As we stepped out of the director’s office, Axel spoke.
“You’re going to try to persuade him?”
“Do you think you can manage it?”
“I can’t promise success, but we have grown somewhat close, so maybe? I’ll hear him out first and try from there.”
After a brief pause, he said simply:
“I’ll go with you.”
I stopped walking and turned to look at him. Something surprised showed on my face.
“You? Your Highness?”
“Is that a problem?”
“Well — no, not exactly…”
I trailed off, uncertain. His accompanying me hadn’t been part of my plan.
I glanced at him carefully and ventured:
“Edwin isn’t particularly fond of Your Highness… I was worried it might affect things, when we go to persuade him.”
Edwin had always had a particular aversion to Axel. That hadn’t changed over time. Even now, whenever they came face to face, he bristled like a wild cat with its fur raised.
If Axel came with me, there was no doubt Edwin would have something unpleasant to say.
When I gave the reason, Axel’s jaw set and he fell quiet. I added quickly:
“I — I’ll come back as fast as I can, Your Highness! Please stay here and play with the children.”
I got the words out quickly to preempt any argument, and walked away from him at a brisk pace. Fortunately, he didn’t follow.
Following the path I now knew well, I found Edwin sitting alone beneath a large weeping willow in the distance.
As I drew closer, he sensed the approach and looked up.
“…What do you want.”
“Hello, Edwin.”
He closed the book he’d been reading, brow furrowed faintly, and looked at me. I smiled and greeted him.
“Why are you here?”
“What do you mean, why? Is a reason required?”
We had spent enough time together that the initial sharpness had softened somewhat — but the prickliness was still there.
He pulled a face at my breezy reply.
“Last time you looked half-dead.”
“Last time? Oh…”
I realized which last time he meant.
When the misunderstanding with Axel had spiraled out of control, something of it had apparently shown on my face. Edwin had caught it with uncanny precision. I had been trying so hard to keep my expression neutral — but there was no slipping past those sharp eyes.
A moment later, Edwin seemed to put something together, because his expression tightened.
“You’re not back with that man again.”
“…Really? You’re seeing him again? Do you even think before you act?”
Edwin tossed the book aside entirely and launched into a tirade.
“I told you, that man is the worst. How can you have such poor taste? And weren’t you two done? Why are you going back?”
Edwin believed Axel and I were in a relationship.
If I told him we weren’t officially together, he would probably get even more worked up about it — so I had let it go uncorrected.
Should I have been honest from the start…?
Watching his reaction now, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret.
For the moment, I reached over and ruffled Edwin’s hair thoroughly to calm him down.
“Were you just worried about me?”
“What? Who’s worried about who—!”
He went red and denied it loudly, but I could read the concern underneath.
“I said the same thing before — nothing happened, I promise. It was all a misunderstanding. You don’t need to worry. Edwin, I mean it.”
“…You’re lying. Like I’m going to believe that.”
“But it’s true. Won’t you believe me…?”
I looked at him steadily, and he gave me the look of someone tolerating a very difficult child.
I took that as my cue and changed the subject — letting my eyes go wide as though just remembering.
“Oh, right. Congratulations, Edwin!”
“I heard from the director. You’ve manifested magical ability! And a remarkable amount of it, apparently — does this mean Edwin is going to become a mage?”
But the new topic seemed to do the opposite of what I wanted. Edwin’s face went still, then slowly hardened. The look in his eyes sharpened. This was not a good sign.
“…You came here to talk about that. I already told the director — I’m not going.”
With the keen instincts of a sharp-eyed cat, he had seen through me immediately. The coolness in his tone made his resolve unmistakable.
Persuasion is not going to be easy.
“If you’re done, you can leave.”
“Wait, Edwin — just a moment!”
I caught his wrist as he moved to stand. His cold gaze turned toward me. I asked carefully:
“…Would you be willing to tell me why you don’t want to go?”
A brief silence.
“…There’s no reason. I just don’t want to. That’s it. I have no interest in magic — it’s more trouble than it’s worth. You can ask as many times as you want. I’m not going.”
“You’re lying.”
“Don’t lie, Edwin. If you truly hated magic, you wouldn’t have been reading that book just now.”
The book he had been reading was on magical theory. Someone who had no interest in magic simply would not be reading it.
The realization seemed to land a beat late — he made a flustered attempt to hide the book, but it was too late.
“I don’t understand why you’re hiding behind a lie when it comes to what you really want. Edwin — if you genuinely don’t want to go, you don’t have to. I mean that. No one is going to force you. But is that really how you feel? Looking at you now, I don’t think it is.”
“Why don’t you want to go? Will you tell me? I want to hear it from you. Edwin.”
I held his hand firmly and spoke with full sincerity. His eyes, when they met mine, trembled faintly in the air between us.
Edwin bowed his head as though working through something immense — and at last, a small sound escaped him.
“…If I want to learn magic, I have to leave this place. I don’t want that. And magic is expensive to study. It’s not the kind of money an orphanage can easily bear. I don’t want the other children to be affected because of me.”
He looked away as he said it. The hand I was holding trembled slightly, as though he were nervous.
Edwin already knew that I was the orphanage’s patron.
And yet here he was, citing the cost as a reason to refuse.
…This is because of me.
He thought his choices would put a burden on me.
He was afraid that I — who was already supporting the orphanage — would be asked to do more. And he was worried that if he accepted help, it might somehow come at a cost to the other children.
I had been quiet for a long moment, and it seemed to be making him anxious, because he glanced at me and continued.
“And mages are so rare that the field is full of frauds. There are plenty of people who call themselves mages and take money for lectures that aren’t worth a thing. I’m not going to learn from cheats like that. So I’m not going.”
What Edwin said to persuade me against it had the opposite effect entirely.
If anything, it made me more determined. There was no way I was going to let a reason like that bury his talent.
“Edwin — you are going to learn magic.”
“What? Didn’t you just hear me? I’m not learning from second-rate people.”
He said it as though he was certain I wouldn’t be able to find anyone better — and on that count, he was completely wrong.
“There is someone. Edwin.”
“What someone?”
“A mage from the Mage Tower — and not a second-rate one.”
At the words Mage Tower, Edwin’s eyes went round. The Mage Tower was a place only those with exceptional gifts could enter. His reaction was completely understandable.
I lifted my chin with confidence and met his gaze.
“If it’s a mage from the Mage Tower — will you learn?”
Noxie.
If it was him, teaching Edwin would not be beyond him. His ability was flawless — I had seen it with my own eyes, standing right beside him. He could handle Edwin.
