What the Hero Wanted Was Me

Episode 15

Chapter 15.

The night wind brushed my face and arrived at Princess Aine’s room. We planned to escort the princess for 24 hours from now.

“Did you bring the holy sword?”

It was Sara who asked Eren. The important thing in this mission was the holy sword, so it was checked frequently.

“I’m not a kid”

“There might be an if.”

Laysha stood there as if she was more nervous than anyone else. It was the first time I was on a mission to protect someone like this, so it seemed unfamiliar.

“Then let’s go in.”

We opened the door and started to enter Princess Aine’s room. The room was sparkling like a princess, and the jewels on her walls were lined up.

“Wow…”

I walked towards the place where the princess was, leaving behind the relaxed Laysha, who was staring at the wall with her eyes shining, as if she was coveting the jewel.

“Ari…Ah…Hmmm…Hmm…”

Princess Aine said that despite the day she might die, she was sleeping. She wondered if it was something her sisters had in common: deep sleep and not waking up.

“Let me sleep”

Deciding that it would be more convenient to keep it alone, Eren decided not to wake her sleeping Aine.

We thought it would be inefficient for four people to keep guarding one sleeping person, so we decided to take turns escorting the sleeping person while resting.

The first break was me and Eren.

“Come here sir!”

Sera and Laysha were concentrating on escorting because there was a distance from their resting place, so they couldn’t hear Eren’s words, and Eren, who knew that, was bold.

ㅡ Tuktuk.

Lying down on the sofa, she said Eren to lie down next to her.

“…”

“Not there!”

I lay down on the sofa across from her. When she saw it, she thought Eren was saying something, but she didn’t care.

Because lying down doing nothing was a great happiness for me, all my nerves depended on the feel of the sofa.

‘I really want to run away.’

If you ran away from the empire, you would be able to enjoy the happiness of lying on the sofa and doing nothing. It was Lenny dreaming that her self-memory had been erased.

‘What did I do in the original work?’

I still didn’t know what kind of existence Lenny, a character who dies before the original work even started, so I felt a suffocation in a corner of her heart.

“What are you thinking?”

“Surprised..”

Turning her head to the side, she could see Eren’s face squatting next to her. The lights weren’t on in the room, so I couldn’t see her face properly, but only her red eyes were shining.

“What were you thinking?”

Eren, who kept prying out what I was thinking, didn’t seem to be sleeping. She had to lie still because she needed fragrance to sleep, but Eren’s case was different.

“Stop wondering and go to sleep.”

“Evil!”

After I pushed Eren’s forehead down with her two fingers and found peace again, I just prayed that time would pass without incident.

“It’s a shift.”

It was Sarah who stared at me and then glared at Eren. It seems that the ability to understand emotions has improved these days.

‘What did he do?’

Lenny had no idea that Sara had realized her feelings.

In this way, we kept taking turns as escorts, and it was the moment Aine woke up.

“Ah..! Huh? Everyone, you’re here.”

Aine, who didn’t even wake up for a moment, looked like she was having a very pleasant sleep, so I felt envious.

Since she had to announce the start of the Gun International with the emperor, she hurriedly began her preparations.

“Not for men”

I couldn’t escort her when she was washing, so everyone except me followed her, and I was left alone with her. It was a moment to think about what to do.

At the end of the hallway, I saw a familiar looking woman and she was coming towards me.

“Did you sleep well. Princess Aria”

“…”

Aria approached from the end of the hallway. She seemed to be getting ready because she too was a member of the imperial family.

“Huh..!”

She looked mad at me, Aria snorted at her and then, without saying anything, she walked past me. What?

What did I do wrong? It didn’t come to mind at all.

The reunion with Aria, whom I hadn’t seen in such a long time, came to an end quickly.

•••

“I salute the citizens gathered here, the heart of the Empire!”

ㅡ Wow!!

Calling out, the emperor was announcing the start of the founding festival, telling anecdotes about the founding of this empire and the future the empire was aiming for.

‘I hope there is no future empire.’

It seems that the afterglow of lying on the sofa has not gone away.

“Okay then, we’ll go back to our rooms.”

