Chapter 354: A Wish (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 354: A Wish (4)
Preservation magic.
If you asked anyone what magic was used as often as ‘Clean’ in daily life, they would undoubtedly name it.
It was the magic that kept a five-hundred-year-old building standing without a single broken stone or rusted hinge. It was the magic that allowed an archmage’s granddaughter to cook lobster in Kairisis, a city in the far north of a vast, landlocked continent. And was it not the very magic that ensured tangerines sent from Secritia would still be mouth-puckeringly sour by the time they reached Chermil Palace in Kairis?
Preservation magic was so widely used and easily accessible that anyone would think of it right after Clean. It was as common as a magic lamp, which anyone could buy simply by walking to the nearest magic shop.
‘To think he couldn’t even cast a single preservation spell on it…’
Yet, he hadn’t.
He hadn’t performed such a simple act.
Alan looked at the object in Franz’s hand.
Now, it would be as simple as opening the office door across the hall and asking someone to cast the spell. But knowing that such a thought wouldn't have even crossed Lemain’s mind when he first had it made, Alan clicked his tongue inwardly.
An object left without even the most trivial preservation spell.
And so, an object that was now just a little worn, just a little faded.
A small locket. The portrait inside. The image of a young Franz caught his eye once more.
“Were you staring at it like this because you found it so fascinating to receive a gift?”
“No. I just didn’t know he had something like this.”
“……Is that so…”
In truth, Alan had been just as surprised as Franz.
It was a mixture of the expected and the unexpected.
‘Is that a letter?’
‘Yes, Master. His Majesty sent it.’
That evening, unable to bear his worry for his long-unreachable disciple, Alan had traveled to Secritia. When he arrived at the annex, Relic, who was packing the last of the princes’ belongings, informed him of Calian’s whereabouts.
Alan immediately helped Relic with the luggage and headed to the Secritia Royal Palace. Guided by Yan, he waited in a room for a short while until Calian returned. Calian’s complexion was pale, and Alan was about to ask what was wrong—if he’d been hurt again—but Calian showed him the letter in his hand first.
—I know you will handle things well on your own, but I cannot help but worry. Please take care of yourself.
Calian explained that the letter, filled with clumsy words of concern, was from Lemain.
‘His Majesty sent a letter?’
‘Yes. I only just met up with Kyrie, so I didn’t realize there was one for me too. It seems he sent them together.’
‘Then is the Crown Prince standing outside like that because he’s reading His Majesty’s letter?’
‘Ah. The letter is one thing, but… I’m not so sure.’
As he spoke, Calian turned his gaze out the window. Franz came into view, standing as if rooted to the spot, quietly staring down at the object in his hand.
‘This time, even I don’t fully understand.’
To Bern, a father was a fearsome figure. Someone who must never be attacked. Someone he always had to face with bared steel to protect Chase at his back. Nothing more, nothing less.
‘This time, even I don’t fully understand.’
A father’s letter. And a gift.
These were things Bern had never experienced. That was why he could only give such an answer.
Alan, who had been watching Calian for a moment, stood back up. After patting Calian’s shoulder a few times, he stepped outside to where Franz was. For the moment, he set aside the need to ask what his beloved, trouble-prone disciple had gotten himself into this time and how badly he had been hurt.
“It is indeed surprising. I didn’t know His Majesty would send such a thing to Your Royal Highness, nor did I know he possessed such an item in the first place.”
“Yeah.”
It wasn’t surprising that Lemain had sent a letter without going through Alan. Nor was it surprising that he had written to both of his sons. With both of them away, he would never send a letter only to Calian or only to Franz. Had one of them been Randel, he might have held back, but that wasn’t the case.
However, what Alan had not expected…
…was something more fundamental than guessing whether Lemain would send a locket with a portrait inside. He had never expected that Lemain kept a portrait of his son in the first place.
“Are you perhaps hurt?”
“……Why?”
“That he is only now starting to send such things.”
“No.”
Franz’s response, which usually came after a slight delay, was immediate.
Whatever the case, Lemain was a man who had lived his life doing everything wrong.
But for once, Alan did not blame him.
Knowing Lemain’s personality, he wouldn’t have made a portrait of only Franz. Whether in a desk drawer, by his bedside, or tucked away in a breast pocket where no one could see, it was obvious there were two other lockets containing portraits of the other two princes, secretly made and left without a single preservation spell.
He did not blame Lemain for sending it only to Franz.
Revealing that he kept portraits of the sons he had neglected would only be a new poison to Randel, and it would hold no meaning or emotion for Calian, who had buried all feelings toward Lemain. But Franz was the only one for whom this was not the case.
It was neither poison nor a useless gesture.
Only for Franz.
Even if Lemain didn't know Randel's deepest thoughts or what had changed within Calian, it seemed he had at least realized that much. Thus, he had developed enough tact to send Franz what he dared not give Randel and had no need to give Calian. For that reason, there was no need to blame Lemain this time.
“Don’t say anything to His Majesty. It’s not like that.”
