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chapter 35
“Th-that….”
“Alice.”
At Edwin’s voice calling her, Alice reflexively turned her head toward him.
“Edwin, why did you call me?”
“Are you scared of me?”
Edwin spoke with his gaze lowered. His long black eyelashes trembled weakly. His expression looked gloomy and sad.
At his words, what he had said in the carriage immediately came to her mind. Alice looked at him with a face that said, No way…
“Of course not. Where would you even find a kid as not scary as you, Edwin?”
Alice comforted him with words heavily mixed with exaggeration. After all, they said white lies were good lies.
“Really?”
At Alice’s quick denial, a small smile appeared on Edwin’s face. On his pale, colorless, glass-doll-like face, it was as if a small forget-me-not had bloomed.
Seeing that, Alice resolved even more firmly to keep the truth hidden.
She remembered how, the first time Michael met Edwin, he had hidden behind her back.
Alice glanced at Michael.
Michael was looking their way with a face that seemed utterly dumbfounded, as if he had a lot he wanted to say but couldn’t.
“Could it be that Michael collapsed because… he got scared of Edwin?”
“……”
At the sight of Edwin’s gloomy face in response, Alice realized that her words were correct.
…Then did that mean Edwin had approached Michael with goodwill, only for Michael to get scared and faint?
What do I do?
It wasn’t entirely incomprehensible that Michael would be scared of him.
She hesitated over whether to take Edwin’s side or Michael’s.
If she said she understood Michael’s position, Edwin would be hurt. But if she comforted Edwin, then Michael would end up looking like the bad one.
Edwin’s red eyes stared heavily at Alice’s lips, as if yearning for her answer.
In that unbearably awkward situation, Evan opened his mouth like a savior.
“I take responsibility. I should have told El more firmly not to wander around inside the castle… I ended up causing trouble for Alice and the young master. I’m sorry.”
Evan stood up and bowed his head in apology. Alice waved her hands, saying it was fine.
“No! It’s not big brother’s fault!”
At that moment, Michael completely climbed off the bed and clung to Evan’s leg. He continued speaking through tears. His emerald eyes were full of moisture.
“It’s my fault! It’s because I didn’t listen to you, big brother!”
“Waaah!”
As Michael finally burst into tears, Alice and Evan exchanged flustered looks before letting out small laughs.
While trying to hold back their snickering, the two eventually failed and burst out laughing.
“Ahahaha!”
“Why are you laughing?!”
Michael flushed red at the sight of the two laughing at him, but with his face covered in tears and snot, it only made him look more ridiculous.
Edwin, who had been silently watching the scene, fell into thought on his own.
Mana doesn’t work.
That was the reason Michael had collapsed. When he used the mana he felt inside his body on forest animals, they would die instantly.
So he had assumed humans would be no different.
Then was his judgment wrong?
Edwin thought quietly.
It seemed he would have to change his test subject.
After Karina’s trial ended, summer passed, autumn and winter went by, and spring came again.
Even then, the war was not over.
Two massive empires were fighting over sanctuaries and oil fields at key strategic points.
It was the largest war in history.
Because of the prolonged war, Duke Esteban was effectively stuck in the imperial palace.
He returned to the territory only once every six months.
Even then, after a day or two, he would head back to the capital, making his visits fleeting.
If Alice happened to run into him inside the castle, he would glance her over, assessing whether her body was intact, before passing by.
It felt like the gaze of someone inspecting a treasured possession for scratches, and it made her feel uneasy and uncomfortable.
Still, since he provided food and lodging and even gave her monthly allowance, Alice didn’t have many complaints about her life.
Did he have even a shred of responsibility or affection left for me?
Thinking of the duke, Alice shook her head. That arrogant, cold man didn’t seem like someone who would leave her here out of mere sentiment.
But it didn’t feel like responsibility either.
There must be some reason.
She had a vague sense that it was connected to the emperor, but she still couldn’t grasp it clearly.
“Let’s meet again in ten years.”
She remembered the emperor’s words.
Would she understand then, ten years later? Ten years from now would be exactly when she came of age.
“What nice weather.”
