Chapter 25

Translated by Niks

by

Returning from the Imperial Palace, I went straight to my room after having a quick meal.

My father and Aaron looked worriedly at me, but I couldn’t pay attention to them as my soul was already lost.

It’s true that I had no intention to care about them. Because my mind was preoccupied with two other things.

After taking a quick bath, I told Mary to leave and lay down on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Only then did I feel the sense of reality that I had left home slowly returning.

“…I must be crazy.”

Now, let’s organise it.

After going to the Queen’s funeral, I accidentally ran into the male protagonist in the garden.

What’s with this typical romance novel-like development? Well the world of novels should be like this right?

“So am I the calm type rather than being too shocked…?”

It felt like a miracle that I walked out in front of Callion.

When I remembered what I had done today, I couldn’t stop laughing at myself.

A noble who didn’t give a proper greeting to a royal, and was caught using magic.

There are two kinds of magic, light magic and magic that hides someone’s appearance.

There’s one more thing I did, giving you my ‘good luck charm‘, the ring that you threw away.

Even though Callion’s face looks dark…

“No. How could I have been so sane when seeing his tearful face?”

While trying to rationalise it, I hugged the soft pillow. There was a reason why my condition became like this.

Meeting Callion was one of the reasons, but what happened after that was a bigger cause.

“Hah…” I let out a sigh that I couldn’t swallow in the overwhelming feeling.

That voice I heard before,

The faint scenes that seemed to unfold in front of my eyes along with that voice.

What I saw was a total of three scenes.

First,

‘The Grand Duke’s not such a person. There must be some reason.’

A man who sat in an office talking to someone.

Second,

‘Definitely, the Great Prince had no intention of killing me. There was definitely a reason why the Grand Duke was on my brother’s side.’

The man muttered to himself.

And the third one,

Unlike the two voices that remained clearly in my head, the last scene, as if there was noise, was neither seen nor heard properly.

‘Magic… Curse.’

Because of the disconnected voice like a radio out of frequency, only two words were magic and curse.

And probably the person who spoke of these words was Callion.

“…It was obviously silver hair.”

There was a silver colour in the scene that passed before my eyes along with the voice.

The face of the man that couldn’t be seen properly, the scene was blurry, but as far as I know, there’s only one silver-haired person in the main and supporting roles.

It was Callion.

“But that scene never came out of the original.”

Not only can I remember, but it can’t be possible because it was originally a novel that only proceeded from Ayla’s point of view.

It’s a behind-the-scenes story that only the writer knows that there’s a possibility of speckling.

It felt like firewood was constantly being put in the fire that was already burning.

No matter how hard it was to believe, I’m already here.

I may not be able to understand or know all the principles and reasons for the phenomenon in which the scene suddenly appeared in my head.

However, I couldn’t miss even a speckling variable, and I strongly thought that this strange situation would serve as a stepping stone for the future.

‘Was it a real behind-the-scenes story?’

If this was a story behind the original that the readers didn’t know…

If so, then what I expected would be true.

There must be a reason why my family became the villain.

At the same time, even a new fact that my father had no intention of killing Callion.

There was more hidden truth behind the poor explanation of the original that he had a runaway while fighting the male lead.

“He was pretending, but he didn’t mean to kill him…”, My father didn’t sincerely pretend to kill Callion. For some reason, he seemed to have sided with the first prince.

Does he have any weaknesses?

Weak enough that the Empress and the first Prince could hold and make my father waver.

“I think it has something to do with the last words…”

The magic and curse that I heard in the last scene kept me thinking.

“…So was it a curse using magic?”

There were some types of magic that cast a curse. It wasn’t that it’s efficiency was particularly good, but the preference was low.

If they threatened my father with such curse magic…

“Hmm… It doesn’t make sense.”

Maybe I’ll have to ask Fern to know for sure, but it’s basically impossible to cast a curse spell on a Sword Master.

Besides, my father was a magic swordsman.

‘If the last scene was clear, I could have gotten more information.’

It was terribly painful, but I thought that if I could get a clue to change the future, I would go through it again and again.

An idea that was complex enough has now become quite a mess.

From unexpected meetings to strange phenomena.

After receiving excessive information, my body complained of fatigue.

“I was so tired that I had to go through so many things in one day…”

Once I became aware of it, I became tired and sleepy.

“Tomorrow..I’ll have to ask Fern.”

After muttering like that, Erita fell asleep.

✿

“Fern, would you like to go for a walk with me?”

“Yes?”

“Umm… I have something to tell you.”

“Hmm… The lady wants to walk with me, so it’s better to agree.”

For a moment, he made a silly face at my sudden request.

Fern, who said yes in an exaggerated way, glanced at my father.

Looking at the shape of the crowbar, It was obvious that he would receive a pile of work for that, but that wasn’t my concern right now.

“Erita, if you want to walk, let’s go with your father.”

“Oh no!”

My father, who was trying to get up from his seat, faltered at my firm answer.

