The South was a beautiful place. Kaltz Denion recalled as much.
Warm winds blew year-round across the fertile lands, and fruits always ripened plump. Monsters were few and food was plentiful, so the fiefdoms were peaceful and the people generous-hearted. Many lords of the South enjoyed vast wealth and prosperous lives.
Kaltz was born into a family so wealthy he couldn't even conceive of that environment as a blessing. His father, Count Denion, one of the greatest lords of the South, reportedly threw a feast that lasted an entire week after cradling his late-born third child. Then he declared he would give the boy anything he wanted.
True to those words, Kaltz grew up loved by all, without a single shadow cast upon him. Kaltz had two older brothers, and the two were set to inherit the family's fiefdom and business respectively, but Kaltz had no regrets about this. For that freedom allowed him to do anything he pleased.
Between his gentle mother and affectionate brothers, Kaltz grew up thoroughly spoiled. He did whatever he wanted, and whenever he grew bored, he simply quit.
The one thing he took a lasting interest in was swordplay. After receiving a small toy sword from a servant, Kaltz played with it every day. Though he was still too young to learn formal swordsmanship, Kaltz believed he would become a splendid swordsman. He even enthusiastically announced it to his family.
"I'm going to be a pirate when I grow up!"
"My, why ever so, Kaltz?"
"Because everyone is afraid of pirates."
At the youngest's childish words, the family smiled awkwardly. In the South, where trade flourished, pirates were a major nuisance. But naturally, no one scolded the adorable third child. Count Denion simply laughed heartily and bought his young son several more ornamental swords as expensive as real ones. And so Kaltz's dream flourished.
Until one summer day, when he met a girl.
❖ ❖ ❖
The Denion family's summer villa was one of the South's famous social venues. Every year, Kaltz's mother invited people to the villa in full bloom and held tea parties, and young Kaltz was naturally expected to attend.
But gathering with people to drink tea and eat cookies was excruciatingly tedious for a boy. There was nothing interesting about sitting still for hours, listening to adults talk. So Kaltz seized an unwatched moment and slipped away to the pond. Clutched in his arms was a gleaming small sword.
The boy, intending to play pirates to his heart's content, unexpectedly ran into a girl.
'Who is she?'
Kaltz quickly realized she was one of the girls from another family visiting the villa. Wearing a fine dress and a hairpin with ribbons, she was trudging through the mud without a care that her dress was getting soaked.
She'll get scolded by the adults. Thinking this, Kaltz couldn't hold back and spoke to her.
"What are you doing?"
The girl turned her head. Her fair face, splattered with muddy water, was creased with irritation. The girl said,
"I lost a gold coin here."
Kaltz tilted his head in puzzlement. To the boy, gold coins were common as pebbles, piled mountain-high in his father's study. He couldn't understand why she would go to such lengths just to find one.
So he said what came to mind.
"Just ask for another one."
Then suddenly, the girl's eyes turned fierce. Her iron-cold black-blue eyes narrowed to triangles, and her pretty face grew as stern as an angry governess.
The girl snapped.
"Do you have any idea how much a single gold coin is worth? That money feeds a poor farmer for half a year. It's months of wages for servants!"
"...Really?"
"Of course. Gold coins are very precious."
The girl nodded with eyes full of conviction. Kaltz stared at her blankly, then blurted out,
"I'll help you find it."
And so the boy and girl ended up rummaging through muddy water together. Even though his clothes were caked in mud, Kaltz diligently sifted through the water, searching for the gleaming gold coin. The precious toy sword from the Southern Kingdom had long since become a digging stick for piercing the earth.
After all that, the two finally found the gold coin.
"Here you go."
Kaltz fished out the gold coin and handed it to the girl with a proud face. The girl let out a small cheer and carefully wiped the gold coin before slipping it into her pocket. The girl's cheeks, flushed red from the sun, were blotched with splattered mud. And Kaltz probably didn't look much different either, given how quickly laughter filled the girl's eyes as she looked at him.
So the boy and girl burst into laughter at the same time. After laughing for a long while, they felt their boots soaking wet and stepped away from the pond. Like a gentleman, Kaltz stepped out first and took the girl's hand to escort her, and the girl, pretending to be a refined lady, accepted his hand and walked out. Even that was funny.
