CH 17

“Licht. What about the theory class?”

“Life is all about the real battle.”

…I’m in a bad mood already, though?

I protested, glaring at Licht with disbelief.

“Mir said that if I have a solid foundation, I can do well in combat.”

“So watch and learn.”

…This crazy cat.

Licht created a large fireball with his fingertips as if he was teasing me. It was one of the attack magic.

I opened my eyes wide to what happened in an instant, without a chant or a magic circle.

“What? How did you do it?”

“I’m going to show you one more time, so focus on the flow of magic you feel in me.”

…I’m hopeless. It’s hard to learn magic properly from him.

I didn’t miss the sad feeling I had from the first day.

Licht, who created the fireball without any theoretical explanation, gave a glance as if he were asking me to follow along.

Eventually, I closed my eyes and began to focus on the different energy I felt in my body.

While a little over a month had passed, my mana that had been given to Licht was almost completely restored.

However, it was unreasonable to create a fireball at once from the beginning.

Licht, who didn’t hide his disappointed look, sighed openly.

“I thought you were a genius, but I don’t think you are.”

I muttered as I looked at the mana that had been extinguished powerlessly without even taking the form of a flame.

“I want to see Mir.”

“…What?”

Licht’s face, who was increasing the number of fireballs from one to two to three, hardened.

“Say it again.”

“Rather than Licht, Mir is moreㅡ”

“You like that brat better than me?”

…No, I meant to say that Mir conducts the class meticulously. Is it because of his mood that he looks more angry than he did during the bear incident?

My pupils were shaking at Licht’s voice, which had become faint, and I struggled to carry out my argument with a confident voice.

“Yeni hates a careless teacher.”

When I inflated my cheeks a bit, I felt an absurd gaze.

Licht, who was smirking, lightly flicked my forehead with his index finger.

“Anyhow, you’re cunning.”

“Ah! It hurtsh!” (Ah! It hurts!)

Even though my pronunciation was crushed as I chewed my tongue, Licht was confident.

“I hit you because it hurts.”

As Licht waved his hand in the air, the hot fireballs surrounding us disappeared in an instant.

“So, I have to tell you the theory properly first?”

I nodded quickly as I grumbled and rubbed my stinging forehead with my hand.

“Yesh. Slowly from the beginning.”

“Then the tuition will be twice as expensive.”

When was it free? My face was contorted by itself due to the whimsical behavior of the cat.

He knelt on one knee on the floor of the gym and smiled as he folded the corners of his eyes.

“Follow me.”

“…?”

“‘I like Licht a lot more than a brat like Mirㅡ’”

“A brat like Mir…”

I kept my mouth shut as I was at a loss for words at the harsh remarks towards Mir. Noticing the fierce conflict inside of me, Licht started to sugarcoat once again.

“Just do that and I’ll teach you everything you want as you wish.”

“…Really?”

“Really.”

…Mir, I’m sorry.

With my eyes closed, I followed Licht’s words with a mournful voice.

***

Fortunately or unfortunately, Licht was quite good at teaching theory.

My feeling, which was worried that the theory class would be like a practical class, melted away in an instant.

‘So this is how it’s supposed to be replaced.’

Thanks to this, I was able to learn more about the blockage whenever I moved my mana by myself.

Licht, who was pointing out the contents of the book on the basics of formula calculations, suddenly opened his mouth.

“Do you know that, Yernian?”

“Huh?”

“A magician’s hair will have the same color as the mana they’re born with, regardless of heredity.”

Ah, come to think of it.

I wondered why the hair colors of the four Persian brothers, who were believed to have come from the same boat, were all different.

Licht, who had his chin on the simple table prepared by a servant, curled his lips.

“But you have the same hair color as your eyes.”

“…”

While I was pondering the new fact I just realized again, Licht’s eyes deepened.

“Which of the two do you resemble?”

After a moment’s pause, I remembered my mother’s slender silhouette I saw in the sanctuary on the night of prophecy.

[Only you who must survive, Yernian.]

I quickly turned around, clenching my fists under the table at the voice that made my heart cool.

“Who does Licht look like?”

“My face is my father’s, my personality is my mother’s… is what Mir said.”

As far as I know, the former head of squadron of the Myo Clan was Licht’s mother. And his father, who was the national secretary…

‘It was said that he died shortly before Askari was born due to an incurable disease that gradually paralyzed his body.’

The head of the squadron also passed away shortly after giving birth to Askari.

There were rumors that it was because of the shock of the death of the beloved national secretary, but there were also rumors that it was a murder.

‘It must have been very difficult.’

I looked up at Licht solemnly.

“Why are your eyes open like that?”

“…”

I take it back that I felt sorry for you.

Licht, who raised the corner of his lips, reached out his hand and stroked my hair, which grew thicker day by day.

“Aren’t you curious about your parents’ faces?”

“I’m not curious.”

“Why?”

“…If I saw them, it’d make me sad.”

Licht’s eyes widened slightly, as if in surprise, at the hesitant answer.

We stared at each other for a while without saying a word.

The class ended that day in such an awkward silence.

“Memorize all the magic circle formulas in this book by next week.”

“… All of this?”

“If you memorize it well, I’ll give you a reward.”

Rewards and punishments seemed to be the natural tendency of Licht.

I nodded my head to understand, and led my tired body to the bedroom.

