“You... How did you...?”
“That is enough now.”
“Sebelena!”
“I mean using the Kingdom as an excuse to satisfy your own greed.”
With that, the Imperial Palace knights who had been hiding with her appeared like the wind. The cold clatter of armor cut through the silence of dawn in a single stroke.
“I hoped you would not appear here.”
The last to arrive was the Emperor, his face hard.
He tossed down a thick letter.
A letter identical to the one he had received.
The King realized it belatedly.
It was a trap.
Then who had set it?
There was only one answer.
“Sebelena!”
The King’s eyes rolled white. His breath came in rough, seething bursts.
“You... dare... betray me!”
The Princess slowly spoke, her fists clenched tight.
“Am I truly the one who betrayed someone?”
“How dare you, how dare you—! I made this choice for Casalia!”
“I know.”
Sebelena exhaled at length.
“That is why I, too, merely made a choice for Casalia.”
The Emperor’s gaze touched the Princess’s pale cheeks.
The knights bound the King’s arms.
“Escort the King to the separate palace.”
The Emperor ordered him confined in his bedroom there until the Round Table convened.
This time, it was confinement in the truest sense.
“There will be no parties, no hospitality, no festivals.”
The King thrashed, but there was nothing he could do.
His attendants and guards came running at the commotion and protested faintly, but they retreated under the Princess’s frost-sharp gaze.
“Do not disgrace the name of our Casalia any further.”
The Princess was a royal with a legitimate claim to succession.
Cleaning up the King’s corruption was also her burden.
The attendants’ minds began working furiously. What would change once this matter passed? Several who finished their calculations slipped away in secret and sent message birds to the Kingdom. Sebelena did not stop even that.
The escort began again.
“Ah, one moment...”
Sebelena suddenly stopped the knights. She seized a bottle of potion from the King’s robe.
“I have a promise to keep.”
She had thought it would take some time to secure the herbs, but now she could give it as a birthday gift right away.
Sebelena swallowed those words. Her straight green eyes held no emotion at all anymore.
As the King was dragged away, he hurled every curse imaginable at Sebelena.
The Emperor frowned and looked back at the Princess. Her face seemed only calm. What was it like inside?
In truth, the Emperor had been wondering how to coax Sebelena over.
If they failed to secure evidence of the King of Casalia’s collusion, he had intended to put the Princess on the stand as a witness at the Round Table.
“Do not worry, Your Majesty.”
As if she had read the Emperor’s mind, Sebelena spoke calmly.
“I came here intending to be a witness from the beginning.”
“Princess.”
“And now that we have clear evidence, I have even less reason not to step forward.”
It was a face whose true thoughts were difficult to read.
Did the Princess regret finding family after throwing everything away?
It is almost laughably hollow...
The Emperor let out a short sigh.
A tragedy.
*****
After the situation had more or less been settled.
The Emperor took out the letter he had been carrying and read it.
“Mm. Our Princess’s writing is a little...”
Even on rereading, a hollow laugh escaped him.
Unlike the small, pretty handwriting, the contents were rather fierce from the very beginning.
< Respected Emperor, Your Majesty. This letter ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) is about 51% threat and about 49% request. >
In other words, a half-threat.
< I will give you evidence to catch the King of Casalia. Princess Sebelena will gladly cooperate as well.
The price for this matter is as follows. >
Had he read only that far, he might have scolded her for insolence.
But when he read the next sentence, he could not bring himself to.
< No matter what happens from now on, please protect me House of Zebbert. >
The Emperor gazed for a long time at the black strikethrough drawn through the words.
*****
A little earlier that night.
I flung the door open.
“I told you not to open the door like that...”
“Are you dangerous? Are you dangerous or not?”
Khal, who had returned after sending the message bird, let out a deep sigh.
We sat on the sofa again.
“You sent the letter to His Majesty the Emperor properly too?”
“Yeah. But are you sure it’s right to drag the Emperor into this too? He doesn’t know your identity.”
Just as Khalid said, the Emperor still did not know I was a mage.
Because I had not told him.
But I could not hide it forever.
And although we had blocked it well this time, if my identity were exposed unexpectedly again...
Not only I, but also our ducal family might take a hit.
It’s fine if I’m the only one who suffers.
But I absolutely refused to let my family be harmed because of me.
That was why I wanted to make the Emperor truly take my side.
His Majesty cares for me, but...
That was still different from my family, who loved me unconditionally.
“But why does Dad distrust His Majesty the Emperor so much? They’re friends, more or less. He’s good to me too.”
“Ditrian is not that great as a person, but as an Emperor, he’s excellent.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means he’s good at calculating gains and losses. So don’t reveal a weakness carelessly.”
