“Why are you reacting that way?”
Hayron asked, observing my reaction closely.
‘No, I better stay quiet for now.’
I instinctively felt it was better not to speak in front of Hayron.
“You’ve changed a bit since the last time I saw you.”
I deflected his question with a vague remark.
Instead, I turned to Hayron, who was watching our conversation with interest.
“Hayron. It was nice meeting you. Let’s talk again at the banquet later.”
In other words, leave now.
“Sure. I hope we can meet often while I’m staying here.”
He flashed an annoying smile and glanced at Serdin, seemingly signaling him to leave together.
“Oh, I’ll spend more time catching up with Serdin since it’s been a while.”
In other words, you can go by yourself.
“Understood. Your Highness, I’ll see you later.”
“Of course.”
Serdin nodded lightly.
As soon as Hayron left, I turned to Serdin and asked,
“Why are your eyes black? Did your eye color change?”
It wasn’t something I’d never seen before.
In certain cases, eye color could change.
But as far as I knew, the red eyes of Ilnord didn’t change.
‘So why did they change?’
As I reached out toward Serdin’s eyes—
‘This is magic, isn’t it?’
I instantly felt it.
A spell had been cast on Serdin’s eyes.
It seemed like magic was being used to conceal the natural color of his eyes.
To maintain such a precise spell for so long—
I grabbed Serdin’s hand firmly.
“Serdin. Let’s go see my dad.”
Without waiting for a response, I turned and led the way.
By now, he should be holed up in his office, avoiding the ambassadors.
“You’re here.”
Delight didn’t seem surprised to see Serdin.
Instead, his attention was focused elsewhere.
“First, let go of his hand.”
So that’s what he was glaring at this whole time. His sharp eyes missed nothing.
I let go of Serdin’s hand and we sat down across from each other on the sofa.
“It’s been a while. I heard you came with Ilnord’s Archmage.”
“I only found out when I was leaving.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. Thanks to that, I can resolve some of my curiosities.”
Delight showed no concern about Hayron coming along.
In fact, he sounded as if he was pleased Hayron had walked right into his grasp.
‘I knew it. Dad and I are on the same wavelength about this.’
Like Delight, I was actually glad the man had shown up in front of us.
There was plenty of time, so I planned to observe him until the Foundation Day banquet concluded.
For now, I needed to confirm why I’d suddenly brought Serdin here, after ten years apart.
“I kept my promise.”
Delight directed his words at Serdin.
Huh? Promise?
Puzzled, I turned to Serdin, who seemed calm, as if he understood the meaning.
And then, a memory suddenly flashed through my mind.
The three wishes Serdin made on his birthday ten years ago!
‘One of them, he told Delight about, didn’t he?’
Does this mean that Delight granted it?
“What was the wish?”
Curious, I asked, and Delight, gazing at Serdin with interest, replied.
“He asked for his eye color to gradually change.”
Ten years ago.
On the night before Serdin’s departure.
“My red eyes symbolize the legitimacy of the Ilnord imperial family, right?”
“Yes.”
“My wish is for my eye color to slowly change over time.”
“You’re basing this wish on what I said? Concealing yourself… Clever.”
That night, Delight cast a spell on Serdin’s eyes.
The spell didn’t take effect immediately, but about a year after Serdin returned, his red eyes began to darken and change color.
Now, his eyes were almost completely black, with no trace of red remaining.
“So that’s what it was?”
As suspected, the change in Serdin’s eye color was due to Delight’s magic.
What puzzled me was why Delight would do such a thing.
‘Ah, it was his wish. That’s why it was kept a secret.’
I immediately understood.
As the red in Serdin’s eyes disappeared, the Crown Prince likely began to feel less threatened by him.
Serdin must have realized this by now.
The Crown Prince’s dislike and mistreatment of him weren’t solely due to the humiliation of being sent as a hostage in Serdin’s place.
“The last wish has been fulfilled as well.”
“Thank you. Because of you, I’m able to sit here today.”
“Huh? The last wish?”
There were three wishes in total.
One of them was shared with Delight. What about the others?
Delight gave a sly smile.
“There was one more.”
“One more?”
“Usually, wishes shared with others are requests, while those kept private are hopes.”
