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Chapter 10
Chirp, chirp, chirp.
Dawn had broken.
Listening to the morning songs of winter birds, Sion slowly opened his eyes.
“…….”
The room was dead silent.
It felt empty because of the absence of that small, noisy presence that had been fluttering around him nonstop the moment he opened his eyes over the past few days.
A quiet morning after so long felt strangely unfamiliar.
“…Did she not come back.”
Sion checked the terrace door he had left open overnight. Just as it had been yesterday, it remained open by the width of a finger, letting in only the biting winter wind.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Come in.”
“Good morning, young master.”
Garen stepped inside, bringing the cold air of the outside with him. His cheeks were flushed red from the chill, as if he had been running around since early morning.
Sion got up from the bed and changed clothes, glancing sideways at Garen. Sensing the gaze, Garen spoke a beat later, letting out an “Ah.”
“I went around the castle just in case and searched the places Lady Lin might have gone.”
“…And?”
“I checked most areas, but she was nowhere to be found.”
“……”
Sion, now fully dressed, fell silent for a moment. Then he walked to the terrace and firmly shut the door that had been left ajar.
Garen set down the firewood he had brought into a corner of the room and continued.
“I also asked the maids and knights on duty yesterday and today, just in case. None of them saw anything like ‘a small flying object.’”
“…I see.”
Sion replied indifferently. But his gray-blue eyes remained fixed on the terrace beyond where Lin had disappeared last night.
At that moment, Garen stroked his chin and spoke.
“Young master, this may be unnecessary concern, but… could Lady Lin have suffered some kind of misfortune yesterday?”
At Garen’s worried tone, Sion paused.
But he soon shook his head calmly.
“No. That’s not possible. You saw it yourself in the underground prison that day, didn’t you, Garen? There is no one in this duke’s castle who could harm a fairy wielding that level of power. At least, none that I know of.”
Sion recalled the day he first encountered Lin.
The underground prison that had stood for centuries beneath the ducal castle. The thick stone walls that supported it had been shattered like sandcastles by that tiny fairy.
It was neither aura nor divine power, but an unknown force—yet its overwhelming strength was undeniable.
‘So nothing must have happened. She probably left on her own.’
From the very first moment they met, she had always been utterly unpredictable. So disappearing as suddenly as she appeared was well within expectations.
“It’s not something we need to worry about.”
As if convincing himself, Sion let the thought settle and turned his gaze away from the terrace.
Garen, slightly stung by Sion’s cold tone, scratched the back of his head and began tending the fire to warm the room.
After stirring the kindling for a while, he spoke again.
“Still… it’s a bit of a shame. It seemed like she had some business in the main building. And she did say she would come back here before leaving.”
“……”
At Garen’s words, Sion frowned slightly, as if the carefully settled thoughts were being stirred again. But he did not stop him.
“Thinking back on how Lady Lin treated you, young master, it’s even stranger. With me, it might’ve been different, but to you… it felt like she should’ve at least said goodbye before leaving.”
Garen paused.
“Now that I think about it, there was something strange about how Lady Lin treated you.”
“Strange?”
Sion asked in confusion. Garen chuckled lightly.
“How should I put it… at first, she was so openly affectionate that I thought it might be romantic interest between a man and a woman. But the more I observed, the more it didn’t feel like affection between lovers. Sometimes she seemed like a parent caring for a child, sometimes like a devout follower worshipping a god. It was quite entertaining to watch.”
“……”
“Now I see she really was an incomprehensible person.”
“…She was.”
Even though it had only been a few short days, their impressions of Lin matched perfectly.
Sion lowered his gaze.
“…She often said and did things that were impossible to understand.”
Sion had lived eighteen years without ever meeting a fairy before Lin. And yet, he was certain of one thing—she was an especially unusual specimen among fairies.
‘Human and fairy.’
Once again, he felt the gap between them.
Even among humans, they failed to understand each other and killed one another—and yet here was a completely different species.
Perhaps trying to interpret this relationship through human standards was meaningless from the start.
“……”
“Sion…!!!”
“I’m Lin! I came to see you, Sion!”
“Don’t worry anymore, Sion! I’ll protect you!”
“I’m actually a fairy who came to grant Sion love and happiness.”
“So I get to live with Sion now? Yay, this is amazing! I’m a fan from today!”
“……”
“I hope Lady Lin is doing well wherever she went. She took such good care of you, young master—I suppose I’ve grown attached to her.”
Garen smiled faintly, a hint of regret in his voice.
Sion said nothing, leaning against the window as he stared at the snowy landscape he had seen endlessly for the past ten years.
But today, the white world outside felt unusually silent.
Then—
Clop, clop, clop, clop!
“……?”
Far away, something was moving at incredible speed out of the duke’s castle gate.
It was suspiciously frantic.
A carriage belonging to the Noelle Merchant Group.
“…That is.”
Sion’s gray-blue eyes sharpened.
A sudden instinct struck him like lightning.
A corridor connecting the main building and the northern annex of the ducal castle.
The knight on guard there was Jack.
At the sudden sound calling his name, he turned around.
“Jack.”
It was a comrade he hadn’t seen in a long time.
“Oh, Garen! It’s been a whi—…”
Jack, about to greet him warmly, shut his mouth the moment he saw who stood behind Garen.
Despite the black robe, the unmistakable extraordinary appearance—silver-gray hair with a noble sheen, and gray-blue eyes that seemed to pierce through everything.
There was no way he wouldn’t recognize him.
‘The young master of the annex!’
The infamous illegitimate son of the previous duke.
Sion Luxier.
Jack quickly placed his fist over his left chest and bowed in respect.
“…I greet you, young master.”
No matter how disgraced an illegitimate son he might be, no matter how much the current duchess disliked him, he was still a young master.
But Jack swallowed nervously, unsure why the young master—who had never once left the annex—had suddenly appeared here.
Sion spoke.
His voice was as cold as ice.
“A carriage left the castle a moment ago. Was it the merchant lord’s carriage?”
Jack broke into a cold sweat.
The pressure radiating from Sion was overwhelming.
“Ah, yes! From what I was told, that is correct. It left the castle at dawn as soon as the sun rose.”
“So early? What about this year’s trade negotiations?”
Garen interjected, frowning.
“Normally they stay at least five days for negotiations. That’s the custom, isn’t it?”
Jack glanced at Sion before lowering his voice.
“Well, yes… normally. But this year, a lot of procedures were skipped. Apparently there was some kind of incident. It’s confidential, so I don’t know the details.”
“An incident?”
Sion raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Was there anything unusual in the main building while the merchant lord stayed here?”
“Unusual, sir?”
Garen quickly added, picking up on the implication.
“For example… sightings of suspicious birds or insects… or parts of the building suddenly collapsing?”
“……”
Jack stared at Garen as if to say, what nonsense is this guy talking about?
Then, as if something occurred to him, he suddenly exclaimed.
“Oh! Now that you mention it! The maids assigned to the guests did say something strange.”
Jack scratched his head and continued.
“I heard this secondhand, so I’m not sure, but… they said the merchant lord’s child was bragging that he had caught a fairy in the castle.”
“……!!”
“……!!”
“The maid on duty, thinking it was just a child playing pretend, asked to see it—and apparently there was a real fairy inside a birdcage. Ridiculous, right? There’s no such thing as fairies these days. It’s probably just rich-kid nonsense for attention.”
“……”
“……”
Sion and Garen exchanged glances.
“Garen. Let’s go.”
“Yes, young master.”
Without hesitation, the two turned and quickly disappeared toward the annex.
Left alone, Jack blinked in confusion.
“…What the hell?”
