Sapphire House.
“Calypso, where are you going?”
Calypso stopped in his tracks just as he was about to step out of the entrance and turned around. Despite it being the weekend, Marian was impeccably dressed from head to toe, with not a single flaw in her appearance.
“I’m going to the stables. I just want to get some fresh air.”
“And your studies?”
“I studied in the morning.”
“If you keep getting up because sitting still is hard, how will you ever get used to it? You need to develop the habit of sitting and studying properly. Go back to your room and read a book. Before dinner, tell me what you’ve read.”
Calypso swallowed a sigh. Studying on the weekend too? It felt suffocating.
“But we agreed that weekend studying would start next year—”
“What did you say?”
Marian’s sharp gaze pierced through him. With no other choice, Calypso turned around and went back to his room, picking up a book.
His mother had been this strict ever since the last monthly evaluation.
“An average of 80 points, huh.”
It was the day he had come home, excited, holding his report card. His mother stared at it before asking,
“You studied hard for this exam, didn’t you?”
“Yes! So—”
“You worked hard, and yet you only got 80 points?”
Only.
Calypso couldn’t believe his ears. He had expected his mother to praise him for such a score.
“From now on, if it’s not 100, don’t even consider it a score.”
“…What?”
“You need to excel if we are to make the Diamond House ours.”
From that day forward, he found himself trapped in an oppressive environment of constant studying under Marian’s strict supervision. Private tutors were assigned for multiple subjects.
Yet, despite his efforts, his latest monthly evaluation resulted in an average of 75 points. The strange summary notes, whose origin he couldn’t trace, had actually predicted the test questions better than the tutors Marian had hired.
If I worked harder than before but got worse results, then isn’t the problem with the teachers?
Calypso felt wronged.
‘Why do I have to suffer more than even the worst students?’
Some students frequently skipped class, claiming it was for ‘experiential learning.’ Others just lay down on their desks during breaks. Many had even given up on doing after-school assignments altogether.
‘Shouldn’t it be my mother and father who need to do well if they want the Diamond House, not me?’
For that reason, Calypso had recently been feeling increasingly rebellious and stressed.
After finishing the last page of the book, he closed it irritably. He had to report what book he had read before dinner, so this was merely to fulfill that obligation.
The door was slightly ajar.
“Edgar, did you really see it?”
Marian’s excited voice drifted through the opening. She was speaking with her husband, who had just returned from the main house.
“I didn’t look on purpose… The head maid mentioned that Father has been in a good mood lately, so I went to the study to personally deliver the performance report and—”
Edgar Presto Travel, Marian’s husband, was making excuses.
In reality, he had entered the empty study under the pretense of delivering the report, but his true intention was to find out why Count Travel was in such high spirits.
While snooping around the study, he had recklessly opened Lassek’s desk drawer.
“I happened to come across a letter…”
Edgar admitted nervously. Upon hearing this, Marian smiled.
“Don’t worry. What matters is that you found out what was in it.”
This was actually a good thing.
After all, she had planted informants all over the Travel estate precisely for moments like this.
“The most perfect gem.”
She murmured, the corners of her lips curling upward.
“Father has always wanted to do business with the dwarves. I must make sure this is credited to my achievements.”
***
The Next Day
That morning, I took Theon and Jeffrey with me to the western wall.
This was where the Red Hawk Knights’ training ground and the hunting grounds were located.
Since it was the last day of the weekend, the knights had the day off, so the area was mostly deserted.
“Theon, Jeffrey.”
For the first time in a while, our secret squad had gathered.
Standing at the entrance to the hunting grounds, I turned to them and said.
“Today—”
“Today, Big Sis Anne said she’s making potato croquettes!”
Excited at the thought, I cheered along with Jeffrey.
“Berry, what are you gonna do?”
“Oh, right.”
I almost let the conversation veer off in a different direction. Thank goodness Theon brought it back on track.
I glanced around and then asked Theon and Jeffrey if they sensed anyone nearby. They were better at detecting movement than I was.
“No one’s around.”
Relieved, I finally told them why I had brought them here.
“Good. This is a secret.”
“A secret? Is it something for the secret squad?”
Jeffrey wagged his tail excitedly, while Theon remained calm, waiting to hear me out.
“We’re going on a treasure hunt in the hunting grounds!”
“A treasure?”
