CFCF 57

Episode 57

Helena, terrified, breathed heavily and held out the letter with a trembling hand.

“I-I received a letter from Her Highness the Princess… so I came.”

The man who had opened the door and entered took a step closer.
Only then did Helena recognize the man, but her fear did not diminish in the slightest.
Still, wanting to somehow preserve her life, she futilely opened her mouth again.

“H-have you been well, Your Highness the Prince?”

Prince Rurik’s scarlet eyes shot a glance at the intruder.
It was clear he didn’t recognize her.

Helena quickly added.

“H-Helena Garnier, whom you met at Caesarea…”

At those words, Rurik hesitated, causing Helena to flinch in turn.
When she had met him alone at the waterfall in Caesarea, Helena had felt a terror as if the Second Prince might draw his sword and strike her down at any moment.
Having now sneaked into his sister’s room like a mouse in the middle of the night, she truly had no excuse if she were to be killed this time.

But the next moment, Rurik relaxed his knees and plopped down beside Helena.

“…Your Highness?”

His close red eyes were filled with sorrow.

“She is sick.”

‘She’ undoubtedly referred to the Princess.
There was no one else whose health would cause this Prince such grief.

“I-I’m sorry. I should have come sooner…”

Rurik said bitterly.

“She caught pneumonia and went to the southeastern part of Flavi for recuperation. She told you to come find her? I can help you get in touch with Flavi.”

At that moment, Helena felt the faint magic writhing within the Prince more clearly than before.
It wasn’t vibrant and manageable like the magic of mages.

‘Rather, it’s gnawing at and tormenting His Highness the Prince.’

Unable to take her eyes off him, Helena asked.

“But Your Highness… are you not unwell yourself?”
“What?”

Rurik started to retort but then chuckled dryly.

“Ah, right. You have spiritual abilities, don’t you? Can you see the traces of the demonic sword within me? Are they still there?”

Helena was startled.

‘I never told Her Highness the Princess such detailed information.’

Ever since meeting the mage at the beach, it had been one strange event after another, but the feeling she had now was beyond that.
An overwhelming sense of mission.

Feeling an ancient pain and sorrow, Helena dared to reach out her hand toward the Prince.

“Excuse me, may I hold your hand?”

Rurik looked baffled, but he didn’t push her away.
The moment their hands finally touched, he asked.

“…What are you.”

The Prince’s voice was bleak.
But Helena only firmly grasped the man’s strong hand.
It was only now that she seemed to understand what she was.

“I am…”

Rurik looked down at her with a bewildered gaze.
A sense of solace spread from their connected palms.
It was a kind and immense comfort she couldn’t find anywhere in this land, the peace she had spent her whole life searching for.

“I came here for Your Highness. Her Highness the Princess summoned me… for your sake.”

The Prince slowly asked again.
His red eyes, from which all darkness had receded, were distinct and clear even in the dead of the dark night.

“…What is your name?”
“Helena Garnier, Your Highness.”

Even facing a man who likely couldn’t remember her own name, which he had probably heard several times, Helena smiled joyfully.

“Thank you for enduring so strongly until this moment, for holding on even though someone as lacking as me arrived so late.”

Rurik raised his remaining hand.
When his rough palm touched Helena’s cheek, he remembered what Louise had said.

“And she said your emerald eyes are so pretty.”

Remembering his younger sister, he looked straight at the woman before him.
Then, for the first time in a while, he curved his long eyes and smiled.

“Indeed, they are pretty.”

Even at his enigmatic words, Helena’s red lips parted beautifully.
She was no longer afraid of the Prince.

“To the hungry sword… victory…”

The Crown Prince’s condition was exactly as Ren had said.
Losing his sense of self, reciting Studites’s book.
Moghold was convinced that now was the time to completely re-evaluate all the achievements of the first Magic Tower Lord, Studites.

‘At least the demonic sword was shattered; all that remains must be those paper fragments.’

Ren had said it was an accident that occurred while defending against the demonic sword’s rampage, but Moghold didn’t need to see it to know.

‘He did it on purpose.’

Ren was that kind of guy.
If it weren’t for the Youngest Princess, he would never have been stuck in this Imperial Palace, cleaning up after the Imperial family.
He was generally indifferent, but he was too upright to deal with the current Imperial family.

Anyway, any hope that creating a new demonic sword for Rurik might atone for his original sin was utterly shattered.

“Blood, moans, and sacrifice…”

The Crown Prince continued to mutter.
Reciting that damned book before the Emperor and Empress back then was the biggest, most irreversible mistake of Moghold’s life.

‘But the Crown Prince was young and made no choice himself.’

Moghold thought that way, so if possible, he wanted to save him.
But…

“Glory is… soon… death…”

Ren’s words were all correct.
No recovery magic or healing magic could free the Crown Prince’s mind from the demonic sword.

Clicking his tongue, Moghold left the Crown Prince’s palace, when a thought suddenly occurred to him.

‘Studites’s book.’

If he could cleanly get rid of that book…
Now that he had passed the heavy burden of the Magic Tower Lord to his young and capable disciple, it would be the greatest consideration the old former Magic Tower Lord could offer to future generations.

Thus, Moghold decided to break his promise with Ren, who had agreed to just take a quick look at the Crown Prince and leave immediately.

It was just as he reached the darkened Emperor’s office.
Whoosh! Torches ignited simultaneously, lighting up the room as if it were broad daylight.
In the reddish light, the Empress smiled, her brilliant golden eyes sparkling.

“I’ve been waiting, former Magic Tower Lord.”

Moghold sighed and looked at the book clutched in her hand.

The next day, as expected, Ren’s expression was dark.
It was because he had to leave me behind and return to the Imperial Palace to tend to the Crown Prince.
He sat sullenly in the dining hall, barely touching his breakfast, and didn’t utter a single word to me.
His purple irises were much colder than usual, and his red lips were set in a hard line.

“…Ren?”

I had no choice but to speak to him first.

“Since you’re going, please look after Brother Rurik for me too. I’m counting on you, Ren.”

His expression soured further, and he asked Callisteon.

“Is Your Grace the Grand Duke free? How long do you intend to stay here?”

Callisteon shrugged nonchalantly.

“Unlike some people, I have many people to delegate work to.”

I could see Ren’s jaw tightening sharply.
Before the two could start another exhausting squabble, I quickly intervened.

“Here, Len. Eat this and get your strength up.”

Trying to placate him, I picked up a cherry and offered it. Instead of taking it with his hand, he opened his mouth.
Under the sharp glances from those around us, I managed to successfully place the cherry into Ren’s mouth.

‘Even though the demonic sword shattered, I want to know if Rurik has any potential aftereffects.’

Ren knew about the demonic sword, so there was no one more suitable for the task.

“Please, Ren. For my sake. Okay?”

I put my hands together in a pleading gesture. Ren let out a sigh.
It seemed his mood had lightened a bit compared to before, as he gestured with his eyes toward the cherries.

“Ah.”

Thanks to that, I had to feed him a couple more cherries, but it was a very cheap price to pay for sending the Magic Tower Lord to the Imperial Palace to check on my brother.

After various twists and turns, the meal time ended.
Ren, as if finally making a decision, poured out a bunch of small communication orbs in front of me, picked up one, and said.