Episode 57

When faced with the question of life or death, I had always chosen life without hesitation.

But if the question that tormented me wasn’t about my life but about Igon, the answer became much more complicated.

It was Igon who had banished the suffocating gloom that choked me and had kept me breathing all this time.

I began to wonder, if I were to continue living but without Igon in my life, what would be left for me?

Living, I realized, was an incredibly thorny issue.

I agonized over it, thought long and hard.

In the end, I decided to believe that the precious thing Rosalind spoke of wasn’t Igon, but something else.

Looking back, she had never specifically said what that “precious thing” was.

When Rosalind mentioned something precious, I had simply assumed she was referring to Igon.

After all, the only things precious to me were my life and Igon.

Yes, it was my misunderstanding.

It had to be.

If I ever saw Rosalind again, I would make sure to ask her properly.

With that in mind, I practiced drawing the magic circle she had left and igniting the flames.

“Ouch!”

A faint flame caught on the back of my hand.

I quickly poured the water from the nearby cup over it, extinguishing the fire in a hurry.

The flame was weak and went out easily, but the burning sensation made me think I might have gotten a minor burn.

I needed to treat it, but I was worried that if I wasn’t careful, Igon would find out.

For now, I wrapped my hand in a damp handkerchief as a temporary measure.

Casting magic without any inherent magical power was proving to be an incredibly difficult task.

Rosalind had made it look so easy, sketching the circle and muttering the incantation effortlessly—I hadn’t realized how hard it actually was.

Drawing the magic circle wasn’t the issue.

The problem arose when reciting the incantation.

If I didn’t pronounce the words perfectly, nothing happened or, worse, the spell went awry.

Last time, I ended up burning a book.

“Nothing ever comes easy…”

As I muttered to myself, there was a knock at the door.

When I told them to come in, someone entered, holding a letter on a tray.

I already knew who it was from.

The now-familiar signature caught my eye.

It was the alias Kenneth used.

At first, I had been curious about his condition after he returned to the palace.

Though he tried to hide it, he had been quite ill when I left the villa.

Since I could no longer communicate through the princess, I had asked the coachman, who used to come and go with me to the palace, to discreetly check on him.

I knew that the coachman had connections with the palace staff.

I had casually asked him to inquire, but somehow, it seemed Kenneth had gotten wind of it.

His response didn’t come through the coachman, but through a letter.

“If you have anything you want to ask, send a letter to this address.”

The letter was brief and to the point.

Even from several meters away, it was easy to tell who the sender was.

A small laugh escaped my lips.

At least he had enough energy to write a letter.

I quickly wrote a reply and sent it to the address he had provided.

I asked Kenneth if all his injuries had healed, if he was feeling better, and if there were any lingering effects. But in his reply, he only said he was fine, avoiding any specific answers.

It seemed he wasn’t fully recovered.

I sent a reply to his address, along with some remedies that might help him.

After that, brief letters continued to arrive.

He asked about my health, and I responded.

The letters we exchanged began to feel like we were members of some kind of “health club,” sharing tips on medicine and food.

I carefully opened the envelope with a letter opener. As I pulled out the letter, the sharp edge of the paper sliced my fingertip.

“Ouch!”

Blood soaked into the envelope.

First, my hand got burned, and now my fingertip was cut by paper.

Today wasn’t my day.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, but could you bring me some ointment?”

I asked for some ointment, trying to ease the worried tone of the maid who had spoken. While I waited for her to return, I unfolded the letter to read its contents.

“What is this?”

There was no greeting, no mention of health—none of the usual pleasantries.

Instead, there was just an address scrawled in hasty handwriting.

Below it, a single, brief sentence:

“Come find me.”

Is this a joke?

Excuse me, but I may look like this, yet I’m still a noble lady.

There was no way I could secretly meet Kenneth.

Igon’s watchful eye was too intense for that.

In fact, Igon had long since discovered that I was exchanging letters with Kenneth.

I remembered the dinner we shared a few days ago.

That night, the meal had been duck steak.

The meat was perfectly cooked, and the mustard sauce on top was divine.

Even though Igon preferred beef, he often had lighter dishes like fish, chicken, or duck served because he knew I liked them.

We were eating in silence when Igon suddenly spoke up.

“So, how’s the Crown Prince these days? Is he recovering well?”

His tone was so casual that I nodded reflexively, smiling.

I nodded, but as I was about to take another bite, I realized something was off.

It wasn’t until the juices from the meat spread across my tongue that I understood something was wrong.

When I looked up, Igon was smiling at me with a knowing, almost beautiful expression.

I dropped my fork.

“Oh dear, it seems I’ll need to use a new one.”

That charming smile stayed on his lips.

