Chapter 46

“I think I need to go to the Imperial Palace today.”

Enria’s eyes widened slightly at Caldeon’s words.

“The Imperial Palace?”

When Enria asked again, surprised by the sudden news of his departure, Caldeon nodded and replied, “You may or may not remember, but I mentioned it once before. The plan to form an alliance to keep the Magic Tower in check.”

“Ah, yes. I remember.”

Enria nodded her head. The biggest reason Roseanne could stay in the Grand Duke’s castle as the acting Grand Duchess was that if the alliance was formed, the marriage between Count Kaznaren and Caldeon wouldn’t have to go through. So, it was impossible for Enria not to know.

Caldeon nodded once more at her answer and continued, “Because of that matter, we decided to meet at the Imperial Palace today. His Majesty the Emperor wants to finalize the negotiations, so I’ll be staying at the palace for about two days.”

“Two days?”

“Yes. So, I’ll be leaving the castle with Lady Kaznaren.”

Enria’s eyes widened again at Caldeon’s words. Since the formation of the empire’s alliance was a critical issue, it was natural that Roseanne, who possessed the ability to contend with the Magic Tower, would also attend.

However, the word “together” that came out of Caldeon’s mouth somehow made her feel a little uncomfortable. Of course, she didn’t think Caldeon and Roseanne would sit side-by-side in the council chamber to discuss the alliance formation, acting like a married couple. She knew very well that Roseanne wouldn’t love Caldeon like in the original story, and Caldeon wouldn’t love her either.

But even knowing that, the subtle, inexplicable feeling that kept washing over her at the thought of the two of them being together was something she couldn’t help. She had confirmed Caldeon’s love for her, so she no longer felt anxious about the original couple, but the lingering unpleasantness in a corner of her mind was clearly an inevitable rejection or worry stemming from having read the original story.

Noticing Caldeon’s worried gaze at her less-than-cheerful expression, Enria forced a smile and said, “Yes, please go.”

“…I will call Windel and Graum. So, you don’t need to worry.”

She wasn’t worried about being left alone in the Grand Duke’s castle, but because Caldeon spoke as if to reassure her, Enria forced a smile and nodded. She actually thought they didn’t need to be at the castle, but Hayden liked Windel in his white tiger form, and it was certainly better to have them around than not, just in case something happened.

“I’m not worried. So, please don’t worry, Lord Caldeon, and have a safe trip.”

At Enria’s words, Caldeon cupped her cheek with his large hand. And soon, a feather-light kiss settled upon her lips.

After Caldeon and Roseanne left for the Imperial Palace, Enria sat in the drawing-room with Windel and Graum, whom Caldeon had summoned.

Windel, who was sitting on the sofa in his white tiger form—not his humanized form—for Hayden, continuously tilted his head sideways to pull his whiskers out of Hayden’s tiny, fern-like hands.

Enria and Graum sat across from each other by the window, elegantly sipping tea and watching them.

“Human, did you receive power from all four spirits contracted to Silri’s contractor?” Graum asked suddenly.

Enria, who was raising her teacup to her lips, put the cup back down on the table without drinking and replied, “No. I didn’t receive the power of Pan… no, the fire spirit.” Worried that calling Panz’s name might summon him again, Enria was careful not to mention his name.

Graum nodded his head a couple of times. Enria stared intently at him, finding it fascinating how he made such a composed expression in the form of a child who was barely ten years old.

Graum slightly furrowed his brows at Enria’s penetrating gaze and asked her, “What?”

“Pardon? Ah, nothing. It’s just my first time seeing a spirit humanize as a child.” Enria said with an awkward smile.

“Tsk, what a trivial thing,” Graum muttered, clicking his tongue in displeasure, and continued, arms crossed, “Anyway… I heard that by fusing the power you gained from the spirits with Holy Power, you can summon monsters that no other human has ever summoned.”

He added that the source of that information was Rahar’s spirit, Lonn, and asked if the monster summoning was still possible.

“Ah, yes. Their appearance changes a bit because they’re overlaid with divine power, but it is a monster summoning.”

“A monster overlaid with divine power.”

At her words, Graum scrunched up his nose, looking as if he couldn’t quite imagine it.

