“So. What were you plotting this time?”

I blinked.

That violet gaze was fixed on the parchment in my hand.

“Ah...!”

Right, Dad was here!

If Dad helps, then I don’t have to be apart from Khalid!

And lately, the thing Dad liked most was when I clung to him and said, Help me!

I grabbed his hem at once and opened my mouth.

“Dad, I need he—”

Just look at that.

The smooth corner of his mouth lifted in satisfaction.

“Give me money!”

“....”

“...?”

Huh?

*****

“You want to acquire a mercenary company?”

Dad repeated it back with a look of utter disbelief.

“Yeah! No matter how I think about it, the most efficient way to build a network across the whole continent is to make use of human resources—”

“What is this....”

“Why?”

“The Academy’s influence is this strong?”

“Ahem.”

Dad ruffled up my hair until it went all fluffy and wild.

But since he nodded, I decided to forgive him.

“I get what you mean. Leave it to Dad. I think I might know the owner of that particular place.”

As expected, when you had a rich and powerful dad, everything moved at lightning speed!

“Oh, really? Then read the contract carefully before you sign it! Even the fine print! And if you need to stamp anything with a seal, make sure you tell me—”

“I’m getting lectured about the strangest things now.”

Dad said that, then headed for the drawing room after receiving a summons from His Majesty the Emperor, who was visiting the Academy.

And Khalid, who had heard all that...

“I... need to... take care of something urgent...”

...said in the voice of a broken wind-up doll before disappearing. It seemed he really needed the bathroom.

Before leaving the Rare Books Archive, I laid a hand on the tree.

One last thing.

“Heheh. I had fun, magic tree.”

I’m going now. Back to the North.

Until we figure out what the Kingdom is doing, I won’t be coming back to the capital.

So even if we meet again, it’ll be a long, long time from now.

“Hyup.”

I moved my magic one last time.

I lifted the back of my uniform jacket slightly and let my magic flow. A round magic circle rose over the mark.

Magic that stopped time.

“Now... it won’t grow anymore.”

With a blue glow, tick, tick, the hands on my wristwatch spun once in a full circle, then snapped to a stop.

From now on, this watch would serve as a device that fed magic into the spell wrapped around the mark.

How many years will this buy me? With this magic.

The Mage King’s power soaked into this mark was living power.

It was fundamentally different from stopping the time of old books.

So.

Before the Mage King revived—

I would search the continent and complete the mark-breaking circle.

I wasn’t alone anymore.

I didn’t have to struggle by myself against the mark or against the Mage King.

...But if I can’t make it in time, and this mark grows the way the Mage King wants it to....

I...

That was when, while I stood there calmly sunk in thoughts of the future—

“Ru...bian?”

A trembling voice came from behind me.

“Licht?!”

I hurriedly covered my back, and Licht’s eyes widened before he spun around at once.

“Ah—sorry! I didn’t see anything!”

What was with him sneaking up without making a sound?!

Still facing completely away, Licht started babbling. The prince, whose face usually held a smile no matter the situation, looked more flustered than I had ever seen him.

“D-Duke Zebbert came to see Father, and when I heard you were here, I...”

“Did you... did you see it?”

“......S-see what?”

Licht hesitated for a moment, then said:

“......A pattern that looked like a worm wrapped around a pretty tree?”

Damn it.

“...It’s a dragon.”

So he had seen it....

Licht fidgeted, then slowly turned back around. His slightly drooping eyes kept darting toward me.

I could have erased his memory using the magic here, but...

I decided against it.

As long as I meant to keep up my connection with him, there was no such thing as a perfect secret in this world.

“You know. Back at the Spring Festival in Ipsen... you were right about what you guessed.”

“......”

“I can... do things like this.”

Whoosh.

My magic pulled a book from the shelf.

“And this... and that too....”

Whoosh, whoosh.

Writing tools, a teacup, after-meal ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) candy—things floated through the air.

Licht raised a hand to calm me.

“O-okay, Rubian. I get it, so....”

“Are you... going to tell His Majesty the Emperor?”

I withdrew all my magic and asked.

“Well....”

