Chapter 37
And shortly after.
Lerazier also finished his bath and came out of the bathroom.
He roughly wiped his black hair, still damp with water droplets, with a towel as he walked toward the bed.
“Hey, Calliope… what, are you asleep?”
Lerazier found her lying on the left edge of the bed, turned on her side, fast asleep.
“You acted like you were going to take up the whole bed by yourself.”
Yet she was curled up in a corner occupying less than a third of the bed.
Though she acted selfish in words, this was the usual Calliope Verdida, who always thought causing inconvenience to others was a big deal.
She was so peacefully asleep that Lerazier’s earlier caution felt pointless. This was the first time he had seen Calliope so defenseless.
“Geez, you’ve got your hair stuck all over your cheek.”
Unconsciously, Lerazier reached out to brush the hair away but quickly withdrew his hand, startled.
‘What the hell am I trying to do?’
He was shocked by his own unconscious action and swallowed hard.
‘Damn… am I just too tired?’
Concluding it was fatigue, he shifted his gaze toward the bed to rest.
‘Wait, she’s curled up…?’
Lerazier belatedly realized Calliope was wrapped up in the blanket.
She looked like a white caterpillar.
Only her head was poking out from the blanket, which was wrapped thickly and plumply around her body.
In other words, she had even pulled Lerazier’s share of the blanket for herself.
“Hah, seriously…”
Just as Lerazier reached out to grab the end of the blanket to unwrap it by rolling her to the right,
His hand touched something soft in the air, and with a bright ding! sound, a translucent barrier wrapped around Calliope appeared.
At the same moment, a message popped up before his eyes.
★ WARNING ★
Touching without permission will cause lightning strike. Exercise extreme caution. No compensation upon death.
Lerazier chuckled dryly as he read the message.
“Well, that’s just great…”
He decisively gave up on retrieving the blanket and flopped down on the opposite side of the bed.
As soon as he closed his eyes, a sudden flood of sleep overcame him.
Soon, the even breathing of the two who fell asleep filled the room.
The floating message blinked a few more times before scattering purple light and disappearing.
After running all day and spending another night, the carriage finally entered the Verdi territory the next day.
Before noon, Calliope and Lerazier headed straight for the village where the problem occurred.
The village was located at the very outskirts of the Verdi domain.
Despite being near the border, the village was quite large because most of the soldiers guarding the border lived there with their families.
“Welcome, Viscountess!”
The knights of the Verdi family, controlling the area around the well, politely greeted her.
“We received your message and have been waiting. And this is…?”
“Lerazier Dion Arenfrit, the 7th Prince.”
They were surprised but immediately showed proper respect.
“Greetings, Your Highness.”
Lerazier lightly nodded in response.
“And the villagers?”
“They’ve evacuated to temporary shelters in areas where the wells are still functional. But how long they can hold out is uncertain…”
The knight’s expression was filled with worry.
‘It’s quite a number of people. They might hold on briefly, but not for long.’
Calliope, finishing her thought, asked,
“How far has the investigation progressed?”
“There’s no precedent for wells drying up simultaneously without drought, so we haven’t found anything significant yet.”
“Could it be an enemy attack?”
“We’ve tested the well water for poison. None was found, and luckily, no villagers have died. But we’re taking precautions just in case.”
The wells were in a border area, so it was highly likely that the enemy was responsible.
Calliope let out a short sigh and looked up.
“Which well first showed the problem?”
“We’ll guide you there. This way, please.”
Calliope and Lerazier followed the knights.
Soon, they arrived at a large communal well located east of the village.
The well’s stone walls were so big that ten adults holding hands couldn’t fully encircle it.
A dome-shaped roof covered the well, preventing dust and insects from contaminating the water.
“From the outside, I see no problem at all.”
Lerazier muttered, tilting his head.
The exterior was intact and spotless. Calliope nodded.
“Let’s go inside first.”
The knights opened the iron door, revealing a deep well shaft.
As Calliope uttered an activation phrase, several glowing orbs floated in the air.
“The water really is gone.”
The space that should have been filled with clean water was empty, exposing the entire inner wall of the well.
The stone stairs spiral down along the wall.
“You’re going down?”
“Of course.”
Lerazier stepped onto the stairs first. Seeing Calliope’s slightly widened eyes, he answered awkwardly,
“I’m the one better suited to take the hit.”
“It’s just walking down the stairs.”
“Well, we’ll see how sturdy the stairs are. This well has probably been here for decades at least.”
Calliope agreed it was a fair point and shone more light ahead of Lerazier.
After a while, they reached the deepest part of the well.
A small amount of water remained, just below the step where they stopped, barely enough to lap at the edges.
“Not even knee-deep.”
The water level was so low that the well’s bottom was clearly visible.
Lerazier bent down and scooped some water with his palm, bringing it to his mouth.
Calliope gasped in alarm.
“Did you forget the villagers who have been sick after drinking this water? What if it contains some unknown poison!”
But the water had already entered Lerazier’s mouth.
He squinted his eyes, rolled the water around his tongue a few times, then spat it out onto the stairs.
“Am I crazy? Do you think I’d drink that without knowing what it is!”
Calliope patted his back angrily.
But he calmly got up and answered,
“It’s not poison.”
“What? How do you know?”
Calliope stopped mid-motion, about to give him another smack on the back, and asked sharply.
Lerazier shrugged casually.
“Royal family members develop immunity to poisons from a young age. It’s not an exaggeration to say I’ve tasted almost every poison.”
“They feed you poison from childhood?”
Calliope’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.
“Yes. There was a time when this practice was weakened a bit, but certainly not now.”
“I don’t understand…”
Calliope was momentarily stunned but quickly gathered her wits.
“I’ll never understand the thoughts of the noble royal family.”
“Same here.”
Calliope gave Lerazier a look like ‘What are you talking about?’
“Just because they’re royal doesn’t mean I understand everything they do. Plus, there are ranks even within the royal family.”
Lerazier’s face darkened briefly as he said the last part, but then he returned to his usual expression.
“Anyway, it’s definitely not poison. See, the water looks perfectly fine.”
Calliope frowned deeply.
‘How can someone be this reckless and irresponsible?’
“You just insulted me, didn’t you?”
“No, no. How could a mere noble insult the exalted prince?”
Lerazier snorted as if that was ridiculous.
“I can tell how bad the insult was just by looking at your expression.”
“Geez.”
Calliope pouted, clearly caught.
“Well, aside from poison, on the contrary… wait a minute.”
