“I never thought I’d run into someone who can use the Laws in a place like this. Looks like luck’s on my side today. Maybe I should go enter the festival raffle.”

It was the same male voice as before. From the sound of it, he was coming around the grape arbor from the left. Tiran had no intention of avoiding him, either. For the same reason, she wanted to see what kind of person this Holy Rank powerhouse she’d inexplicably run into was.

But when she saw the figure by the grape arbor on her left, the princess froze for a good ten seconds, unable to say a word.

“Oh! A beauty! Human? And she looks so young... No, she really is young.”

The man looked surprised. He stroked his chin as he gave Tiran a once-over, then suddenly darted over and grabbed her arm.

The whole thing happened in a flash. In the ten or so seconds the princess stood there stunned, she hadn’t even managed to react before he let go of Tiran and nodded, confirming his earlier guess.

“I knew it! Amazing. Her bone age really is only eighteen. How does that even happen?”

At last, Tiran came to her senses after the shock of their first meeting. The lingering heat of the man’s large hand on her arm made her blush scarlet. She twisted at the waist and drove a side kick into his face.

“Don’t go grabbing girls wherever you please, you old lecher!!!”

Caught completely off guard, the man clearly hadn’t expected the kick. He fell flat on his back, two streams of blood running from his nose.

Tiran nervously rubbed the arm the man had grabbed, checking again and again to make sure he hadn’t left anything weird on it. Then she glared at him, waiting for him to get back up.

The kick had been hard, but not hard enough to keep a Holy Rank fighter down. Sure enough, the man soon staggered back to his feet. A shoe print marked his face as he smiled apologetically.

“Sorry, sorry. I was so surprised I got a little carried away. That was rude of me. But it’s incredible that someone as young as you can master the Laws of the World. I’ve never heard of a genius like you.”

“You can’t just praise me and expect me to forgive you that easily.”

Tiran folded her arms and looked up at the man, but inside, her thoughts were still churning.

The man stood somewhere over a meter eighty, a little shorter than that guy Beinrich, but still quite tall. He had a well-proportioned build, but judging by the arms and calves showing beneath his beach shorts and printed T-shirt, he was actually pretty ripped

—his muscles made Tiran think of sculptures from ancient Greece, all strength and beauty.

But that wasn’t the point. The reason the princess had hesitated for a good ten seconds was the man’s face.

His features were just as sharply defined, as if carved by the finest sculptor. But beneath those rugged lines, his face looked almost exactly like that of a certain golden Dragon.

That’s right! This guy looked just like an adult male version of Aya!

Wait, wasn’t something about that a little off...?

And his brilliant, sun-bright golden hair and molten-gold eyes made the answer pretty obvious, too.

“Ahem! Um, as an apology, you can have this grape. I won’t try to take it from you.”

The man seemed genuinely bothered by the thought of a girl holding a grudge against him. After thinking hard for a while, he said this with complete seriousness.

Tiran rubbed her forehead. “I saw this grape first! I’d only picked half of it when you reached over!”

“Oh... Huh? Hahaha, is that so?”

The man rubbed his head and chuckled awkwardly. He looked just like Aya when Tiran caught her doing something stupid and she tried to cover it up.

Tsk. How could such a handsome guy smile like such an idiot?

“But I couldn’t help it. My daughter said she wanted some, so I came over to pick a few. I searched for ages and this was the only one left... Giving it to you is a big sacrifice for me, too.”

“That still doesn’t give you the right to take someone else’s stuff!” Tiran nearly slapped the guy’s bear-like face. Seeing a face so similar to Aya’s only made her want to slap it more.

“Ahahaha, well, no harm, no foul. Let’s forget about it and be friends.”

The man tried to laugh his way out of trouble.

“...Fine. It’s not like I lost anything.” Tiran sighed, then had a change of heart. Wanting to test her guess, she held out her hand. “I’m Tiran. Tiran Elysian.”

“My name is... uh,”

The man paused to think. “Anticas Roland Ogrien Elior Ibrulu Prester Hugh Marigos Minosirger...”

Okay, that’s enough.

The princess had a powerful urge to cover her face. It was practically confirmed now. Besides Dragons, who else would have a name that long? And with that face, don’t tell me this guy has nothing to do with Aya—I won’t believe you!

“Hold on, your name’s way too long. Can I just call you Antica?” Tiran raised a hand to cut him off.

“That’s cutting off a little too much...”

“All right, Antica.”

Tiran nodded without changing her expression.

“Fine, fine.”

Antica waved a hand. “Tiran Elysian, right? I’ll remember that. Well, until we meet again.”

“Huh? You’re leaving already?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

The moment Tiran realized this might be Aya’s unreliable dad, her attitude did a complete 180. “No, no! Off you go! Have a safe trip! Be careful on the way!”

“...Huh?”

Antica raised an eyebrow and gave Tiran a suspicious look. “Why do I feel like that wasn’t exactly a sincere blessing?”

“It was! You’re imagining things...”

A sheen of cold sweat appeared on the princess’s forehead.

She had to get him out of there, fast. She wasn’t ready to meet Aya’s parents yet. Humans already had a hard time accepting interspecies marriage. And the Dragons, who used their noble bloodline as an excuse to look down on everyone else, were an even bigger hurdle.

Besides, according to Aya, both her parents were Holy Rank Golden Dragons. If you judged by bloodline, they were the aristocrats among aristocrats. Tiran herself had nothing but contempt for that sort of thing, but she still had to consider what her future in-laws might think.

So far, he hadn’t shown any sign of looking down on humans. But who knew what he really thought?

Besides, Tiran had never been good at dealing with people she was supposed to be close to. It was like how plenty of people could chat happily with strangers, but had nothing to say around acquaintances they weren’t close to—or relatives they were connected to by blood, at least in name.

“...All right, goodbye.”

The man stretched and turned toward the high slope on the other side. “Ah, time to go back to my wife.”

Tiran let out a sigh of relief, then waved goodbye to Antica from behind.

Well, if he really was one of Aya’s parents, she’d have plenty of chances to meet him later, right? At least until she was mentally prepared, she didn’t want to meet Aya’s parents so soon.

Just then, a petite figure with equally brilliant golden hair appeared in Antica’s path.

“Little Feizi?”

“M-Miss Tiran, I finally found you. That white diamond you mentioned—is it...” The little Angel spotted Antica. “Huh? Senior Aya?”

The words slipped out before the little Angel could stop herself.