When I stepped out of the Ministry of Magic, located in the central tower of the imperial capital, I couldn’t help but marvel at the view from up high.
Do wizards always build their towers so high?
Maybe it reflected their pride as much as it did their skill.
Though not as tall as the Mage Tower, the imperial palace’s magic department was also situated in a towering structure.
I stepped onto a magic carpet, and like an elevator, it carried me from the top of the tower down to the ground.
Below, Luca was waiting for me.
And if what I saw from above was correct, someone was approaching from a distance.
A distinct head of black hair, different from Luca’s, suggested that it must be one of Lady Jeria’s two princes.
“Is he an idiot, or a trickster?”
The elder was the first prince, the younger the second.
Either way, this wasn’t going to be a pleasant encounter.
“Ria, where are you going?”
Luca, much bigger than me, tugged at my hand as he followed helplessly behind.
Where am I going? Running away from a villain, of course.
The relationship between Lady Jeria’s princes and Luca was notoriously bad.
Even when bound by the title of “brothers,” they were worse than strangers.
The first prince was a year older than Luca, while the second prince was the same age.
If they had been street kids in the marketplace, they might have played tag or marbles, but in the imperial capital, princes born into noble blood competed and attacked each other constantly.
Luca once liked his brothers.
Even though they were half-brothers, they were still brothers to him.
As children, they sometimes trained in swordsmanship together, sometimes played hide-and-seek, and generally got along.
But even a pristine white canvas fades over time.
Lady Jeria compared her sons to Luca, nurturing twisted jealousy in their young hearts.
From early on, the Empress instilled in Luca a competitive spirit, and gradually cracks appeared in the brothers’ relationship.
Eventually, things exploded.
One day, Luca, the youngest, manifested his sword energy, causing a stir in the imperial capital. On that day, the two princes, who had been scolded by Lady Jeria, called him to the eastern palace.
“Let’s finish the hide-and-seek we couldn’t last time!”
“This time, you hide. I’ll count.”
“Luca, you’ll be found quickly if you hide where your brother hid last time. Try over there instead.”
“Alright, there. I’ll close the door. They definitely won’t find me here.”
Luca hid in a remote storeroom in the eastern palace.
With no windows and not a single ray of light, he waited for his brothers to find him.
Time inside the storeroom seemed endless.
Confident he had won, young Luca finally tried to open the door to leave.
But it wouldn’t open.
The moment he realized something was wrong, fear gripped him.
Was it because he was trapped in an abandoned storeroom with no one coming for him?
No—it was because he instinctively sensed his brothers had turned into vile beings, as cruel as any lowly creature.
Without weapons or food, he was trapped for two days.
Perhaps he could have been trapped even longer, maybe even met his end, had an old servant not opened the shabby storeroom door to fetch cleaning tools and discovered him.
Exhausted and starving, Luca fainted at the sight of light, and the old servant carried him off to the physician.
Fortunately, Luca survived, but after that day, the old man was never seen in the imperial capital again.
I should have thanked him, but when I heard that a body had been removed from the eastern palace, I instinctively knew it was him.
This became another source of guilt.
After the incident, the first prince received a one-month house arrest.
Even that was considered a common childhood prank and was largely forgiven.
From that day on, Luca no longer sought out the brothers he once liked.
The princes, now fully hostile, never hid their animosity in public again.
Family worse than strangers? Just garbage.
The weather was fine, and I was finally going to see the Empress, so I didn’t want to stir up trouble.
I was sneaking out of the central tower’s garden, trying to avoid that rolling garbage, whether it was the first or second prince.
“The garden you mentioned isn’t here, is it?”
“Yes, if you go to the annex of the Crown Prince’s palace…”
At that moment, someone called out from behind.
“Who’s there?”
A malicious voice, a boy with hair that made the back of my neck bristle, and an unpleasant gaze.
It seemed the prince had known Luca was here all along and had deliberately come for him, not just coincidentally passing by.
Otherwise, how could he have appeared behind us as we fled in the opposite direction?
Looking at the black hair, I realized I hadn’t been mistaken earlier.
The prince was an unimpressive creation, considering Lady Jeria’s face—neither ugly nor particularly handsome.
“Long time no see, little brother,” he said, addressing Luca as his younger sibling—so the first prince, probably.
“An idiot, a fool used by his mother and siblings,” I roughly remembered.
It was all the memory I had of him.
Though it was the second prince who had trapped Luca in the storeroom, Luca had taken the blame for everything.
His anger had been directed not at the second prince, but at Luca. Foolish, indeed, to trust a half-brother infinitely.
If the second prince had succeeded in eliminating Luca back then, Luca might have been his next target.
