Ch.17

“...”

I opened my eyes under bright sunlight.

Blink, blink.

An unfamiliar ceiling came into view.

Where was this? Where am I?

Ah, the ducal townhouse in the capital...

Wait.

As my foggy mind cleared, my memories came rushing back like a rising tide.

Yesterday... yesterday, something truly enormous had happened!

I told them everything.

The fact that I was a mage, and even my past, all of it!

Life really doesn’t let a single thing go according to plan...

I felt as though I were realizing that obvious truth all over again.

Last night, the adults had listened to my whole story very calmly.

I thought it would take a lot longer.

But the time it took for me to confess the truth was short enough to feel almost anticlimactic. Once I had finally let everything go, it almost made me wonder whether it had all been less of a big deal than I thought.

After I finished telling them everything, Father, Mother, and Grandpa had pulled me into a tight embrace.

They were so warm that all my tension melted away, and I fell asleep almost instantly.

“Whew. Still, no matter how it turned out, I do feel better.”

Stretching, I sat straight up in bed.

At that moment—

“Sleep well?”

The sudden voice made my shoulders jump.

Only then did I notice, down at the foot of my bed—

the back of someone’s head, round and dark.

“Khal...?”

“Since I’ve seen you’re awake, I’ll go.”

The boy dusted himself off and stood.

“...You didn’t see anything, though?”

He had his back turned to me.

“...”

Something about the way Khalid stayed silent felt strange, so I kicked off the blanket and jumped to my feet.

I slipped into my slippers and ran over, and Khalid slowly turned his head a little.

Huh?

His eyes...

“Hey! You turned into a goldfish!”

The moment I pointed at his swollen, reddened eyelids, Khalid turned his back completely again.

Of course, he was kind of cute as a goldfish too, but still!

“What’s wrong with you? Don’t tell me you were cry—”

“I didn’t cry. They’re swollen because I couldn’t sleep.”

Khalid answered in an extremely curt tone.

“...So you admit they’re swollen?”

“...”

The boy sealed his lips again.

“Then why were you crying?”

“I said I wasn’t.”

The reply was icily blunt.

“Heeey... I told you to warn me before you start talking all cold like that...”

I traced little circles on his back with my finger. Somehow, I thought I knew why he was sulking like this.

“Don’t tell me you’re mad?”

“I’m not sulking... I’m mad.”

Gasp. This was a first.

Khalid was angry at me.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

The boy spun around and looked at me with a wounded stare.

“...You know why. Because I was afraid the Mage King would find out you existed.”

There had never been any room to reconsider that.

If the same thing happened again, I would make the same choice again.

“I really hate the idea of you getting dragged back to the Kingdom in my place.”

Khalid becoming the Mage King’s puppet with a mark carved into him?

Just imagining it was horrifying.

The image of the second, having lost her reason and rampaging under the mark’s control, flashed through my mind, and my resolve only hardened.

“You... just how weak do you think I am?”

Khalid turned away again with a sharp whip of motion.

“Hey. It’s not like that...”

I drew on his back one more time.

Make. Up.

I even wrote the letters and everything...

“...”

In the end, Khalid looked back at me again. His eyes were full of a hurt and resentment so intense it was almost unbearable.

“You have no idea how helpless and anxious I felt.”

“There, there. Okay, I get it. I’m sorry for making you worry.”

I patted Khalid on the head. His lips twitched, but he lowered his head just a little for me anyway.

“Don’t ever do that again.”

“Mmm, okay!”

“...Now you’re just lying to my face.”

“Hmph.”

Grinding his teeth once, Khalid removed one of the bracelets from his arm.

One ring from among several.

“Hey, what are you doing? I told you not to take those off...”

“Even without this bracelet, I’m going to grow big and strong enough to control my own power.”

As he said it, Khalid dropped the ring into my hand.

“By then, even if I say I’m going to cut off the Mage King’s head, you won’t try to stop me.”

“What? I really think I would...”

But just as I completely ignored what Khalid said, Khalid completely ignored what I said too.

“One day, I’m definitely ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) going to return every last one of these bracelets...”

As if making a vow, he pressed his palm firmly over my hand.

“...to you.”

Hmm. Well.

It’s going to take a really, really long time before all those bracelets come off...

But I was a kind friend who did not splash cold water on someone’s determination by pointing out facts he did not need to hear.

Besides, the way he was saying, I’m not weak, I’m going to get stronger! made him seem like a passionate little kid, which was kind of cute...

Of course, his expression was as cool and sulky as always.

“Got it. Good luck!”

