By Zephyria 
Ruben was pacing round and round the room by himself.
The hazy sunlight, flickering beyond the window, cast deep shadows across the child’s distinct features. The thin shirt he wore to move with ease revealed his form with every shimmer of light. The boy’s sturdy yet agile build was comparable to that of a well-trained white horse.
When had he grown into such a complete man? Standing close, he seemed so young and fragile, but seen from afar, there was no one more robust and noble. It was almost wondrous to watch him like this, separated from me and observed from a distance.
If he looks this fine to my eyes, how must he appear to others?
When the child goes to the capital…
He stopped his futile thoughts and placed the tray on the table. Ruben, who had been practicing breathing carefully in a proper posture even though he knew I had entered, finally stopped. Looking at me, his face broke into a bright smile, devoid of any trace of worry.
“How was it?”
“I told you not to walk alone when I’m not here.”
“Still, it’s a bit better than yesterday.”
“Yes.”
Ruben, with a faint smile, sat in the chair I pulled out for him. Until yesterday, Ruben had eaten meals sitting on the bed, but as soon as he was well enough not to hunch his shoulders even when sitting in a chair, he demanded to eat at the table. There were occasional moments where he paused in pain while lifting his arm or laughing, but they were brief.
“But what if you fall and get hurt? So from now on…”
“Yes, I understand. Mika, cut this for me.”
“…Yes.”
While he could hold himself up, Ruben’s grip strength had not yet fully returned. I cut the food he liked into appropriate sizes so he could eat it with just a fork, without needing other utensils, and served him.
When I picked up a piece of meat and brought it to his lips, he smiled faintly and accepted it obediently.
Seeing him like this makes me constantly forget that the child has grown up. It’s truly hard to believe that this boy, who blinks so gracefully, smiles shyly, and pouts his lips adorably, is the same person as me.
“After you finish your meal… I will give you a massage.”
“Mmm. Your shoulders?”
“Yes.”
Fortunately, my consistent training allowed me to quickly pinpoint Ruben’s sore spots. Knowing Ruben would be poring over documents and contemplating for two hours in the afternoon, I had to relieve the tension in his shoulders beforehand.
Speaking of which… when and how should I say it?
I’d need at least a bouquet of flowers. Given Bivan’s harsh weather, I wasn’t sure if I could find good flowers. Still, it’s the capital of a kingdom, so if I look, I should be able to find some…
It’s something I must do with sincerity, so I’m reluctant to ask the other children to run errands. I don’t want to be separated from Ruben, but I have the desire to buy flowers myself, so I don’t know what to do.
At the very least, before we go to Cambio, I must tell him that I covet his position as my lover.
“…What are you thinking about, Mika?”
“Nothing in particular.”
Ruben looked at me curiously, so I waved my hand dismissively and continued eating.
I was troubled by various things.
❖ ❖ ❖
Tuesday of the third week of March.
Ranunculus arrived from Yulan.
Previously, Marianne had asked Ruben to send Ranunculus to Yulan. This was to investigate the functions of the magic potion that the Bivan Royal Family had distributed to the kingdom’s citizens, and to see if Black Magic was involved.
Mage Johnson, a Black Magic major dispatched to investigate the Golden Turtle, gladly accepted the additional task. The Ranunculus he sent had been surprisingly large and loud from the start, so Ruben decided to wait until the mages arrived to hear it together.
As soon as Marianne’s party returned from their excursion, they were summoned and brought into Ruben’s room.
Therefore, what follows is something I am hearing for the first time as well.
“Your Highness, the esteemed and beloved Second Prince. I cannot express enough my surprise and admiration that this beautiful reagent has succeeded in clinical trials universally. This is truly irrefutable proof of divine providence. We mixed Mandragora, Mobegita, Ruege Rose, and Elatoma in a 3.2.1.1 ratio, and it produced a general medicine, not a potent poison! It’s unbelievable! I could live seventy more years just by drinking this every day!”
“Mandragora? Mobegita?”
“Elatoma was included? Here?”
Marianne slammed her hand on the table, and Boulder clenched his fists like a child, pressing them to his chest and trembling.
The teapots and cups rattled from the force. I used Telekinesis to pull them closer, preventing them from breaking. Seeing this, Knight Bailey Barton handed me a cup. I chuckled and poured tea into his cup. The other knights remained calm and polite, but their eyes were strangely vacant, contrasting with the two mages.
“The remaining 3 is not much different from other healing potions, but the poisonous herbs used in the combination and the spell formulas themselves are indeed rooted in Black Magic! So, there are four spell formulas I can discern, and especially Ravils Morbido…”
We listened to a suspicious lecture for about twenty minutes.
When Ranunculus finished speaking, Marianne and Boulder began a heated discussion.
As Marianne and Boulder scribbled various spell formulas and equations in their notebooks, Ruben began playing with my hand. He squeezed my middle finger, then my ring finger. Then, interlocking our fingers, he leaned his chin on my shoulder.
Is he bored?
I drew a doodle on Ruben’s palm.
“How long?”