“Right?”
“But when a hope is spoken aloud and made real, it becomes a fulfilled wish, doesn’t it?”
As it turned out, when Serdin expressed his wish, their conversation didn’t end there.
“When you blew out the candles, what did you wish for?”
“Isn’t that supposed to be something I keep to myself?”
“That’s true, under normal circumstances. But if the person you’re telling it to can make it come true… wouldn’t it be better to say it?”
“…..…”
“If you don’t want to say it, forget it.”
“W-Wait a moment. Are you really… after granting one wish, would you grant another?”
“What’s the difference? One or two, it’s all the same.”
“Then I’ll say it. The wish I made while blowing out the candles is…”
And so, the night before his departure, Serdin revealed both of his wishes to Delight.
“As promised, I granted your wish.”
“The invitation. Thank you.”
The invitation bearing Serdin’s name turned out to be the fulfillment of his final wish.
So, he was meant to come here from the beginning!
No, wait. Could it be that the whole reason for hosting such a grand Foundation Day celebration and inviting Ilnord was to keep that promise?
But Delight deliberately kept Serdin’s arrival a secret from me.
“What?! So Dad already knew ten years ago?!”
He had outright refused to tell me when I asked!
They had shared a private conversation behind my back. Overwhelmed by the unfairness of it all, I shouted.
“Well, there you have it. It seems Prince Serdin valued his own gain over his relationship with you, Ollia.”
Delight smirked, clearly seizing the opportunity to tease Serdin in front of me.
How childish.
“That’s not true!”
Surprisingly, Serdin—who I thought would brush it off—looked flustered.
This only seemed to heighten Delight’s satisfaction.
“My wish was simply to be able to come if Ilnord were ever invited in the future.”
Serdin was busy explaining, completely unaware of Delight’s teasing intentions.
“That’s something only the Emperor could make happen, so I mentioned it.”
He even waved his hands energetically to emphasize his sincerity.
“Still, the fact remains that you told me and not Ollia.”
Delight dismissed his explanation as if it were trivial.
At the same time, Serdin’s expression twisted with embarrassment.
And, of course, Delight rounded it off with a smugly satisfied smile.
‘He’s so petty, even to the end.’
It had been ten years, yet it felt as if they had parted just yesterday.
Though I didn’t mind; it made their reunion all the more endearing.
Watching the two bicker over me, I couldn’t help but smile and chime in.
“You two seem much closer than I thought.”
I furrowed my brows and tried to look a little forlorn.
“What?”
“What nonsense are you saying all of a sudden…?”
“I thought I was closer to both of you, but I guess I was wrong.”
“O-Ollia. What kind of misunderstanding…! There’s no way I’d prioritize anyone over you…!”
As Delight flailed his arms in the air, visibly flustered,
“Pfft. Oh, what a shame,”
I exaggerated my pout and acted as though I was upset.
Then, I slyly turned my head to the side and smirked.
“Well, it can’t be helped. You two have a great time here. I’m going to see Mom!”
“Are you seriously leaving? Wait a minute…!”
“Ollia!”
Just as I closed the door behind me, I caught a glimpse of the two of them looking completely bewildered.
Particularly delightful was the sight of their jaws dropped, mouths wide open in disbelief.
Hehe. That was fun.
***
When Serdin returned to his room,
Hayron was already waiting for him there.
“You’re back.”
“Have you been waiting in my room all this time?”
“Haha. I thought you’d be back soon. When you didn’t come, I debated leaving but decided to wait a little longer.”
“Next time, come find me when I’m here.”
Serdin closed the door and sat across from him, speaking indifferently.
“Ah, my apologies. I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”
Even though he had clearly waited there on purpose, Hayron casually offered his apology with a grin.
Then, with an annoying smirk, he asked,
“Did the conversation go well?”
“It was just a brief greeting after a long time apart.”
“It didn’t look like just that to me.”
Hayron’s smile deepened meaningfully.
“You seemed closer than I expected. It’s fortunate; the task shouldn’t be too difficult for you.”
“?”
“I know about it too. The task the Emperor entrusted to you.”
The mage winked, his grin growing more irritating.
“If you ever need my help, just say the word.”
How utterly obnoxious.