Giggling, Kaltz asked his new friend,
"What's your name?"
The girl replied with a smile.
"Katarina Cataleang."
Katarina.
Kaltz treasured that name deep in his heart.
＊ ＊ ＊
Katarina Cataleang was the precious only daughter of the Cataleang Marquisate.
The Cataleang family, one of the wealthiest even in the South, held a large fiefdom right next to the Denion territory, so the two families had long maintained frequent exchanges. However, because the Marquis and his wife had been so protective of Katarina and reluctant to let her go out, it was said she had only this year finally been allowed to visit other fiefdoms' villas.
Kaltz listened to this story with a sense of wonder. For someone raised that way, she wasn't haughty at all. Among the children who visited the Denion salon, there were plenty of arrogant and mean ones, but Katarina was entirely different. She didn't act insufferably because her father was a Marquis, nor did she flaunt the expensive dresses her parents bought her daily. She was pretty, kind to everyone, and smiled often. So everyone liked her. Adults called her a "perfect girl."
Of course, Kaltz agreed with that assessment, but for slightly different reasons. Kaltz thought she was the smartest girl in the world. Katarina knew more than even the adults, and sometimes she was a bit scary. The part about being obsessed with gold was especially so.
"My dream is to become the greatest merchant on the continent."
Katarina said with the same conviction as when she had declared she must find the dropped gold coin. She said she read books from morning to night for that purpose, and listened to the outstanding merchants her parents invited. For Kaltz, who still played with toy swords, it was beyond astonishing.
So Kaltz willingly confided his dream to the girl and sought her advice.
"My dream is to become a pirate, but..."
Katarina immediately shook her head.
"That's too unrealistic."
"Why?"
"Think about it. Pirates are traitors as defined by the Imperial Family. If you become a traitor, what will happen to your family?"
"Is that so?"
"Of course. And your hair is red, so you'd be found out really quickly."
Now that she mentioned it, she seemed right. From that day on, Kaltz fell into distress. What other cool sword-wielding profession could there be besides piracy? For a boy raised in the peaceful South, nothing came to mind.
So Kaltz stepped into the Denion family library for the first time in ages. It was a place he occasionally visited before he grew tired of his dream of becoming a scholar. He remembered Katarina saying that within books lay the world. So he searched through many books for a very long time.
So the next time he met the girl, Kaltz was able to proudly declare,
"I'm going to be a knight."
At the boy's declaration, Katarina's eyes widened, then she nodded thoughtfully this time.
"I heard knighthood is an honorable profession... And since there are many knight orders in the South, there should be plenty of places to train."
"But the book said northern knights are the best?"
"The North? But... the North is dangerous."
Katarina hesitated in her answer for the first time. The girl blinked her black-blue eyes and grabbed Kaltz's sleeve.
"There are monsters in the North far more dangerous than you could ever imagine here. The weather is freezing, and instead of fruit trees, there are only thorny bushes."
"..."
"So just stay in the South, okay?"
But Kaltz stubbornly pulled his sleeve from Katarina's grasp.
"Even so, I want to be the best if I'm going to do this. ...You said you'd become the greatest merchant on the continent too."
Katarina didn't answer. Instead, she looked at Kaltz with slightly resentful eyes. Kaltz clamped his mouth shut.
From then on, the two who had been good friends began to fight a little. It turned out they had quite a few incompatible traits. Kaltz detested tea time while Katarina loved it, and when Katarina read books on law and trade, Kaltz only read novels.
They grumbled often and argued for ages over trivial matters. Until the tiny teacups for children went cold.
Their bickering, which had continued for nearly a year every time they met, reached its peak when Kaltz announced he would leave for Mort.
"Why the Mort Knight Order of all things? The Mort Knight Order has a bad reputation right now. They say the Grand Duke of Mort abandoned his knights and left, so even merchants refuse to contract with them..."
"The Mort Knight Order's renown is the greatest on the continent. Both the Southern Kingdom's Holy Knight Order and the Capital's Welch Knight Order are weaker than the Mort Knight Order."
