Chapter 36

“My hair is all tangled. How long did that knight practice so that his hands are so rough?”

Inside the carriage back to the Xenon town. 

Luce, who was whining and pulling out a pin between her tangled hair, sighed.

At the same time, Rev asked.

“Can I help you?”

“Ung, please. I’m begging you. It stings a lot.”

It seemed like the timing was just waiting, but Luce didn’t notice because of the pin poking her scalp.

The cool hand of Lev carefully passed her hair.

As she gave Rev her hair, she kept thinking that people who work hard are good at whatever they do. 

The whole time he meticulously pulled out the pins and meticulously untangled the tangled hair, it never hurt. 

‘You’re good with your hands, Rev.’

Since it was Luce’s hair and no one else’s, she was completely unaware that he was paying attention to it. 

‘I was always the one who touched my hair, but it feels good to receive it like this.’

Srrk. 

The usual sound of hair being brushed down calms the mind.

‘This is why I end up talking about everything at the hair salon without realizing it.’

Luce was no exception. She said the first thing that came to her mind.

“Rev, who do you want to marry when you grow up?”

It seems that the nonsense she heard while eating cream bread is now firmly embedded in her mind.

So she asked lightly, and Rev coughed dry as soon as the question was over.

“Cough, marriage?”

“Ung. It’s a bit early to think now, but I mean about later.”

Isn’t it too early?

If she looks around, there are many cases where someone gets married when they become an adult, that is, when they turn 18.

As the times were changing, it seemed that starting a family quickly was encouraged. There were many people who were engaged in advance, if not until marriage. 

So Rev, who turns 17 this year, can get married in a year.

….Huh. 

‘Why does it feel so fast to think that Rev can get married in a year?’

She doesn’t know if that’s it or not, but she’s sad for no reason.

Is it because she feels like she’s losing her friend? Or is it because she can’t imagine it?

Whatever it was, it was such a childish idea. As a friend, of course, she should wish her friend happy. 

Luce, who clicked her tongue because she felt very childish, still listened to Rev. 

“…I don’t know.”

Marriage is done at the coming of age—adult, 18 years old.

How will the unqualified Prince be treated when he comes of age?

The assumptions led to many conclusions, but all of them were bitter. 

Rev, who melted the bitter words and swallowed them, gave his best answer.

“I don’t know.”

However, looking at the red hair that was scattered from his fingertips, somehow, like the scent of raspberries coming from this hair, a little sweet thought came to his mind.

Conclusions that can only be drawn under biased premises are erroneous. However, nonetheless.

“But if, if such a thing is possible.”

If he turns every possibility upside down and survives.

“Very brave, wise, friendly… warm.”

Rev slowly lowered his head as if he was possessed, gently holding the tangled hair. 

“I wish it was that kind of person.”

Lucette, my long and only friend.

My little light.

Between his breaths, as he kissed the tip of her hair, words flowed deep and rich that he would never have been able to say.

Do you know that? You might know or not know. How dare I, to you.

I to you. 

“You have very high standards, Rev.”

A long time later, the answer came back.

Rev, who didn’t reply, lowered his eyes. 

That’s right. Luce is always right. So my assumption is just wrong.

But Luce, who laughed as if it were really absurd, continued what she had never thought of as usual.

But Luce, who laughed as if it were really funny, said something he hadn’t even thought of, as she always did.

“Who else is someone like you?”

When I hear you say that, when I see your expression, I often mistakenly believe that I really have become that kind of person.

Like being a great and wonderful person like you.

Like maybe my false assumption can actually come true. 

“As expected, the ideal type is someone who is similar to you. Why, there is a saying that people who are similar to each other come to like each other. This is a story I’ve seen somewhere….” 

Can I be the correct answer, not the wrong one?

It was something he had never thought of. 

But hasn’t Luce always been right? So, maybe—.

“By the way, what did that knight come for? Actually, I didn’t know that the Lord had a son. He said something but I think I didn’t hear it properly?— Hmm. Actually, when I see the Lord, he talks so much that I tend to listen halfway—”

For the first time, Rev didn’t listen to Luce’s story.