Normally I would not refuse, but now I really needed Fern.

‘Did I say it too straightforwardly?’

I felt guilty for refusing my father, who stiffened, but I couldn’t help it because the reason I visited my father’s office in the morning was Fern.

“Aha! I think you like me better than your father, right?”

As Fern burst into laughter, my father’s frown in an instant.

“I have something to ask of Fern.”

“…I see.”

“I’ll be back soon!”

But I was in a hurry to talk to Fern, so I carefully intervened between the two. I’ll have to apologise to my father later.

If it didn’t work out, I was determined to use the secret weapon I had hidden.

Why don’t I just sell the chives?

“…Let’s go.”

“Your Highness, I’ll enjoy a leisurely walk. Haha.”

“Erita, if Fern does something strange, call your father right away.”

“Ahaha… I will.”

If his eyes were a sword, Fern would have been already stabbed.

Father’s face became different like heaven and hell at once because Fern didn’t stop teasing him until the moment we left the office.

“…Something might happen later.”

“I don’t know, maybe I’ll get hit.”

“Haha! The Lord has a bigger heart than the sea, so it will be fine.”

Were you deliberately pretending not to know that or you really don’t know?

He was only strict because he wanted me to be safe.

Fern’s liver must be twice as large as the average.

‘After all, I shouldn’t talk about the expression on my father’s face I saw earlier.’

It was after arriving at the garden as we talked about unhealthy things.

“Now, you can say it. I’m curious what you’re going to ask.”

At the same time as he said those, Fern cast a magic that surrounds us.

It was a sound-blocking magic that prevented the outside from hearing our conversations.

Fern smiled as he had noticed my intention.

“You’re sensitive to magic, too. I was confident in my own magic without chanting.”

If you’re confident in yourself, what would the other wizards be?

“Ah. I heard there are very few wizards who are better at magic than Fern?”

“Haha. That’s too much.”

Oh, why don’t you brag about yourself…?

“Aren’t there one or two more?”

That can’t be…

Seeing Fern smiling brightly, an empty smile came out of nowhere.

Being sly, cold, serious, wse almost the level of quadruple personality.

Of course, he was on my list of favourites, but Fern was a hard-to-find character anyway.

“Umm… Do you know anything about curse magic?”

“What? Curse magic?”

There was a crack on Fern’s smile. After a moment of silence, he asked in a bewildered voice.

“Yes. Curse magic. Of all the people I know, Fern’s the only one I could ask.”

I recalled it more clearly this time. There’s also a way to find and read books in the library, but that’s too inefficient.

“Why are you suddenly asking about curse magic?” Fern asked in a subtle voice.

Right, I haven’t thought about that.

It didn’t even cross my mind when I came in the morning and asked about the curse, people would naturally think it was strange.

“I’m just curious…”

“Hmm… What else is there to be curious about, not any other magic, but cursing magic?”

As I smiled awkwardly and avoided the answer, Fern’s eyes narrowed. I feel like I’m being questioned for some reason.

“No, but you don’t have to look at me like that.”

Oh! I should have prepared a plausible excuse. A life in which you run out hastily and get questioned.

Rather than making vague excuses here, it would be better to just say something out of curiosity, right? ‘Cause I’m still ten years old.’

“I’m really just curious, so…”

Fortunately, Fern’s face returned as usual as I was sweating. I still seem suspicious.

“Well, there must be a good reason for that.”

“Haha, yes. Ri-right. That’s right!”

Nodding to agree, I clenched my fist.

Of course there’s a reason he couldn’t even think of. It was the moment I was about to fall into thought again.

“So what exact curse magic are you curious about?”

“It’s a curse magic that works even for the Sword Master.”

I’m afraid I’ll miss the chance, so I replied quickly… The problem was that the words were too straight.

Was it my imagination that the blood seemed to drain from Fern’s face?

“Ah, so it’s a magic that works even for strong people…”

Erita added excuses, but somehow it took on a strange shape.

‘Ah, why are the words coming out from my mouth like this since yesterday? It’s driving me crazy.’

There’s only one Sword Master close to me.

A person who’s also a very strong sword master.

“…Did His Highness make any mistake to the young lady?”

“No!”

Unsurprisingly, I screamed at the mention of my father, who came out of Fern’s mouth.

What a terrible thing to say! I’m doing this to save him right now!

“It’s not really like that, so you shouldn’t tell my father! Really…!”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course! Why would I do such a thing to my father in the first place…”

I took a deep breath to calm myself at his strangely twisted words.

After we had promised not to tell anyone, we started the conversation in earnest. And what I got from the story was a bigger clue than I thought.

To the extent that it overturns all the hypotheses I have established so far.

It was the moment when the definite direction of my plan was set. Since then, the things I have to do are clear.

First of all, I needed the strength to face the enemy. For that, I’d need financial support.

And also learn about black magic. If it’s true, I should prepare a countermeasure for it.

There was no time to waste in order to achieve the goal. I had to prepare thoroughly even for many years that’s yet to come.