"At least that place is close! Mort is the very end of the North. It's a place even adults avoid going because it's not worth the money, and you insist on going?"
"What does a merchant know about knights?"
The boy and girl glared at each other. Her pretty face, thoroughly scowling, was nothing but infuriating today. So the childish third child of the Denion family blurted out words that had nothing to do with chivalry.
"Chase gold for the rest of your life, you money-grubber!"
The Cataleang heir didn't lose either and shouted back.
"Fine! Go there and become monster food, you idiot!"
They both shot up and stormed away from each other.
And that became their last conversation before Kaltz left the South.
❖ ❖ ❖
And Kaltz Denion regretted coming to Mort about fifty times.
Mort was truly, viciously cold land. Having barely experienced cold in his life, Kaltz was deeply shocked by Mort's winter weather.
People all walked around in thick clothes, and everyone kept their doors and windows tightly shut, so outdoor tea parties like those in the South were out of the question. Even sweet fruits, so common in the South, were rare commodities.
In this situation, he even found himself missing the tea time he had so detested. Kaltz trained to death every day and often suffered from homesickness. He sometimes poured out his complaints to his newly made knight companions. Tea time in the South was truly peaceful, he'd say. Here it was freezing to death, and he wanted to go home and stuff himself with cookies.
His friends born and raised in Mort didn't seem to empathize much with Kaltz's words. Instead, they latched onto something else.
"That neighboring lady you keep mentioning, the one who likes gold."
"Yeah."
"Didn't you perhaps like her?"
"What?!"
Kaltz jumped up at once.
"No way, there are so many kind and pretty girls in the world..."
"But you think of that lady whenever there's a chance, don't you? I'm like that too when I think of Lady Yulianna."
His words were stopped short. Leonard was the oldest among them and passionately admired the fiancée he'd known since childhood, making him the most experienced in such matters.
Kaltz looked to his other friend with eyes seeking help. Victor smiled.
"I don't think I'd remember the name of a woman I had no interest in either."
That tracked. The young lord was already ignoring every girl who admired him and came to the training grounds. Not intentionally, but because he was so focused on training.
Kaltz let out a deep sigh. Leonard was one thing, but he wondered if Victor Mort would ever figure out what love was even if he lived a thousand years.
Kaltz ultimately chose denial.
"Never mind, I won't see her again anyway."
Knight order swordsmanship training didn't end until age twenty. Even after receiving the title of upper knight, one had to stay in the fiefdom and train for at least a few more years, and after that, it was common to never leave one's lord's territory according to their command. Of course, if something happened to the family he'd have to return, but it didn't seem likely that anything major would happen to the Denion Count's family, which sent weekly letters full of worry and nagging.
So by the time he returned to the South, Katarina would have already left the South to become a merchant. Probably married to some man whose name he didn't know.
So it was a meaningless conversation anyway. Kaltz silently began swinging his sword again.
❖ ❖ ❖
The days in Mort passed quickly.
The joyful childhood ended amidst悲惨 deaths, and Kaltz and his friends were swept into war. Kaltz was finally able to return to the South, but what awaited him was not his family's welcome but oppressive heat and swarms of insects. The sunlight he had missed burned his skin and claimed his comrades.
Kaltz came to hate the South.
When the long war ended, Kaltz had become a man who grew more and smiled less than before. His swordsmanship and military tactics had improved, but inwardly he felt his childhood dream was over. His friend was now the Grand Duke, and he was the Grand Duke's chief of staff. Therefore, Kaltz's goal could no longer simply be to become the strongest knight.
So Kaltz mimicked the merchant's ways. He spent money to buy information and built connections in banquet halls. The more adept he became at handling people and women, the more he could extract. But it still wasn't enough.
Kaltz thought he should have listened more carefully to the merchant's words when he was young. The words of the girl who was now making a name for herself as the greatest merchant on the continent.
Katarina Cataleang, who had leaped into trade management a few years ago, was said to be doubling the already formidable reputation of the Cataleang Trading Company with her tremendous skill. Rumors about her were now spreading beyond the South, reaching the capital and the entire Empire.
Yet Kaltz had never once seen her at a banquet. In the capital's social scene, there was a clear distinction between women's and men's spheres, and she rarely lingered in social venues.
