YLFN 12

Chapter 12

Early in the morning, just a little past six-thirty.

I had woken up at dawn and was already urging the butler, Gerald, along.

“Here—this is everything!”

Panting for breath, Gerald dumped several different newspapers in a heap in front of me.

“I even called in the servants and had them scour everything from top to bottom, so this should be all of them, miss!”

Good-natured Gerald had been running around since dawn, yet there wasn’t a trace of resentment toward me in his expression. Instead, he spoke with confident pride.

“Thank you, Gerry.”

“Oh, no need for thanks! If it’s a request from you, miss, I’d do anything! More importantly—”

I let Gerald’s lecture go in one ear and out the other as I briskly spread the newspapers out and began checking them.

The bed, which had been perfectly neat just moments ago, was quickly buried under the unfolded pages.

“I’ve told you time and time again! Pulling all-nighters is bad for you. A young lady who’s still growing needs proper sleep and proper meals!”

Gerald poured out words of warmth no one else in this household ever gave me.

“Ever since you came to the capital, you’ve been eating like a bird! At this rate, you won’t grow properly, miss!”

With Gerald’s rambling voice playing like background music, I finished checking every morning paper I’d brought in.

Phew.

Only after confirming that everything was clean—just as I’d hoped—did I finally respond to him.

“Gerry, I’m already twenty-three.”

My growth period ended a long time ago. And compared to my previous life, I’d even grown just a little taller.

By any standard, I could confidently say I’d grown up just fine.

As for why I ate like a bird—it was because Lucas would scold me the moment I gained even a little weight, accusing me of being lax with my self-management.

‘Alisha, you’re strict with me, but do you think it’s okay for you to live carelessly?’

After difficult lessons, Lucas would always grumble and try to pick at me.

Thanks to him, I was managing my weight as harshly as the idols from my previous life.

‘If you’re going to stay by my side as my childhood friend in the future, you need to manage yourself too. Don’t you agree? I’m saying this because I care about you. I hate the idea of you not being able to proudly call yourself my childhood friend over something so trivial.’

Another short sigh escaped me.

Why was it that words I normally wouldn’t think much of suddenly made my stomach churn, like I’d eaten something wrong?

Relieved that my slightly trembling legs were hidden beneath my skirt, I spoke to Gerald in a reassuring tone.

“And as for staying up all night… well, I didn’t have a choice. His Highness Lucas is appearing in front of others, and preparations for that day were rushed.”

In truth, I’d been busy suppressing articles about yesterday’s incident.

But instead of being reassured, Gerald’s brows drooped in disappointment.

“I know very well how kind-hearted you are, miss. But it still makes me sad. Sleep is precious, day by day.”

Then, as if making me promise, he added,

“At the very least, once you wake up, you must promise me you’ll eat a proper meal, all right, miss?”

“Okay.”

Only then did Gerald smile in relief and nod.

He neatly gathered the newspapers scattered across the bed, placed them on the bedside table, and drew the curtains as if urging me to rest.

After Gerald left, I changed into my nightclothes with my heavy body and collapsed face-down onto the bed.

“…I really feel like I’m going to die. I guess it really was too much.”

Maybe because the tension finally eased, my hands trembled slightly.

After returning from parting with Lucas yesterday, I’d locked myself in my room the entire time.

All to prevent the absurd clash between the two princes that had erupted among so many people.

‘Not causing trouble, my foot. That’s rich, Joshua Medelreik.’

A resentful thought toward the one person I hadn’t held back against yesterday slipped out.

No—no matter how I looked at it, that was a petty thought.

The one who caused the incident wasn’t Prince Joshua, but Lucas.

‘But still… it’s not like Prince Joshua can complain about being resented by me, right?’

Clutching the blanket tightly, I stayed sprawled on the bed.

My body was exhausted, yet my head was so full of thoughts that sleep wouldn’t come easily.

‘He was testing me.’

Prince Joshua didn’t fully believe in the hero “Luca Delic.”

He probably suspected that I was the one behind it all.

That must be why he deliberately pulled that stunt yesterday.

The man known as the “perfect prince”—gentle, flawless, with no discernible weaknesses—would really do something that careless in front of others?

With me caught in the middle, no less?

