Chapter 60
“Count Simor is an extraordinary mage. Right now there’s a very powerful protective spell on this room. Am I right, Count?”
I looked at Count Simor.
She shook her head and spoke.
“It seems the duke’s eye cannot be fooled. That child was right. There is a magic on this room right now. You can rest easy.”
I made a dazed face.
A mage.
She was more impressive than I’d thought.
Becoming a mage requires a talent given by the gods. No matter how much money you invest, without the talent you can never become a mage. Mages are so rare—perhaps one is born in a year, if that—so in the Empire even a commoner who shows aptitude for magic is immediately granted a title and summoned to the palace. The state supports them to that degree because mages are so scarce.
At that moment Count Simor seemed extremely reliable.
I nodded toward the duke.
“Then go. I’ll be waiting. And… be careful,” I said.
I knew how strong Duke Kreiman was, and apart from that I worried for him.
The duke looked at me for a moment, then smiled faintly and answered.
“All right. I won’t get hurt.”
Leaving those words behind, Duke Kreiman left the room.
I stared at the closed door, clenched my fist, and turned back to the Count.
Having left the room, Kreiman headed for the ballroom where the explosion had come from.
“Kyaaa!”
“P-please help!”
“My leg—my leg…!”
The ballroom had already collapsed, and people trapped under the rubble were screaming. A few of the guards were trying to manage the situation.
‘Strange.’
Kreiman felt a sense of unease.
For an attack of this scale there was no suspicious presence anywhere—nothing to indicate who had done it. It was as if the sole purpose had been to bring down the building.
‘What would one gain from destroying the building?’
The duke surveyed the scene.
There were oddly few guards. Those present were busy dealing with the aftermath and couldn’t pay attention to anything else.
‘As if they wanted to draw attention.’
A sudden wave of anxiety washed over him and he turned his head toward the main residence where Siella and Count Simor were.
“I never would have guessed you were a mage.”
I sat again in front of the Count and spoke. She smiled gently.
“You can’t tell just by looking. I’ll tell only Miss Feyrunt. In fact, even my current appearance is due to magic.”
Startled, I asked, “Is that possible without potions?”
“It’s high-level magic, so it’s not easy, but it is possible. As long as the magical energy remains, the spell won’t break.”
“Wow, that’s amazing.”
“Hoho. By the way, Miss Feyrunt, what is your relationship with Dietrich?”
I was flustered by the sudden question and quickly waved my hand.
“Relationship? No. His Grace is simply a patron of the orphanage I run. He’s someone I’m grateful to.”
Thinking of him brought an involuntary smile to my face.
She watched me with that soft smile and said, “That’s right. He’s a good person. And one with many wounds, too.”
Her expression turned bittersweet for a moment.
“I’m relieved that someone as good as Miss Feyrunt is by his side. I must tell Eivan later—he needn’t worry about Dietrich.”
After saying that she fell silent for a moment. Her light brown eyes clouded.
I felt I knew what was on her mind.
“…You must have been very close,” I said.
Count Simor answered with a distant look.
“We were close. We stuck together since the academy. People used to say, ‘Those three will never marry because they’re always together.’ Ah—besides Eivan and me, there was one more who used to hang around with us. Her name was Seredia—a rather spirited girl.”
She chuckled, but slowly the smile faded from her face.
“We thought the same—that we’d never marry and would be the three of us forever. But before we knew it each had gone to find their own life. Eivan married Duke Kreiman as soon as he came of age. Seredia became betrothed to the then–Crown Prince, the former Emperor. I, too, was married off by arrangement right after graduating from the academy.”
Count Simor bowed her head further.
“The Crown Prince at the time was still underage, so Seredia had to wait a long time before the marriage could happen. Dietrich was only about ten then, so you can imagine. Seredia was displeased about marrying someone so much younger, but it couldn’t be helped for the sake of her family’s prosperity.”
The countess lowered her gaze and continued.
“To be by the Empress’s side when she became empress and comfort her, I left my estate with my husband’s help and entered the court as her lady-in-waiting. But not long after, because of my husband’s health issues, I had to return to my estate… I shouldn’t have. I should have stayed by her side until the end.”