I clenched both fists and cheered him on. Khalid’s lips parted like he wanted to say something, but then he turned his head away again.

The tips of his ears, lit by the morning sun, had turned red before I knew it.

*****

Khalid walked down the corridor of the knights’ building.

I should get to training right away.

For some reason, he felt pressed for time.

Because it was infuriating that he had been unable to do anything at the Academy. He had turned that over in his mind all night, until tears had almost... just almost... slipped out.

“Come to think of it, I told them everything about me being a mage.”

Their brief conversation came back to him.

Last night, Rubian had said she had confessed every one of her secrets.

“Yeah, that was good.”

“But I didn’t tell them about what you are. That isn’t my secret to tell. But if it’s the adults, they might already have sort of guessed...”

“It doesn’t matter if they guessed.”

“...”

“It’s not like they’d use that as an excuse to throw me out.”

“R-Right!”

“Then it’s fine.”

He had meant it.

Whether his identity was exposed or not, as long as he was not thrown out of this place—

this was where he could stay closest to Rubian, and anyway, the training here suited him best.

Khalid opened the door without much thought, then stopped.

“Hey, why does this room have so little stuff in it?”

“...Your Grace?”

Because the Duke of Zebbert was in there, occupying the room as if he owned it.

Khalid quietly shut the door and stepped inside.

“What is it?”

The man’s clothes were loosely arranged, but even so, there was something about him that made people tense up.

Leviathan, seated on the bed and tossing an apple in one hand, glanced sidelong at the boy.

“You knew Rubian’s secret, didn’t you? From the beginning.”

Straight to the point.

Khalid had nothing to add, so he simply nodded.

Is he going to blame me? Ask why I didn’t tell him?

Suddenly, he remembered the box of candy the duke had given him a long time ago.

And though he had not bothered mentioning it to Rubian, Allen’s letter had said he had met the duke.

If Khalid had to guess, there was a good chance the duke had gotten hold of that letter and checked it.

The Duke of Zebbert, as Khalid knew him, was not the sort of man to be that careless.

He might have intercepted the message bird for a moment in transit, then sent it back on its way.

If that’s how he figured something out...

Khalid clenched his fist slightly.

So he came to press me.

The moment he braced himself with that thought—

“Thank you.”

Leviathan said it simply.

“What?”

“I said thank you. Why do you look so surprised?”

A large hand reached out and roughly ruffled his hair.

“It seems my daughter chose at least one friend who knows how to keep his mouth shut.”

Awkward, Khalid drew back a little.

The duke looked down at his now-empty hand, then smiled faintly.

“So from now on, just like before—”

“I’ll protect her properly.”

The boy’s voice burst out so suddenly that the man tilted his head.

“Rubian. I wasn’t good enough yesterday, but I’m going to work hard and get stronger, and I’ll protect her properly from right beside her.”

As if by habit, Khalid fidgeted with his bracelets. Leviathan watched the gesture in silence.

“So that I can become stronger than I am now, I’ll train hard—”

“That’s not what I meant, you arrogant little brat.”

Flick. A small smack landed on his forehead.

Watching Khalid rub at it with startled eyes, Leviathan let out a short sigh.

“What do you mean, protect her? Keep your promise not to sneak into my daughter’s room, that’s what. You’re just a little punk.”

“...”

“Protecting her is my job. And naturally, protecting you too, since you live in my house.”

Khalid was completely taken aback. No adult had ever told him they would protect him before.

“To be honest, there are things I’d like to ask you too... but kids like you clam up to the very end if you don’t feel like talking.”

“...”

“So I’ll let it slide for now, but if there’s ever something you do want to say, come running to me anytime. All right?”

Khalid fell silent for a moment.

If he did not have to reveal his identity right away, and if he did not need to struggle so hard to protect Rubian—

“...Then what am I supposed to do here?”

At that, a smile tugged at the duke’s face as he looked at the boy.

“How old did you say you were?” 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

“Twelve.”

“When I was twelve, I went out alone to hunt magical beasts.”

What is that supposed to mean? Khalid’s head tilted on its own.

“It was miserably awful. An accident happened, and all the knights who went with me died. I wandered a magical-beast habitat alone for a month.”

“...”

“At first, I waited for rescue beside the bodies, but no one came. It was cold, and I was hungry. So while I was going through the corpses’ bags, I made up my mind.”

“...To get out of there?”

“No. To wipe out the magical-beast habitat nearby first.”

“...”

Ah. I see. So you were amazing from childhood too.

Khalid sneered inwardly.