Chapter 127

Lapheche was pushed away by Minuelle and hit her head hard on the floor.

After losing consciousness due to the after-effects of the canceled magic rampage, when she opened her eyes again, a strange ceiling came into her view.

A servant, who had come to check on the patient at the appointed time, saw that she was awake and quietly called for someone else.

‘I’m back in Preseria…’

Lapheche, who had felt relieved seeing the servant’s skin, which was as fair as her own unlike the people of Chitrum, was startled when she saw the person who entered with him a moment later.

“Y-Young Master Tregosnan.”

After the Cult of Fire’s stronghold was turned upside down and they could no longer be injected with elemental power, the Warriors of Fire collapsed one by one.

The negative atmosphere spread instantly, and the morale of Chitrum’s soldiers was broken. Theodore seized this opportunity, pushed forward with a bold offensive, and brought a victory.

However, his two friends, who could be called the cause of the victory, were still lying in bed, unconscious. Theodore could not feel happy about his triumph at all.

‘Especially His Highness…’

Recalling his body covered in bandages, he felt that no matter what he did to the woman in front of him, it wouldn’t be enough.

But Theodore clenched his fist once, suppressing that urge.

“Tell me everything, without missing a single thing, about why you went to Chitrum, what you did there, and what you saw and heard.”

“If, if you say that, how should I…?”

“It will be easiest to tell it in chronological order.”

“I… suppose so.”

Lapheche, who had stumbled a lot at first, seemed to gain momentum as she spoke, and later her speech became so fast that it was difficult for Theodore to write it all down.

He was so professional that he didn’t show any contempt for her choices, and she, on the contrary, was encouraged by his attitude and poured out everything she had been holding inside.

“That will be all.”

Theodore, who had only recorded the situation in Chitrum from her disorganized testimony, put his pen away.

Lapheche carefully asked him, who had listened like a robot until now.

“Do you… think I’m crazy?”

“…”

After a moment of collecting his thoughts, Theodore gave up on judging Lapheche and answered.

“Well, isn’t everyone the protagonist of their own life?”

* * *

“Minuelle?”

The first thing Esadien asked upon regaining consciousness was Minuelle’s condition.

“Not yet.”

It was Theodore’s voice. His blurred vision slowly cleared, and he saw Theodore’s face, which looked on the verge of tears.

‘He cried.’

Seeing his red nose, Esadien clicked his tongue. His only friend, who didn’t look like he would, was quite soft-hearted.

“Did you think I would die?”

“I thought that too… but Your Highness!”

Theodore tried to stop him, but Esadien’s hand was faster.

He felt the pressure of the bandages wrapped tightly around his body and touched his neck, and then his face.

“Bring me a mirror.”

With the mirror ready, Esadien commanded the doctor.

“Remove the bandages.”

“But, Your Highness…”

“Just the face. A little is enough.”

The doctor nodded to Theodore and the nurses, who were watching with concern.

The burns were already healed, thanks to the divine power that had been literally poured on him, and what was under the bandages now were herbs to remove the residual heat.

What the doctor was worried about was the shock the Third Prince would receive when he saw his blotchy and disfigured face.

“…”

But Esadien was calm. Rather, it was Theodore who was pressing the doctor.

“Is there no way to remove the scars?”

“The priest says it is difficult because the spirit’s power and magic were entangled…”

Which meant there was no way.

Esadien had already hurt his hands in Minuel’s flames before and knew this fact, but it felt as if his heart sank.

After staring at the mirror for a moment, he closed his eyes again, and when the nurse re-wrapped his bandages, he lay down.

“Theo.”

“Yes.”

“Thank you.”

At the sudden gratitude, Theodore’s simple eyes widened.

“For… what, Your Highness?”

But there was no answer.

Seeing him just lying there with his eyes closed, Theodore thought Esadien had fallen asleep again and took the others out.

Thump.

With the sound of the door closing, the hospital room was once again plunged into silence.

As time passed and night fell.

Around the time the long moonlight crept up the legs of the bed, the door to Minuelle’s hospital room quietly opened.

Esadien came in without a sound, like a cat, and sat quietly on the edge of the bed.

Minuelle was still fast asleep.

“Minuelle, I…”

It was the first word he spoke after a long, quiet look at her face.

His voice was hoarse, but once he started speaking, he continued steadily, even if slowly.

“I… will leave your side.”

Some would look at his horribly disfigured face with pity, while others would look at it with disgust.

“I don’t think you would do that. However, I don’t have the confidence to endure it.”

Not the pity or disgust of others, but Minuelle looking at him with an expression of apology.

That would be the most unbearable thing.

“I cannot forgive myself for tying you down for life with that emotion.”

But the truth was, he wanted to monopolize the place by her side even if it meant doing that.

Even if he couldn’t show that desire.

“You… you deserve to be happy.”

Just as she had told him that he deserved to be loved.

Minuelle’s long suffering was finally over. He hoped that she would only be happy without pain from now on.

