At Angel’s summons, the prince politely bowed toward Rosetta.
“I am honored to meet the sun of the great empire. I am Luminos Iakos.”
However, Rosetta neither acknowledged the greeting nor gave him so much as a glance. Unlike Seoho, whose eyes widened in surprise, Rosetta didn’t seem the least bit startled by the prince’s sudden appearance.
“I wasn’t informed that the prince would be visiting.”
And Angel was pleased by Rosetta’s dismissive attitude toward the prince. The prince, who had tried to use Angel as he pleased, was nothing before Rosetta.
‘What a consistent person.’
But now wasn’t the time to be feeling such pointless elation. Angel met those dry blue eyes directly and answered.
“I needed him to carry out the command Your Majesty gave me.”
“You needed the prince?”
“The prince has information about the Mirror.”
“Why would the prince of Iakos Kingdom have information about a Mirror that was in the temple?”
It was a natural question. All the more so because among the historical records Angel had shared with Rosetta and Seoho, there was absolutely no mention of the Iakos royal family.
Angel licked their lips in anticipation of the criticism to come, when the prince spoke again.
“That’s because I am a party directly related to that Mirror.”
“…What?”
Rosetta whipped his head around to look at the prince. Seoho’s eyes had also grown round in surprise.
Angel glared at the prince who was deliberately making things confusing and cut in.
“It’s not the same situation as Seoho-nim and Your Majesty. This person is the child of a stranger who came here through the Mirror.”
As Angel finished speaking, the prince added.
“To be precise, my mother is the stranger.”
A long silence followed the prince’s calm words.
***
A stranger—the child of someone who came to this world through the Mirror like himself. Seoho was dumbfounded by those words. Meanwhile, the prince spoke again.
“The fact that the kingdom has a Mirror has been kept secret, so I apologize that I had no choice but to hide my identity when entering the imperial palace.”
Seoho found himself asking without thinking.
“As far as I know, there were no recorded cases of strangers appearing in Iakos in the past.”
“My father concealed the records of my mother. And she used a different Mirror from the one you used, Seoho-nim.”
A different Mirror. Before Seoho could ask a question, Rosetta stepped forward.
“What do you mean by that?”
Seoho turned his head to look at Rosetta. Rosetta’s eyes, which had been indifferent as if he had no interest in them just moments ago, were now sharply raised.
The story the prince brought was shocking to both Rosetta and Seoho. And the answer that followed.
“It means there are two Mirrors.”
“Saintess.”
Even in that short summons, everyone could feel Rosetta’s seething emotions. Angel bowed her head immediately without making excuses.
“…I apologize. This was something even I didn’t know.”
With that answer, Seoho felt divine power beginning to manifest. As the divine power rippled right beside him, Seoho patted the back of Rosetta’s hand soothingly.
“Rosetta.”
Seoho was just as flustered by the current situation, but seeing Rosetta lose his composure somehow made his own mind feel calmer instead.
Seoho patted him in a steady rhythm until Rosetta’s energy slowly subsided. And when his divine power was about to be contained, Seoho firmly grasped his hand.
Though it was smaller than Rosetta’s hand, it was still enough to cover his clenched fist.
Seoho spoke up in place of Rosetta, who was quietly catching his breath.
“Shall we hear the rest of the story first?”
It was something they couldn’t have guessed at all, so they needed even more information. The Mirror was an object that greatly affected both Seoho and Rosetta.
“We can’t just take the prince’s word at face value that there’s a Mirror.”
If they assumed that Iakos Kingdom had a Mirror, it wouldn’t be strange for the prince to know information about the Mirror that even the temple didn’t know.
However, that didn’t mean they could accept his words as fact without any evidence.
Seoho put on the face of a model student. It was a mask he hadn’t worn in a while, but it would definitely be effective.
‘I have an impression that easily wins favor, after all.’
People around him used to say that Seoho had a neat and well-behaved appearance that adults would like, and Seoho knew how to properly utilize that characteristic of his.
He smiled—not too much, but not too faintly either—looked the other person straight in the eye, and asked in an unwavering voice.
“If it’s all right, may we ask you a few more questions?”
“Questions.”
