Chương 133: Chapter : 133

She looked at the old, broken walls of their headquarters. For the first time all day, a genuine, undeniable softness entered her voice.

"I joined the war because of Princess Iris," Ira explained quietly, her eyes focused on the front door of the mansion. Ken raised an eyebrow.

"Did she offer you a lot of money?"

"No," Ira shook her head gently.

"When I turned eighteen, my parents tried to force me into an arranged marriage with a cruel, older Duke. I ran away. I was sitting on a bench in the rain, completely lost. Princess Iris found me. She didn't know I was a powerful water mage. She didn't care about my noble bloodline. She just sat next to me and offered me an umbrella." Ira looked down at her bag of chocolate, her fingers gently tracing the edge of the paper.

"When she asked me to join the 13th Unit, I told her the truth," Ira said softly.

"I told her I was broken. I told her I couldn't smile, I couldn't be a charming political servant, and I hated interacting with people. I told her I would be a terrible representative for a Royal candidate."

"And what did she say?" Ken asked. Ira finally turned to look at Ken. A very faint, almost invisible, but completely genuine smile touched the very corners of her mouth.

"She said, 'I don't need you to smile, Ira. I just need you to be safe,'" Ira recalled, quoting the Princess word for word.

"She promised me that if I came to live at this estate, I would have absolute freedom. She told me I could be as quiet as I wanted. She told me I could lock my bedroom door and never come out if I didn't want to. For the very first time in my entire life, someone looked at me and didn't try to change me. She promised me the freedom to just be myself, without any interference or judgment." Ken stood quietly in the street. He looked at the emotionless girl, and then he looked up at the estate.

He suddenly felt a deep, profound sense of connection with Ira. He finally understood why she fought so hard during their missions, despite her flat attitude. She wasn't fighting for glory, or for points, or to make her family proud. She was fighting to protect the one place in the entire world where she was allowed to be free. Princess Iris had given her a safe haven. In a weird, roundabout way, it was the exact same reason Ken was sticking around.

Ken just wanted the freedom to be lazy, to take his naps, and to live his slow life without the world demanding him to be a hero. They were both just trying to protect their right to be left alone. Ken let out a long, happy breath. He slouched his shoulders back into his favorite, comfortable posture and gave Ira a big, goofy, totally relaxed smile. Stolen story; please report.

"You know what, Ira? That is a highly respectable reason," Ken said cheerfully, pulling his instant noodles tighter under his arm.

"Princess Iris is pretty great. She doesn't even yell at me when my shirt is untucked. I think we definitely joined the best team in the city." Ira's tiny, almost invisible smile remained as she nodded her head once.

"I agree."

"But," Ken added, raising his lollipop like a teacher making a very important point.

"I still think you should share your chocolate with me. It builds team morale. It is a scientifically proven fact." Ira's face instantly snapped back to her flawless, completely flat, emotionless deadpan stare. The warmth completely vanished from her voice, replaced instantly by her robotic tone.

"Absolutely not, Ken." Ken burst out laughing. He couldn't help it. Her stubbornness was actually incredibly funny once you knew she was doing it on purpose.

"Alright, alright! I surrender!" Ken laughed loudly, shaking his head as they started walking toward the estate gates again.

"I will just stick to my spicy beef noodles. But if I catch you eating that sea-salt chocolate in the kitchen later, I am definitely going to stare at you until you feel guilty."

"I am incapable of feeling guilt regarding my snacks," Ira stated flatly as she pushed the heavy iron gate open. The two of them walked back into the courtyard of the crumbling mansion. The loud, chaotic voices of Naomi and Laxmi arguing about combat formations drifted out from the open windows of the strategy room. The stress of the Succession War was still waiting for them inside.

But as the lazy slacker and the emotionless warrior walked through the front doors side-by-side, they shared a comfortable, entirely silent peace. They both had their secrets, and they both wore their own masks, but for tonight, they were just two tired people happy to be home.

The old, wooden grandfather clock down the hallway chimed quietly, signaling that it was officially the middle of the night. The estate of the 13th Unit was finally completely silent. After a long, incredibly stressful day of racing through dungeons and arguing with rival Royal teams, everyone in the house had passed out from sheer exhaustion. Ken Eliot was lying flat on his back in his dark, dusty bedroom. He was wearing his favorite oversized gray sweatpants and a loose white t-shirt.

He had a comic book resting on his chest, but he wasn't really reading it. He was just staring up at the water stains on the ceiling, listening to the quiet sounds of the old house settling. He let out a long, happy yawn.

"Finally," Ken mumbled to himself, tossing the comic book onto the floor next to his bed.

"Absolute, total peace and quiet. Nobody is yelling. Nobody is throwing fireballs. I can finally get a solid eight hours of sleep without any interruptions." He reached out, grabbed the edge of his thin blanket, and pulled it all the way up to his chin. He closed his eyes, completely ready to drift off into a beautiful dream about a quiet, sunny potato farm. But exactly three seconds after he closed his eyes, the temperature in the tiny bedroom completely plummeted. It didn't just get a little chilly.

The air instantly turned freezing cold, like someone had just opened the door to a massive industrial freezer. A thick, heavy mist began to roll out from the dark corners of the room, creeping across the wooden floorboards and swirling around the legs of Ken's bed. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and his breath actually formed tiny white clouds of vapor in the air. Ken did not open his eyes. He just let out a very loud, highly annoyed groan.

"Are you kidding me?" Ken complained, pulling the thin blanket completely over his head to hide his face.

"I literally just closed my eyes. It has been three seconds! Can't a guy get a break around here? Turn the temperature back up! I only have one blanket, and it is thinner than a piece of paper!" From the dark, swirling shadows near his messy wooden desk, a soft, incredibly elegant laugh echoed through the room.