Ch.40Mansion of the Sorcerer (1)

After a night had passed, the morning arrived when I had promised to help the Duke’s daughter.

It would have been a gentle morning as usual, but I rushed to Duke Rupenter’s Estate with a bewildered mind after receiving a sudden letter.

Something unbelievable had happened, and I thought I was dreaming. How could someone think of and execute such a reckless plan?

By the time I barged into Duke Rupenter’s Estate, the Duke’s daughter was waiting at the main entrance as if she had been expecting me. Moreover, Luca was awkwardly scratching the bridge of his nose beside her, adding a sense of reality to the situation.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Sir Rihart. And Serin.”

“Where is the child?”

“She should be playing in the playroom.”

“Playing? With whom? No, is what was written in the letter actually true?”

“Well… I understand how you feel, but I was the one who found her.”

Luca added with an apologetic face. Though he wasn’t at fault at all, he kept looking at me with a guilty expression.

When I finally processed the reality and calmed down a bit, the Duke’s daughter gestured toward the stairs.

“I’ll guide you to the playroom first.”

“…Alright.”

I followed the Duke’s daughter with anxious steps.

Thud, thud. Only our footsteps echoed through the corridor in the quiet atmosphere.

Serin, who would normally have made some joke, was quiet. Was she reading the mood and being considerate? I felt guilty for causing trouble alone. This was a failure as an escort.

Finally, the Duke’s daughter stopped walking.

“This is the playroom.”

After her brief introduction, she opened the door. Inside were numerous dolls, game pieces, and fairy tale books.

In the center of the opened playroom, two children were visible.

One was a boy who resembled the Duke’s daughter, and the other was unmistakably Eshtiel, the precious child of the Windmill family.

I called her name in bewilderment.

“Eshtiel.”

“Ah…”

Eshtiel’s expression, which had been happily fiddling with a doll, suddenly froze.

“Brother Rihart…”

Then Eshtiel turned her eyes to Serin.

“Sister Serin…”

Frozen like ice, Eshtiel fidgeted with her short fingers. Judging by her trembling eyes, she seemed to be aware of what she had done.

As I slowly moved inside, Eshtiel flinched. Soon, she tried to speak with pronunciation more awkward than usual.

“I’m sowwy, brother… I thought it would be fun… I wanted to go together…”

“…”

“I’m sowwy for following without permission… uh…”

“…”

Just as I was about to reach Eshtiel, who had her head bowed deeply, the boy who had been playing with her quickly blocked my way and boldly exclaimed.

“Don’t bully her!”

“Arhan…?”

The Duke’s daughter murmured in surprise at the boy’s sudden action.

Judging from the situation, the boy’s name must be Arhan. He stared at me directly with eyes that seemed to emit seismic waves.

“I don’t know who you are, but she’s my guest, so I won’t let you bully her…!!!”

It was admirable courage. However, the direction of that courage seemed slightly misplaced. And such misplaced courage couldn’t stop my steps.

Snap!

Luca snapped his fingers. Then Arhan’s body floated up and flew to the Duke’s daughter’s side.

“Eek…! Brother Luca! Won’t you release this?! Eshtiel is in danger!”

“Just stay still… you clueless kid.”

The path was clear with the interference gone.

Now, only one step separated me from Eshtiel.

Eshtiel looked up at me anxiously, her fear evident.

“Brother…”

I reached out my hand. Eshtiel’s eyes squeezed shut.

Trembling Eshtiel.

I grabbed her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

“Huh…? Brother Rihart…?”

“What were you thinking?”

I asked quietly.

“What if something had gone wrong…”

“Ugh…”

“What if enemies had appeared, if there had been an accident, if you had gotten lost, if bad people had taken you…! What were you thinking?”

“Well… I…”

Eshtiel’s voice trailed off.

She seemed to have completely forgotten what to say. Or perhaps she felt intimidated by my embrace.

I don’t want to be like this either. I want to treat her like I always do, indulging her whims. But because of her unexpected action and our unexpected reunion in this place, my reason was clouded.

“How… how shocked and worried I was… Eshtiel.”

“Ugh, sniff…”

“If something had happened to you… I…”

I would have searched for you even if I had to burn down the entire kingdom.

Especially now that I knew about the evil black magic cult.

“Sorry… I’m sowwy, brother… ugh…”

Eshtiel puffed her cheeks. Not because she was upset, but because she was trying to hold back her sobs, filling her cheeks with air.

Soon after, Eshtiel’s dam of tears finally burst.

“Waaaaaah…! I’m sowwy, brother… Brother Rihart, I won’t do it again…”

“I wish you had at least told me…”

“But… but… you said I couldn’t go even if I asked… even though you said I could tell you everything I wanted to do… ugh…”

“…You’re right.”

This was my mistake.

Anyway, it was also inconsiderate to let a child cry in someone else’s mansion. I stroked Eshtiel, desperately trying to calm her tears.

“Haah…”

I sighed with exhaustion and turned my eyes to the Duke’s daughter.

“…I apologize, but would you allow us to leave Eshtiel at the Duke’s Estate while we stay in the kingdom?”

