That Guy Is Not My Friend!

Night deepened over the princesses' private dormitory area at Glory Kael Magic Academy.

Warm yellow magical lamps lit the exquisite little sitting room, but could not dispel the gloom on the three maids' faces.

Renee, whose hair was cut to her ears and whose expression was always as stern as steel, glanced at the gilded wall clock for the thirteenth time.

Laila, bespectacled and scholarly, wiped the already spotless coffee table for the fifth time.

Lena, usually the liveliest of the three, wore her hair in a high ponytail. Now she sat quietly on the sofa, hugging a cushion, her delicate brows tightly knitted.

"Nine forty-seven." Renee's voice was taut as a drawn string. "Her Highness has never stayed out this late without informing us."

"Even when she sneaks out to test her magic, she's always back by eight thirty at the latest." Laila adjusted her glasses, worry filling the eyes behind them.

"Could something have happened?" Lena clutched the cushion tighter, her voice wavering.

The three fell silent.

The princess's unpredictable nature, her terrifyingly boundless curiosity, and her almost blind faith in her own abilities had always been their greatest headache.

They were her maids, her guards, and, more than that, the older sisters who had watched her grow up.

Their concern had long since gone beyond duty.

The hand of the wall clock quietly advanced another notch.

Renee took a deep breath, seemingly making up her mind. "We'll wait another fifteen minutes. If Her Highness still hasn't returned..."

She paused, her voice unusually grave. "We must report this to Princess Vivian immediately."

Vivian Kahn, the Kingdom's eldest princess and Lilith's older half sister, was also one of the strongest contenders for the top position among the Academy's second-year students.

She was exceptionally strict with others and herself alike. If she learned that her little sister had suddenly disappeared...

All three maids shuddered.

Just imagining the consequences made their scalps prickle.

Just as the oppressive silence was about to reach its breaking point-

"Click."

The sound of the lock turning was faint but clear.

The three maids sprang up at once, their gazes shooting toward the entryway.

The door opened, and a figure stepped inside.

Her dark brown hair was slightly disheveled, and her ordinary Academy uniform bore suspicious stains of water mixed with dust.

"Your Highness!" All three cried out together and rushed toward her.

Renee looked her up and down. "Are you hurt? Do you feel unwell anywhere?"

Lena hurried to pour some hot water. "Your Highness, you scared us to death! Where on earth did you go?"

Surrounded by them, Lilith waved a hand helplessly. "All right, all right. I'm fine."

She reached behind her ear and gently peeled off the magical disguise device.

In an instant, it was as though a dull filter had been lifted.

Her dark brown hair vanished, replaced by a dazzling mane of flame-red hair that spilled over her shoulders, gleaming warmly beneath the lights.

Her features gradually became more distinct as well: a pert nose, lips soft as cherry blossoms, a gracefully shaped chin, and, most striking of all, eyes like the purest rubies.

Seeing that she had no obvious injuries and that her mana fluctuations were stable, the three maids finally relaxed a little, though their confusion and concern remained.

"Your Highness."

Renee stepped back half a pace and bowed, but her tone was uncompromisingly stern. "Please tell us exactly where you went and what you did between four this afternoon and ten tonight."

Lilith blinked, her jewel-like eyes darting about. She took off her mud-stained jacket and handed it to Laila, speaking with affected casualness:

"Why are you all so worried? I just... went to a friend's place for a little visit."

For a moment, the sitting room went silent.

Renee watched her expressionlessly, then said slowly, "Your Highness is lying."

Laila nodded with equal certainty, her voice perfectly calm. "Yes. Without a doubt, Her Highness is lying."

Lena tilted her head, her pretty face full of confusion. "Why would Your Highness tell a lie we can spot so easily?"

"..."

"Wh-what's that supposed to mean?!" Lilith's face flushed instantly, scarlet spreading all the way to her ears. She trembled slightly, whether from anger or embarrassment. "Even I... can have a friend or two, you know!"

