I left the reception room and closed the door.
Then I looked at the two people outside the door.
They turned out to be the King and Queen, sitting on ordinary chairs with their ears pressed against the door.
Why do I feel like they're not busy at all? I knew they'd been here for quite a while—being a king is that easy?
The Crown Prince and the Princess, who had been standing here earlier, were now each holding a small chair. I must have talked with the Fiancée for too long and worn them out.
Seeing this scene, I almost laughed.
What kind of situation is this—an entire royal family sitting in front of a door eavesdropping?! Are royals this interesting? What are the servants supposed to do if they walk by?! Hahaha!!!
Of course, I didn't actually laugh out loud, but my mouth was barely holding it together. I could feel it trembling. To keep them from noticing, I covered my mouth with my hand and shifted my attention elsewhere.
"...Sorry, I talked for too long."
"Not at all. I enjoyed listening," the King said.
"Elena truly is a good girl. It's just that my idiot son doesn't know how to cherish her."
"Father?!"
"I agree."
"Mother?!"
"I… I agree too."
"Sophia?!"
Even the Princess was siding against the Crown Prince. His shocked voice kept getting louder—this was getting out of hand.
"His Highness, please don't raise your voice. Someone might hear you."
After he covered his mouth, I turned to the Queen and the Princess.
"Your Majesty the Queen, Your Highness the Princess, please go inside and keep the Fiancée company. And about what you just heard—please act as if you know nothing."
If this were exposed, the Fiancée would think I broke my promise and couldn't be trusted. More importantly, she would be terribly embarrassed knowing her true feelings had been overheard.
"Alright."
"And Your Majesty the King, Your Highness the Crown Prince, let's talk somewhere else."
"Very well. Let's go to my office."
After the Queen and Princess entered the reception room, we headed to the king's office. Once there, I asked the Crown Prince directly.
"Your Highness, after hearing everything, what do you think? Are you still afraid of her expressions?"
The Crown Prince lowered his head, deep in thought, his expression wavering with hesitation. After a while, he finally spoke.
"...I think it's because I've been seeing it for so many years that I couldn't accept it right away."
So it really had become a psychological shadow. But now that the cause was clear, he should start trying to overcome it. Ideally, the Fiancée wouldn't have to hide her feelings from him anymore.
"Other than her expressions, is there anything else about her that dissatisfies you?"
I truly wanted to bring the Crown Prince and his Fiancée together. The Crown Prince was foolish, but not bad at heart… probably. It's hard to put into words. In any case, once he figured things out, her long-held wish would surely come true.
"This…"
He fell into thought again. The fact that he couldn't answer immediately meant either she had never done anything to displease him, or he had never really paid attention to her in the first place. I felt it was probably a bit of both.
"Take your time and think it through. She's a very good girl—someone worthy of your affection. Even if your marriage is political, only love between husband and wife can bring happiness to a family and its children."
I wanted him to decide right away, but everyone has their own pace. This couldn't be rushed.
Though bearing children might be a duty, I hoped those children would be born into a loving family and grow up surrounded by care. Only then would they not go astray in life.
"I share that view," the King said.
The king and queen were clearly very affectionate—well, not that kind of affectionate. Their children's personalities were well-balanced, which meant they had grown up with love. A family willing to eavesdrop together like that couldn't be bad people.
"...Father, Mr. Karen, I understand."
The Crown Prince replied thoughtfully. He seemed to have taken it to heart. Still, if he took too long—say, three months without a decision—I might honestly want to beat him up. Knowing all this and still making her wait that long would be unforgivable.
With that settled, it was time to move on.
"Your Majesty, though this doesn't concern me directly, may I ask how you plan to deal with those who slandered the Fiancée?"
Those people hadn't just bullied her—they had committed the crime of slandering the royal family. Even if she wasn't royal yet, she soon would be.
Dealing with those scoundrels had nothing to do with me, and I didn't need to be involved. But I did enjoy watching justice being served. I wanted to sit back, eat the popcorn, and watch the villains get what they deserved—the true spirit of a spectator.
The King didn't answer me immediately. Instead, he turned to the Crown Prince.