Igon had never once stopped smiling at me, but today, despite the smile, something in his demeanor was very different.

“Eve, did you really think you could hide the fact that you’ve been exchanging letters with him from me?”

His voice was laced with a kind of pity, almost like he felt sorry for me.

“Did you really believe that letters coming to and from my house wouldn’t be noticed by me? My sweet, naive Eve…”

He let out a short laugh.

As he finished his meal, he stood up and walked around the table.

He came over to me, gently tapping my tense shoulders with his fingertips.

When he saw how nervous and embarrassed I was, he chuckled.

Then Igon left a brief kiss on my cheek.

“Don’t worry. I have no intention of controlling your friendships.”

His words were reassuring, but up close, I could see a steely glint in his eyes.

The smile on his face did nothing to soften the sharpness in his expression.

Even a stranger would have known that he was angry.

After saying that, he left the dining room.

True to his word, Igon didn’t intercept my letters or prevent me from sending any after that.

The fact that today’s letter, with its simple command to “Come find me,” had even reached me was proof of that.

But the problem was, despite receiving such a letter, I couldn’t go.

Igon would never allow it, and sneaking away was out of the question.

This letter was entirely different from the ones Kenneth had sent before.

Kenneth wasn’t the type to send a letter like this as a joke or a prank.

Clearly, there was something urgent or important he wanted to convey, but I replied, letting him know I couldn’t meet him.

After writing the reply, I got up and headed to the library.

I picked up some books on magic that I had borrowed earlier.

Though what Rosalind practiced seemed different from traditional magic, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have some basic knowledge.

Since the library was one that Igon had built for his personal use, it was empty.

As I wandered between the bookshelves, looking for the books I needed, a dark shadow suddenly loomed over my head.

Huh?

What is that?

Just as I looked up, something came crashing down from above with a loud thud.

I let out a short scream.

Something heavy struck my shoulder, causing me to lose my balance.

I was certain I was about to fall flat on my back, but instead of hitting the floor, I found myself being supported by a pair of strong arms.

Shaking my head to clear the dizziness, I realized someone had caught me and was holding me securely.

Quickly, I pushed away from him, stepping back a few paces.

As I blinked and adjusted my clothes, I caught a familiar scent—one that had no business being here.

Without thinking, my hand shot out and pulled back the hood covering the man’s face.

“Oh my God!”

A scream escaped my lips.

It was a face I recognized.

I was about to shout again when a large hand came forward, covering my mouth.

I mumbled his name through his hand.

“There’s too much attention around here. Keep quiet.”

As he spoke, he removed his hand from my mouth.

I quickly scanned Kenneth from head to toe.

Apart from looking a bit thinner from his illness, he seemed fine.

Thank goodness. At least I wouldn’t have to witness him dying because of me.

But that’s not the issue right now.

“How did you get in here?” I demanded.

“Did you see the address on the letter?” Kenneth asked, completely ignoring my question.

Before I could respond, he continued in a rush.

“The letter reacts to blood and shows different content only to the blood’s owner. I found this place using that blood as a link. I have something important to tell you, but the magic won’t last long, so you need to come to that address.”

“How can I possibly—”

“Just come. It’s important.”

“Kenneth, this doesn’t make any sense—”

Before I could finish my sentence, he started to vanish.

What kind of magic is this?

“It’s related to you…” he began, but his words trailed off as he dissolved into white particles that scattered into the air.

This can’t be happening.

“Kenneth!”

I screamed his name, reaching out to where he had been, but my hands grasped nothing but air.

Did I just imagine that?

Was the poison from the demonic beast still affecting me?

But then I noticed something: a large, clear footprint on the library floor.

He had been here.

“Ha…”

The whole situation was so absurd and sudden that I was left feeling utterly bewildered. I clutched my head with both hands.

Kenneth said he had something important to tell me.

If what he wanted to say was related to my life or death, then I needed to go see him.

I needed an excuse.

But what excuse could I use, and how could I pull this off?

Just as this thought crossed my mind, I heard the sound of the library door opening.

“My lady!”

I heard several footsteps following the voice.

So this was the “attention” Kenneth had mentioned being nearby.

Although a little late, the Duke’s knights were walking toward where I was.

Quickly, I turned around and used my foot to rub out Kenneth’s footprint.

I smiled, folding my eyes to show that I was perfectly fine.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“We happened to be passing by and heard your scream, my lady.”

It was Liam’s voice.

His keen, dark brown eyes quickly scanned the area where I was standing.

“It’s nothing. Uh… I just saw a bug.”

In an instant, the Crown Prince had been reduced to a bug in my explanation.

I felt a twinge of guilt toward Kenneth.

“I’m fine.”

As I said this, I met Liam’s gaze, and suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head.

Ah, of course.

I could use him.