Chapter – 24
No—no matter how many times I think about it, their villain of a master really crossed the line.
Calling him “my thrall,” and then using a long-lived fairy like a disposable tool?
I flared up and snapped back without thinking.
“Hey, at this point doesn’t it look less like your master abandoned you and more like he was convinced I’d fail this job? I mean, who sends you as a ‘helper’ when they’re handing out a request this insane in the first place?”
Raindrop comforted me in an unexpected way.
“No, it’s not that my master didn’t trust you. It’s just that my life was never something worth considering to him in the first place.”
“What? Why would you talk like that? You’re really getting on my nerves.”
As I snapped and wiped away his tears, Raindrop gave a faint smile.
“You shouldn’t have started a guild. You should’ve lived farming with your kind friends instead. You all have plenty of land, don’t you…?”
For a fairy who might die any moment, he was pitying me—someone scraping by as an unlicensed mage who’d been exposed to their own master.
Feeling sorry for him, I muttered something unnecessary.
“That land was all bought with money we earned from the guild, you know? Until we started it, we were dirt poor without even a single room to our name.”
Raindrop fell silent for a moment.
Ah… I don’t want to use someone this sick.
Hey, sorry. You don’t want to die with me just because I end up killing the Crown Prince, do you?
“Your master—he’s a noble of the capital, right? Someone really high up.”
Raindrop’s tear-soaked eyes widened, and then he started retching again.
Isn’t that basically an answer already?
Patting his small back in pity, I said,
“Hey. It’s fine, it’s fine. I won’t ask. I won’t ask anymore.”
Even so, Raindrop trembled in terror.
“N-no, I don’t know. No, that’s not it…”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it! You don’t know anything, and neither do I!”
Raindrop sobbed, choking on his words.
“I… I ruined everything, blegh…”
Good grief. I really can’t live like this.
While calming Raindrop down and cleaning up, I thought about the client’s identity and what I needed to do next.
For now, I’d do my best to keep the fairy from dying in my room, and then… just as planned, I’d go to the hunting grounds with Samuel.
Two days later, the Imperial Hunting Grounds.
Escorted by Samuel, I dismounted at the entrance.
There wasn’t a single sign—just forest and road—so if I’d come alone, I never would have known this was a hunting ground.
“This place… is it?” I asked, looking up at the towering conifers lining both sides of the narrow path, and at the finely woven magical control barrier stretched above them.
“It’s quite a walk,” Samuel replied. “By His Majesty’s reign it’s nearly fallen out of use, but it was originally meant for mounted hunts. As I mentioned earlier, I hope you wore comfortable shoes.”
Samuel led the way as my escort, with only a single attendant carrying hunting gear trailing behind us. Even for a practice outing, it was an extremely modest procession for a young duke.
He continued explaining.
“Since today is just practice, only my attendant accompanies us. On actual hunt days, caretakers employed by the imperial household will come out to assist. Over there.”
Following where he pointed, I spotted a small two-story building in the distance.
“They usually stay there, managing the forest and animals here.”
In other words, they made sure the animal population never grew too large—or too small. Which was why I considered hunting one of the many vile hobbies of the nobility.
People with more money than they could ever spend—why make killing living creatures a pastime? They could just keep growing boring trees instead.
Contrary to my gloomy thoughts, Samuel asked cheerfully,
“Shall we go?”
He walked just one step ahead, taking my hand whenever there was an obstacle or a slope.
The people we passed bowed their heads to us; they were probably the caretakers Samuel had mentioned.
After about an hour past the two-story building, we arrived at a bizarre crossroads.
Eight paths converged into a single clearing, and at its center stood a massive well.
Seeing my fascination, Samuel explained,
“This is the most distinctive place in the hunting grounds. It’s called the Spring of Justini.”
The Spring of Justini.
Sunlight poured brilliantly down over the well. As I stood there soaking in the light, I suddenly felt an intense wave of envy toward Samuel.
He couldn’t see it, or feel it—the magical control barrier that was cleverly hollowed out above the well.
No wonder they never provided me with a map of the hunting grounds.
This place was the site designated for my commission, and the grave the client had prepared for the Crown Prince.
All through my two weeks in the imperial palace, the control barriers had felt like they were tightening around my throat—but now, the wide-open sky made it even harder to breathe.
A place where harming him would be far too easy. A hollow barrier, and a deep well directly beneath it.
Thinking that the client might not know me well, just because they’d cast me in the role of a brainless princess, had been a careless mistake.
The client knew exactly what I was capable of.
They knew that if they sent me here, I could harm Calysion without leaving a scratch on myself—without arousing a shred of suspicion.
And the fact that I truly could do that terrified me.
Stepping closer, I saw that the well was so deep I couldn’t see the bottom.
Samuel came up beside me and asked,
“Your Highness? Are you afraid of heights?”
“This well… how deep is it?”
He gently pulled me back from the edge and answered,
“Well, the Spring of Justini is famous for never drying up, even in droughts. I imagine it must be very deep.”
I had to pull myself together.
The barrier here was lax—if my power leaked out even a little, my identity could be exposed.
But I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking.
I clenched my fists, trembling, and the surging mana made my body sway. Samuel panicked and caught me around the waist.
“Your Highness? Are you all right? Did some unpleasant memory resurface?”
No—it’s just that I want to get out of here as soon as possible.
That’s what I tried to say, when the sound of hooves reached us.
—Clop, clop, clop.
We both turned at the same time. Among the several sets of hooves approaching slowly, only one drew near.
—Thud.
Even as Calysion dismounted and set foot on the ground, Samuel seemed unable to decide—whether to let go of me or keep supporting my unsteady body.
“April.”
Calysion strode up and called my name brightly, extending his hand.
“Didn’t I tell you last time? I get jealous, you know.”
Ten paces behind him, mounted guards stood in formation.
As for me, I really didn’t want to take Calysion’s hand in a place where the barrier was this flimsy. Even though the commission specified a clear date, I couldn’t shake the feeling.
But when Samuel released me in haste and I lost my balance for a split second, Calysion seized the opportunity and pulled me toward him.
He all but wrapped me in his arms and looked past me at Samuel. A ferocious smile—one I’d never seen before—curved his lips.
“The princess doesn’t look well. What are you doing here, young duke?”
Caught off guard by the accusatory question, Samuel finally dropped to one knee in greeting.
“I greet the Star of Justini. Her Highness wished to see the hunting grounds, so I accompanied her during my practice, but she suddenly staggered…”
“Without even carrying a bow?”
Calysion asked, glancing toward Samuel’s attendant, who was standing far behind. Samuel couldn’t rise, and forced an awkward smile.
“On a walk with the delicate princess, how could I possibly draw a bow? Today, I was merely guiding her.”
“I thought the young duke was one of my few friends in this capital.”
Calysion didn’t tell him to rise. He merely murmured the words to himself, then leaned in to study my face.
“And what do you think, April?”
