CHAPTER 05……………………………………..
Because I hadn’t been here for a while, the air had grown stale. When I undid the latch at the bottom and opened the cabin’s only window, a gentle spring breeze flowed in.
“Ah, this is nice… ngh!”
As I lifted my arm to rest my chin on my hand, a sharp pain shot through me and I flinched. It was the shoulder Cosette had stepped on earlier. It might even be bruised.
‘I can’t see a doctor right now, so I just hope my bones and joints are okay.’
I turned toward the bed. After years of never-ending injuries, I’d developed the habit of keeping basic medicine everywhere. That should at least be enough for first aid.
“Hm?”
But on top of the small bedside drawer, I noticed a tiny glass vial no bigger than my little finger, along with a note. The glass bottle, filled with a vivid blue liquid, sparkled like a jewel in the morning sunlight.
“What’s this?”
When I checked the note, a familiar handwriting caught my eye.
<It’s a new treatment. I hope it works.
—Your close friend, Ripei.>
A smile formed on my lips before I realized it.
A note left by my one and only friend.
“So Ripei stopped by.”
He was always busy, so it was hard to meet often, but he would leave messages like this from time to time.
Ripei was a noble from the desert kingdom of Albah, and also a third-tier mage who worked as a mercenary.
They said that in Albah, because of laws that strictly worship strength, low-tier mages were treated especially harshly compared to other places.
He’d told me he hated that culture, so he left his family and wandered the continent, helping people who needed magic.
I was one of the people he’d helped that way.
That meddlesome friend of mine, after learning about my situation by chance, would often leave strange things behind, calling them heart medicines. Was this already the fifteenth one?
‘He must be really busy—when did he even find time to prepare something like this?’
Thinking of my playful but always considerate friend warmed my heart. Aside from my memories with my mother, Ripei might be the reason I’d managed to endure that hellish mansion.
I picked up the small glass vial he’d left behind. There was no seal on it.
Pop.
The lid came off with a soft sound.
“Ugh! What is that smell?!”
I immediately clamped my nose shut.
Not only was the smell shocking, but the sight of the opaque, vivid blue liquid sloshing inside made what little appetite I had drop straight to zero.
And yet, this was supposedly medicine.
‘…I guess I have to drink it.’
“Ugh…”
After staring down the vial for a long while, I squeezed my eyes shut and stuck the bottle straight into my mouth. Gulp, gulp—after a few sounds, it was gone. Holding my nose, I swallowed hard, then immediately jumped up and ran to the small well behind the cabin.
Gulp, gulp!
Only after drinking a great deal of water could I finally lift my head.
“Urgh. It wasn’t spoiled, was it?”
My stomach churned. Even after drinking so much water, it still felt like the smell lingered.
‘What on earth is it made of, to smell like dirty socks? Is this really medicine?’
Suspicious as it was, Ripei had said it was medicine, so it must be. He wouldn’t lie to me.
And honestly, if drinking this could make my heart stronger, I’d gladly drink several bottles of it.
I placed a hand over my heart.
Thump. Thump.
‘For some reason, it feels like my heartbeat is louder.’
Even though I knew I shouldn’t get my hopes up, I found myself excited every time.
Thinking I wouldn’t be able to obtain the key to the underground lab until I became an adult, I’d sometimes used the doors to search for heart-friendly medicine.
Since this was a world that ran on magic, I’d thought perhaps there might exist some wondrous drug that could even turn a Notch into a mage.
So I’d tried all kinds of medicines, but every single one—including those Ripei brought—had failed. Once, I’d even nearly gotten into serious trouble from addiction.
As I returned to the cabin and went to put the bottle into the wash basin, I froze.
‘…But what would I even do if I became a mage?’
Just moments ago, the fragile glass floor I’d been barely standing on had shattered completely.
Even so, why had I drunk this medicine, insisting on becoming a mage? To escape abuse? To be acknowledged by those around me? Because only mages are considered people in this world?
The answer to all of them was “no.”
‘I could just live quietly here, tending a vegetable patch… huh?’
Something brushed against my foot.
It was my mother’s diary. It must have fallen to the floor earlier when I bumped the table running out to the well.
As I bent to pick it up, I stopped. The contents of the open page caught my eye.
<I failed again. The formation is correct, so what on earth is the problem?
My daughter, my beloved El. She would be happy if she became a mage.
Can I truly guide her onto the path of a mage?>
My mother’s deep anguish was vividly recorded there. I’d read this page many times before, but today it struck me especially hard.
‘Mom really did want me to become a mage.’
Something tightened deep in my chest.
Slowly, I traced the lines with my fingertips. After reading them over and over as if engraving them into my mind, I hugged the diary to my chest.
‘…Yes. That’s right.’
I remembered.
I loved magic. That was why I wanted to become a mage.
