‘Doesn’t it all fit together too perfectly, like putting together a puzzle?’
If what the Prince said was true, it meant that dreams had no effect on Seoho whatsoever. After staring at Seoho for a while, Rosetta asked the Prince again.
“Are there any other records about the Mirror?”
“Yes. The Mirror is a treasure that’s been passed down through the kingdom for generations.”
That was welcome news. However, Rosetta changed the direction of the conversation, as if not wanting to show that he was in a hurry for information.
“How many people have crossed over to this place through that Mirror so far?”
“Including Mother, five people. The same number as those who have traveled through the Mirror on this side.”
Perhaps he was trying to verify things properly. Rosetta, who had been staring into space for a moment as if lost in thought, looked at the Prince again.
“Did you bring the records?”
“Father manages the records directly. In fact, Father wasn’t very pleased about coming here.”
“Why is that?”
“Because he loves Mother too much. He doesn’t like anyone becoming special to Mother in any sense.”
The Prince squinted his eyes. His voice was as light as his attitude. As Seoho was observing the Prince’s face, he lowered the corners of his eyes apologetically and said.
“I’m sorry. It would have been better if you could have seen the records directly.”
It wasn’t particularly something the Prince needed to apologize for.
‘It would be stranger if he took out the royal records for me, someone whose identity he doesn’t even know.’
In a situation where they didn’t know there was a Mirror in the Iakos royal family, the current situation where the Prince voluntarily came to the Empire and talked about the Mirror was actually stranger.
‘Does he have some other purpose?’
Seoho, who had been looking at the Prince with suspicion, asked a question when their eyes met directly, caught off guard.
Rather than being genuinely curious, it was more like he unconsciously blurted out something because their eyes suddenly met.
“Um, may I ask where Mother is from?”
“She came from a country called South Korea on a place called Earth.”
“…What?”
As Seoho doubted his ears, the Prince answered again.
“She came from a place called South Korea.”
Seoho inhaled sharply.
‘She came from Korea?’
What was the likelihood that the Prince was lying? But had he ever mentioned South Korea since coming to this place?
‘No, I haven’t. I haven’t even mentioned the word Earth.’
Words he had never uttered even to Rosetta had popped out of a stranger’s mouth. What that meant was one thing.
That man’s mother really was someone from the same place as Seoho.
“Seoho?”
When Seoho suddenly stopped breathing, Rosetta firmly wrapped his arms around Seoho’s shoulders. Seoho relaxed his body as if leaning on those arms and said.
“Rosetta…, we’re from the same country.”
“What?”
A look of shock spread across Rosetta’s face. And from across the way, a trembling voice was heard.
“Just as I suspected. The moment I heard Seoho-nim’s name, I guessed you might be from the same place as Mother.”
“What?”
The Prince’s face was full of unconcealed joy.
“Because your name is similar to Mother’s.”
“So you’re saying Mother really is from South Korea?”
“Yes, she appeared in our kingdom exactly 25 years ago.”
While Seoho was just staring blankly at the Prince in confusion, Rosetta interlaced their fingers.
Seoho looked at Rosetta as the firm fingers dug between his own. Just as he had held Rosetta earlier, this time Rosetta was holding him.
Meeting those pure blue eyes without a single impurity seemed to bring him back to his senses a little. After exhaling, as Seoho gripped that hand firmly, Rosetta asked another question.
“Did you come to confirm that Seoho is from the same country? The only ones who know Seoho’s name are my people and Angel.”
That question also filled Seoho with doubt. If Concubine Grace was truly a stranger from another world, then naturally she would know the words Earth or South Korea, but Seoho’s name was different.
Although Seoho’s existence had naturally spread among people when the nobles learned that there was a destined one who appeared to Rosetta through the Mirror, that didn’t mean there were people who knew his name.
“If you heard Seoho’s name from Angel after arriving at the temple, why did you go to the temple in the first place? Just because you were curious about someone who traveled through the Mirror?”
At that question, the Prince hesitated to answer for the first time. Then he smiled awkwardly as if troubled and replied.
“…To be honest, Father knew that there was another Mirror in the temple. Since Mother came through it, he was very interested. So he was also aware when that Mirror entered the Imperial Palace.”
“You were watching the Imperial Palace?”
“To be precise, we were watching the Mirror.”
The Prince sighed deeply and continued.
