Chapter 51
“The two guests are ready to receive you, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
I lifted my head for a moment.
Madeleine’s eyes widened in surprise. It was only natural that adults would bow to Khan, and that Khan would accept it naturally—but somehow, seeing it before my eyes felt strange all over again.
“Go with them,” Khan told me.
We were soon guided to the guest room.
It seemed Khan was being considerate, giving me time to talk with Madeleine after such a long separation.
Once the door closed, Madeleine immediately asked,
“…That man… he’s the Crown Prince?”
“Yeah.”
“Whoa, what in the world happened? You have to tell me everything!”
I never really kept secrets from Madeleine—she was my best friend, after all.
So I told her everything in order—what happened after my adoption, how the Duke first treated me, how I suddenly ended up with a brother, and how I came to like him.
How Khan approached me and helped me, how I met His Majesty the Emperor, and how it turned out that Khan was actually the Crown Prince.
I told her about the “Child of Prophecy,” the duty I was said to have, that I would one day become royalty—and how everyone believed I’d be the one to propose to him first.
“Wait a sec, Adele. That’s… that’s a lot. My head’s spinning.”
“I get it. I was really shocked at first too.”
“Are you okay, though? I mean, the Duke put a sword to your neck the first time he saw you. I’ve been worried sick.”
“Mm… Well, now he doesn’t want to kill me anymore.”
“Is… is that supposed to be good news?”
“Yeah. I like Father.”
“…If you’re happy, then that’s what matters.”
Madeleine always listened well. She never crossed the line.
Even when she worried for me, I could feel how sincerely she wanted me to be happy—it made my chest tighten a little.
“But still, the Crown Prince hiding his identity like that? That’s kind of mean.”
“Really?”
“Hmm, but… he seems like he really cares about you.”
Khan always prioritized my safety above all else.
Even now, it was just Madeleine and me in this room—but I was sure there were guards nearby.
I just couldn’t sense them.
“I want to hear your stories too, Madeleine,” I said.
Her eyes sparkled as she began to speak.
No one had come to the orphanage to adopt anyone after the Duke took me in, she said. So people whispered about me constantly wherever she went.
It was the first time anyone from the orphanage had been adopted by a noble family, after all.
One boy even told her I’d be sent back soon, and she proudly told me she punched him.
“I don’t want to hang out with people like that.”
“Are you sure it’s okay? You don’t have to fight because of me.”
“He wasn’t worth my time anyway.”
“…Thank you.”
“I didn’t do it for you—it just made me mad to hear him talk like that.”
She kept talking.
Since the orphans didn’t know their birthdays, they all pretended the day of the Founding Festival was everyone’s birthday—because that was when they got to eat the best food of the year.
Madeleine said she’d been learning to bake because she wanted to make strawberry tarts for that day.
“You’ll be amazing at it,” I said.
Truth be told, whatever Madeleine said, I just agreed and encouraged her. Probably because I just really liked her.
As she spoke, she began to tell me what happened right before she was kidnapped.
“I went to the stream like usual to fetch water, but something felt strange. Then all of a sudden, I got really sleepy… like, really sleepy. My body froze up. Then adults appeared and dragged me away, and my mind just… went blank.”
“They didn’t do anything weird to you, did they?”
“They just locked me up. But I saw something strange—a kind of pattern. Like a snake bleeding, writhing, moving.”
Just hearing it made my instincts scream danger.
“A pattern? A snake?”
“One man knelt before it and said something—and then a door opened.”
“What did he say?”
Madeleine looked straight into my eyes and recited,
“Beneath the laurel, the well that breathes is astonishingly stained with blood.”
I almost got chills.
Madeleine had always had an excellent memory, so that wasn’t what surprised me.
What shocked me was that I recognized the sentence—from a book.
“It’s the greeting used by the head of House Michael,” I remembered.
Fabian once told me that Michael’s father was a traitor—that was why Michael was so devoted to the Duke, who was the only one who still trusted him.
He said Michael’s father had been one of them—the Eight of Levacher.
But to actually hear something related to that now—
“When I met the snake’s eyes, I fell asleep. When I woke up, you were there.”
It’s them.
It had to be them.
Goosebumps prickled my arms.
What if I had arrived just a day later?
What if Madeleine had already been sold off?
Just thinking about it made my neck crawl with cold dread.
Michael’s family were the wicked ones—not Michael himself.
“He must be suffering too,” I thought.
Khan once explained that they operated as a kind of distributed network for profit. I hadn’t really grasped it then.
But now… I was finally starting to feel how terrifying it all was.
They were real. Truly, horrifyingly real.
“I’m just so glad you weren’t hurt.”
“You came to save me, Adele! Thank you.”
“Yeah… promise me you’ll never get hurt again, okay?”
It had been far more dangerous than Madeleine realized—but I didn’t want her to know. I just hugged her tightly, over and over.
She smiled brightly, like it had all just been a small adventure.
So I swallowed my fear alone, and let her keep smiling.
To protect the people precious to me…
I wanted to become stronger. Truly.
And I found myself wishing—more than ever—that this centuries-long war tormenting humankind would finally end.
Eisen skimmed the report spread out on the table.
“Nine shadow guards.
While the young lady was eating cotton candy, an unknown assailant targeted her—neutralized.
Investigation revealed the assailant belonged to the same cell responsible for kidnapping the young lady’s friend.