“Yes! The pearl earrings from the Shushubia Archipelago!”
“…What’s that?”
Since the auction took place while Jeffrey was at the Evening Primrose Inn, it made sense that he didn’t know about it.
Unlike the confused Jeffrey, Theon quickly understood.
“Isn’t that the item from the last charity auction?”
“That’s right. But the one Aunt Marian won was a fake—the real one is in the hunting grounds.”
According to Butler Cerberus’s journal, the real earrings had been discovered in a crow’s nest within the hunting grounds, causing quite a commotion.
Since everything had quieted down, it was clear that no one had found them yet.
“The twins managed to sneak it out of the main house, but a crow snatched it away.”
At first, I had planned to search with just Aqum, but the hunting grounds were too vast for the two of us alone.
So, I turned to my reliable allies.
“Will you help me search for the treasure?”
“Of course!”
“Sounds fun!”
***
Thud! Swish!
Jeffrey nimbly leaped between the trees.
“Reporting in! Nothing on this side!”
Whoosh! Rustle…
Theon moved cautiously, using his sword aura to shake the leaves that obstructed his view.
“Nothing here either, Berry.”
Scramble, scramble!
Aqum climbed a tree, scanning the surroundings from above.
[Nothing up here either!]
One by one, Jeffrey, Theon, and Aqum returned to the meeting point to report their findings. Our target was the crow’s nest.
“I didn’t find anything on my side, either—”
Just as I was about to report my findings, a dense thicket nearby caught my attention. Something about it gave me the feeling that something was hidden inside.
I carefully pushed aside the branches, revealing what seemed to be tangled vines—but upon closer inspection, I realized they were letters.
‘Ancient script!’
What’s more, it was rising above the ground, as if it had been left undisturbed for a long time.
Since it had been hidden deep within the bushes, Aqum must have missed it during its earlier search.
Did it forget about this spot while sleeping? Well, this is perfect! I should help Aqum with its work too.
Excited about the unexpected teamwork, I quickly restored the water veins.
Clink!
“Huh!?”
An unexpected sound caught my ears.
That clear, ringing chime—
“We found it!”
Gold coins! I hadn’t expected to find ancient script here—Aqum had never restored this area before!
“Huh?! What?! What did you find, Big Sis Berry?!”
“Berry, what is it?”
[Oh! Was there ancient text there too?]
Everyone had sharp ears. My companions had heard my voice and were already rushing toward me.
Before they arrived, I reached out to pick up the gold coin that had fallen outside the bush—
Whoosh!
“Ack!”
A large black shape swooped down and snatched the coin before vanishing.
No way! My gold coin!
I froze mid-motion, staring blankly at my empty hand before quickly looking up. A crow.
“Berry! Don’t run—you’ll get hurt!”
“A crow?! Big Sis Berry, was that a crow?!”
I sprinted after the crow as it flew deeper into the hunting grounds, with Theon and Jeffrey keeping pace beside me.
Soon, the crow landed in its nest high up in a tree and deliberately dropped my gold coin inside. Then, as if mocking me, it spread its beak wide.
“Caw!”
Wow. It was taunting me, wasn’t it?
The problem was, the tree was really tall—at least as high as a three-story building.
And then—
Swish—! Thud!
A sharp sound sliced through the air, striking both the crow and the nest in rapid succession.
The crow, hit by sword energy, fell unconscious, and the nest, its balance disturbed, tumbled to the ground.
“Whoa. Two hits in one go.”
“Wait… Theon, did you just do that?”
Jeffrey and I turned to Theon in astonishment. He simply nodded, looking unfazed.
“Yeah.”
Now that I thought about it, Theon had been growing noticeably taller by the day. With his intense training, his growth spurt, and a well-balanced diet, he was becoming stronger at an alarming rate.
‘Isn’t Theon going to end up taller than Crown Prince Theon?’
The thought made my heart race for a moment—until Jeffrey’s exclamation snapped me out of it.
“Wow! It’s a treasure hoard!”
Treasure?!
Jeffrey was rummaging through the fallen nest. I quickly ran over to his side.
My gold coin had rolled out, having been placed there only moments ago. Inside the nest, various objects were tangled among feathers and dust.
“The pearl earrings are here too!”
“Oh!”
“And what’s this?”
Clink. Theon pulled out a rusted key from within the nest.
