After a while, Llewellyn turned toward me.
"I need a coffee. Can I get you anything?"
…What? What was he up to now?
"Are you trying to distract me with caffeine?"
Llewellyn's eyes narrowed. "No coffee for you, then," he said, and got up.
"Wait, wait," I scrambled up, grabbing Penguin. "I'll get one as well."
Llewellyn just glanced at me without commenting.
Okay, what was going on?
Had he been this weird five minutes ago too and I just hadn't noticed?
He seemed like he didn't want to leave, but why? Was Penguin that dangerous?
The Jeongdae Express was more of a coffee nook than a full café, with large windows and fairy lights strung along the exterior. The barista, a young woman with a sweet smile, gave Llewellyn a look of instant recognition, then seemed to immediately un-recognize him.
Artifact in action, I guessed.
We got our coffees and walked out again.
I wasn't just imagining it, something about Llewellyn's demeanor was weird.
Now that I wasn't as worried about how he'd react to Penguin and was looking closely, his usual stoic expression had a touch of... wait, was that amusement?
"Okay, what's up with you? You're acting weird."
Llewellyn glanced at me, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Nothing."
"Right," I said. "And I'm the King of Innishae."
Llewellyn's lips properly quirked up now.
"Fine," he said. He pulled out a tablet from his trench coat pocket, tapped on it for a few moments while balancing his coffee, then held it out to me.
I took it, confused, then looked down at the screen and—
Ah.
Shit.
On the screen, my anonymous account was highlighted—along with dozens of my passionate rebuttals against Llewellyn's detractors.
Heat crept up my neck.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, handing the tablet back.
Llewellyn's eyes clearly showed mirth now. "Of course not," he said, putting it away.
So that was why.
"I knew your name sounded familiar." He continued after a moment. "It's not that common in Innishae. Even though I'm not the one who deals with it, I do have the full list of people working on my account."
Wait… Those were two very distinct things. He knew that too?!
I groaned.
I suppose it'd be weirder if he hadn't done a background check—I definitely would have in his place. But.
"How long have you known?"
Llewellyn took a sip of his coffee.
"You mentioned signing a contract during the Cheongard Dungeon. Did you think I wouldn't check who I'm supposed to be working with?"
So he'd known since then?! That had been before the training—even before that meeting with Ó Néill.
Now that I thought about it, he'd already been different during the training; I'd just assumed that was because it was a very comfortable setting to him, doing something that came very easily. The way he had mostly just observed during that exchange with Ó Néill re-slotted in my head too.
"I expected you to throw a tantrum and tell the System where it could shove it," I muttered.
Llewellyn grinned.
I don't think I'd ever seen him grin before.
"I'm not sure what's more disturbing," I said, trying to recover some dignity. "That you've been stalking my online activity or that you're actually amused by this."
Llewellyn's expression went back to neutral, but not quite all the way there, the amusement lingering as he eyed me. "I don't stalk. I do research."
"Right. And I suppose you 'research' everyone who talks about you online?"
"Only the ones who get teleported into Distorted Realms with me." He took another sip of coffee. "Though I must say, your defense of my 'unfairly maligned fashion choices' was particularly spirited."
I coughed. "It was one time and that user was being unnecessarily cruel."
"It's a perfectly functional coat."
"That's exactly what I said."
I also said that anyone with eyes could see that it looked great on him, but let's not go there.
Llewellyn's lips quirked up again as he sipped his coffee.
This was the worst day of my life.
Penguin chirped from my pocket, poking his head out to see what the commotion was about.
"Your Elemental bomb agrees with your fashion opinions. How reassuring."
"You know what? I'm rescinding all my defenses of you. You clearly don't deserve them."
"I'm devastated," Llewellyn said flatly, but still clearly amused.
Damn it.
We walked in silence, the evening air cooling my face. It would have been peaceful if I wasn't busy dying of shame.
"For what it's worth," Llewellyn said after a few moments, without looking at me, "it's nice to have someone in your corner every once in a while."
No… What? Okay, I was properly embarrassed now.
I scratched my head. "Well. Someone had to correct their terrible takes."
Llewellyn smiled, eyes still fixed straight ahead and we fell into a companionable silence.
