Chapter 28
“What a long day….”
I flopped down onto my bed and let out a long sigh as I stared at the ceiling.
‘Still, I’m glad it all worked out.’
Up until the moment I rushed to the imperial palace, I had been terrified I might end up accused of treason. Thankfully, Lionel told me everything was fine.
“So, my dear, what happened to that thing you said you might—or might not—have to confess?”
If Lionel hadn’t forgiven me, I would have had no choice but to reveal everything. But since he chose to let it slide, there was no need to stir up trouble unnecessarily.
So I told Mother the same excuse Eunice had given the people at the Second Prince’s palace in the carriage.
My bridal instructors had told me about the realities of married life. I’d been so worried that I couldn’t sleep, and I ended up having an extremely vivid nightmare about my fiancé secretly cheating on me. So I ran all the way to the imperial palace to confirm that he didn’t actually have another woman…
After hearing my story—seasoned with a small amount of truth and a very generous amount of exaggeration—Mother comforted me, asking if I had really been that worried.
“Don’t worry. You have us behind you. How could His Highness possibly make you feel wronged?”
Of course, that wasn’t the end of it.
“But, my dear, your actions today were rather reckless. The imperial palace is a place where smoke rises even without a fire. What you did could have caused trouble for His Highness the Second Prince.”
“Yes… I’m reflecting on it.”
“You are His Highness’s fiancée. You must always remember that any flaw of his may also become your flaw.”
Mother was absolutely right—one hundred, no, one thousand times right.
I wrote a letter of reflection. My older sister, who hadn’t stopped me from going to the Second Prince’s palace, wrote one too.
After dinner, I returned to my room—and that brought me to now.
As I blankly stared at the ceiling, I suddenly muttered,
“Is Lionel really the obsessive male lead from the novel I read?”
The words I spoke aloud drifted hollowly through the room before circling back into my mind.
‘No matter how I think about it, he doesn’t seem like someone who would do that.’
The Lionel I remembered from the novel had gone down this path:
First, in order to make the First Prince the Crown Prince, the Empress sent Lionel to the Central Temple.
Why the temple? Because of the oracle Lionel had received.
[He shall ascend to the highest seat, regardless of his own will.]
When you hear “the highest seat,” the first thing that comes to mind is the emperor.
But if you think carefully, there was one other highest seat in this empire.
The Pope.
Since the founding of the empire, not once had a divine oracle gone astray.
In other words, the Empress intended to fulfill Lionel’s oracle by making him Pope instead of Emperor.
From the temple’s perspective, they couldn’t deny that such an interpretation was possible either.
So they accepted Lionel and ordained him. As the future Pope, he began from the position of bishop.
And three years later, Lionel led a rebellion—and succeeded.
The key point of that rebellion was that the priests and holy knights sided with him.
In this country, the gods grant oracles to the imperial family. If an oracle is misinterpreted and an unworthy person ascends the throne, the Pope has the authority to object.
In a situation where even the Emperor couldn’t treat the clergy carelessly, Lionel—backed by priests and holy knights—already held the advantage.
Hadn’t the gods themselves guaranteed it? That he was the one destined to ascend to the highest seat.
“…Huh?”
Wait a second. Isn’t something strange here?
‘Lionel’s oracle definitely said…’
—Flash!
“Huh? What was that?”
Just as something was about to surface in my mind, a light suddenly flickered from across the room.
I jolted upright.
The crystal orb on my desk was glowing.
The orb connected to the Bluebird!
“Kyah! What is that?! Why is it turning on by itself?!”
It really was broken after all!
I should have coldly taken the Bluebird back, no matter how pitiful Lionel had looked, like a drenched puppy!
—Cecil? Is that you?
“Gasp!”
What?! He knows it turned on? How? It shouldn’t have that function!
I scrambled over to my desk and plopped down in front of the crystal orb.
As expected, Lionel’s face was reflected in it.
He seemed slightly startled as well, staring back at me. The screen was shaking slightly.
And I knew exactly why it was shaking.
“Am I… flying? How? I didn’t even touch the controller!”
—Then are you saying you’re not the one controlling this Bluebird right now, Cecil?
“Yes! It’s not me—… Wait. What?”
What? …What, what?!
“Can you hear my voice right now?”
—Yes. Very clearly. So it had that function as well.
“No! It doesn’t have that function!”
I couldn’t understand this phenomenon at all.
The reason I could hear Lionel’s voice and see him through the crystal orb was because the Bluebird had a transmission function, and the orb had a receiving function.
In other words, the orb had no transmission capability. And the Bluebird had no receiving capability. I made it myself—I would know better than anyone.
‘Then how on earth can he hear my voice over there?!’
—Is it possible that whoever made this magic device secretly implanted additional circuits without your knowledge, Cecil?
“No, I made this magic device myself, so—… Ah!”
I clamped both hands over my mouth, but it was already too late.
—You made this magic device yourself?
“…Is it too late to deny it?”
—So you know how to create magical devices. That’s an impressive ability.
It didn’t work. Definitely too late.
‘He could at least pretend not to notice…’
Now that I was exposed anyway, I briefly considered bragging that half of the magical devices currently being produced and sold by the Frost Magic Tower under Rohaim’s patronage were developed by me—but I stopped myself.
‘I’ll save that for after we’re married. Emergency funds.’
—If you can create magical devices, then you must be able to use magic as well.
“No. I can’t use magic.”
—Pardon?
Just like his voice, the face reflected in the orb was filled with confusion.
It was only natural. Lionel was someone whose expression barely changed—so for him to look this surprised said a lot.
In truth, the method of creating magical devices itself was simple. You implant a magic circuit into a mana stone. That was it.
The difficult part was designing the magic circuit to implant into the mana stone. You had to encrypt it too, so no one could dismantle it and steal it.
Transforming magic into a magic circuit required a perfect understanding of that magic.
But who in the world could completely master magical knowledge without even being able to cast spells?
“The reason I can’t use magic is because I lost my mana vessel. If I have a mana stone, I can technically use magic—but honestly, that doesn’t really make me a mage…”
—You lost your mana vessel?
“Yes. When I was young, I suffered from a terrible fever. I lost my mana vessel—and all my memories—with it. You can imagine how severe it must have been.”
I gave a bitter smile and picked up the controller lying on my desk. Even though I knew it wouldn’t work because it had run out of mana, I pressed a button anyway.
‘If I still had mana, it would’ve worked without recharging…’
—Beep! Beep-beep!
‘Right. Just like th—… Huh?’
—Now it even cries. Are you sure you’re not controlling it, Cecil?
“Uh? I’m not… I think?”
I pressed the crying sound button again.
—Beep!
It was… really bad timing to deny it.
—Beep. Beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep.
The timing…
—Beep! Beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep, beep-beep-beep!
“W-Why is this working?!”
—Cecil?
There was only one possible reason a magical device that should’ve stopped functioning due to lack of mana was operating again.
In my body—
My mana had returned.