In the silent night where everyone was asleep, a thudding sound echoed—the magic notebook was calling, or rather, Theo. With a happy heart, I hurriedly retrieved the notebook and pen from the drawer.
I brought them to the bed and laid them on the pillow. As I unfolded the notebook, I saw Theo’s familiar handwriting.
[Master?]
Theo called me Master, as if he wanted to continue playing as the spirit. Surprisingly, the title didn’t feel unpleasant at all.
It felt like I was having a cute conversation with the spirit again. Somehow, I felt like floating on fluffy clouds. Unconsciously, I swayed my legs like I were cutting through the air.
[Now that we both know each other, it’s a bit embarrassing to be called like that.]
[Hmm, is that so? I like it this way.]
[You seem to have enjoyed playing as the spirit quite a bit.]
[I don’t know about you, but I’ve been having a lot of fun talking to my master through the notebook.]
A pleasant chuckle escaped me at his cheeky remark. His writing resumed shortly thereafter.
[The blueprint for the ship is complete and will soon enter production. Additionally, we plan to send people to the settlement soon to start the process of transferring ownership officially.]
Despite the numerous complex events, Theo was consistently making efforts for my settlement.
It was heartwarming to hear him say that it didn’t matter if I was the real Lethenian or not.
[Thank you, really.]
[Your spirit is just doing what it’s supposed to do. Anyway, the situation is not good in many ways right now, so I hope you can leave that place as soon as possible.]
Theo knew that Ian had changed. There were rumors circulating that after the incident at the audience-day event, the Emperor had shifted his attention away from his mistress and cherished the Empress, whom he had been mistreating.
I knew that leaving would become more difficult as time passed. But part of me didn’t want to rush the escape I so desperately wanted. After a brief hesitation, I cautiously asked him.
[If I go there… We won’t be able to see each other again, right?]
He remained silent for a moment. After asking, I felt a slight regret, as it seemed like I was bringing up lingering feelings from a one-sided love. Why did I say something unnecessary, considering that Theo probably had no personal attachment to me?
[Most likely, yes.]
My excitement at his straightforward answer subsided, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I had to settle for the fact that I had the magic notebook and that we would be able to stay in touch like this from time to time.
Even though we couldn’t see each other’s faces or hear each other’s voices, the conversation felt awkward somehow. His writing continued.
[But even from afar, I’ll support your happiness.]
I let go of the pen as all my muscles tensed up at once. I couldn’t help but feel like he was trying to draw a clear line.
‘It’s to be expected.’
Theo had to stay here and get on with his life, while I had to leave and never return. We can’t be together forever, so it’s only natural that we’ll part ways at some point.
As I tried to comfort myself with such thoughts, an inexplicable melancholy began to fall on my heart like raindrops.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
“Rosetin collapsed?”
The next day, Stella delivered news from Kaelin Palace. When I looked up at Stella with a puzzled expression, she explained.
“She often had various unexplained pains even before. However, even though she seemed relatively healthy when she was a maid in the Empress’ palace, her symptoms seem to have worsened since she moved to a new residence.”
However, for some reason, Rosetin neither tried to get examined by the palace physicians nor showed signs of discomfort to anyone. Therefore, people outside Kaelin Palace had little knowledge of Rosetin’s health condition.
Stella had learned about it from a servant who had been assigned to Kaelin Palace but was now working elsewhere.
‘Why did she desperately try to hide her illness?’
I wonder if she was suffering from some sort of terminal illness. I heard that Ian was thoroughly blocking access to Kaelin Palace. Even he, who hadn’t paid any attention to Kaelin Palace for a while, had been staying by Rosetin’s side since yesterday.
Several days have passed since then. Rosetin still hadn’t moved a step inside Kaelin Palace.
How severe was the illness that she still hadn’t awakened?
Starting with the Empress suddenly falling into a coma, the Emperor being struck by the assassin’s blade, and now Rosetin, the mistress—tragedies kept unfolding. The palace servants were whispering that a curse of death hung over the Asha Royal Family. The chaotic atmosphere in the palace made me feel uneasy.
