Come to think of it, when I first touched this bluebird, I could clearly feel the cold, hard texture of magical stone, but now it feels like touching a real, living bird—warm and soft feathers.
‘Could it be… the magic is only complete now?’
If that were the case, it would explain how this bluebird could convey Cecilia’s voice and how the lightning magic was cast.
They said a spirit familiar can share its owner’s knowledge to use magic.
‘The spirit familiar has now been completed… So that’s why Cessi lost consciousness and collapsed?’
Lionel asked immediately.
“What did the court physician say?”
-They said it’s nothing serious. Actually, I didn’t collapse because I was sick…
“Not because you were sick?”
-Well… you see…
Even though there was no one else around, Cecilia lowered her voice as if whispering.
-You know, my body has magical energy, right?
“Magical energy…? Didn’t you say you lost your mana vessel after a high fever when you were little?”
-I don’t have a mana vessel. But it seems that, like pouring water into a leaky pot, magic can temporarily settle in my body.
Cecilia doesn’t have a mana vessel. Yet after contact with the bluebird, magical energy settled in her body…
Thinking about it, it was strange.
She didn’t have a mana vessel, so how on earth was her spirit familiar magic completed?
‘…Could it be?’
Lionel’s gaze fell on the purple ribbon tied around the bluebird’s neck.
At that moment, the nanny had clearly…
“It’s nothing special, I just put a preservation spell on the ribbon so it wouldn’t wear out.”
“Could you infuse magic into it? Then this ribbon will never come undone.”
Liri died with that ribbon around her neck.
Her body could not be found. Instead, only the ribbon returned to him.
It was all he had left, so Lionel periodically infused magic into the ribbon to prevent it from wearing out.
‘The material for a spirit familiar is a fragment of the caster’s soul…’
Could it be that what remained on this ribbon was…?
Cecilia’s soul fragment and mana vessel?
-Anyway, my teacher said there must be someone or something around me that gave me magical energy, right? But both last time and this time, I had contact with Rio.
“…Is that so?”
Lionel tilted his head.
If Cecilia received magical energy from someone, that source would be the bluebird, which carries a mana vessel, right?
-Don’t you remember? Both last time when I received the bluebird, and this time, our hands brushed. Not over clothes, but bare hands.
“Ah.”
That was indeed the case.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t the bluebird, but the ribbon tied around its neck that was touched.
-So… uh, don’t misunderstand. Rio, do you have a lot of magical energy in your body?
“Magical energy?”
Lionel thought of the bluebird, or more precisely, Cecilia, who would be looking at him from beyond it, and tapped his desk lightly with his finger.
“Beep, beep-beep!”
“Do you want magic? Again?”
“Beep!”
“Are you okay? What… …you mean my body has a lot of magical energy?”
“I’ve been told it’s a lot.”
-Told you?
Yes, she told him herself.
But even if he answered like this, she wouldn’t know because she had no memory…
“When I was young, the court magician who examined me recommended that I learn magic. But I didn’t have the time physically to study it, so I gave it up.”
-Then the leftover magic must be overflowing in your body? It must have been trapped in Rio’s mana vessel, dreaming of going out into the world and seeing it for itself.
“That’s… quite a fresh way to put it.”
-Don’t you think it’s better to let that childlike magic be adopted by a loving fiancée rather than wander alone in an unfamiliar world?
She certainly had a way of expressing things that felt fresh in every way.
“…”
Suddenly, Lionel remembered what people had said about him.
“His Highness, the Second Prince, has no expression… It would be more human if he shouted angrily. No matter what he does, his face is blank, honestly it’s creepy.”
His biological mother had said something similar. She birthed him herself but said he was creepy.
The face Cecilia would be seeing now through the bluebird was the very face others had said was creepy and gave them goosebumps.
-Rio? What’s wrong? Do you feel sick?
It was only after hearing Cecilia’s concerned voice that Lionel realized he had his hands over his face.
He stroked his smooth but firm cheeks a few more times and then lowered his hands.
And he asked,
“May I call you Liri?”
-Suddenly? …Uh, isn’t that a very precious name to you, Rio?
“That’s why I’m asking.”
-I don’t mind… Go ahead.
“Thank you.”
-Hmm-hmm. As a sort of repayment… about what I said earlier…
“I’ll cooperate as much as possible.”
-Really? Thank you!
The clear, chirping laughter sounded just like a tiny bird.
Hearing it was so pleasant that Lionel suddenly felt a twinge of regret. He wished he could see her face as well.
But it was fine.
“…Liri.”
Now he could call that name again.
On the pure white marble floor lay a carpet embroidered with gold thread. Crystal chandeliers hung above, and gem dust sparkled on the wallpaper. Every piece of furniture and decoration screamed wealth.
Anyone entering for the first time would be forced to gasp in awe at how luxurious the room was.
Yet despite nearly ten people being gathered here, a heavy silence filled the room.
“Alright…”
Tap, tap. The habitual tapping of the chair’s armrest with a finger stopped, breaking the silence.
Though one might feel relieved at the silence’s end, the attendants, bowing low enough that only the crown of their heads was visible to the First Prince, closed their eyes tightly.
They knew well that the calm, emotionless voice was a sign of the storm before it came.
“This brother of mine, my gentle and obedient younger brother who would do anything I told him… what did he say? Say it again.”
If he had yelled to call the knights to drag him out, it would have been less frightening.
The attendant, trembling all over, bowed his head and answered.
“That bluebird… He said he was worried it might be killed by a stray cat, so he placed a protection spell on it… and said never to touch it again.”
“Stray cat… haha, a stray cat.”
Cayenne repeated those words over and over, and a loud laugh erupted from his mouth.
The attendants, knowing very well that he wasn’t laughing out of joy, shrank even more, and their expectation was correct.
“Hahaha! A stray cat!”
“Why did the bird die? How would I know? I guess a stray cat killed it.”
Lionel remembered bringing the bluebird he cherished. But he didn’t know why it died. He lost interest after taking it from him.
It could have been killed by a stray cat, or he could have accidentally killed it while playing with it.
What he did remember clearly was how good Lionel’s expression looked when the bird was taken from him and when he was told it had died.
Even though he had taken other things Lionel valued afterward, none had matched the despair in that expression, which made it a shame…
“My younger brother turned sixteen this year, right? Ah, adolescence. It’s time to rebel against elders.”
How interesting. If he were to kill that bluebird in front of Lionel himself, would he recreate that childhood expression? Or would he rebel, thinking he’s grown now?
If he rebelled, he would do it himself. But how?
…Ah, it would be so amusing if that upright, sincere boy got so mad he threw punches.
Using violence against a brother too weak to even sit at a desk—what a perfect case for the uptight ministers to rise up.
“…Yes. Violence.”
Coincidentally, that poor fiancée had collapsed in the Second Prince’s palace.
Pieces in his mind clicked together like a puzzle.
As the tapping on the armrest slowed, Cayenne’s lips curved into a mischievous smile