Chapter 85

At that moment, new characters entered through the window.

This time, Noah caught them and looked at the words floating in his palm, then quietly handed them to Claudia.

"Lord Adelheit"

The message, written in Karlheinz's handwriting, read, "We are moving to the preparation stage."

"…Shall we go? Thank you for the meaningful conversation, Stuart."

"Lord Adelheit!! …Please, don't go…"

Noah's sword, which had been quietly lowered, stopped Stuart from reaching out.

Claudia turned to Stuart and smiled, saying,

"Rest assured. I will keep my promise to be your model for the painting."

"That's not all I want…!! You believed me. You listened to the words of someone like me!! I want to be by your side too…"

"……"

It was Noah, not Claudia, who cast a spell to put Stuart to sleep.

He grabbed Stuart's neck, which had drooped, and laid him down on the bed.

Despite his frowning face, Noah's action of not leaving Stuart on the floor was typical of him.

"Stuart hasn't been able to sleep well for a long time. Thanks to the sleep spell, he's been sleeping soundly since last night, and today he looks much better."

"The health of such a person is none of my concern. …Let's go."

"First to my room. Once you return to your child form, I'll talk to you a bit more until the preparations are complete."

Noah bowed his head, took Claudia's hand respectfully, and activated the teleportation spell.

＊＊＊

Five hundred years ago, one of Adelheit's disciples was named Sievel, who met Adelheit when he was a boy.

He was two years younger than Adelheit and was sixteen years old when he died.

The reason Sievel was taken in was that, despite being of royal blood, he was persecuted.

The cause was the unusual color of his eyes, which changed from blue to red.

"My mother kept me locked in the castle all the time."

When they first met, the ten-year-old Sievel, who was crying, confided in the twelve-year-old Adelheit.

"I once said I wanted to go outside, and she told me there was a scary disease out there. But it was a lie; she just wanted to hide me."

Sievel, who had grown his bangs to cover his eyes, still looked down.

"After my mother died, my father, whom I met for the first time, said that it was a mistake for a prince with such disgusting eyes to be born."

Adelheit, who had squatted in front of Sievel, spoke in a gentle voice.

"Sievel, will you not reject me?"

"…Of course not!! Lord Adelheit, you took me out of that dark room…"

"Thank you. …Look closely. My eyes also change color depending on the light."

Sievel, who hesitantly raised his face, became fixated on Adelheit's smiling eyes.

"…It's true."

Then, he whispered as if he couldn't help it.

"Lord Adelheit's eyes are so beautiful…"

"Hehe. So are yours."

Adelheit reached out and combed Sievel's silky bangs with her fingers.

The exposed eyes were beautiful, changing from the blue of lapis lazuli to the red of ruby.

"Colors that look like the dawn and the sunset. Eyes of the end and the beginning."

"…The end and the beginning…"

"Please don't hate your beautiful eyes so much. …If your father denies them, I will affirm them just as much."

Then, she stood up, looked down at Sievel, and said,

"Sievel, you haven't done anything wrong."

"……"

Sievel burst into tears.

He cried and cried, and after he stopped, he never cried in front of anyone again.

He carried many books in his thin arms, forgot day and night, and continued to study magic.

"Lord Adelheit, I've learned a new spell! Wait for me, I'll become stronger than Rinaldo soon!"

"I won't eat until I master this theory. …Ah, Lord Adelheit's dinner? Ugh, that's…"

"Look, it's a new barrier spell! If I perfect this spell, I might bring results that will please the gentle Lord Adelheit!"

Whenever she thought of Sievel, only the image of him diligently studying magic or trying to be by Adelheit's side came to mind.

＊＊＊

"From the beginning, the candidates for the master of the curse were either Stuart or Lewis."

Claudia, who had returned to her child form, sat in a chair in the guest room and told Noah this.

"Did you think so because only royal women were put to sleep?"

"Yes, at this point, it must be someone related to the Klingenheit royal family. Moreover, a lot of magic power is needed to activate the cursed magical item."

