“Even if you can’t claim a title, your guild earns quite a bit of money, so you won’t lose out in a family fight.”
Either way, Liz continued. I was completely bewildered.
“Elizabeth McCarthy, again, we are not in a relationship.”
“Then am I marrying Darryl Cowan because I have a relationship with him?”
Liz snapped, and my lips stuck together like someone had glued them together.
“Then will you run away? If you’re planning to go to Nadon, I can do something for you.”
Kelly said seriously. Her father was working in Nadon’s immigration office. Liz shook her head with a crumpled face.
“I can’t. Without the dowry, the McCarthy estate will be ruined.”
“Is there any other way to make money? Maybe investing in trade ships or developing mines…”
Bree slumped on the side of the bed and muttered, resting her chin on her hand. Then, something flashed through my mind. Excitedly, I straightened my back but suddenly hesitated. Can I change the future because of my desire to help my friend?
Pirates were rampant this year, so spending money on a trading ship was not a good choice. But mining was different. In the coming summer, the Mage’s Tower will publish a research report stating that the mana’s effect would be maximized when it is stored in a black crystal rather than the existing mana stone. People who owned black crystal mines gained a lot as black crystals suddenly became in high demand across the continent.
And I knew the location of the yet-undiscovered mines. This is because when I dropped out of the academy and learned about the job in the guild, I helped prepare the materials for it.
Count McCarthy was extremely timid, and his family motto was modesty and frugality, so he was not a person who would actively commit something illegal just because he became a rich man. And that black crystal mine would not even play a significant role in the life of Marquis Ziegler, the original owner of the mine, who was already famous for being wealthy.
But the Black Crystal could be a huge turning point in my friend’s life—in Elizabeth McCarthy’s life. I saw Elizabeth’s big eyes wet with sorrow. The way her hand holding the teacup trembles, so I finally made up my mind.
“Listen, Liz. I am telling you this because I love you.”
“What is it?”
“There is a small mountain to the southwest of the Marquis of Ziegler’s domain. I can’t remember the name, but it’s on sale now. Trick your father into buying it somehow.”
“What? Why?”
“Since Marquis Ziegler is a filial son, if you bring up your grandparents and say that you are building a villa for them to recuperate in, he will give it to you with a discount. After stamping documents, drill a tunnel immediately and send in workers.”
“Is there any gold buried there?”
“It’s not gold, but it will soon become more valuable than gold. Trust me.”
Bree seemed to wonder where, as a student, I had gotten such information only shared among businessmen. It looked very suspicious. And to be honest, I would too if I were in her shoes. So to create maximum trust and strengthen my stance as the future head of a merchant guild, I engaged in a heated explanation of the impact of appropriate information on commerce.
It wasn’t a lie. Contaminated information is fatal to merchants, so most merchants used to predict the future of the market by contracting with a reliable information guild.
Brianna Mosley, who crossed the stone bridge after hammering it, still seemed puzzled, but Liz, desperate to grab a life-saving rope, breathed a sigh of relief. Then, with a much brighter complexion, she started talking about how cute Lilu was, how funny Kelly’s song was, and how delicious the four elemental potato chips were.
“So Ariel, who the hell are you dating if not Kyle?”
“Why are you talking about men again?”
Liz finally pulled herself together, and I tried not to panic, but when she tried to connect the topic with a guy again, I got irritated. Kelly interjected, her eyes shining.
“They said nothing happened in the practice magic tool storage room, but Ramos couldn’t talk to you when he sees you.”
“He does that to other women too.”
“What about Keran Illestia? Lots of students witnessed you walking side by side together.”
It was Brianna who spoke this time. I opened my mouth, feeling sweat beading on my back. I don’t know why but Kaitlyn the Great’s request echoed in my head. ‘Be good friends with Keran.’
“Um, so, because we are both members of a book club. It is very wholesome.”
“You also have Spencer. Even at the banquet, the atmosphere between the two of you was good, and when he saw you the other day he called you by your name.”
“You know that! Bolton stood me up! Spencer was my benefactor, so can’t he act friendly with me?”
“It’s suspicious that Bolton was your partner in the first place. Did Illestia make him do it?”
Brianna-Smart-Mosley hit the nail on the head. I was rendered speechless.
“Hey, let it go. Even so, they can’t beat Kyle Villard. Who else would have the utmost sincerity to crossdress at the important Love Month banquet for her?”
