I blinked quietly as I looked at the place where the top went in. Is it really going in?
“It’s the first place.”
“It’s in!”
As soon as someone shouted, everyone burst into cheers. The host made a fuss.
“The goddess of luck is here! Now, Lady, take Arisuke’s ice statue.”
The host held out the glass dome that had not been able to find its owner for a while.
I don’t know if this will get me much attention, but I took it in a daze.
“You’re the perfect owner for Arisuke’s ice statue. I don’t tend to talk about personal things, but Lady is really, really beautiful.”
The host winked at me. Urgh, it gave me goosebumps.
“Thank you.”
I quickly backed away, then bumped into a solid body behind me. It was Delkian. I showed him the glass dome indifferently.
“I won first place.”
“Amazing, you must have a knack for this.”
I wasn’t asking for a compliment, but Delkian said that as if he was proud of me, perhaps because he was a little older than me.
“Do you want it?”
Then Delkian laughed and quickly refused.
“No, it can’t be. Rather, I should have won it and given it to you.”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen a mana stone.”
“It will be quite useful if you process it. It’s often used for a simple decoration, but if it’s that big, it will give you good mana stones even if you divide it into ten.”
I was surprised. That much?
“Ten?”
“Yes, it depends on the person who processes it. But if you leave it to a competent person, you can use it for a long distance and even hide yourself.”
I stared down at Arisuke’s ice statue. Can that item make ten mana stones? Can I use it to run away?
“Can it be used to attack?”
Then Delkian looked a little surprised.
“I didn’t know you had an extreme hobby.”
“I’m just curious.”
“It’s possible. One mana stone can blow up even a small building.”
“Oh.”
That’s very useful. As I was thinking seriously, Delkian asked anxiously,
“You must have asked that out of curiosity. You don’t mean it, don’t you?”
It’s not something to ask so seriously. I hid the corners of my mouth that were going up.
“Just kidding.”
Well, I pondered for a moment. If I carry this out, I’m sure it will go into Sir Shubart’s or my mother’s ears. I’m going to do that anyway, but Ian is away now.
“Your Highness, you said earlier that you will do anything I asked for help.”
“Right.”
Delkian nodded happily. He raised his eyebrows as if to tell him.
“Can I ask you to process this mana stone? Or can you introduce me to someone to process it?”
“…For attack?”
I finally burst out laughing at his face that seemed to ask half-jokingly and half-seriously.
“No. You said it could be used to hide yourself.”
“If that’s the case, it’s not difficult. You wanted it to be processed for small use? Then there will be quite a bit.”
I handed him the glass dome with Arisuke’s ice statue.
“Is it possible… to hide myself for one day or so? If you can’t, half a day, no, just an hour is fine. If that doesn’t work, it would be nice to have a mana stone that can move me about an hour or 30 minutes by carriage.”
“…”
Delkian stared at me without answer. I asked him,
“Is something wrong…?”
“No, I just thought it was too specific. Are you going to run away?”
His expression was so serious that it made me laugh.
“Sometimes, I just want to get some air or hide. You know, I want to be alone.”
“Ah, if that’s the case, there’s no problem.”
“I’m not going to run away.”
When I said so, Delkian received it. And as he beckoned somewhere, someone came from afar and took the glass dome from his hand.
“It will probably be finished within a month.”
“It doesn’t take that long. I thought it would take longer because it’s mana stone processing.”
“It needs stabilization, but it doesn’t take that long for a mana stone with that size. Then.”
“Yes?”
“Can I see you again next time?”
I met his eyes directly and then shrugged my shoulders.
“I guess so.”
Delkian replied with a relaxed smile.
“I will send a message to your family as soon as it is complete.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Surprisingly I made an appointment with him. However, I thought it was rather fortunate because it was helpful to me in a different direction. If the work is done as he said, it will be very useful to me. I don’t have to use it right now, but someday. I don’t know how many mana stones will be processed to teleport or hide me, but even one of them is a great help.
