Episode 77
“Just hearing those words makes me feel as if my wish has already been granted.”
From behind the mask, Calisteon’s long, narrow eyes curved into slender crescents.
His blue pupils sparkled with a tender light.
It was impossible to mistake the sincerity held within them.
“Lou, are you calling it a day already?”
Following Ernst’s booming voice, a shower of candies came pouring down onto my head.
Looking up in shock, I saw it wasn’t Ernst’s doing but Phoebe’s.
“Phoebe, you…!”
I quickly climbed down from the table and scooped up a handful of candies.
“Eek, Your Highness! I’m sorry…!”
Under the yellow evening lights, white sugar powder scattered like mist.
I threw candies relentlessly until both my hands were completely covered in white.
All while desperately ignoring the gaze burning into my back, sticky enough to melt me.
“Well then, get some rest.”
Calisteon bid Louise goodbye, watching the maids drawing her bath.
Sugar powder sat white upon her pretty, feather-like pink lashes, making her look exactly like a doll.
“You get some rest too, Cal.”
As if tired, she blinked drowsily and stepped into the bathtub, dress and all.
She showed no interest in Calisteon, who spun around in surprise, her face innocently blank.
“Haah….”
He slowly stepped out into the corridor.
With great reluctance, he finally pulled out the communication orb that had been vibrating noisily from his pocket since earlier.
‘Damn wizard.’
If it weren’t for Louise, if it weren’t for those damn prophecies or precognitive dreams, he would never have associated with a reckless wizard in his entire life.
But he had followed his words and come this far, and now Louise was within arm’s reach.
‘I can’t very well ditch him now.’
Thinking this, he irritably activated the communication orb.
The ill-mannered mage began with a sigh.
—Hey, I told you to pick up when I contact you.
Calisteon offered a half-hearted excuse.
“I was busy. It’s the festival.”
—Get a grip, Duke. Is now the time for you to be playing around?
Just as he was about to flare up at the audacity of such rudeness, the wizard’s voice continued.
—The Crown Prince has been deposed.
“…Already?”
From the small, glowing orb, the wizard’s low voice spilled out.
—He’s been publicly humiliated, for all intents and purposes. The Empress wouldn’t just stand for it. Damn it! I can’t leave my post right now…
His voice was interrupted by the sound of commotion for a moment, then Ren continued rapidly in an even quieter voice.
—I’ll immediately select a few defensive mages I can deploy privately. I’m entrusting Edessa to you.
“Ren.”
He called his name belatedly, but the communication orb had already deactivated.
—Crunch.
The now-useless orb shattered in Calisteon’s hand.
He rummaged in his pocket, pulled out a red summoning orb, and a cloud of white sugar powder fell out with a rustle.
Calisteon brushed off the powder with a baffled expression and activated the summoning orb.
Shortly after, three sturdy men draped in black cloaks appeared in the corridor, kneeling on one knee.
“We greet Your Grace the Grand Duke.”
Calisteon merely looked down at his subordinates without saying a word until one of them spoke up to explain.
“The Captain remained behind to guard the main estate.”
Calisteon finally nodded.
Then, in a weighty voice, he solemnly commanded.
“From this moment on, guard this hotel as you would the Babenberg main estate.”
No one asked for a reason.
The men, leaders among the Babenberg Knight Order—known as the Heart of the North—bowed their heads in unison.
“We obey.”
The next day, Phoebe sighed as she looked down out the window.
“Ugh, I guess we should avoid walks outside until it rains.”
“Why?”
While the capital must be in the dead of winter, Edessa here was merely cool.
When I asked, puzzled, Phoebe frowned and said.
“It’s the sugar powder all over the streets. They won’t disappear easily, even if they try to clean it. It won’t get clean until a heavy rain washes it away.”
Then, without giving me a chance to respond, she added.
“Oh, because the south is warm, so even in winter, bugs…”
“Ah, I get it!”
