Episode 23

Episode 23: This Might Even Be… Dangerous

It was embarrassing.

Not just a little, but the kind of embarrassment that made me want to crawl into a hole and never come out.

As I kept my eyes shut and pretended not to know anything, Leonard’s teasing voice brushed past my ears.

“If Your Majesty wishes to keep resting your head on my shoulder, I would consider it an honor.”

That whisper snapped me fully awake.

“S-Sorry.”

I hastily straightened my posture.

“You’re always welcome to lean on me whenever you like.”

He tilted his chin slightly toward his own shoulder with an inviting gesture.

I was at a loss for words at how shameless he was.

“You really are…”

“I’m not joking, actually. Please take me seriously.”

His tone said otherwise, though, as he smiled playfully.

Was this really the same solemn commander of the knights?

“…When did you notice I was awake?”

I had my eyes firmly shut.

“Has no one ever told you that your expressions are rather easy to read?”

“Not once.”

Leonard quietly looked at my face, then pointed to his own brow.

“Your little frown while thinking was quite adorable.”

“……!”

My face flushed hot.

Apparently, I had been furrowing my brow while thinking.

“So you were staring at my face?”

“Yes. I could probably look at you all day and never get tired.”

“There you go again, saying things you don’t mean…”

Before I could finish speaking, the carriage came to a stop.

“Your Majesty. We’ve arrived.”

Leonard climbed out first and casually extended his hand to me.

Honestly, I wanted to go straight back to the palace.

But this was part of the deal. And I was curious—what had he wanted to show me so badly?

I carefully placed my hand in his.

“This place is…?”

Where the carriage had stopped was completely unexpected.

When Leonard had invited me on this date, I vaguely imagined an extravagant jewelry boutique, or a textile shop stacked high with expensive silks.

But instead, his carriage had brought us to a quiet place surrounded by forest and a small, peaceful lake.

“Shall we take a stroll, Your Majesty?”

Leonard offered me his arm with a courteous motion.

I walked the forest path with him, though I didn’t take his arm.

Nobility and etiquette aside, taking the arm of the story’s hidden villain just didn’t sit right with me.

“Are you worried I’ll do something improper?”

“I know you’re not that sort of person.”

He may use any means necessary to achieve his goals, but he wasn’t some shameless scoundrel.

Leonard smiled subtly.

“Sometimes… I get the feeling Your Majesty understands me very well.”

“…?”

He muttered something, but his voice was too low to hear clearly.

Just then, Leonard pointed toward a spot shaded by trees.

“We’re here.”

He was indicating an old, dilapidated cabin beneath a thick tree.

It looked so run-down that it could have passed for an abandoned storage shed.

The moment I saw it, a thought popped into my head.

“Don’t tell me… is this some kind of secret black market meeting place?”

The kind where rare or illegal items are traded in the shadows.

“A black market? Why would you think that?”

“Because…”

Because you’re the hidden villain.

The man who controls the empire’s underworld.

But I couldn’t say that to his face. Besides, in the original story, that part of him wasn’t revealed until much later.

“Alfred told me on about it on the way here; that you rapidly expanded your family business with incredible skill. I figured someone like that might dabble in less legal dealings too…”

Leonard’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Oh? That’s quite an interesting theory.”

“Am I wrong?”

“I was just admiring Your Majesty’s sharp instincts.”

“So I’m right? If we were coming to a place like this, you should have warned me. I could have brought a black velvet mask shaped like a butterfly or something equally whimsical and identity-protecting.”

“No need. All the necessary arrangements are already in place.”

A black market, huh.

I wondered what kind of items they dealt in.

Surely nothing horrific or truly illegal, right?

No—it couldn’t be.

At least from what I’d seen so far, Leonard didn’t seem like a bad person. Intense and rough around the edges, yes, but not someone who overstepped bounds. Though, admittedly, he did skirt dangerously close.

Feeling both nervous and intrigued, I followed Leonard into the cabin.

It was dim inside. There were holes of various sizes in the ceiling, letting in just enough sunlight to make out our surroundings.

“Watch your step. I’ll light the lamp.”

Leonard lit a lantern hanging on the wall.

A warm yellow light slowly filled the space.

There was a worn desk, wooden bowls and plates, a toy sword and broken shield leaning against the wall, and carved scratch marks etched into the desktop. A few books rested on a shelf.

It felt like a hideout for young boys. Mischievous ones at that.

“What do you think?”

“If this was designed to fool people, then whoever staged it deserves praise. It’s very convincing.”

I was honestly impressed.

It looked just like a forgotten childhood hideaway, untouched for over a decade.

Now, show me the real reason we’re here.

Where’s the secret entrance to the underground market?

The floor? That wobbly bookcase?

