CH 26

This was what the letter said.

「 There was a mage in Ronen¹ 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. 」

Until Alei came, the resident mage of the Ronen Castle was Yenit.

And Alei actually got into contact with Yenit and found his memories in Ronen.

So, that person was the one who had the biggest chance in helping to recover Alei’s memories. But the problem was that she couldn’t ask for help from him right away.

She was in Ladeen right now, but he was in the faraway Ronen Castle.

So, she needed Ian’s shipwreck.

No matter how hard it was to wrench a mage from their residence, if their master had drifted to another country and was in critical condition, the mage would have no choice but to come.

The letter that Ophelia had written roughly went like this:

「 The Grand Duke of Ronen had been caught in a shipwreck and is currently in critical condition. Please send a mage for his treatment. 」

‘I hope that person comes as soon as possible.’

Ophelia picked up the letter, read it again once, then folded it into an envelope. She put a stamp on it and sealed it.

Then, when she turned around, she saw the fastest carrier pigeons in the world feasting on human food.

“Ophelia! This is so yummy!”

“What’s this called? Fig? Can you give me more of this?”

The young sirens, whose cheeks were covered with jam and cream, piped up.

Ophelia picked up the plate of fig pie near her and put it in front of them.

No, she pretended to put it in front of them.

Then the sirens, who tried to rush to the plate, quickly turned and growled as she took the plate back. But as usual, Ophelia was determined.

“You have to keep your promise, siren.”

“Uuugh, can’t I eat that first and then do it?”

“No. But I’ll give you two slices when you get back.”

“Okay!”

Dillo, the youngest of the three siren brothers, jumped to his feet and snatched Ophelia’s letter from her hand.

“I’ll be back! Give me those two slices later!”

“What the—Dillo! How can you do that! I want to go, too! Give me two slices, too!”

“Me too!”

The siren brothers fought amongst themselves, but they decided to leave altogether and left through the window without even waiting for Ophelia’s answer.

Without even taking the time to wipe off the jam and cream on their cheeks.

The person who’ll receive the letter might wonder if the birds had rolled around a snack plate.

As Ophelia thought about it in a lighthearted manner like that, she turned around.

And there, Sante appeared before her. He had been hiding from the eyes of the young sirens.

“You’re very good at handling sirens, Ophelia.”

“You’re here, so there’s at least one siren I’m having trouble handling.”

Sante’s eyes glimmered strangely at Ophelia’s indifferently thrown words, but she didn’t notice this because she had already turned around.

Sante approached Ophelia, who put on a cloak in front of a full-body mirror. He touched the hood of it as he spoke.

“Really though, I was surprised. I didn’t know you could find me this fast.”

“I didn’t find you. You came out on your own.”

As Ophelia corrected Sante’s words, she put on the hood of the cloak.

When she left behind Ian in the morning, Sante had come to the empty room as if it were his own home, sitting leisurely on the couch.

Fortunately, this time the window did not break as he entered.

When Ophelia asked Sante about it, he said he flew in without knowing the terrain of the place. This time, he knew that there was a window, so he didn’t have to barge into it again.

Recalling how disconcerted she was at the time, Ophelia looked at Sante through his reflection in the mirror and berated him.

“Next time, don’t come into a room when there’s no one inside. What if someone else comes?”

“Then can I come when you’re here?”

This time, Ophelia turned around and made direct eye contact with him.

The determined gaze she had was the same as when she proposed a contract with him, and the snake-like eyes of Sante looked back at her.

She was definitely scolding him, but Sante liked how she looked at him right now, with that pointed gaze of hers.

If he said this aloud, then the scolding wouldn’t stop at just a pointed gaze.

It was like she was showing her talons even though she didn’t have any.

Did she know that her azure eyes were terribly fascinating?

It didn’t seem like she did, so Sante wanted to see for himself if those eyes of hers would always have the same biting look.

However, Ophelia was a quick-witted woman.

If she dragged it on this time, she’d only be caught up as his entertainment.

Sante stepped away, his eyebrows furrowing as he spoke.

“…Rather than the presence or absence of someone inside, the point is not to come in. I know.”

“…Good. At least you know.”

Ophelia finally released her gaze on him at his surrender.

As she turned her eyes back on the mirror, she braided her hair and continued to speak.

“I was going to ask you to contact me first before you come, but now that I think of it, there’s a better way for you to contact me first.”

“There’s no other way. I don’t know about other punks, but with me, you can just wave a feather. But I wonder, you’ll be conscious of that, right?”

“Yes, that’s true. It’ll be difficult for me if other people notice, so just come when I call you.”

“I’ll try.”

One of Ophelia’s eyebrows was raised once more at the ambiguous answer, but Sante continued speaking without a care.

“Anyway, since I already have the privilege to be here, I’m surprised that you need my help and not Dian’s.”

“Ah, that part.”

“I don’t know what kind of relationship you two have, but Dian would be more cooperative and efficient than me, no?”

Instead of denying this, Ophelia adjusted the cloak’s hood and tightened the string.

“That’s true. But this is something that Alei can’t help with.”

“So it’s a problem that I can help with but not Dian. What else are you going to make me do?”

“It’s not much.”

Ophelia turned around, the cloak fluttering as she moved. Thanks to this, because Sante was standing right behind her, she almost fell awkwardly into his embrace.

However, as though Sante was the only one who cared about that moment of contact, Ophelia took a few steps away and asked him nonchalantly.

“Have you found the youngest mermaid?”

Then, Sante’s expression instantly showed interest.

“…You’re not satisfied with just calling me, so it’s even a mermaid this time?”

“I have to meet her. I know where she is, but she’s incredibly wary around humans. She’ll hide the moment I get a little close.”

“Now I know.”

As Sante approached Ophelia, he smiled in vain.

As the distance between them narrowed, Ophelia gradually looked up.

Because Sante’s back was to the light seeping through the window, she was soon engulfed beneath his shadow.

“You, a human who doesn’t fear me, is using me and not your fellow humans just to meet the youngest mermaid.”

Sante’s large frame looked threatening, especially because of the shadow that he made, but Ophelia calmly answered him.

“You said you’d help me.”

“I did. But I didn’t know you’d be this troublesome.”

The youngest mermaid was someone who’s already not close to the other mermaids.

It would be a bother if the mermaid king finds out that he would approach the youngest mermaid.

But on the other hand, this also seemed fun.

Sante considered his options.

Originally, he came to Ophelia for a reason.

Of course, his goal right now was to show off that he did a good job.

‘And I want to see what Dian has to do with this female human.’

The Alei he knew was someone who would never be attached to someone.

Although kindness had become a habit of his ever since he became the lord of the magic tower, he was still very unsociable.

So at first, Sante thought that Alei and Ophelia would have a business-like relationship.

This was also because Ophelia spoke in a voice so devoid of emotion whenever she spoke about Alei.

However, during his last conversation with Ophelia—when he noticed that Alei was hesitating at the door—Sante came to the conclusion that… this situation might be a little different from what he first thought.

That’s why he showed up just to take a look.

‘This method doesn’t seem to be that bad either.’

Perhaps, it might even turn out to be quite a lot of fun.

t/n:

¹ in chapter 13, it’s said that the mage will be at Ladeen, but in this chapter, the letter says that the mage was in Ronen instead. i’ve double and triple checked the original text, but it’s really written that way. a simple error on the author’s part? or do we have a case of an unreliable narrator? hmm…