The Villain’s Aide Has Run Away

Robin gave a meaningful glance, as if to say, Look how pitiful Leslun is. To think he had dragged along such a transparent, defenseless successor.

Kailos looked at Leslun as though he found him endearing, then pushed the apple juice toward him, as if telling him to drink it. Realizing he was in no position to refuse, Leslun quietly accepted.

“Your Highness, this matter regarding the Academy must not be allowed to slip through our hands. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”

Robin stressed it again, not allowing Kailos’s attention to wander elsewhere. Kailos responded with an unhurried smile.

“I am speaking of it even now, yet it seems my aide is the one losing focus. Compose yourself.”

The eyes of Leslun, who had been sipping the apple juice, went round as saucers. His large pupils darted back and forth between Kailos and Robin.

“What do you mean by that? Don’t go throwing baseless accusations at me.”

Robin bristled. Perhaps because he was usually the calmest man of all, his reaction was all the more suspicious. It was as if something unknown to him was indeed at play.

“Baseless? Robin, think it over yourself. This is not something we can leave to Dean Kelly alone.”

“What about involving the ducal house?”

“You mean draw them into the Academy and build good relations? Then why don’t you step forward yourself.”

Kailos deftly shifted the responsibility onto Robin. Robin leapt to his feet in protest.

“I am Your Highness’s aide!”

“And Leslun is also my aide.”

Kailos pushed a berry tart toward Leslun, whose hiccups had finally subsided. He only stared, unable to touch it, and as Leslun hesitated over whether it was truly safe to eat, Robin looked on with exasperation.

“Why bring up Aide Leslun out of nowhere?”

“Since you and Lady Miroi are acquainted, wouldn’t you be the better choice, rather than him?”

“—Khhk!”

Leslun had just taken a bite of tart when he choked on it.

They were speaking of something Leslun himself didn’t know.

He shot Robin a sidelong glance while rifling through the memories he retained of the original story. Compared to himself, a mere extra, Aide Robin had been a fairly important supporting character. And the one who killed him had been a major figure.

He had just met that very man. The Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Vancor, now using the name Tarensiu, was fated in the story to kill Robin.

In the novel, the Kingdom of Vancor was driven to the brink of collapse by Emperor Kailos. The two nations had passed a point of no return, refusing to understand one another in the slightest.

In relatively small Vancor, their thirst for vengeance only sharpened day by day, and in the end, it struck Robin first.

By cunningly setting a trap, he fabricated a fatal crime, binding both the hands and feet of Kailos. Without Robin’s sacrifice, Kailos’s throne itself would have been in peril.

‘If their relationship could be built up well from now…’

Could Robin possibly survive?

If so, the chance of Kailos’s path twisting so darkly would also be greatly reduced.

Leslun’s thoughts grew tangled.

He had known little about Robin and had only watched from the sidelines, but now he had stumbled upon an entirely new fact. It felt as though he had been dragged into a story even he hadn’t been aware of.

‘So Aide Robin and Lady Miroi were close, then…’

While Leslun pieced together these clues, a sharp battle of wills continued between Kailos and Robin.

“Just because we’re friends doesn’t mean I can meddle recklessly.”

“She would like it if you proposed it.”

“Public and private matters must be kept distinct.”

“To build new ties, there are times you must blur the line between the two.”

Whatever Robin said, Kailos accepted it with leisurely ease. Soon the balance tipped decidedly to one side.

The reasons were known only to the two of them.

With the smile of a victor, Kailos extended his hand toward Leslun.

“Shall we continue our conversation now? Come to my chamber.”

It was a proposal to resume the talk interrupted by Prince Tarensiu’s arrival. Leslun hurriedly brushed the crumbs from his lips. More fell than he expected, and his face flushed red.