Episode 14
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‘The necklace is gone.’
I checked everything inside, but still.
Nowhere could I find what I was looking for.
Odelia grew serious.
What on earth was going on…
‘Perhaps, as he lost his memories, the seal was also released.’
Sometimes that happened.
Because magic flows according to the user's will.
Seals are usually activated to ‘protect someone’ or with a ‘resolution to never hand something over.’
But now, he must have forgotten even that purpose.
The seal was unfortunately released.
Perhaps Ludville himself had released the seal and taken the necklace.
Well.
Something felt off about that.
There were still items left in the vault.
All of them looked useless at first glance.
Crude stone fragments, worn-out metal shards, old pieces of cloth without patterns…
Things that seemed like waste, and it was unclear why they were kept in the vault.
But Odelia knew what they were.
Magical legacies that had shaken an era.
Things that Ludville had collected after thousands of regressions, things that should never leave the world.
‘…He didn't even touch the truly valuable things.’
In the end, all that was stolen were things that only looked good on the surface.
It meant they didn't even know that these items were dozens, even hundreds of times more valuable than jewels.
It must be the work of a clumsy thief who couldn't appraise the value of things.
‘Ludville’s necklace must have looked like just a peculiar jewel on the surface.’
Of all things, to take that.
Odelia swallowed a short sigh.
The red pendant on that necklace was not a simple ornament.
Blood Crystal.
A fragment crystallizing Ludville's life force.
The Blood Crystal was a kind of key.
A 'master key' that could activate or deactivate a magic circle.
‘You must insert the necklace into the center of the magic circle to safely release the spell.’
Otherwise, if you forcibly cut it off…
‘All that backlash will pour into Ludville’s body.’
In the worst case, he could die on the spot.
Odelia unconsciously clenched her fist tightly.
Returning to her room, she paced around, continuing her thoughts.
Who on earth took that necklace?
It was something that should never have leaked out.
‘I have to retrieve it, no matter what.’
Just then.
Knock, knock.
Someone suddenly knocked on the door of the detached palace.
Odelia stopped pacing and turned to the door.
A moment later, a very nervous face appeared through the crack of the opening door.
A small body startled upon seeing Odelia.
A somewhat unstable, trembling tone.
“Ah, hello, Princess. It’s an honor to serve you.”
Odelia paused for a moment.
‘…Leona.’
Suddenly, a long-ago memory flashed through her mind.
Was this the effect of the Gem of Regression permeating her body?
The moment she saw this small child, the hazy memories vividly revived as if unfolding before her eyes.
Inside the dark study.
A small body collapsed on the floor.
A hand that had grown cold. Eyes that couldn't even close…
‘Ah.’
I see.
Who took the necklace.
“……Wow.”
Meanwhile, Odelia snapped out of it at the small exclamation that flowed into her ear.
It was Leona who had made it, facing Odelia.
She widened her eyes and made a face as if doubting whether what she was seeing was real.
“You look like a snow fairy…”
“……”
“There, there’s a kind fairy who helps people lost in the snowy mountains. You look exactly like the illustration in that book…”
Leona rambled on absentmindedly, then belatedly covered her mouth.
“I, I’m sorry! I was rude.”
Leona was staying in the detached palace instead of the main palace because of this pure personality.
She couldn't easily get along with others, and since Odelia was the same, the two became inseparable friends in their past life.
“Snow fairy, I’ve heard of it.”
“Heok, really?”
Leona, who had been dejected, rejoiced and made a fuss when Odelia responded.
“It’s a northern legend, how do you know about it? Did you have an acquaintance from the north or something?”
Odelia laughed without realizing it.
“It was a very precious person.”
She said that, gently taking Leona's hand.
As if returning the small warmth she had felt long ago.
Leona, startled by the sudden contact, stared blankly at the hand for a moment before shouting hastily.
“Princess, your hands are so cold!”
“……Is that so?”
Odelia replied a little awkwardly.
It seemed she hadn't been able to return the warmth after all.
“I heard you’re sickly… I’ll have to add more firewood right away. I’ll get a hot water bottle too.”
“……Yes, thank you.”
“Hurry and cover yourself with a blanket and lie down. In the north, once you catch a cold, it lasts really, really long. You have to be careful.”
Really, nothing had changed.
She was the little maid who never left Odelia's side in the previous life.
Living together in the detached palace where no one approached, the only child who offered a warm hand.
But Odelia couldn't feel her warmth for long.
Because Leona had passed away too soon.
It was not long after she met her.
‘I cried a lot.’
Throughout the funeral, her heart ached as if she had lost an old friend.
Leona was a rare, innocent and kind child, and she had grown quite fond of her in a short time, but…
She thought that level of sadness was strange.
After all, it was only a short relationship of a few months.
Only now does she know.
That loss was not just because of a separation experienced in ‘one’ life.
The warm child who held her hand with tears in her eyes whenever Odelia was sick.
“Princess is strong, so she’ll never die!”
It was the same face she had once held her hand and sobbed with.
‘…I missed you.’
Odelia quietly looked at Leona.
‘In this life, I will never, ever lose you.’
Odelia quietly vowed.
She would never let this small, kind hand lose its warmth again.
And…
‘If my guess is correct, the murderer who killed this child must have also stolen Ludville’s necklace.’
Because Leona had lost her life to a thief in the mansion.
I must catch them.
Catch them…
Well, what should I do to them?
At that moment, Odelia recalled the ability she had first learned about through Ludville's memories.
‘Odelia, if you are in a dangerous situation and I am not by your side, how about trying this?’
It was an ‘attack’ ability that she had never even imagined.
She never thought that her Purification ability could be applied in such a way…
In the memory, she used that ability quite skillfully.
‘Shall I practice once?’
Odelia coldly gleamed her eyes.
She had no intention of sending that person to prison nicely.