Liz’s sarcastic remarks and the unexpected information she gave caught me off guard. Bree’s eyes widened as well.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Didn’t you see it? Villard participated in the banquet’s ‘queen’ competition.”
“I’m hearing it for the first time. Is it even possible for men to register as candidates?”
Liz giggled as if it were funny just imagining it. Bree took my hands and gave me innocent admiration.
“He’s making sure that you won’t be a laughing stock on the stage. That’s so sweet!”
“You don’t know if Kyle did it on purpose or if he was suffering just like me.”
He hates being judged by anyone. For this reason, he once skipped the banquet altogether when he was nominated for the king. It was a story I could only tell in my mind. That happened in a year that went back to nothing.
“It is not. He asked me to put in some recommendations. I wrote him the best recommendation.”
Kelly raised her fist, clenching her cookie. Lilu, not missing her chance, immediately clung to her arm.
Apparently, Kyle decided to dress as a woman at the Love Month banquet so I would not feel embarrased alone. It was truly touching, but at the same time, a burdensome decision.
The Love Month Banquet was the most important banquet at Fitzsimmons in name and reality, attracting attention from inside and outside the academy. Showing a clean and tidy appearance was very important for future social activities, especially marriage.
For Kyle, was my embarrassment worth ruining his reputation for? I’ve known him for a long time, but sometimes I can’t understand the choices he makes, even if they aren’t about Blossom.
Saying that it would be fun and exciting for him to win, Kelly, Liz, and Bree declared that they would vote for Kyle as Queen of the Banquet. I squeezed my stuffy chest with my hands, which felt as if something was churning inside it.
***
When I walked into the student council room, Keran Ilestia was sitting at the table where Jaden was doing his assignment before, flipping through something like a wad of papers.
The silver-encrusted quill tucked between his long fingers was quite a sight. His hand movements were so graceful that the quill looked like the flapping of a bird’s wings.
His drooping eyelashes, like his hair, were soft gold and they were so long that they cast shadows around his eyes.
I was a little nervous. It was the first time I met him since the day he shed tears looking for ‘Ari’, who was me and not me at the same time.
“Is something wrong? You’ve never called me so suddenly.”
I cautiously sat down on the chair across from Illestia, like a troublemaker who had come to be punished. Then he put down the quill and muttered something else.
“I haven’t been able to sleep well lately.”
“I heard. Bolton was very worried.”
“I keep thinking of you.”
He looked at me, supporting his chin with his fingers that were just holding the quill. It was a tired voice. There was no light in his amber eyes, which seemed to have been poured with black ink.
My cheeks became hot for a moment, and then I thought that the “me” he was talking about might not be who I am now.
“What comes to your mind?”
“Just… your face… laughing or talking…”
He squeezed his eyelids with his middle and ring fingers.
“Even if I close my eyes, I can still see it. As if it were engraved on my eyelids… It’s too clear to be mere imagination. Even if I try to recall something that happened yesterday, it won’t be like this.”
“You must have missed me a lot.”
Feeling the ‘fourth wall’* stabbing my temples for the first time in a while, I trembled. It was because I couldn’t tell him that it was the real Ariel Dalton, not an imaginary one and that it would be somewhere on the skein of rewinding time.
*(This is something I found out recently: In general, the fourth wall refers to the imaginary barrier between the performers/characters and the audience in a performance or work of fiction.)
“I guess so.”
Then, Illestia dismissed my joke with a shallow laugh, like a sigh. When he finally blinked slowly, the corners of his mouth rose at a sweet angle, like a layer of sugar. It was the usual Keran Illestia.
“There’s a sentence that appears over and over on multiple pages.”
“Did you decipher it?”
“Part of it, sparsely.”
Illestia turned over a sheet of paper and wrote three words in the corner. They were ‘Keran Illestia’, ‘Strategy’, and ‘Improvement’.
“Your name was written there?”
“I couldn’t believe it either, so I translated it over and over again. I am sure of it.”
“But… how?”
Surprised, I straightened my back. I wasn’t great at deciphering ancient languages, but I could tell if something was old or not. Looking at its old cover and pages, <Patch Notes> must have been published at least half a century ago.
Half a century ago, when neither Keran Illestia nor his mother, Kaitlyn the Great, had been born. So how could his name be written on it?
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