His Highness the Crown Prince taught the lady the Wind Spirit invocation ring spell.
The Crown Prince infiltrated the cell’s hideout, staged a fire, and when members escaped, the young lady summoned the Wind Spirit to create a whirlwind and blow them away.”
“…Isn’t that incredible?” Eisen muttered.
Michael, who had read it first, bowed his head quietly.
“She has shown remarkable growth for someone her age.”
“Still… at that age, friendship must be the most important thing, huh?”
Of course, the Duke wouldn’t have allowed Adele to go anywhere alone with the Crown Prince without supervision.
Even Eisen himself no longer knew whether he wanted to protect her as the “Child of Prophecy” or as his “daughter.”
Either way—
“Friends, huh.”
Eisen himself had never valued friendship.
If he ever attached meaning to it, it was with the comrades who had survived the battlefield alongside him.
But few of those comrades were still alive.
Even if they were, Eisen wasn’t the kind to maintain warm relations.
The Emperor liked to claim he was Eisen’s “dear friend,” but Eisen had never paid much attention to it.
“But Adele…”
Judging by how she treated both the Crown Prince and Madeleine, she clearly valued her friends above all else.
So pure. So childlike. And he wanted to let her stay that way.
“It seems Madeleine is the ‘Guide’ mentioned in the prophecy,” Eisen said.
“…I agree,” Michael replied.
The Guide—the one destined to help the “Child of Prophecy” awaken.
Their fates were always intertwined and fully recorded in the ancient texts.
They were said to know their destiny from birth, consciously or not—bound to remain by the Child’s side.
“She was kidnapped, and Lady Adele’s emotional surge during her rescue clearly triggered sudden internal growth. I concur with your assessment, my lord.”
“There’s no need to tell Adele this yet.”
“No, my lord. Not yet.”
Eisen’s fingers brushed down the report again.
“The young lady’s friend was abducted while fetching water at a stream.
Her testimony confirms she saw the organization’s sigil and retains partial recollection of other clues.
Given the sigil’s traits, there’s a strong likelihood of connection to the black market through the Michael family line.”
Eisen spoke idly.
“Then we should keep the girl close—maintain a strong bond between them.”
Michael’s face tightened in discomfort.
The black market.
After his father’s betrayal, the first task “they” had given him was to oversee the black market operations.
And there wasn’t just one—the black markets spread across the continent like a plague, reborn no matter how many times they were purged.
“My lord, thank you for always trusting me,” Michael said at last, kneeling.
Eisen only shrugged lightly.
“Trust doesn’t need gratitude.”
“…My lord.”
The Duke glanced down at a purified candle—a painkiller distilled into wax.
Once lit, inhaling its smoke dulled the excruciating agony caused by the “Curse of God.”
“Is Rehas dead yet?”
“Not yet, my lord.”
“Persistent, isn’t he.”
His tone was indifferent—far too cold for one speaking of a child of his own blood.
He’d thought Rehas would die soon enough in that tower.
“…Still, admirable,” Eisen murmured.
Sensing his intent, Michael lit the candle with a fine match and withdrew respectfully.
As the Duke burned the edge of the report over the flame, he smiled faintly.
I returned home.
Standing under a tree where the cool wind flowed, I reached out my hand.
It had to be a place where the breeze was clear and open—under the guardian tree Khan said was safe.
“Auróra, súbito.”
(Wind, lift me up.)
This time, unlike before, I felt dizzy for a moment.
Maybe there was a limit to how much power I could call upon in a day.
The tiny fairy-like wind spirit appeared.
Adele! I blew those bad humans far, far away!
“Where to?”
To the Meldasio Valley!
Where was that, exactly?
I wasn’t sure, but seeing the spirit’s bright little smile lifted my mood.
They won’t be able to do bad things anymore!
“Thank you.”
I didn’t dare ask for more details—I was too scared.
I just smiled faintly back.
Truthfully… I’m still afraid.
It didn’t feel real yet.
Khan had taken me back to the duchy, and I told everyone I wanted to be alone.
Madeleine would have guards assigned to protect her now—just in case.
Once we entered the academy, she’d be able to stay in the dorms.
Until then… she’d be safe.
Everyone else was smiling, but somehow…
Maybe I was just being too sensitive. Maybe there was no reason to feel this uneasy already.
I crouched under the tree. The spirit flitted around on gossamer wings.
I covered my hand with soil and whispered another ring spell.
“ossa tegébat humus.”
(Bones buried in the earth.)
But this time, no earth spirit appeared.
Instead, my vision flashed white.
I felt truly dizzy and fell backward onto the ground with a soft thud.
I guess there really is a limit to my power.
I couldn’t use it endlessly—it made sense, really.
Adele sat down!
“Hey… could you maybe lift me up into the tree with the wind?”
Of course!
And just like that, I was gently lifted into the air and set upon a branch.
It was an amazing, new feeling.
If not for the sensation of my blood draining from my body, it might even have felt like flying.
Could I grow stronger someday?
Maybe it was just because I was still young.
I stared at my palms—small and chubby, clenching and unclenching.
I wanted to be stronger.
Maybe because I’d just come from the orphanage, it still didn’t feel real that this soft, luxurious castle was my home now.
It was so grand, so vast, so—
Dizzy.
“How did you get up there?”
“…Brother?”
Startled by the sudden voice, I lost my footing and began to slip.
