Chapter 28: Elara Lionheart [Bonus]

"Receive them first. I’ll be there as soon as possible!" Kael shouted to Loyd, his voice raised as he turned around and hurried back into the inn.

He needed to clean himself up after his physical training and change into something presentable. There was no way he could greet the princess looking disheveled, with dusty clothes and the pungent smell of sweat clinging to him.

With little time to prepare, Kael changed into the finest outfit he had purchased in the city a few days earlier.

The jet-black garment featured crimson accents running down the chest and sleeves. Its tailored fit framed his broad shoulders, giving him an air of quiet yet commanding charisma.

As he straightened his collar, Kael’s thoughts drifted back to the past.

Several months ago, when he had been summoned to meet the king at the royal palace, he had come face-to-face with Princess Elara.

Although the princess appeared elegant, polite, and somewhat cold when alone, there was something about her gaze that had always made Kael uncomfortable.

Her eyes seemed far too deep, filled with hidden calculations, as though she were peeling him apart and assessing his usefulness on the chessboard of her grand strategy.

After spraying a little perfume he found on the table to mask the smell of sweat, Kael hurried outside.

As he passed through the inn’s hall and corridors, Kael realized that Lizzy and Cherry were nowhere to be found in their room.

"Oh... Where did Lizzy and Cherry go? It seems they’re out shopping at the market together again. Good. At least they won’t be at the gate right now."

Kael let out a long sigh and quickened his pace toward the northern gate.

"This is bad... Who would have thought the princess herself would come to lead this delegation? I hope being a few seconds late won’t provoke her anger."

Upon arriving at Vex City’s northern gate, Kael’s gaze immediately fell upon the procession of gleaming armor belonging to the Leonheart Kingdom.

There, Loyd was bowing deeply before a line of royal knights and palace guards, accompanied by several Vex City guards standing rigidly nearby.

Cold sweat was clearly trickling down Loyd’s temples. The oppressive auras emanating from the general and, above all, the princess herself were overwhelming.

Standing amid the ranks of fully armed knights was Princess Elara Lionheart. Her appearance was extraordinarily elegant.

Her skin was as pure white as marble, and her clear eyes carried a sharp, authoritative gaze. Her delicate lips were adorned with a beautiful shade of pink.

Her long, wavy golden-brown hair swayed gently in the evening breeze, flowing like a silk curtain.

Seeing the princess herself travel all the way to this border region, Kael’s suspicions grew even stronger. The royal delegation’s five-day delay hardly seemed like a mere logistical issue or the result of a slow route... It felt more like a deliberate maneuver orchestrated by the princess herself.

Could it be...? Kael wondered, piecing the puzzle together in his mind.

Although Kael was beginning to discern the hidden intentions behind the royal woman’s sweet smile, he had to restrain himself and greet her with impeccable courtly etiquette.

Kael strode steadily toward the delegation, lowered himself onto one knee, and offered his apologies.

"My humble greetings, Your Highness Princess Elara. I truly did not expect Your Highness to personally grace us with your presence in response to this summons."

Princess Elara Lionheart halted. A faint smile, touched with a glimmer of satisfaction, graced her beautiful face as she looked at Kael, who now stood before her in his black-and-red outfit.

"Oh, you’re a little late, Sir Kael!" Elara remarked in a voice that sounded remarkably gentle and casual. Yet beneath that softness, Kael’s well-trained senses could detect an intense surge of dominance and deeply concealed intentions.

Elara was the third child of the reigning King Leonheart. She was the only daughter in the royal family, while her two older siblings were princes, each positioned as a potential successor to the throne.

Kael had met all three of the king’s children in person following his victory in the Vermilion War.

The two princes had indeed struck him as ambitious, cunning, and power-hungry, but Elara was different.

Unlike her brothers, this woman concealed her ambitions behind an impeccably maintained mask of elegance, radiating an unsettling aura that was difficult to decipher.

Back when he had first encountered Elara in the central palace’s grand hall, his discomfort had often prompted Kael to deliberately lower his gaze and turn his face away. He had been reluctant to look into the princess’s eyes for too long, lest he be accused of violating courtly etiquette or, worse, of gazing at her with improper desire.

