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Chapter – 08
When the year changed and April arrived, Raphael miraculously returned.
I no longer believed that such a kind and clever child could have been abandoned after just half a year, but at the time, all I felt was relief that he was alive.
I had almost committed a grave sin against Raphael.
From the day the three of us secretly went out to pick wild strawberries, he had started liking my name.
I didn’t know my exact birthday.
So every year, when April came, Milligent celebrated my birthday every single day with all sorts of delicious food and small gifts.
It was probably to make sure I could never hate my own name again—or to make it impossible for me to entertain thoughts of dying out of guilt.
Thus, every day in April became my birthday.
But do you think I would just sit idly by and let Milligent die?
Absolutely not.
Even if I, Wizard A, were to die, such a thing would never happen.
“Wizard.”
At the same time, Calision took off his robe and handed it to Marin.
Marin frowned at the sentence without a subject.
“…Excuse me?”
“I mean the princess. The wizard.”
Calision elaborated slightly, but Marin’s frown didn’t change.
“You’re talking about Her Highness, the Princess of Bristle, right?”
Calision pulled his lips into a satisfied smile.
“You know I hate being touched by others.”
“Y-yes. And if you were going to say something inhuman like ‘I feel uncomfortable with other people’s body heat,’ I’d appreciate it if you refrained.”
Marin said reluctantly, and Calision chuckled.
“I just hate that sticky feeling. Wizards are especially bad. Unpleasantly hot, really.”
Marin subtly shook her head.
“…You’re not reacting this way just because the princess’s body temperature is slightly higher than others, are you? Perhaps she’s feeling unwell today.”
“Of course not.”
Calision answered confidently, slowly spreading his ten fingers one by one, then closing them again.
“I move my fingers like this whenever I’m flustered. Just like the old mage of the tower.”
Marin, still expressionless, asked again.
“The mage of the tower is a flame wizard who appears once every few hundred years. Are you saying the princess is the same?”
Calision shook his head lightly.
“Of course not.”
Then, as if casually predicting a dinner menu, he said.
“It’s probably a minor ability. Seeing as it happens whenever she senses danger, it’s likely protective in nature. What’s important…”
He wiped the smile off his face entirely.
“The fact that Bristle has kept this hidden for so long. Even we couldn’t uncover it after investigating the princess thoroughly. That’s how meticulous they’ve been.”
“Are you certain?”
Marin’s face darkened at a truth she did not want to believe.
It was far too dangerous a secret for the princess to hide behind that innocent face.
That a vassal state had kept the heir’s magical talent secret and never registered her at the Imperial Mage Tower was extremely serious.
But Calision just nodded calmly.
Marin spoke heavily.
“…If your guess is correct and Her Highness has magical power, she should have been registered at the Mage Tower long ago.”
“Exactly.”
Calision’s violet eyes gleamed sharply like a predator about to strike.
“There was a sufficient reason for her to suffer as much as I have.”
“Perhaps she was too unwell to enroll at the Mage Tower.”
Marin suggested another possibility, but the crown prince was already lost in thought.
Could it be that she has come now to confess her identity and ask for forgiveness?
It would be somewhat annoying, but if that’s the case, it would be nice if the princess had some useful ability. Not that it would be used often, but it would be fun.
Originally, this banquet was clearly planned by her uncle, Duke Artsen, to formally present the prime minister’s daughter to the crown prince.
So Bristle suddenly deciding to attend ten days before the banquet must have taken Duke Artsen by surprise as well.
The situation was unfolding quite amusingly, so how could Calision not enjoy it?
He chuckled, thinking about the trivial mystery that was solved in just a single day.
“When you smile when no one’s watching, it somehow sends chills down my spine,” Marin said.
She sighed as she saw the crown prince’s violet eyes sparkle unnaturally. Whenever this happened, something exhausting always seemed to follow.
“Even if all of this turns out to be true, it’s actually the fault of the Prince of Bristle, so you should take the proper steps to exact compensation. And gently torment the newly-adult princess,” Marin thought.
Even if she were truly a wizard, this was an untouchable area—even the tower master could become the offender here. In Marin’s mind, the princess remained a delicate existence.
“Torment her?”
Calision’s smile hardened, and he answered firmly.
“If all these suspicions turn out true, I’ll marry the princess.”
“Excuse me?”
Marin was shocked, but Calision looked serious.
“Nothing wrong with that, right? I don’t want to marry Hilais, and the princess would want to marry into the royal family to continue hiding her magical talent.”
“And Bristle is wealthy?”
Calision tugged at his lips again, neither confirming nor denying.
To Marin, the tiny princess didn’t seem like a powerful wizard at all—only somewhat pitiable.
Calision casually proposed,
“Shall we go stargazing now?”
Marin sighed at yet another secret matter intruding into their routine.
“Are you not tired from receiving guests?”
“What are you talking about? I was stiff and cramped from sitting in the carriage all the time.”
Marin handed him a longsword with a delicate smile. The next month would be even busier.
The next day, Calision escorted me straight to Princess Alexandra’s path, just as he had the day before.
To me, who had never even been near this area in my life, the extravagant and crowded princess path was dazzlingly fascinating.
But I struggled to fit myself into the mold of a princess, reflecting on the mistakes I made in the garden the previous day.
A princess shouldn’t want cheap trinkets from street stalls, nor respond to a merchant’s silly sales pitch.
Even if that merchant was Jane, an assistant at the lace workshop across from our guild office, I couldn’t show surprise.
Jane called out as she usually did across from our guild office:
“Hand-stitched, artisan-quality, finest lace from Yustini!”
In fact, the day before entering the royal city, Raphael had snuck away from Clementine to find me and said seriously:
“Now that Milligent has been taken away, I can’t stand the thought of you being trapped in the royal city for a month.”
I shook my head firmly at Raphael.
“I still have to go. Milligent is my lifesaver. You know that.”
“Yeah, I know. But if I were to sneak in with you, we’d all end up dragged along by this sinister client.”
Raphael sighed and unfolded a map, pointing to a straight path through the center of the royal city.
“This is Princess Alexandra’s path. Security is just as strict as elsewhere in the city, but any member of a merchant guild can bid for a spot and set up a stall.”
I tilted my head.
“Raphael, I get your intentions, but now isn’t the time for that…”
“If you pay a few times the usual premium, you can buy a spot that’s already been won and enter immediately. This is the only way. If I can’t hear any news from you for a whole month, I…”
He continued, looking somber.
“I wouldn’t be able to bear it. Without Milligent, I couldn’t stand such a situation.”
“…It could be dangerous.”
“The most dangerous thing in this mission is you, April. You’ll be in the royal city. In a way, you’re in more danger than Milligent.”
He repeated the nagging he had already said several times, then added:
“I won’t go in. Magical tools aren’t allowed, and it’s the same on Princess Path. Someone has to stay behind and handle what’s left.”
Reluctantly, I nodded, and Raphael concluded:
“I’ll send in someone who can act as a source of information as soon as possible. Someone who can recognize you, but in case, someone not too personally close. Too much attention would be dangerous.”
And so, Jane was apparently chosen.