The magic my mother showed me was beautiful. In a world that had seemed to be nothing but logic and physical laws, magic had taught me mystery and wonder.
I admired magic.
‘I wanted to become a mage who uses light magic.’
More than anything, I wanted to be like my mother. Like her—who had let me live this long—I wanted to scatter beautiful light in the darkness and become someone’s hope.
And light-attribute magic was mostly sixth-tier or higher. A realm even Cosette couldn’t easily reach.
‘Let’s become a mage for myself, not for anyone else.’
And then I’ll show those people of the Yuberis family, who looked down on me and my mother.
Having made that decision, I felt like I could breathe a little more easily.
I placed the diary back on the table and stood up. First, I should apply some ointment to my throbbing shoulder.
‘Next time, I should buy some gauze too—’
At that moment, something flashed through my mind.
“Ah.”
My head went numb.
To buy gauze, I’d need money. But when I packed earlier, I didn’t remember putting my coin pouch in the bag.
‘I left my money at the Yuberis estate.’
At the same time, my eyes fell on the emerald necklace lying carelessly on the table.
…This was bad.
One week before the day Eloa ran away and panicked over her empty pockets.
“Hoo…”
In the Cyrus Empire, Duke Northdian covered his face with his palm, lost in deep thought. As if reflecting the depth of his worries, heavy air filled the study.
Across from his desk stood Jace and Beric, his retainers and closest aides, who exchanged troubled glances.
“Your Grace, this is an imperial order.”
“I know. That’s why I’m agonizing over it. If it were anyone else, I’d have ignored it outright.”
His crimson gaze fell on the letter of the finest quality lying on the desk. No matter how many times he reread it, the contents didn’t change. It was written in such an elegant hand it almost seemed light, but the substance was nothing but troublesome.
In short, it ordered the Duke of Northdian to marry Princess Cecilia.
Lectarion let out a short, mocking laugh.
“At this rate, I’ll end up as a regicide.”
“Y-Your Grace!”
“Think about it, Jace. Realistically speaking, do you think I could ever become husband and wife with this woman? With a woman who’s a mage down to her bones?”
“Well, that is…”
Impossible, of course.
And that wasn’t all. The wedding hall itself would surely be reduced to ruins. As that image vividly played out in their minds, the two aides quietly shut their mouths.
‘Of all people, Princess Cecilia.’
The Duke of Northdian fundamentally disliked mages, and the princess—heir to the Sky Ark, regarded as the ivory tower of magic—was a diehard mage who had devoted her entire life to magic, to the point that even other nobles recoiled from her.
They were incompatible to the extreme.
In particular, he utterly loathed mages who abused their power to commit crimes, and Princess Cecilia maintained that such magic—much of which stemmed from Sky Ark research—was an unavoidable price to pay for the advancement of magic.
The two, both stubborn to the core with no intention of bridging their differences, were infamous for radiating killing intent rather than mere coldness whenever they met.
That the emperor—who should know this better than anyone—had issued such an order meant only one thing: no matter how you looked at it, he was deliberately trying to screw over the Duke of Northdian.
Of course, the letter claimed it was “to improve perceptions of Notches through marriage with the imperial family,” but the likelihood of that pretext actually being realized was less than the dirt under a mouse’s claw. And even if the emperor were sincere, the duke had not the slightest intention of playing along.
“Tch.”
Why should he be the sacrifice?
No matter that his opponent was the emperor—he despised being used at someone else’s convenience. It reminded him of a past he’d rather not recall.
Still, it wasn’t easy to dismiss it as nonsense and ignore it. The current emperor had greatly helped him establish his position back when he had been powerless.
It was also the reason he was the only non-mage in the Cyrus Empire who could become the head of a family, despite the long-standing custom that Notches could not inherit.
But that was that, and this was this.
“Has His Majesty finally lost his mind? It seems he really wants to see me give up hunting for good.”
As Lectarion hurled vicious insults at the emperor, the two aides felt a chill crawl up their necks.
In high society, he always smiled and spoke politely, so some nobles underestimated him—but in truth, he was more like a skilled hunter who hid traps behind tempting bait.
And Duke Northdian was the sort of hunter who would mercilessly cut down prey caught in his trap.
Beric swallowed dryly.
‘Isn’t this dangerous?’
He recalled a certain high-ranking mage whom the duke had “hunted” just last month. With a casual swing of his aura, a high-tier defensive barrier had shattered instantly, splitting the mage’s torso clean in two.
‘If His Grace were to slice the princess in half just like that…!’
In Beric’s imagination, the princess was cleaved in two, and in the same instant, Duke Northdian became a traitor—dragging Beric himself, as his aide, to the gallows in the public square.
Faced with an imagined future that felt far too plausible, Beric’s complexion turned deathly pale.
“S-So then…!”