What the heck? My magical intimidation technique didn’t work at all. Had I floated things that were too harmless? Should I have lifted a rock or something?

Now that the Magic Kingdom had become the enemy, there was no way to know how the Emperor would treat me, a runaway mage. Dad hadn’t insisted there was any need to tell him, either.

Of course, it didn’t seem likely that His Majesty would just throw me straight back to the Magic Kingdom on the spot, but....

My secret had loosened a little.

Dad knew. The Mage King knew too.

That didn’t mean I was about to go shouting it all over town, but still, it wasn’t something I had to clutch to my chest with white knuckles the way I used to.

“...Who knows.”

Licht let the words trail off like a murmur, then grinned.

Only then did I realize he was teasing me again.

“You and that maddeningly vague way of talking!”

“Haha, sorry.”

That pretty face came striding closer.

“Say, if I keep this secret, does that mean we can keep exchanging letters?”

“Letters?”

“Yeah. You’re not coming back to the capital for a while, right?”

“Well, no, I’m not.”

“Then I won’t tell.”

His eyes curved neatly.

“I like your letters.”

“Oh....”

Why? What part of those stiff letters was there to like...?

Hmm. His sensibilities were definitely a little...

“You really need to spend more time in the library....”

“I don’t know what that means, but all right.”

Licht smiled brightly, then glanced at the parchment in my hand.

“But what’s that?”

“Oh, this? It’s in ancient language... and a lot of it uses old place names, so it’s hard to identify. I was just about to start figuring them out....”

At that, Licht fell silent for a moment.

He tilted his head as though weighing something, then spoke again.

“If they’re old place names, the Imperial Palace archives should have records for most of them....”

What?!

My eyes flew as wide as they could go.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’d have to check too, of course, but I’m probably right.”

“Licht! What are you? My savior? An angel?”

No, wait—not that! Fourth Prince, of course!

I swallowed the words I couldn’t quite say and clung to Licht’s arm. The prince flinched a little, then patted me soothingly.

“You really have no reservations at all.... Anyway, then we’re definitely going to have to write to each other all the time now, right?”

“I’m going to buy tons of pretty stationery!”

At that, the boy smiled more radiantly than ever and added,

“You can write it on scraps of tissue for all I care.”

*****

“Take care, Licht, Your Highneeess!”

Rubian rode away in a carriage with large windows.

Right beside her sat Duke Zebbert, and next to him, as usual, was Khalid wearing that thoroughly unpleasant expression.

“...You could’ve just called me Licht.”

Was it because the knights were all around?

Hiding his disappointment, the prince kept waving until the carriage vanished from sight.

She won’t forget me, will she...?

When he looked around at the emptiness that had settled all at once, that worry suddenly came to him.

Thinking back, today had really been the only time at the Academy they had properly seen each other face to face.

You’re not supposed to casually distribute portraits of royalty, but....

A little tension gathered at his fingertips.

I should ask in my next letter whether I can enclose one.

It would only be going to Rubian, anyway.

“Ah. Come to think of it....”

“Your Highness? What is it?”

“...I forgot to ask Duke Zebbert about that.”

At the thought that came to him too late, he scratched one soft pale cheek.

What they did with the body of the mage who attacked the Academy that day....

The Duke of Zebbert had said he handled it personally, so it was reassuring enough.

“Well, Father must have asked.”

Licht turned away with a swish of motion.

“More importantly....”

So Rubian... really was a mage....

It was a shocking truth, but somehow he accepted it soon enough.

He had thought he had fully shaken off what happened in Ipsen, but a murky discomfort he had never quite recognized had lingered the whole time like sediment.

It must have been hard for her... all this time.

He clenched his fist tightly.

When he pictured her smiling face, eyes soft at the corners, something in his chest churned for no reason. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Maybe it had been that way from the moment they first met.

Perhaps because that first encounter at the shelter had been so intense.

Now, all he felt was a strong desire to protect that smiling face.

But as time passed... would this feeling change too?

In any case.

Licht turned sharply around. The things he had to do never changed.

So that even if your identity comes out, nothing will happen to you.

I’ll do my best here.

You do your best there, Rubian.

“Then let’s go back.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The boy’s time began now.