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Chapter 1
“Why is he sleeping in later than me for once?”
The girl pouted as she twirled a strand of snowy white hair around her finger. Her silver hair shimmered faintly violet in the light, and her large violet eyes and plump red lips made her look utterly lovely.
She dashed upstairs and stopped in front of a room on the second floor. Without even knocking, she flung the door open and cheerfully shouted,
“Theo, wake up! Master said it’s time for breakfast… Theo?”
Instead of the usual irritated yell telling her to quiet down, an empty room greeted her.
The neatly folded blanket in one corner of the bed and the items placed on the bedside table were all exactly as they had always been. Everything was unchanged—except for two things.
First, the sword the boy always carried was gone.
Second, an envelope presumed to be a letter sat atop the desk.
Though he had lived there for eight years, the room felt cold and lifeless, as if it were declaring something.
Staring at the space so devoid of traces of him that it almost felt cruel, her eyes began to sting for some reason. A sudden intuition flashed through her mind like lightning.
The boy she had always believed would stay by her side would not return to this room for a very long time.
Perhaps forever.
That was why she couldn’t bring herself to touch the envelope. She merely stood helplessly by the doorway, her reddened eyes trembling as she softly murmured a single name.
“…Theo.”
Where are you?
Elena Soleria de Veritas.
The miraculous woman who arrived with the rain in the long drought-stricken Kingdom of Veritas. Revered as a saint sent by the gods, the queen was adored by the people.
Because it was said that revealing her face carelessly would bring misfortune, the woman always covered herself with a black veil as she quietly and coldly assisted her husband. Yet, just like him, she constantly suffered threats from political enemies.
Today marked exactly one year since Elena Soleria ascended to the position of queen alongside her husband’s coronation.
“She reportedly fell beneath the cliff.”
Even as the soldier delivered his report, he nervously stared at the floor.
The queen, while out on an inspection tour, had encountered unidentified attackers. Chased into the forest, she had been cornered at a dead end and ultimately fallen from a cliff, her fate unknown.
Considering the height of the cliff, the chances of an ordinary person surviving were extremely slim.
“I apologize for saying this, but it would appear Her Majesty the Queen has already…”
“That’s impossible.”
A grave voice immediately denied the soldier’s conclusion.
Veins bulged from the king’s hand gripping the armrest of the throne so tightly that the wood beneath creaked ominously.
“Search for her.”
The soldier unconsciously lifted his head. Before he knew it, the king had already risen from the throne, and their eyes met.
The king’s refined features, usually carrying a gentle smile, were now utterly devoid of warmth. His face was pale with shock, cold enough to seem lifeless.
Though their marriage had been arranged to strengthen royal authority, outwardly they had appeared to be a loving couple. Their harmonious image, like a painting come to life, had been admired by the entire kingdom.
The king spoke in an icy voice.
“Bring her before me, even if it’s only her corpse. No—I’ll go myself.”
“Y-Your Majesty?”
Before anyone could stop him, the man strode swiftly across the crimson carpet. As he opened the doors leading outside, a chilling light flashed in his eyes.
After two full days of searching beneath the cliff led personally by the king, a body presumed to be the queen’s was discovered.
Her dress was torn to shreds, as though she had been desperately fleeing, and her veil was missing. Seeing the king clutch the lifeless woman in his arms while shedding tears, the soldiers could not help but sigh in sorrow.
The queen’s state funeral was held magnificently. As if even the heavens mourned her death, torrential rain poured down on the day of the funeral. The entire kingdom grieved deeply for the beloved and respected queen.
When the three-day funeral concluded, the king announced that he would find and punish those responsible for driving the queen to her death.
And many people disappeared beneath the blade.
Meanwhile, a single carriage quietly departed through the castle gates.
Only after the castle had become a distant speck did the carriage finally stop in a wide clearing deep within the forest.
The door opened, and someone stepped out.
A man in simple clothing and a cloak, and a woman wearing a violet veil.
“Thank you for everything, Zephyr.”
The veiled woman spoke gently.
The common language of the kingdom, Veltan, usually sounded stiff and cold, but Zephyr had never heard anyone speak it as softly as the woman before him.
Except for his lord, the king.
“We are the ones indebted to you all this time.”
The woman silently stared at the man bowing respectfully before her. Even hidden behind the veil, her gaze could be felt.
“Theo… Where is His Majesty the King?”
Only Zephyr had come to see her off.
They had already said their farewells beforehand, but she hadn’t expected him not to appear at all while she was leaving.
This place wasn’t even that far from the castle. If he used teleportation magic, he could at least have shown his face.