"Steve, you know who they are?"
"I don't, but I'll ask my friends."
Useless. He didn't even know something this basic—how was he supposed to manage national intelligence in the future?
The king responded without hesitation.
"Then I'll leave this matter to you. This is your trial. If you can't even protect your fiancée, you don't deserve to protect the people."
In other words, fail this and you don't get to be king. I completely agreed. If you can't protect even one person, protecting the people is nothing but a dream.
Still, leaving it to the Crown Prince meant that by the time he finished, I might already be back from defeating the Demon King. Maybe I'd even have time to watch… no, forget it. I'd just come back and hear the results. Even if he succeeded, his slowness alone made me not want him as king.
"I understand! I will complete this trial perfectly! I'll take care of it immediately—please excuse me!"
The Crown Prince suddenly became extremely motivated and left right away. Clearly, the idea of losing his right to the throne was what lit a fire under him.
How annoying. In just a few hours, he had made me want to punch him several times.
With my curiosity satisfied, it was time for me to head to the guild.
"Your Majesty, I have nothing else to attend to. I'll be taking my leave."
"Wait. There's something I'd like to discuss with you."
Just as I turned to leave, the King stopped me. I turned back.
"Please say."
"The three people you mentioned before—I've already found suitable candidates. When would you like to meet them on the 31st?"
That was fast. Only two days, and he'd already found them. This country really was full of talent.
As for the time… I still had my daily tasks to complete, but morning would be better so they wouldn't have to rush. Some tasks could wait.
"How about 10 a.m.?"
"That works."
Good. All set. I needed to hurry to the guild to pick up Lani from the caretaker Dex, then go pick up Lina after work. Today had been exhausting—I needed their healing presence.
"Is there anything else you wanted to say?"
"There is. About companions—don't you need a Saintess?"
"No."
I answered instantly. If he hadn't brought it up, I would have forgotten about the Saintess entirely.
"That was decisive. But the Saintess can heal you."
So what if she could? Derived element of water magic, biology magic could heal as well, though with side effects and more hassle. And could modern magic really compare to ancient magic?
"I can heal too."
"But you've never studied light-elemental magic. How would you use it?"
Right. Only Braves and Saintesses possessed the light element. It wasn't something people learned, and related books weren't even produced.
"That's true. Your Majesty, may I borrow some books on light magic?"
"You really are resistant to having a Saintess join you… but there are no such books here. They're all at the temple."
Why weren't there any in the royal castle? Even if they weren't used, shouldn't they be kept as reference? And wouldn't that mean learning light magic required going through the temple?
"So to learn light magic, one must go through the temple?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because the Brave and Saintess are chosen by the Goddess of Fate. As followers of the Goddess of Fate, they believe you belong to the temple."
Ridiculous. Absolute nonsense. Why not say the world itself belongs to the temple since it was created by the Goddess of Fate? They weren't devout believers—just filthy politicians using a god's name to gain power.
The Brave and Saintess have the right to choose. They don't belong to the temple. The temple is merely a place that receives divine revelations—it has no authority over people's lives.
Besides, I didn't choose to become a Hero. If I could, I'd gladly pass the title to someone else and travel the world happily with Lina and Lani, hunting down the hateful demon race from back then.
"...Anyway, I don't need a Saintess. I'm in a hurry. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving."
My expression must have been awful, and my tone was clearly unpleasant.
"...I see."
The king seemed startled by my reaction. That was fine—hopefully he wouldn't bring up the Saintess again.
Honestly, what does a Saintess even do? Heal the sick? Then she should be healing the sick, where she'd be far more useful. I seriously doubted whether a Saintess was truly necessary on a journey to defeat the Demon King. That was why I never took her seriously and kept forgetting about her.
Unless the Saintess had something truly special, I wouldn't let her join. And just thinking about the temple made me angry. I needed to get to the guild and see Lina and Lani as soon as possible to heal my exhausted soul.
Only after I walked out the main gate did I realize—I never asked what kind of bad things the Crown Prince and Princess had said about me.
Oh well. I was too tired. I'd let them off this time.