By Zephyria 
We entered Yulan’s palace at an odd hour, neither mealtime nor teatime.
Both the First Princess and the Second Prince were waiting for us in the reception room. As we were led to our seats, we offered a simple bow instead of the courtesies due to merchants. A girl, showing an inexplicable air of anxiety, abruptly stood up, returned our bow, and spoke.
“This must be the Second Prince… and the person next to him is perhaps…”
“I am Ivan Bikoff, and this is Sienna Bikoff.”
“Ah. Ah… Unofficial. Yes, I understand. This is the first time I’ve met a merchant who holds their head so high, but there’s always a first time for everything. Please, sit down.”
Ruben cut her off decisively. The Princess, unconcerned, gestured for them to sit.
Anabella Sendo Yulan, the First Princess of Yulan, and Gerald Sendo Yulan, the Second Prince, both had cheerful dispositions. Their eyes and mouths were large and striking, and their skin was tanned as if from the sun. Their hair and eye color, like that of their younger siblings, was a bright platinum blonde.
Looking at their friendly expressions and demeanor, one could understand why their half-siblings so readily followed their older siblings. I remained silent and quietly observed my surroundings, lest I be a hindrance to Ruben.
However, the moment the Princess spoke again, I could not help but look at her.
“You’ve come to catch a black magician, haven’t you?”
“….”
Ruben showed no change in his expression. The Second Prince sitting beside him looked extremely pale. Both the Princess and the Prince looked at Ruben with desperate eyes. The First Princess bit her lip repeatedly before speaking as if pouring out her words.
“I have that much of an information network too. I heard that the Sierran Empire has declared war on black magicians. What other reason could there be for the Prince to enter Yulan without filing an entry report? It’s already a headache for us, so if you’re going to take them, please take them quickly.”
“We are not trying to catch all black magicians.”
“I know. I know that too. You brought up the divine object, didn’t you?”
“….”
“That, ha… It’s because of that right now…”
The First Princess swept her loose hair back and blew her bangs away with a puff of breath. It was surprising to see a young lady raised in such privilege exhibit such rough actions and demeanor. After a long moment of picking at her hair, the First Princess blurted out,
“I’m going to tell you something embarrassing, strange, funny, and twisted. Please pretend the Prince, who visited unofficially, didn’t hear it. Ivan Bikoff? I hope that person has integrity too.”
“Yes.”
“Elijah Merlin Yulan, our youngest, doesn’t seem human. My mother gave birth to a monster.”
The story traced back to a long time ago.
Anabella and Gerald’s father was a cheerful and healthy handsome man, popular since his youth. With his excellent horsemanship, sleek physique, and eloquent speech, he captivated Yulan’s current King, and they were quite a loving couple. That is, until they were separated by a tragic accident.
The King of Yulan could not leave the position of consort vacant and immediately found another man. The second son of the Marquis Murray family was handsome and beautiful, but he often said foolish things that seemed to upset the current King.
“No, but still, there are limits. My mother said she wasn’t satisfied with just him, and that she wanted to invite his friend over for the three of them. That crazy bastard.”
“….”
“He was handsome, though. I saw his face a couple of times. I just thought he was my new father’s friend and greeted him. But I never imagined that bastard would completely bewitch my mother.”
Is the marriage of royalty always this tumultuous?
Ruben managed to ask, his voice heavy.
“…How does that relate to our youngest being a monster?”
“That friend, it seems, was a black magician. He completely bewitched my mother and then left. Now I’m struggling to clean up the mess with policies and such, but every time the divine object is used… Ah. I heard our foolish pretty ones already mentioned the divine object. Is that right?”
“…Yes.”
“Every time the divine object is used, our youngest melts away.”
What? I couldn’t respond in surprise. The First Princess’s eyes welled up with tears. The Second Prince sighed, handed his sister a handkerchief, and took care of her. The Princess wiped her tears and blew her nose loudly. The end of her voice, thick with tears, trembled.
“Honestly, I’m going crazy. He was fine until he was two, so I just thought of him as a new little brother and raised him well. I didn’t care if he was a black magician or if my mother had an affair or whatever. I didn’t care. But…”
“…Sister.”
Whether to stop her or comfort her, the Second Prince called out to her in a low voice, but the First Princess, without even looking back, poured out her words.
“My mother wasted the national treasury collecting jewels and strange beasts, wanting to meet another man. My new father says he never did such a thing and doesn’t remember it. And our youngest… our youngest… even though he was born a monster, he’s still a child… a child.”
“….”
“Yulan’s divine object serves to pacify the spirits of the Indus Bay. They say the sea calms down if you sing it a lullaby once a day. But… but this isn’t right.”
“….”
“If you don’t play the flute, ships capsize and people die. If you play the flute, our youngest cries hysterically. He can talk now. He says if he’s in pain, he’ll cry ‘ouch’ and come running. I wish I could just sell him off somewhere. I wish he wasn’t in front of my eyes.”
