Episode 42
The situation was urgent, but one thing was unmistakably clear: the old man carried an extraordinary aura.
‘This person…’
Helena felt something from the old man, a certainty as strong as when she had first detected the presence of another life within the youngest Princess.
As if this stranger, whom she had never seen before in her life, was some great savior, she shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Over here! Here, we have an injured person! Please, help us!”
“Thank you so much. How can we ever repay you…”
At the lead monk’s gratitude, the old man clad in a black robe shook his head.
“It is too early for thanks. I have healed the blade wound, but the iron poison’s spread must be monitored with medicine. However, the medicine I possess is limited, which is a problem.”
Zarya had lost too much blood in an instant.
Helena looked down at her sleeping companion with a weary face, her eyes glistening with tears.
“Even if she seems fine now, if the iron poison takes hold, she could fall ill even a month later. I know it well… because I lost my mother to that very illness.”
Everyone had joined their hands in prayer, but Helena felt a tightness in her chest.
When her mother was ill, she herself had prayed harder than anyone.
Yet, God had taken her mother away nonetheless.
‘Although I believe she went to a better place…’
As a monastic, she knew it was a thought she shouldn’t entertain, but Zarya was still so young.
‘She must still have so much she wants to do in this world.’
The old man rummaged in his robes, pulled out a small vial, and offered it to Helena.
“One spoonful morning and evening. This should last about a week.”
“Will that be enough to cure her?” Helena asked desperately, but the old man averted his gaze and promptly stood up.
No one dared to stop him.
But Helena mustered her courage and followed him.
“Magician.”
Without turning back, the old man asked,
“How did you know I am a magician?”
He was their benefactor who had saved Zarya’s life, but this was no time for word games.
“‘How’? You healed Zarya with magic right before everyone’s eyes. You stopped her bleeding and closed her wounds just by gesturing, without any tools…”
At that, the old man halted his steps.
The moment he turned to look, Helena instinctively drew in a sharp breath at an inexplicably eerie sensation.
“That’s not it, Sister.”
His ash-grey eyes gleamed sharply from beneath the black robe.
“You knew I was a magician the moment our eyes met. Otherwise, you would never have called out so desperately to a shabby old man you’ve never seen before in your life.”
Helena steadied her ragged breath.
To be precise, the old man was wrong.
It wasn’t that she had recognized him as a wizard.
What Helena had perceived was simply…
“I just… saw the magical power hidden within you, wizard.”
The old man’s expression stiffened.
“You saw the magical power?”
The fact that she could see magical power was a secret she hadn’t even shared with Brother Mellotz, unlike the time she sensed the energy of the unborn baby.
‘The Order does not officially acknowledge magic.’
If she were to say she saw magical power, it could cause trouble for the Caesarea Monastery.
“I… recently had the chance to see the Lord of the Magic Tower… and the feeling was similar.”
She couldn’t tell if this mage’s power and Lord Ren of the Magic Tower’s were exceptionally great compared to other mages, but both their magical energies were distinctly perceptible even without holding hands or physical contact.
When she first saw him, she thought it might be a delusion, but after becoming aware of the Princess’s pregnancy, that sensation had revived more vividly, becoming so clear she could no longer pretend to be ignorant.
Helena swallowed hard.
“I… do have a slight ability that’s different from others. It’s to understand this ability that I embarked on this pilgrimage.”
It likely wasn’t a sufficient answer, yet the old man immediately asked something else.
“When did you see the Lord of the Magic Tower? How can you be sure it was him?”
Judging by the questions, the old man was undoubtedly a wizard, and perhaps even acquainted with the Tower Lord.
If she could somehow secure a bit more of his help, Zarya’s chances of survival would increase.
So, Helena nodded.
“People called him Lord Ren… I heard them. He has black hair and purple eyes, and he’s extremely tall.”
“…Where exactly did you see him?”
Fortunately, the mage seemed interested in the Tower Lord.
Helena gathered her courage and continued, hoping the Royal Family’s visit to the monastery wasn’t some great secret.
