Episode 7
After that, I spent quite a long time going through the ledgers with Kaiden.
But finding any trace of the Crown Prince wasn’t easy, and as time passed, Kaiden’s condition kept getting worse.
“We need to find it quickly. If anyone notices I left my post, I’m finished.”
Kaiden had been repeating the same thing over and over, flipping through the ledgers roughly, as if someone were chasing him.
Because he wasn’t reading properly, I had to recheck everything he skimmed past, which only wasted more time. But he was so frightened that he didn’t seem capable of judging the situation at all.
“Hurry up!”
He suddenly raised his voice, doing nothing but drawing attention—exactly the kind of behavior that could get us caught.
We couldn’t stay here any longer. If this continued, we were definitely going to be discovered. It had already been quite some time since I had secretly slipped out of Dante’s room.
First, I needed to calm Kaiden down and leave. We could always come back later.
“Kaiden, let’s stop and go. Okay?”
“No! I never want to come back here again. Just keep looking!”
Kaiden raised his voice again. I was about to push him harder when—
“Shh! Kaiden, you’re too loud. If someone comes—!”
Someone had come.
A large shadow suddenly appeared in front of us.
“What are you doing here?”
“Ghk—!”
Kaiden sucked in a sharp breath at the unexpected appearance.
I slowly lifted my head to look at the person standing there.
“Magician…?”
Standing in the archive room was none other than Dante.
Dante took a step toward me, then stopped when he noticed Kaiden beside me.
“I was wondering where you went. So this is where you were.”
His gaze moved from the ledger in my hands to the area around us.
My heart started pounding irregularly. Maybe it was because I’d been caught doing something wrong.
I forced a smile and awkwardly stood up.
“How did you know I was here?”
“I tracked your mana.”
“Oh… I didn’t know that was possible.”
Dante, seemingly interested in the archive room now, began flipping through the records nearby. His eyes sparkled with life as he read a manual on magical tool crafting.
“I’ve spent quite a long time at the Mage Tower, but this is my first time coming in here.”
“Really? That’s surprising.”
I thought he would come and go here like it was his own room, considering it contained generations of mage research.
“But I didn’t realize ordinary people were allowed inside.”
Though he had seemed absorbed in the documents, Dante suddenly turned his head. His sharp, glowing eyes landed on Kaiden and me again.
Kaiden inhaled loudly.
“You couldn’t have entered alone.”
Dante slowly approached, looking at the ledgers scattered around.
“Why did you come to a restricted archive full of confidential documents, with someone else’s help?”
He bent down and picked up a ledger near my feet.
His voice was always flat, but it had never sounded this cold before.
Anyone would misunderstand the situation—secretly flipping through documents in the Mage Tower without permission. And to be caught by someone who could become the next Tower Master, no less.
I needed to explain, but my lips felt glued shut.
“Looks like you were searching for something.”
My heart thumped loudly in place of my voice.
I nodded slightly and glanced to the side. Kaiden looked like he was on the verge of fainting, drenched in cold sweat, trembling from head to toe.
Seeing him like that made guilt crash over me in waves.
“Um, Magician.”
Dante followed my gaze to Kaiden, then looked back at me.
“Yes.”
It was strange. He always spoke briefly, yet this time his short answer sounded terrifying.
“Kaiden only came because I threatened him. I entered without permission. There was something I needed to find. I’m really sorry.”
Dante stared at me silently for a moment, then suddenly spoke.
“Did you find it?”
“…What?”
“What you were looking for.”
“Oh…”
Caught off guard, I glanced at Kaiden again. He looked just as confused.
“No, not yet…”
Dante lightly tapped the ledger into my hands.
“It will take a long time to go through all of these.”
Huh? That’s it?
“You’re not angry?”
“Should I be?”
“You were caught rummaging through confidential Mage Tower documents! This could be dangerous!”
Dante tilted his head, genuinely puzzled.
“Dangerous?”
He repeated the word a few times, then lifted his chin and looked down at us.
“A low-ranking mage who can’t even refine a magical tool on his own, and a fragile human who can’t properly control her own mana… dangerous?”
With a face that truly didn’t understand, he turned back to the archive.
I could only stare at his back.
“How can he be so—”
“So cool.”
“…Huh?”
I spun around to see Kaiden staring at Dante with the face of someone deeply in love.
How could he like that? He’d just been blatantly looked down on!
Maybe because I’d lived as someone with a limited lifespan and died without time to admire or love anyone, such raw emotions felt unfamiliar to me.
Kaiden held his breath, trying not to make a sound in case he offended Dante.
Leaving him behind, I walked up to Dante.
“Magician.”
His eyes shifted from the book to me.
“I have a request.”
He placed the book back on the shelf and listened.
“Can I take the ledgers I was reading back to the mansion? There’s someone I need to find, and I haven’t finished checking yet. If that’s not allowed, I’ll read them here…”
“That’s fine.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
He replied indifferently and returned to reading.
He truly didn’t think I posed any danger.
Just a fragile, dying person—what could I possibly do?
That fact annoyed me, but trusting me like this also made things easier.
I bowed my head in thanks and carefully packed the relevant pages into my bag.
Then Kaiden whispered,
“Just who are you?”
“What?”
I frowned at him, but he spoke quickly, as if letting something spill out.
“How can you talk to Sir Dante so easily? Aren’t you afraid of him?”
I turned to look at Dante.
That man, who looked like he could casually send someone to their death, reading records with shining eyes?
That same man who instantly lost his liveliness and turned away the moment our eyes met?
“Not really.”
Kaiden stared at me in disbelief.
What on earth had Dante done to make everyone so afraid of him?
To me, he was just a slightly odd person who loved magical research.
In the end, I postponed mana research until tomorrow and returned to the Duke of Haven’s estate.
After dinner, the sky had already turned a deep blue.
Sitting on my bed, I took out the ledgers from the Mage Tower and began reviewing them from the beginning when a thought crossed my mind.
“Am I doing something pointless?”
Sleeping medicine could’ve been purchased through someone else. Someone in his position could’ve easily traded under a false identity.
“No. No.”
But the Mage Tower and the royal family weren’t on good terms. It wouldn’t have been easily approved.
And he wouldn’t want others to know about his illness—so he must’ve bought it himself.
“Then how did he do it?”
To carry out my reckless plan, I needed the power of someone from the royal family.
I spread several pages across the bed and stared at them, arms crossed—then my mouth fell open.
“Wait. Don’t tell me…”
I hurriedly arranged the documents by date.
“Karia. Hewin. Icaris…”
Names of people who had purchased sleeping pills every two to three months.
At first glance, they had nothing in common.
But when rearranged—
They formed the name of the Crown Prince of the Winstalia Kingdom.
Cain Hayes Winstalia.
“I knew it.”
The moment I confirmed his name, I rushed to the bookshelf and pulled out Erpin’s books one by one.
“It should be around here…”
This damn body. Just pulling out a few books was already exhausting.
Gritting my teeth, I reached deep into the shelf and took out several old volumes. I chose the most worn one and opened it.
“Found it.”
This was a relic of Count Quineardel—the only item Erpin had taken with him before Joseph stole his family.