“The Crown Prince of the Griffin Empire shouldn’t be leisurely strolling with a girlfriend, should he?”
Girlfriend? …Me?
I looked at the first prince in disbelief.
He grinned unpleasantly.
“Though fake, you have a pretty face. From a commoner to a noble lady, and now aiming for the crown princess?”
When did he even see me to talk like this?
“Why not wait until you make me your concubine? I’d be well taken care of.”
Considering my age, this low-level braggart was barely a handful.
If I really struck him, the palace guards would surely catch me.
This is why being born privileged is scary. Half-empty brains can still get away with anything.
I chose to ignore him.
Luca’s anger couldn’t be directed at me, so it was directed at the prince—a despicable tactic.
“Let’s go, Luca.”
I tried to walk past, but the prince’s voice stopped me.
“How dare you ignore me! Insolent wretch. If you rely on your face and grow up, you might even sell your body—”
Thud!
The first prince was thrown into view with a heavy smack.
“Ria has been insulted. Shall I kill him?”
Luca’s punch had turned bright red.
The prince lay on the ground, wiggling his fingers and groaning.
“Ah, aah… my… teeth…!”
Judging by his words, his teeth were probably gone. This garbage really should have been avoided.
Though the situation escalated, it was immensely satisfying.
“You’ll learn what it means to insult someone with that filthy mouth.”
He had only been trying to provoke us, but Luca’s rage had surprised him.
Normally, he would have ignored our reactions.
Trembling, the prince crawled on the floor to avoid Luca, muttering:
“You think you’ll get away? My maternal family, the Croa Marquisate, won’t forgive you!”
The threats sounded laughable.
Though Lady Jeria and the Croa family wielded influence in politics and finance, I was the noble daughter of the Rayes Duke family and a valued healing mage.
Even if I killed him, could the empire punish me?
It was meaningless to weigh a useless prince against a healing mage who could double the empire’s power.
Especially considering how indifferent the emperor was toward his children.
Though Luca threw the punch, the prince’s anger was aimed at me.
This meant he was aware, at least subconsciously, that Luca outranked him.
Even if Luca hit him more, the worst that could happen was that the aristocratic faction would dislike him further.
I decided not to calculate extreme outcomes.
A light scratch behind the ear and a casual dismissal would suffice.
Though things escalated a bit, I first grabbed Luca’s shoulder as he approached the prince.
“Stop, you’ll dirty your shoes if you step on trash.”
Luca was still fuming, his body bouncing slightly as he caught his breath.
Knowing he wasn’t bluffing about killing him, I quickly added:
“Do as I say. I don’t want this to get worse.”
Luca released my hand and leaned his head on my shoulder to avoid seeing the prince.
“Don’t worry. I’ll listen to anything you say, Ria.”
I let out a sigh of relief, brushing his hair back and meeting his gaze.
His reddened eyes made me feel almost guilty, as if I were the bad person.
“Thanks for getting angry on my behalf.”
It was reassuring when someone took your side, especially blindly.
I approached the fallen prince.
He shouted furiously as I drew near:
“You wretch, I’ll never forgive you!”
His trembling eyes were pitiful.
Not to mention the swollen right cheek.
“You thought Luca was scary, but I was easy, huh? Well, guess what—this lowly body you tried to use was recently awakened as a healing mage.”
Though the goddess’s energy had long vanished from the empire, devout followers remained, and temples still existed under the pretense of protecting the empire.
Those commonly called healing mages were revered as saints.
Even 700 years later, people still believed in the saint who disappeared from history.
Noble families maintaining temples could accuse anyone who insulted a saint of sacrilege.
Failure to punish sacrilege was said to invoke the goddess’s wrath upon the empire.
Historically, if sacrilege went unpunished, droughts or floods often followed, making the empire’s people particularly sensitive.
Even a prince would see his reputation ruined if accused of sacrilege.
“Hmm, what happens if I go to the temple and tell them what you just said?”
The prince’s face turned pale, more frightened than when Luca struck him.
I considered erasing his memory, but his eyes, brimming with distrust and anger toward me, suggested magic might not work.
Perhaps leaving him traumatized today would be better, so he’d never speak carelessly again.
“The scar on your already ugly face came from you foolishly tripping over a stone, didn’t it?”
I said, looking at the prince, whose lips were tightly shut in a sulk.
“Never mind. Luca, maybe you should just—”
“St-stop!”
Hearing Luca approach, the prince finally opened his precious mouth.
“Now you can hear me? Good. I’ll tell you again.”
Fools never understand at first, so I explained patiently.
“If your mouth opens, mine does too, and then you’ll bear the label of sacrilege for life.”
If luck is against you, the angry populace, frustrated by recent droughts, might even target you.
“Still okay with that?”
