Translator: Nox

Chapter 19

Let’s pretend we don’t know each other anymore

“They say if you stay in the Imperial Palace Library alone until midnight, a monster will catch you.”

As if becoming a monster himself, the boy raised his arms, contorted his hands, and spoke.

The girl beside him blinked blankly.

“Oh, it’s just the Prince.”

“……How boring.”

I stayed in the library alone to surprise her, but what kind of reaction is this?

Soon after, Erich huffed and puffed as he sat down beside Elisha.

Elisha responded calmly, her face still devoid of expression.

“Monsters are supposed to be big.”

“…….”

“You’re as small as a carrot, Your Highness.”

“I’m bigger than a carrot!”

“I went to the kitchen the other day and saw a really big carrot. If you count the stems, I think you might even be smaller than it…….”

“Stop talking!”

When the boy shouted, Elisha rolled her eyes and fell silent.

Only then did Erich smile proudly, as if satisfied, and looked around.

He had felt it when he entered, but because the room was surrounded by bookshelves on all sides, not even a sliver of moonlight leaked in.

“They say reading in the dark is bad for your eyes.”

“That’s why I’m using light magic.”

“It’s only the size of a firefly, though?”

“I did that on purpose.”

I’m practicing how to handle my power delicately.

Elisha muttered as she pushed a cluster of light toward Erich.

Erich stared at the sight blankly.

If there were such things as night fairies, they would feel like this……, wait.

What was I just thinking?

“Your Highness.”

At that moment, Elisha spoke in a small, soft voice.

Erich snapped out of it and blinked his eyelashes rapidly.

“Wh-what!”

“It’s almost twelve o’clock.”

“S-so what?”

“You said so yourself. When it turns twelve…….”

Right then, every bit of light in the library vanished.

It was before Erich could even adjust to the sudden, complete darkness.

“The monster will catch you.”

“Agh!”

Suddenly, the girl thrust her face in front of Erich and smiled unnaturally.

A light slightly brighter than before shimmered beneath her chin.

“You, you, seriously!”

Looking at her again, she wasn’t a fairy—she was a ghost!

“If you stay up late, you won’t grow. You should go back now, Your Highness.”

Elisha pulled her upper body back and spoke flatly. Her attitude was excessively calm.

“You’re really annoying…….”

“If I’m annoying, go inside and sleep. Sitting here makes my back hurt.”

“No, I’m not going.”

“I thought you said I was annoying?”

“That’s a separate issue!”

Erich snapped back petulantly and eventually lay down on the floor.

Elisha watched him blankly for a moment, then let out a faint sigh.

It was a night where the occasional caw of a crow felt strangely eerie.

Inside the library where not a single ray of moonlight entered, there were children surrounded by a faint light.

They looked quite a bit like fairies.

* * *

“Wake up, Dante Renaud.”

“Mmm……. Five more minutes…….”

“I don’t think we’re close enough to share our sleep-talking habits.”

“Crazy.”

That’s a real wake-up call.

As soon as Elisha finished speaking, Dante snapped his eyes open and sat up.

Elisha was standing before him, looking at him with a pathetic expression.

“You have your own mansion, so why are you sleeping here?”

“Technically, this is my mansion too, isn’t it……?”

“Sleeping on the sofa makes your back hurt.”

“I told you yesterday, could you pick just one: either look at me like I’m pathetic or be kind?”

I’m going to die from the lack of consistency.

He then stretched and frowned deeply.

Seeing that the sun hadn’t risen yet, it must be dawn. Exactly when had he fallen asleep?

“The work is all finished, so take it and go rest. I found your seal and used it myself.”

Elisha said, stretching along with Dante. On the table, various documents she had processed were neatly organized.

It was an amount so large he had doubted whether it could be finished by morning, and she had finished it already?

“Are you actually human?”

“I’m tired, so save the nonsense for later.”

“I think I know why my father adored you so much…….”

He was a man who used to sing every day, ‘My son is destined to be the Chief Imperial Mage!’

Then, at some point, he started treating me like cold leftovers, saying, ‘Elisha-nim is definitely the one who will lead our Empire.’

My father just needed someone who was good at their job. He didn’t care about me, since I had no interest in honorary titles.

‘Come to think of it, I don’t think our first impression was that bad.’

Or was it actually good? It was so long ago I can’t remember.

Driven by a natural surge of curiosity, Dante blurted out a question.

“Elisha, do you remember when we first met?”

“What?”

“Never mind, go rest…….”

If I ask any more, I feel like I’ll get hit by a fire arrow.

Dante immediately shook his head.

Come to think of it, Elisha valued rest just as much as he did.

He remembered Erich saying, ‘Elisha is probably resting in her bedroom by now,’ whenever he went to work at the palace early.

As soon as Dante finished speaking, Elisha lay down on the sofa and closed her eyes.

She seemed so exhausted she couldn’t even be bothered to go to the bedroom on the floor above.

