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Chapter 11
The roses pinned into her half-braided hair came loose and fell in a flutter, like a shower of petals. Crushed beneathfoot, they looked almost like drops of blood….
“Alex.”
Cecilia forced her way through the violently surging mana and reached Alexis, wrapping her arms tightly around him. Just like that, she whispered his name.
“Alex.”
She held his unsteady body firmly, burying the boy’s face against her chest.
Until color returned to those vacant violet eyes—she stayed that way, over and over again….
“Alex.”
“……”
“Alex.”
She did nothing more than repeat his name.
As the mana gradually settled and focus returned to his dulled gaze—
“Thank goodness.”
Cecilia smiled beautifully and collapsed unconscious.
“It was Camille Vernet.”
At the name spoken by the reconnaissance mages who had arrived late, Armand and Marisa pressed their fingers to their temples.
Half to hide their expressions, and half because their insides were truly rotting away.
“Hah.”
The one who let out a mocking laugh was the boy who had just demonstrated the miracle of regaining his senses after a rampage.
The prince leaned crookedly against the wall, raking a hand through his hair. The irritation filling his eyes weighed heavily on the air around them.
“I knew something felt irritating.”
“……Um, setting that aside, Your Highness.”
Cielsha Dufer spoke carefully.
The boy gave a rough nod, then tipped his head back to rest it against the wall.
His exposed throat revealed a clear weakness, yet rather than seeming vulnerable, he looked endlessly strong.
The next sun of Lucerne… the Empire’s future really is bright, she thought.
But how was she supposed to begin?
Before Cielsha could even finish choosing her words, the prince’s lips parted and he spoke a single, curt sentence.
“I’m going.”
“Alex!”
“Alex!”
The Emperor and Empress rose at the same time in protest. As they tried to speak further, Alexis waved them off.
“This morning, Yulike said it. That it’s starting to become too much.”
“……But, Alex. Wouldn’t accelerating the imprinting be—”
“That’s exactly why.”
At her son’s resolute voice, Marisa crumbled, her expression devastated.
He was only twelve.
No matter how immense his mana was, that child—her son—was only twelve years old.
“Since the citizens of Saint-Laurent clearly witnessed my rampage anyway—”
“You don’t have to think about it that rationally—”
“They’re going to demand countermeasures regardless.”
Armand tried to interject, but at Alexis’s rebuttal, he could only grip his pen tightly.
His son already had a poor reputation.
If he’d known this would happen, he should have stopped the boy somehow when his reputation was being damaged.
No matter how bitterly he regretted it now, it was too late.
After a rampage like that, letting it slide would surely invite criticism from Saint-Laurent’s citizens.
In the long term, it would also become a problem once Alexis ascended the throne.
“The Mage Tower is the answer.”
Only the boy’s calm voice echoed through the room.
“Black hair—hah. That’s what they say.”
Because he had black hair, he was inducted as an imperial princess? Nonsense.
That child’s hair was silver. Moonlight-bright, radiant—hair he knew all too well.
Perhaps because he’d taken a direct hit from overwhelming mana, his entire body was wrecked. Collapsed on the ground, coughing up blood, the blue-eyed man ground his teeth fiercely.
“Damn it… that brat….”
For now, recovery came first.
When Cecilia opened her eyes again, it was evening.
She blinked slowly, watching the crimson glow of sunset brush against the ceiling.
As she lifted her hand, a soft vermilion shimmer rippled around her pale, slender fingertips.
Alexis, who had been sitting quietly beside her, reached out.
Their fingers intertwined; the backs of their hands and palms met. The hand covering hers was soft as cotton—and unusually warm.
“Alex.”
The boy’s lips twitched slightly. Bathed in the darkened crimson light, his hesitation was unmistakable, and Cecilia smiled faintly.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Thanks to you, sis.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Don’t ever do that again.”
“As if I would.”
At that, Alexis closed his lips primly, as if conceding defeat.
Cecilia rolled around on the bed to make space, then beckoned him to come up.
Ignoring the dumbfounded look on his face, she shamelessly urged him on.
With a short sigh, Alexis fastened the top two buttons of his shirt and slowly climbed onto the bed.
He reached out and stroked her hair in a steady rhythm.
“Sis, want to take a walk in the garden?”
“You just want an excuse to get off the bed, don’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Tch. Serene Garden?”
“Yeah. Serene.”
When they stepped into the garden, the wavering red light flooded the surroundings.
