6. Love
Zieghart led me out of the banquet hall. The music inside grew more distant with every step. He seemed to be searching for somewhere completely empty.
'What could he possibly want to say?'
Zieghart stopped walking. He scanned our surroundings. We were the only two there. Only after sweeping the area one more time, making certain no one was within earshot, did he finally open his mouth.
"Chelli."
"Yeah?"
"I have a favor to ask."
"What kind of favor?"
"One that would help you too. It might sound strange at first, so just hear me out to the end."
"What on earth are you trying to say?"
"I never thought I'd sink to thinking like this. But no matter how many times I turn it over, there's no other way."
Something was off about Zieghart. He wavered for the longest time, unease flickering in his eyes, and for no good reason I found myself tensing up as well.
"...Chelli."
"Why do you keep stalling like this? It's suffocating!"
"You take Carniel. I'll take Ardel."
"...?"
"Let's each have the person we want."
There was one question I'd heard countless times while learning alchemy. Whether I could brew a love potion, too. My answer never changed: no. Alchemy can act on the human nervous system — it can dull pain or numb sensation, or just as easily sharpen the senses. But love? An emotion a person has never even harbored, manufactured by force? That was impossible.
'"Have" Master? What is that even supposed to mean?'
When I first met Zieghart, he'd asked me about love potions. I'd told him then, too, that I couldn't make one. So why was he saying this now? It didn't sound like a joke.
"Zieghart. Explain it to me properly. From what I've heard so far, I have no idea what I'm supposed to help with, or how."
"I've already tried everything I can, and nothing changed. That's how I finally know for certain."
Zieghart smiled bitterly.
"No matter how well I treat her, she avoids me. Even after earning the feat of slaying the Demon King single-handedly, she doesn't spare me so much as a flicker of interest. Whatever I do, to Ardel I'm nothing but the Prince of Hellision and the Hero. Nothing more, and nothing less."
"Well, that's because Ardel already has someone else in her heart—"
"I know. I'm well aware. She spends all day chasing Carniel around — how could I possibly not know?"
Resentment seeped into Zieghart's eyes.
"Things might have been different if I'd met Ardel before Carniel did... King Walter sheltered her like a flower in a greenhouse, fanatically wary of her meeting any other man. Raised in a world like that, what could she possibly know about men? And then, by pure chance at a banquet, she crossed paths with the greatest genius mage in the continent's history... Of course he seemed special to her. Of course she wanted to meet him in person. I felt the same way... But Ardel mistook that curiosity for love."
"...A person's heart is theirs alone to know. Don't go presuming to guess at it."
"Then be honest with me."
"..."
"Even you — you, who's in love with Carniel — would admit that as a man, I'm the more attractive one compared to that bastard. If you had a conscience, you couldn't say otherwise. I'm better looking, and my standing is higher. So with a man like me standing right in front of her, why does Ardel keep running to Carniel? ...Does this situation make any sense to you at all?"
"Master is a hundred times more attractive than you are. And if you dragged me out here just to wallow in pathetic self-pity, go find someone else to talk to."
For one shameful moment, the promise of having Master had actually tempted me — now I felt like an idiot for it. This whole story of Zieghart's... listening to any more of it would only leave a filthy taste in my mouth. I turned to walk away.
"Hold on, Chelli."
Zieghart seized my wrist.
"Keep your hands off me."
"I haven't even told you what my favor is yet, have I?"
"I don't want to talk to you anymore."
"It won't be too late to judge after you've heard the favor."
Zieghart's grip stayed locked around my wrist. It hurt.
"Use your potion to make Carniel and Ardel spend a night together."
Had he lost his mind? He wanted me to arrange for Master and Ardel to sleep together? I didn't even want to imagine it... Don't men prize a woman's chastity above all else? Was Zieghart really all right with this? What was going on inside his head?
"And what exactly do you gain from the two of them spending one night together?"
Zieghart let go of my wrist. A red handprint was left blooming on my skin.
"Carniel is lowborn. That will never change, no matter what he does. But if I, the Hero, report to King Walter that those two shared a bed... do you think a king who cherishes his daughter that much will simply sit still? There will be a trial. And you — you take Carniel, still wearing his Mana Restraints, still waiting for that trial, and you run. All you have to do is elope with the man you love. Once Carniel is gone, Ardel is mine to handle as I see fit."
It was an insane plan. And precisely because it was insane, it was convincing. Even Master couldn't use magic while wearing the Mana Restraints. If the trial went ahead, a man like Master could easily foresee the worst possible verdict — never again able to cast the magic he had poured his whole passion into mastering. But what if I offered to save him? The plan had one flaw, and if I patched that myself, it would be a perfect script.
"But how exactly do you plan to get the two of them into the same room?"
"Simple."
Zieghart produced a bottle of liquor from inside his coat.