“Do not worry. I will not scold him.”
Of course, that didn’t mean he felt like praising him, either.
Just because he had begun to make an effort did not erase his past wrongdoings. No matter what anyone said, Lemain had sinned against his three sons for a very long time.
“Then why were you standing here like this?”
“Because it’s the first time. I don’t know how to feel about it.”
A mere portrait, a single letter.
Yet, not knowing what to do with them had kept him standing there.
He didn’t know what to do with a gift from his father. He didn’t know how to accept it. The deep chasm between them was still too vivid for him to simply feel happy and grateful. The one who had received the letter and told him to open it was Calian, of all people, which weighed on his mind. And yet, despite all that, he still felt a flicker of gladness.
“Was it so difficult that you just stood here?”
Franz nodded slowly.
Alan watched him for a moment, then quietly took a step forward. Without a word of warning, he pulled Franz into an embrace. Just as he had done on the day he pulled him from the sea, but this time, he held him tight with both arms instead of just one.
“……Why, again?”
Just like that day, Franz’s shoulders tensed up completely. Ignoring it, Alan casually patted his back. For now, Alan’s embrace was still larger than Franz’s frame.
“Do you remember when we met on the stairs of Chermil Palace, and I spoke harshly to you, saying that Your Royal Highness had done something foolish to Prince Calian?”
“I remember.”
“Did that perhaps hurt your feelings?”
“No.”
“I scolded you because what Your Royal Highness did was wrong. I did not scold you on behalf of your younger brother, but as someone who witnessed your wrongdoing. Do you understand that?”
“……I understand.”
Alan nodded.
Then, holding the back that had grown up all alone, he spoke again.
“It is the same as when I scold His Majesty. An old man is merely scolding him for doing things that are hard to watch. Thanks to him, this old man’s insides churn ten times a day. He’s like a stubborn ox, isn’t he? When you teach him one thing, he gets so focused on it he can’t see anything else.”
The shoulders that had been held so stiffly trembled slightly.
He was laughing.
“However, no matter how much I scold His Majesty, it is merely an old man meddling. Just as my scolding you did not make your wrongdoing disappear.”
“I know. That, too.”
“I am telling you this because you know it all too well, and that is the problem. Your brother’s departure was not solely your fault. But because Your Royal Highness buried it all alone, you treat it as if it were entirely your own doing. I worry that such thoughts have made you abandon any desire to blame His Majesty for other matters. Just because you share some of the blame, and just because I am here to scold His Majesty on your behalf, does not mean Your Royal Highness must remain silent and forgive him for everything, does it?”
“……No. I haven’t forgiven him.”
“Yes. You are allowed to feel that way. Your Royal Highness has every right to resent him. You can ask His Majesty what on earth he has ever done for you. You can resent him for only showing you this now.”
“I told you, it’s not like that.”
“And it is also perfectly fine to feel glad.”
Franz, who had been insisting he neither forgave nor resented Lemain, fell silent. He wasn’t laughing, either.
“Parents are naturally like that. They are figures we resent endlessly, yet lean on endlessly. The fault lies with the father who did not allow his child to lean on him; the child who wished to lean on him did nothing wrong. Resenting one’s parents, yet still looking to them—none of it is the child’s fault. It is only natural, Your Royal Highness.”
Something even Bern could not fully comprehend.
Something Calian, too, would have to learn from now on. Alan, who was teaching this to Franz first, spoke in a gentle voice.
“Franz. It means that your father leaving you alone was not your fault.”
The tension finally drained from Franz’s shoulders, which had been stiff for so long.
“So, no matter how you choose to view what your father sent, isn’t it all fine?”
That it was fine to feel however he wished about Lemain’s gift—glad yet resentful, resentful yet glad. The meddlesome mage gave him the words of permission that no one else could offer.
And he gently stroked the back of Franz’s head, which felt like freshly sprouted greens, letting the warmth on his shoulder linger for a long time.
* * *
A white hand moved quietly to draw the black curtain.
Watching the scene outside, Calian was a bit too old to feel like his father had been stolen from him. A smile touched his lips, his hunger momentarily forgotten. But a moment later, when the person who opened the door entered holding a glass of water, his hungry expression returned, and he let out a whimper.
“Hina asked me to deliver this to you.”
There was no reason for Hina to specifically ask Kyrie to deliver a single glass of water. Yan could have brought it, Calian could have gotten it himself, or if he were truly thirsty, he could have simply conjured water.
Therefore, this was Hina’s message: he was to consume nothing but water.
“I didn’t eat anything. This time, really.”
“Yes. You did well.”
Taking a deep breath, Calian pointed to the seat opposite him.
It was directed at Kyrie, who, though not as much as Franz, still felt younger than Calian himself.
“Sit down for a moment, Kyrie.”
“Yes.”
Bowing his head slightly, Kyrie sat across from Calian.
Hina wasn’t the only one he needed to talk to. After all, Kyrie was just as skilled as Calian or Franz at keeping his face completely expressionless.