Having grown up together, their private relationship had long since moved beyond mistress and servants. They were more like sisters who could tell one another anything.

For that very reason, they might have understood Lilith better than she understood herself.

Her little habits when she lied, such as her eyes unconsciously drifting up and to the right, as they were doing now, or her fingers absently twisting the ends of her hair-

To them, these were as obvious as a lighthouse in the dark.

Renee stepped forward and bowed slightly, her tone respectful but her question piercing. "May I ask, Your Highness, whether this 'friend' you mentioned is the sort we can see and touch?"

Lilith nearly jumped like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "How old do you think I am?! I outgrew imaginary friends ages ago!"

Her red hair swayed slightly with her agitation.

Lena said, "So you've progressed to a solid rubber friend. But do remember to keep that sort of thing in moderation."

Lilith said, "How did you even get there?! It's just a perfectly ordinary, real human friend!"

"In that case..."

Laila adjusted her glasses, a sharp glint flashing across the lenses:

"Could you tell us this 'friend's' name? After all, if they kept Your Highness so 'reluctant to leave' that you even missed dinner, we'd very much like to meet them."

"No!" Lilith rejected the suggestion almost without hesitation.

The name Greg Sass carried far too much significance.

Besides, she still did not know whether they could really be considered friends. The only thing she could be sure of was that she no longer disliked him the way she once had.

"Oh?"

Catching the complicated expression that flickered across her face, Lena leaned closer as though she had discovered a whole new continent, her lovely almond-shaped eyes sparkling with gossip:

"That reaction... such a red face, such a firm refusal, and you won't even tell us his name... how very, very intriguing-"

"The class placement assessment is tomorrow!"

Lilith abruptly raised her voice, cutting off Lena's drawn-out words and successfully changing the subject.

"I-I'm going to my room to rest! It's important to save my strength!"

With that, she fled into her bedroom like a startled rabbit without looking back. The door closed with a bang, followed by the unmistakable sound of the lock turning.

"Your Highness! You haven't had dinner yet, have you? You'll make yourself ill going hungry!" Renee hurriedly called through the closed door.

"I already ate!" Lilith's muffled voice came from inside.

Outside the door, the three maids exchanged looks of disbelief.

Her Highness... had already eaten?

They knew perfectly well that Lilith never took money with her when she went out, and she could not cook at all. In the palace, she had never had to lift a finger; in the Academy dormitory, they took care of her.

That seemed to leave only one answer...

Her Highness really had made a friend, and had even eaten at their place!

Inside the bedroom.

After changing out of her clothes, Lilith fell backward, throwing herself onto the soft, enormous bed.

The expensive silk sheets enveloped her at once, but she paid them no mind. She simply stared blankly at the ceiling with its magical starry-sky patterns, her ruby-like eyes wide open.

Moonlight spilled through the elegant bay window, casting a pool of pale light across the carpet.

She rolled onto her side, her beautifully shaped, jade-white legs extending from beneath her skirt. Her delicate ankles were bare, her ten toes round and lovely as pearls.

She absently swung her lower legs, her pale feet swaying gently in the moonlight as though she were pondering some difficult problem.

"A friend..."

She murmured softly, letting the word roll over her tongue, its feel unfamiliar and novel.

Greg Sass... was nothing like the person she had imagined.

She had told him to his face that she would repay him for saving her life.

And what had he done?

He had merely scratched his half-dry blond hair and said, with an expression somewhere between helplessness and amusement, "Repay me? There's no need to go to all that trouble. You... well, just keep supporting Princess Lilith like this."

Support Princess Lilith?

Disguised as "Lily Carlo" at the time, she had almost failed to keep her expression under control.

Did that guy have any idea who he was talking to?

And why would he give up a favor just to get Lily Carlo to support Princess Lilith?

That didn't benefit him in any way, did it?

What an idiot.

An absolute idiot.

Did he even understand what a favor from me meant?

And he'd just willingly given it up.

Setting that matter aside for the moment, Lilith thought back to the time she had spent with him.