“Yes. I’d like to ask about the prince’s mother… Would that make you uncomfortable?”
The first thing they needed to find out was naturally whether the prince’s mother really was a stranger. At Seoho’s question, the prince shook his head slightly.
“If they’re questions I can answer.”
Seoho turned his head toward the gaze he’d been feeling on his cheek. Then Rosetta, whose eyes were slightly wider than usual, met his gaze.
Seoho smiled mischievously at him and nodded toward the prince. It meant he was leaving the questioning to Rosetta.
Rosetta turned his clenched fist to grasp Seoho’s hand and asked in a voice more composed than before.
“Your mother, Grace Iakos—is she still staying in the kingdom?”
It felt like an illusion that the cold that had already disappeared was wrapping around his ankles again. Seoho shook his foot lightly and focused on the conversation between Rosetta and the prince.
“My mother is still staying in the palace.”
“I heard she’s unwell.”
“Her health rapidly deteriorated after I was born. But after giving birth to me, the frequency of her dreams gradually decreased. Now she doesn’t have them at all.”
The prince knew about the dreams Seoho had been having.
‘Did Angel tell him?’
It was Angel who had secretly brought the prince into the imperial palace without even telling Rosetta. So it would be right to assume that Angel had informed the prince of the information she knew.
Come to think of it, Angel had said that the prince was the one who had the information they wanted to know. Even as Seoho organized his thoughts, the conversation between Rosetta and the prince continued.
“She doesn’t dream now? No, wait—is there a connection between the dreams and my first question?”
At Rosetta’s question, the prince looked at Seoho and answered.
“Dreams and the Mirror are closely connected. You must have guessed, but that hand isn’t from this place.”
“Isn’t from this place?”
It seemed like Rosetta’s hand holding Seoho’s was getting sweaty. But Seoho didn’t shake off that hand.
“That’s our assumption. There don’t seem to be any records remaining here, but according to the kingdom’s records, after frequently dreaming of the hand appearing, strangers would return to their original world.”
“…Returned to their original world?”
This time, not only Rosetta but also Seoho was surprised. In truth, he hadn’t spoken it aloud directly or thought deeply about it separately, but he had been guessing.
‘Rosetta was probably guessing too.’
That’s why his first question had been whether Grace Iakos was still in the kingdom.
The content of the dreams wasn’t ordinary.
[Will you remain?]
That solemn question. And the white hand that forcibly tried to pull him away. He had just been deliberately covering up the seriousness of the dreams and their content because of the fact that Rosetta’s divine power had transferred to him.
“…An, gel.”
Rosetta’s voice was filled with trembling and broke off in fragments. A pitch-black voice that seemed ready to crush its target at any moment circled the reception room. Along with it, Rosetta’s previously calm energy began bouncing around again in all directions.
Clearly both of them had been guessing what the dreams meant without having to tell each other, but hearing that it was true shook their emotions.
Seoho set aside his complicated feelings and tried to hurriedly soothe Rosetta, but the prince—as if he couldn’t even feel this serious atmosphere—calmly opened his mouth again.
“Of course, there are also those who didn’t return to their original world. Like my mother.”
However, the prince’s attitude was very helpful. Seoho looked at the prince while feeling Rosetta’s energy, which was still swaying but had clearly become much more docile. Meeting the gazes of Rosetta and Seoho, the prince smiled brightly.
“My mother no longer dreams. It’s been 25 years since she came here. On our side, we’ve accepted that my existence bound my mother to this world. She said the dreams decreased starting from that day.”
“…You don’t know the exact reason. It’s just a guess, isn’t it?”
His voice was still rough. But at least it was enough to have a conversation. Seoho pretended not to see Angel’s pale face sitting next to the prince and focused on the conversation.
“Yes. But there are also records of one other person who ended their life here.”
“Who?”
“According to the records, it’s the first stranger who came here through our Mirror. A woman, and the only one who learned magic.”
“Magic?”
“Yes, so we think the condition for being able to stay here is accepting something of this world in some way.”
Rosetta’s and Seoho’s eyes met. Divine power. Himself, who had accepted divine power and been able to shake off the hand.
The storm stopped and his pounding heart began to calm down, but at the same time, doubt arose.
