“Your Majesty.”
A knight approached in hurried steps.
“What is it?”
“Well......”
After hearing the report, the Emperor set down the glass he had been holding, his face stiff. Then he said,
“They say a large horde of magical beasts has appeared near the southern coast.”
Leviathan instinctively frowned and looked for Rubian. The Emperor’s cloak billowed, stirring the air.
“I’ll have to return. Tell the princess I’m sorry I couldn’t stay until the end.”
“Will it be all right?”
When Leviathan asked, the Emperor smiled gently and patted the duke on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry. The Imperial family will send troops, and they say the southern border count is already responding as well. Many of the southern forces distinguished themselves in the human-demon war, so there should be no need for concern. Only......”
“Only?”
For once, the Emperor chose his words.
“The message the border count sent along with it was somewhat strange.”
“Strange?”
The hand Leviathan had wrapped around his glass tightened hard.
“......There was testimony from some soldiers that they sensed the presence of dark creatures from the magical-beast corpses...... Ah, please. Calm down.”
Crack.
As the glass crumbled like powder, the Emperor pressed a hand to his forehead. From a distance, Leviathan could feel Rosetta, who had been watching, glance this way.
The sharp glass scratched his fingers. As red blood welled up, the air brushed over the torn skin. A nearby maid started in surprise and wrapped a bandage around his hand.
“Haaaaaaaa.”
Leviathan dragged his uninjured hand down his face.
Through the gaps between his fingers, he caught a glimpse of Rubian. She was now spinning round and round with Liam and Boyd.
He should not have listened. He should have pretended not to know.
Damn it. Of all days, why today?
But if the matter involved dark creatures, he could not stand by and watch as if it were a fire across the river.
Protecting the fence Rubian lived inside was his duty.
“Where is the messenger now?”
A firm hand gripped his sword. Engraving his brightly laughing daughter’s face into his eyes once more, Leviathan moved feet that did not want to leave.
*****
The atmosphere feels a little unsettled.
The family dance time ended, and a brief rest period arrived.
I don’t even know what state of mind I was in while I danced.
No. In truth, maybe the unsettled one was my own heart.
Ever since I heard about the potion from the princess, I had hardly been able to focus on the ball.
“Haa......”
A heavy sigh slipped out of me on its own.
Just as I was wondering whether I should skip the second part of the ball altogether, familiar sky-blue hair appeared in front of me.
“Rubian!”
“Titi.”
Sortie smiled brightly, praised my dancing from just now, then glanced around before holding something out to me.
“Here. What you asked for.”
On the white handkerchief lay a few strands of long sky-blue hair and short hair.
I folded the handkerchief neatly and gripped it tight.
“Thank you.”
“But why, all of a sudden, did you need my hair and Dad’s......?”
Sortie asked, looking like she could not understand.
Before the ball began, I had asked Sortie for a little of Count Camelan’s hair and hers.
“Oh, Asha said she needed them as materials to make a magic tool!”
“......My hair, for a magic tool?”
“I think she needs it to make the magic tool for our play’s stage apparatus! Probably?”
I smiled as I gave the excuse I had prepared in advance.
“The things Asha makes are a little unusual, you know.”
“Aha?”
Sortie tilted her head.
“But why Dad’s hair too...... Rubian?”
Pretending I had not heard, I hurried away. Behind me, I could feel Jerdin approaching.
“Titi! There you are. Will you dance with me during the second part?”
“Ah, Jerdin. I’ll say it again, but you look really wonderful today. Will you marry me?”
“We’re not even engaged?”
“Then will you get engaged to me?”
“We’re not even dating?”
“Then will you date me?”
Those two had not changed at all.
Thinking that, I went up to the second-floor lounge.
“......It mixes.”
A small storm rose in the plate of sparkling water.
Before long, the whirlpool column tied itself together like a firm knot and merged into a single column.
I bit my lip while holding the potion Sebelena had given me in one hand.
The potion Sebelena just gave me is definitely real.
Count Camelan’s hair and Sortie’s hair had mixed, so there was no room for doubt.