Penguin settled back into my pocket, apparently satisfied that the conversation had calmed down.
"So," I said after a while, "are we done here, or do you have more embarrassing revelations to spring on me?"
"I think that's enough for one evening," Llewellyn replied, amused.
I sighed, relaxing slightly. "I should probably leave," I said, not really wanting to. "I need to go take care of your unhinged online following."
Llewellyn gave me a look. "How bad?"
"No worse than usual, if that's what you're asking. This week's theories have covered the possibility of you being a banished fae monarch, an Elemental monster escaped from a Distorted Realm and cosplaying as a human, or the secret heir to Innishae's throne, hiding your royal lineage to live among commoners. The online astrological community is having their yearly conniption about not being able to get their hands on your time of birth. There is the usual drama about AI generated images and videos, and… huh… many theories about your… sword."
I watched his ears go red.
So, he knew about the sword discourse.
Well, at least I wasn't the only one who had to be embarrassed here.
One question I'd always wanted to ask came spontaneously next.
"You do all you can to avoid the public. I understand the social listening, but why do you even have an official website? With a whole forum in it, no less? That doesn't make sense."
Llewellyn's expression shifted, becoming more guarded. He looked away, focusing on something in the distance.
"The government insisted," he said finally.
Wait, don't tell me the conspiracy theories people were right?!
He sighed. "Apparently, I'm important for diplomatic relations and national pride. Queen Seolene made it clear that if I didn't cooperate with having some kind of official presence, they'd create one for me. At least this way I have some control over what goes up there."
Well.
"But why a forum?" I insisted.
"My PR person's reasoning was that, if we can make sure that most conversations happen on a platform we own, we can at least moderate it."
Okay, that made some sense. Though not much, considering the nature of the Internet.
"And here I thought you were secretly enjoying your celebrity status." Of course, I didn't—what idiot would think that of Llewellyn? But I couldn't pass the chance.
Llewellyn actually winced.
"Wait until you hear about the conspiracy theory where you're secretly married to the System."
"I think I'll pass."
"You sure? There's a whole Omegaverse AU. I think the Knots being called like that made that one inevitable, to be honest."
Llewellyn looked pained for a moment, but not surprised.
I grinned then checked the time on my phone. "I really do need to head back soon. My shift starts in an hour and a half."
Penguin chirped from my pocket, as if protesting the idea of leaving.
"Your pocket-size bomb disagrees," Llewellyn said.
"My pocket-size bomb doesn't have to moderate comments about your sword for eight hours straight."
I watched Llewellyn's ears go red again and he looked away.
"Fair point," he said.
It looked like he was regretting having brought this up. My turn to be amused.
After a moment he seemed to think of something and looked at me again, cryptically. "You don't either," he said. "You have a System contract now. I'm assuming the System is paying you?"
Well, yes, but.
It wasn't a contract I actually deserved, so I didn't trust it not to be short-lived.
I wasn't going to tell him that however.
"It just makes sense for now," I said after a moment. "But I'll have to drop some shifts. This is getting a bit much, especially since we don't know when Knots appear and I tend to sleep odd hours."
Llewellyn seemed to be considering what to say.
"The System has never tried to find me a partner before," he settled on after a moment. "If it's gone to such lengths, it must have predicted that things won't ease up any time soon, but likely quite the opposite. You've been in two Knots already in such a short time. If you want to stay alive, you need to increase your stats, sharpen your combat skills, and deepen your Magic. Working a regular job on top of this is not a good idea."
How reassuring.
But I knew he was right.
Still, I couldn't just quit.
He checked his watch. "I'll contact you about meeting my colleagues."
"Looking forward to it," I said, not meaning it at all.
Llewellyn's mouth twitched. "I'm sure you are."
His expression became serious again. "Keep an eye on that creature. I wasn't joking about the potential danger."
I looked down at Penguin, who was now snoozing peacefully in my pocket.
"I know," I said. "I'll keep an eye on him."
Llewellyn nodded, seemingly satisfied.
We parted ways at the end of the promenade.
The breeze picked up as I headed home. Penguin stirred in my pocket and chirped once, tucking himself deeper against my side.