‘That would be such a waste. He’s avoided even a single scandal all this time to choose the person most helpful for the crown prince position.’

And on top of that, he’d looked at me with such earnest affection just recently.

The more I thought about it, the more Prince Joshua felt unfair.

And yet, a bitter smile escaped me.

‘…I keep thinking about Prince Joshua.’

Because he felt overwhelmingly immense.

Compared to Lucas, who’d be lucky to use even half his brain properly…

‘He’s just… too big.’

And since he must have checked the morning papers today as well, he’d noticed by now.

Blinking my heavy eyelids, I muttered resentfully toward Prince Joshua.

“Are you satisfied now… that you know who I really am?”

At the same moment my words left my lips, a soft breeze brushed gently past my hair.

Warm sunlight flickered as if caressing the back of my hand.

Smiling at the familiar, almost adorable phenomenon, I closed my eyes.

“…It’s okay. I’m fine. You helped me a lot.”

As if they understood my words, the wind and warm light tickled my cheeks and forehead.

The familiar sound of the breeze.
The comforting warmth of the light.

And the reason I—a mere marquis’s daughter—had been able to raise the hero “Luca Delic” so successfully.

It was because I was a spirit contractor who wielded light and wind.

The Iland Empire, where I was born, had once been famous as a land of spirit contractors and mages.

The founding emperor himself had been a spirit contractor, and his closest friend a mage.

But now, after hundreds of years had passed, that was nothing more than an old tale.

Even the descendants of the founding emperor, who was said to have contracted with the four Spirit Kings, could no longer commune with spirits—most couldn’t even sense them.

Meanwhile, mages had built mage towers and remained quite active… while spirit contractors were nearly extinct.

And yet, Prince Joshua had tried to confirm that I was one.

‘It was only a matter of time.’

After all, the Blante Marquisate was one of those rare spirit-contractor families.

Unlike other houses that required digging back several generations to find traces of spirit contractors, Blante still produced one spirit contractor per generation.

That was also why the family retained a certain degree of power despite staying largely uninvolved in central politics.

‘And Lucas doesn’t even know.’

It was honestly absurd.

My childhood friend, who’d been with me since we were young, thought I was simply managing funds as a marquis’s daughter to make things work.

Yet a complete stranger I’d only just met upon coming to the capital noticed—and even tested me.

‘…I thought it would be fine because I have my brother.’

While not absolute, for the past hundred years or so, the Blante family had never produced more than one spirit contractor per generation.

Always just one.

Because of that, regardless of birth order, the child born with spirit power became the heir by tradition.

‘That’s why I hid it even more.’

I had no intention whatsoever of competing for succession with my terrifying older brother.

And besides—his contracted spirit was none other than the Spirit King of Fire.

How was wind and light supposed to defeat fire?

I didn’t want to fight a battle I couldn’t win.

‘…And yet here I am, picking fights with Prince Joshua.’

Another sigh escaped me.

Really—what was fandom, anyway? I’d been in the capital less than a week, and I was already forcing the spirits to work overtime.

I hadn’t even fully grasped the nature of the wind and light here yet.

But I had no choice.

To disrupt reporters’ hearing, to scatter spirits around and render any film taken nearby unusable—

Even the conversation between the two princes had been distorted by bending the wind so the sound couldn’t carry properly.

‘Seriously, truly, all of this is the Medelreik imperial family’s fault!’

Prince Joshua and Lucas—both of them belonged to that family!

Finally compromising with a mind that was starting to calm down, I tried earnestly to fall asleep.

Please—just once—let Lucas not cause trouble and carry out today’s event properly, just as we planned.

Holding onto that modest hope.

But my hopes rarely ever come true.

Whenever I start to relax, Lucas always finds a way to cause an incident and stress me out.

“Miss, it is this humble butler’s modest wish that you focus solely on your meal while eating.”

When I woke up, it was already an awkward point in the afternoon, so I was having an early dinner while unfolding the evening paper.

Gerald’s scolding came as expected, and the marquisate’s head chef’s cooking was as excellent as ever—but I couldn’t focus on the food at all.

“…What is this?”

Because Lucas—

Had thoroughly destroyed my carefully laid plans.