‘Even though she scolded me for not going to my mansion to sleep.’

Dante carefully lifted the stack of documents, afraid he might wake her, and summoned a magic circle beneath his feet.

No matter how much he thought about it, he didn’t know how things had ended up this way, but now that they had, there was no helping it.

‘Elisha seems a bit different from what I thought, too…….’

When they met at the palace, she was nothing but ice-cold, but meeting her outside like this, he was truly confused about whether she was cold or warm.

Though the fact that she was scary remained unchanged.

* * *

“Do you remember your first impression of Elisha?”

Inside the Emperor’s office, Dante, who had just set down documents in front of Erich, asked a sudden question.

Erich frowned immediately.

“I suppose preparing for the meeting is so trivial that you have time to ask such questions?”

“What question did I just ask? I only remember handing over the documents in quiet silence.”

“If only you couldn’t talk.”

“The position of a mage originally requires a bit of silver-tongued skill.”

Dante shrugged nonchalantly and rolled his eyes.

Erich let out a small, incredulous laugh and began to scan the documents Dante had set down.

Watching him, Dante subconsciously held his breath.

For some reason, he felt like a student who had copied homework standing before a teacher.

“……It was strange.”

At that moment, Erich spoke suggestively. Dante’s eyes widened.

He almost bit his tongue.

“Wh-wh-what was strange? The documents? The ones I approved? Or the ones I rejected? What, what was it?”

Since Elisha was so good at her job, he had just trusted her and left it to her, but for it to be strange.

Or perhaps he had noticed that Dante hadn’t done it himself?

Wait, wouldn’t it be better if he just got caught?

‘Should I just let him find out……?’

It was the moment he had made up his mind in his own way.

“I’m talking about what you asked.”

Erich replied, putting down the documents he was holding. Dante was instantly washed over by a feeling of all the strength leaving his body.

“Oh, that’s what it was.”

“What did you think it was?”

“That the documents were strange?”

“Of course, that’s strange too. There’s no way you could be this competent.”

“I’ve always been competent.”

Whether it’s Elisha or Erich, their standards are just sky-high. It’s so absurd I can’t even breathe.

Dante grumbled, scowling as if he had been wronged.

If you really look at it, Erich is the more malicious one. At least Elisha apologizes when she speaks.

‘Now that I think about it, Elisha might be too good for him…….’

“But why did you suddenly ask that?”

At that moment, Erich’s cold eyes stared directly at Dante.

Dante, who almost bit his tongue a second time, scowled as hard as he could.

“No reason, just because.”

It’s because I didn’t want to see you sitting there all comfortable after you’re the one who caused the mess, you jerk.

“Just because?”

“I just wondered how ruined your relationship must have been for Elisha to even think of leaving. I figured if it was that bad, the first meeting must have been strange too, so I asked…….”

“…….”

“Wait, what did I just say?”

I think I said something I really shouldn’t have.

I think the words I was supposed to keep buried in my heart just flew out!

“……Follow me, Dante Renaud.”

“Are you going to bury me? The allied meeting is right around the corner. Losing two prominent mages would be a great loss to Cardion…….”

“It’s nothing like that, so just follow me. There’s something I need to investigate regarding the monsters that appeared on the outskirts of the capital last time.”

“Really? You’re really not going to scold me?”

His expression is so fierce it looks like he’s about to demote me or something.

When Dante failed to withdraw his suspicious gaze until the end, Erich let out a small sigh.

“Just consider it me holding back because, as you said, you are a valuable asset to Cardion.”

“You make it sound like you’ll throw me away the moment I’m no longer valuable.”

“You’re stating the obvious.”

For a moment, those blue eyes filled with a strange light pierced through Dante.

Dante froze in place and gave a faint smile.

‘My tongue is my sin, my absolute sin…….’

It was the moment he began to move his body stiffly.

“It’s true that the impression wasn’t good when we first met.”

Erich spoke with a slightly softened tone.

“And I don’t expect us to have only good memories of each other since then, either.”

To the point that regret takes precedence whenever I think of those times.

Erich swallowed his subsequent words and lowered his eyelashes deeply.

His clumsy emotions and their harsh way of speaking to each other. Actions that were conveyed differently than intended.

Perhaps the reason Elisha left his side was a combination of all those reasons.

‘If only I could hold onto her again…….’

But looking back at spilled water only leaves regret.

And now was the time to prioritize cleaning up the mess rather than regretting it.

“And if we’re talking about first meetings with Elisha.”

Eventually, Erich stopped walking, turned back to Dante, and gave a languid smile.

“Wasn’t yours even more of a disaster?”

“What?”

“I suppose you don’t remember.”

It feels like only yesterday you were crying and wailing that you were going to quit being an Imperial Mage immediately.

Having finished speaking, Erich turned back and began to walk forward.

Dante stood frozen in place for a moment, unable to understand the meaning of those words.

Did I really do that?