Chapter : 12
Aria stared blankly at Themis’s retreating figure, who was sprinting away like an arrow.
“I wanted to hear whether Miss Themis is experiencing the same problem…”
Her hand hovered in the air before slowly dropping.
Akilan, having watched the spot where Themis disappeared for a long moment, finally spoke.
“How was Themis’s condition today, Your Highness?”
Perhaps because it was her first time attending the banquet, Themis’s behavior seemed particularly strange to Aria today.
“Condition? From the outside, she looked fine… She even helped me in the lounge…”
Aria realized her mistake as she answered with a puzzled expression.
Not only had she used formal honorifics again, but an unsettling thought striking her mind made her lips tighten.
‘If she came to the lounge, there must have been a reason. Did she neglect her own well-being to help me?’
Did her master—the archmage—also know about the calming potion Themis had given her?
Themis had said she learned to make the potion thanks to what she had learned from her master, but she never mentioned whether the archmage was aware of its existence.
Aria, at the very least, suspected that the potion Themis gave her was no ordinary item. Even if it only calmed the mana core temporarily, it was a treasure no magician would trade for billions.
She didn’t want to speak carelessly and put Themis in a difficult position.
Aria pondered carefully about how much she should reveal.
“Did Themis give you a calming potion?”
Had he somehow read her thoughts?
It had only been a two-minute silence, yet the man had seen through everything.
‘…How?’
Aria, who had only recently been recognized as royalty, couldn’t control her expression and opened her eyes wide.
Akilan narrowed his eyes at the unexpected sight.
‘Well, that’s surprising.’
It was the first time Themis had ever given such a potion to someone else.
A potion developed entirely on her own, through her own research from start to finish.
Akilan had deliberately chosen to keep the potion’s existence secret. If it were discovered that Themis, who hadn’t yet fully strengthened her abilities, had created such a potion, her safety would be at risk.
Pressure would come from all directions, making the free world Themis once knew much smaller.
And that wasn’t all.
Everyone who learned of it would try to find some way to exploit Themis’s abilities. Akilan could only stop so much.
As long as the mana core existed, magicians could not escape the royal family or the temple, and even he, the archmage, was no exception.
‘So… you gave the princess a calming potion?’
Come to think of it, Themis had said she came to this banquet to talk with Princess Aria.
‘…Does she want to become a noble that badly?’
She had agreed to help her if she wanted to become a noble. That was why she attended a banquet she normally wouldn’t, and why she had bought Themis a dress.
But to risk revealing a dangerous secret to gain favor with the princess just for advancement?
‘The’ Themis?
‘Strange.’
It might seem plausible for someone else, but imagining Themis doing so was impossible.
‘She’s not that kind of person.’
He was certain.
There had to be a reason why Themis went out of her way to offer her potion to the princess. And it wasn’t just for personal advancement.
Perhaps it was related to why Themis’s attitude had suddenly changed.
‘I need to learn more about the princess.’
Akilan decided he would spend more time with Princess Aria—for Themis’s sake alone.
And he wasn’t the only one thinking that way.
‘…It seems the archmage and Themis are quite close.’
Aria envied Akilan, who seemed to understand the situation with just a few words.
‘I don’t have a single person I can really call a friend here.’
At the orphanage where Aria grew up, there were no peers her age. Everyone was younger children she had to take care of.
They were all cute and lovely, but sometimes Aria resented a life spent constantly looking after others.
‘Themis seemed about my age. And he helped me.’
A friend who could care for her in return, someone to share a tender affection with—she had always prayed for such a friend.
‘I want to get close to him.’
When she saw Themis in the lounge, coming to help her despite hearing only her groans, she felt as if a halo shone behind him. She wanted to get closer to Themis and be his friend.
‘And the archmage knows Themis better than anyone…’
Her first impression of Akilan changed completely. From a stern and inscrutable archmage to the closest master of the person she liked.
‘Come to think of it, he’s the one my father… no, the emperor brought as my master. A master is someone who provides answers to what their pupil wants to know, right?’
Though intimidating, she felt a desire to spend more time with him. She wanted to ask about Themis.
Thus began their mutual but differing intentions.
‘I wonder if they’re talking well together.’
At least Princess Aria didn’t seem afraid of her master. That was a relief.
I tried to shake off the thoughts crowding my mind and busied myself moving around the banquet hall. The results were not bad.
“…Isn’t that Miss Themis?”
“Oh my, it’s an honor to meet the archmage’s only disciple.”
Thanks to them approaching me first, I could greet people more easily.
‘I thought they might not even know what I look like since I’ve been holed up in the mana tower.’
Of course, I didn’t think they were necessarily favorable toward me. Many still looked down on my origins.
But I was the archmage’s only disciple. The advantage of being connected to him offset most of my shortcomings.
‘Truly, my master is amazing.’
I felt a brief swell of pride, but then I tilted my head at a familiar face appearing.
‘Huh?’
Everett was chatting with people while scanning the area.
I wondered if there was anyone he would be so eager to find.
‘Isn’t this his first meeting with the princess today?’
Everett, as the male lead, was expected to be interested in the princess, but they had never met directly. So there should be no reason for him to search so actively.
‘Is something wrong?’
The recent terrorist attack’s culprit hadn’t been caught, so his behavior felt unusual.
As I waved to get his attention, our eyes met, and I tilted my head.
‘What…?’
Everett seemed surprised when he saw me, widening his eyes… or so it seemed.
‘Am I imagining things?’
It all happened too quickly to be sure.
But it seemed clear he had been looking for me.
Everett made eye contact and started walking toward me.
The moment he moved, all eyes turned to him. People instinctively stepped aside, creating a path like the parting of the Red Sea.
Thud, thud. Everett strode straight toward me, apparently oblivious to all the curious gazes.
“We need to speak alone, Miss Themis.”
Ah! I might want to make new connections, but this is too much!
Such suggestive words were sure to draw suspicion.
“The future minister and Miss Themis seem… unusually close.”
“Do they have some relationship we don’t know about…?”
“Come to think of it, they suit each other surprisingly well, don’t they?”
I was doomed. The whispers around me were growing.
‘I need to handle this situation quickly.’
I didn’t want tomorrow’s newspaper headline screaming: “Archmage’s Disciple Found to Be Dating the Future Minister!”
The best way in this situation…
“Haha, you must be passing on a message for my master since he’s not here!”
I used my master as an excuse.
‘It may not be proper for a disciple to use their master’s name, but I’m sure they’ll understand.’
I decided to let go of the pangs of conscience.
“No, I…”
“Shall we move over here?”
Seeing Everett’s confused expression, I quickly grabbed his hand to stop him.
“This isn’t the right place to talk. How about moving to the balcony?”
Finally, Everett seemed to understand the urgency in my eyes.
“…Alright.”
He nodded.
“Ah, of course…”
“Since Everett is the archmage’s personal cleric, he must have something to discuss.”
“Indeed, the archmage’s disciple seems adept at supporting others.”
As he acknowledged my explanation, the murmurs around us gradually died down.
Breathing a silent sigh of relief, I led him to the balcony.