And Kaltz too never went out of his way to find her. He was too busy to deliberately entangle himself with an old friend he'd parted with on bad terms. After the war, the Grand Duke's condition was precarious, and he had to do anything to protect his lord.
So it was only after a very long time that he heard news of her up close.
"Pardon?"
"Lady Cataleang. Do you know of her?"
Amarion Mort, with her near-white blonde hair pinned up, asked. Kaltz's lady, wearing a lovely dress, smiled for the first time in a while.
"I had a conversation with her at today's banquet, and she was kind and interesting. She even invited me to a ball at her family's villa."
"...I see. That lady is... a good person. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, my lady."
"Yees."
Amarion smiled a little weakly. Kaltz fell silent with a polite smile.
The name he hadn't heard in so long rubbed at him like a thorn, but what he needed to focus on now were the vicious rumors circulating in the capital about the Grand Ducal family and his mistress who didn't seem to be enjoying her first social season at all. Kaltz set his priorities in his mind and tried hard to forget that name.
But at the same time, his knight's intuition whispered that since she had become friends with his lady, he would inevitably cross paths with her again someday.
＊ ＊ ＊
But I didn't want to reunite like this.
Kaltz thought as he practically ran up the castle stairs.
Mort Castle was in chaos. The Cataleang Trading Company, having encountered monsters in the Mort border region, had suffered serious casualties and been carried in. Among the names of the injured, when Kaltz heard hers, his chest seemed to turn cold.
He thought hearing only her name was enough. She must have heard Kaltz's name too, and Kaltz had also heard how outstanding she was and how she was achieving her dream. She might laugh at how he had bragged so loudly yet failed to become the strongest knight, but he figured she'd understand since she knew Victor too. This much was sufficient for a childhood friend he would never see again.
But...
Kaltz opened the door somewhat hastily. The person he expected to be unconscious was surprisingly awake. Black-blue eyes and a pale face turned to him.
'...'
When their eyes met, words failed him.
The heavily bandaged waist caught his eye first. The wound, soaked with blood, looked serious even at a glance. Kaltz nearly forgot all etiquette and almost blurted out if she was alright.
But Katarina spoke first.
"Sir."
She raised her slender hand. The knight instinctively stepped forward and kissed the back of the lady's hand. The back of Katarina's hand was rough. Unlike when she was young.
She withdrew her hand and spoke.
"It's been a while."
"Are you alright?"
"Barely."
She forced a smile. Pretending to be fine when half-dead... Kaltz clicked his tongue inwardly and stepped a little closer to the bed.
Despite her gruesome injury, Katarina appeared composed. According to the knights who had accompanied her, others in the trading company had also avoided major injuries thanks to her quick judgment. Even knights specialized in combat probably couldn't have been so composed.
But in that moment, Kaltz recalled something else the girl had treasured more than her own life. A question slipped out abruptly.
"Did you protect the gold coin?"
Katarina's eyes widened. Then with confident eyes, she gestured toward the bedside.
"Of course."
Only then did Kaltz notice the worn pouch beside the bed. Inside the shabby pouch that didn't suit the South's greatest merchant, gold coins appeared to be glinting, packed full.
"Haha."
Laughter suddenly leaked out. Since it was unthinkable for a knight to laugh at a sick lady's bedside, Kaltz hastily covered his mouth.
But when he looked up, Katarina was smiling.
❖ ❖ ❖
After that day, Kaltz ended up doing many things together with Katarina.
Even though she was now a woman rather than a girl, she was still wise and perfect. No, to be precise, it was more accurate to say she had become an even more difficult opponent than before. Having roamed the entire continent leading her trading company, she was more seasoned than ever, and still had absolutely nothing in common with Kaltz. The fact that she'd become even more mischievous was a bonus.
"Sir, did you bring the documents I requested last time?"
"...Of course, my lady."
Kaltz grit his teeth into a smile and set down the heavy stack of documents. With a thud, dust billowed up, and Katarina glared at him.
"Making such a racket beside an ailing lady, where has your chivalry gone?"
"If I weren't a knight, I wouldn't have even granted such a ridiculous request."
