~Chapter 86~
The next day, after Kyle fully recovered, I finally heard the whole story.
Because many staff members had been sent to the exchange event, the Edelheim royal palace felt quieter than usual.
A servant guided me to the inner palace reception room, where Reyester welcomed me.
“Come in!”
Inside the room, Aska and Felix were already there. As usual, Aska had no expression, while Felix looked stiff and tense.
“Magician?”
Felix frowned when he saw me.
“You’re coming too?”
“Of course. This is my friend’s problem.”
“Damn it…”
Felix covered his face with both hands, looking miserable. Just then, the final guest—and the main person of today’s meeting—arrived.
“Um, hello.”
A gentle-looking man with black hair stepped inside. It was Kyle Ellenstier.
“It’s been so long, Relshiz. Have you been well?”
“I’ve… just been surviving.”
Too many things had happened to me lately for me to simply say “I’ve been well.”
My connection with Kyle went like this:
Back when I graduated from the academy, I was devastated after Aska stole the top position from me. I felt like running away.
‘So I disappeared.’
Before the ink even dried on my diploma, I bought a ticket to the Southern Continent and erased all traces of myself so no one could find me.
Looking back now, I have no idea what kind of confidence I thought I had.
I wandered all over the Southern Continent. I never worried about travel money—magicians can earn enough to eat anywhere.
But there was one time I got into real trouble—when I arrived in Wincans.
‘My entry permit got stolen at the worst moment.’
I was mistaken for an illegal immigrant and nearly thrown into prison, but right before getting locked up, Kyle helped me.
“If I vouch for her identity, will that solve the issue?”
Thanks to him, I avoided becoming a prisoner, and in return, since he was interested in magic, I taught him a little.
I didn’t stay long in Wincans, so I couldn’t teach him much, but it was enough time for us to become friends.
Strangely, after living so long in Edelheim without making a single friend, I ended up making one in a foreign country.
“Welcome, Viscount Ellenstier.”
Reyester greeted him warmly.
“This way, please.”
“Oh, yes…”
Kyle walked inward awkwardly, overwhelmed by being escorted by the Crown Prince.
So, to explain what this meeting is—
It was basically a giant “confession booth.”
‘At first, I thought Aska found Kyle somewhere and brought him back.’
But later I learned the truth was the complete opposite.
The Edelheim Investigation Chief and the Master of the Dawn Tower had kidnapped a foreign noble guest, and then used magic to interrogate him.
A diplomatic disaster and a crime attempt.
So now, using my old friendship with Kyle, I had to beg for mercy on their behalf.
It was unfair on every level.
‘All I did was watch the exchange event—why does this keep happening to me?!’
As Kyle sat down, Felix’s expression grew more and more threatening. He looked scary because he refused to say a word.
“Investigator, don’t you have something to say first?”
Reyester spoke up. Felix shut his eyes tightly.
“…Hhh…”
His ears turned bright red, and then Felix suddenly bowed to Kyle.
“I sincerely… apologize for my behavior yesterday!”
Pfft. I tried not to laugh, but it was impossible. Felix instantly jumped up, yelling at me.
“D-Don’t laugh! I’m being serious!!”
“I didn’t laugh.”
“You DID laugh! You’re STILL laughing!”
But honestly—how could I NOT laugh? Felix Guffero was trying to be polite like a normal person.
A wild dog pretending to be civilized. Reyester must have ordered him to apologize.
“I also apologize. We misunderstood the situation.”
“A-ah, not at all!”
Reyester bowed politely. Kyle looked like he might cry from nervousness. A prince apologizing must be overwhelming.
“I’m sorry as well.”
Aska gave the final apology. Kyle now looked like he didn’t know where to put himself.
“No, it’s fine! It was an honor to meet the Master of the Dawn Tower! Haha…”
Thankfully, Kyle was a kind-hearted fool.
“So, the three of you mistook him for a criminal and captured him?”
“Yes.”
Personally, I still felt something was off, but for now, I accepted it.
Reyester, noticing Kyle’s gentle nature, quickly offered him a paper.
“We want to compensate for our rude behavior. Please review this.”
“Ah, no, that’s alright. You really don’t need to do all this.”
Kyle glanced at me awkwardly.
“…I also know the reason why.”
I blinked and asked,
“What reason?”
“Oh, well…”
“You should look through it,” Reyester cut him off quickly, too quickly.
Felix froze like someone caught stealing, and Aska blatantly avoided my eyes.
‘This atmosphere… what is this?’
All three of them were acting suspicious. The strange feeling I’d had during the exchange event returned sharply.
“Come to think of it, Your Highness—last time you said something good might happen to me.”
“Did I? Haha… I don’t remember saying that.”
Trying TOO hard to act natural only made him more suspicious.
“N-no, Relshiz! It’s nothing!”
Kyle tried to deny it, but it was too late.
While Reyester and Kyle discussed hush-money disguised as “compensation,” I turned to Felix and interrogated him.
“You had another reason for grabbing Kyle, didn’t you? What was it?”
“I-I don’t know. Why are you asking ME?”
“Because YOU kidnapped him and threw him at Aska yesterday.”
“I told you—I mistook him for a criminal!”
“Felix Guffero. You’ve had many disciplinary issues for excessive force, but even YOU don’t just arrest innocent people.”
Felix’s eyebrows twitched violently.
“Tell the truth. You were walking around with my photo, weren’t you?”
“H-How did you hear that?”
I snapped.
“Because you walked around the entire exchange event with MY photo all morning!!”
“………”
“Do you even know what privacy rights ARE?”
“…S-sorry.”
He shrank, looking embarrassed.
“Fine. If you won’t talk, I’ll ask someone else.”
So I switched targets.
“Aska.”
He still didn’t look at me.
Of course. He was the real problem.
Since yesterday he’d been oddly cold. Today too, he kept avoiding my eyes—especially when he looked at Kyle and me. His gaze felt icy.
“Are you mad at me for something?”
“…No.”
“Then why are you acting like this?”
“……”
“Hey. When someone talks, at least LOOK at them.”
But Aska stubbornly refused to meet my eyes.
This jerk used to shove his face into mine whenever I hated it, and now he won’t even look at me?
I couldn’t guess his reason at all.
‘Has Aska ever been angry at me before?’
Except for yesterday, I couldn’t remember any.
Usually, I was the one who started the arguments, and Aska just stood there like a wall.
“You’ve been weird lately. What are you thinking?”
He gets close, then pushes me away, then comes close again, then ignores me—it’s worse than a teenage boy in puberty.
Kyle finally stepped in.
“D-don’t be too harsh, Relshiz. The Master of the Dawn Tower and the Investigator were actually worried about you…”
“Worried? About me? Why?”
“That, well…”
“Don’t say it!!”
Felix yelled, blocking Kyle’s mouth. I jumped from surprise. Kyle stared at him in shock.
“But if we don’t explain, she’ll misunderstand…”
“I-I said don’t…!”
I pieced together everything I knew.
Felix searched for people who knew me using my picture.
Aska turned Kyle into an idiot temporarily.
Reyester refuses to explain the “good thing.”
Kyle knows WHY he was kidnapped but won’t tell me.
I looked for the easiest person to make talk.
“Kyle. Tell me what happened, and I’ll show you the Sunstone. You know what that is, right?”
Reyester’s eyes widened.
“That’s the one I gifted you—”
Yes, THAT one. Every magician’s dream.
Kyle, who loves magic, visibly wavered.
“Ten seconds. After that, no chance. Ten, nine…”
“They thought I was your ex-husband!!”