The sun’s farewell to the world.
Hadn’t they said such vividly crimson sunsets symbolized the departure of a noble soul?
“Sis.”
When she slowly turned her head, she saw twilight shading Alexis’s lips, as if a piece of dusk had been cut and laid there.
“I’ll give you your birthday present now.”
“Oh my. You’re right—you haven’t yet. Hand it over.”
When she teased him, Alexis snorted softly and raised one eyebrow.
At her feigned ignorance, he shook his head as if giving in.
The boy let out a short whistle, and soon, with a rustling sound, a pure white shape appeared on the garden path.
…Hm. A puppy?
“Woof!”
The cheerful bark confirmed her guess.
The white blur came bounding over and pounced on Alexis, mercilessly knocking him over.
As a rough tongue licked his face all over, the boy flailed, trying to push the puppy away.
“Hey, your owner’s over here.”
“Woof!”
“Say hello, sis. This is Alisha. Alisha, you have to behave.”
Cecilia carefully reached out a hand toward the puppy. Its fur was exceptionally white and fluffy, clearly marking it as a giant Samoyed.
Its moist black nose and panting pink tongue gave it an overall gentle impression.
The puppy barked a couple of times.
The wariness melted from its pitch-black eyes, and it began licking her hand affectionately.
“Oh my, how cute.”
“Her name is Alisha. Got it?”
As Alexis emphasized again, the puppy barked loudly, as if declaring it understood its name.
Cecilia burst into laughter and plopped down beside them.
“Nice to meet you, Alisha.”
She shook the puppy’s snowy paw like a handshake.
As Alisha wagged her tail energetically in response, Alexis slowly stood up and looked down at the two of them.
“Sis.”
At the sudden call, Cecilia tilted her head and looked up.
“I’m going to the Mage Tower. I’ll have to stay there for about seven years.”
“…What?”
Her eyes widened in shock. Her strength drained so suddenly she nearly staggered—had she been standing, she might have collapsed outright. The blow was so great she couldn’t speak for a while.
“I’ll come back after seven years. My mana’s increased too much—they said the Rive Academy can’t handle it anymore.”
Alexis was infuriatingly calm.
She was the only one spiraling into panic, her lips moving uselessly.
She was so stunned that not even her voice would come out.
Only the pounding of her heart rang in her ears, like tinnitus.
Alex.
“H–But. Th–That, uh—”
“You don’t need to worry that much.”
“N–No, but….”
Unable to find words, she fumbled and called only his name.
“Alex?”
No answer came.
A heavy silence fell, so thick she could almost hear the sunset fade away. Even in the dimness, the curve of the boy’s red lips was painfully clear.
That smile looked achingly tender—and desperately parched.
Cecilia couldn’t even blink.
It was strange.
This was the brother she thought she knew so well, yet now he felt impossibly distant—beyond her reach.
She hesitated, stopping herself from calling his name again.
Only the warm weight of the white puppy in her arms grounded her in reality.
“Sister.”
It was strange.
Truly—not simply because the form of address had changed.
Cecilia stared up at him, unable to gather her expression.
“Will you wait for me?”
It was the same question he had asked when he left before her debutante ball.
But unlike then, the answer didn’t come quickly this time. Seeing her hesitation, the boy’s smile deepened subtly.
A foreign smile she had never seen before.
Her mouth felt dry, and her voice wouldn’t come out properly. The delicate skin behind her ears burned.
As she remained silent for so long, Alexis waited without a word.
It felt the same as that morning.
Turning over that endlessly confusing feeling in her heart, Cecilia finally forced out an answer.
“…Yeah. I’ll wait.”
“……”
“Of course.”
Ah. She thought she understood the reason for her hesitation now.
Because she sensed that when they reunited seven years from now—no matter how—it felt as though their relationship would inevitably change.
Of course it would. This would likely be the last time she ever saw the “boy” named Alexis.
When she reached out her hand, he naturally took it.
The familiar warmth and gentleness gradually calmed her wildly racing heart.
Yes. This dazzlingly beautiful time may be ending—but the time they would share seven years from now would surely be beautiful too.
It had to be. Beautiful enough to ache.
Cecilia brushed away the suffocating sense of unease.
Smiling as brightly, as beautifully as she could, she offered a promise born of anxiety.
“I mean it. I’ll wait for you—no matter how long, Alex.”
It was a promise that settled deep into the soul.