Genuinely.

“So, please meet someone who is without blemish and…”

Tears streamed down Esadien’s eyes as he spoke.

Minuelle, who was listening to this, felt like she was going crazy.

‘Who is without blemish! What are you talking about, meeting someone else!’

She had been awake for a long time before he even said that. Since Esadien had come and sat down beside her.

His unique scent had awakened her as if summoning her consciousness, but she couldn’t speak or move, as if her consciousness was trapped inside her body.

The strange thing was that even with her eyes closed, she could see Esadien clearly, as if she had left her body.

Even a single teardrop on the tip of his eyelashes right now.

‘Where do you think you’re going.’

She was upset. She felt suffocated. After a long denial, she had finally held Esadien’s hand again, and he was saying things like that.

‘If only I could move my body, I would flip him over onto the bed!’

With that difference in weight classes, yeah, right.

Minuelle ignored the voice of her conscience and ground her teeth.

If she couldn’t flip him, she at least wanted to punch him hard in the chest to knock some sense into him.

But Esadien, who couldn’t know her state, bit his lip and roughly took out a small box from his pocket.

With the abrupt motion, the silver necklace he had stored inside spilled out as well.

‘The necklace I gave him…’

Esadien smiled bitterly as if he knew Minuelle was watching, and put the necklace away deeper.

“Please… allow me to take this with me. I will cherish it for the rest of my life.”

No, Esadien. That’s not it.

Minuel screamed in frustration.

‘Wear it and let’s live together! You fool, seriously!’

Don’t go. Don’t go anywhere!

But no matter how much she screamed, her mouth wouldn’t open, as if she was in a waking nightmare. The sound that couldn’t become words just echoed as a moan.

“Huuuh…”

In the end, a single tear flowed from Minuelle’s eyes.

Seeing her, who had been sleeping so peacefully until now, cry, Esadien was startled and jumped up from his seat.

“Minuelle…”

He carefully wiped her tears with a handkerchief, but her fair face was still wet.

Esadien’s lips hesitated, then traced the remaining tears.

After staying in that position for a while as if time had stopped, he got up as if he had just woken from a dream.

And he walked out, never to return.

* * *

When I finally opened my eyes, Esadien’s hospital room was already empty and clean.

No one knew where he had gone. Not even Theodore this time.

Having returned to Roquate, I used my recovery as an excuse to lock myself in my bedroom and not meet anyone.

My routine was to stare blankly out the window, opening and closing the small box Esadien had left behind.

– Are you okay?

How many days had passed? Gabbie appeared with a poof.

“You’re here?”

Gabbie, who had fully recovered his power, had now grown to look almost the same age as Palos.

– What is that?

“…A ring.”

I opened the box one last time, took out the ring, and put it on my left ring finger.

“Isn’t it pretty?”

The design featured cornflower sapphires and kunzite, shaped like leaves, crisscrossing in a circle.

‘Actually, Minuelle.’

I remembered Esadien hesitating on the stairs leading to my bedroom, putting his hand in his pocket.

“…I wish he had put it on me himself.”

– I’m sorry.

Gabbie was fidgeting, looking at me cautiously.

“It’s okay.”

I pinched his cheek and smiled slightly.

“I’m not happy about this situation. But… I’m the only one who can understand you and Esadien.”

Gabbie was a being bound by a contract, and Esadien was…

“Haa.”

I let out a deep sigh and rubbed the palm of my hand with the ring on it.

I had been hesitant to even reveal the scar on my palm, so how great must the shock have been for Esadien, who was injured all over his body?

– So, are you just going to leave it like that?

Gabbie asked, arms crossed, floating in the air with his legs crossed.

I smiled a little deeper than before.

“Of course not.”

Esadien loved me.

Even at the moment he said he would leave, that feeling was overflowing, as if I could hold it in my hands.

“But to run away wearing the necklace I gave him… What a cheeky prince.”

Of course, I would find him and bring him back.

But only after I finished my preparations.

The days I had spent in a daze were for organizing my thoughts and making a plan.

“Now that you’re back, it’s time to get moving.”

– Okay, where should we go first?

I held Gabbie’s strangely motivated hand and got out of bed.

“To the magic school first.”

While I was sleeping soundly, the New Year’s festival had already passed, and the magic school was lively, as it had just started a new semester.

“Oh, my disciple, it’s good to see you again.”

Brassidas, who still welcomed me readily, narrowed his eyes and looked at me intently when I only offered a quiet greeting.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was wondering if something was wrong.”

“What are you talking about?”

I chuckled and sat down quietly.

‘He has a good intuition, anyway.’

I absolutely needed Brassidas for my plan. It wasn’t that other magicians couldn’t do it, but having him was literally like having a hundred people.

Besides, I didn’t want to invest an infinite amount of time in finding… no, bringing Esadien back.

‘Because I want to be with him for one more second.’

Even though I was embarrassed when Esadien said that, the truth was, I felt the same way.