Since our schedule was to be locked in our room for a day, we were just about to go back quickly.

“Are you going back already? Aye.”

It was 1st Prince Henry who spoke in a menacing voice. His eyes were staring at us, but the sneer at the corner of his mouth could not be hidden.

‘What’s so funny’

Lenny couldn’t figure out the meaning of that laugh.

“Yes, the festival is good, but I’m tired today.”

“Tsk, can you assume the position of emperor only if you don’t have stamina? I have doubts about the eyes of the warriors.”

Because Aine was the first-ranked heir, it was Henry who put a check on us and started a fight with us out of the blue.

‘Are you saying that you rejected my request?’

Among the requests sent to the warrior party, there was also a request to escort Henry.

‘He has such a bad back.’

Of course, knowing the original, I couldn’t have given his request to the hero. Henry is more of a snake than a fox. He had a long tongue like a snake, and he lived in muddy water.

“I want to go back”

‘It’s the same blood as that.’

It was Aine who made up her mind to go to her room, ignoring Henry, who didn’t like anything.

“I hope you enjoy the festival well.”

There were hidden bones in the prince’s last words.

‘If you can enjoy what’s going to happen’

The festival started now.

•••

“Hey there, warriors.”

It was Aine who started calling us as we stood in our respective seats.

“Aren’t you bored? Standing still like that makes me feel burdened..”

Aine, who said escorting was burdensome, started complaining as if she was tired of this situation.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to meet Arya as well?”

“Hmm..”

Eren’s situation was also a concern. Aside from hating Aria, it seemed that nothing would change in Aine’s fate if she was in this state, and she was not guaranteed that Aine would not die.

The moment Eren was thinking, Sera had an idea.

‘Wouldn’t it be regrettable if I died like this?’

She was Sarah who thought that if she was in this situation, she would never have stayed still.

‘If it were me, I would meet someone I love.’

Realizing her love, Sera was able to truly empathize with her because she knew that her Aine loved her Aria as her family.

‘Even if I die, let me die next to the person I love.’

Her conclusion of Sera, who exists only in her love, was terrifying, but she was strangely persuasive.

“I think it’s okay to meet Princess Arya.”

With Sera’s opinion, we allowed Aine to meet Aria.

‘If you want to change your destiny, it’s better than standing still’

Her holy sword was also guaranteed.

So we decided to get to her Aria’s room and meet her.

“Enter Aria?”

It was Aria who knocked on her door and didn’t answer Aine’s words.

No answer came from the room even after calling twice or three times.

We started to feel. The insecurities that creep in.

ㅡ Rumbling!

I vigorously opened Arya’s door and checked her inside.

“No..”

Aria didn’t exist in the room, only the wide open window stayed in place and swayed in the wind.

‘Is it true that the fate of death belongs to Princess Aine?’

No one could answer the Holy Sword’s question.

•••

Arya was enjoying her festival alone, searching for her own memories. It was because her location changed slightly from year to year.

‘I should have asked just in case..?’

I felt sorry for Lenny’s callous response. She said that if she asked and she said he was, it would be a fun feast for her.

‘No, I can enjoy it alone’

This is what Aria felt when she saw Eren on the day of her banquet. That a person who can do something alone is amazing. Compared to him, she, Aria, had nothing to do without Lenny, so she keenly felt the difference between herself and Eren.

‘I can do it alone.’

Will Lenny come back if she sees herself doing it alone?

It was an aria that already felt like Lenny’s warmth on her head.

“How much is this..?”

Arya saw her selling skewers and was to ask her sales aunt. It was her first time doing it as an aria, as Lenny usually asked and did her calculations.

“Oh, what a cute girl~? Originally, each cost 1000 coins, but I’ll give you two!”

The skewer lady, who looked cute at Aria wearing her hood, greeted her by giving her service.

‘I can do it alone now..!’

Sensing her own greatness, Aria counted her 1000 coins, then she took two skewers and went into an empty alleyway.

Because she had a deep hood and it was hard for her to eat the skewers.

“Is that right?”

Behind her, people with hoods pulled over her deep were following Arya.

“Okay, if you go a little deeper, let’s start”

Knives with dragons were hidden under their sleeves.