CH 13

Recognizing the ring, Ophelia asked Alei.

“Didn’t you take this ring yesterday?”

“That’s right.”

“You told me I won’t need the ring to increase in mana affinity, so you took it back.”

But why was he giving it back after just a day?

Understanding what she meant, Alei raised one eyebrow. He picked up the ring from the desk, then approached Ophelia behind the desk where she sat. He knelt and asked for her hand.

Ophelia reached out and offered her hand, in the same way that she did the other day.

With a hand that was bigger than Ophelia’s, his hand touched hers while a voice twice as low as hers flowed between them.

“I removed the spell that was on it before and replaced it with a new one. If you wear this, you’ll be able to accept other people’s mana without much resistance.

“How did you do it?”

“Mana resistance is usually caused by two opposing forces.”

Alei then explained that each living being had a certain mana on their own, which constantly circulated in their own body.

“If it can’t be solved with your own mana, then what I did was to prevent it from flowing so that it won’t clash with other people’s mana.”

Simply put, he had blocked all the mana flowing through Ophelia’s body.

Alei placed the ring on her finger once more, and it shrank to fit her instantly.

Just as it was before, it was exactly the right fit.

“But this is a temporary measure. If your mana is blocked for too long, it will cause problems, so remove it before you sleep.”

“Didn’t you say someone who can’t use magic has no way to remove a magic tool on their own?”

“Usually, yes, but since your situation is unique, I tweaked it a bit.”

Alei let go of Ophelia’s hand and raised his body to stand up. Their eyes met.

“Only you or I can take this ring off, so you don’t have to worry.”

His nonchalant way of speaking was relaxed as usual, but she felt that he took careful measures in ensuring that the ring would be improved.

There was a rare smile on Ophelia’s lips as she looked at the ring on her hand.

“You must have been exhausted yesterday. When did you do this?”

Did he even sleep well? She felt worried for him for a moment, but she didn’t voice this question.

“Thank you for your efforts and for your concern.”

What she had to express here was not her worries, but her gratitude.

Alei smiled when he heard her say thank you. The sight of his golden eyes curling up was nice, but it was quite surprising for Ophelia to see a hint of uncharacteristic meekness from him. He usually kept an expression that made it seem like he was carved from marble.

The man, who was smiling like an early spring morning, answered in a gentle voice.

“It’s nothing.”

Ophelia suddenly thought that his face seemed to be a little red.

* * *

In the past, although Ophelia and Alei weren’t particularly close, it didn’t mean that they had very little personal interactions.

If Ophelia had someone she could possibly call a ‘friend’, then it would be Alei.

She didn’t know what Alei thought of her back then, but because she had no place in the Ronan Castle, she certainly thought of him in that way.

Nevertheless, there was a reason why the relationship between them ended in a strained manner.

The first reason was due to her closing the door that Ian had once opened.

The second reason was that Ophelia wasn’t used to leaning on others.

These first two reasons could be attributed to Ophelia herself, that these were her fault. But the third reason wasn’t hers to shoulder.

It was due to the truth that she found out about by chance.

The servants of the Ronen Castle didn’t know why Ophelia and Ian were on bad terms.

As they saw it, Ian ignored and stayed away from Ophelia even as she desperately clung onto him. The servants just laughed and talked about it whenever they saw this sight.

They had no idea about the departed Little Mermaid who left a mermaid scale. It was something that only Ian and Ophelia knew.

In the first place, the existence of mermaids wasn’t widely known, and even if Ian said that he married the wrong person, there was no way for him to say who his savior truly was.

That’s why everyone just assumed that Ian got sick of Ophelia quickly. No one knew why he treated her so coldly.

Of course, Ophelia believed that Alei had no idea either.

Until she found a letter in Alei’s room.

And the sender was Ariel.

* * *

It was a coincidence that she found the letter. She never thought that there would be one in between the pages of a book that she decided to read while waiting for Alei.

Even while knowing that she shouldn’t read it, her trembling hand unfolded the letter.

The parchment, written with the name that she had already forgotten, was layered with preservation magic. Apart from the triangular mark on the edge of the letter, it was clean and crisp as though it had been written only a day ago.

Ophelia’s eyes gravitated to that name at once.

Ariel.

Her handwriting was cursive.

「 Did the bird properly deliver this letter? This will probably serve as my last testament, so I hope its beak was dry. 」

Perhaps the triangular mark on the otherwise clean letter was from the bird’s beak.

That sentence was the most lighthearted in the letter.

Below were words that described the circumstances surrounding Ariel that Ophelia was unaware of.

「 It’s his wedding tomorrow. It’s been less than a week since you gave me legs, and that’s how long I’ve known his name, but I’ll be dead tomorrow at dawn. Ian loves another woman. 」

At this point, the letter became disheveled. A few drops of splattered ink could also be seen. Some of them might have been because of tears.

「 I know I shouldn’t do this, but I keep having bad thoughts. What if I hadn’t run away from the people who came that day? What if I met Ian a little earlier? What would have happened if she wasn’t there? Truthfully, I saw her from a distance, and at first glance, I knew that she was Ian’s bride. She has red hair just like me. Only then did I understand why you told me not to even think about her… 」

Ariel said she was lucky to have seen Ophelia only from afar. If Ariel had seen Ophelia at a close distance and saw more similarities between them, she might not have been able to put up with her any longer.

「 I even gave up my voice so I could be with him, but our time was short. I’ve never felt this way before. Is this what sadness feels like—the sadness that my older sisters tell me about? My cheeks keep getting soaked as I think about tomorrow. They told me that if I continued to wallow in my sadness, I would become one with the ocean. What would that feel like? I was curious about the experiences of others who became one with the ocean, but… I think I know now. I’m sure they were very sad as well. 」

Ophelia didn’t know how many times she lost her breath in the short span of time that she read the letter.

Maybe this was how Pandora felt after she was told not to open the box. She had a peaceful life until she chose to open it.

Ophelia felt like she was living a nightmare. She felt a visceral fear for the first time.

It felt like she was sitting face to face with the monster under her bed, and now it was talking to her.

「 …I received the blade that you sent to my sisters. I cut my hair because all of my sisters cut their hair short as well. I at least wanted to leave a memento for them, but I guess it has been a habit of mine since long ago to copy them. 」

She wished she hadn’t read the letter. She wished she didn’t know that Ariel died.

But Ophelia had already reached the end.

「 Alei, I’m sorry you had to make such futile deals with a mermaid like me. But how can I stab Ian? If I had to stab someone, then… 」

After that, the ink had been smudged so she couldn’t read it. This was a small reprieve.

「 I’m sorry for such a long letter. I wanted to write to someone before I died. Just in time, my bird came across a piece of information that you might like to hear. There was a mage in Ladeen who left the tower more than five years ago. If you won’t hear from the people I’ve informed beforehand, then you should go to that person, too. 」

I hope you can get your memories back.

After reading that sentence, the door creaked open.

“…Ophelia.”

And when she looked up, Alei was there, stunned, flustered.