Conan freezes for a moment. His throat dries up, he loses himself. Rose, who betrayed him and didn't even say a single word about it, approaches him and speaks to him for the first time. Rose looks at Conan and begins speaking again:
"Forget it. Just pretend I never asked you that."
She turns her back and starts to walk away. At that moment Conan calls out to her from behind.
"Why!?"
Rose stops in place and turns toward Conan.
"What do you expect me to say?"
Conan asks again.
"Why did you do this? I just want a reason so I can feel at ease."
Rose crosses her arms and looks at Conan with narrowed eyes.
"Do you think a reason is necessary?"
Conan is confused. At that moment Rose speaks again.
"Stop making that stupid face again. The reason is you."
Conan lowers his head and asks:
"I'm the reason?"
Rose continues with the same mocking expression.
"Of course it's you. You kept making empty promises and dreaming impossible dreams. And I was simply tolerating you. In fact, I had been thinking about leaving you for a long time. But going away from the city for a year became a very good opportunity. That way we would forget each other."
Conan tries to speak, but at that moment Rose cuts him off.
"I didn't care about you and I clearly showed that I broke up with you. And what did you do in return? You kept making yourself look even more pathetic."
Conan, with his head lowered and eyes staring into emptiness, says in a quiet voice:
"I loved you, Rose…"
Rose cuts him off again.
"Stop acting like that, Conan. Look at where you are. If I had known you would blow things this out of proportion and even involve the princess in this, I would have left you back in the Academy."
Conan says:
"I'm here because of you—"
Rose cuts him off again.
"Enough, Conan. Stop dreaming. The world doesn't revolve around your wishes, and you don't have the power to change this world. You lost because you are weak. Not because you loved!"
After saying these words, Rose turns her back on him and starts to walk away. At that moment Conan's vision darkens. Strange hallucinations appear before his eyes. Conan slowly raises his head again. With a terrifying aura, he says after Rose:
"Human, I would never be defeated because of a traitor like you!"
Rose stops in place and turns back. At first she wanted to respond harshly to those words, but as if she saw hatred in his eyes, she says nothing. She turns back again and continues on her way. Conan immediately grabs head with his left hand.
"That wasn't me!"
He begins to breathe rapidly. At that moment Victor approaches Conan.
"Friend, are you okay?"
Conan grabs his shoulder with his right hand.
"Don't worry, I'm fine now."
Victor looks at Conan.
"Friend, I saw what happened, I just thought I shouldn't interfere. I should have come."
Conan looks at Victor and smiles.
"On the contrary, it's good that you didn't come. This was better."
Victor nods and returns to his place.
At that time, on the other side of the hall, Elena brings Adrian to the Hero and the others. Luis and the others respectfully greet Adrian. Adrian narrows his eyes and looks at Luis.
"So you are the Hero."
Luis proudly pushes his chest forward.
"Of course, it is an honor for me."
Adrian tilts his head slightly to the right and smiles while looking at Luis.
"Honestly, if Princess Elena hadn't introduced you, I would never have identified you."
Luis begins to speak.
"Of course, Your Highness, since I have not yet left the Celaria Kingdom, it is normal that other kingdoms do not recognize me."
Adrian smiles.
"You misunderstood me, Hero. What I mean is, since I entered this hall, I was looking for the Hero myself. In fact, until I reached you, I thought others were the Hero. The reason is that your aura is very weak. Even the guard I saw earlier had a much stronger aura than you."
Luis is filled with anger. But even as a Hero, he does not have the courage to speak against the crown prince of another kingdom. Luis was about to speak to defend himself when Elena responds to Adrian.
"Of course, since the Hero profession is a legendary one, awakening the aura within him is not easy. But once it awakens, it becomes very powerful."
Adrian looks at Elena and smiles.
"Don't be angry, Princess. I did not mean to belittle your Hero. Of course, he is also the Hero of our kingdom and even all of humanity."
Luis looks at Adrian and says:
"As Princess Elena said, I may be a bit weak now, but in the future, I will fight wholeheartedly for all of humanity."
Adrian looks at Luis seriously.
"Of course, Hero. But it would be better if you become strong a bit faster. Otherwise, your words will remain just a dream."
Luis says nothing.
At that moment, music begins to play. Adrian extends his hand to Elena.
"May I have this dance, goddess?"
Elena politely takes Adrian's hand. They begin walking toward the center. After standing right in the center, they start dancing. All eyes in the hall are on them. Luis keeps drinking in anger. Rose stands in a corner, staring into emptiness, thinking. Victor drinks from the beverages on the table whenever he gets the chance. Conan, however, stares toward the center into emptiness with both sorrow and hatred.
After dancing for a while, Elena's eyes briefly catch Conan in that state. She falters for a moment but quickly regains herself. Adrian looks at Elena and says:
"They say the princess of Celaria thinks of all her people."
Elena smiles.
"Of course, it is my duty. Anyone who leads a country must think of the people."
Adrian smiles.
"Yes, I also think of them. I even wear civilian clothes and walk through the back alleys to better understand their conditions."
At that moment Elena is startled. Although the music continues, she ends the dance. She looks at Adrian with a serious gaze.
"Following people and observing them are different things."
She says and turns her back on him, walking away. Adrian watches her from behind with a cunning smile, then goes to the king.
Laura notices Elena's uneasy state and asks:
"Your Highness, is something wrong?"
Elena looks at Laura.
"He knows we were in the back alleys."
Laura is shocked.
"So he followed us. If he tells the king about this, it could be a serious problem."
Elena calmly says:
"He won't tell the king anything. He probably just wanted to observe. Anyway, forget it "
and ends the conversation.
Seeing that Rose is deep in thought, Miya approaches her.
"What's wrong, are you sad because you didn't dance?"
Rose slowly raises her head.
"Honestly, I have no interest in dancing at all."
Miya looks at her suspiciously.
"Then what is bothering our brave Sword Master?"
Rose tells Miya what happened. Miya responds casually:
"My dear, there is no serious reason here. He simply hates you, and that's normal."
Rose puts her hand on her chin and says thoughtfully:
"Honestly, Miya, I would agree with what you said. But I don't think there is anyone who knows him as well as I do. The last words he said… it felt like it wasn't him."
Miya teases her.
"What is it, my dear? Have you fallen in love again? Or do you think you were rejected?"
Rose says angrily:
"It's not like that at all. There is just something wrong here. That's what bothers me."
Miya moves closer to her.
"If it bothers you, one day we'll get permission from Lorand and investigate him. Then you'll feel at ease."
Rose looks at Miya and says nothing.
After a while, the banquet ends. Everyone heads home. Conan and Victor finish their tasks and arrive at the back alleys. Along the way, Victor drunkenly rambles nonsense, swaying from side to side. Conan, however, walks silently, lost in thought. Finally, they say goodbye. Conan enters his house. He takes off his clothes and lies on his back. From the exhaustion of the day, he immediately falls asleep.
Everything is blurry and surrounded by darkness. But there is a woman in front of you. Even though the consciousness is yours, the control is not. You simply watch. Your body is pierced everywhere by swords with strange symbols on a black surface. You call out to the woman standing in front of you.
"Why, my love!?"
The woman responds:
"Because you are too powerful, and that power will destroy everything. That is your only weakness!"
You reply again:
"My only weakness was loving you."
At that moment, the woman drives the sword in her hand into your heart.
Conan wakes up from the dream screaming, clutching his chest in pain.