Chapter 60
60
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Then, Lilin looked down at the cards lined up on the table.
She chose one from the middle in her mind and said,
"Pick one."
Then her father shuffled the cards again and showed her only a few.
"Is the card our baby picked here?"
"Uhm, no."
Her father shuffled the cards once more and showed her a few more.
"Then is it here?"
"Yes."
Next, he laid out all the cards as before and pointed to one.
"This one. This card is in our baby's heart?"
Lilin was startled and looked at her father.
"...How did you know?"
"Your dad went to the Imperial Magic Tower and learned card magic."
A lie.
It was a ridiculous lie, but Lilin had to play along like a four-year-old.
"Re-eally...?"
"Yeah, they said Dad has a real talent for it. If I wasn't a High priest, I could have worked at the Magic Tower."
"...Re-eally?"
"No, not really."
Her father chuckled softly and gathered the cards.
Then, without revealing his trick, he asked her,
"So, is it wish time now?"
"Ye-es."
He was about to get up to give her a kiss, but her father smiled.
"Dad's wish is."
It's a kiss. Say it quickly.
Lilin was thinking that when she froze at her father's next words.
"To hear a secret from Lilin. Anything, something Dad doesn't know."
No, Father...
Lilin blinked, taken aback by the unexpected twist.
'So, Father's target isn't Mother, but me?'
He added gently in front of her, who was flustered.
"But that secret will be just between Dad and you. Forever. I swear on Baha."
Even swearing on Baha?
Lilin had to rack her little brain.
'The story Father wants to hear from me.'
It was clearly about the Tears of Baha.
'The Tears of Baha are on my wrist right now, but it's Nigel's famous Sacred object...'
'If Mother hears the whole story or Father finds out about it through other means, there will have to be appropriate measures.'
But her father had sent Marquess Norbon back and even stopped monitoring Icarus.
'So, the story he hears from me is something he'll keep to himself and cover up.'
But even if the Tears of Baha are a great Sacred object, they are just a grain of sand compared to our real secret.
'Compared to our secret, the Sacred object is nothing...'
In a way, this was an opportunity.
An opportunity to protect her father.
An opportunity not to betray her father's trust.
"Um, don't you have a secret?"
Because Lilin had been standing there blankly for a while, her father looked a little embarrassed.
"Or, can't you tell me no matter what? Then I can't help it."
Lilin took a step towards her father, who was about to give up quickly, and pulled on his arm.
Her father was easily pulled along as she led him, leaned down, and listened to her.
Only then did Lilin whisper.
"Actually, I have a secret."
Her father smiled kindly.
"Wow, are you going to tell me?"
Lilin held onto her father's arm tightly and looked up at him.
"You have to keep it, okay?"
"Yes. I promise."
I'm sorry, Father.
Revealing her secret could never be her father's wish.
'This is my wish.'
Lilin stammered the words that were stuck in her chest.
"Dad, my name is..."
Her father's purple eyes wavered for a moment.
"Lilin Rostel La Perca."
Two years later.
The Crown Prince's Palace, training room, Habib Empire.
The tip of Crown Prince Shade's sword whistled through the air.
—Whoosh!
The tip of the sword, a little shorter than an adult's but no less sharp, stopped near the ear of the guard, who was almost two heads taller than him.
A confident smile crossed the young Crown Prince's red lips.
"If it were next year or the year after, your ear would have been cut off, Kayel."
With a clang, the sword was pushed away.
At the same time, Pascayel's sharp longsword crossed over his lord's chest without hesitation.
—Weeing.
As the defense armor being tested at the Magic Tower protected the Crown Prince with a blue light, Pascayel responded without smiling.
"Then Your Highness should thank the Magic Tower. Or Lord Gernan."
"You...!"
Clang, clang!
The swords, which at first glance did not seem to be giving each other any leeway, clashed for a while, making metallic striking sounds.
Finally, the two swords were tightly crossed in a cross.
Naturally advantageous for the tall guard, Pascayel finally slowly withdrew his blade.
"Dare you withdraw your sword during a sparring match?"
Shade pushed hard without stopping, and the knight's sword was now about to touch his neck.
But Pascayel replied with a calm face.
"It is the King's order that you finish your training early and enter the audience hall, Your Highness."
"Why."
The Crown Prince asked threateningly with his sword still pointed, but his knight looked relaxed.
"Isn't the Thanksgiving Festival approaching? Since you are nine years old, it is your turn to invite your first guest."
Only then did Shade sheathe his sword.
After his lord's sword went into its scabbard with a seemingly dissatisfied attitude, Pascayel finally smiled.
"Are you really going to invite Princess Ruelle of Ruelle, Your Highness?"
"It cannot be done, Your Highness."
Shade, who was heading to the audience hall, stopped at the sound of his teacher's voice, which had been subtly following him from the middle of the hallway.
"What cannot be done?"
Gernan stopped walking with him and bowed his head.
His lord would not welcome what he was about to say, but Gernan had already decided to dedicate his life to him.
So, there was no reason to hold back his direct words to the master who would hold his life.
"Your Highness's first invitation is the same as setting up your first ally in front of everyone. It must never be the Princess of a small country."
He expected an immediate scolding, but what came back was a twisted question.
"Then who should I invite to show off? The daughter of the Magic Tower Lord?"
Gernan instead asked as if he had not heard the question.
"Does Your Highness desire the mirage-like little girl from the Ruelle Thanksgiving Festival in his childhood? Do you still desire the girl's friendship as in those young days?"
The returning question was twisted again.
"Whatever I desire, is there any reason I should reveal my inner thoughts to my teacher? Who was it who taught me not to do that?"
Gernan spoke again as if he had not heard.
"Then it is even more impossible. The Princess of Ruelle is still only six years old. Moreover, she is of the Sacred King's bloodline. They have difficulty conceiving due to their innate Divinity. There has never been a precedent in history for sending a single daughter abroad from the age of six."
The Crown Prince asked as if feigning ignorance.
"But didn't you always say that I would write a new history?"
Gernan ignored even that and uttered his last words.
"If you send an invitation and are rejected, His Majesty will be displeased. Ruelle is a small country. Please reconsider what Your Highness truly desires."
The Crown Prince's fierce momentum finally subsided.
"Is there any use for me in desiring the friendship of a young Princess from a small Sacred Kingdom?"
Gernan smiled faintly.
"You will achieve all that you desire in the future, so you don't have to consider some of the uses."
"...That's why you're by my side, right."
Shade's steps headed towards the audience hall again.
"That statement is also correct."
As Gernan stopped without following further, a careless and belated answer returned.
"My first guest will be the godson of High priest Lil."
Gernan's stopped steps trembled.
Regardless of the fact that he was from the Magic Tower, the empire's prosperity came from the Magic Tower.
'It is as natural as the laws of nature for the Lil Temple in the mountains to move away from the axis of power...'
To deliberately bring in the High priest.
Gernan began to follow the Crown Prince again, but he could not bring himself to say anything.
The Crown Prince's indifferent voice continued.
"Just as I have made up my mind, now you must make up your mind too, Teacher."
"...Yes?"
Shade's gray-blue eyes turned to look up at his teacher.
"Do you still work for the Magic Tower, Teacher? Or do you work for me?"
The north wind of Mount Morvald seemed to mix with the young Crown Prince's last question.
"Or do you pretend to work for me and work for His Majesty?"