Chapter 116

Lapheche stared blankly into the unknown air, her eyes narrowed.

‘Strange.’

Is this how magic is normally learned?

Since coming to Chitrum, Lapheche’s routine had become very simple.

Wake up, eat, meditate, sleep.

Meals were served at set times, and the rest of the time was almost entirely filled with ‘meditation.’

‘The beginning of magic is to observe one’s inner self.’

The old man, who was supposed to be Lapheche’s master and whom she met the day after arriving at Chitrum, had said that and then left her cooped up, never showing his face again. Lapheche looked over her shoulder, her already scrunched-up face wrinkling even more.

One entire wall was lush green. Someone might have liked it, but it only irritated her.

‘Looks like bugs will come out. Annoying.’

The only advantage of this space was that it was so cool she didn’t sweat, to the point where it was hard to believe she was in Chitrum.

“How much more meditation do I have to do?!”

She was long tired of just sleeping. If she kept doing nothing like this, she felt like she’d really go crazy.

“At least I want to talk to someone else.”

It wasn’t just her master who never showed his face. Austin was the same.

She couldn’t just grab anyone she saw and ask them questions, no matter how lonely and bored she was.

Why?

Because there was no one to be seen in the first place!

Aside from one attendant/guard who followed Lapheche from morning till night, she met no one, not a single soul.

‘Do people not live here? Am I alone?’

Lapheche was so desperate she even thought that.

If she hadn’t heard faint laughter from afar one day, while going from her bedroom to the meditation room, she would have continued to believe that.

Clatter.

Just then, as if she couldn’t be a proper lady, the bottom of the meditation room door opened, and the attendant’s hand slipped in to place a plate before disappearing.

Seeing the plate, Lapheche sighed again, annoyed.

“More fruit. Again…!”

This was one of the reasons she hated this place.

Three meals a day, a diet where fruit was the main dish and greens were a side.

She didn’t dislike fruit, but this was too much; she was bound to get sick of it.

[Meat, meat!]

She had even tried asking in broken Chitrum language, but among the attendant’s long replies, the only words she could understand were ‘purification,’ ‘cleanse body,’ or ‘no meat.’

She had even returned meals untouched, but instead of the menu changing, the attendant’s gaze towards her had only become more chilling.

“Should I have just accepted Minuelle’s offer…”

The delicious food and desserts she had tasted at Grand Duke Karnian’s mansion and in the Imperial Palace flickered before her eyes.

She even regretted following Austin to some extent.

Munch, munch.

Grudgingly, Lapheche forced herself to chew and swallow the fruit. She really didn’t want to eat it, but she had been so hungry after skipping a meal last time that she had no choice.

“Ha… I have no energy just eating fruit.”

With no one watching, she leaned her back against a wall where no plants grew, complaining about meditation and everything else.

A shimmering haze escaped Lapheche’s body and seeped into the plants, but she, with slightly lowered eyes, didn’t notice.

Grrr.

Her stomach rumbled loudly, but Lapheche, who had no one to care, continued to stare blankly into space, regardless.

But that was only for a moment.

Gurgle.

Grumble, grumble, grumble!

“Uh oh?”

Her stomach, which had only been making sounds, began to churn violently. Soon, a dull ache made Lapheche grit her teeth and stand up.

“Oh, damn it… this feels like diarrhea…”

Will they let me out?

Perhaps because she had gotten used to being confined, that thought crossed her mind first, but it was soon erased by the even louder rumbling.

Bang, bang!

[Door! Open!]

Bang, bang, bang!

[It hurts! My stomach! Open the door!]

She pounded on the door until her hands hurt, but outside was only silence.

“I thought they were always guarding the front…”

But what was important now was her stomach, which felt like it was about to explode.

“Ah, I’m really going to die!”

Lapheche, clutching her increasingly painful stomach and stomping her feet, angrily pulled the door open.

But what was this?

“It, it opened?”

She had no time to rejoice. Lapheche gritted her teeth and ran out, no, she shuffled out, breaking into a cold sweat.

“Bathroom. Bathroom!”

She didn’t know the location, but finding a bathroom wasn’t too difficult.

One or two people, who had been completely invisible until now, suddenly appeared and headed somewhere as if being sucked in. They all looked like Lapheche, gritting their teeth and sweating profusely.

“Eek!”

Lapheche forced herself to quicken her wobbly steps. If she fell behind them and couldn’t use the bathroom, she could face great humiliation in a foreign country.

And a moment later.

“Phew. I’m alive.”

Just as Lapheche, who had barely managed to preserve her human dignity, was about to step out with a sigh of relief.

She heard whispers from outside, along with signs of people.

[Did you see that red-haired one?]

No matter the foreign language, one somehow miraculously understands when people are talking about them. Lapheche paused, just about to prick up her ears.

Riiiing!

As soon as she understood the words ‘red hair,’ a ringing in her ears began. Lapheche gripped the doorknob, clenching her teeth, feeling as if something was being shoved into her head.

‘Ugh… what is this? Why is this happening…’

A cold sweat trickled down Lapheche’s temples, though she held her breath unconsciously.