Duke Lige returned and called Delkian after finishing his conversation with Ellabrihi.
“Please excuse me.”
“Sure, go ahead. I also need to go to the break room for a while.”
I asked Delkian for his understanding and briefly slipped into the break room. This is because more and more people keep glancing, looking for opportunities to talk, rather than looking elsewhere since the game.
However, as soon as I walked out of the curtain in the hallway to the break room, someone grabbed my wrist roughly. It was so strong that I was quickly dragged to the end of the corner without being able to check their face.
* * *
“Who…?”
As I asked, I frowned at the pain. My face hardened the moment I faced that person.
“You just like a rat.”
The one who drove mother and me to hell. Lucellai Rudbihi’s biological father. It was Duke Rudbihi.
I thought it was one of the family members who had been on the carriage before, but I didn’t know he would come out on his own. Or did he follow me when he saw the carriage while he was out? Anyway, I was nervous without realizing it when a big shot appeared.
I pretended not to be nervous as much as I could.
“…How did you get here? How did you recognize me?”
Anger spread across Duke Rudbihi’s face as I spoke naturally.
“Why are you here?”
“It’s not like I can’t come.”
“You’ve become more spoiled in years.”
“Maybe it is because I feel like dying and now coming back to my life? Did you follow me earlier?”
“Where is Lucellai?”
So, he’s just saying what he wants to say.
Duke Rudbihi is also the man who has seen my face the most in the Rudbihi family. I hadn’t seen him for a while, but he remembered me for sure. He was a man I hadn’t seen often, but I felt like a rat in the gutter whenever he saw me.
I used to be so scared that I only trembled. But strangely, I wasn’t scared at all even when I faced him today. Why? Is it because I grew up?
“I’m here just because my mother wants me to be here. How would I know where—”
Slap.
For a moment, my eyes flashed, and my head went to the side. I wasn’t even prepared, but the Duke slapped me on the cheek. I was so surprised that I felt the pain belatedly. My cheek tingled, and my mouth tasted blood. It felt like my whole head was shaking.
This old man really can’t understand.
“Naughty thing. Say it quickly.”
“Stop threatening me.”
“What?”
“My cheeks are especially fair. You will be in trouble if I shout now, right? The prince is also here. There are many eyes to see. But you don’t care?”
Then Duke Rudbihi’s face was filled with anger. He gushed with a red-hot face and smoothed the gloves he was wearing.
“Follow me.”
Then he turned around and quickly went out to the hallway on the other side, where there was no one. He commanded me so naturally. I followed him out the back door with a sigh and found a carriage standing there.
Duke Rudbihi turned around.
“Get on.”
There are five knights that escort him. If I didn’t get on now, I would be dragged along. As soon as I got into the carriage, he got on and slammed the door. The exit was also blocked.
“I really don’t know where my mother is. I haven’t seen her since I left the North.”
It was true, but not all.
“I will give you a day. Go back to the North, stay there like a dead mouse. Tell that to Lucellai too. If you don’t want blood on your hands too, do it. When the time is right, I will call you back.”
Those words almost made me laugh. I can’t believe he will call us back when the time comes. They were the ones who wanted us to die. I wasn’t going to use this cheap method, but this old man was an exception.
“I can’t do that.”
“What?”
He was about to slap my cheek again. My cheek is still tingling, but if I get slapped again, I might really lose my flesh. It’s not that I don’t have anything.
“Are you going to take me somewhere and lock me up? I’m here with the first prince. Didn’t you see it? We played games together.”
“…”
“Now that you know. That I’m here not as Carbella Rudbihi.”
Those are all the things you taught my mother. I looked at him disgustingly in the dark, with anger up to the top of my head.
“Do you really think it’s going to be hard for me to get rid of you, who likes a rat?”
“No. I know you’re the one who can kill me right now and even make one of my limbs impossible to find. By the way, Duke.”
