“Live freely. But if you need the help of me or the family, come find me anytime. You have that right.”
With those words as his conclusion, a knocking sound came from outside the greenhouse. The guard knights, unable to wait any longer, were calling for me. I could have used that summons as an excuse to wrap up the conversation by saying, ‘I am Aila, not Tienas, so I will not accept the Sayus family’s help.’
“I would like you to ensure that no one knows about what you suspect. Including the other members of the Sayus family.”
“I will.”
“I am His Highness the Crown Prince’s guard knight. I do not wish to do anything that would cause him trouble.”
“I understand that as well.”
But what came out of my mouth in the end was different words. Even though I knew this was roundabout way of affirming my identity, I did it anyway.
‘I suppose making some kind of request might put Father’s mind more at ease.’
I briefly gazed at Father, who was no longer only frightening, then extended my hand. Father, who had risen from his seat, left one more word just before exiting the greenhouse so the guard knights wouldn’t hear.
“Inside the library of the Marquis Caesius family, there is another library that even servants and attendants cannot enter. It would be good for you to visit it once.”
When the greenhouse door opened, the guard knights scanned me from head to toe. It was a persistent gaze, as if they would interrogate me if even the slightest thing had changed. Father, noticing this, clicked his tongue lightly.
“He will come out when the time comes.”
“My apologies. It seems you should be returning to the banquet hall soon.”
“That is not for guards to judge.”
Father spoke firmly and moved his feet first. At his familiar appearance, my pounding heart gradually found its own pace.
“Nothing happened. Let’s return.”
Sir Ken seemed extremely curious about what we had talked about, but I didn’t answer. Having grasped that it would be difficult to get an answer, the guard knights simply attached themselves like shadows again. And so, when the sun was dyeing the sky with yellow light, we returned to the banquet hall. As soon as I appeared, Marquis Caesius immediately interrogated me with his eyes, asking if I had done well. However, before I could answer, Father spoke first.
“It was a very beautiful garden. The greenhouse in particular was so lovely that we spent quite some time there.”
“Oh my, no. It’s nothing special.”
Though he was the star of the banquet, the Marquis bowed repeatedly as if he had received some great favor. Father maintained an upright posture throughout with an attitude that this was only natural.
“My time with Sir Aila Caesius was most enjoyable. If the opportunity arises, I would like to request his guidance again next time.”
Even in the midst of this, I felt that the high-handed attitude was absent from the gaze he sent me. Perhaps because I had seen Father without his mask, it truly felt like he was asking me for another chance to meet.
‘I’m being overly sentimental.’
I slowly steadied my breathing and calmed my mind. Reading others’ intentions arbitrarily was a bad habit. Especially for someone as dull as me.
“Anytime is fine. They were just about to start the play, so I hope you enjoy it.”
“Indeed.”
Soon several lights went out and actors took their places in the center. Usually at such banquets it was common to call in a band to make dancing easier, but the Marquis enjoyed plays so much that he always called in a theater troupe.
‘Looking at the costumes, it seems they’re going to perform a play about the founding myth.’
It was content that everyone in the Empire knew well from childhood. A simple but popular epic about how the gods granted abilities to thirteen people to battle the demon race, and how they joined forces to drive out the demons, leaving behind only seeds of disaster. Those seeds later became monsters that harmed humans, and the gods permitted the families to pass down their powers to their successors as well. The conclusion was that the first to receive an ability became Emperor, and the remaining twelve families inherited strong powers for generations.
Of course, these powers didn’t fall neatly into place as the myth described, and occasionally unique powers manifested in other families, so there were various versions, but in any case, what was officially recognized were the Imperial family and the other twelve families.
After watching up to the scene where the third power was bestowed, I quietly rose from my seat and whispered to the Marquis.
“I’ll be away for a moment.”
“Don’t do anything foolish.”
The Marquis, who had been immersed in the play, muttered to me as if warning me even in the midst of that. Whether it was because I had just come out today and he couldn’t even attach an attendant for surveillance, his worries seemed considerable—he had the face of someone who wanted to tell me not to go right away.
‘It seems he can’t do that because of the guard knights.’