Kaltz grumbled as he sat across from her at the conference room desk.
Recovering much faster than expected, Katarina had already resumed her trading company work and was making full use of her childhood friend turned knight. While at it, she also helped with Mort's affairs, and honestly, it was truly helpful.
"My, you're receiving quite a lot of help from me to be complaining, aren't you?"
Of course, he'd never admit it.
Kaltz thought to himself as he sullenly shuffled through the papers. Katarina immediately asked seriously.
"So, what's the situation with the subjugation force?"
"...They've reached the battlefield for now. But supplies are still difficult. Many routes are blocked by monsters."
"That's a serious problem. At this rate, there will be villages short on food. The border closure hasn't been lifted either, so we can't import from outside either."
Katarina stroked her chin.
Honestly, even for Kaltz, this was the first time facing such a difficult situation. The monsters that had surged up while he was away filled all of Mort and isolated villages.
His lord who left with the lady had entrusted him with full authority, but originally, he was just someone who became a knight because he liked swordplay. Reviving a half-paralyzed fiefdom was beyond his expectations. Once basic resources were secured to some extent, the newly appointed vassals would handle the rest, but...
Then, Katarina proposed.
"How about buying food from the County attached below Mort? I heard this year's harvest was abundant."
"Is that possible? The lord there has a stubborn personality. He won't even speak to outsiders, let alone sell food."
"Even so, he'll accept my request. The Count has a son of marriageable age, you see."
The knight looked at her with a furrowed brow. The merchant said matter-of-factly.
"So if the daughter of the Cataleang Marquisate requests it, he'll gladly send an invitation. Naturally, he'll be interested."
"...You're going to use the Count's son?"
"Why? Don't you do the same?"
Kaltz fell silent.
Of course, he did that too. Approaching under the guise of courtship or proposals was very effective on naive noble children. That's why he'd been called a playboy, dating countless ladies in social circles.
But at the same time, Kaltz was a knight. Though his colleagues called him a rake, he had lived by the rules and valued chivalry. He was different from Katarina, a merchant who would use any means for profit and purpose.
So he said.
"If something goes wrong, it could hurt your reputation. I can't do anything that would damage a lady's standing."
"Ah, is a knight's honor lesser than a woman's? I'll become even more distrustful of the men who send me love letters."
Katarina shot back without a shred of hesitation. And she said to the red-haired knight.
"Stop being so puritanical, Kaltz Denion. I'm investing in Mort for my trading company, and I'm simply playing my cards there. A gambler who can't play their cards in time cannot win."
Kaltz silently gazed at the black-blue eyes, then turned his head. Her words, as always, were not wrong at all. No, as a knight of Mort, he should rather rejoice and accept the proposal. Yet he couldn't understand why his mood sank like this.
Kaltz silently pulled out some paper. On the paper he handed over, Katarina began writing a letter in elegant script. A letter to be sent to the Count's family.
❖ ❖ ❖
And finally, Katarina received an invitation to a tea party at the Count's mansion.
It was a gathering often held after the social season ended. Small tea parties where noblewomen and gentlemen who had grown closer during the social season gathered were sparsely attended, making them suitable for important discussions. Kaltz volunteered as an escort knight without being asked. Participating as partners would be inappropriate for their purpose.
On the day of the party, Katarina alighted before the mansion dressed like a white peony.
While people glanced at her with admiring eyes, Kaltz alone furrowed his brow.
"Why on earth are you wearing this outfit?"
"The Count is someone who values tradition. I shouldn't give him anything to find fault with."
Katarina said with a sigh. Unlike usual, she was wearing a very old-fashioned dress with her waist tightly cinched by a corset. She took Kaltz's hand and walked with difficulty.
"The injury site is a bit bothersome... but it can't be helped. Let's go in."
Kaltz silently led her into the banquet hall.
❖ ❖ ❖
And several hours later, he truly found himself marveling at Katarina's skill.
"Thank you so much, Count. For promising support so readily..."
"Haha! Isn't charity the virtue of the noble? Besides, the lady's heart, worrying about the fiefdom of a close noblewoman, was so beautiful that I couldn't help but be moved."
"Thank you, Count. Cataleang will not forget this kindness."