Alice smiled brightly as she looked out the window.
Today was the day she would go on a picnic on the hill behind the territory with Edwin and the Elga brothers.
This was the first regular gathering she herself had suggested.
On the surface, it was for enjoying nature and leisure, but in truth, it was meant to bring Michael and Edwin closer.
Whether a year of effort had paid off or not, their relationship had improved enough for them to exchange a word or two.
Considering how Michael used to run away whenever their eyes met, while Edwin watched him gloomily in silence, it was a touching improvement.
Just then, Ena knocked and came in, carrying the picnic basket.
“You’re here?”
Ironically, her relationship with Ena had developed far more than Michael’s and Edwin’s.
Alice sniffed the smell of bread coming from the basket.
“Mmm, this smell… Denny made it, didn’t he?”
“…That’s really amazing. You’re not even a dog, so how can you tell just by the smell?”
Alice nodded as if it were obvious. How could she not know? The flavor itself was different.
“But Denny made this for me?”
“It seemed like you really liked Denny’s bread, so I asked him, and he happily made it.”
“Really? I thought everyone here hated me.”
When Alice spoke in surprise, Ena replied,
“When you said you couldn’t eat anything but Denny’s, that guy’s mouth stretched into a huge grin. He’s simple by nature—praise him once and he’s done for.”
Ena and Denny had apparently been friends for a long time, so she sometimes referred to him casually like that.
“Thank you. I didn’t know you cared about me this much. Sniff.”
“For someone crying, your eyes are awfully dry.”
“Pretend you didn’t notice things like that.”
Alice, unable to let go, spoke again.
“It’d be nice if you came along too, Ena.”
Having grown much closer while living together in the ducal estate, Alice couldn’t hide her regret.
Seeing her expression, Ena declined with a lukewarm smile.
“I’m fine. If I play around at times like this, the work will pile up and I won’t get any proper rest.”
“Hmm, I see. That’s a shame.”
At the sight of Alice nodding without knowing anything, Ena’s smile became subtle.
What Ena had just said was simply an excuse to avoid the picnic.
More precisely, she was avoiding a picnic where the young master of this house would be present.
She remembered the moment she had first met him.
It was exactly when Alice had temporarily left the ducal estate.
Just thinking of his gaze as he asked where Alice had gone still sent chills through Ena’s entire body, making her tremble.
It felt like stepping straight into a monster’s maw. Ever since then, Ena had tried her best to avoid encountering the young master.
What a truly strange person.
That thought applied not only to Edwin, but to Alice as well.
Though she never said it out loud, she found it far more mysterious that Alice got along with the young master of this house than the fact that she could identify who baked bread.
“Then I’ll be off.”
Alice stood up, lifting a basket nearly half her size with ease. Ena spoke in alarm.
“Isn’t it heavy for you to carry alone?”
“It feels harder to endure not eating this. I want to hurry outside and eat.”
“If it’s that hard, maybe you should eat just one piece—”
“No, it’s fine. I can endure this much….”
At Ena’s words, Alice’s eyes wavered for a moment, but she shook her head with firm resolve.
As soon as she opened the door and stepped out, the basket suddenly felt lighter. Edwin had taken it from her.
“Edwin!”
The hand holding the basket was now nearly the same size as hers.
It was a change that had happened over the past year.
Alice looked up at Edwin. He had grown slightly taller than her.
It was hard to imagine what he had looked like when they first met—he was now neat and overflowing with noble grace. Still, he was only eight years old.
So rather than handsome, his youthful face was simply cute.
On the outside, he looked completely healed.
But inside, the mana was still blocked by another wall within his body, unable to come out.
Only by completely breaking down that wall could he finally be free from the side effects—the curse.
But Evan’s abilities had their limits.
There was only one person who could do that.
Michael.
“Alice, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can go today.”
Only then did Alice realize that he wasn’t wearing his usual clothes. They were outing clothes.
“Huh? Why?”
“I have to go to the imperial palace.”
“Did the duke call you?”
Edwin nodded. Alice wondered why the duke would summon him all the way to the palace.
When she asked the reason, Edwin shook his head, saying he didn’t know either.
