Chapter 207
Crunch!
[That curse was disgustingly bad. How can anyone cast such a filthy curse? Even curses have standards!]
Watching Eliette continuously chew on fruit candies as if her taste buds had been offended, Ceres clicked his tongue lightly.
That day, Ceres, who had gone to rescue Jairo, was honestly a bit bewildered by the unexpected situation he faced.
He never thought he would encounter the Black Forest there.
He had wondered how a small Black Forest could form, and though he had guessed, he never imagined it could be artificially created.
It was an unexpected gain. And the fact that the other party was the captain of the Royal Guard knights?
‘The world is really going mad.’
It hadn’t been like this three hundred years ago.
There were knights who would beat their lord, but now there were even knights who kidnap and kill children.
Ceres let out a bewildered laugh.
[That guy… the curse is active. If triggered, the body melts instantly and dies.]
The moment Jairo was captured, Eliette’s words, digging into Ceres’ ears, prompted him to immediately deal with the curse. He couldn’t afford to lose an important witness.
‘There’s a lot I need to find out.’
Why someone tried to kidnap and kill children, how the Black Forest could be created, who was giving the orders, and so on.
Though he had many questions, Ceres first contacted Crown Prince Aserian.
‘This is too big for me to handle alone.’
It wasn’t just one or two children—dozens had been taken. There was a very high possibility that all recently missing children were connected to this incident.
Even the mysterious deaths that had occurred—the strange corpses attacked by monsters, caused by the Black Forest—were likely related. It wasn’t something he could solve on his own.
‘Above all, it’s the captain of the Royal Guard.’
If it became known that someone responsible for the safety of the royal family was the culprit, the chaos would be immense.
In the worst-case scenario, rumors could spread that the royal family was involved in all of this. After all, it was the captain of the Royal Guard.
Ceres quietly called Crown Prince Aserian and handed Jairo over to him.
‘He probably won’t cooperate easily.’
He had once tried to take his own life. He wouldn’t speak willingly.
‘Well, I’ll trust him once.’
‘…Me? Really?’
‘I’m not someone who betrays trust. If you trust me, I’ll bring back very good results.’
‘…Y-yes. That’s very reassuring.’
Those were Crown Prince Aserian’s words as he took Jairo away. He asked him to trust him—but the faith… was a bit lacking.
“Can you find the one who cast the curse?”
[No.]
“…Why do you say it so confidently when you can’t?”
[Do you think I’m some kind of omnipotent god? How could I find someone just by looking at a curse?]
…He knows his limits very well.
[Still, if I meet them, I’ll recognize them instantly.]
“Them?”
[The one who cast the curse. If I face them directly, I’ll know immediately.]
Even if he couldn’t tell now, if he happened to meet them, he’d recognize them right away.
It wasn’t very efficient, but it was better than not being able to find them at all.
[But why haven’t those guys shown up yet?]
“Those guys?”
[Kainel and Cheyan, I mean.]
Eliette, who had by now turned into a cat, was looking for the two of them.
“Why are you waiting for them?”
[They’re handsome, aren’t they? They used to come every day, so why not these days?]
“……”
…Always jumping to the same conclusion. Tsk. Ceres clicked his tongue and stood up.
“They won’t be coming for a while.”
[Why?]
She looked at the few teleportation spellbooks laid out on the desk in the room.
“They’re being punished.”
Ding.
“Welcome.”
Cheyan opened the cafe door and entered, going straight to a table and slamming it hard.
Clang!
“This is all your fault!”
“What did I do?”
Kainel, who was sitting there, didn’t even look at Cheyan and just sipped the tea he had ordered in advance.
“If Ceres caught you, you’d get punished alone!”
Why drag me into this?!
About a month ago, Cheyan had accidentally learned that Yulia would go to meet Kainel after finishing her academy lessons.
‘She plays with that ice guy every day?’
‘Yes! Ah… but this is a secret from my sister…’
‘…….’
‘He gives snacks and plays so much with me!’
‘Damn it… ha, ha… eating too many snacks will rot your teeth.’
‘I brush really well.’
‘Yes. Our Yulia brushes well.’
Learning this through a conversation with the child, Cheyan immediately made a bunch of teleportation spellbooks for Yulia that connected directly to his office in the Mage Tower.
‘Snacks always ready! I’ll even show you magic!’
‘Wow!’
‘Friends are welcome too!’
‘Woooo!’
And Yulia came to the Mage Tower to play about half the week.
‘Until that human tattled.’
Because of Yulia’s mistake, Ceres found out that she had been using the teleportation spellbooks to go meet Kainel after lessons.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Playing with your sister?’
‘She should go home after class. Why your house?’
‘Because I like playing with me?’
‘So… that means what you did now is okay? And you didn’t tell me?’
‘No. It was wrong.’
‘You’ve played enough, so now work hard. No coming here for a month.’
That part was fine. Even watching the frozen human getting scolded by Ceres.
‘You heard? One month.’
‘……! W-why are you telling me that!’
Watching quietly from the side and sipping his tea, Cheyan was startled when Kainel jumped on him.
‘Why? Because you’re an accomplice too.’
‘What did I do!’
‘You gave Yulia a teleportation spellbook too. So she could come play at the Mage Tower.’
‘…Cheyan.’
‘…I was wrong.’
“Cheeky human.”
He wouldn’t take the punishment alone!
In the end, he was dragged in and got the same entry ban—one whole month.
“From here to here, give it all!”
“All… all of it?”
“Yes! And lots of honey in the tea.”
“Ah… okay!”
Cheyan ordered all the sweet desserts on the menu from the clerk beside him and finally sat down.
“…You’re going to eat all that?”
“Sweet things are the best when stressed.”
“Anyone would think you never eat sweets otherwise.”
“I guess I’m stressed all the time, even normally.”
Cheyan let out a long sigh and collapsed onto the table.
“Haah… I want to see Ceres.”
He hadn’t seen him for over a week…
“What are you going to do now? Just sit here for a month?”
“…….”
“I told you to research how to calm Ceres’ anger.”
Today, the two had gathered to figure out how to appease Ceres. Choosing a dessert cafe as the location was entirely Cheyan’s idea.
“Haah.”
Cheyan straightened up with a long sigh and began thinking seriously.
“Should I get a gift? What does Ceres like?”
Ordinary flowers or jewels would probably just get scolded. Where would he even use something like that?
Swish.
“……?”
Kainel handed Cheyan something. A stack of blank paper.
“Write.”
“Write what all of a sudden?”
“A reflection letter.”
“…Huh?”
A re…flection letter? The reflection letter I know? Cheyan looked at Kainel in disbelief.
Scritch scratch.
Under Cheyan’s gaze, Kainel had already taken out a pen and began writing diligently on the paper.
‘I’m sorry, Ceres. I won’t use magic when fighting Kai anymore!’
‘Me too. If I’m hitting ten times, I’ll hit only five.’
‘You make this mess and say that? What about all the broken furniture?’
‘Waaah! But don’t tell me I can’t come home for a week… Hey, Kai, what are you doing?’
Scritch scratch.
“Reflection letter.”
“Ah……”
“You write yours quickly too.”
“Okay!”
Thus, the two sat facing each other and wrote over a hundred reflection letters with Artia.
‘Finally, Grace reluctantly lifted the entry ban.’
Scritch scratch.
Swish.
Before long, Kainel had skillfully completed one reflection letter and immediately picked up a new sheet to start writing another.
“……”
