Chapter 57
Ciel and Noel turned to face each other.
For a brief moment, they wondered if they knew what was wrong with Arellin, but found no answer.
Noel chuckled.
“We don’t friend just anyone.”
“Yeah, I thought friends weren’t supposed to be easy.”
“Of course not.”
Arellin turned her back on the twins, who were trying to take advantage of the opportunity to tease her.
In the end, it was the twins who grabbed it.
“No, no, no!”
“Be friends!”
Arellin befriended the twins with a reluctant expression.
Ciel asked.
“Why did you change your mind the last time you said we weren’t going to be best friends, Arellirin?”
“I mean, did we do something pretty, Arellirin?”
“Beauty again?”
“Or money?”
“I don’t need either.”
Arellirin laughed at the ridiculousness of this after all the goals.
Hmph.
The twins paused at her lazy smile.
“Uhhh…”
They had never seen Arellin laugh like this before.
“It’s just, I thought you guys were kind of cute.”
Arellin smiles. It’s not a mocking smile, not a wry smile, but a genuine smile.
He staring, overwhelmed by the brightness of her smile, as if spring is in the air, when suddenly Noel speaks up.
“Ciel, I think I know why His Highness is pursuing Arellin.”
“Noel, me too.”
***
She came to the library after a long time.
“Are there any books you’re looking for?”
“Yes.”
“Another novel?”
“Nope. Something else today.”
The Halbern’s private library, built separately from the manor house, was renowned as one of the three great libraries of the Empire, along with the Sperom Private Library and the Imperial Palace Library.
For research purposes, it’s a pass. Roughly speaking, all books related to symbols and heraldry were thrown in as they came across.
《A History of Heraldry》
《What a Star Means to a Star Wizard》
《Ancient Symbols of the Gods》
“This is in Sovereign, do you think you can read it?”
“I’ll try.”
“Young Lady… so eager to study!”
She glared at the sigil on the back of her hand, looking at Lena, her maid of education, who seemed somehow impressed.
‘The man.’
The man had appeared before her often since the day he first appeared.
She doesn’t know how or why, he just appears and disappears.
And she is the only one who can see him.
‘I couldn’t see Mehen, and I didn’t think the wizard could either.’
She was experimenting with her mind, but he just smiled and watched her, as if to say, ‘If you want to try it, try it.’ She was getting high.
“Ha. What can I say, I’m an extra and I got tangled up with that freak.”
“Sorry? What?”
“Nothing.”
She would have understood if she’d seen him in a novel, but it was even more troubling that he never appeared.
Why put her through this?
It wasn’t like he was doing anything, he was always nice to her for some reason, but she always felt like she had a landmine under her feet that could go off at any moment.
“No wonder. I don’t know who you are or what your name is.”
If she asked him, he’d be surprisingly willing to tell her… but then something would be irreversible.
In any case, this world’s weakest sensor was too good to be true.
Coming to the library was also impulsive. She wondered if learning something would make a difference.
“I think it’s already wrong.”
The only clue was the pattern on the back of his hand, a falling star. Not so easy.
“The star is usually the symbol of wizards. When a wizard reaches a certain level, they are given a star to become a star wizard…”
Relevant?
“In ancient times, it also symbolized a savior…”
Wrong.
“So, are you a wizard?”
It makes sense that a wizard would appear and disappear without a sound, like a ghost.
Going back over the information you occasionally drop in conversation, it seems that you are older than you first appear.
She heard that mages change when they become Swordmasters, just as their bodies are reorganized and aging begins to slow down.
‘Maybe he is not human.’
The shell was human, but the way it spoke and behaved was more like a monster that had been there a long time.
‘A monster sealed and released? An archmage awakened after a long sleep?’
She was going through the books one by one, going over the genre’s traditional clichés.
“Arellin.”
She looked up at the unexpected voice.
“Pession?”
She put down her book and went down to where the voice came from, where Pession was standing alone.
“What are you doing here?”
“They said you were here.”
“Uh…”
Did I break our appointment?
She turned around reflexively, and Lena shook her head.
“Isn’t it time for my workout yet?”