“We are monastics on a pilgrimage from monasteries across the Empire. I set off from the Caesarea Monastery, and not long ago… about a month ago, the Royal Family and the Tower Lord visited together.”
“…The Royal Family, you say?”
Helena continued answering, wanting to prove she wasn’t lying.
She hoped the Royals’ visit wasn’t a major secret.
“I heard it was His Imperial Highness the Second Prince and Her Imperial Highness the youngest Princess.”
But upon that answer, the mage’s ash-grey eyes shook violently.
“You saw them… up close?”
His reaction was far more intense than when she’d mentioned the Tower Lord’s name, leaving Helena inwardly flustered.
“…Very close.”
As she said this, she took another deep breath.
Perhaps the person she was dealing with now was a far more formidable mage than she had thought.
‘He definitely possesses tremendous magical power, though perhaps not quite like the Tower Lord.’
But Zarya desperately needed his help.
“If I tell you in more detail, could you help Zarya a little more?” she asked, squeezing out her remaining courage.
The mage gave a slightly crooked smile.
“What use would an old man like me have for the affairs of such lofty personages?”
He clearly seemed eager to know…
Just as Helena was feeling disappointed, the wizard added,
“The circumstances are unfortunate, but we happen to be in the western part of the Empire, farthest from the Magic Tower. It’s not that I’m unwilling, but obtaining more medicine is no easy task for me either.”
Helena regretted her attempt to bargain with him using news of the Royals that wasn’t even hers.
The old wizard was already the monastics’ benefactor for what he had done so far.
Hadn’t he even restored their collapsed tent with a single gesture?
“I’m sorry, I was rude. My heart… was just too impatient.”
When she apologized immediately, he gave a faint smile.
“It’s alright. Having lost your mother to iron poison, it’s understandable your heart is anxious.”
Helena gave a slight nod, then spoke to the back of the departing mage as he turned away.
“Their Imperial Highness the Princess and the Prince will be well! They were so deeply affectionate… it was almost enviable!”
She decided to keep the fact that the Princess had collapsed a secret.
‘Her Highness asked me to keep her pregnancy a secret.’
That’s why she hadn’t even told Brother Melotz who the pregnant person was.
After her long dream, she had only said she felt the energy of an unborn baby.
She wanted to convey the best possible news among what she could reveal, but the wizard stopped in his tracks and turned back.
“You say they will be well? Deeply affectionate?”
Then he suddenly let out a loud laugh.
“Suddenly, I find myself interested. Do you have more detailed stories to tell? If so, for you sisters, this old man might be persuaded to use some of his old connections a bit more.”
His meaning was clear: he would help save Zarya.
Helena hurriedly approached him.
“Of course. From the time the Royals arrived at the monastery, I attended to Her Highness the Princess for three days. They were such wonderful people. The very fact that they came to the monastery to atone for the sins of war spoke volumes.”
—Beeeeeeeeep….
A strange sound rang in my ears as I woke up.
‘Ah, what’s this now…’
I pressed my palm against the ear where the sound was coming from, then pulled it away, repeating the motion.
After a while, the sound stopped.
As I sat up, tousled, Phoebe was waiting by the bed for me to rise.
“Did you rest well, Your Highness? How is your body feeling?”
“Uh, Phoebe…”
The beeping sound rang out again.
I pressed my palm to my ear once more before answering.
“Strangely, there’s a beeping sound in my ear.”
“Whaaat?”
Startled, Phoebe opened the medicine box.
She diligently gave me a spoonful and a half of the ear medicine Ren had prudently prepared, then began frantically searching through the pregnancy-related books she had borrowed from the library under the pretext of caring for her sister-in-law.
‘Ugh…’
Meanwhile, morning sickness also surged.
“Sigh…”
Without bothering to call Phoebe, I helped myself to the morning sickness medicine.
It really would be better to go to a recuperation home before anyone else finds out…
‘Just when will I be able to go?’
Come to think of it, it was somewhat suspicious that Rurick hadn’t visited me at all yesterday.
‘I even collapsed right in front of him the day before yesterday.’
So I asked Phoebe.
“By any chance, did my brother come yesterday while I was napping?”