Katarina smiled radiantly and gave a slight bow. She looked like an innocent noble lady to anyone. Beside her, the Count's son stood with a foolish expression, mouth agape. His face showed he had no clue that Katarina had used him as a bridge to approach his father.
She naturally took a step back.
"Then I'll return to enjoying the party. If you'll excuse me..."
"Please do."
"Have a pleasant evening, my lady."
As soon as the Count and his son bowed as if bewitched, Katarina turned away. Dressed in knight's attire, Kaltz waited for her by the wall.
When she approached, she wore an exhausted face. Kaltz naturally supported her and seated her on a chair. Then he stood shielding her from the crowd so she could rest.
Katarina, finally leaning against the backrest, spoke.
"It's settled. The Count will sell food to Mort."
"And the payment?"
"He said he'd accept it slowly as long as we provide a letter of credit bearing the Grand Duke of Mort's seal. He wants to be paid in wheat or gold coins."
"I'll have it made and sent as soon as we return."
"Right."
Katarina fanned herself weakly.
Kaltz suddenly recalled the girl from their childhood who had hated dresses that constricted her breathing. Katarina truly disliked uncomfortable clothes, always saying she wished even women could walk around in just shirts and trousers. She always dressed comfortably when traveling for trade.
When receiving help alone was already sorry enough. Kaltz frowned slightly and asked quietly.
"Is your body alright?"
Katarina replied sharply.
"Fine. Except for the part where it feels like my insides are going to spill out."
"Shall I call a carriage?"
"No. Leaving too early would seem rude to the Count."
"But you only recently recovered."
The words of worry slipped out before he could even try to hide them. Katarina quietly looked up at the knight. An indescribable gaze flickered briefly, then an answer came.
"...It's fine. I'd hate to ruin a done deal more."
Katarina sighed, then called over a passing servant and said.
"Could you bring some lemonade and cookies here?"
"Why dessert? You said your stomach is upset."
She answered as if it were obvious.
"Because you like them."
Kaltz was momentarily speechless.
His stomach churned with inexplicable emotion. It was the churning he'd felt occasionally since reuniting with Katarina. His capable, beautiful, and perfect old friend even had a good memory. He recalled the girl who pushed cookies with jam toward him even in the middle of their childhood arguments.
The red-haired knight fixed his gaze on the diamonds adorning her black-blue hair and grumbled as normally as possible.
"I'm not a child anymore, you know?"
"Are you sure about that? Amarion said you still prefer sweet snacks over mead."
"What? Why on earth would my lady tell you that..."
When Kaltz jumped, a smile spread across her fair, oval face. Eyes tinged with laughter shone exactly like dark blue onyx. Just like in the old days when she'd win their childish arguments and smile triumphantly.
So Kaltz ended up laughing too. Anyway, as long as she was smiling, that was enough.
❖ ❖ ❖
And finally, Mort's crisis was resolved. Kaltz's two lords used tremendous power to slay a dragon—Lady Amarion vehemently denied it, but honestly, that was a real dragon. Even Katarina agreed with Kaltz's words this time—and brought back peace like a fairy tale.
Though Kaltz hadn't achieved any particular military merits as a knight, the best part was simply having less work. After working like mad every day, at some point strange rumors started circulating in the castle.
"They say you were together every day?"
"I heard you walked the gardens together."
"You even went to a party together? Good grief, how could a knight with an injured lady..."
"That's not it."
Kaltz replied sullenly. But the fellow knights returning from the battlefield only exchanged mischievous glances. They clearly didn't believe him.
"Hard to deny when the rumors are so widespread, Kaltz Denion."
"Even a man who acted that lightly couldn't resist a lady like Lady Cataleang after all."
"Well, she's a woman famous across the continent for a reason. What knight could refuse accompanying such a beautiful lady?"
"Ah, I said it's not like that!"
At Kaltz's exasperation, the knights laughed and swarmed out with swords in hand. The red-haired knight sighed.
Honestly, the rumors were half true. He had been with Katarina almost all day lately. But there was nothing sweet about it, unlike what people imagined. The two spent all that time arguing like mad and filling out hundreds of documents.
