Contract Marriage Rewritten
Chapter 25
“……!”
Hyperion stared at the teacup in astonishment at Laniakea’s sudden action and the bizarre transformation within it.
Until just moments ago, it had been an ordinary teacup sitting before him—one he had barely touched because there was so much to explain.
Until Laniakea took it, the cup had clearly held nothing but clear, brown tea.
Yet now, the cup in her hands rattled as if something were inside, and tiny bubbles came popping to the surface.
Seeing the faint light shimmering around it, there was no doubt she had summoned a spirit.
But a minnow?
“Could that spirit be……?”
“Yes, let me introduce you. This is Minnow, a Water Spirit.”
Laniakea handed the teacup back to Hyperion.
Looking down, he saw a single minnow swimming leisurely through the tea. Warmth still radiated against his fingers from the porcelain. And what filled the cup was definitely tea.
Yet here was a minnow, looking completely at ease and utterly delighted inside it.
“Minnow loves tea. And likes liquor even more.”
The moment Laniakea finished speaking, Minnow lightly flicked its tail fin against the surface. The splashing droplets formed a distinct shape above the teacup.
It was the shape of a hand giving a thumbs-up.
As if declaring that this tea was the absolute best, the spirit held the pose while Hyperion stared blankly at the water droplets Minnow had crafted.
“I can summon spirits wherever there’s liquid, but blood is out of the question. Well, it’s not so much impossible as something that should never be done. Summoning one from blood carries a high risk of the spirit losing its sanity and becoming corrupted……”
“Have you tried it before?”
“Pardon?”
“You speak as though from experience.”
“Uh, well…… when I was little, I had a nosebleed and summoned one without thinking……”
Right then, Minnow slapped the surface hard with its tail fin again. A splash of tea landed on the back of Hyperion’s hand, cutting him off.
Soon, the droplets on his hand shifted slowly, forming letters.
[Sugar]
“Does this spirit like sweets?”
Instead of answering, Laniakea picked up the sugar bowl and dumped it straight into the teacup. Instantly, five more thumbs-up water droplets popped up over the cup.
Best. Best. Best. Best. Best.
Minnow’s sheer ecstasy was unmistakably clear.
And it wasn’t just a feeling. Minnow was eagerly gulping down the sugar settling at the bottom of the cup.
As Hyperion became engrossed in the curious sight of the minnow, Laniakea breathed a sigh of relief. He seemed to have completely forgotten his previous question.
She looked at Minnow in the teacup and thought:
‘Thank you for helping me.’
At that, a tiny droplet beside the cup bobbed back and forth.
It was as if Minnow were waving a dismissive hand, saying, Oh, please, it was nothing.
Hyperion stared for a long while at the minnow swimming nonchalantly through the sugar-laden tea before asking another question.
“Does it always appear whenever you call?”
“Usually. But on very rare occasions, it won’t show up. That happens when it’s too exhausted, or when a Spirit King or a high-ranking spirit is nearby. It seems to stay away because being near a being that powerful carries a high risk of getting absorbed.”
“A Spirit King?”
“Ah, back in Priatra, my unnies often summoned them.”
As the topic shifted to spirits, Laniakea’s speech picked up speed.
Spirits were one of the very few subjects in the Empire she understood far better than anyone else.
Now that the secret of her ability to summon spirits even outside Priatra was out, there was hardly any vital information left to hide from Hyperion.
Laniakea explained with eager enthusiasm: the types of spirits, their hierarchy, methods of summoning, and so forth.
It wasn’t even classified information in Priatra; people just generally lacked interest in the subject.
“So you cannot summon a high-ranking spirit and a low-ranking spirit at the same time.”
“It’s not entirely impossible. But because it temporarily disrupts the order of the world, it puts a heavy strain on the summoner’s body. Some who made mistakes ended up permanently losing their ability to summon spirits, so no one attempts it lightly.”
Having reached that point in her explanation, Laniakea blinked and covered her mouth, letting out a small yawn.
“Are you tired?”
“Ah, I must have kept Minnow summoned for too long in my excitement. Maintaining a summon steadily drains the summoner’s stamina.”
