“Hm? What’s this?”
Suddenly, Rosetta felt something unfamiliar against her inside Leviathan’s arms and felt around his inner pocket.
Her hand closed around an elegant purple box.
“Oh my, it’s a necklace?”
“I haven’t given her a present yet.”
It was a glittering blue necklace. Something that would suit Rubian perfectly.
“I didn’t know you had this kind of taste. Hmph, is there nothing for me?”
Rosetta laughed playfully and searched Leviathan’s chest further. Then she found an old bundle hidden deeper inside.
“This is...... Ruby.”
The old portrait of baby Rubian the mage had brought.
It seemed he had finally succeeded in buying a locket that fit the size of the portrait.
And that was not all. Even the old pillowcase Rubian was said to have used was neatly folded and carried around like some kind of handkerchief.
“......Ahem. It feels wrong to leave it behind.”
Leviathan turned his head aside, as if embarrassed.
“Don’t tell me you’re in a bad mood because.......”
Just as she, who ordinarily would have scolded him first for being a doting fool, was about to speak with a slightly strange expression,
“There she is, Ruby.”
Leviathan spoke. When she turned her head, she saw Rubian quietly appearing after opening the balcony door.
It was just about time for the ball, the flower of the coming-of-age ceremony, to begin.
“What kind of main character does nothing but run away like that?”
“But her expression doesn’t look very good. Oh dear, she must have been startled by that commotion just now. I’ll go.......”
“Hello, Duchess.”
Just then, a beautiful noblewoman called out to Rosetta.
“Ah, Marchioness Averich.”
“Today’s party is truly wonderful. More importantly, what do you say? Why don’t you come this way and discuss next month’s charity party with us?”
“Ah, is it already that time? Mm...... All right.”
In the end, Rosetta moved toward the group of ladies with the marchioness.
Dad, go bring her back, please.
After firmly giving him that message with her eyes.
Leviathan had intended to bring her back without being told, so he moved without hesitation. She must have been startled by the explosion, and he needed to soothe her.
Look at that.
He saw some straw-like young nobleman approaching Rubian, who was trudging along while staring at the floor. Behind his back, the boy was hiding a rose.
Ha!
Only one flower?
Absolutely not.
“Ruby.”
When he deliberately called his daughter out loud, the young nobleman who discovered Leviathan scurried away.
A small fry and a coward, then.
Did they not teach students at the Academy to know their place? Filled with childish spite, Leviathan sneered to himself, then immediately turned his gaze toward Rubian.
“Stop running away and come here.......”
The moment he gently reached out and took one step closer,
her small drooping shoulders flinched upward. Rubian faltered, stepping backward and away from him.
“......Rubian?”
“Ah.”
But it lasted only an instant. Rubian blinked several times, then approached him again with a bright smile.
“Uh, Dad. What was that explosion just now? It really startled me!”
The chattering voice that linked arms with him so naturally was no different from usual.
But when he looked down at her up close, her pale cheeks were completely bloodless. Her fingers were fidgeting as if she were picking at them. The corners of her mouth were tight, as though she were biting hard on the inside of her lip.
Leviathan’s eyes sank coldly.
To anyone else, she would simply have looked startled by the explosion.
But he knew his youngest daughter’s habits very well.
“You know! I think I should go greet people! Since it’s my party and all. Ah, I’m busy, so busy!”
Ruby.
“Sorry!”
Was hiding something from him.
*****
My heart was pounding.
I moved quickly, giving perfunctory greetings to nobles who recognized me.
Even I could feel that my expression was awkward.
Dad will get suspicious if I have this kind of face.
He would realize I was hiding something.
Ah, why did Sebelena have to tell me that!
The potion was....... what, again?
The potion bottle I was holding as if hiding it felt hot in my hand.
It was the new one I had received from Sebelena, and aside from the clicking sound coming from the lid, it looked no different from the one back at the ducal estate.
Using getting ready as an excuse, I headed toward the lounge while going over my conversation with Sebelena.
A little while ago.
Kwaaang!
At the loud explosion, Sebelena whipped her head up.
“What was that explosion?”
“Mm. That’s.......”
From the surge of magic sweeping in, I had no trouble identifying the source of the roar.
“It looks like a magic tool went off wrong. Somehow...... I think someone dropped a fireworks magic tool.”
Sure enough, Khalid flung open the balcony door and appeared to explain.
“Are you all right, Ruby? That just now was.......”
“Yeah, I think I know what it was. I’m fine.”
He nodded indifferently, glanced once at Sebelena too, and disappeared.
The door closing coldly felt somehow a little cruel.
“......He’s definitely not planning to ask me to dance.”
“Pardon?”
“Ah, no. What were we talking about again?”
When I asked that, the princess, who had been looking back and forth between my face and the place where Khalid had disappeared, hurriedly opened her mouth.
“The potion I gave you. You have not used it yet, correct?”
“Yes, well. That’s right?”
It was true I had tested it, but I had not used it directly on the mage imprisoned at the estate.
“Ah, thank goodness.”
“You warned me in the note too...... Is there some problem?”
“The truth is, this is what I should have given you.”
“What is this?”
What Sebelena placed in my hand was a potion in a familiar shape.
The stopper of the transparent bottle wobbled with a creak. It was not loose enough to pop off, but it did look somewhat unstable.
“As you can see, the bottle lid is a little loose. It seems my maid chose another one and sent it instead, thinking she was replacing it with an intact bottle. I had asked her to do it because I was speaking with His Majesty the Emperor, and I suppose she thought there would be no problem since they all look the same on the outside.”
“Huh? Then what is the one I have?”
Sebelena let out a short sigh.
“An unfinished version I was making. You asked me for the potion, remember?”
“Ah, yes.”
“It took some time to procure the final ingredient, so I had been storing it for the moment. So the potion’s effect is not complete.”
Blink, blink.
My eyelids moved slowly.
Not complete?
“That...... sounds like it does still have an effect. Which part of the effect is lacking?”
“The result.”
“The result?”
“As you know, this medicine has rather prominent visual effects, doesn’t it?”
“Right......”
If they were parent and child, it would mix. If they were not parent and child, it would not mix.
It was a method of proof that was, in a way, almost a performance—one that showed the result more powerfully than a hundred words could explain.
“But in the unfinished stage, the effect appears in reverse. That is why a certain herb ingredient is needed to reverse it.”
......Huh?
“We went through a lot of trial and error in Iosia to get that phenomenon under control. When you say ‘real daughter,’ having it visibly mix is intuitive and powerful. There is no need to add a long explanation.”
Sebelena’s voice was like a racehorse charging ahead. For some reason, it was hard to catch up all at once.
“This is just my thought, but I wondered whether the mage you have detained was also trying to manipulate the potion based on this principle....... By excluding the effect of a specific herb, for example.”
She leaned closer to me and whispered low.
“Is there magic like that, Princess?”
The princess’s green eyes pierced into me like spears. At that moment, my mind, which had gone far away, snapped sharply back.
“......No, I, wait a minute.”
The result was what? Mixing was what?
My head was completely tangled.
As if she understood me, Sebelena smiled gently and opened her mouth.
“To put it simply, the potion you have, Princess.”
“.......”
“If two people are strangers, it mixes.......”
My eyes met my reflection in her pupils. The completely dazed face somehow did not feel like mine.
“And between true parent and child, it does not mix.”