Her last words were close to a self-mocking mutter.
“By the way, Dietrich is late,” she added.
“…Then do you by any chance know about ‘Prit’?”
At my words Count Simor’s eyes widened as if they would pop. She slowly looked at me.
Prit—the name of a region where a hidden prince had been raised.
Jack grew up in that region.
If she knew about Jack, she would know the meaning of ‘Prit’. If she didn’t know ‘Prit’, I intended to keep quiet about Jack.
“How does Miss Feyrunt know that…?” she breathed.
‘I knew she knew.’
A sigh of relief escaped me.
If she knew about Jack, I meant to ask about him properly.
But her next reaction stopped me from doing so.
“How does Miss Feyrunt know of Prit? Do you—do you know something?” she asked desperately, grabbing my hand.
Flustered, I thought for a moment and then nodded.
“He’s a child in my orphanage.”
“Oh, my—”
She began to cry softly at my answer.
“He’s alive, he’s alive. That child is alive…”
Murmuring, she fired off a string of urgent questions.
“How did he grow up? Is he healthy? What’s his name, what’s his name? You said his appearance was changed by magic—how did you recognize that he was Seredia’s child?”
Having confirmed that Count Simor even knew of the magic on Jack, I answered each question in detail.
“His name is Jack Prit. He’s very clever and looks after his younger siblings as the eldest. He’s healthy, so you don’t need to worry about his body. And the reason I knew he was the former Empress’s child was because Jack told me himself.”
“Jack Prit… I see. Has Seredia’s spell been broken? Whose features does he resemble more?”
“That I can’t say. Jack is still hiding his true appearance with magic.”
“Ah, right. I must have gotten too excited. It’s probably safer that the spell remains. Thank goodness.”
She nodded as if satisfied, then closed her eyes as if imagining the Jack I’d described. Watching her, I spoke cautiously.
“If you’d like to see Jack, would you come with me?”
When I asked, she opened her eyes and, for some reason, shook her head with a sad expression.
“I’d like to, but I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m dying soon.”
“…What?”
Her unexpected words left me unable to hide my shock. She smiled gently at me in that state.
“Right now I have an incurable illness and I’m dying. It won’t be long. The reason I held this masquerade ball was to see Dietrich once more before I die. I didn’t expect to hear news about Seredia’s child…”
“So that’s why there are so few people in the mansion…”
“Yes. I sent everyone away except the minimum staff. I want to meet death quietly.”
As she spoke she lifted her head briefly. Her face stiffened for an instant, then she gave me a smiling expression and said,
“Miss Feyrunt, will you do me a favor?”
“What is it?”
“Give this to that child, Jack Prit.”
She took off the pendant she’d been wearing and handed it to me. When I opened it, there was a portrait of a woman—a beautiful woman with silver hair and purple eyes.
At a glance I realized who she was.
This woman was Seredia—the mother of Jack and the former Empress.
“That pendant is Seredia’s keepsake. Perhaps she expected a rebellion would occur, because she sent it to me before she died, asking me to take it and find her child. Even though she couldn’t find him.”
“I see…”
I looked at the woman in the pendant with a complicated expression. She smiled as if unaware of my future.
I put the pendant on, nodded with determination, and said, “Yes, I will certainly give it to him.”
“And this, Miss Feyrunt, I want you to keep.”
“Me?”
Next she handed me a ring set with a purple gem.
‘No—this is…’
On closer inspection it was not an ordinary jewel. It was a mana stone.
“It’s the Simor family signet. There is currently no heir to the Simor house, so with this you could inherit the countship.”
“…! Why would you give something so precious to me?”
“I was originally going to give it to Duke Kreiman, but it seemed better that Miss Feyrunt hold it. Please use it to protect that child.”
“But…”
“Take it. It will surely help.”
…Reluctantly moved by her gentle insistence, I slid the ring onto my finger. At that moment I felt a strange energy run through me.
When Count Simor saw the ring on my hand her expression slowly hardened and she said,
“Dietrich seems to be lost on the road, so would you, Miss Feyrunt, go and bring him back?”