Licht couldn’t resist Mir’s cries of, “Your Majesty!” and disappeared into the office.

With Alice’s help, I changed into the pajamas provided in the dressing room, and darkness fell all over the place.

“Then, Princess, have a nice dream today.”

Alice kissed my forehead and disappeared beyond the bedroom.

I buried my face in the soft-smelling blanket, and then I woke up with a groan.

It was because of one small change in my daily life recently.

‘Has he been there today?’

I gave strength to the hand that grabbed the doorknob of the terrace, with a feeling of hope or anxiety.

Then, on the table, a small gift left by the night visitor caught my eye.

I looked down at a single dark pink rose with a distressed look.

‘It’s already been a month.’

To be precise, after the day Askari disappeared after making a mess in my room, unfamiliar things began to be placed on the terrace.

At first, I was shivering because there were things like cockroaches and dead mice with their bodies cut in half.

At some point, it began to turn into other useless things.

‘Is it a flower today?’

The culprit who brought these things every day was obvious.

If he’s sorry that he made the room that way, he should just apologize neatly.

Next time I see him, should I tell him that I don’t need this anymore?

It was time to pick up a fragrant rose with intense thought.

“Yernian.”

My head swung round at the familiar voice I heard from behind my back.

“Noha?”

Noha, who hadn’t appeared for a while after the appointment was delayed, was standing on the railing of the terrace.

“What are you doing here at this hour?”

Noha, who didn’t get off the railing, said with dreamy blinking eyes.

“I think today is a good day to keep my promise.”

Under the faint moonlight, Noha’s face was gleaming with strange joy.

A small, white hand reached out in front of me.

“Give me your hand for a second.”

Suddenly, as soon as I grabbed Noha’s hand, my body floated in the air.

“…!”

The lost rose fell to the floor of the terrace.

I barely grabbed the railing and gave me strength so that my body, which had lost gravity, wouldn’t be dragged.

“Where are you going?”

Noha, holding my wrist tightly, whispered softly.

“Don’t you want to know?”

The secret of the Myo World.

At those words, the power drained from my hand that had been holding on to the railing.

It’s the secret of the Myo World. Maybe it has something to do with cracks?

I asked with a trembling voice, calming my beating heart.

“…What ish the secret of the Myo World?” (…What is the secret of the Myo World?)

“You’ll know it when you go there and see. Promise me, I’ll never put you in danger.”

The deep indigo eyes looked at me as if they were piercing me. At the same time, I could feel the soft grass under my feet.

We moved lower to avoid the eyes of the guards patrolling the inside of the palace.

Noha’s destination was a small forest that was close to the main palace and could only be seen from afar.

I hesitated at the entrance to the forest, unable to set foot, so Noha looked back at me with a puzzled expression.

“What’s the matter?”

“…I was wondering if it’s okay to go in.”

Somehow, I was also concerned that I left the bedroom at will without telling Licht.

Noha, who blinked for a moment, stared somewhere in the forest and licked his lips.

“There is nowhere here that we, the royalty, can’t go. Except for one place.”

Only one place?

Curious at Noha’s words, I swallowed my saliva.

“Where is that?”

“…The basement of the main palace. Only the chief, Brother Licht, can enter there.”

I followed Noha into the forest and entered information related to the basement of the main palace in my head. The forest with tall trees was full of the refreshing scent of grass, resembling Licht.

With each step following Noha, the grass tickled my ankles.

My heart was pounding at the small deviation I saw for the first time in my life.

When I was worried for a moment that I might be going too deep, Noha, who had been walking without a word, finally stopped.

“You’re the second person I’ve brought here.”

Second? Blinking at the meaningful words, I cleared the old vines with one hand.

I looked at the world spread out beyond the vines, lost for words.

“…Whoa. What ish that?” (…Whoa. What is that?)

Unlike the dark forest, small yellow spheres were floating like dots over the wide lake as if the bright moonlight had stagnated.

Noha approached me, said in a smiling voice.

“They’re fireflies. We can only see them occasionally during this time.”

“Fireflies.”

As I quietly recited the name of the first creature I had ever seen in my life, I looked back at Noha with a smile.

“It’s just as pretty as a star.”

I’ve never actually seen a star, but I’ve seen it in pictures in a book. The fireflies were shining beautifully like the stars in the book.

Noha’s eyes trembled slightly as he watched the feast of fireflies with me.

His head slowly turned toward me.

“…Me too.”

“…?”

“I think so too.”

Saying that, Noha’s smiling face was as beautiful as an elaborate painting. As he reached out toward the lake shore, a few fireflies began to roam around us.

“This is a place I found while searching for stars when I was younger than I am now.”

Then wasn’t it when he was quite a baby…?

Noha was smaller in size than his younger brother Askari and so neutral that gender distinction wasn’t easy.

“At that time, I thought those fireflies were stars.”

Stars. At Noha’s words, my face hardened as I unintentionally raised my head to check the night sky.

‘…There isn’t any.’

The stars, the moon, even the clouds. An empty, empty sky filled with utter darkness caught my eye.

‘Why didn’t I know until now?’

To be precise, I was too busy focusing on survival, so I didn’t have time to look closely at the night sky.

Noha’s calm gaze touched my face, confused by the absence of things I thought would have been there.

As I looked up at the night sky with trembling eyes, I clenched my fists and licked my heavy lips.