* * *
“Come on, don’t cry. I just want to talk.”
I put the princess on Cat’s back and returned straight to my quarters. In real life, doing such things is never advised, but this is a novel world. Why take the long route when there’s an easier one?
“Did you say you’re a painting wizard? Tell me everything you know.”
I covered the window with a thin blanket, creating a room of truth. Facing the reluctant princess who was sticking to the wall, I spoke kindly.
“No, no, I can’t talk.”
“Really? The other painting wizards were able to talk though?”
For now, I let Lacius go outside. Cat too. It’s only me and the princess here.
I smiled and asked the princess a question.
“First, tell me what you know about Fata-Morgana.”
“I-I can’t! I don’t even know who they are!”
“You’re lying to me, aren’t you? That’s why I’m asking you why dare touch the archduke of Terran when you can only summon a chick?”
While kidnapping the princess, I told her about Lacius’ identity. My identity too. Her arrogance diminished compared to earlier, but she still resisted, though it was futile.
I would do the most vicious and evil thing in the world to find out about the Painting Wizards if it would make Lacius feel any better and put his mind at ease.
“If you don’t talk… this child’s life is over.”
I held the chicken-sized chick I caught earlier upside down and put it in front of the princess’s eyes. Then the princess turned pale and cried.
“No! Pipi 7!”
“Resist one more time. Then your precious Pipi 7….”
Swoop. Pretending to cut my throat, I gazed at the window behind the princess. I didn’t say much, but I was able to convey the meaning of throwing it as food.
“Oh, no. No way! Pipi 7, that—!”
“Whether it’s Pipi 1 or 7, why should I care?”
“You evil woman!”
“Oh my, how did you know? That I’m evil?”
What’s wrong with the villainess being called evil? I brushed my hair back and smiled brightly.
“Now, choose. Will you let Pipi 7 become food for my cat, or will you answer my question?”
“Iikk, the likes of you! I will tell my brother everything!”
“Go on, but your brother ran away didn’t he?”
“Ah!”
No matter what she says, it only bounced off of me, the high-spirited princess stamped her feet. I approached the window without blinking like a stern tutor. Then I lifted the blanket that was hung like a curtain and put the chick outside…
“I’ll tell you! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”
“You should have said that sooner.”
Still, she was a young child, so I refrained from throwing the chick to Cat, not wanting to traumatize her. The spoiled brat should be grateful for that. If she were an adult, I would have started by feeding Cat this chick.
“I’ll answer your question. But just five.”
“What?”
“There’s nothing I can do. This is an unwritten rule. I’ll only answer five questions!”
The princess held out her hand and showed the number of her fingers.
Come to think of it, ‘Rawiya’ the painting wizard Lacius met held out six fingers. The rule of answering as many questions as the number of fingers seemed strange, but for now, I nodded. A lot of time had been spent calming and coaxing the princess. I needed to ask questions quickly.
“First. What is Fata-Morgana?”
“Ugh, that… … .”
The princess hunched her shoulders as if she had received a blow, then reluctantly began speaking, seemingly resigned.
“They… No, that country. A country that exists but does not exist.”
What do you mean by country?
I pressured him to talk more with my eyes, being careful not to count questions I had inadvertently spit out.
“They hide a lot of painting wizards. I’m a princess, so it’s fine for me, but other painting wizards are targeted a lot. So, when they need protection, they ask Fata-Morgana to hide them.”
The princess’s explanation made me tilt my head.
They didn’t sound like such nice people. Or was that just how they were known in the palace, and the truth was different?
“Second. That means the painting wizard would need to make contact in order to hide, so how do they get in touch with Fata-Morgana?”
This was pretty important information. It is surprising that the princess of the kingdom of Edmund, whom everyone ignores and doesn’t care about, is a painting wizard, but it is even more surprising that she knows a lot.
The princess looked at me and slowly reached out her hand toward Pipi 7. I grabbed the chick with both hands and flicked it out of her reach, to keep the princess from grabbing it.
“They periodically send birds to keep in touch. It is a bird made of painting magic, so it can speak. And when we ask them to protect someone or something, they come.”
The young princess seemed to believe that Fata-Morgana was a really good group.
‘But I heard that Rawiya’s reaction was completely different.’
I, too, was wary of them.
Sometimes ugly truths were nicely packaged, and it seemed that Fata-Morgana deceived wizards in this way. Alternatively, perhaps only the princess was unaware, and the king already knew the truth.
‘Maybe they’re making a deal.’
Being a thoroughly corrupted adult, I seemed to be well aware that the world wasn’t as beautiful as it might seem. After a moment of contemplation, I continued with my next question.
“Thirdly, how can you recognize the birds they send?”
Most likely, their base was in the desert. If so, they would need to send messenger birds from the desert. If I could spot messenger birds during my time in the desert, I might be able to find them.
‘It’s quite valuable information.’
It was a waste to limit myself to just five questions. Why couldn’t I ask more, and why couldn’t she answer more? I was curious about that, but if I inquired, it would likely result in four questions.
I couldn’t afford to squander this precious opportunity.
“Princess! Princess, are you here!”
“… … !”
“Princess, we’ve come to bring you back, kuck!”
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