Once they were gone, she slowly looked down at her palms. They were sweaty. Finne's gaze had really intimidated her. What sort of man could put such an intense look into such a sweet and easygoing woman's eyes?
Suddenly filled with curiosity, Yulia stood up and addressed the secretary, who had been waiting nearby. "Hurry up and get ready for our opening. I want us to get results and prove ourselves to Leonard and his supporters as fast as possible. I also want to meet him in person, if I can, and see if he's the real deal with my own eyes."
Then she paused to wonder. If the man Finne had feelings for could satisfy her own interests... "It might be fun to try to steal him for myself," she muttered thoughtfully.
Yulia licked her lips and bared her pointed canines. The secretary watched her expression with a sigh, unimpressed by Yulia's bad habit. Yulia had an unquenchable thirst for anything of value, even if that thing was actually a person.
Praying that no complicated situations would arise from it, the elfin secretary wordlessly got to work.
5
"Whew..."
Finally alone in Albatro's castle, I let out a big sigh.
What a turbulent situation things had turned into. Ever since I'd taken Leo's place, it had been one headache after another.
Honestly, I was tired. Forcing myself out of my comfort zone of mediocrity was exhausting for me.
"I wonder how Leo's getting on..."
I was sure he had plenty of worries of his own. I wanted to believe that he was managing a convincing act of being me since Elna was there to help. As long as I was pretending to be him, he had to do the same, or else everything would fall apart.
But I could easily imagine him struggling even more than I was. Leo was really bad at being lazy. Actually, he'd probably never even acted lazy once in his entire life, and it was hard to pretend at something you'd never experienced.
"I guess there's no point in worrying about it, though."
All I could do was trust that things were going well for him. There was something else more important I needed to think about.
The sea dragon, Leviatano.
It was definitely beyond S-class as a monster. At the moment, I could think of two efficient methods of slaying it.
I could either act as Silver, or I could have the emperor send someone as his proxy to give permission for Elna to use the holy sword. It had to be one of those two.
However, both of those options came with problems. With the former, Silver had no reason to come to the southern region. The Adventurers' Guild wouldn't have even received a request for the sea dragon yet. And as to the latter idea, having an emperor's proxy dispatched all the way to Albatro would take time.
Neither option was ideal.
"What should I do..."
As I was organizing my thoughts, someone knocked on the door. Despite being annoyed at the interruption to my alone time, I fixed my disheveled clothes and messy hair and called out in a crisp voice.
"Come in."
"It's Eva. I wanted to come say thank you."
Into the room came Eva, wearing a dress.
So, she had regained consciousness. I wished she would've woken up sooner, so that we could've avoided all those drastic measures. Not wanting even a speck of that emotion to show on my face, I put on what I hoped was a kind smile.
"I'm so glad to see that you are well, Princess Eva. Is it safe for you to be up and walking already?"
"Oh, yes... Um... Thank you so much, for saving me. Everyone was so grateful to you, and they were all talking about how kind and brave you are."
"I don't deserve such praise. It was the crew on my ship who put in the effort to rescue all the survivors. If anyone is deserving of praise, it is them."
"Well, allow me to thank you as Julio's sister, then. I heard that you were the first to jump into the ocean to save him. Most people wouldn't dive into the water knowing that a sea dragon might be there. It was a true act of heroism."
"I merely acted on instinct."
My reply made Eva gently smile. In contrast, my own mouth tensed into a grim line.
I had witnessed the exact scenario many times as an outside observer.
Whenever Leo did something impressive, noblewomen would fawn over him. Eva's reaction was strikingly similar. When all was said and done, she was smitten with heroic Leo, who'd fearlessly leapt into sea dragon-infested waters to save someone's life.
I wished she would stop staring at me with such adoration. I was Arn, after all. It was seriously awkward.
"S-so...speaking of Julio, how is he faring?"
"He woke up earlier today. He wanted to thank you, too. He said you were the ideal prince, and that he hoped he could become like you one day."
"O-oh..."
So Eva was smitten with me, and Julio thought I was his role model. Great. That would become a big problem when Leo and I switched back. What was I supposed to do? Should I do something to change their minds about me?
No, that wouldn't work. I couldn't do anything rash regarding the princess and prince of Albatro while I was in their country. Plus, there was a chance our ruse would be exposed if I acted out of character.