Having encountered a certain lifeform that exists here precisely because it’s warm, defying the world’s logic, I quickly cut Phoebe off, my face pale.
Phoebe giggled and asked.
“What did you call that bug last time, Your Highness? Something like, Professor? Elder?”
“…Mr. Roach.”
Even after experiencing death and possession, I still hated them, yet Phoebe looked completely unbothered.
“Our Your Highness is truly so considerate. Even bestowing an honorific to a mere insect…”
It wasn’t with good intentions; it was because I found the very word too disgusting to utter…
Just the thought made me lose my appetite, and I moved away from the window.
But who was Phoebe?
“Shall I bring you some tangerines?”
She could read my moods like the back of her hand, so she knew just the right question to ask.
My appetite returned as if by magic.
“Yes!”
After Phoebe left the room, chuckling, I opened my diary and placed my finger on the embossed pattern.
Ever since the diary entries started appearing erratically, several days at a time, it was overwhelming just trying to keep up with each day. The latest entry contained rather serious content.
Exam period is approaching again, so I’m spending a lot of time in the library.
But today, a messenger actually appeared at the library to deliver urgent news to Callisteon senior.
He shot to his feet and looked at me once, but in the end, he left without a word, turning and walking out of the library.
No, thinking back now, I can’t even be sure if he really was looking at me or not.
Checking the date, it seemed to be around early summer.
‘Could it be that the previous Grand Duke passed away around this time?’
Curious, I turned the page.
I placed my finger on the pattern again, and fortunately, the very next diary entry followed.
The academy was in an uproar all day with rumors about Babenberg.
The Babenberg Grand Duke is critically ill… If he dies just like that, Callisteon senior might become the Grand Duke…
If I had known, I would have said some words of comfort to him yesterday.
If senior doesn’t return to the academy because he has to assume the title of Grand Duke, I’ll never get the chance to offer a single word of comfort…
Although I couldn’t fully accept it due to my own twisted feelings, the truth is, senior was kind to me from the very beginning.
I chuckled softly, thinking of the countless letters that later arrived from Babenberg and Callisteon’s changing attitude.
‘Maybe the one who regretted it was Louise?’
Not a ‘regret-ful’ but a ‘regret-tress’, perhaps.
Knock, knock. Hearing the sound, I hurriedly closed the diary.
Phoebe entered, beaming, with tangerines in her arms.
“Will five be enough, Your Highness?”
But then, I suddenly wondered.
‘What is Callisteon doing?’
Whenever we stayed in Edessa, he always came to find me first thing in the morning.
Maybe he really is busy because of the New Year, as Ernst said?
‘I hope he doesn’t overdo it.’
Maybe pretending to be fine, acting like it’s nothing, is the same for him now as it was back then.
He said the ice festival lasts about half a month…
“Phoebe, could you call Ms. Zita for me?”
Phoebe nodded, peeling the tangerine stems and preparing them.
“Yes, I’ll fetch her right away.”
That same night, at the Imperial Star Palace.
Taking advantage of the darkness that had fallen on all sides, large men gathered quietly, like shadows.
Aide-de-camp Jesus spoke first.
“Your Highness and the Lord of the Magic Tower’s predictions were correct. Some of the Damiani family’s private soldiers have begun to move.”
Ren nodded.
“It should be fine. I’ve sent defensive mages, and a significant number of the Babenberg Knights are en route to Edessa.”
“The Grand Duke…”
Rurik sighed anxiously, his chapped lips barely forming the question.
“The Grand Duke… can he be trusted?”
His already red eyes were stained an even more vivid, blood-like hue from worry.
Ren smiled faintly, like a wisp of wind.
“Frankly, he and I aren’t exactly compatible…”
However, the next moment, he faced the Crown Prince directly and nodded seriously.
“Yes. If your question is whether we can entrust Louise’s safety to him, then my answer is ‘Yes’.”