Enria continued with a more detailed explanation. “You know how most monsters are a bit disgusting? For example, do you know the monster that is generally round with no hands or feet, just eyeballs floating around?”

“…?”

“The one with the vertical pupils, like a cat’s eyes. The monster that always slowly blinks its reptile-skin-like eyelids, which gives you an unpleasant feeling.”

As Graum still wore an ambiguous expression despite the detailed description, Enria added that the monster resided in the Foggy Swamp deep inside the Monster Forest.

At her words, Graum finally nodded, saying, “Ah, I see,” and told her, “You must be talking about the Dreyei.”

“Dre… what?”

“The name of the eyeball monster that lives in the Foggy Swamp.”

“Monsters have names?” Enria asked, her eyes wide as if she was learning this for the first time.

Graum nodded, as if it were obvious, and said, “Didn’t you humans create the names of the monsters?”

He explained that the names of the monsters were originally given by the first human who created the monster manual, naming each monster according to its characteristics. It made sense since monsters wouldn’t name their own offspring.

“So, you can summon that monster too?”

Enria nodded at Graum’s question.

“Yes, well. A slightly different monster pops out because the summoning circle absorbs the Holy Power.”

“Oh really? How?”

Graum’s eyes sparkled at Enria’s words. It seemed Graum wanted to see the monster Enria summoned.

Enria glanced at Hayden, who was with Windel, then turned her attention back to Graum. “It’s a bit hard to explain in words, so should I try summoning one?”

“Now? Here? Is that possible?”

Graum’s eyes twinkled. It seemed that the earth spirit, who was among the most curious and inquisitive of the spirits, was more interested than expected in the unique species he had never encountered in his life.

Enria told Windel to protect Hayden just in case, then used Silri’s wind attribute to draw blood from her thumb. She then began the monster summoning by drawing a summoning circle in the air with her blood.

The blood-red summoning circle drawn in the air began to glow brightly as Enria mumbled a few words. The light grew increasingly intense, becoming too bright to look at, and then a large, round eyeball suddenly popped out from within the bright light. The eyeball was generally pale flesh-colored, and the pupil was pitch-black and perfectly round. There was none of the sharp, cat-like gaze of the original monster; instead, it was large, round, and dark, like a gentle puppy’s eye.

A small, pure white wing was attached to the back of the monster’s head, which seemed to be the part created by the Holy Power that flowed into the summoning circle.

“It looks like this. What do you think?”

“…Hoo.” Graum nodded at Enria’s question and muttered, “It looks milder than the original monster.”

“Kee-rit, Kee-rit.”

The summoned Dreyei moved its body a couple of times in the air, making a strange sound. It was baffling where the sound came from since it had no visible mouth.

Hayden reached out his hand towards the Dreyei, letting out his own exclamation of wonder, and Windel quickly clamped his mouth onto Hayden’s outstretched arm to prevent him from getting close to the Dreyei. Misunderstanding Windel’s action as playful, Hayden giggled and shoved his hand into Windel’s mouth, swirling it around. Windel adjusted the angle of his head to keep Hayden’s arm from touching his sharp fangs, gently chewing on it.

Graum frowned slightly, watching Windel and Hayden, while Enria gave a motherly smile, seeing Hayden enjoying himself.

“Kee-rit! Kit!”

It was then. The Dreyei chirped, looking towards the drawing-room door. Enria quickly turned her head towards the door, and a black wisp of smoke flashed past her vision. Enria’s eyes widened when she saw it.

“Did you see that? Just now.”

“What?” Graum looked towards the door with a puzzled expression, not having seen anything, at Enria’s question.

“Kee-rit, Kee-rit.”

Though nothing was visible, the Dreyei kept making noises as if something was there, prompting Graum to get up to investigate the entrance. Enria stopped him.

“I’ll go.”

When Graum looked at her with a questioning expression at her action, Enria got up and told him, “I don’t want to send you on a dangerous task since you’re in the form of a child.”

“What?” Graum bristled, but Enria silenced him by saying that it was her house, so she should be the one to go.

While Enria called Chavel and asked him to look after Hayden, Graum stood with his arms crossed and his eyebrows twitching in displeasure.

“I’ll be right back.” Enria smiled at him as if to soothe him, and then she left the drawing-room with the Dreyei.