In an instant, Hyperion’s gaze sharpened, glaring fiercely into the teacup. Even Minnow, who had been busy feasting on sugar, startled at the terrifying aura and surfaced, opening and closing its mouth.
A water droplet in the shape of a question mark floated above the cup. A silent What’s wrong?
“It is fine now. You may send it back.”
At Hyperion’s words, Laniakea nodded.
“Thank you for coming. It was so nice to see you after so long. Are the other friends doing well?”
The droplet above the cup transformed into the shape of a bird. That meant it had met Crow-tit recently. Laniakea let out a soft sigh.
“Please tell Crow-tit to watch its language. You must never pick up its bad habits, understand?”
Minnow swished its tail gently from side to side in affirmation.
While Laniakea watched with a dubious eye, Minnow turned toward Hyperion and splashed water onto the back of his hand once more.
[Sugar]
Demanding it so brazenly, as if asking for something it had entrusted to him.
This time, Hyperion tipped the entire sugar bowl into the cup himself. Splashing sounds echoed from the cup as if the little fish were overjoyed beyond measure. To anyone who didn’t know better, it might have looked like the creature was being buried alive in sugar.
After slurping up the sugar at the bottom, Minnow leaped out of the cup with a soft plop! Just when it seemed about to fall back down, it vanished into thin air.
Hyperion stared quietly at the teacup before bringing it to his lips.
Taking a sip, he tasted nothing out of the ordinary for tea. There was neither the sweetness of the heaped sugar nor the fishy odor one might expect after a freshwater fish had swum in it for so long.
When he set the teacup down, Laniakea burst into laughter.
“Why are you laughing?”
“I did the exact same thing when I was little. Back then, Minnow scolded me for drinking tea without sugar, so I dumped in more sugar than the cup could hold.”
And after Minnow returned, she had curiously sipped that very tea. Who would have thought that Hyperion, who seemed so sharp and flawless in every way, would do the exact same thing she had done in childhood?
Giggling, Laniakea sank back into the sofa. Having maintained the spirit summon longer than usual, fatigue crept over her in waves.
“You mentioned that the Crow-tit I saw before was a Wind Spirit. What form do the other spirits take?”
“Well, the Earth Spirit I’m closest with takes the form of a Mole, and the Fire Spirit is a Firefly. Ah, neither of them communicates in strange ways like Crow-tit or Minnow, though.”
“Come to think of it, you said you did the same thing in your childhood. Since when have you been close with the spirits?”
“That is……”
Laniakea began to tell the story of the first time she summoned Mole.
Leaving out, of course, the part where her unnies had abandoned her. That was something she had no reason to tell him, nor did she wish to.
As she spoke, her eyelids began to droop.
A problem that had weighed on her mind for so long had been resolved smoothly, and she had spent the evening conversing with Hyperion over dinner. On top of that, she had summoned Minnow for the first time in ages. Naturally, a pleasant languor washed over her, bringing drowsiness in its wake.
As Laniakea leaned against the sofa cushion in a daze, Hyperion stood up from across the table and walked over to sit beside her.
“Your Majesty?”
A small yawn slipped out even as she called to him. It wasn’t that she disliked having Hyperion close. She was simply curious why he had suddenly sat next to her.
“To tell you the truth, before Mr. and Mrs. Ency left today, they gave me an assignment. Or perhaps practical training would be the more accurate term.”
Practical training? Wasn’t that what they were doing just now, having a conversation?
“If you do not mind, could you give me your hand?”
It wasn’t a difficult request. At Hyperion’s words, Laniakea extended her hand toward him. Her sleep-heavy eyes failed to catch the slight upward curve of Hyperion’s lips in that moment.
“What…… should I do?”
When Laniakea asked, blinking slowly, Hyperion spoke in a tender voice.
“You only need to relax comfortably. More importantly, may I touch your hand for a moment?”
Laniakea nodded slowly.
He was already holding it anyway. They had already done far more intimate things than this, so what was holding hands?
With one hand resting in Hyperion’s grasp, Laniakea leaned comfortably against the cushion.
Before long, her eyes closed, and her breathing evened out into steady sleep.
Watching her sleep, Hyperion carefully entwined his fingers with hers. Feeling the warmth of their pressed palms, he let out a low breath.
In truth, there was another assignment he had received separately from Tamil.