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Chapter : 6
“Rien, isn’t this one really pretty too?”
“I don’t wear dresses—they’re too cumbersome—”
“Be quiet, it’s pretty. Madam, please bring that one over here too.”
[The prince will come to the banquet around evening. Let’s go then as well. I’ve booked the salon for tomorrow, so let’s go shopping for a dress to wear to the banquet.]
The word banquet caught my attention so completely that I only half-heartedly replied to the rest.
What was I thinking? Actually reacting to Sierra’s suggestion to go shopping.
I let out a long sigh as I watched Sierra ordering this and that from the madam.
“Oh my, Viscountess?”
“Hm?”
While the madam went inside the salon to fetch the dresses Sierra had ordered, a noble young lady with blond hair and the aloof look of a proud cat seemed to recognize Sierra and approached the sofa where we were sitting.
“…Ah, long time no—actually no, Miss Shutrien. We saw each other just yesterday.”
For some reason, Sierra greeted her with a slightly weary expression.
“Why do I keep running into you everywhere…?”
“That just means you and I are destined, Viscountess! I told you before, didn’t I?”
…She’s a bit different from my first impression. From the way she talks, she doesn’t seem quite normal.
“Oh, and who is this person?”
The young lady, who had been wearing a sweet, melty expression as if jealous, now looked at me with a sharp, catlike glare.
Sierra sank a little deeper behind me.
“My close friend, Rien… Sorry, Rien.”
She clenched her fist at me as if cheering herself on, then suddenly jumped to her feet.
“…?”
“And she’s a water spirit contractor. From the Spirit Tower.”
She ran away.
The moment I looked back at the young lady, I immediately understood why Sierra had whispered an apology and fled in a hurry, muttering about why the madam wasn’t coming back yet.
“A spirit contractor…?”
The young lady’s murmuring eyes sparkled—no, they were practically blazing.
As if Sierra’s escape hadn’t even registered, she suddenly scooted right up next to me and stuck close.
“May I call you unnie…?”
She stared at me with unbearably sparkling eyes.
Even after we finished choosing and buying all the dresses, Miss Shutrien showed no sign of leaving. By her forceful insistence, Sierra and I were practically dragged into a nearby café.
“…So it really changes that much. All this time I was suffering for nothing….”
Sierra muttered to herself, looking blankly between me and the young lady who was clinging to my side and sending me an intense gaze.
“Unnie! I’m so happy!”
Everything would be great, except—
“…Miss.”
“Aw, please call me Lilia, unnie. I didn’t even let the viscountess say no, right? You’re different, aren’t you?”
I was extremely weak against such aggressive advances.
Those sparkling eyes felt overwhelming, and in the end, I even promised to do so.
“Ahh, really, unnie, you’re so kind!”
“No, Shutrien—”
“Lilia.”
“Miss, I—”
“Lilia!”
“…Haah. Lilia….”
Despite that, my stubborn habit of using honorifics didn’t fade easily, but after several forceful corrections by Miss—no, Lilia—it was completely fixed.
“…You’re attending the Founding Festival banquet, right?”
“Ah, yes—no, um, yes.”
The conversation somehow drifted to the upcoming banquet, and the moment Lilia heard that Sierra and I would be attending, her face lit up like a flame.
“Unnie, you said it’s your first time in the capital, right? I’ll introduce you to the girls I hang out with. They’re all nice young ladies—great people to befriend!”
“Ah, yes.”
Glare.
“No—uh, yeah… thank you.”
Lilia’s cheeks flushed red, and she lowered her head as if she didn’t know what to do.
I gave an awkward smile.
Sudden new relationships weren’t exactly my favorite, but since I was going to side with the prince anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to be acquainted with some nobles.
“Then I’ll see you at the banquet, unnie!!”
“…Ah, n—no, haah, yeah.”
Because of Lilia’s strong insistence that I speak casually, I ended up using informal speech without meaning to. Feeling my energy rapidly drain away, I slumped back against the carriage seat.
I glanced sideways at my dear Sierra, who was sitting next to me, awkwardly watching my reaction.
“She’s… very lively, isn’t she?”
I wasn’t dissatisfied with being introduced to Lilia at all, but now I understood why Sierra had initially shoved the fact that I was a spirit contractor onto her.
“…Y-yeah. She is, right? She’s always been around me. And the House of Shutrien is part of the Second Prince’s faction.”
“You didn’t introduce me just because you were tired of her chasing you around, did you?”
“…Ehehe….”
Sierra was very friendly with me and the other spirit contractors in the Tower, but she wasn’t like that with just anyone.
Even though she met a lot of people due to merchant work, she never particularly liked people to begin with.
I’d heard it even took her a long time to open up to the Tower members.
I was an exception only because she’d brought me into the Tower herself.
“So what kind of person is she, to like spirit contractors that much?”
Honestly, that wasn’t just liking—it was bordering on obsession, even madness. Anyway.
Sierra smiled awkwardly.
Lilia von Shutrien was a powerful mage born into the long-established Ducal House of Shutrien—the first of her caliber in three generations since Winter von Shutrien, the former duke.
Her talent for sensing mana was innate. Around the age of twelve, she became the disciple of the Mage Tower Master, who personally visited the Shutrien ducal estate. At fifteen, she officially became a mage of the Mage Tower, and now, at eighteen, she was being called a promising candidate for the next Tower Master.
…Of course, compared to a spirit contractor—who possessed nearly infinite mana—her ability and talent were nothing special.