For the first time today, I was grateful that I had guard knights. After briefly nodding my head, I quietly left the banquet hall and walked down the corridor.
“Where are you going?”
Sir Ken, who had been keeping silent, finally couldn’t hold back and spoke. He probably had wanted to ask since the walk with Father, so this much patience was quite impressive.
“I’m going to the library for a moment.”
“Understood.”
Not asking what business I had was so very like Sir Ken. He didn’t bother to confirm information that his charge didn’t want to reveal.
‘It really doesn’t seem like he’s monitoring me.’
I had thought that His Highness’s reason for assigning guard knights—and the ones he trusted most at that—included surveillance of ‘Aila,’ but looking at Sir Ken’s attitude, it didn’t seem to be the case. Of course, he would report in detail about what happened today, but it was clear he had no intention of watching to see if I was doing anything suspicious.
“Do you enjoy books?”
Perhaps because Sir Ken had broken the ice first, one of the other guard knights who had been silent all day spoke up.
‘That was Sir Sepiel.’
Though I wouldn’t say I knew him well, we had worked together anyway, so I roughly knew his personality. He was lively in private but rarely opened his mouth when working, so I was a bit surprised.
“I read when necessary.”
When I was young, I spent long hours alone, so I was always reading books except when practicing swordsmanship, but after becoming a knight, I had become relatively negligent. Moreover, Aila seemed like the type who wouldn’t read much even when necessary, let alone enjoy books, so answering this way seemed better.
“I see.”
“Then I’ll look around a bit.”
Sir Sepiel showed a rather bland reaction considering he had spoken with difficulty. After that, all sounds were silenced and the shadowy escort continued once more. When I heard about the hidden library, there was something that came to mind first.
‘When I had just entered Aila’s body, I looked around the library once too.’
Then I discovered a place where the seams between the bookshelves were strangely misaligned. At the time, I didn’t have the leisure to examine it carefully, and I thought it wasn’t proper etiquette to interfere too much with the Caesius family’s affairs, so I just passed by it.
‘Right. It’s here.’
I briefly wondered what kind of information network Father used to even discover the secret library of the Caesius family, but soon set aside my curiosity. If he knew I would become Aila Caesius, he was someone who could have investigated in advance, so there must have been ways.
‘It seems I just need to align the seams properly.’
The bookshelf was heavier than I thought. If I hadn’t diligently trained my body after becoming Aila, it might not have budged at all. When I pushed the bookshelf about a hand-span like that, I could see a magic circle about the size of a palm drawn on the floor.
‘It seems to be a teleportation magic circle.’
I could feel the guard knights closing the distance, having realized something was off about my actions. When I took out the knife from my waist, their tension increased even more.
‘Do they think I’m going to self-harm or something?’
I had only taken out a small knife, not gripped a longsword, yet a more sensitive reaction than expected came back. I quickly pricked my fingertip and put the knife back. Having cut thinly and long, quite a bit of blood flowed down.
“Sir Aila?”
The two who sensed something wrong quickly approached from the side. Before they arrived, I dropped a blood droplet onto the magic circle. A soft light emanated from the magic circle and soon my vision distorted. It meant the teleportation magic circle was activating.
“Wait, what is this!”
“Sir Aila!”
I faintly heard urgent voices trying to stop me, but before long, even those disappeared. The place I arrived at was so unbearably dark that it was difficult to grasp immediately. While my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I continued the thoughts I had cut off while urgently shaking off the knights.
‘So this is why only people of the Caesius family can enter.’
What this type of magic circle required was magical power, or an appropriate offering. I had tried it because blood was the most appropriate offering to prove one was descended from the Caesius family bloodline, and it seemed to have been quite a proper deduction.
‘If it’s hidden to this extent, it’s highly likely to be related to the family’s secrets.’
I don’t know well, but probably the Sayus family has a similar place too. Each family would have one or two secrets that couldn’t be revealed to outsiders.
“I need to get out as quickly as possible.”
Though I had rashly committed to this action, I was worried about the knights who would be confused since their charge had suddenly disappeared. But since I had come this far, I couldn’t leave without any gains, so I planned to look around for now. Finally, my eyes adjusted to the darkness and I began to see the surrounding scenery.
