Chapter 20

Southern Babilon. An abandoned harbor.

“Identify yourselves.”

The sword of the blue-haired knight, Leon, gleamed a vivid blue beneath the white moonlight.

“S-spare us!”

The men sprawled on the ground begged in strangled voices.

Their faces were swollen and split in places, their clothes so filthy they were painful to look at. Beyond them, along the black shoreline, lay a half-wrecked skiff.

“W-we’re people who risked our lives to flee the Magic Kingdom!”

“Flee?”

“T-that place is... hell. No one can live there anymore! So please... please at least spare our lives! Please!”

There was no need to hear any more.

Leon raised his sword without hesitation.

“Argh!”

Screams broke out, and the men writhed in utter chaos.

At the same time—

Thud.

Something fell from the arms of the one man who had done nothing but sit there trembling in silence.

“...This.”

Just then, the moonlight broke clear and bright, and Leon stopped moving.

Rubi...an?

A single worn portrait had slipped out from a loosened bundle.

The one painted there was Rubian.

Far younger than Leon remembered.

A baby Rubian who looked no more than three or four years old.

“You... who are you?”

Leon pressed the edge of his blade to the man’s throat.

All at once, he had the feeling that something ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) like a storm was rolling in.

“What is all this?”

Tears streaming down his face, the man lifted his head.

*****

Several days passed.

Next week was finally, finally my long-awaited coming-of-age ceremony!

“Hm.”

Wrapped tight in a blanket and hugging a pile of temperature stones, I was out at the training ground.

If the Mage King comes after me, how will he try to approach me?

There had still been no real word from the princess staying at the Imperial Palace.

I thought back to the time not long ago when Father and I had gone to see His Majesty the Emperor.

“I suspected as much. So the King of Casalia really was behind it.”

Even after all these years, His Majesty the Emperor was still as beautiful as ever, and he still liked patting my head.

And he was still looking at my hand clasped tightly in Father’s with naked envy.

“Good. Then for the time being, we’ll devote all our strength to holding parties.”

“Huh?”

“For now, there’s no clear evidence, so we can’t openly interrogate him. And spring’s Round Table is still some time away...”

His Majesty smiled broadly.

“We’ll have to keep him confined without letting him realize he’s being confined. If he drops his guard and shows his true colors, that will be all the better. Then we’ll have our justification.”

“Oh.”

“Call it... imperial confinement?”

Was that really how that phrase was supposed to be used?

I was a little confused, but His Majesty seemed satisfied with it, so I decided I would be too.

“By the way, how many times a week does the Princess dine with our Licht?”

“Huh? These days, not that often...”

“And how many times a week do you dine with Baron Riorc?”

“Mm... seven?”

Well, we lived together.

Rumble.

His Majesty looked deeply shocked.

“...In that case, since the Princess comes and goes from the Imperial Palace archives so often, perhaps we ought to prepare temporary quarters for her in the palace—”

“Save your imperial confinement for that Casalian potato.”

“Tch.”

“The air in here is terrible. Let’s go, Ruby.”

“It’s perfectly pleasant, though.”

Anyway, from then on, the Imperial Palace held one party after another, large and small.

Apparently the King of Casalia believed he was being warmly welcomed and was beside himself with delight.

“Hmmm.”

I turned my gaze back to the training ground.

Nearby, Liam and Boyd were bickering while clacking wooden swords against each other for the first time in a while.

I doubt he’ll use tracking mages as openly as before.

That method had already failed several times.

So then...

At that moment, one of the wooden swords rolled over with a spin.

“Ha, hyung...”

Boyd collapsed flat on his back, panting.

“You lured me in with Ruby’s solo portrait from her twelfth birthday. My body moved on its own.”

“And you’re one to talk. To think you’d use the signed copy of the youngest fairy’s exchange diary. How did you know that was the only one I hadn’t collected? You caught me completely off guard.”

My eyes flew wide open.

“What the— hey! Don’t use my precious childhood as bait for traps!”

Unbelievable.

I immediately ran over and confiscated their ultimate weapons. The two brothers, still sprawled on the ground trying to catch their breath, let out anguished cries.

I looked down at the smiling twelve-year-old me in the portrait, and at the exchange diary with its messy scrawl.

Ah. So you could use something precious to me as leverage... and lure me in with that too.

The more I thought about it, the more annoyed I got.

“I’ve gotten stronger toooo!”

I flung off the blanket and ran circles around the training ground. Look at this! Now I could run around the main training ground without any trouble at all!

“Rubyyy! Please give me the portrait!”

“Fairy, sign it. Here! Right here!”

“Hahaha! Good! Good! My little runt!”

At some point Grandpa had come outside too, clapping and roaring with laughter.

Leaving all the noise behind me, I cut through the wind and clenched my fist.

My weak point is my family!

The most precious thing I had.

I pictured it.

If someone kidnapped one of my family members and started threatening me, I’d fall for it a hundred percent, even if I knew it was a trap.

God...

Just imagining it was horrifying.