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but Mother is very ill. She can barely get up from her bed. She also has homesickness. So I thought that if she could meet a fellow stranger, she might regain her energy, which is why I shamelessly came to the Empire.”
He had heard through Aris that the concubine was sick.
And she even had homesickness, which was pitiful. But there was one more problematic part in the Prince’s words.
‘The reason he knows my name is also concerning.’
But what was even more worrying was something else. Didn’t it mean that Seoho would have to go to the Iakos Kingdom to meet his sick mother who couldn’t even move?
Suspicion rushed in over the intimacy that had been slowly rising at the words that they were from the same country.
‘It would be strange not to be suspicious.’
Perhaps he was looking at the man with prejudiced eyes because Angel had brought him, but the moment he heard the words asking him to leave the Empire and go to the kingdom together, his intentions became suspect.
‘It’s also strange that all the questions and problems are being solved so perfectly.’
But before Seoho could say anything, Rosetta quickly expressed his refusal as if there was no room for reconsideration.
“That’s absolutely out of the question.”
Seoho nodded in agreement. Even if he had no ulterior motives and was genuinely worried about his mother, there was no way Seoho would follow the Prince.
‘Why would I trust someone I just met?’
It was a bit different from Rosetta’s case. He had faced him for quite a long time, even if only in the form of eyes appearing on the wall, and he was someone who had cried tears of joy just from meeting him.
‘He’s also the lonely person who brought me to this place.’
Then the Prince shook his head, saying that wasn’t what he meant.
“No, I didn’t come to shamelessly ask you to meet her. I was hoping that Seoho-nim could exchange letters with Mother.”
“Letters?”
“Yes, the royal physician diagnosed that homesickness is the cause of all her illnesses. I’m asking this of you.”
For a moment, the heart that had been ready to firmly refuse whatever the Prince said wavered. Wouldn’t just letters be okay?
‘Since he’s someone who knows a lot of information about the Mirror, it seems like it would be good to maintain an appropriate friendship.’
Rosetta raised an issue.
“The distance between the kingdom and the Empire is considerable. Don’t you think it would take too long to exchange letters?”
“I’m a mage. I can deliver letters to Mother immediately.”
At the answer that came back as if it were nothing, Seoho looked at him in surprise, but unlike Seoho, Rosetta showed no great reaction and asked a question.
“What about our side’s mage delivering letters?”
“…Father doesn’t want Mother’s location to be revealed. She’s quite ill, after all.”
The Prince bowed deeply.
“I know this is burdensome, but I would appreciate it if you could reconsider favorably.”
At that seemingly desperate appearance, Seoho turned to look at Rosetta.
***
From the moment he first met the Iakos Prince, Rosetta didn’t like him.
Knowing his face, Rosetta realized the moment he entered the reception room that the person behind Angel was the Prince.
‘To sneak into the Imperial Palace insidiously while hiding his identity.’
Moreover, at the words that Seoho was from the same country as his mother, the Prince’s eyes held affection toward Seoho.
‘How dare he.’
It wasn’t a great emotion, but there was no way he would be pleased about the Prince, whose exact purpose for visiting the Imperial Palace was unknown, harboring affection for Seoho.
However, despite that, Rosetta couldn’t stop Seoho from exchanging letters with the concubine.
He could prevent Seoho from leaving the Empire using personal safety as an excuse, but if he went so far as to stop him from just exchanging letters within the Empire, even within the Imperial Palace, Seoho might grow tired of him.
‘If he looks at me with resentment again….’
Rosetta had no choice but to accept the Prince’s proposal. This was because Seoho had wavered once more at the Prince’s final addition that the concubine didn’t have much time left.
‘I heard her health was very poor.’
Did he say the letters would last a year at most?
‘He deliberately brought it up in a way that couldn’t be refused.’
But at the same time, it was quite an attractive proposal. Rosetta recalled the condition the Prince had set while proposing the pen pal arrangement.
‘If you become friends with Mother through letters, I will give you records about the Mirror to the extent of my knowledge.’
He still couldn’t tell exactly what the Prince wanted.
For a prince of a nation to sneak into the Empire’s Imperial Palace while hiding his identity just to ask for letters?
‘He must know exactly how the Mirror works.’
The Prince, whose desperation and deep emotions strong enough to summon a person from another world could be imagined, could have proposed a deal that would benefit the kingdom.
