CHAPTER 32
“You lost your mother’s keepsake?”
Jayster flinched.
The boy, who had been sitting on the couch holding his knees, hunched his shoulders slightly, as if he’d accidentally spoken out of turn.
I crouched in front of him and carefully asked,
“What did you lose?”
“…A necklace.”
Jayster’s voice was as faint as a whisper.
“It had a little blue stone on it… My mom always wore it.”
Blue stone?
That sounds like a magic stone.
“Where did you last see it?”
“Outside… When I first came to the tower.”
“Was it when you were caught by that guy who tried to kidnap you?”
He nodded.
“I dropped it while being dragged around. I couldn’t even pick it up…”
That must have been painful.
His trembling voice made my heart ache, but I had to ask one more thing.
“What kind of expression did the Tower Master have when you lost it?”
“…Angry. Very, very angry.”
His hands clenched tightly on his knees.
“I was scared. I thought he’d hit me… But then he just left without saying anything.”
Did Adix really get mad?
No, wait.
The “stone necklace left by my mother.”
A memento Jayster always carried with him.
And Adix Lubrigo, the Tower Master, saw that he had lost it and was furious.
…Could it be?
What if that necklace—
—I stood up suddenly and dashed toward the door.
“L-Lilian?”
“Jayster! I’ll be back!”
I sprinted down the corridors of the tower without stopping.
Even though I had a shortcut I could’ve used, I didn’t.
Because I had no idea when the Tower Master might appear, and I needed to find that necklace before he did.
I had to find it before he got rid of it—or worse, did something irreversible.
The story Jayster told had stirred a terrifying possibility.
That necklace might not just be a keepsake from his mother…
…It might be the only proof that Jayster is Adix Lubrigo’s son.
If that’s true, and Adix saw the necklace…
And recognized it.
That would explain his reaction.
He didn’t get angry because Jayster lost a memento.
He got angry because he realized Jayster is his son—and couldn’t handle it.
That glare Jayster remembered wasn’t anger. It was fear.
Fear and panic, twisted on Adix Lubrigo’s face.
And then, instead of comforting his own son, he disappeared. Ran away.
You coward, I cursed inwardly as I ran.
You absolute coward.
But no matter how I felt about him—
I had to find that necklace.
Because even if he wouldn’t admit it, even if he ran from it—
Jayster deserved to have it back.
Finally, panting, I arrived at the first floor of the tower.
I retraced Jayster’s steps from the day he was brought in.
The entrance corridor. The training grounds. The storage area. The garden.
Nowhere.
I ran into knights and mages who eyed me with suspicion—likely due to the last match—but I ignored them all and kept searching.
Eventually, I arrived at a small, narrow passage that led to the underground archives.
There, just at the edge of the stairs—
I saw a glint of blue.
“…!”
I rushed forward and picked it up.
A silver chain. A cracked blue stone.
It had scratches and dirt on it, but it was unmistakably a necklace.
This had to be it.
Found it.
I carefully held it in my hand.
And then—
“Looking for that necklace, Princess?”
A voice as cold as sleet fell behind me.
I turned.
Adix Lubrigo.