"...You can't possibly have forgotten that Master hates alcohol."
"I've already spoken to Brakan. Told him to invite Carniel out for a drink. Since it's Brakan doing the asking, Carniel can't very well pretend he didn't hear. Besides, tonight is a special occasion."
"...Does Uncle Brakan know about this too?"
"I gave him some plausible story... Not that it matters even if he's seen through it. You don't need to worry about Brakan."
Considering the relationship between the Kingdom of Hellision and the Kingdom of Torgadin, Zieghart's brazen confidence made perfect sense. More than understandable, really. And yet...
"Even if he does get drunk, there's no guarantee everything will flow according to plan. Master is a mage. Keeping his emotions under control is the most basic of basics for him."
"That's exactly why I need you. Mix the potion into the drink. Drunk out of his mind with his senses sharpened on top of it — if Ardel approaches him in that state, even Carniel won't be able to hold back..."
Zieghart wore a bitter smile.
"I've loved Ardel from the very first moment I saw her. She was a stranger, and yet nothing about her felt unfamiliar. She felt like someone I'd known since ages ago. That's why I believed it was fate."
"..."
"I don't care what Ardel does in another man's arms before she comes back to me. Even if the whole world points fingers at her. Even if rumors spread that she was whoring around in some back-alley pleasure quarter. I will love Ardel all the same. As long as I can spend time with her, I can endure anything."
Zieghart's face looked pure. There was no mistaking the sincerity in his voice, either.
"Zieghart."
"So? What will you do?"
"We'll do it your way."
"Chelli! You've made the right choice!"
Zieghart broke into a bright smile, overjoyed like a child handed the toy he'd always wanted.
"Bring me the potion once it's ready. I'll take care of everything after that."
I nodded without a word.
We returned to the banquet hall together, where I crossed paths with Lunaelin. Her expression was the same as ever.
"Chelli."
Hwarin came up to me.
"What were you and Zieghart talking about? Two losers at love commiserating with each other? Or did sparks suddenly start flying between you two?"
Same old Hwarin. And somehow, I couldn't bring myself to laugh. It should have been just a throwaway joke — so why did I feel as if she'd seen straight through what had just happened? I fobbed her off with the usual nothing's-wrong, then cut across the banquet hall toward somewhere I could brew the potion.
'...I did agree to this, didn't I?'
Did Master truly feel nothing at all for Ardel? That was what he'd told Zieghart. The entire hero's party had heard him say it. A person's heart is theirs alone to know. And yet — sometimes, even they don't know their own.
'...No more hesitating.'
The one flaw in Zieghart's plan was Ardel. He had to know it himself. And knowing it, he had deliberately kept it from me — because Ardel was someone he absolutely needed, because she had to stay alive. But for me? No. Ardel had to die. Only then would Master be likely to accept my proposal to run away, with no lingering regrets holding him back.
'...I'm sorry, Ardel.'
Carniel's trial was over. It hadn't even taken half a day.
'...That mage bastard.'
Magellini — a man the world had once hailed as a genius mage. I had summoned him in the belief that, overshadowed by Carniel, he must be consumed by jealousy and nursing ill will toward the man... and yet in the end, though he did excise Carniel's Mana Nervous System, he had taken Carniel's side until the very last. Because a Tower Master must remain neutral? Or out of some solidarity among mages? I couldn't say for certain. And so I attached the knights I trusted to the proceedings as enforcers, and ordered them to escort Carniel alongside Magellini.
"Why is the Knight Commander here? Did I not command you to remain at Ardel's side and protect her yourself?!"
Ardel. A flower of sweet fragrance. A treasure whose mere sight sets my heart at ease. My very own... graced with the lips of a benevolent goddess...
"I am going to see Ardel."
"Your Majesty. I understand your concern for Her Highness's wellbeing, but there is a matter that must be dealt with first."
"What matter could possibly outrank a father going to see his daughter?!"
"An urgent messenger has only just arrived, Your Majesty."
"It will keep."
"Your Majesty, still—"
"Enough!! How many times must I repeat myself before you understand? I am going to see Ardel."
"...As you command. I shall escort you there personally."
I had wanted to go alone, but there was no shaking him off. Left with no other choice, I made my way to Ardel's chamber with the Knight Commander at my heels.
"...What in the world is this?"
Ardel was gone. The flower I had planted in my own garden had vanished.
"Find out where Ardel has gone. Now!"
News that a two-horned demon had descended alongside the Red Comet. News that one of my kingdom's cities had been wiped from the map entirely. That was the report the Knight Commander delivered to me on the way to Ardel's chamber. To think my people would have to live in fear of the demons' invasion once more... my spirits sank, and my heart grew heavy. And yet no news in the world could ache quite as much as the simple fact that Ardel was not in her room.