Chapter 3

The adults told Livonis to give up, both with their fists and their words.

In the face of great power, there was little a child like Livonis could do. He learned that reckless actions would tarnish the family name.

But if he had been the kind of person who could give up so easily, he would have long since fled from his father's fists. There was no man in the Volian family who could be swayed by such trifles. After all, it was a long-standing lineage of barbarians. So, after a night of deep contemplation, Livonis made a vow.

I will live my life honestly in love.

After making this vow, Livonis began by graduating from the knight academy three years early.

Amazing, I can do it when I try. I knew that.

He wanted to be closer to the small girl with a tiny body who fought against great odds. He wanted to join the knights as soon as possible. With this single-minded determination, Livonis transformed into an excellent student, one who spared no effort in honing his skills, even at the cost of sleep. Until then, Livonis had been a troublesome student, known for his high spirits and his tendency to slack off just enough to avoid affecting his promotion. In short, he was a problem child, often looked at with white eyes, envied, and even made to cry out of sheer emotion. But he managed to graduate quickly.

Indeed, he was very busy. Livonis had transformed into a man of extreme busyness!

The evaluation of the prince's fiancée, whom Livonis had the audacity to fall in love with, was, to put it bluntly, far from favorable.

People recognized that it was the fiancée who supported the prince, who was known for his frivolous behavior. Yet, the younger generation was more focused on her younger sister, who radiated charm and grace.

Huh?

Huh?

At one point, Livonis said to a grinning peer, "By the way, the other day, when I went home for a tea party, I met Miss Lirina. She was incredibly cute and such a good girl. Completely different from her sister."

Huh?

"Her sister is cute and an excellent girl too, you know."

"Hmm, well, she's not unattractive, but... how do I put it... she's kind of plain, you know? She's serious and stiff. And apparently, she's been harsh to Miss Lirina. Maybe it's just that high-ranking noble ladies are snobbish."

"Alright, come out here."

"Why? Why should I?"

From that day on, Livonis's nickname became "President of the Next Princess's Radical Fan Club." Incidentally, he was the only member. It was incomprehensible.

But, being a passionate teenager consumed by love, no one noticed. There was no connection between Livonis and the girl, and in the rough, all-male environment of the knight academy, it was natural for the students to have a goddess in their hearts. No one found it strange. Moreover, since this goddess was destined to become the mother of the nation, Livonis was often praised as a model of loyalty to the royal family.

Lucky break. Even if he cursed the royal family and the prince in his heart, no one would know.

Taking advantage of this, Livonis began to lecture those who spoke ill of the girl, explaining how wonderful she was. Not that he was close enough to her to know such things.

But the more he investigated, the more he found evidence of her existence everywhere.

"Hey, what's that you're holding?"

"Huh? It's a cake."

"Right. Cake. The sweet treat provided along with the excellent meals we receive every day, even after being pushed to our limits. Did you just say that her younger sister would be a better fiancée because of this?"

"Huh...?"

The fork clattered to the floor. A dollop of cream splattered onto the man's cheek.

"Hey, you there."

"Me?"

"What are you holding?"

Pointing to another man with a blank expression, he replied, "A chessboard."

The dining hall was well-equipped with sweets and tea, and many students lingered after meals. When asked what the man next to him was doing, he replied, "Reading a novel." It turned out to be a senior, but he seemed to be caught up in the atmosphere. Was that okay?

Livonis sighed dramatically.

"Do you all know that all of this was prepared by her?"

He slowly surveyed the murmuring dining hall. Ha ha, good, let it be known. Tremble. Adore.

"Some of you may remember when this academy provided only basic meals and no entertainment, all in the name of training for the battlefield."

The seniors who had been here before Livonis's enrollment pressed their fingertips to their eyes. Some looked pale at the memory, while others shuddered at the thought. Livonis spoke gently to them.

"She felt pity for us. She believed that to perform at our best in times of crisis, we needed to rest both our minds and bodies. She petitioned the head of the knights and the head of the academy to provide a proper environment, and she secured the budget for it."

The easily swayed men were shocked. Livonis, feeling victorious, raised his voice.

"Is there anyone here who can do the same? Is there anyone who can stand up to those powerful bears for someone they don't even know?"

Incidentally, Livonis couldn't do it. He wouldn't even try.

What's the point? Negotiating with a violent organization that values physical strength over words? No way. Impossible. Let those dirty bastards I don't even know rot. Self-preservation is key. Life is precious.

But the girl did these things, things she didn't have to do, for the sake of the country.

Each one was a small act. But when the men learned the truth, they wept and said, "I'll join the fan club... Me too..." It was a small act that made someone a little happier, something important.

It was a problem, and Livonis almost tore up the documents he had gathered, because only the powerful adults knew each of these small acts.

They didn't value them because they were small, yet they stamped "capable" on the girl and burdened her with more responsibilities. No, they should have promoted her. They should have praised her.

As a result, the young generation never knew about her warm deeds, and only negative voices reached the girl. Were the adults stupid?

Or perhaps they were concerned that the fiancée's good reputation would overshadow the prince's bad reputation. In fact, when investigated, all the prince's accomplishments were found to be related to the girl. It was suspicious.

The royal family is really messed up. Livonis spat out these words and took every opportunity to tell the men about the girl's "small acts."

He felt like a missionary. Livonis's activities to convert people from the Lirina cult continued even after he graduated from the academy.

He became the president of a fan club he never intended to create, and he turned 16.

The closer he got to the prince, the more he heard stories he didn't want to hear, and the more he saw the girl smiling alone at parties, the more he struggled to control himself.

For a long time, he had found her light green hair, caramel-like eyes, and lips that had taken on a more adult hue to be unbearably cute. He really, really, really wanted to quit his guard duty, but he held back.

He held back. He continued to hold back.

And now.

In Livonis's arms was the girl he had dreamed of.

The feel of her hair, her genuine smile, the tears he had held back, and the world where the girl could be herself—all these things he had imagined and prayed for, the girl was looking up at him in his arms.

During the party at the castle, it was not uncommon for the prince to disappear.

While this was questionable, it was the way of the country. Yay, another ridiculous day in this country. Rumors suggested that a faction supporting the second prince was planning a rebellion.

Livonis was considering whether to "secretly support" them and what his father thought about it.

The removal of the incompetent prince's succession rights would be welcome in many ways, but it would be a shame for the girl's hard work to go to waste. Even though he was known for his quick decision-making, Livonis had to be cautious in this matter.

If he could just ask her directly, he would have done so long ago. He couldn't risk hurting the noble girl, even a little. To talk to her without arousing suspicion...

How about cross-dressing? He seriously considered this while on guard duty, searching for the incompetent prince.

That was just a pretext. He was grinning.

When the prince left the venue with the beautiful Lirina, the girl, Lirina's half-sister, also left.

He couldn't allow the girl to walk alone through the night where wine was served.

Cheerfully calling out to his colleagues to search for the prince, Livonis was actually looking for the girl. The prince would be fine. He was probably up to something. Whatever it was. As he ran, a scream echoed, and Livonis's heart leaped out of his mouth, did a triple somersault, and almost started sprinting. You can understand how shocked he was. He felt like he was going to die.

When he saw her crouching and trembling in the cold corridor, his heart, which he had just caught, was about to start sprinting again.

He restrained himself from lifting the trembling girl, a gentlemanly act befitting the president of the fan club, which his members would surely praise.

But even the gentlemanly Livonis had his limits.

He was only "gentlemanly" in appearance. Livonis was not a gentleman. He was, after all, a barbarian at heart.

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