“He said that if he saw you now, it would become difficult for him to properly play the role of a king grieving for his dead queen.”
So in the end, he simply wasn’t coming.
Watching Zephyr carefully relay the message, the woman let out a long sigh. Sending his trusted aide to escort her meant he did care to some extent, but it still felt absurd.
“…He just doesn’t want to come see me. What a convenient excuse.”
“Pardon? Did you say something?”
“It’s nothing. I suppose I should be going now.”
If she delayed any longer, running into someone would only become troublesome.
The woman gracefully walked to the center of the clearing.
At her gesture, a massive magic circle hidden beneath her feet emitted a soft glow, and soon her figure vanished completely.
“Ugh!”
Perhaps because she had used such a large amount of magic power after so long, the woman staggered slightly the moment her feet touched the ground.
She tore away the violet veil that had obscured her vision, revealing silver hair tinged with violet and vivid purple eyes.
“Whew, finally free!”
This time, lively words flowed from her lips in Rosen, the common language of the Republic.
The woman once known as Elena Soleria—Delcia Hendel—stretched with a bright smile.
At last, her three-year contract marriage had successfully come to an end.
The living room of the apartment, wallpapered in brown, was surprisingly spacious. A round crimson rug large enough to conceal a magic circle covered the floor, and bookshelves, ornaments, and all sorts of items filled the room.
Despite the house having been left empty for so long, not a speck of dust could be found.
Del gazed fondly at the home she had missed dearly.
At that moment, the door on the right burst open. A girl with snowy white hair tied into twin tails rushed straight toward Delcia.
“Welcome back, Master!”
“Nike, have you been well?”
The girl, whose name meant “victory” in an ancient language, beamed with delight.
Appearing suddenly five years ago, she was now the sole disciple of the great mage Delcia Hendel and assisted her in everything from magical experiments to daily affairs.
“You must’ve been bored guarding the house, huh?”
“Don’t even get me started. If you do this again next time, I’m really following you.”
“Sorry. But you stand out too much.”
Apparently upset about being left behind, Nike puffed out her cheeks, and Del hugged her tightly.
After entering her room, Del tossed aside her dusty clothes and changed into something comfortable. Leaving the magically animated laundry basket to carry away the clothes on its own, she headed into the study.
“The documents?”
“I already organized everything.”
Nike, who had been waiting, handed her a stack of papers.
Scanning through them at lightning speed, Del muttered softly,
“The experiment results seem mostly fine.”
“As if your calculations could ever be wrong, Master.”
“Still, let’s inspect them one more time. The Academy presentation is next week, so we need to be careful.”
To perfectly cover up her three-year absence required just that much effort.
The fact that Delcia Hendel had been absent from the Republic for three years was a top-secret matter.
“Oh, and the attendee list for this Academy conference is incredible. Cedric Prozan and Yevgeniya Ten both sent word they’re attending. Apparently they even decided to rent out the Academy’s grand auditorium because of it.”
Two of the continent’s three greatest mages had just been mentioned.
Del smirked confidently.
“Well, of course they’d come if I’m making a comeback.”
And lastly: Delcia Hendel.
A genius mage who mastered every magical attribute at only seventeen, shocked the continent with a magical thesis at twenty, and earned the title of Great Mage at twenty-three.
In the field of magic, there was hardly anyone more famous than Del and her master, Melody Jodiana, once hailed as the continent’s greatest mage.
“Well, there were tons of people wondering what incredible thing you were preparing while hiding away for three whole years.”
“It’s not magic I prepared in only three years. The announcement was just… delayed.”
Nike folded her arms and stepped closer to the silent Del.
Then she whispered quietly,
“So… did you obtain the magic?”
“Of course.”
Wasn’t that why she had worked so hard for three years?
A special magic said to have been passed down through the Veritas royal family.
For Del, who possessed the soul of a scholar to the bone, it had been bait far too tempting to resist.
“Though for someone who calls herself a scholar, Master, you can be surprisingly materialistic…”
“What was that?”
“Nothing at all.”
Seeing Nike shamelessly play innocent left Del speechless.
It was natural for a disciple to resemble their master, just as children resemble their parents—but wasn’t this taking it a bit too far?
“Alright, let’s go eat something good for once.”
And then get plenty of sleep.
Freed at last after so long, Del smiled brightly as she headed outside with Nike.
Walking through the city beyond the apartment, Del’s steps felt unusually light.
After living crushed beneath a secret-that-wasn’t-a-secret for three years, finally returning to her true self made her feel alive again.
The sense of relief was real, though the strange hollowness lingering inside her was surely just her imagination.
Del irritably shook her head, trying to drive the face rising in her thoughts away.