"Please forgive my tardiness, Your Highness," Kael replied calmly, keeping his gaze lowered. "I had just finished my regular physical training when I received word of the arrival of the royal delegation."

In truth, Kael had been preparing since morning. However, when the royal delegation had still not appeared by the time noon passed, he had assumed the troops would not arrive until the following day and decided to spend the time practicing his swordsmanship.

Elara chuckled softly. She raised one hand, covered in a white silk glove, to conceal her lips. Her laughter sounded beautiful, melodious, and enchanting—the distinctive laugh of a high-ranking noblewoman capable of captivating any man’s heart.

Yet to Kael, that seemingly perfect laughter only made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Haha... I understand, Sir Kael," Elara said, gently waving her hand to signal him to rise. "You must also forgive me for not sending another messenger bird to inform you of my decision to accompany this delegation. I simply... missed the opportunity to meet our great war hero in person."

Elara took a step closer, her eyes sweeping over Kael’s entire body.

"The palace has received the written report you sent. And just as I expected from the very beginning... the hero of the Leonheart Kingdom has never disappointed us. Slaughtering hundreds of armored goblins and bringing down a giant Orc single-handedly in the middle of their hideout... What an astonishing achievement."

Kael had reported the goblin and Orc stronghold not because he craved praise or rewards from the palace, but because he understood that the incident involved black magic and a demon, matters that required the attention of the kingdom’s military authorities.

Kael offered a formal smile, gently deflecting the praise.

"I am deeply honored to be called a hero by someone as perfect as Your Highness. However, defeating a group of monsters in a remote settlement is hardly an achievement worth boasting about for a knight who has once stood on the kingdom’s battlefield."

"You always are far too modest, Sir Kael," Elara interjected swiftly, her dark brown eyes gleaming with interest. "But I like that humility of yours. You truly are a fascinating man."

Elara then turned slightly and waved toward her personal attendant. A neatly dressed female servant hurried forward, carrying a container in both hands.

She presented the princess with a luxurious rectangular wooden box secured with a golden lock and adorned with exquisite red velvet carvings.

"Sir Kael... you have rendered countless invaluable services to our Leonheart Kingdom," Elara said as she extended the luxurious box directly toward him. "Without you on the front lines back then, we might have faced tremendous difficulty breaking through the fortifications of the Vermilion Kingdom. Therefore, I would like you to accept this gift as a personal token of my gratitude."

On the surface, this appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary gift presentation. However, judging by Elara’s body language and the gazes of the elite guards behind her, Kael knew perfectly well that this was not something he could politely refuse. It was coercion wrapped in the elegance of the royal court.

Elara’s character was vastly different from her father’s.

King Leonheart was still a seasoned ruler who could engage in rational discussions and was not easily offended by a mercenary’s refusal.

But Elara... this woman clearly had her own agenda and political calculations.

Outwardly, she presented herself as a kind and benevolent princess who cared for her people. Beneath that facade, however, she was cold, calculating, and exceptionally cunning. She harbored a burning ambition to seize the throne and remove her two brothers from the line of succession.

Elara stared straight into Kael’s eyes, the gleam in her pupils growing darker and more intense.

"Sir Kael... I sincerely hope you will accept it," Elara whispered, her voice low and emphatic. "If you refuse it again, just as you did when you turned down my royal father’s gift... I will be truly saddened and disappointed."

Kael immediately understood. Elara’s intentions were now crystal clear: she had deliberately traveled all this way to recruit him personally, exploiting his reputation as a war hero to turn him into her primary weapon of slaughter and secure her claim to the royal throne in the future.

But Elara was not finished. Before Kael could formulate a polite refusal, she tilted her head slightly and leaned closer, her poisonous whisper reaching his ears.

"This is not merely a piece of jewelry or an ordinary sum of gold coins, Sir Kael... It is a document you may be very interested in learning about," Elara whispered, a restrained, triumphant smile curling across her lips.

"Tell me, Sir Kael... Did you know that... someone from the family of the late Sir Luis is still alive to this day?"

Her words struck Kael’s chest like a heavy sledgehammer.

The woman standing before him... was truly a wickedly cunning woman.