In short, it meant I could not demand something from the Emperor without justification.
The King of Casalia was a conveniently good card.
Because the Emperor wanted to press him down.
There were many diplomatic reasons for that—not only his collusion with the Magic Kingdom, but also disputes along the border between Casalia and Iosia.
“In exchange for catching the King of Casalia, I’m going to ask him to lend strength so Dad won’t be placed in a difficult position because of my identity.”
Then I felt a clear gaze on my right cheek. Khalid had, at some point, taken a seat beside the sofa.
“You shouldn’t be placed in a difficult position either.”
I blinked for a moment, then smiled.
“I know.”
“Liar.”
How did he know?
Everyone carried a scale in their heart.
If I and my family ended up placed on my scale...
My weight would tilt toward my family without hesitation.
Perhaps that was what it meant to have something precious. Lately, I had been feeling that keenly.
“Hwaaam. I’m sleepy now. I’m going to bed.”
I changed the subject and stretched. Khal, who likewise occupied a place on my scale, let out a short sigh.
It was a gesture that said he would not ask further because I was having trouble answering.
My grateful friend.
I was about to get up when something suddenly occurred to me, and I reached out.
“Good work, underling.”
In this cold night. Going back and forth several times. Using magic too. How dependable.
Possessed by Dad, I was about to stroke his hair as if praising him when I suddenly had the thought that our eyes were meeting from an awfully close distance.
When had we... ended up sitting this close?
“...”
My hand stopped awkwardly in midair.
Khal looked silently at the path of my hand, then brought his head over and pressed it against my palm.
“This is what you wanted to do, right?”
“...Uh... Yeah.”
Self-pat, pat.
“I-I really should sleep now. Tomorrow will be busy to—aaah!”
“Ru...!”
A little flustered, I stood from the sofa and tried to put on my slippers, but in that instant, I got caught on the fabric beneath me and slipped hard.
I did not fall, thanks to Khal quickly catching me.
“That... scared me. You almost smashed the back of your head open.”
His eyes were wide, as if he had truly been startled. The hand gripping my waist was too large and too hot.
“Uh... Th-thanks. I’m okay now...”
“I’ll take you to the bed.”
Khal lifted me just like that and laid me down carefully on the bed. He even patted the blanket into place.
Out of habit, I pulled the blanket up below my eyes, then rolled only my eyes around.
Watching me, Khal laughed low.
“That habit of yours never changes.”
“Khal, you know...”
“Yeah.”
“My magic...”
I fidgeted with the hand clutching the blanket, then raised only my pinky slightly.
“Could you... give me a little magic before you go?”
“...”
“No, it’s just, I used magic earlier and all that, so I’m a little tired.”
Even to me, the excuses that kept trickling out felt shabby.
But what was I supposed to do? That hand that had touched my waist earlier...
I want to hold it.
Silence flowed.
Standing soaked in moonlight, Khal lightly licked his lips with his tongue. He lowered himself and took my pinky, which I had held upright so stiffly.
The feeling like a jolt of electricity running through me... was probably something only I felt.
“Will one be enough?”
Murmuring slowly, Khalid slowly, so very slowly, threaded each of his fingers between mine one by one.
As if it had been waiting, heavy magic pushed in. The corner of one of my eyes creased slightly.
Khalid sat lightly on the edge of the bed.
Softly. So it does not hurt.
He murmured that as he worked.
His magic really is so deep and dense.
It felt even more concentrated than when we were little. Did this power even have a limit?
It feels as if the quality of it has changed a little from before.
Was I imagining it?
I thought hazily as I felt the magic drifting into me.
“If you’re sleepy, sleep. I’ll leave once you fall asleep.”
Khalid said.
I nodded while hiding my reddened face beneath the blanket. Separate from my pounding heart, as the comfortable magic wrapped around my body, my eyes closed on their own.
No matter what, my body was very tired.
“Ah, come to think of it, Ruby.”
Khal said suddenly, looking past the window.
“...Yeah?”
“Happy birthday.”
“Heh, thank you...”
My first eighteenth birthday greeting came from Khalid.
The more his dense magic flowed into me, the faster I sank into sleep.
In the stillness wrapped in darkness, Khalid hesitated a little, then added,
“...And as for what I couldn’t finish saying earlier.”
“...Mm-hm.”
“I am dangerous.”
“...”
“I mean it. You need to be careful around me.”
“...”
“Even now, look. How dare I...”
Haaah.
A deep, deep sigh.
“Fucking piece of trash.”
A voice full of anguish flowed out.
And a long while after that, something soft seemed to touch the back of my hand.
But I was too far gone in sleep to know.
