Chapter 12

They were talking about Euphil.

They even mentioned that he was put on probation because of making a commotion even though he is only ten years old.

‘He’s on probation? Then, he is locked in the palace now?’

It’s been at least two months since I’ve started looking around for Euphil. I was a little depressed that he may not like me anymore, but I didn’t want to give up.

But now I know that he is on probation.

‘I should have gone to him! No, I didn’t go because I can’t!’

The reason that I didn’t look in the palace was simple. I don’t know the path to the palace.

When I requested Orjet to put me onto the path to the palace, Orjet suddenly ran away saying that she had something to do.

‘That’s it, damn it.’

No wonder my heart was throbbing.

I was living well like this but Euphil could not go outside.

I felt very strange for some reason.

What am I supposed to do?

I have been trying to find him. I need to talk to him face-to-face since I have something to say.

He helped me but now he was trapped, and it’s weighing on my mind a lot. 

‘Right now!’

I remember the look on his face as he was shouting and punishing Ante. He looked at me with regretful eyes, and in that moment I had thought that he must have made up his mind about something.

I didn’t know that something was his determination.

No, more importantly, why on earth is the prince punished for punishing a maid?

Although it was not written in the book, even I doubt that Euphil was the black sheep of the family.

Hence…

Today I finally decided to go see Euphil in his palace. Surely Valk would be able to take me there.

Starting from a few days ago, I’ve been following Valk and staring at him without saying anything. I just said nothing and smiled whenever we made eye contact.

Even though I was still young, I could still find out the guards’ schedule.

Valk had to walk fast because of my chasing, and he was scolded by the maids for the delayed work. 

But he could not help it. I just looked at Valk with a smiling face until he gave in to my begging for him to help me.

At that time, I laughed in my mind and thought:

‘I win.’

“Let’s go Valgu!”

“Yeah, yeah… Ah, seriously. If Orjet finds out, I will be in trouble.”

“So you don’t want to go?”

“No, no.”

Valk met me in the back of the large garden today and was looking around. It was in the same corner where I met Allenan.

He shook his head and looked around again before he gathered me up in his arms.

“When the princess saved my life, I pledged allegiance to the princess. You may request whatever you want from me.”

Yes, that’s the way it should be.

It did not matter to me that he could not sleep well because of he was agonizing over his late response.

Hm, Hm.

‘First things first, I have to find where Euphil is.’

I didn’t know the way because I was always carried there while sleeping. But even if I did know the way, I would not be able to go alone. I didn’t know how far it is.

‘It’s like a car.’

Valk walked cautiously while holding me in his arms. I felt like I was riding in a luxury vehicle as I grasped his arms.

Blink. Smile.

It’s my trump card. If I smile with twisting hair with fingers, Valk will smile back without realizing it.

It seemed like he noticed and regretted smiling soon after.

“You’ve told me to wait for you since you’d like to go around alone. Will you really be okay?”

“Yes! I’m going to find Euvil!”

“Alright then.”

I was carefully observing the path Valk took.

It was as I expected. 

The way to Euphil’s palace was too long for me to walk alone. Above all, the path was difficult for me to memorize. So I easily gave up the idea of coming here alone. Maybe Valk will take me to the palace from now on.

Or perhaps Euphil could come to my palace.

We crossed over a rose fence and headed to Euphil’s palace. The palace we arrived at had a very wide entrance. As I looked at his grand palace in comparison to my own small one, my jaw dropped.

“Would you like to get off?”

Valk asked and I answered awkwardly.

“No… Just take me to Euvil’s room…..”

Valk laughed as expected, and headed there while holding me in his arms. But instead of just going inside, he went a different direction.

“Valgu, where are you going?”

“If you want to see the prince, it’s better this way than going through the door.”

Valk looked so confident. Soon after I found out he was right.

We arrived at the window of the Euphil’s room.

The window was so low that I could even look inside.

* * *

[The prince moved his body like a small weapon. When the little boy’s blond hair shifted in the breeze, tinged with the red residue, it felt as though the air were trembling instead of the sword teacher who was not prepared for him.

The movements were close to a masterpiece. It seemed like the very technique was developed for him. It was as if he painted a map of the empire with his footwork.

Alone in solitude, a ten years old child was left to ponder over a probation period of two months.

