Adrian, who had gone rigid at the word prince, flinched and stumbled backward the moment his eyes met the stranger’s.
A man with black hair and violet eyes smiled pleasantly and offered a greeting.
“Hello.”
His smile was warm, but his eyes were dark and deep — so dark that it was impossible to find where they ended.
The man surveyed the room with the leisurely air of someone who had simply stepped out for a stroll. He ran his fingers slowly along the furniture, trailed his hand across the sofa, and paused here and there to peer thoughtfully at the floor.
At some point he seemed to find something amusing, because a quiet, self-satisfied smirk crossed his face.
He was suspicious in every possible way.
“Y-you… who are you. How dare you — do you have any idea where you are…? This is outrageous!”
“Hm. Our little prince speaks rather curtly, doesn’t he?”
The man, who had already grown bored with his inspection of the room, turned and furrowed his brow.
“I can’t stand insolent children.”
“…S-save me! Is anyone out there!”
Adrian’s nerve broke. He called out desperately toward the door — but no answer came.
The man settled into the sofa as though it were his own and shook his head.
“It’s no use. No sound will reach outside. I arranged that in advance.”
“…!”
“Mm. As I thought.”
The man studied Adrian with folded arms, then said lightly:
“The dark magic is half broken. …And I had put such genuine effort into casting it.”
“…You. Could it be.”
The terror that had seized Adrian flickered sharply into something else as he caught the man’s murmured words.
He had said his own carefully cast dark magic.
Which meant—
“Are you… the one who placed that dark magic on me…?”
“Correct.”
“…!”
Adrian rushed toward the man.
The sudden, drastic change in the false crown prince’s manner made the man’s expression turn curious.
“…Please, I need — I need your help. At this rate, everyone is going to find out that I’m not truly of the imperial bloodline. You won’t escape unscathed either if this comes to light…? We’re on the same side. Aren’t we?”
“…The same side?”
The man blinked, momentarily blank — and then burst out laughing. He clutched his stomach, threw his head back, and laughed for a long while before finally dabbing at the corners of his eyes and composing himself.
“You’re right. We are on the same side.”
The colour returned to Adrian’s face, where he had been standing on the verge of tears.
The man rose from his seat.
“I have always wanted our little prince to prosper. And in the end… I hope you claim the Declair imperial house entirely for yourself.”
“…!”
“Sincerely.”
Adrian’s ice-blue eyes trembled.
Because those were the very words he had longed so desperately to hear.
And the problem that even his most trusted Karla had seemed unable to resolve — this man, standing right before him, looked as though he could solve it as easily as breathing.
And this man was saying, sincerely, that he wanted Adrian to thrive.
“But… I still haven’t been able to recover my staff. I lost it somewhere and I haven’t been able to find it.”
“…A staff?”
“Yes. If only I could get my hands on it… the dark magic would never break for the rest of your life. That’s the part that’s a bit unfortunate.”
For the rest of your life.
Adrian latched onto those words, and his mouth fell open.
“What does the staff look like? Where is it?”
“It was so long ago that my memory is hazy…. I assumed it would be somewhere inside the imperial palace, but it vanished without a trace. …There’s no one who should have been able to touch that object.”
“….”
“But our little prince can enter any part of the imperial palace, can’t he? So perhaps you could look a bit more thoroughly, here and there?”
The man smiled pleasantly.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Adrian nodded, as if in a trance.
If he could only find the staff this man spoke of, he would never have to spend another day living in fear of being exposed as a false imperial.
The man’s voice took on a tone of gentle regret.
“If our little prince could just bring it to me…, I can make you a promise. I will let you live as who you wish to be, for the rest of your life.”
“….”
“Shall we make a deal?”
There was nothing left to deliberate.
“Yes.”
“Good. Then this is my gift to you — a token to mark the sealing of our arrangement.”
The man smiled pleasantly and held up a shard of broken glass.
In the fragment’s reflection, Adrian’s face was that of a perfect member of the imperial family.
