all over, Robert climbed all the cliffs, glanced at us chuckling over Lagian, and said in dismay.

"In the meantime, Ian had heard the curses from Annabelle and I heard the blessings... In the end, that's where each other's feelings come in."

As soon as Ian, whose eyes were turned over, confessed to me as soon as he saw me, there was no one who didn't know our relationship.

"Prince, are you okay?"

I said quietly looking into his eyes. Robert laughed bitterly.

"At first Miss Annabelle told me: I can't give you my heart, so I'll give you the crown prince's seat."

"Ahaha..."

"It was my own greed, and Miss Annabelle kept her promise, but even if it's not okay, there is nothing I can do about it. Besides, Ian puts my mind at ease."

"You also have the qualities of a saint, prince."

Even after arresting Carlon, his expression did not look particularly happy. He must have liked me a lot.

"Once we leave, let's stay at a nearby inn tonight."

Robert sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"Actually, all of us are a mess except for Miss Annabelle."

After all, Robert and Carlon had bruises all over their faces because of their fistfights, and Lagian was covered in dirt from Ian rolling him on the floor.

Not to mention Ian, who has been running for two days at an incredible speed.

"Now we can open the Smaho forest."

After arriving at the entrance of the Smaho forest, Robert smiled dejectedly as he passed Carlon and Lagian to the Imperial Knights Templar.

"The origin of black magic, of course, was not the monsters. I couldn't even imagine that so many monsters could all disappear with just one person."

In any case, on the day of the 912th swordsmanship competition, Ian proved to the whole empire his tremendous ability even if it wasn't for the medal.

~*~

As it was getting dark, we found a nearby inn.

Now that the knights escorted the criminals, we had nothing to do.

I went to my room to rest, washed, and laid down on the bed, but I couldn't sleep.

I fidgeted with my sword for a bit and fell into thoughts.

I destroyed all three origins of black magic.

I meticulously cut the last bamboo myself.

'Usually, I had to use the sword myself to know the effect...'

Originally, I was going to experience the effect right away against Lagian.

However, I could not even use my sword properly because Ian overpowered him so easily.

Now that the swordsmanship contest is over, it seems that it is wrong to fully appreciate my skills in the end.

I could fight Ian in front of Leslie and get confirmation of the improvement, but when I killed the deer, it was just a 'confirmation' procedure, so there was no real duel.

'Well, that's for the best. When I return to the capital, I will have to ask Ian to compete.'

Of course, Ian wasn't really going to rush at me with all his might.

He just seemed to move at a level where he could just check my skills.

'But what will happen now?'

When Ian confessed, I did not give a proper answer.

If I answered back then, everyone in the capital would hear my answer.

Even if I had something to say, I didn't want to be found out.

'Leslie, Braden, and my parents must all have heard...'

I swallowed the words 'I'm sorry' once more inside.

To the parents who had to listen to the love story of Ian Wade, who had never been upset over their son, and the daughter who kept turning the capital upside down.

'Besides, Aaron must have heard it too.'

If it was Aaron, he was the person he would recite the lines of his confession for the next few decades.

Although he was my younger brother, he had a talent for turning people upside down.

No matter how much I thought about it, it was a good choice for me to cut down the bamboo forest first without answering because I was drunk with emotions.

After that, the timing got weird, and there was nothing more to do but answer seriously.

'Aaron must have won the swordsmanship competition. If Ian didn't even attend.'

In the end, it was like ruining Aaron's award ceremony for the swordsmanship contest.

'Anyway, I guess there's no winning a swordsmanship contest in my life.'

I thought, scratching my feet, trying not to get bitter.

'After all, because of the title, Caitlyn became obsessed with me and started obsessing over me.'

It was disappointing when this happened, but I had to rationalize it even by force.

'Well, okay. After all, I thought that I would continue to abstain after I remembered my past life.'

Well, it seemed like I had solved everything I could possibly solve according to my plan here.

Carlon kept his mouth shut even though he had a pale complexion. He seemed to be thinking like crazy about what would happen next.

'After all, he's a complete villain, right? He's worthy of rebellion by screaming, but he's very careful.'

There was a high probability that he would probably use the Smaho forest as an excuse. Since it was black magic that no one knew about, it would have been enough to say that he was also possessed.

Now that he had the eyes of the knights that Robert had brought on him, he seemed to be moving with the utmost caution.

For that, it was best to keep his mouth shut.

'It's no use.'

I thought as I looked at his pale face.

'I think my uncle must have also arrived in the capital by now.'

I told them to speed up when they arrived around the capital, so it seemed like they arrived around the time of the swordsmanship competition.

I thought that something like this would happen, so I asked my uncle to escort them directly.

Obviously some of the knights were trying to kill Lanella and Rayburn, so keep an eye out for it.

'Then it will be added to Carlon's charges. He even caught those knights.'

Even if Carlon said that it had absolutely nothing to do with him, it would be clear evidence.

No matter how much Carlon had, there was no way he could have bribed all the knights, so there were many people among the knights who could be witnesses.

'The only thing I regret is...'

I pounded in thought.

'The men of the Marquis of Abedes. They're trying to get away unconditionally, but there's no evidence that they're related...'

A cautious Carlon was more likely to let them get away with it rather than co-destruct.

'The punishment for forgery of documents is rather weak.'

The real final villain was Carlon, but the more annoying beings in my personal life were the men of the Abedes.

'But I can't help it...'

There would be no way they would do anything new at this point unless they were quite stupid.

Of course, if I did something extra, they would never miss that opportunity.

'Especially if they touch my family... I really won't let them go.'

I was worried because the Marquis of Abedes was from a great aristocratic family and Rainfield was from a commoner family.

All in all, it was a really good thing for the whole family to join the Duke of Wade.

Then I heard a knock and asked indifferently.

"Who is it?"

"It's me."

I was lying in bed and jumped up.

Because it was Ian's voice.

Since he had been running for two full days, I thought he would be sleeping in his own room.

I scrambled to open the door.

"Ian? Uh, um... What's up?"

He was cleaned up.

After washing and changing into his room coat, he smelled of fragrant soap.

'What is it, how can you be so handsome again?'

The smooth skin between the slightly wet bangs and the soft indoor coat caught my eye.

"I'm giving this back."

What he offered me was the ointment I gave him earlier to apply on his cheeks.

In the end, I was embarrassed, so I couldn't apply it to his cheeks, so I gave it to him...

"Oh, you could've given it to me later...

Ian's room was a bit far from mine, as far as I knew.

"I know."

Ian said with a smile.

"Actually, I came here and used that as an excuse."

I also laughed out loud. To be honest, it was a remarkable visit.

No, because for someone who wasn't a good student, he was moving like this in a proper way.

Did you miss me that much...?

"Even if you don't let me in, my hands will still touch yours."

He handed the ointment to my hand. Our fingers got tangled between the ointments.

"So I can't...enter the room?" (tl/n: my gosh)

His gaze scrutinized me, and his voice immersed in heat rang low.

"You're absolutely, really, completely, too much."

I grabbed his hand and pulled him straight into my room.

The door closed behind.

"Well... If you let 'your man' into the room, it might be like this."

He smiled mischievously, quoting what I said earlier, and shoved me onto the bed. (pr/n: HELP)

"Hey, hey! Come on!"

As I was suddenly lying on the bed, I blinked as I looked at him sitting on top of me as if not knowing what to do, and he said with a smile.

"You can't avoid me now, can you?"

I tried to pretend to be embarrassed, but I stopped immediately.

"...You caught me."