Although he kept making her angry, she had felt more at ease than ever before.

She had not needed to maintain a princess's poise, weigh every word, or consider the royal family's reputation.

She could get angry, yell at him, and express her displeasure without holding anything back.

Just like... just like an ordinary person.

And then there was his food.

How could something so crude, something that had no place on a princess's menu, taste so good?

Crisp on the outside, juicy within, with layers upon layers of spice... it lingered in her memory more than the steaks painstakingly prepared by the royal chefs.

"Next time, I'll make him cook more."

She muttered under her breath, almost tasting that wonderful flavor again.

Although that guy had waved her off at the end, saying something about how "the Dungeon is dangerous, so a little girl shouldn't keep coming here," she, Lilith Kahn, could go wherever she wanted!

Why should I listen to him? I'm going back just to spite him! And I won't just eat his grilled meat-I'll make him hand over those strange spices, too!

At that thought, the corners of her mouth lifted unconsciously. A sly, expectant smile rippled through her ruby-like eyes, and her feet swung a little more merrily.

But that small spark of excitement soon faded, like ripples raised by a stone dropped into a lake.

Cold reality rose in her mind.

The person who had warmed herself by the fire with him in the cave, bickered with him, and eaten grilled meat was "Lily Carlo," an ordinary wealthy merchant's daughter.

And the person Greg Sass had seen, spoken to, and rescued was also "Lily Carlo."

If he found out...

If he learned that the girl sitting across from him, shamelessly gnawing on meat skewers, was Lilith Kahn, the Kingdom's second princess, and the younger sister of the woman he had nearly been engaged to...

Would he still look at me so casually?

Would he still contradict me without hesitation and make me angry?

Would he still casually hand me a skewer of meat sizzling with fat and say, "Try this"?

Probably not.

Just like the Academy students and teachers who knew her identity.

Their eyes would fill with awe, distance, flattery, or cautious scrutiny.

They would choose their words carefully and become stiffly polite in their behavior.

Everything would be veiled by a thin film called "status," making it dull.

Something inside her tightened inexplicably, bringing a faint pang of sadness.

"Hmph!"

She suddenly shook her head hard, spreading her red hair across the pillow:

"It's not like I really want to be friends with him anyway! I just... just think his food tastes good! Right, that's all! Everything else... doesn't matter!"

As though trying to convince herself, she abruptly sat up in bed and drew her gaze away from the bright moon outside the window.

Her jewel-like eyes grew resolute again, a tiny flame of defiance kindling within them.

She raised a clenched fist and waved it at the air.

"And! He actually dared to say I'd lose to Victoria because of one feint? That's ridiculous! I'm Lilith Kahn!"

Tomorrow, the class placement assessment.

I'll see for myself what this is all about!

Greg's crude campsite on the Dungeon's first floor.

Fresh wood had been added to the campfire, which now burned brightly, filling the spacious cave with warmth.

The noisy Lily Carlo had left, taking most of the commotion with her. Only the ceaseless flow of the Dark River remained, along with the occasional roar of a beast from a distant cave.

Greg finished his last skewer of grilled meat and tossed the wooden stick into the fire. He looked around his home, which held almost nothing besides the fire and rock walls, and sighed softly.

He really would have to find a way to add a few things eventually, or he feared he would sooner or later turn into a savage.

He shook his head, setting those thoughts aside for now.

There was something more pressing he needed to confirm.

Clearing his throat, he addressed the flickering firelight and the empty cave in a calm but clear voice:

"Hey, Goddess of Night."

He paused, his amber eyes looking especially deep in the firelight.

"You're still here, aren't you?"

There was no response.

Only the crackle of flames and the murmur of flowing water.

Greg was in no hurry. He simply waited quietly, his gaze sweeping over every shadowed corner of the cave.

A few seconds later.

"Meow~"

A soft, slightly languid meow came from the largest patch of shadow behind the fire.

The shadows rippled like water, and a pitch-black cat, whose eyes alone glowed an eerie green, stepped gracefully out of them.