Chapter 33
“I’m not exactly sure. But several attendants said they heard birds chirping in His Highness’s bedroom multiple times.”
“This… My clever younger brother wouldn’t have forgotten what happened ten years ago already, would he?”
I hadn’t visited for about a month to recover my health—has he grown so overconfident in that time?
“This was matched as a set with me and my fiancé. I’ll take it with me so as not to cause any unnecessary misunderstandings.”
Perhaps he expected that my fiancée would solve everything for me.
If that’s the case, it’s quite audacious. Who knows how long that woman will remain my fiancée.
“Deliver this to the Second Prince’s palace. By any means, capture the bird that Leo just acquired.”
“Alive… you mean?”
“It would be preferable, if possible.”
Kaien shrugged.
“If an unforeseen accident occurs, it can’t be helped, right? It’s an accident, after all.”
“Yes, understood.”
After giving such a ruthlessly cold order, he immediately hummed a tune while leafing through a book.
The attendant bowed deeply and left the room, letting out a long sigh.
‘How can the Second Prince be so cruel…’
He had been at the scene nine years ago when the First Prince brought and killed the bluebird that Lionel had raised.
There had been another attendant present, but unlike the one who had silently been dismissed, he had remained in the palace because he had done nothing at the time.
‘This time too, I guess I can’t do anything beyond what I’m told…’
What can one do if one is cowardly?
If he doesn’t obey, he could lose his life. To survive in the palace, all one can do is close their eyes and cover their ears.
“Yaaawn…”
Sitting in the carriage, I couldn’t stop yawning, and Eunice spoke in a concerned voice.
“Miss, if you’re too tired, we can just return today.”
“No, I have to go. I must go.”
Though I was exhausted from sleeping late yesterday, I couldn’t give up going to the Second Prince’s palace.
‘I need to check where I got my magic power from!’
Because some time had passed, I couldn’t remember exactly what I touched or whom I met.
But what was certain was that I had visited the Second Prince’s palace that day.
‘Was it a person, or an object? Where did I get my magic power from?’
As I thought of possibilities, I kept yawning. Eunice noticed me keeping my hand over my mouth and carefully asked,
“Miss, how about postponing your magic studies? You look exhausted.”
“No. I might gain magic power again today, after all.”
If magic entered my body, I wanted to see if I could actually use it myself, not just operate magical tools.
So I stayed up all night reviewing beginner spells that consumed little magic. Surprisingly… they were kind of fun.
“We’ve arrived, Miss… hmm?”
“Why?”
Eunice, who was about to get out of the carriage, turned to me with a slightly surprised face.
“The Second Prince is waiting outside.”
“What?”
To prove that it was true, Lionel approached the carriage and extended his hand to me instead of Eunice, who had gotten out first.
“Welcome, Cecile. Was your journey uncomfortable?”
“Uh, no. It was comfortable. Who would dare make the fiancée of His Highness uncomfortable?”
I linked arms with Lionel and walked beside him.
“By the way, where are we going now? The garden?”
“Yes.”
Hmm… I’m tired and want to sit for a bit today.
I pouted slightly and glanced at Lionel’s profile. Feeling my gaze, he gave me a brief look before lowering his eyes slightly.
“I apologize. Even though we’re engaged, I didn’t consider that meeting alone in a private room could damage your reputation, Cecile.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
If it were a man I had no relation with, fine. But being alone in a private room with my fiancé would not harm my reputation…
…It shouldn’t, anyway.
“Did someone say something?”
“Yes. From today, the chief attendants are not allowed outside.”
How many people in this empire could have told Lionel to do that?
The answer was obvious.
“Her Majesty the Empress ordered it?”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t believe it. I opened my mouth in shock and looked up at Lionel.
“Isn’t that a bit much? Anyone who finds out might think we were plotting something really bad.”
“I apologize. It’s all because my son is unreliable.”
“If the Second Prince is unreliable, there’s no one reliable in this world…”
But I really didn’t understand.
If I went home and cried, saying I was treated unfairly, how could they justify stopping us from meeting alone?
Even considering the risks, why prevent us from meeting alone?
‘Could it be that they’re already planning to make me the First Prince’s fiancée?’
If word spreads that Lionel and I are very close, it would look strange if I became the First Prince’s fiancée…
Ugh, just thinking about it gives me chills!
“Anyway, that’s why you were outside? Because we can’t have a private conversation inside?”
“Yes. At least outside, we can keep the attendants away.”
I nodded and glanced back. Some attendants, likely agents of the Empress, seemed to want to get closer to us.
But Eunice kept a proper distance and subtly signaled them with coughs, so they didn’t come too close.
I was grateful that my family was the Duke of Rohaim’s house.
It must have been because my family was influential that I was chosen as the Second Prince’s fiancée in the first place.
“By the way, Cecile, I want to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
I guessed this was the reason the attendants were kept away.
“The bluebird. Was the offensive magic circuit implanted?”
“Offensive magic? Why would I implant something like that? My goal was to… um, spy on Leo.”
“Is that so?”
“…Why? Did something happen?”
A sudden intuition passed through my mind. I had a very bad feeling.
“Does that bluebird still move on its own? It shouldn’t… its magic should be depleted.”
“I gave it magic.”
“You gave it magic? Really?”
Isn’t he worried the bird might show itself to me again without permission?
“So why the offensive magic question? What happened?”
Please… don’t tell me the bluebird attacked you.
‘If that happens, and I get caught for an attempted royal assassination, I can’t even argue…!’
“This morning, while I was washing, an attendant secretly entered the bedroom and touched the bluebird.”
“An attendant? Touched the bluebird? Why?”
Lionel paused, as if at a loss for words, then shook his head.
“…I haven’t heard the reason from him yet. He fainted and hasn’t regained consciousness.”
Fainted.
Collapsed.
Unconscious.
“Why… why did that happen?”
“I wasn’t there, so I don’t know for sure. But the witness said it looked like the bluebird emitted lightning.”
“Lightning…?”
“Can you guess? Could another type of magic cause a similar phenomenon, not offensive magic?”
“….”
“…Cecile?”
Lionel looked at me with a puzzled expression, but I couldn’t answer.
‘Lightning magic…’
Magic that delivers a shock strong enough to make a healthy person faint.
Of course I’d recognize it. It was one of the spells I had stayed up late reviewing last night.
Like a modern electric shock device, for self-defense.
‘But I only reviewed it, I didn’t implant it. How did the bluebird use the spell?’
I was genuinely scared now. I met Lionel’s curious gaze with my own.
“Leo, can you give me back the bluebird? I think I need to see exactly what happened.”
Fortunately, Lionel seemed to understand the seriousness and nodded readily.
“Understood.”
Then he put his hand into his jacket pocket.
I blinked in surprise as I saw the bluebird emerge from Lionel’s chest pocket.
“You had it with you?”
“Given what happened this morning, it’s safer for me to carry it.”
Come to think of it, Cookie was also kept in that pocket for safety.
Hearing that the Second Prince’s attendant fainted from touching the bluebird, I realized even the Second Prince, called the crown prince, must live uncomfortably if he can’t gain the Empress’s favor.
‘The more I know, the more… I’d rather take it out and bring it to my room.’
Hiding those thoughts, I reached for the bluebird.
And then darkness.
Without even realizing I was losing consciousness, I collapsed.