Chapter 114

“Those two really do look perfect together, don’t they?”

 

“They do. Hayden really resembles them a lot.”

 

Roseanne and Tearen were chatting animatedly in front of the portrait of Caldeon, Enria, and Hayden.

 

The large portrait was hung midway up the staircase between the second-floor office and the third-floor bedroom.

 

The butler and Arsen had suggested hanging it on the first floor, while Fyoren and Chavel thought it would be best placed between the first and second floors where the office was. But Caldeon, saying that he wanted to see Enria’s face even on the way up to the bedroom after finishing his work, had it hung between the second and third floors instead.

 

Before he even had time to seriously deliberate on where to hang it, Caldeon had already decided to place portraits throughout the entire ducal residence, instructing young Tichirrano to begin the next commission as soon as the desk-sized portrait was finished.

 

As a result, where the first portrait was hung hardly mattered at all.

 

In the end, family portraits would be displayed on every floor anyway.

 

“The eyes and eyebrows look like Caldeon’s, but the nose and lips resemble Enria, don’t they?”

 

“And here, and here too—those look like Caldeon. At first glance, I honestly thought Caldeon had somehow regressed into a child.”

 

Tearen said this while pointing here and there on Hayden’s face with his index finger.

 

“That much?”

 

“Well, I never saw him when he was still in diapers, of course.”

 

Tearen shrugged casually. Watching him, Roseanne let out a small laugh.

 

“On a different note, Sir Tearen, you must have been incredibly cute in diapers.”

 

Tearen, who had been facing the portrait, turned his head toward Roseanne.

 

“You were cuter. I remember what you were like as a child.”

 

As he spoke with a gentle smile, Roseanne’s face instantly flushed bright red.

 

“Please erase my childhood self from your memory.”

 

She covered her face with both hands.

 

As a child, Roseanne had been far more active and free-spirited than other noble girls, always running through the forest with short hair and trousers, looking like a complete tomboy.

 

In most noble families, having their only daughter dress like a boy instead of wearing dresses would have caused outrage. But the Kaznaren family—famous throughout the empire for producing powerful mages—never tried to restrain Roseanne, who possessed especially exceptional magical talent even among her relatives.

 

Rather, they supported whatever she wanted without conditions so she could refine her magic more delicately.

 

As a result, until puberty, Roseanne had been practically indistinguishable from a boy.

 

Tearen had occasionally seen her like that when he visited Rahar.

 

Recalling her childhood, Roseanne sincerely hoped Tearen did not vividly remember her boyish appearance.

 

Tearen glanced at her, a tender smile spreading across his lips.

 

“It’s impossible to forget. You were adorable.”

 

At that, Roseanne’s already-red face grew so hot it felt like it might burn.

 

Tearen quietly studied her expression. When Roseanne fidgeted under his gaze, he suddenly spoke.

 

“A child who looks like you would be very beautiful.”

 

“…!”

 

“Especially if it’s a daughter—I’d probably find her so adorable I wouldn’t be able to let her out of my arms for even a moment.”

 

“…A-and a child who looks like you would be very handsome too, Sir Tearen. Ah, but if they got your face and my height, that would be a disaster.”

 

As Roseanne shook her head, saying that would be truly troublesome, Tearen chuckled softly.

 

“Wouldn’t it be even more troublesome if they had your face but my rigid personality?”

 

He murmured, almost to himself, that he hoped their child would resemble Roseanne in both looks and temperament.

 

That was to say—despite not even officially dating yet—the two of them were standing in front of someone else’s family portrait, worrying about their hypothetical children.

 

Neither of them seemed to realize how strange and absurd the conversation was; they continued naturally, until Rahar appeared behind them with Belona, listening in disbelief before finally interjecting.

 

“You’re not even married, and you’re already talking about children?”

 

Startled, Tearen and Roseanne—who hadn’t noticed Belona and Rahar at all—both flinched.

 

“But why are you here?” Rahar asked. “Didn’t you say you had something to take care of today?”

 

Tearen nodded once and replied calmly.

 

“I do. Something to take care of.”

 

“Then why are you here?”

 

“Because it’s here.”

 

“Huh? Really? What kind of business?”

 

When Rahar asked if it had something to do with discussing countermeasures against black mages, Tearen trailed off vaguely and changed the subject.

 

“Well, rather than that… why are you with a light-attribute mage?”

 

At Tearen’s question, Rahar flinched and rolled his eyes awkwardly. Belona answered in his place.

 

“We just happened to run into each other. More importantly, it looked like the head of Odin Investigation Guild rushed off to see Duke Jupiter. Did something happen?”

 

“Sir Fyoren?”