Katarina was still helping with Mort's restoration, but once the situation stabilized, she returned to being a merchant more terrifying than a snake. When she demanded the distribution rights for Mort's specialty mead, they fought over profit distribution until their voices cracked.
But Katarina doggedly brought a reasonable deal proposal. It was too good an offer to refuse on the grounds of Victor's absence. In the end, the owner of the great trading company who secured the distribution rights was overjoyed. Her beaming face was so annoying for no reason that Kaltz picked another fight.
"You'll probably carry gold coins into your grave too, for sure."
"How did you know? I want my coffin to be pure gold."
Katarina shot back. As Kaltz fell speechless in disbelief, she said quite seriously.
"Knights are buried with their lord-given swords when they die. So shouldn't merchants be buried asleep in gold?"
"Does gold have meaning after death?"
"Gold may not have meaning, but honor does."
Katarina smiled a dim smile.
"That's why I had that dream. To become the best on the continent."
"...I didn't become a knight with quite that serious a heart."
"For someone who didn't, you did pretty well? You've become famous enough for anyone to know your name now."
Kaltz quietly looked down at her. Katarina's eyes grew a little sad.
"You went through war... Your name was always reported alongside the Grand Duke's in victory reports, but I always felt strange. You must have endured hardships I couldn't even imagine."
"Did you think it served me right for ignoring your words and leaving for the North?"
"Of course I thought that too."
The two old friends glared at each other. But soon, Katarina suddenly added.
"But I was scared."
She spat out and quickly clamped her mouth shut. Like someone startled by her own words.
Kaltz stared at Katarina with wide eyes. She was never one to easily let such weak words escape her lips. Especially not in front of an old friend she argued with five times a day.
'...'
Kaltz clenched and unclenched his fist. No matter how much time passed, he always found himself unable to find the right words in front of her, like the boy playing pirates. It was for reasons unknown to him.
But there was no time to think about what all this meant, for they were too busy. Many people were hurt, and there was still much work to be done in the world.
The two silently began organizing the mountain of reports again.
❖ ❖ ❖
Such a year passed.
Kaltz worked frantically in the barely stabilized Mort, and when winter reached its end, he left for Amari and stayed there for a while. It was cold beyond anything he could have imagined, yet Katarina roamed around perfectly fine there, unbelievable for a Southerner.
"If running earns money, what does the cold matter?"
"You're really like a golem that burns gold to roll around."
"Please refrain from such rude metaphors, sir."
"Truth cannot be hidden through suppression, my lady."
While they spent time bickering like that, the year changed.
Kaltz was interrogated about his relationship with Katarina to a degree that wearied even the northerners and his colleagues, returned to Mort which felt almost Southern compared to Amari, and saw his old friend finally marry the lady he had revered most in the world.
And finally, when his lord and his wife had also set down their swords and wore happy smiles, Kaltz Denion went to the capital for the first time in a very long while.
The capital was still dazzling. The nobles of the wealthy imperial center were more lavish than even those of the South, spending gold coins like water. The Imperial Palace in particular was decorated with all manner of jewels, making it seem as if the sun rose even at night. It was rather distasteful to see them enjoying such luxury without caring that the border people were suffering, but Kaltz was realistic enough not to get angry over such things.
These people wouldn't change easily, and they would use all this gold solely for their own pleasure. All a knight like him could do was protect what was within his reach instead of such people.
Anyway, so it was that the current Kaltz Denion was indignant for a somewhat more worldly reason.
"Victor Mort, that bastard really..."
Kaltz muttered his lord's name as he crossed the garden.
He had just participated in the Imperial ball as Katarina Cataleang's escort knight. Victor had laughed for ages after hearing the two had attended a party together for work, and then dispatched Kaltz as her escort. Honestly, he wondered how anyone could hatch such an evil scheme even while his beloved wife was with child.
He recalled what Raoul had said before.
'Doesn't our lord sometimes seem like he was born with a rather wicked disposition, no?'
He couldn't agree more.
Kaltz sighed as he stepped into the maze-like garden. He had come to find Katarina, who had gone out for fresh air and hadn't returned for quite some time. Surely nothing could happen in the Imperial Palace, but he was still a bit worried.