The mansion’s standards were good, and there was a peer who, despite his immature courage, tried to protect Eshtiel. Rather than leaving her alone at the residence feeling lonely during my mission, entrusting her to the Duke’s Estate seemed like the better option.

The Duke’s daughter nodded willingly.

“Of course. I’ll tell Arhan to play with her well.”

“Thank you.”

After our conversation, Eshtiel, with her swollen eyes, asked in a trembling voice.

“So I can stay here…?”

“Yes.”

“Are you still angry…?”

“No, not at all.”

If I had lost Eshtiel forever, I surely would have been.

“That’s a relief…”

Perhaps due to the energy spent crying, Eshtiel’s eyes slowly closed.

I laid Eshtiel on a soft bed in the playroom and quietly left.

◇

I glanced sideways at Rahilt, who was walking dejectedly in the Duke’s Estate grounds. No, to be more precise… at Rahilt, who gave the impression of being rigid yet deflated like a machine.

What he had just shown was so strange and surprising that I couldn’t calm down.

‘Could Rahilt show such a side too…?’

I had already known that he was quite different from the original work or the founding myth. I had observed this since our first meeting.

But I never expected Rahilt to show such an emotional side. Family seemed to hold a much heavier place in his heart than I had imagined.

‘If something bad had happened to Tiel, wouldn’t it have been a crisis for the world?’

This was a hypothesis I wouldn’t have dared to imagine before. But now, after hearing about the “death of the four” ending from Sister Narin, it was hard to dismiss this as a mere hypothesis.

‘Well… Master Ro Eun-young seems to have brought Rahilt almost to the normal range.’

Maybe it’s like this, I thought.

It’s not that Rahilt can’t feel negative emotions, but rather that his threshold for accepting negative emotions is incredibly high.

While Rahilt might have been completely numb to emotions before meeting my father-in-law, the current Rahilt would inevitably be different from the past.

‘That aside, he seems down because Tiel cried…’

This Rahilt isn’t cute.

I was a woman who wanted her man to smile.

So, I quietly approached him and carefully spoke.

“Excuse me, Rian.”

“Did you call me?”

“Yes, I was wondering if you’re okay.”

“I’m fine. I’m not injured.”

“Do people only get physical injuries? Hearts get hurt too.”

At my assertion, Rahilt looked to the side. The summer sky reflected in his blue eyes like a beach. Without even having time to be captivated by that beauty, I continued.

“It’s not like… I was the one crying.”

“But your heart was crying, wasn’t it?”

“What?”

“Hearts can shed tears for others too, you know.”

Just as Rahilt was sad with worry for Eshtiel,

Just as I had wept for not being able to help the young Rahilt who had escaped the system.

That was the emotion that any human would naturally have.

It must have been an emotion sprouted by the human Rahilt, not the dragon’s child.

I deliberately smiled and opened my arms toward Rahilt.

“Come here and let me hug you, our crybaby Rian. I’ll pat your head and comfort you.”

“W-what are you saying? There are others watching.”

“That means you’d jump into my arms if no one was around, right?”

“Please don’t do this… Serin. It’s very embarrassing.”

Oh my, I like your very embarrassed self second best in the world.

“Should I stop?”

“Please do.”

“Then smile for me.”

“Serin?”

“If you shake it off and smile, I’ll stop.”

I don’t expect Rahilt, who’s not usually associated with smiles, to comply.

But what can I do? I still haven’t seen…

Your bright smile, which I like best in the world.

“This is difficult…”

“I figured as much.”

Since he’s wearing a mask, I have no choice but to back down even if he’s lying and insisting.

Either way, he was truly a faithful husband.

That’s when it happened.

Sister Narin, who was walking ahead, suddenly covered her mouth and spoke.

“Serin, you’re so… open-minded. In many ways.”

“Hang in there, Rihart.”

The Second Prince added, giving a thumbs up. At this, Rahilt couldn’t even lift his head and kept his face down.

Unable to watch my man being put down any longer, I sharply interjected.

“Both of you, that’s enough. Stop making our Rian uncomfortable and let’s get to business.”

“Shall we then?”

Sister Narin agreed refreshingly. As if she had deliberately provoked me to bring me to the main point…

“We’ll use Serin’s ambassador status to visit the Mansion of the Sorcerer. Under the pretext of exploring how it differs from the magician’s mansion in the empire.”

“And you and the Second Prince will be helping with my guidance, right?”

“Yes. But Luca has one more role. The Mansion of the Sorcerer is protected by spatial magic, so without a sorcerer’s guidance, you’ll get lost. So Luca will deliberately disrupt the spatial magic to scatter us.”

“Then we pretend to find our way while thoroughly searching the mansion, right?”

“Exactly!”

“And if anyone gets in our way, we beat them up.”

“…Yes, if they’re black magicians.”

Sister Narin looked troubled. It’s not like she thinks I’m an indiscriminate beast.

Soon, she glanced at Rahilt.

“Sir Rihart, you know you can’t destroy the entire mansion, right…? We’d be caught in it too.”

“…? I understand.”

“Kanarin is so worried. How could anyone destroy that sturdy Mansion of the Sorcerer?”

At Luca’s tactless question, Sister Narin and I immediately turned our gazes toward him.

For him to remain an uncomplicated friend to Rahilt, ignorance truly was bliss.