Nora came at me like a storm given legs.

Not running.

Not sprinting.

Speed-walking.

Which somehow made it worse.

Her boots crunched against the frozen ground with sharp, clipped steps, the sound echoing across the ruined battlefield. Shattered ice glimmered underfoot, fractured plains stretching out where a living mountain had just collapsed.

The air was still painfully cold, my breath fogging with every shallow inhale, my body screaming in delayed protest from everything I'd just done.

She didn't slow down.

Didn't hesitate.

Didn't even glance at Kent first.

Her eyes were on me.

Only me.

And that alone was enough to make the hairs on my neck stand up.

By the time I realized she was close enough to hit me, it was already too late.

She stopped directly in front of me.

Too close.

Close enough that I could see the fine frost clinging to the ends of her white hair, the way her pupils flicked rapidly over me like she was inventorying damage.

Head.

Torso.

Arms.

Legs.

Blood.

Burns.

Mana residue.

Tears in my clothes. My beautiful academy-issued clothes, the perfect aura farming equipment, was gone just like that.

Her jaw tightened.

Something loosened in her shoulders.

Just barely.

Then she punched me.

Hard.

Right in the stomach.

The impact drove all the air out of my lungs in one brutal, humiliating rush. My body folded forward on instinct, knees buckling as pain bloomed outward like a shockwave.

I stumbled back half a step, hands flying to my abdomen as I sucked in air that refused to come fast enough.

For a second, all I could hear was ringing.

Then her voice hit me.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

The sound echoed across the frozen wasteland, bouncing off broken ice and distant trees. Her voice wasn't cold.

It was furious.

Absolutely mad.

"You fought that thing," she shouted, fists clenched at her sides, moonlight flaring uncontrollably around her knuckles. "That wasn't a duel! That wasn't even a battle! That was a catastrophe wearing ice armor!"

I wheezed. "Hi, Nora. Missed you too."

She didn't appreciate that.

"Do you have any idea how stupid that was?!" she continued, stepping closer again, eyes blazing. "Dualflow-reinforced eldritch horrors don't just exist! That thing was closer to a walking natural disaster than an enemy, and you charged it without a weapon, without mana reserves, and without an exit plan!"

I straightened slowly, one hand still pressed to my stomach. "I had a plan."

She stared at me.

"…you always say that."

"And I'm alive," I pointed out weakly.

Her glare sharpened. "That is not a strategy."

She took a sharp breath, clearly about to keep going...

And then stopped.

Mid-sentence.

Her face froze.

Her lips parted slightly, like she'd just realized something she absolutely did not want to acknowledge.

Color crawled up her cheeks.

Fast.

Bright.

Unmistakable.

"I-I mean," she stammered, suddenly refusing to meet my eyes, turning her head just enough to stare at literally anything else. "Not that I was worried. Obviously. I just-strategically speaking-it would've been… inconvenient."

"Inconvenient," I repeated.

"Yes!" she snapped, far too quickly. "Inconvenient. You're useful. As a teammate. And-and you're my first real friend for anything important, so it would've been annoying if you died like an idiot, that's all!"

She crossed her arms so hard I thought she might bruise herself, posture rigid, chin tilted upward in defiance.

Then she huffed, icy steam gushing from her nose in short bursts.

I stared at her.

Then I laughed.

Not loud.

Not mocking.

Just a quiet, exhausted chuckle that slipped out before I could stop it.

She stiffened instantly. "What are you laughing at?"

I rubbed my stomach, straightening fully despite the lingering ache. "Nothing. Just… wow."

Her eyes narrowed. "Explain."

I shrugged. "Didn't expect this."

"This?"

"Tsundere behavior," I said calmly.

She whirled on me. "I am not—!"

"Relax," I interrupted. "I'm just surprised."

And I had every right to be, none of this was mentioned in the novel.

I know that this world is real, and that the novel might as well be useless right now, after all, it didn't mention anything about this damn ambush, too. Yet I still couldn't help but compare the Nora standing in front of me to the Nora I had read about.

The similarities in their personalities were staggering, yet so were the differences. Unfortunately, I was forced out of my wonderful train of thought by Nora's glare.

It could have flash-frozen the sun.

"You are not funny," she said flatly.

"Oh, I know," I replied. "You're usually all cool-headed. Regal. That whole 'I'm better than you, and you know it' aura. This is… new."

She looked like she wanted to hit me again.

For a heartbeat, I genuinely thought she might.

Then she exhaled sharply.

And looked past me.

At Kent.

Pinned against the broken tree. Pale. Barely conscious. Blood frozen into dark streaks along his legs. He looked like a mushed-up human piñata, if the piñata didn't drop candy after getting beaten up.

Everything about Nora changed in an instant.

The embarrassment vanished.

The anger cooled.

What replaced it was something terrifyingly composed.

Her entire presence sharpened, like a blade sliding free of its sheath.

"Enough," she said quietly.

The words carried weight.

She stepped past me without another glance, boots crunching toward Kent. "Heal him," she ordered. "Properly. Full focus."

I followed her gaze, my humor evaporating instantly.

"Until he can walk," she continued, voice low and controlled, "without dying."

She finally looked back at me.

Her eyes weren't furious anymore.

They were ancient.

Serious.

Heavy with something she hadn't shown before.

"Then," Nora von Velkaris said, "we will talk about what that thing was."

She was no longer the same girl who had been dying of embarrassment a few seconds ago; now she was the princess and heir to the throne of the Velkaris empire.

The cold seemed to deepen around us.

And for the first time since waking up in this cursed forest, I felt a different kind of dread coil in my chest.

Because whatever she knew..

Whatever she'd just recognized...

Meant this nightmare wasn't even close to over.

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