When I asked how much longer it would take, Ruben wrote a number on my palm.
“7”
7 minutes? I wrote a number back on Ruben’s hand.
“15”
The child bit his lower lip. He seemed amused. He playfully raised the number again.
“20”
“30”
“Too long”
“22”
And exactly 21 minutes later, Marianne reached out her hand and gulped down the cold tea. Was the cup in her hand a wine glass? She slammed it down with a tang, looking amusing. Mage Boulder followed suit. Old and young, they clapped their hands together in the air and then firmly clasped and shook them.
Marianne turned to us with sparkling eyes. A bright smile bloomed on her face.
“Ah, now I get it. That potion was acting as a control rod. No wonder those who utilize low Mana could see this and still function normally without going mad. They were essentially force-feeding them double the hallucinogens!”
“Hmm.”
Hallucinogens?
Ruben, who had regained his proper posture, asked with a gentle expression.
“Does this potion have anything to do with the magic circle that formed the mist?”
“Yes! Even if the seal is broken, I don’t think we’ll see the kingdom’s citizens wiped out! The potion has a mark for failed sacrifices. Well, if the kingdom’s citizens disappear, would the King remain a king or a beggar? They seem to have taken some care to only target black sheep and goats with the influence of Aries Dolo.”
“Is it harmless to drink multiple bottles?”
Mage Boulder answered that.
“Originally, the addictive effect should be incredibly strong… but they managed to remove it. We’re not sure how they did it, but for now, it’s not harmful to the human body. Among the herbs mentioned earlier, Elatoma is a forbidden drug with strong hallucinogenic and toxic properties. It’s a phantom herb that can’t be seen or heard of south of the Yuil Mountains. The mere fact that it exists now should warrant seven academic papers.”
“For now?”
“Well, there’s a 9% unconfirmed component that’s a bit concerning… but for now. And since it hasn’t been more than 5 years since they consumed the potion, we should expect long-term side effects! Alchemy and magic often change drastically with even a 0.1% difference, don’t they? And Ruege Rose too.”
Ruben raised one hand to stop Mage Boulder, who was excitedly about to continue talking. After a moment of thought, he asked something else.
“What are your thoughts on the possibility that all the kingdom’s citizens of Bivan have consumed this potion?”
“Very high. The kingdom’s citizens we saw in the areas we passed through showed no outward abnormalities, and the village chief we visited earlier mentioned that people were fine, but animals were giving birth to many offspring, didn’t he? Aries Dolo is a territorial magic, and it seems people were spared from that curse for a reason! They were targeting only black sheep and goats from the start, weren’t they? Yes.”
That was a relief, at least. We didn’t know what the King of Bivan wanted or why he had spread Black Magic on his land, but we were grateful that people wouldn’t die in droves when we took action.
Ruben’s gaze returned to Marianne.
“You still don’t know what the magic circle in the capital is for?”
“Umm… that… yes. Informants have given us some information… but a magic circle that is periodically moved and reinstalled? I’ve never heard of such a thing. I don’t know what they’re moving, why they’re moving it, or how it’s possible… but they were traveling by opening dimensional gates. So, we can only speculate that they are constantly exchanging something…”
“There is?”
“There’s only one magic circle that can be strengthened using Aries Dolo. And it has to be a permanent one. Like maintaining the Seal of the Lake, or… casting a curse on a specific bloodline for generations. They shouldn’t be moving back and forth like this.”
What reason would the King of Bivan have to cast a curse?
Marianne added, as if joking.
“There are rumors that the King of Bivan stole someone else’s woman, so I thought maybe it was a personal matter. But I don’t understand what kind of maintenance is needed for a wish that has already been granted. This doesn’t seem right either.”
“Already granted?”
“They got married, didn’t they? To the woman he had loved for a long time. What on earth…”
The Queen of Bivan, who sat dressed in mourning attire, did not look cheerful by any means. Even without the talent to see through a veil, if someone was mourning a death… the target was obvious.
What joy could a woman who had lost two husbands in succession find?
Their love story was also quite famous. I had heard about them at Owen’s auction house. I remembered listening intently because it was about a diamond I intended to give Ruben as a gift. Without much thought, I mentioned the name.
“Anante’s Diamond…?”
“Yes?”
“Well, didn’t I see a national treasure of the Bivan Royal Family at Owen’s auction? I think the former Queen herself brought the diamond to Owen then… It’s not related, I just thought of it.”
“Yes?”
Boulder’s eyes widened. He slammed the table like Marianne, but with much less force, so the table barely shook.
“Why are you so surprised?”
“No, An, Anante’s Diamond, where is it now?”
“Well… I saw it at the auction, so someone must have bought it.”
“Why! Why! Why is it not when I’m looking!”
What was the point of questioning me? While I was bewildered, Marianne also looked at Boulder with confusion. Pulling his sleeve as he stood up abruptly, the child asked.
“What is it?”
“No, has that generation already passed? It’s the ‘core’! The eternal core!”
“…Core?”
What was that now?
Was it time to doodle on Ruben’s hand again?