When she became a Mage Tower affiliate at fifteen, Lilia felt as though the whole world belonged to her.
Although her master, the Tower Master, was prickly, Lilia’s passion for magic was second to none, and those around her constantly praised her, saying she overflowed with magical talent.
She had heard that spirit contractors were stronger than mages, but intoxicated by her own power, those words never truly reached her.
That arrogance was shattered in less than a year.
The duchess—Lilia’s mother—collapsed due to a chronic illness she had long suffered from, something beyond the reach of magic.
In the end, the Duke of Shutrien spent a fortune to summon a spirit contractor named Alec from the Spirit Tower. The moment Lilia faced him, she nearly staggered, forgetting all decorum, as she realized the difference between his mana and hers was like heaven and earth.
And yet, at the same time, a sense of calm washed over her.
Mana was originally born of nature. Mages merely borrowed it. Spirit contractors were different.
It felt like gazing upon living, walking nature itself.
She desperately wanted to meet one again, but spirit contractors were not people one could easily encounter.
A year later, as if by a miracle, Lilia met Sierra von Anes, head of the Anes Trading Company and a fire spirit contractor.
Though the merchant lord disliked Lilia’s persistent pursuit, Lilia was satisfied just being near a spirit contractor.
She loved feeling the abundant mana.
Then, the day she heard Sierra had gone out to buy dresses at a salon, Lilia rushed over—and met her.
Her fated person.
[Oh, and who is this person?]
At first, she glared at the woman beside the merchant lord, who never let anyone close, feeling honestly ashamed of herself for it. But then she felt it—the immense amount of mana unique to a spirit contractor.
[And she’s a water spirit contractor. From the Spirit Tower.]
At those words from the merchant lord, Lilia stuck herself right next to the beautiful woman.
A spirit contractor.
A water spirit contractor.
Compared to one, she was insignificant, of course—but since her own magic specialized in water, she was drawn to her all the more.
The way she tied her black hair up high, the eyepatch over one eye, even the shirt and trousers she wore—everything looked amazing.
Yes.
Though she herself didn’t realize it, Lilia was already wearing dozens of rose-colored filters when she looked at Rien the spirit contractor.
“Miss Shutrien, are you listening?”
Pulled out of her sweet imagination—where Rien called her “Lilia”—by a familiar voice, Lilia subtly frowned.
“…Ah, of course.”
“That’s a relief. Come to think of it, Miss—how is His Highness the Prince doing…?”
The prince. What were they trying to poke at regarding her cousin?
Suppressing the irritation rising within her, Lilia smiled faintly.
Arianne von Eisien.
Presumed dead, no one knew where she had been or what she had been doing until five years ago, but she suddenly returned to noble society and began frequenting social gatherings.
At first, everyone was wary—but her smooth, water-colored hair, beautiful appearance, her status as a direct descendant of House Eisien, and her gentle personality soon won people over.
On top of that, she reclaimed the position of Crown Prince’s fiancée after the former Eisien lady was expelled.
It was more than enough to melt the guards of the nobles—especially the young ladies of the Crown Prince’s faction.
Before long, she even earned the laughable yet undeniable title of the flower of high society.
But no matter how captivating Arianne von Eisien was to others—even to some from the Second Prince’s faction—she wasn’t to Lilia.
Whether it was because she was a mage, or just a primal instinct, she couldn’t say, but from Lilia’s perspective, the young lady was fundamentally unsettling.
At first, it was the odd sensation that she barely felt any of the natural mana that humans usually emitted.
Because her actions and speech were perfectly gentle and beautiful, that sense of unease only grew stronger.
Later, hints of duality began to show in the young lady’s behavior.
She was kind and charming when there was something to gain. Of course, such calculation was natural in noble society—but with her, the temperature difference was stark.
Lilia noticed because she attended banquets almost daily and observed closely. To others, it would have seemed like trivial oddities.
But when those trivialities repeated, it became strange.
And Lilia was especially sensitive to others’ emotions.
To her, Arianne von Eisien looked like someone wearing a mask over her entire face.
Sometimes she behaved openly strangely, yet the young ladies around her, deeply enamored, failed to notice.
Even setting aside political necessity as a member of the Second Prince’s faction, Lilia felt no personal fondness for her.
“I’ve heard His Highness the Third Prince has been very busy searching for him…. Poor prince, suffering such a terrible thing at such a young age…. It reminds me of my own story, and it troubles my heart….”
“…His Highness will surely be found. In this empire, who would dare kidnap the Third Prince while the Second Prince is watching?”
Deliberately raising her trembling lips into a smile, Lilia spoke.
She watched her closely, wary of every move, and while Arianne left almost no openings, they weren’t nonexistent. Her actions were chillingly convincing—almost enough to deceive—but even as she dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief amid the comforting young ladies, her teal eyes remained cold.
Cunning, perhaps. Or fitting for the Crown Prince’s fiancée.
Maybe the rumors that the former Eisien lady had behaved atrociously five years ago weren’t even true.
The former Eisien lady, who rarely appeared at banquets, had been quiet and warm. Once, when Lilia was young, she got lost on the way to a lounge and ended up crying. Despite the late hour, that lady gently took her hand and helped her find the way.
She never seemed like someone capable of cruelty.
Making an excuse about prior engagements, Lilia rose from her seat with the other Second Prince–faction young ladies and lightly shook her head to clear her thoughts.
For now, think only of good things.
Thinking of meeting Rien at the banquet soon to be held, Lilia lifted the corners of her mouth high.