I also tried mixing my hair with Count Camelan’s.
That did not mix.
“......”
What is this? What am I missing?
My heart pounded anxiously.
Sebelena’s voice kept scraping at my ears.
“With a true parent and child, it does not mix.”
I think I should...... test it with Dad again.
Actually, I had wanted to suggest it to Dad while we were dancing earlier, but I could not make myself say the words.
Then what if it mixes?
How am I supposed to accept...... what that means?
For an instant, the baby’s black stele sleeping in the Zebbert memorial garden flashed through my mind. So did the dream of the original story I had this morning.
If there is another story I never knew, just like that......
All kinds of imaginings rose up.
What frightened me most was the thought: what if I had harmed Dad in some way?
What if I, who had been the Mage King’s puppet, had stolen something from the baby and inflicted an irreversible wound on my family because of it?
The moment I thought that, fear seized me. If that were true, which way would the scale in Dad’s heart tilt—toward me, or toward the baby?
My thoughts raced without end.
Even though I knew the carriage accident in which the baby was lost had happened before I was born, I was so confused that such delusions came to me on their own.
If none of that is it......
Of course.
It was not as if I had not thought of another possibility.
There was one remaining possibility I had never once considered in all my life.
That was that I......
......might be.
My body collapsed onto the sofa.
“Ah, I’m dizzy.”
Vertigo rose in me.
I had barely slept yesterday, and after paying attention to so many things all day, my condition was being shaved away bit by bit.
It felt as if there were a metallic taste in my mouth. Just in case, I wiped beneath my nose, but it was not a nosebleed.
Just one more thing first......
Let me confirm just one more thing.
I would draw a conclusion only after I had every piece of information I could gather in my hands.
That was when it happened.
Knock, knock, knock.
At the lightning-like sound of the knock, my body jolted.
“Princess? Are you here?”
It was the voice of a banquet-hall maid.
“What is it?”
“Someone came from the estate.”
I quickly opened the door. The maid stood there holding a letter on a silver tray.
After giving her a tip, making sure she would keep her mouth shut, and sending her away, I swiftly tore open the letter.
< Miss, it’s Hazel. I tested the potion at the estate, just as you said. >
I had already sent Hazel back to the estate.
To check whether the potion I had left at the estate really was,
......a potion with the opposite effect.
Just as Sebelena had said.
“Hazel, use the potion I left in my bedroom on the servants I told you about, then let me know.”
“Hm? Miss. These people are......”
“Yes. They’re true parents and children.”
At the ducal estate, there were many cases of servants marrying each other and settling down. There should be enough samples.
With trembling eyes, I read the words line by line.
< Every person you mentioned, Miss....... >
It felt as if someone were rubbing cold ice against the inside of my brain. Goosebumps rose all over my body, and my mind went numb.
< They didn’t mix. >
In that moment, I heard something inside me collapse and split apart.
Perhaps it was everything I had believed to be the truth until now.
< Something is strange. Mrs. Idel from the kitchen and Hugo the gardener are definitely parent and child. But whether it was hair or blood, none of them mixed? Is something wrong with this potion? Should I dispose of it? >
Crash!
I shoved myself up from my seat.
After that, well.
I did not remember whether I crawled, walked, or ran.
“Rubian?”
When I nearly tumbled down the stairs, I ran into Licht, who had been looking for me.
“Why do you look like that?”
“Dad......”
Wigeria.
Answer me.
“Where is my dad?”
What in the world is going on?
Answer me, Wigeria! You know, don’t you?
“Rubian!”
Startled, Licht brought a handkerchief to my face. When I saw the stain turning red, it felt as if everything before my eyes was bleeding scarlet.
The truth is in your hands.
I looked down at the potion I was clinging to like a lifeline. Drop, drop, blood fell onto the transparent bottle.
What am I?
I am the Mage King’s seventh child, a weapon, a runaway mage, and the adopted daughter of the House of Zebbert......
I reincarnated into this novel and changed the original story......
Really?
A tidal wave came crashing down.
Rubian, the truth was always inside you.
Always.
Always.