“Wait, though.”

I stopped mid-run around the training ground and looked around.

As weaknesses...

The condition those weaknesses were in was a little...

“Expand the training ground! We need to expand it! Morris!”

“Ah, then I’ll start setting a construction schedule—”

“Now!”

BOOM!

Grandpa’s fist sailed right past the fence.

Boyd’s expression cracked too.

“Grandpa! You can’t just smash the fence like that!”

“Huh? Just because you’ve become vice commander, you think you can talk back to your grandpa like that?”

“Thank you for smashing it!”

Mm...

Let’s set those two aside for the moment.

“Oh my, oh my. That brat who used to sit on the window frame smirking all day grew up a little and now he’s even coating himself in aura. Oh myyy.”

“Please forget that past...”

Because I didn’t think he’d get kidnapped in the first place!

While I was nodding to myself, Father came walking over from the distance. Judging from the sword in one hand, it looked like he meant to train for the first time in a while.

“Why are you all this noisy again?”

“Father. Your button’s undone.”

“Liam, when did you get home?”

“Your button...”

“Don’t you ever get tired of going on about buttons? When did you get here?”

“Tch. I got lost at the Academy and somehow ended up home.”

“...Do you really never get tired of that?”

Mm... those two...

I felt like the other side would be reluctant to kidnap them in the first place...

Right then, bang! The second-floor window of the mansion flew open. It was as if a blazing mass of fire had come rolling out of the wide-open frame.

“Liaaam! Mother told you to come home more often!”

For once, Liam’s broad shoulders flinched.

He asked Father carefully, “...If I beg, will you hide me?”

“I’d like to.”

“...!”

Mother dropped lightly down over the windowsill and landed.

“Just you wait!”

“But my wife is the strongest person in this house.”

Father shrugged, and Liam slowly took a step back.

“When exactly is our son ever going to graduate from the Academyyy?”

Her pink hair streamed around her, and for a second it felt like every strand was alive.

“Hehe...”

I dropped onto the ground and laughed for no reason at all.

By then Khalid had wandered close. Brushing at the soles of his boots, he asked, “Why are you suddenly laughing?”

“Because apparently I don’t have a weak point.”

“...?”

“I’m truly perfect. Absolutely flawless.”

Khalid followed my line of sight.

“Ah, Grandpa! Even so, maybe don’t destroy all the fencing!”

“Good! Today, you and I are going for a walk alone!”

“No—!”

“I don’t want to either!”

Grandpa slapped a hand onto Boyd’s shoulder and grinned darkly. Boyd was huge as a pole, but in front of Grandpa all he could do was pull a miserable face.

“Our good Liam, you’re graduating from the Academy this year, right? Do you know how many letters I’ve been getting from Headmaster Odelly?”

“I’ll have them change the address on my student record.”

“Do you think that makes any sense?”

Mother’s voice turned impossibly warm.

This was a crisis of unprecedented scale.

“Wait. Rose. The Headmaster’s been harassing you with letters? Obron, prepare for war.”

“Yes.”

Crash! Bang!

Khalid slowly turned his head toward me. His expression said he understood absolutely nothing.

“...That’s flawless?”

“Uh-huh-huh.”

Well...

It didn’t seem like they’d be getting kidnapped...

My weak point really is my family.

But they were far too strong—and far too strange—to make good leverage.

In a word—

“Long live my family.”

Three cheers for this household.

*****

I only held onto that conclusion for a little while.

The problem I’d been worrying about came flying in from somewhere completely different.

So then...

The evening before my coming-of-age ceremony.

After dinner, while I was heading toward the drawing room with Khalid—

“Princess!”

“Uncle Allen?”

Allen came running from far away in a frantic rush.

“Uh, Khalid.”

Allen stiffened a little when he saw Khalid standing guard beside me.

“What is it?” Khalid asked.

“No, well— we just got an urgent report from our people in the south.”

At the word urgent, my brows drew together.

News that came in like that was usually never good.

“They say they’ve caught five mages who ran away from the Magic Kingdom!”

“What?”

I shot back in surprise, and Khalid took a step closer to Allen.

“Ran away? Is there an idiot alive who’d believe that? Obviously they got caught trying to sneak onto the continent.”

“No, I mean, y-yeah, that’s probably more likely, but... the problem is, one of those mages...”

Allen trailed off, sneaking a glance at me.

“He says he absolutely has to meet Duke Zebbert...”

“All of a sudden? What, does he think Father is the kind of person who meets anyone just because they say they want to?”

“No, miss. His Grace...”

“Huh?”

“After checking the item the man sent over in secret, he said he would meet him.”

“What was it?”

Surely not...

I frowned hard.

“A portrait of you from when you were very young, miss. And some belongings...”

“Hah.”

Khalid let out a disbelieving laugh before he even knew he was doing it.

“So this is just my guess.”

“......” 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“I think he’s claiming to be... your birth father.”

If you ever need my help, Princess, reach out anytime.

Why did those words from the princess suddenly come back to me now?