“…H-how did you—”
“It’s considerably more powerful than the previous dark magic, so there are some side effects — but our little prince seems to be in rather a desperate situation.”
“….”
“Then I’ll see you again.”
The man swept past Adrian.
“Wait. What are the side effects? And your name — what is your—!”
But the man had already vanished completely.
Adrian felt as though he had been bewitched by a spirit.
He was half convinced that what had just happened was a dream.
But the reflection staring back at him from the glass told him it was real.
“The staff…. If I can only find it… if I can only find it.”
Adrian murmured vacantly to himself.
But where? And how was he supposed to find it?
He sprang to his feet and strode out of the room.
The maids and knights standing guard outside flinched in surprise.
Despite everything that had transpired inside — all that commotion — they had not heard a single thing.
That was a relief, if nothing else.
If they had heard and come rushing in, he never would have been able to meet the man.
“Where is my mother right now? Tell her I need to see her immediately.”
⁂
Meanwhile, on the other side of the palace, Riersha had nearly finished her breakfast at the Emperor’s invitation — and was beginning to feel the tension ease from her shoulders.
This was because, contrary to Pernoa’s warnings, there had been nothing particularly troubling in their conversation so far.
Apart from Calius’s occasional questions made out of polite courtesy, the atmosphere around the breakfast table had been entirely peaceful.
The questions had been of this sort:
“Was the meal to your liking?”
“Yesh, it waz sooo delishious.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I’ll have to reward the head chef.”
Simple, weightless things, carrying no hidden meaning.
And so Riersha had, without quite realising it, broken into a bright, unguarded smile and speared a strawberry with her fork, dropping it whole into her mouth.
The juice burst across her tongue, filling her mouth with a sweet, fragrant sweetness. The Emperor, who had been watching her quietly, gave a small, involuntary smile.
“You eat with great enthusiasm.”
“….”
“Riersha does indeed resemble the Young Marchioness quite strikingly. Don’t you agree, Young Marquess?”
But when the Young Marchioness was mentioned without warning, Riersha faltered.
Pernoa, who had been quietly sipping his tea, paused mid-motion and fixed his gaze on Calius.
Riersha’s hand moved instinctively to set down her fork.
Just then, Isierd spoke from beside her, his tone utterly unbothered.
“Finish what you were eating.”
“…Hm?”
“Here — have this too.”
Isierd casually offered her his own portion of dessert.
Calius watched the exchange and let out a quiet breath through his nose.
He had read the dynamic between the two children long before the meal was over.
Within the House of Arachrene, the two of them had apparently grown quite close.
There was not a trace of the cold distance Isierd had displayed at yesterday’s meal with the Empress and crown prince.
No matter how well young Riersha might try to pretend otherwise, she could not deceive Calius’s eyes.
Calius spoke at an unhurried pace.
“Riersha has grown into quite a remarkable young lady.”
“…Pardon?”
“The theatrical production that caused such a stir in the capital — word reached Us as well. The details were conveyed to Us in some measure. We found it rather interesting.”
Riersha drew in a slow, deep breath as she felt the Emperor’s full attention settle upon her.
She had assumed the post-meal conversation would be directed at Pernoa…
Pernoa, who had returned to quietly nursing his tea, watched Calius with a steady, measuring gaze.
With breakfast concluded, it seemed the Emperor was ready to raise the matter he had truly come to discuss.
Calius laughed softly — as if to say there was no need to be afraid.
But somehow, that very composure made Riersha’s nerves pull even tighter.
“Was the purpose of that performance, from the very beginning, to draw Us onto the floor of the tribunal? To displace Duke Kineart and secure Isierd’s position once and for all?”
Calius’s sharp gaze had, at some point, come to rest directly on Riersha.
When did he start looking at me like that?
Riersha curled her fingers slowly in her lap.
Then again — perhaps from the very start, it had always been Riersha that the Emperor’s attention was fixed upon.
The corner of Calius’s mouth curved upward in a slow, deliberate arc.
“You succeeded brilliantly. And for that, We found ourselves genuinely intrigued — for the first time in quite a long while.”
