Episode 48
It was understandable for me, known as the younger sister Rurick held in special affection.
“And then, once the award ceremony is over, I should request to go for convalescence?”
A charming smile graced Ren’s thin lips.
He stroked my hair as if praising a child who had guessed the correct answer.
“Correct. If we’re going to claim it’s pneumonia then, Phoebe needs to start showing signs of being sick soon too.”
I nodded in agreement.
Ren asked,
“Lu, what will you do if His Highness insists on using ‘Velich’ even after receiving the new sword?”
“Then…”
There was no way to contact Helena first, and staying in the Imperial Palace would only make things more difficult.
I had to make a decision now.
“Whatever it takes… even if I have to resort to giving Brother a sleeping pill.”
Len sighed before I had even finished speaking.
“You plan to steal the demon sword away. You can’t go anywhere as long as it remains by your brother’s side.”
He replied gloomily.
“I will look for an opportunity to suggest to His Majesty the Emperor that the demon sword be retrieved.”
Then he pulled several small items from his pocket.
Some looked like cosmetics or medicines, while others were tools whose purpose was hard to discern.
“What are all these?”
“I looked into things needed during pregnancy and made a few.”
Looking closely, there was an object shaped like the cup the doctor used when I heard the baby’s heartbeat.
I beamed and picked that one up first.
“Can I hear the heartbeat with this too?”
Ren’s purple eyes shone with pride.
He explained with satisfaction.
“Of course. I designed it so your voice is transmitted to the baby too.”
“That’s wonderful!”
“Shall we test it?”
Len placed one connected cup on my stomach and held the other to my ear.
—Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.
The baby’s heart was still beating rapidly.
Whenever I couldn’t believe I had suddenly fallen into the clumsy world of the book I wrote, the one being that anchored me to this world was the baby inside me.
“Try talking to it.”
I had spoken to it many times in my mind.
But actually speaking to the baby with someone else listening made me nervous.
I spoke shyly into the cup.
“Hello, baby.”
Then I added very softly.
“It’s Mommy…”
Because you are inside me, because your heart is beating so healthily like this…
‘I am truly your mother.’
No matter who your father is, I am the real one.
My heart swelled.
Ren watched me quietly.
The sunlight streaming through the window cast a shadow on one side of his cheek.
Languid amethyst eyes held a deep, long-standing affection, and a smile he couldn’t possibly hide lingered at the corner of his mouth.
We stayed like that for a moment.
—Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.
Only the tiny, rapid sound of the baby’s heartbeat was with us.
Finally, Ren picked up a glass bottle.
“This is an oil to apply once your belly starts showing. They say your skin gets damaged otherwise, right?”
I looked at the bottle containing a yellowish liquid, and he continued his explanation.
“I enhanced a product used by nobles to make it. Our pharmacists ensured it’s safe.”
“Thank you, Ren.”
After that, Len introduced various other items—an ointment for itchiness, a specially formulated mild soap, and so on.
Then he suddenly said,
“I’m doing my best, Lu.”
Ren then added in a low voice,
“So I won’t tolerate anyone who hurts you. Even if they are your family.”
Did his words about knowing the demon sword include its rampages?
I swallowed hard with a tense throat.
“Brother isn’t like that with me.”
Please, let me be right about this.
That same day, Geoffroy Coast.
“How are you feeling, Zarya?”
At Helena’s worried question, Zarya shook her head.
The young monastic’s eyes, unable to swallow food properly and letting it drip down her chin, shook with fear.
Helena held Zarya’s hand tightly and comforted her.
“It’s alright, don’t worry. The wizard said… he would definitely return. Once you take the medicine, you’ll be fine again…”
After the unexpected accident of the tent collapsing and Zarya injuring her neck, they had managed to luckily secure the Wizard help by using the information about the Royals as leverage.
But the old man, who said he would go to the Magic Tower to get the cure, had not returned even after ten days.
‘What do I do, the medicine is running out.’
Helena didn’t even know the old man’s name.
Yet, she firmly believed he would return with the medicine and sent the other pilgrims on ahead.
“Once I get the medicine, I’ll follow diligently. We can meet at the Goldie Holy Site.”
Helena had said that, unable to make the pilgrimage group wait indefinitely.
‘He said he could return in three or four days…’
The old man could have just vanished into the desert like a mirage; a long distance was likely no great issue for him.
The real problem was that the old man had absolutely no reason to feel obligated to help them.
Helena recalled his attitude, questioning her intently about the Royals.
“You said you can see magical power, Sister? Did you see nothing at all around His Highness the Prince?”
Helena found it strange that he had asked that.
‘Did the Magician also see something unusual about His Highness the Prince?’
Helena had dreamed the night she encountered the Second Prince at the waterfall, a dream of him covered in a ferocious magical power, imprisoned in the monastery.
In the dream, the Second Prince ultimately broke out of the monastery, usurped the throne, and brought a storm of blood to the Empire.
Along with that dream, it was true that she had gained some ability that was hard to clearly define.
‘But surely that dream wasn’t truly a prophetic one, was it?’
Brother Melotz had said it could be a prophetic dream, but told her never to speak of its content for the time being.
‘He said if it turned out not to be prophetic, I could be charged with disrespecting the Royal Family.’
So Helena concealed the dream’s content and only shared what she had directly observed of the Second Prince in reality.
“His Highness was a little different from ordinary people… but it was to an ordinary degree. He definitely did not possess magical power like you, Wizard, or the Tower Lord. I heard he is a Sword Master; perhaps that’s why his energy was different?”
Then she added the decisive reason why she had been able to dismiss the dream and leave.
“And even that seemed to settle down when he was with Her Highness the Princess; he seemed almost like a normal person. That’s why I thought their bond was so deep.”
When she said that, the old man’s eyes seemed to redden slightly.
‘Could he be a high-ranking mage deeply connected to the Royal Family?’
Having only met two wizard in her life—the Tower Lord and this old man—it was impossible to gauge.
The old man bowed his head, his fingertips trembling slightly.
“Thank you for the news. This old man also once belonged to the Tower and received stipends from the Imperial Family. I saw Their Highness when they were young, so I grew curious all of a sudden.”
It was then that he finally made the promise Helena wanted.
“I still have a few acquaintances left from whom I can try to obtain medicine. It’s quite a distance, and it’s been a long time since I visited, so it will take about three or four days.”
During the process of deciding where to meet again, it was Helena who suggested staying at the Geoffroy Coast.
She didn’t trust herself to move Zarya, who could fall ill at any moment, to another location on schedule.
Zarya said with a gloomy face,
“Helena, you should have gone with the group. Young monastics like us don’t get chances for pilgrimage often…”
“Don’t say that.”
Just as Helena was comforting Zarya, black flames erupted over the sands where the mage had disappeared, and someone appeared.
“…You’re here!”
Helena rushed out of the tent, leaving Zarya inside.
Even though he was just an old man she had met only twice in her life, she couldn’t help feeling this overjoyed.