The king of this country is not particularly strong in magic power. His son, Stuart, is more proficient in magic.

"In that case, the candidates are naturally narrowed down."

"Of course, there could be other royal family members with a lot of magic power. However, since no other person is mentioned in the context of comparing Stuart and Lewis…"

"At least, there is no one with as much magic power as Lewis."

It's very helpful that the conversation is progressing so quickly. Claudia swung her legs gently and continued her explanation.

"When I saw Lewis's eyes, I thought it was highly likely that he was related to Sievel. —Since the color of the eyes reflects the nature of magic, it is entirely possible for traits inherited from ancestors to manifest, just as Noah's eyes are the same as Rinaldo's."

What is different from five hundred years ago is that unusual eyes are not shunned.

This is a positive development, but what Claudia was concerned about was not that.

"However, if Lewis is a descendant of Sievel, something is wrong."

"Wrong?"

Claudia nodded at Noah's repetition.

"He shouldn't be a child of Sievel's blood."

"…But, wasn't Sievel's magic mixed in the curse?"

Claudia leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes.

"Lewis was apparently locked in the castle by his mother and told that he would get sick if he went outside. When I mentioned that I dislike vegetables, he laughed as if it was a matter of course, saying, 'I had that feeling.'"

"…"

"The tower where the princesses slept was protected by a very powerful barrier. I needed time to detect it, so I asked Noah to get the materials for the search."

"Materials…"

Noah, who seemed to have realized, let out a small breath.

"The barrier spell I had Lewis cast during our duel, right?"

"Yes. After the duel, I analyzed the nature of the magic by touching Noah."

Claudia slowly opened her eyes.

A message from Karlheinz had just entered the room.

"It seems the preparations are ready. Let's teleport."

"…Yes."

Claudia got up from the chair and was carried by Noah.

As they were enveloped in the light of teleportation, Claudia's thoughts drifted back to five hundred years ago.

"Sievel, you haven't done anything wrong."

These were the words Adelheit had told Sievel back then.

And the words Claudia told Lewis were exactly the same.

"Lewis, you haven't done anything wrong."

Then, Lewis said,

"…A long time ago, there was only one person who told me, 'You haven't done anything wrong.'"

When she blinked, she found herself in a silver courtyard surrounded by ice and snow.

Karlheinz was standing beside a table that hadn't been there before. He bowed to Claudia and stepped aside to make way.

"I have kept you waiting, Princess."

"Thank you for preparing the tea, Karlheinz."

Noah draped a coat he had created with magic over Claudia's shoulders as she stepped into the snow. Claudia put on the coat and smiled.

"…And thank you for your hospitality, Lord Lewis."

"Claudia."

At the table, Lewis was smiling.

"Your invitation is delightful. And to be able to enter my brother's garden is a great honor."

"Hehe, I'm glad you're happy!"

After smiling back, she told Karlheinz,

"Karlheinz, please stay outside. I'll leave that to you."

"…Understood. Noah."

"Yes, I'll protect the princess."

Karlheinz nodded and bowed to Lewis.

After looking at Claudia one more time, he disappeared by teleportation.

Only Claudia, Noah, and Lewis remained in the snowy and icy garden.

Despite the situation, Lewis was looking at Claudia with a happy expression.

"The atmosphere is different somehow? You seem more mature and mysterious, and such a Claudia is also very attractive."

"Is that so? You don't have to try so hard; you can act like you used to."

At these words, Lewis narrowed his eyes, but Noah looked puzzled.

"‘Like you used to’…?"

"Then, he suddenly widened his eyes in realization."

"Surely. When you said, 'Lewis is not a descendant of Sievel,' did you mean…"

"He is not a descendant. However, it is natural that Sievel's magic is included in the curse."

Claudia walked to the table, crunching the snow under her feet.

"Because he is the person himself. He has been alive for over five hundred years and is here now."

Taking Noah's hand, Claudia turned to Lewis.

"Lewis, or Sievel. —Which name should I call you by?"