“Episode 12”
In the early morning, just past six thirty.
I woke up early and urged my butler Gerald. “Here, this is it!” Gerald, out of breath, poured out various newspapers in front of me. “I’ve summoned all the servants to fetch them, so there’s no doubt about it, Miss!” Kind-hearted Gerald, despite running around since dawn, spoke with an air of self-assurance rather than resentment.
“Thank you, Jerry.” I replied, listening to Gerald’s beginning lecture with one ear and quickly unfolding and checking the newspapers.
The tidy sheets were quickly buried under the unfolding newspapers. “I’ve always told you! Staying up late is not good. Growing girls need to sleep and eat well.” Gerald uttered a deep sound that no one else in the house had ever heard from me.
“Even after coming to the capital, you continue to eat like a bird! Then, you won’t grow properly, Miss.” In addition to Gerald’s nagging voice, I finished checking all the articles from the brought newspapers.
Finally, I breathed a sigh of relief at the clean appearance as I had hoped, and responded to Gerald. “Jerry, I’m already twenty-three.”
I had long finished my growth spurt. Moreover, I had grown slightly, even more than before.
That should be enough to be proud of. Eating like a bird was criticized by Lucas, saying it was negligence in management.
“Alicia, do you think it’s okay for you to be strict with me while thinking it’s okay for you to live loosely?” Lucas always complained after difficult classes, trying to blame me.
Thanks to him, I was undergoing as strict weight management as the idols of my former life.
“Later, if you want to stay by my side as a childhood friend, you have to manage yourself, right? Everything I do is for you. I don’t want you to confidently say that you’re my childhood friend for such trivial reasons.” Another short breath escaped.
For some reason today, Lucas’s words felt nauseating, as if I had eaten something wrong. I thought thankfully that my slightly trembling legs were hidden under my skirt, and reassured Gerald.
“And staying up late, well, I couldn’t help it. I had to prepare for that day when Lucas led the others.” In fact, I was busy yesterday trying to prevent articles about the incident.
However, Gerald seemed to frown at my words instead. “Mr. Gerald knows very well that Miss is affectionate. But it’s a bit sad. Sleep is precious every day.”
Then, he spoke to me as if advising me. “Instead, I promise to have a proper meal after you wake up, Miss?”
“Yeah.” Gerald smiled in relief at my answer, nodding his head. He quickly tidied up the newspapers spread out on the bed and placed them neatly on the table before closing the curtains.
After Gerald left, I, who changed into pajamas with a heavy body, collapsed on the bed.
“…I feel like I’m going to die. I guess I overdid it.” Maybe because the tension was relieved, my hands were trembling sweetly.
After breaking up with Lucas yesterday, I had been holed up in my room ever since.
Yesterday, to prevent the absurd fight between the two princes that happened among the crowd.
“What’s the problem with not making things difficult, Joshua Medlerike?” Tsk, resentment towards someone who didn’t bear it yesterday surfaced.
No, this was a bit too morbid of a thought.
It was Lucas, his lover, who caused the accident, not Prince Joshua.
“But… I shouldn’t feel unfairly accused just because Prince Joshua is blamed?” I clutched the blanket tightly while lying down.
My body was exhausted, but my mind was so full that sleep wouldn’t come easily.
“He wanted to confirm.” Prince Joshua didn’t simply believe in the hero “Luka Delic.”
He probably thought it was me behind it.
So, he must have done that on purpose yesterday.
How could someone nicknamed the “Perfect Prince,” who was so gentle and flawless, do such a sloppy thing in front of people?
Especially with me in the middle!
“Then it’s too bad, isn’t it? He’s probably never asked a question to choose the person who would be most helpful in the position of Crown Prince.” Moreover, he had thought so affectionately before.
I couldn’t help but feel that Prince Joshua was reckless.
And yet, a chuckle escaped.
“…I keep thinking about Prince Joshua, don’t I?” He felt so overwhelmingly big.
As a match for Lucas, who was lucky to have even half a brain…
“Too… much….” Moreover, he would have checked today’s newspapers, so he would have realized by now.
I murmured words of resentment towards Prince Joshua as my eyelids grew heavy.
“Are you satisfied? Finding out about my identity…?” Along with my murmur, a gentle breeze fluttered near my hair.
Not only that, but warm sunlight shimmered like a gentle touch on my hand.
I smiled at that cute phenomenon and closed my eyes.
“…It’s okay, I… You all helped me a lot.”
Did my words reach them? My cheek and forehead were tickled by the breeze and warm sunlight.
Familiar sounds of the wind and comforting light.
And the reason I could concoct the hero “Luka Delic” while being just a mere noblewoman.
It was because I was an elemental mage who could manipulate light and wind.
*
The Irland Empire where I was born was originally famous as the land of elemental mages and wizards.
The founding emperor himself was an elemental mage, and his closest friend was said to be a wizard.
However, even descendants of the founding emperor, who were called to have contracted with the Elemental King, now considered it nothing more than an old story.
On the other hand, the wizards were thriving, even building towers and acting quite actively… Elemental mages were almost extinct.
And yet, Prince Joshua tried to confirm that I was an elemental mage.
“It was a matter of time, though.” Because the Blante Viscount was from the rare lineage of elemental mages.
Unlike other households where you had to go back several generations to find traces of elemental mages, the Blante Viscount still produced one elemental mage per generation.
That’s why the Blante Viscount, despite not intervening much in the capital, still had some power.
“Lucas doesn’t even know.” It was truly unbelievable.
A childhood friend who had been with me since childhood thought I was just a noblewoman who could solve things with money, but he actually noticed and went so far as to conduct confirmation work as soon as he came to the capital.
“I thought it would be okay because of my older brother.” Although not always, the Blante Viscount had not produced more than one elemental mage per generation for the past hundred years.
Just one.
So, it was customary for the successor to become an elemental mage regardless of the order of birth.
“That’s why I kept it hidden even more.” I had no intention of even the slightest dispute with my fearsome older brother.
Moreover, my older brother’s elemental spirit was none other than the “Fire Elemental King.”
How could I win against fire with wind and light?
I didn’t want to engage in a futile fight.
“…Yet, I still have to fight Prince Joshua.” Another sigh escaped me.
What a futile devotion. It hadn’t even been a week since I arrived in the capital, and I had to resort to summoning elementals prematurely.
I hadn’t even fully understood the nature of the wind and light here.
But it couldn’t be helped. To disrupt the ears of journalists and prevent them from using film near the area where elementals were released, I had to distort their sound even when the two people were conversing.
“Really, it’s all because of the Medlerike royal family!” Both Prince Joshua and Lucas were affiliated with them!
There was no proper place for allegiance, whether in the past or present.
No, it was also my own fault for being unable to let go of devotion.
“Yeah, it’s more trouble after being ranked first in the music room.” I had to achieve similar results next time, so I had to empty my wallet, physically exhaust myself, and even send coffee carts while handling everything alone.
Now, with a somewhat calm mind and compromise, I tried really hard to fall asleep.
Please, let Lucas not cause any accidents and carry out today’s event as agreed.
With such modest hope.
*
But my original hope was rarely fulfilled.
That brat Lucas always caused an accident whenever things seemed safe for me.
“Miss, this humble servant wishes that you focus only on your meal when you dine.” When I woke up, it was already a lackluster afternoon, so I unfolded a slightly early dinner while listening to Gerald’s nagging.
Gerald’s nagging was a given, and the cooking skills of the viscount’s kitchen staff were still excellent, but I couldn’t focus on the meal at all.
“…What is this?” That brat Lucas.
He had thoroughly sabotaged my plans.