And soon, the knight found her.
"Katarina?"
Katarina was sitting on the grass. Her dress, studded with jewels to look like the night sky, was haphazardly spread on the ground.
Suddenly his heart dropped. It overlapped with the pale face lying injured.
Kaltz hurriedly rushed to the lady. Katarina, who raised her head at the sound of footsteps, thankfully looked fine.
"Ah, Kaltz."
"...What on earth are you doing here?"
"I dropped a gold coin on the ground, but it's too dark to find it."
Katarina said irritably, feeling the ground with her lace-gloved hand. Kaltz asked in disbelief.
"What were you doing dropping a gold coin here?!"
"I always stroke a gold coin when I have things to think about. Touching the Imperial Foundry's seal stamped on the gold coin calms my mind."
"I'm sorry, my lady, but sometimes you don't seem to be in your right mind."
"Shut up and help me find it, sir."
"Yes, ma'am."
Kaltz, like a faithful guardian knight, drew his sword for the lady. Then he began feeling along the grass-covered ground. Moonlight reflected off the blade glimmered. The two wandered the garden, dark as black water, for a long while.
Unavoidably, their first meeting came to mind. Katarina had become incomparably wealthier than back then, but Kaltz didn't tell her to just count one lost gold coin as a loss. Because he still clearly remembered the girl's words by the lake.
And in Katarina's following words, the knight realized the merchant felt similar sentiments.
"I never expected us to end up like this."
"...Like what?"
"Hmm, excellent business partners?"
Kaltz silently agreed. The two really did match incredibly well when it came to discussing work.
Katarina continued, as if reminiscing about the past.
"Actually, that's why I wished you hadn't left for the North."
"Why?"
"Because you're smart, I thought it would be nice if you ran the trading company with me or became my guard... I learned a lot from our conversations. But in the end, you left to find your dream."
The knight quietly looked back at her. Illuminated by the dim moonlight, the lady looked like a lake nymph lost in thought.
Kaltz felt as if he were peering into thousands of books. It was because of her that he had become a knight in the first place, and because he had wanted to become wise.
"Ah."
Then, something caught the tip of his sword.
Kaltz bent down and picked up the hard object. On his palm, a small gold coin glinted quietly.
The knight offered his hand to help the lady up, then returned the gold coin to her.
"Here you go."
"Thank you."
Katarina wiped the gold coin without hesitation on her dazzling dress hem and slipped it into the small pouch tied inside her wrist.
A question slipped out naturally.
"Why did you come to love gold coins so much? Because you can buy what you want?"
The merchant looked up at him. Her calm eyes were as unwavering as that day in their childhood.
"I fell in love at first sight. Gold is possibility to me. It gives women freedoms and equalities hard to attain with a woman's body, food to the starving, books and possibilities to those who wish to learn. That's why I always dreamed of having mountains of gold coins. To give opportunities to many people."
"..."
"You weren't in a position to mock my dream of becoming a pirate as unrealistic, were you?"
Katarina smiled. A smile bright enough to be clearly visible even under the dim moonlight.
Suddenly, Kaltz Denion thought about love.
He was the chief of staff of the Grand Duke of Death, known for reading not only his allies' but also his enemies' minds, yet he still remained ignorant about love. It was a feeling even the utterly stiff Leonard had come to know, and even Victor, who he thought might never experience love in his entire life—yet for Kaltz, it remained elusive. His brilliant mind couldn't easily compute what wasn't clear fact.
What he knew was one thing. Even if he searched the continent his whole life, he would never find a woman more perfect than her.
Katarina Cataleang said.
"You're no longer the Denion family's spoiled child, you're a knight renowned across the continent. So you can't just brush it off lightly like when you were young."
She shook off the dew-dampened hem of her skirt and stood gracefully. As befitting a proper heiress of a marquisate who had completed her debut and led her family's business. She looked up at the knight with black-blue eyes that shone like stars.
"Since you protected my treasure, sir, tell me what you desire."
Kaltz sheathed his sword. Putting away his usual light smile, he stepped closer with seething eyes. Then he whispered courteously.
"Forgive my insolence, my lady."
The boy kissed the girl.
— End of