I turned to Void.

"You knew!? You realized I was Eremi!?"

Void, unfazed, spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Yeah. I was personally hired by your old man to guard you."

"What—!?"

Glancing at Kilpus, I saw him nod at me.

So I had a bodyguard all along. And not just any bodyguard, but a rogue completely different from the disciplined Royal Guard. I hadn't seen that coming.

"Are you a knight?"

"Calm the hell down, Eremia. I just said I'm a hired mercenary. And besides, what part of me looks like a knight to you?"

Void continued.

"Just to be clear, I never lied to you. It’s true that I grew up in the slums of Elva. Sure, I kept some things to myself, but I never told you a single lie."

"I see. So that's why you kept interfering whenever Miku tried to get close to me."

"At first, I thought she was a suspicious woman who figured out your identity and got close on purpose, so I was on guard. But that was giving her too much credit. She still doesn’t know you're a prince. She just genuinely liked you—the Eremia Neu kid. For real. That’s why I let my guard down."

So that was why, after the Dungeon Curriculum, Void stopped interfering with Miku's reckless behavior toward me. He must have decided that she wasn't a threat after she risked her life to save me.

Void went on.

"Well, whatever the case, assassination, espionage, sabotage—I don’t give a damn about any of it. My job is to keep you from getting hurt. Whatever that cat is planning in this country isn't my concern. That’s up to Ituka and His Majesty."

"But just now, you stopped my father’s assassination."

The thought of what would have happened if Lili and Void hadn’t been there chilled me to the bone.

I had completely let my guard down. Back when I was Blythe in my past life, I would never have been this careless.

In the East, they say, ‘A sound mind resides in a sound body.’ This incident made me realize how true that is. My body is still immature, and it’s affecting my mind.

Void smirked and spread his arms.

"Don’t get the wrong idea. I stopped the assassination because if my client dies, I don’t get paid."

He paused, then averted his gaze from me.

"And this is just a bonus, but… Eremia, you were here. When kids witness their parents' deaths, they end up carrying wounds that never heal. So I figured it was part of my job to prevent that."

With Void, the ‘bonus’ and his true feelings were probably the other way around. We hadn’t known each other long, but I could tell he was ridiculously straightforward.

But none of that mattered right now.

I wanted to hold my head in my hands.

What the hell was going on? Things I had no clue about were all tangled together behind the scenes.

"Void, when did you realize Miku's true identity?"

"At first, I didn’t. I just thought she was a shady woman getting close to you, so I kept an eye on her. Of course, I considered the possibility that she was a spy or an operative. But then, during the Dungeon Curriculum, when we got attacked by those homunculi, she threw herself in harm’s way to protect you."

So that was the turning point in his impression of Miku.

Void shrugged.

"Seeing that, I decided she wasn’t someone who’d harm you. But right after that, His Majesty sent me a message via carrier bird."

Kilpus picked up where Void left off.

"I should explain. A few days ago, the Border Knights secured the real Miku Orunkaim."

"The real…? The real Miku Orunkaim…?"

My voice wavered pathetically.

"Then… that girl was…"

"That’s right. She was not Miku Orunkaim. The real Miku Orunkaim was safely rescued by her biological father, Mald Orunkaim, and the Border Knights."

Rescued… secured…

Void frowned and ran a hand through his hair at Kilpus’s words.

"I’ll be honest—I freaked out. The very day I finally let my guard down, the girl who risked her life to save Eremia from that homunculus turned out to be a confirmed enemy. And I sure as hell didn’t expect His Majesty to personally barge in overnight just because he was worried about his son."

"I won’t deny it, but it was also an official duty and an inspection," Kilpus said.

My head felt like it was burning up, my thoughts clouded.

It didn’t feel like my brain was properly processing the words coming in through my ears.

"That being said, Your Majesty," Void smirked, "bringing the War Maiden along was a good call. My paycheck nearly went up in smoke. You better be more careful next time."

He dragged a thumb across his neck.

Kilpus's assassination was never part of Miku’s original plan—she hadn’t even known he was visiting. She must have panicked when her identity was exposed and impulsively gone for his throat. The only reason it was stopped was because of Lili’s quick thinking.

Kilpus nodded.

"I have no excuse for that. And yet, despite not being informed of anything, Ituka immediately moved to incapacitate the girl. She truly is an exceptional talent, one who rivals Blythe. I’d like her to return to the military as soon as possible."

Ah, my head was killing me.