[I saw her. She was really bright red.]

The strange thing was that as soon as the pain subsided, she suddenly started understanding Chitrum language naturally.

Whatever the reason, the language barrier was gone, and she felt a sense of relief.

Being rather simple, Lapheche stopped caring about the unknown reason for now and listened to the conversation, holding her breath even more than before.

[Yellow eyes are a common color here.]

[I heard they’re rare in Preseria. Is she a mixed-blood?]

[Did His Highness entrust her to the Apostle because of her lineage?]

[Oh, is that why she’s living without lifting a finger?]

[I heard from Temari that she even refused to eat, demanding meat.]

The gossiping continued after that.

“…”

Normally, Lapheche would have burst out the door and pulled out all the hair of anyone badmouthing her, but she had already learned how to endure to the point of exhaustion in the Roquate Imperial Family and social circles.

Moreover, her attention was now completely focused not on the chatter of strangers, but elsewhere.

“They entrusted me… to an ‘Apostle’?”

Not a wizard?

At that moment.

In Chitrum royal palace, the Apostle of the Sand God was having a private audience with the King.

“It seems they’ve finally lost the castle. How could you handle things so poorly?!”

The King, who usually maintained a sprawling posture even when the Prime Minister arrived, was pacing back and forth furiously today.

Looking at the circumstances, it was understandable.

He had planned to swallow Preseria’s territory with relatively little effort, but that plan had collapsed, and his youngest son, who could have been sold at a high price, was now imprisoned.

It was safe to say there was no way to get Gunnar out, as he had tried to harm the Crown Princess.

“I shouldn’t have believed the words of a mere smooth-faced brat.”

The Apostle of the Sand God, who had been quietly listening to the King’s frustrated words, struck at the heart of the matter.

“Weren’t you trying to use the Prince?”

“What?”

The King spun around towards the Apostle with a rough gesture, clearly annoyed.

He had intended to shout, but as soon as his eyes met the Apostle’s, the King’s agitated expression slowly began to calm.

The Apostle was smiling silently.

It was the smile the King often saw in the mirror.

The smile of one who abandons their collaborators and pushes them off a cliff.

“There’s a saying, Your Majesty, ‘Once on a mad horse, you can’t get off.’ Since it’s irreversible, we must make use of it.”

“Your words…”

“I know Your Majesty has sent troops to the border again.”

“…The news travels fast.”

“Sand observes all things silently. We will also send ‘Fire Warriors’ as reinforcements.”

The King looked at the Apostle, as if weighing something.

‘Sand, you say.’

The roots of the Sand God were the vast desert surrounding Chitrum.

‘So, they never intended to last long with a fertile Preserian Prince in the first place.’

Indeed, they were of the same kind.

The Apostle bowed deeply, realizing that the King’s guard had considerably lowered, as even the last furrow in his brow had smoothed out.

“There is a woman the Prince brought with him.”

“A woman?”

“She is a seed of magic power. With that woman, the power of fire can be continuously amplified, Your Majesty.”

The essence containing most of the fire power for Yoshicho cultivation was kept within the Sand God’s temple.

Since Lapheche was confined there, the spiritual power was amplifying day by day, as if the last piece of a puzzle had been fitted.

The troops brainwashed as ‘Fire Warriors’ had also increased and grown incomparably from before.

In other words, Austin’s usefulness had come to an end.

Upon hearing that, a smile finally appeared on the King’s face.

“I should give my beloved youngest son his final mission.”

Unlike a child raised seeing all sorts of people in the harem, he was a good judge of character and cared for his people and country.

He had the makings of a king. Frankly, it was a waste.

However, not being born the eldest son was his own fortune.

“It’s for the country, so he should consider it an honor to sacrifice his life.”

“You speak truly.”

Thus, Gunnar’s fate was decided.

***

Austin had escaped.

To be more precise, he had reportedly escaped after being attacked and wounded by Chitrum prince, who had been imprisoned with him in the dungeon.

‘Should I say he’s courageous, or tenacious?’

Gunnar had retaliated against Austin, suffered a deep wound, and then committed suicide.

And following that, news arrived that the southern border was under attack.

It was obvious that Theodore would go south again. I was sane enough not to go find him and grab him by the collar, having heard all about the situation.

So this magic communication wasn’t initiated by me, but by Theodore.

– So, if possible, there… Minuelle, are you listening?

I calmly replied.

“No.”

– …

Theodore, who had been speechless for a moment, soon composed himself and repeated the exact same words as before.

– Please just stay safe in Roquate, really.

I clearly replied.

“No.”

– Minuelle!

At the sound of his voice, full of frustration, my patience snapped.

Bang!

I slammed my hand on the desk where the orb rested, pouring out all my hidden, shy feelings.

“How dare those sons of bitches who touched my man run around while I just sit here twiddling my thumbs? I’m going to catch them and either roast them alive in a furnace or tie them to the back of a carriage and drag them around the Empire until not even their skin is left intact, let alone walking on two feet!”

Hoo, hoo.

While I caught my breath after rattling off those words, Theodore said nothing.

I looked at his face, reflected in the air, and swallowed the heartbreaking anguish.