Chapter 20
“Hm?”
Distracted by his muscles, I hadn’t quite caught what he said and asked him to repeat himself. Alferen deftly changed the subject.
“By the way, have you had any lingering effects since that incident?”
“Oh, I’m fine. No real issues, except that I can’t remember much from back then.”
My memories had been hazy ever since I met Alferen in his study.
Bits and pieces of his face floated to mind, suggesting he’d stayed by my side the whole time.
“Really? That’s a relief.”
“Thanks. I feel like I just caused trouble by tagging along.”
“No, I’m the one who should be sorry.”
“Oh, come on. I heard it was just a rookie’s mistake. You didn’t scold them too harshly, did you?”
After a long pause, Alferen spoke.
“…I just gave them a slight warning.”
He seemed to avoid my gaze, but it wasn’t my place to meddle in the affairs of the Mage Tower.
“Oh, speaking of which, how’s that flowerpot doing?”
“Flowerpot?”
Alferen looked puzzled, and I realized my mistake.
Eden had reacted so seriously at the time that I assumed it was something important. Had I been wrong?
Feeling like I’d unnecessarily brought up my own blunder, I rambled on.
“Well, that day in your study, I touched a flowerpot…”
Alferen waited silently for me to continue.
His steady gaze made it impossible to hold back.
“You know, the one with the dead sapling by the windowsill. I touched it without thinking.”
As I described the flowerpot, a crack seemed to form in Alferen’s composure.
“You don’t mean the white flowerpot, do you?”
“Yes, that’s the one. …But really, nothing happened. I swear.”
His increasingly serious expression drew an instinctive defense from me.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Alferen asked for my patience and gently took my hand.
A soft shimmer of his pure white mana rippled around my hand, likely a spell to check if anything was wrong with me.
After a moment, he let out a sigh of relief and released me.
“Next time, try not to touch anything in my study. Most things there are part of experiments and could be dangerous.”
He didn’t skip the lecture, his tone unusually stern.
Feeling guilty, I launched into excuses.
“I’m sorry. I was too careless in an empty study. Honestly, I was shocked when the sapling suddenly turned green. I swear I only touched it for a second, but if I messed something up, I’ll make it right…”
“The sapling turned green? What do you mean?”
Alferen’s face registered shock again.
It was less intimidating than before, but I still felt oddly cornered.
“…What? Eden didn’t report anything? I assumed you knew.”
The conversation kept veering off track.
Alferen mumbled, his expression troubled.
“To be honest, I haven’t been to the Mage Tower much since that day.”
“What? Don’t you practically live there? Did something happen?”
“Just… a bit.”
“A bit?”
“It felt empty.”
Alferen averted his gaze, covering his mouth.
His slightly flushed ears suggested embarrassment.
Why would a place he practically lived in suddenly feel empty?
Pondering this, I belatedly realized why Alferen had been avoiding the Mage Tower.
“Wow, even you have days when you don’t feel like going to work.”
To be fair, being relentlessly dedicated to work did make him seem a bit less human.
Possessing both intellect and beauty was his fate as a secondary male lead, but with the heroine yet to appear, there was no need to overdo it.
“Right. You’ve got to rest sometimes. We’re all just trying to get by. You can be pretty human too, huh?”
In the original story, Alferen channeled his pain into work, often driving the Mage Tower’s wizards to their wits’ end.
Part of why Adrian was the main male lead came down to their contrasting personalities.
Unlike the outgoing Adrian, Alferen was intensely introverted.
Shuttling between the Mage Tower and his estate, he was free of scandals.
“There’s no better husband material than a homebody.”
The problem was that homebodies rarely ventured out, so they were often alone.
Thankfully, Summer was outgoing, but I still felt uneasy.
I grabbed Alferen’s shoulders and said,
“Listen, if you ever fall for someone, you’ve got to hang around them as much as possible. Sitting at home daydreaming won’t win them over.”
“Just hang around them?”
“Of course not. You’ve got to talk to them sometimes. Give them little gifts, you know? Maybe suggest a trip to some scenic spot nearby.”
Did I really have to spell out every single detail? Still, I poured my heart into the advice.
“And make a habit of showing up at parties and such. You’re about to break off your engagement, so you’ll need to start looking for someone new.”
“Hmm. I’m not exactly in a rush to find someone.”
The spark of interest that had briefly flickered in Alferen’s eyes faded, as if his soul had left the building.
He seemed perfectly content with his routine of shuttling between home, the mage tower, and the occasional visit to our place.
I sighed. “Come on, don’t just keep coming to our house. Don’t you have any friends besides Adrian?”
“Nope.”
Right. Of course.
His painfully honest response left me speechless.
‘This guy isn’t going to end up growing old alone, is he?’
Maybe I was worrying too much.
After all, Alferen was one of the most eligible bachelors this season.
Plus, he was Summer’s first love.
‘They’re destined to reunite dramatically at a party anyway, so I’m probably fretting over nothing.’
With my own life in disarray, I didn’t need to meddle in Alferen’s love life too.
What I was far more curious about was the news that could lay the foundation for my golden future.
My eyes gleamed as I asked, “So, when are they approving the annulment?”
At the mention of the annulment, faint creases formed between Alferen’s brows.
Judging by his expression, things weren’t progressing as smoothly as hoped.
As expected, Nanael wasn’t the type to let an engagement dissolve without a fight.
From the way she’d growled at me earlier, she seemed pretty petty too.
If things dragged on like this, there might still be no progress by the time Summer arrived in the capital.
Recalling the frustrating tangles of the original story, I prodded Alferen.
“You’ve got to take some initiative too.”
“I’m already planning to seek an audience with His Majesty soon.”
“Good call.”
When underlings dawdled, the fastest way to get things done was to go straight to the top.
A moment later, Alferen asked, “So, nothing happened at the social gathering today? It was hosted by Consort Rosaria, right? And I heard Princess Nanael was there too.”
“Oh, Princess Nanael made sure I had a grand time.”
“She did?”
Alferen’s face was one of disbelief, and I rubbed my stomach like a satisfied predator.
“Thanks to her, I got to stuff myself with desserts.”
I was about to add that watching Nanael’s sour expression was an added bonus to an already delightful day when—
“…What, she forced you to eat them?”
Was it just me, or did Alferen sound a little angry?
Caught off guard by his reaction, I added defensively, “Well, sort of, but it worked out in my favor, so it’s fine. I’ve been eating like a bird to prepare for my debutante.”
“As if you have any weight to lose.”
“Exactly! My chaperone seems determined to turn every lady into a mannequin. Honestly, this whole culture of tailoring people to fit clothes is beyond me.”
As I grumbled, Alferen let out a soft chuckle.
“Sounds like Princess Nanael got a taste of her own medicine.”
“Damn right. I don’t just sit back and take it!”
I shrugged my shoulders with a smug grin, and Alferen burst into laughter.
The atmosphere grew relaxed, and my tongue loosened naturally.
“But honestly, the gathering itself was painfully dull. Especially after the Consort showed up—it felt like we were all being paraded in some daughter-in-law pageant.”
“Daughter-in-law? For Prince Cesare, you mean?”
“Yup, exactly. She straight-up asked me if I’d consider meeting her son.”
“…She what?”
I didn’t notice the crack forming in Alferen’s expression as I eagerly vented about the Consort.
“And when she subtly threw shade at my brother, I had to fight every urge to flip the table. Honestly, some people have no respect for other people’s families.”
My indignation from earlier flared up again, my voice rising with passion.
Then, out of nowhere, a loud crack echoed as the wood beneath Alferen’s seat splintered.
