Chapter 106

When Caldeon and Enria arrived at the infirmary with Hayden, the black magic lingering around Belona had already disappeared.

 

“What happened?”

 

At Enria’s startled question, Roseanne, eyes swollen from crying, gestured toward Belona, who was staring blankly out the window.

 

“She undid it herself.”

 

“By herself?”

 

Enria’s eyes widened as Roseanne nodded and looked back at Belona.

 

“She must have realized she doesn’t need black magic anymore. Maybe she finally understood what truly honors the lover she lost—or she somehow managed to endure that unbearable torment.”

 

“……”

 

“So… she’s back to normal?”

 

Caldeon asked, still holding Hayden as he looked at Belona.

 

Seeing no trace of the black magic that had surrounded her until recently, it was easy to assume she had returned to normal.

 

“There’s no black magic left around her.”

 

“Gone,” Hayden echoed immediately after Caldeon.

 

“Hayden, you’re not supposed to put that in your mouth.”

 

Caldeon gently pulled the boy’s index and middle fingers out of his mouth. Hayden frowned, immediately trying to put them back in.

 

“It’s for putting in mouth.”

 

“No, it’s not.”

 

“Mommy, hold me. Daddy doesn’t let me do anything. I hate him.”

 

As Caldeon took the fingers out again, raising an eyebrow, Hayden—looking annoyed—held his arms out to Enria instead.

 

Enria picked him up and spoke kindly.

 

“He’s stopping you because it’s not good for you. Sucking your fingers isn’t a good habit, Hayden.”

 

“I can fix it later. I just want to do it now.”

 

But the moment Hayden nestled against her, he slipped his fingers back into his mouth. Caldeon naturally reached over and removed them again before speaking to Enria.

 

“Since it looks like we don’t need Hayden’s ability after all, we should head back.”

 

“Ah, yes.”

 

Enria looked back toward Belona with a worried expression before turning toward the door. Roseanne followed her out, and Enria quietly asked if it was alright to leave Belona alone. Closing the infirmary door behind them, Roseanne whispered: “She cried a lot. She needs time to calm down.”

 

Enria’s eyes widened slightly at “cried a lot.”

 

“I told her—would Groen really be happy seeing her mistake someone else for him like that?”

 

Roseanne went on, explaining how Belona had broken down in tears at those words. She spoke with pity, but firm conviction.

 

“If she keeps hiding from reality because she wants him alive… then Groen would only be sad watching from above.”

 

“…….”

 

“She’d been struggling with it on her own already, I think.”

 

She must have collapsed because that single sentence forced her to face what she had been avoiding. Losing someone you love clouds your judgment, and the grief had simply been too much.

 

Enria thought of Belona, who had chosen lies over reality, and felt a pang of sorrow imagining how the remnants of the devoured soul had become her last thin lifeline.

 

“Anyway, the important thing is she’s regained her senses. But are we sure the black magic is really gone?”

 

Caldeon suddenly realized he might have overlooked something and asked. Roseanne nodded.

 

“What was left was just residue inside her, and once she let it go, it disappeared naturally.”

 

Caldeon stopped in his tracks, frowning slightly.

 

“Maybe we should check again.”

 

“I checked. It’s gone.”

 

Hayden, wide-eyed in Enria’s arms, spoke before Roseanne could. Caldeon looked at him.

 

“You checked?”

 

Hayden nodded quickly.

 

“It was black magic that had already left the sorcerer. It couldn’t have lasted long.”

 

He continued, sounding unexpectedly grown-up.

 

“Belona only used the remnants trapped inside her with her light attribute. So when the light mage released the black magic she’d been constraining, it naturally dissolved.”

 

“Ah. I see.”

 

Caldeon nodded, satisfied.

 

Roseanne, who had been staring at Hayden speaking in unexpectedly adult phrasing despite his childish lisp, felt a strange sense of dissonance tugging at her.

 

“I’ll take Hayden back and return to my office. Enria, what will you do?”

 

“I’ll give Belona some time, then go check on her.”

