Episode 107
The question was slow, but clear.
If he was going to ask so directly, as Callisteon, he welcomed it.
So, ignoring the pain laced in Ernst’s voice, he answered nonchalantly.
“That’s right.”
“…I see.”
Ernst nodded slowly.
The doll-like, pretty Crown Prince contorted his eyes as if squinting, forcing a smile.
“Hmm… It seems I have stayed here too long. I must return to the royal castle for a while.”
That smile looked as withered as autumn leaves.
Callisteon had always thought Ernst only wore smiles that charmed whoever he made eye contact with.
This was the first time he had seen such an expression on him.
“Please… talk to Ru. She’ll still be having a hard time… so that she doesn’t get startled.”
Finally, Callisteon asked bluntly.
“Are you coming back?”
Unexpectedly, Ernst did not hesitate with his answer.
“Of course.”
“Unlike you, Duke… I am Louise’s only friend.”
Callisteon’s eyebrow twitched.
In his view, Crown Prince Ernst was slightly different from the Tower Master.
After all, Ernst was Louise’s long-time friend.
However, the reason Callisteon didn’t pay much attention to Ernst wasn’t out of pity for his hypocrisy, clinging to the pretense of friendship because he wanted to remain by Louise’s side.
‘It was because I thought if he got hurt, Ru would worry more.’
Callisteon didn’t want to dismiss their long-standing friendship as entirely false, saying things like men and women can’t be friends.
But he disliked Louise feeling sorry for him and paying him attention.
Pity is also a form of affection.
If it was something that could be received, Callisteon wanted to somehow make even that his own.
For a moment, Ernst’s forced smile suddenly became natural.
“If Ru chose you, then you’ll have to endure me as well. I promised her eternal friendship.”
There was no time to question what all his actions up until now had been about.
Ernst turned around and quickly disappeared.
It almost seemed as if his goal was to not hear another word from Callisteon.
Watching his retreating back, Callisteon shook his head.
Meanwhile, Ren was thoroughly on edge all day due to the Tower’s communication orb, which kept ringing incessantly.
His Master’s condition was different from usual, and it seemed more likely to be bad news rather than good.
Any other time, he would have returned to the Tower immediately, but Louise had just given birth and was still complaining of pain.
And he was the only one who could help her.
Unable to do anything, Ren was pacing the corridor when he absently glanced out the window.
There, he saw the Flavi royal carriage leaving the hotel in great haste.
‘…Erni?’
He tilted his head in puzzlement.
While he himself couldn’t go to his ailing Master because he was worried about Louise, he wondered if it was possible for Ernst to suddenly return to the royal castle, leaving her and the newborn baby behind.
‘That’s impossible unless a war broke out.’
Under the Empire’s protection, the Flavi Kingdom was safe enough to be considered peaceful, so he couldn’t fathom the reason for the royal carriage’s movement.
Thinking Louise might be resting, Len went to the nursery first.
But the baby wasn’t there; only the wet nurse was present alone.
She looked up at Ren and spoke as if it were nothing significant.
“His Grace the Grand Duke just took the baby, sir.”
Ren immediately frowned.
“What? Unless it’s the mother or her maid, you can’t just hand the baby over to anyone who comes and goes here.”
“My apologies…”
The wet nurse bowed her head with a look of realization but cautiously added,
“But… since he said she is his daughter, I couldn’t possibly stop him…”
The Grand Duke said Prilis was his daughter?
Ren’s nerves were already frayed due to Louise’s pain and his Master’s critical condition. Hearing such an absurd claim in this state made him feel like fire was blazing in his eyes.
Len left the room without a word to the flustered wet nurse.
Stomping down the hall, he ran into Callisteon, who was coming out after showing the baby to Louise, accompanied by Phoebe, who was holding the infant.
“We need to talk.”
At Ren’s cold voice, Phoebe flinched and shuddered.
The arrogant Grand Duke gave a barely perceptible nod to Louise’s maid and walked ahead towards his room.
“You claimed to the wet nurse that Frilis is your daughter. Is that true?”
“Claimed?”
Hearing the brazen retort, it seemed the wet nurse’s words were true.
Though heat surged within him, the room where Louise and the baby were wasn’t too far away.
He mustn’t cause a disturbance.
Ren suppressed the flames in his chest and steadied his voice.
“…We’ve postponed this conversation for too long. What on earth is your basis for insisting Frilis is your daughter?”
“What strange things you hear. The basis for saying Frilis is my daughter is that it’s the truth.”
The Grand Duke answered shamelessly and instead asked,
“More importantly, have you ever spent a night with Louise? Even if you had, are you certain it’s the truth?”
“Certain?”
Ren let out an incredulous laugh.
“Do you have a death wish, Grand Duke? It’s just you and me here right now. Are you confident, even without your flashy order of knights?”
“Now, Tower Master.”
Callisteon called Ren in a voice devoid of any tension.
“I’ve heard the Magic Tower has many excellent mental-type magic potions. I wonder if you’ve ever personally experienced any of them…?”
“What are you suddenly talking about? What are you trying to say…?”
It was then.
One of the several magic tools Ren carried in his pocket, a red one, began to ring.
Noticing it too, Calisteon remarked,
“A summoning. What in the world is going on at the Tower today that it’s like this?”
Ren sighed.
The fact that they were summoning him now, despite exchanging communications several times throughout the day, could only mean his Master’s life was hanging by a thread.
Although he hadn’t managed to say any of what he intended to the Grand Duke, Ren gritted his teeth and shook his head.
“…My Master is in critical condition. We’ll finish this conversation when I return. Until then, make sure you don’t let your tongue wag recklessly to those around you.”
Callisthene ignored his words and said only what he wanted to say.
“Setting aside your arrogant and disrespectful attitude, I too am grateful to your Master. If you need any help, anytime…”
“I’ll take care of my Master myself. By the way, don’t tell me Erni also went back to the royal castle?”
When Callisteon nodded again, Ren bit back a curse and rummaged through his pocket, pulling something out.
“It has a protection spell on it. Give it to the baby to wear as soon as I leave.”
Then, without giving Callisteon a chance to respond, he added,
“And you, stay right here until I get back. Even if the northern border collapses, you stay here. If something like that happens, I’ll send mages to deal with it. Understood?”
“What unnecessary worries. Just go.”
Ren complied with the summoning, his face scrunched up in a scowl.
Unlike his usual movement via black flames, a red light exploded.
After the Tower Master disappeared, left alone, Callisteon let out a sigh.
“How long is that fool going to…”
They say genius and fool are separated by a fine line, and that certainly applied to that arrogant Tower Master.
Frilly had pink hair like Louise, pale skin like his own, and a high nose bridge.
He hadn’t thought the Tower Master would insist Frilis was his own child even after seeing her appearance.
Calisteon shrugged his shoulders once and left the room.
The necklace in his palm was very light.
He didn’t want to pass on a gift from another man who loved Louise to his own daughter, but it gave him some pause since the giver was the continent’s greatest mage.
‘Should I just consider it an expensive shield…?’
He could always pay for the necklace anytime.
In the end, Callisteon headed to the nursery, still clutching the necklace.