“Kyrie.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Do you know the name Whitrin?”
“I do.”
Calian nodded.
He was about to think that Kyrie at least knew the name, but Kyrie continued.
“Isn’t it the Queen’s last name?”
“……Ah. That.”
Calian paused, choosing his words, and moistened his throat with the water.
He recalled Kyrie’s face when he had said he didn’t know his own last name. Calian had thought Kyrie only didn’t know his family name, but now he realized Kyrie hadn’t known his mother’s name either.
“It’s like your last name.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Just as I gave you my name as your last name, it’s similar. To my mother, Whitrin was…”
Kyrie’s heterochromatic eyes turned toward Calian.
Meeting those eyes, Calian spoke, his voice raspy.
“It is your mother’s name, Kyrie.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“……Thank you for telling me.”
Kyrie’s expression had briefly turned as troubled as Calian’s voice sounded, but he spoke calmly.
“I don’t remember exactly when, but a tall elf came to find us. He said he had been searching for a long time and handed us some letters. And… he told us our names: Kyrie and Hina.”
“That was Siona.”
“Yes. Hearing your explanation, I suspected as much. It seems it was indeed that elf, Siona Hill. What he left behind were letters from my mother and the late Queen. When he delivered them, he only said that my mother had been close friends with the Queen. Since a long time had already passed since the Queen’s passing, that is likely why he didn’t say more.”
Because nothing good would come from it being known that they were connected to a deceased queen.
“Yes. It seems so.”
“And he said the Queen had prepared a place for us to live in the Whitrin territory. He even offered to take us there if we wished to go.”
“……You should have gone.”
“If we went there, we would never have been able to get our revenge. I thought about sending only Hina, but I couldn’t bear to separate her from me… In the end, I stubbornly insisted on staying in Kairisis.”
Calian nodded.
A deep, silent sigh escaped him.
“If there is anything else you are curious about, I will tell you. Everything I know.”
“No. There is nothing.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to know more?”
“You have already told me my mother’s name. If you happen to learn my father’s name later, please let me know. Other than that, I have no more questions.”
“Alright.”
“Are you not curious about anything, Your Highness?”
“No. I’m not, either.”
Kyrie smiled faintly.
He was realizing once again just how terrible Calian was at lying.
He surely wanted to ask. Even if he didn’t ask, he had to be curious.
Whether Kyrie still wished to take revenge on Brissen. How he felt about Franz. Because Hina and Kyrie were different.
Instead of calling out the lie, Kyrie brought up something else.
“When we return, would it be alright if I visited the Siegfried Mansion?”
It was where Siona was.
It was also where Ririe was.
“I would like to have a spar.”
“A spar?”
The elf who had looked at Kyrie with eyes full of worry.
The elf who had emptied his pockets to give them all his money, who had tried time and again to persuade them to let him take them to the Whitrin territory. That was the kind of person Siona was.
Kyrie wanted to show him.
Just as he had told him not to worry.
“I want to let him know that my sister and I have been doing well.”
Calian looked down at his glass of water.
He was pleased that Kyrie wasn't saying he wanted to see Ririe, nor that he had questions for Siona, but simply that he wanted to show how much he had grown. So, without another word, Calian nodded.
“I understand. As soon as we return, I will arrange it.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course.”
Kyrie glanced briefly at the tightly drawn curtain—which seemed less about avoiding the view outside and more about signaling that he hadn’t been looking—then reached into his coat. He pulled something out and handed it to Calian.
“Prince Franz asked me to deliver this to you.”
“My brother?”
Tilting his head, Calian unwrapped the paper-bound object.
And immediately burst into laughter.
“Again.”
It was jerky.
‘Give this to my brother when he wakes up.’
‘Isn’t this jerky?’
‘Hina will probably try to stop him from eating it. But my brother isn’t the type to get sick over food. So just give it to him before she starts making a fuss.’
‘Where did you get this…’
‘Relic brought it. He said it was for Lucy.’
‘Are you giving something meant for Lucy to the Prince?’
‘It has salt in it.’
‘…Are you giving the Prince something that even Lucy can’t eat?’
‘He won’t say no.’
Recalling Franz’s words, Calian’s laughter spilled out the window.
“Liar.”
Relic had only just arrived.
He had gone to pack the luggage they had left behind at the villa and had just gotten here with Alan. When on earth would Relic have had time to bring jerky for Lucy? Besides, salty jerky for Lucy? There was no way Relic would make such a mistake.
Calian knew there was a hint of revenge in it, paying him back for making Franz eat the same salted diet as Raven.
But what could he do?
“Keep this a secret from Hina.”
It was meat, after all.
He had to eat it.
Looking at Kyrie, who had delivered a father’s worry to Franz and a brother’s worry to Calian, Calian laughed like that for a long time.
He was proud of his older brother, who had briefly shared their father’s attention while creating a secret to keep from Hina. And he was proud of Kyrie, who had handed over what Franz gave him, pretending not to know it would be bad for Calian’s health.
He found them both so incredibly endearing.