“Just.”
“Just?”
“I missed you.”
Pession’s voice sounded so somber as he said that. She suddenly realized.
He’d heard about yesterday.
‘I wonder if he skipped class.’
Lord Pacello is going to get him in trouble.
“Arellin.”
“What?”
“You don’t like collections meetings, do you?”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“Do you want to get rid of them?”
It was so abrupt. It was out of the blue, and Pession isn’t like this.
Inwardly, she was embarrassed.
“I thought you liked it, playing with kids.”
“I did.”
Pession’s eyes narrowed.
“If Arellin doesn’t like it, I don’t like it.”
There was silence.
Who was always smiling and guiding, was at a loss for what to do with this withered, depressed Pession.
As she stood frozen in bewilderment, Lena, our eyes locked, gestured with a hint.
‘Stroke his head.’
… Lena, Pession is a Crown Prince, after all.
‘Hug him and pet him.’
She wondered if she was being too childish.
A few times, reaching out and pulling it back, she mustered up the courage.
“Pession.”
“Yes?”
She grabbed his hand and tugged, and he looked up.
His usually vibrant red eyes were shadowed. She felt bad that he had come all the way here, shriveled up like a puppy caught in the rain.
She sighed inwardly at the sight of Pession looking so uneasy and unsteady.
She wonder who would see him now and think he was the sunshine Crown Prince.
‘I must have done this to him.’
The hand that pulled me out.
She realizes with a start that she hasn’t done anything.
On the contrary, it seems that she has isolated Pession.
The Pession she knew was always the Crown Prince, shining like the sun.
It’s too embarrassing.
Maybe she should just let him go.
What can I do for him?
“Don’t you want anything from me?”
“I want you to be happy.”
“… I’ve never heard that before.”
She never heard anyone tell her to be happy, and that’s what they want from her. She just, like, a little choked up.
He always seems to hurt her.
She wonders if he doesn’t even hate her.
“You don’t hate me?”
“I… hate you.”
The answer came out surprisingly honest.
“I hate you.”
“I hate you?”
“I don’t know if I hate you because I like you more than that.”
Her heart is now so full that she can’t even pretend not to notice.
“Do you like me that much?”
“Yes.”
Without hesitation, without hesitation, Pession affirmed.
“Like crazy.”
Her heart sinks.
Never in her life had she seen, felt, and experienced the vibrancy of someone’s love for her so clearly.
The sensation of someone thinking of her, caring about her, liking her.
In a world as cracked and dry as the desert, Pession was like the occasional rain.
Only Pession mattered.
“Arellin?”
The red eyes that peer into mine are filled with worry. The affection beyond is impossible to ignore.
It was a slightly annoying, sometimes puzzling, and still incomprehensible attention and care, but it was no longer annoying.
“Are you okay?”
Pession looked at her, swallowing back the anxiety of being rejected, of being hated, of being confronted with the subject, of being told it like it is.
Strange.
Why is it so warm and glowing in a library with no light?
“Pession.”
Pession urged, pressing his forehead against mine.
“Forget what I said the other day.”
“What did you say?”
“Whatever it was.”
Whatever this world is a novel.
“I believe you.”
It didn’t matter anymore.
“I choose to believe.”
You’re the one who dragged me out of my shell, the one who chose to trust no one and be alone.
The novel was already off track before it even began.
The red eyes that held mine widened in surprise, and that alone made her smile, which made everything okay.
“Don’t get rid of the collections meetings.”
“… Why?”
“I quite like it. Playing in the palace.”
She had never played like that with someone her age before, which made it all the more fun.
“With you, with Aaron, with the twins.”
Pession’s eyes twinkled.
“Shall I send them all away, leaving only five?”
“That’ll get you in trouble.”
“I don’t mind.”
“I hate it.”
“Okay. I won’t. So don’t give me that look.”
Pession scowled.
She laughed again, and Pession stared at her, mesmerized.
“Can’t I be your dad after all?”
“Why do you want to be a dad so badly?”
“Because if I’m Arellin’s dad, I can be with you all day, just like Mehen.”
… Was that envy.