The first thing that came to mind was the face of the king, the father, and the purple eyes of the little child.

When the child faced him, the cold eyes the king displayed reminded the child that he was abandoned. The child thought that maybe he was considered a hateful existence to the king.

But…

Now he remembered a more vivid face when he closed his eyes. A face like the statue of an angel.

The girl was smiling. As it was, he never cried before. And yet he felt like he was missing something when he remembered how the girl caught him with her dusty hands.

The prince often turned off the candle in the room and fell into the darkness. It was something that he had become used to.]

* * *

There was a shout of concentration outside the palace.

When I was looking through the window, I could make out the figure of Euphil who was training from the inside. The lights were out.

But I approximately knew the structure of the room because I was in it several times.

Although I could not find the way to it in the palace, I can recognize one large room.

No matter how spacious the room is. A prison is still a prison, no matter how wide that prison may be.

‘Not letting him out of there… he’s just a ten-year-old child!’

I almost said out loud how crazy it was. Probably I would have if Valk wasn’t here. He was watching over me due to my request.

I put my face over the window sill. Not knowing I was there, Euphi looked serious. He moved with his eyes closed. His blond hair seemed to be dampened with sweat.

‘He’s working so hard…’

He resembled a lonely water fairy. His movements were extraordinary, and I looked at him with my mouth agape.

Observing him like this, it was evident that he was a handsome young man.

Shining blonde hair and ruby eyes.

His eyes, which seemed a bit sharp, looked brutal when he was angry, but when he was focused on something they looked rather striking.

‘Let’s say hello.’

I looked at him for a long time before finally I started to speak, standing on tiptoes.

“Once upon a time, there was a water fairy.”

Euphil stopped.

The wooden sword in the darkness also stopped in the air. His ruby eyes opened wide as if he could not believe his ears.

In the moment that he turned his head toward the sound and found me outside the window, I continued.

“The water fairy had a golden apple tree.”

He stepped towards me with his eyes wide open. We faced each other from across the window.

Ruby eyes fixed upon me, looked nowhere else but at me, and watched me in a daze.

I said.

“However, the king who offered gold to obtain the apples could not have the golden apple. And the knight who said he would protect the fairy could not have the golden apple either.”

I smiled at him. His pale cheeks moved.

Now his face seemed to be alive.

It was the fairy tale he and I knew.

The tale of the water fairy comes to my mind whenever I thought about Euphil. So I wanted to tell him the story.

“However, one day a beggar boy asked the fairy of the water.”

“Mirthy.”

I had been concerned about how he was doing. But as I looked at his face, I felt better, so I cupped my chin with my hands and laughed.

One day, he told me he had already heard this story before. Even so, he was listening until I finished the fairy tale. His presence comforted me throughout reading this fairy tale.

“When the king who had abandoned the fairy called it worthless, the beggar boy said to the fairy of the water.

‘What is your name? Let’s be friends.’

This fairy tale was one of the fairy tales often told to young children.

Although Ante would never tell me a fairy tale, I had already read this fairy tale in my previous life before I was reincarnated into this novel.

I’ve liked this fairy tale since then. But I never thought I’d be telling it like this.

I smiled beautifully, allowing it to spread over my poker face.

In the fairy tale, the fairy replied to the boy.

“The fairy smiled and told the boy, ‘My name is the golden apple.’”

The reason the fairy has not exchanged the golden apple for gold or protection was because the golden apple was the fairy itself. So the fairy gave itself, the golden apple, to the boy who wanted to be its friend.

According to the ending, like a normal fairy tale, the boy and the fairy were said to have been happy together for a long time.

“I am Mirthy.”

I probably won’t be able to obtain that same happy ending with Euphil since I have to run away eventually, but I still wanted to ask.

“During the past two months, did you think about me? Why did you help me after you told me to go away? Did you know that I am alright now?

And most of all, I missed you.

Oh fairy of the water, fairy of the water. What is your name? Mirthy wants to be friends with you.”

So I asked the name of the water fairy, Euphil.

Rattle.

“…Euphil Raize.”

I smiled.

“Hehe….. hehehe…. I finally found Euvil.”

His twinkling eyes were unchanged even though two months had passed.

Ruby red. I smiled because I liked the color.

And Euphil looked at my face for a long time.