 

“Good. Don’t go in alone—just in case.”

 

It wasn’t that he doubted Belona’s recovery, but caution never hurt. He took Hayden back into his arms.

 

Despite having complained moments ago that “Daddy never lets me do anything,” Hayden hugged Caldeon’s neck happily and waved at Enria and Roseanne.

 

Roseanne, still watching the child, turned to Enria and asked, “Tea?”

 

When Enria nodded, they headed to the parlor. The strange feeling Roseanne had been sensing only grew.

 

“About Hayden.”

 

As soon as they sat, Roseanne finally gave in to curiosity.

 

“He speaks… too well. Not the fluency—just the vocabulary, the structure. He felt different today.”

 

She wasn’t sure how it sounded, but she couldn’t shake the sense that Hayden seemed oddly mature.

 

Enria thought carefully. She couldn’t reveal Hayden’s secret. But Roseanne was the original heroine and a trusted ally—yet Hayden’s matter was too sensitive to share freely.

 

Caught between the two thoughts, Enria hesitated. But before she could answer, Roseanne sighed with a small laugh and sipped her tea.

 

“Maybe I’m overreacting.”

 

Roseanne admitted she had never raised a child, so she had no sense of what was fast or slow. Still, Hayden didn’t seem to follow the usual norms.

 

Enria nodded.

 

“He was born and raised in the spirit village. He’s bound to be different.”

 

It was the safest excuse she could use without discussing anything with Caldeon.

 

“Ah… right. I forget that sometimes.”

 

Roseanne nodded.

 

Staring out the window for a moment, Enria murmured softly, thinking back on the days she had worried about Hayden’s slow speech and late walking.

 

“Honestly, I wondered too.”

 

Then she quickly decided to change the subject.

 

“How are things with Lord Tearen?”

 

Roseanne blinked, startled. Just the mention of his name made her cheeks turn pink. Enria thought she looked unmistakably charmed.

 

She recalled how Roseanne had once loved Caldeon with that same fierce devotion in the original story, and wondered if she loved Tearen with that same wholehearted intensity now.

 

“There’s nothing… really. Nothing happened, but…”

 

Roseanne trailed off, then, a bit embarrassed, continued:

 

“This might just be in my head, but… I feel like Lord Tearen might like me too.”

 

“Really?”

 

Light sparked in Enria’s eyes as Roseanne, suddenly bright again, began recounting recent moments.

 

“He worries about me a lot. It’s natural since I’m his friend’s sister, but—no, even considering that, it feels like more.”

 

“Seriously?”

 

“Yeah. And when I got in a little danger, he got really angry.”

 

“Ah, Caldeon is like that too.”

 

“Right? That made me think of Caldeon. He’s relentless when it comes to you. No flexibility at all.”

 

That was true. Caldeon treated Enria like fragile glass, unable to tolerate even the slightest risk.

 

“And lately… Lord Tearen feels like that.”

 

“Really? He worries that much?”

 

“Yeah. Like Caldeon does with you. Maybe it’s nothing, but… that’s how it felt.”

 

Her cheeks flushed even deeper as she talked.

 

Enria grabbed her hands, beaming.

 

“That’s wonderful.”

 

Roseanne smiled just as brightly at Enria’s genuine joy.

 

“I even thought… maybe I should take the chance and try. But I’m afraid he’ll reject me.”

 

Enria immediately recalled Tearen’s philosophy: he never stops someone who comes, and never chases someone who leaves.

 

Which meant he wouldn’t stop Roseanne—but she couldn’t say that.

 

Still, Enria felt Tearen would accept her.

 

So she looked at Roseanne, eyes shining.

 

“I think you should try.”

 

Enria knew meddling in someone else’s romance wasn’t wise, but she wanted Roseanne to be happy. And if Roseanne and Tearen did get together, they could even go on double dates.

 

Most of all, it would eliminate the lingering unease she still carried from the original novel. For Enria, Roseanne and Tearen becoming a couple had become something she wished just as much as Roseanne herself.