“….”
“I was so driven mad that I even thought of killing him. But I can’t. He’s my brother, even if only half. What on earth did that bastard want… and why did he do this to the child… I don’t understand. Please, help me.”
Anabella clutched her handkerchief and began to cry. In her stead, the Second Prince, with a grave expression, spoke with a deep sigh.
“Yulan is a country close to nature, and thanks to the abundant warm divine energy, many spirits perform tasks that magic could do. I don’t regret building the Tower of Spirits instead of a Magic Tower… but there isn’t a single wizard who knows about black magic. We were defeated helplessly.”
“…Did you not consider asking the Sierran Empire for help?”
“How? Yulan is a smaller country than the Kiadris Duchy. Where would we ask for help? Would they even accept it? Moreover, we had to suspect both Sierran and Biban. When the incident occurred, my sister was only fourteen, and I…”
“….”
“…No, I wasn’t trying to blame you. I’m sorry. So, we suspected everyone, and then we heard that the Sierran Empire was also affected by black magic. We thought, perhaps, we could get help incidentally… We desperately wanted to know if our sibling was truly a monster, or if he had just fallen into the wrong hands with a mad black magician… That’s why we came all this way.”
The First Princess curled up as if trying to squeeze her tears back. However, it seemed difficult to stop crying. It was natural not to know whether to prioritize caring for distant subjects or close young kin. A sigh escaped me.
I spoke without Ruben’s permission. Because I thought the child might refuse, but I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
“May I take a look?”
“…Whom, the youngest?”
“Yes. I… possess the Purification ability.”
I couldn’t explain the internal energy cultivation method in detail. However, if what their youngest carried within him was contaminated mana caused by black magic, I thought I could help. Ruben flinched and looked back at me. As I met Ruben’s gaze, the child opened and closed his mouth.
“I do not wish to reveal my appearance. If you could bring the youngest here for a moment…”
“…Just, just a moment. I’ll be right back.”
The Second Prince hastily stood up. My gaze lingered on his retreating figure as he ran off. Suddenly, I missed Michael and Asdel. It had been a long time since I left home. They were at an age where they grew up by leaps and bounds every day. I inwardly calculated when I could see the children again, then stopped.
Had an hour passed?
The Second Prince returned, carrying a small child, and was out of breath. I could tell how fast he had run. Seeing the child, who was whimpering as if abruptly woken, my expression hardened. …His features were strangely familiar.
I wasn’t the only one who felt a sense of déjà vu. Looking at the face of the child, who was only five years old, Rubel gasped. The First Princess, who had finally stopped crying, came out with red eyes, looking back and forth between Ruben and the child. The Second Prince, who was about to set the child down, hugged his brother tightly.
“…Why, what’s wrong?”
“That black magician… is he about this tall… with lavender hair?”
“…Yes?”
“His eyes are crimson gold… and his build is like this.”
“Yes, yes. That’s right. Is that person also the black magician the Sierran Empire is looking for?”
Wesley Kiadris.
His seed was here.
I soothed the frightened children and pulled the one called the youngest to lie on the floor. The child whimpered, seemingly scared and uncomfortable, but as his sister and brother comforted him, saying it was okay, he giggled. Whether he truly knew nothing or was pretending to know something, I couldn’t tell.
Sitting beside the child, I touched his acupoint. Examining the minor meridians of a young child was not easy, and I worried about the consequences if he thrashed about. I worried if Elijah’s acupoint structure would differ from that of a normal human, but it did not. Elijah fell asleep instantly.
And then I took his pulse. The Second Prince, watching tensely from the side, asked,
“…How is it?”
How is it? Black mana filled the child’s entire body, like maggots, not even reaching my knees.
It wasn’t that the acupoints in a certain area were congested, nor was it that poison had accumulated, so I pondered how to resolve it. It felt like examining the inner core of a very wicked and vile spirit.
I understood what it meant for the child to melt. If the contaminated mana twisted every time it touched divine power, such a tender body would be crushed and more.
“That divine object… where is it now?”
“I don’t trust my mother, so I hid it somewhere far away. Why? Can it only be treated if the divine object is present?”
“No. That’s not it. I was hoping to get some help…”
I felt a hot gaze and turned my head. Rubel, not paying the slightest attention to the youngest prince, was staring intently at me. It’s okay. I gave the child a slight smile and placed my hand on the youngest prince’s lower abdomen. He was so small that my hand covered half of his body.
“Now… I will begin purification. If you touch me, the contamination can spread. Please stay far away.”
“…Yes! Yes.”
“Yes.”
The only thing that grew was lies. Even if I wanted to set up a Dharma Protector for Rubel, I couldn’t fully trust them, so I made a vague excuse and closed my eyes. I slowly released the black mana from the child’s body and gently drew it out with my fingertips.