 

“Well, if it’s Sir Fyoren, he’s been overseeing Caldeon’s portraits, so it wouldn’t be strange for him to come and go as if this were his own home.”

 

“It didn’t look like it was about portraits. He passed by in a hurry, his face completely tense.”

 

Belona’s words made Rahar nod. He said that was why he was on his way to Caldeon’s office now.

 

The office was on the second floor, so Tearen was about to ask why they’d come all the way here—but then realized they must have been curious to see the completed portrait first. He stepped aside slightly.

 

“Wow… it’s so vivid, it really looks like there’s a living person inside the painting,” Belona murmured in awe.

 

Rahar nodded in agreement.

 

“They’re incredibly skilled. Though honestly, the fact that they captured even the tiniest scars so clearly makes me hesitant to commission my own portrait.”

 

He pointed at the faint scar near Caldeon’s eyebrow with his index finger.

 

“It’s amazing they even recreated something you wouldn’t notice unless you looked closely. That scar, you know—it’s from our academy days. Tearen, remember? When Caldeon refused to do group work and went off on his own, only to run into a top-grade monster.”

 

“Of course I remember. A monster that our entire class would’ve struggled to defeat together—and he killed it alone and came back carrying the corpse like it was nothing.”

 

“Right. And the only injury he got was that tiny cut near his eyebrow.”

 

Rahar shook his head, muttering that there was no bigger monster than Caldeon himself.

 

Belona nodded along, saying that he was still incredible even now.

 

“And yet, you can temporarily bind the magic in that incredible Caldeon’s sword.”

 

“Being able to bind it temporarily doesn’t mean I could defeat Duke Jupiter.”

 

“That’s true, but back when you mistook him for your lover and clung to him, that light-attribute magic left Caldeon completely unable to do anything—”

 

“Digging up the past isn’t very gentlemanly, Rahar.”

 

Belona cut him off, shooting him a glare.

 

Rahar protested that he wasn’t intentionally bringing it up—it just slipped out in the flow of conversation.

 

“Anyway, now that we’ve seen it, let’s go to the duke’s office. I can’t shake the feeling that something serious has happened.”

 

At Belona’s words, Rahar nodded with an “Ah,” and Roseanne and Tearen exchanged a look, silently agreeing to go together.

 

***

 

 

“Your Grace!”

 

Fyoren burst into Caldeon’s office without knocking, urgently calling out to him.

 

Caldeon, who had Enria seated on his lap while she held Hayden and spoke with him, widened his eyes at Fyoren’s sudden appearance.

 

Despite clearly seeing that scene, Fyoren paid it no mind. Matching his urgent voice with hurried steps, he rushed straight to Caldeon’s desk and reported,

 

“Monsters have appeared throughout the capital, including the imperial palace.”

 

The contrast between Fyoren shouting Caldeon’s name and then lowering his voice as if worried about being overheard made Enria straighten up.

 

“Monsters?” she asked anxiously.

 

Fyoren nodded once and continued.

 

“The mages of the Mage Tower have all been dispatched to the city, but the scale of the damage—”

 

“Explain in detail,” Caldeon cut in.

 

With a grave expression, Fyoren began describing the situation in full.

 

“The first witness was a knight patrolling the forest near the imperial palace.”

 

Black smoke-like mist had risen from the forest, forming a gate from which monsters began pouring out. The monsters then charged straight toward the palace, attacking civilians and knights alike. The sudden assault escalated into a massive battle, forcing even the Imperial Guard to mobilize.

 

“The Imperial Guard couldn’t handle it?”

 

“Not at all. No matter how many they killed, the monsters just kept coming.”

 

In the end, they were forced to contact the Mage Tower—despite strained relations with the imperial family—and the tower’s mages, whose primary duty was eliminating monsters, rushed into the city to fight.

 

As Enria listened, memories flashed through her mind. She quickly turned to Caldeon.

 

“Caldeon, could it be that the black mages reopened the Forest of the Demons…?”

 

“Yes. That’s my thought as well.”

 

It seemed they had restarted their previously failed plan—opening a black-magic path through the Forest of the Demons to attack the empire.

 

This time, with gates.

 

Knock, knock.

 

Just then, the door opened, and Rahar, Belona, Roseanne, and Tearen entered.

 

“What’s going on?” Rahar asked.

 

Caldeon gestured for them to come closer, as if saying they’d arrived at just the right time.

 

“Monsters have attacked the imperial palace.”

 

After conveying Fyoren’s report succinctly, Caldeon rose from his chair and continued,

 

“I’ll head to the Forest of the Demons to find the gate created by the black mage. You go to the imperial palace and deal with the monsters.”