Chapter 06
Startled, Erkina spread her arms and stood in an awkward stance.
“Who’s there?!”
“When did that boy even get here?!”
The face of the knight, who had been guarding the path the boy suddenly appeared on, went pale.
It had clearly been an empty path, with no one around… yet it felt as if something had taken hold of him.
“Your Highness! It’s dangerous!”
The armed knights hurriedly rushed in, trying to pull the boy away.
They grabbed him roughly by the nape of his neck, intending to safely pull Erkina back.
“Wait.”
Erkina calmly raised her hand, stopping the knights.
“But, Your Highness—”
“It’s not dangerous. He’s just a child.”
“Someone could be using the child to lure you into danger, Your Highness.”
The knights cast anxious glances toward the garden beyond the main gate, uneasy.
If Mernelia found out about this, she would certainly scold them.
“Release him and step back, everyone. I’m fine.”
The knights were even more flustered by Erkina’s composed reaction.
They recalled the princess who had once been tearful and timid, almost like a baby—how had she grown so much?
Still, perhaps reassured by her demeanor, the knights decided to simply surround Erkina and keep watch over the boy.
Meanwhile, Erkina silently patted the boy on the back.
Despite being a child, her skill in comforting someone her own age was remarkable.
“It’s okay.”
The boy, burrowing into Erkina’s embrace, was crying silently.
Erkina didn’t feel the slightest threat from this unfamiliar boy. Perhaps it was because of the familiar shadow she had seen moments ago.
The knights hadn’t seen it, but Erkina had clearly sensed the shadow rushing toward her, desperate and panicked.
No—she didn’t just see it; she felt she had.
“Who… was that?”
The memory felt blocked, as if painted over in black. She couldn’t recall.
She didn’t know who this child was.
Had she ever met anyone like him before her reincarnation?
She thought carefully, but a boy of such muted tones wasn’t in her memories.
Even if she couldn’t remember his silver hair, his deep gray eyes weren’t common, so she should have remembered.
“Erkina.”
At that moment, Jerthermion appeared before her.
“Hello, Teacher!”
Erkina kept comforting the boy with one hand while smiling brightly.
Jerthermion, who had been calm with a gentle smile, saw the boy in Erkina’s arms and immediately grew cold, like a fire reduced to embers.
“Why are you here?”
“Teacher, do you know this child?”
“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
Jerthermion grabbed the boy by the nape of his neck.
The little guy was surprisingly strong.
Even without using magic, Jerthermion was an adult.
Trying to cling to Erkina against such strength caused even her to stagger from the force.
Startled, Jerthermion and the boy both released their grip.
Fortunately, Erkina didn’t fall and quickly regained her balance.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes… but how do you know each other?”
Erkina pointed to the boy, standing a step away, with her finger.
When Jerthermion glanced at him, the tears at the boy’s eyes had already vanished.
Turning his head halfway, lost in thought, his face flushed all the way to his neck.
Jerthermion alternated his gaze between Erkina’s innocent eyes and the shame-streaked boy, then calmly replied:
“I found him in the forest yesterday.”
“In the forest… you found him?”
Erkina furrowed her brows at Jerthermion’s choice of words.
It was a strangely familiar story.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t recall any memory fragments related to this boy. Something felt like it was on the tip of her mind, yet a fog blocked her from confirming it.
Surely, they were connected somehow, which is why he came.
“He’s a child who can’t speak, so I haven’t even heard his name yet.”
“He can’t speak?”
“Yes. His tongue and vocal cords are fine, and he isn’t sick, yet he simply doesn’t speak.”
“This little child? Poor thing… Then what about his parents?”
“We searched the area where he was found thoroughly, but couldn’t find them.”
Abandoned by his parents, perhaps?
Feeling pity, Erkina approached and stroked the boy’s head.
Unlike before, when he had clung tightly, the boy tensed and pulled back, making her hand feel awkward.
“But I don’t know why he came to see you, Your Highness. Have you met him before?”
“No. This is the first time.”
Hearing Erkina’s answer, the boy frowned deeply and lowered his head.
Seeing the boy so intimidated unsettled Erkina, and she asked again.
“Do you know me? Is that why you came to see me?”
Erkina tilted slightly to meet his gaze. The boy rolled his eyes around but didn’t give any clear response.
“Do you want to live with me instead of the teacher?”
Growing frustrated, Erkina asked again. The boy’s eyes widened slightly.
Frozen for a moment, he slowly nodded, almost as if in a trance.
He nodded twice, then three times, and eventually shook his head up and down with great intensity.
Jerthermion slowly shook his head beside them.
“No one would let a child of unknown origin into the palace, Your Highness.”
Jerthermion knew Mernelia all too well.
“I suppose so.”
In truth, Erkina herself didn’t feel a reason to take the boy in. She had simply asked out of pity for his situation.
Yet, strangely, she found it hard to ignore him.
It felt as if a huge stone pressed down on her chest; it was difficult to act indifferent toward the boy.
Someone had turned back time.
If it wasn’t Erkina herself, then someone must have used forbidden magic to create a new timeline.
And if that person was this boy…
“There was a reason that magic was forbidden… what was it?”
But there was no need to dwell on it. Using such dangerous magic requires enormous power, and this child’s magical aura felt so small.
Jerthermion would have taken him in as a student at the Mage Tower.
Indeed, the Mage Tower often accepted such children. Misunderstood or cursed due to strange weak magic, they were sometimes abandoned. Jerthermion had always nurtured such children well.
Perhaps this child was taken by Jerthermion before, relocated, and never encountered Erkina before her reincarnation.
“That would be best for him too.”
Hearing Erkina, the boy opened his eyes wide.
After staring in disbelief, his expression gradually twisted into sadness.
“You don’t want to be apart from me?”
After a brief pause, he nodded vigorously. Erkina’s heart softened at the effort of a child who couldn’t even speak.
“Then… Teacher, can I study magic with him?”
“Do you mean you wish to divide the time I devote to you, Your Highness?”
“If he is your student and we study together, he could come to my house every day. Then we could meet daily, and you wouldn’t have to sneak away like today.”
That was the superficial reason.
But she felt the need to uncover the boy’s true identity. There was no logical reason—it was just intuition.
“If it’s what Your Highness wishes, I have no objection.”
Erkina beamed at Jerthermion’s permission, and the boy awkwardly mirrored her smile.
At the round table in the center of Erkina’s study, the three sat side by side.
Just before the lesson began, Jerthermion’s gaze, which had been gentle toward Erkina, settled into a calm seriousness.
His low, clear voice flowed steadily.
“Great power comes with a price. Once you begin learning magic, there is no turning back. You must bear the responsibility for the weight of that power. Do you still wish to learn magic?”