His heart was beating so hard that it hurt his hearing. Thump, thump. 

*****

“Good bye, Luce. I’ll miss you.”

“Ung, I’ll miss you, too!”

On the way back after saying a short but heavy goodbye.

Rev was still obsessed with the beating of his heart.

He’s unfamiliar with the strong beating that lingers like a miracle in the distance, yet tangles him sharply like a siren nearby. 

The expression of Rev, who had been smiling quietly while sweeping his face, suddenly stopped.

‘2nd floor.’

It was because there is evidence of space travel magic. A blue light was faintly fading from the second floor.

“Your Highness the Prince.”

As soon as he heard Radanum’s voice, his heart throbbed like a lie.

How can the people of the Imperial Palace have such amazing talent? 

To come to him at the happiest and sweetest time and to pull down his place at once. 

What he does when he meets Radanum is always the same.

“Have you taken your medicine, Your Highness?”

“If you hadn’t spoken to me as soon as I arrived, I would have been drinking as usual.”

“Ah, oh my. It’s my fault for arriving a little earlier than usual. How long have you not been drinking?”

“About five hours. I’ll drink it right after I get back, so don’t bother with it any more.”

“So you’re asking me to get out of here quickly. Yes, as long as I’m done with my work, I’ll gladly do as you ask.”

After the monotonous question-and-answer to see if he drank the medicine. 

“Please give me your hand.”

He rolls up his sleeves and reaches out. A long finger like a branch grazed the veins.

Every drop of blood gathers in Radanum’s hand.

When the blood becomes a round bead like a plum, it is reflected on a blue light that can’t even be guessed what it is. 

When light meets a liquid, it travels even though it is refracted. That is the rule established by engineers and the providence of nature.

However, like a blood-colored orb, that blue light ate it, but it did not pass through.

As if looking through it and trying to find something hidden, it only reflects itself repeatedly.

Radanum’s reddish-brown eyes, staring at the bluish and red beads, shone like glass beads.

“If you’re thinking nonsense, you know that everything is reflected in this blood, right?”

Nonsense. 

‘I can’t even think what I want.’

It is worse than a prison under 24-hour surveillance.

A guard who can use location-tracking scrolls, ancient magic to see the past, and complex and tricky mind-reading techniques to read the mind would be the strictest and most terrible even if all the prisons in the world were combined.

If so, has he read all of his thoughts today?

A miraculous, unusual unpleasant sound appears to warn of something. Then, was this irrational beating to warn him? 

A warning to him who wants to make an error into the right thing that an error is just an error.

Errors must be eliminated. He is an object that deserves to be eliminated.

‘The archmage who reads my mind will judge me. They would shake their hands off as if it were no big deal as they saw me dying under terrible and excruciating pain.’

Before he met Luce, he was used to the worst kinds of families, and it hurt him to remember them.

It’s also strange that they haven’t done it for a while. Rev laughed at himself.

“Your Highness the Prince.”

Is this the end?

Normally, he would think of the books he hadn’t read, the magical engineering tools he was making, and his mother who had left him, but not today.

The first thing that came to mind was,

“Ung, I’ll miss you, too!”

The child’s smile. 

Since the blood has already been drawn, it doesn’t matter if he think about it now.

It’s not so bad if the last thing that comes to mind is her. 

Radanum slowly opened his mouth, looking at a smile spreading like a flower on his face. 

“I’m telling you for your information.”

“….”

“His Highness Prince Delmar is looking for a marriage partner. I thought it would be good to know this much because you usually cared about him.”

It is that the procedure is over? Then what?

“Please rest comfortably.”

Left alone, Rev thought.

‘Why? How come Radanum doesn’t know? Why didn’t you read my mind? For what?’

Rev’s gaze, which was turning his head, caught the bottle. The green bottle was still full because he couldn’t finish the medicine for tonight.

“Ah.”

He seems to have found a weak spot in the subject.