Maybe if I pulled out this book, something would click and a hidden passage would open…

I fiddled with a book on the shelf.

Leonard laughed, sounding genuinely amused.

“I fear I may have disappointed Your Majesty.”

“Don’t tell me you’re about to say there’s no black market after all?”

“Of course not.” He shook his head, then rubbed his chin with a sheepish expression.

“There never was one to begin with.”

“What?”

My eyes widened.

I scanned the room again and asked,

“Then… what did you want to show me?”

“This place,” he said. “It’s filled with my memories.”

“……!”

So this was the place he’d brought me to see after all that travel?

That was… surprising. Actually, a bit shocking.

“This cabin holds the memories of my childhood. To be precise…”

His eyes softened with an emotion I hadn’t seen in him before.

“Memories shared with my younger brother.”

His brother?

Was that in the original story?

I didn’t recall any mention of it…

I stared at him for a moment before asking,

“Why are you showing this to me?”

His familiar, polished smile returned.

“I once promised myself: when I fell in love with someone, this would be the first place I showed them.”

I scoffed lightly.

“How many times have you used that line?”

“Would you believe me if I said this is the first?”

“You already said that last time.”

“Ah, Your Majesty always has the last word.”

Still, seeing how much he cherished this place, he must have deeply cared for his brother.

I looked around again. The cabin was full of the remnants of brotherhood.

Then I noticed something odd.

A long diagonal line ran from the table to the desk, then to the bookshelf. It pointed toward the toy sword standing in the corner.

A battered wooden sword, and a half-broken shield.

“You must’ve had a lot of sword fights?”

“We were brothers. Like most boys, we played and fought all the time.”

“Judging by that shield, things got pretty intense?”

“That was…”

“That was…?”

Something felt off again.

Leonard looked at the shield with a pained expression, then pulled a book from the shelf.

“Have you read this? It was my favorite.”

He flipped through the pages and stopped at one that had clearly been read many times.

“Ah, this scene. I loved it. Every time I read it to my brother…”

He trailed off and drew in a deep breath.

There was something there.

Something about his brother.

“You really cared about him, didn’t you?”

Thump!

Leonard suddenly closed the book.

“Well then.” He sighed softly.

At the same time, the melancholy look in his eyes vanished like a mirage.

“Look at the time. We should get back to the palace before sunset.”

His expression returned to its usual composed smile.

When I glanced out the cabin door, the sun was indeed starting to sink.

“Shall we?”

He offered his arm again.

I passed him by and stepped out of the cabin.

Then, glancing over my shoulder, I said,

“Aren’t you coming?”

Leonard gestured toward his arm with a glance.

“Surely, just once wouldn’t hurt?”

“If I allow it once, you’ll start asking as if it’s routine.”

“Ah, you saw right through me.”

“Honestly…”

Was he always this transparent?

In the original story, Leonard freely moved between the roles of solemn commander and dangerous mastermind. But this smile he kept showing me… it didn’t match.

He used to have a darker smile. One weighed down by fate.

What on earth happens to make him become that version of himself?

As we walked down the forest path again, Leonard suddenly stopped.

His expression had grown serious.

“What is it?”

“Shh.” He raised a finger to his lips.

Then, in a whisper:

“I hear people approaching.”

“Maybe they’re just out for a stroll?”

“Not likely. This is a remote area. Maybe an herbalist or two at most.”

He shook his head.

“But these footsteps… there’s more than just one or two.”

He ducked behind a tree. His face grew even graver.

A moment later, I could hear them too—footsteps, rustling bushes, the clinking of metal.

“Doesn’t sound like ordinary folks. Best stay hidden.”

I nodded in agreement and followed him toward the deeper shadows of the woods.

But then—

“Did you hear something?”

“What? Like what?”

“Probably just an animal.”

“No, I swear I saw something over there—didn’t you?”

We’d been spotted.

“We need to run.”

Leonard’s voice was urgent.

We started to move—

—or we tried to.

“See? Told you I saw something.”

“It’s a woman, isn’t it?”

Of all places, we’d been hiding right in the middle of a group of shady-looking men.

Before we could even begin to flee, we were already surrounded.

“Well, well…”

The men, with vicious smirks, turned toward us.

Their skin was tanned and roughened by the sun, and they were covered in cuts and scars.

Leonard stood in front of me and drew his sword—technically, it was the wooden one from the cabin.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you, even if it costs me my life.”

Honestly… he looked kind of cool doing that.

The problem was…

“Well, look at this guy.”

“He’s got some guts, huh?”

“But guts won’t save you if your skills don’t match that mouth.”

There were nearly twenty of them emerging from all directions in the forest.

This was bad.

This… might even be a little dangerous.