“They say the Falcon Mercenary Corps is scheduled to arrive in Asha tomorrow.”
Around that time, I received news that Linus’s Falcon Mercenary Corps had entered Asha.
Stella mentioned that illegal trading crackdowns had recently intensified, so they probably wouldn’t stay in Asha for long.
I still hadn’t resolved my suspicions about the love potion. With Ian focusing all his attention on Rosetin, now might be a good time to secretly meet with Linus.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
“Are you accusing me of being a fraud right now? Seriously, I’ve heard all sorts of nonsense in my life.” Linus frowned deeply, expressing his discomfort. I, too, stood my ground without backing down.
“I researched it myself. While the duration of the effects may vary, there’s never a case where this magical potion has no effect at all. If you were in my position, you’d naturally think there’s a problem with this potion, right?”
When I spoke firmly, he furrowed his brows and seemed lost in thought for a moment. After a while, he asked with a suspicious tone.
“You’re telling me it really didn’t do anything?”
“Yes.”
Linus, stroking his chin, scrutinized me from head to toe.
“If there was really no effect, then there must be something wrong with you.”
Before I could argue, he quickly continued.
“There could be two major possibilities. Either you have an extraordinary and unique constitution, or…”
“…….”
“You are connected to a demon.”
In an instant, his gaze became sharp. The sudden mention of demons made me furrow my brows in disbelief.
“I see you still think too lightly of me to say such an absurd thing…….”
My words trailed off as I realized that, unlike a moment ago, there was a coldness in his expression. Ignoring my reaction, he continued with a significant tone.
“If you’re someone cursed by a demon, there’s no way potions affecting emotions would work on you.”
He explained that the existence of a demon, like Demonio, could manipulate human emotions freely, making magical potions useless.
“Are you saying I’ve been cursed?”
“Did you experience any strange symptoms or anything?”
“What kind of…symptoms?”
“For instance, an unknown mark appears on your chest.”
His sharp question, as if interrogating, made me feel uneasy for a moment. Suddenly, I remembered the mysterious bruise on my chest. I opened my mouth cautiously, with a wary eye.
“What…… mark?”
“Something like the strange symbols the black mages have. In the field of black magic that uses souls as a medium, it’s inevitable to develop black marks.”
At that moment, the repulsive mark that had been engraved on Theo’s chest flashed through my mind.
“Of course, what I’m talking about is quite different from the petty contracts done by ordinary black mages.”
He used the terms ‘petty’ or ‘ordinary’ to describe those terrifying black mages. In any case, I felt a strange sense of relief as my symptom, which was just like a bruise, was far from that story.
“That’s impossible.”
“Well, I’ve been through everything, but I haven’t seen anything like this before. So it’s probably the first case. You must be aware that your body is unique.”
“What are you talking about?”
As I still wore a puzzled expression, he widened his eyes as if finding my ignorance amusing.
“What? You really don’t know?”
“…….”
“Wow. I guess you’ve been living under a rock all this time.”
He opened his mouth again, alternating between my eyes and the necklace. His gaze turned serious, heightening my anxiety.
“You probably have magical powers. That necklace contains an ancient magical gem with a very powerful force.”
“What are you saying?”
“In the ancient House of Xenos, when a child was born with uncontrollably strong magical powers, they sometimes used it to suppress those powers until they stabilized.”
“…….”
“It was cleverly crafted into an ordinary necklace, so I was nervous when I first saw it, but judging by the dullness of its color, it will soon fade.”
Linus continued to spout incomprehensible words. I was dumbfounded by what I was hearing.
Me… having magical powers? As I was lost in confusion, he glanced at me and stood up from his seat.
“I’m busy; I have to go now.”
He stepped a little closer and chuckled.
“Don’t worry, I won’t blow the whistle on you; I’m quite trustworthy with my clients. I’ll give you some good advice; you’d better get out of here as soon as possible, because life in Asha is going to be a bit rough for the Xenos royalty.”
Wow he just dropped the bombshell on her like that LMAO