Seoho. Just as the Prince said, unlike the beginning, Seoho changed his attitude after the Prince brought up his mother’s story.
It might be proof that Seoho was longing for his hometown, so as Angel, this should have been something to welcome. However, the Prince’s attitude, which seemed to treat Seoho like an idiot, was still irritating.
‘It’s all because that man is so unpleasant.’
It was clear that she disliked that man who dared to be rude and give her orders even though he wasn’t chosen by god like Rosetta, when she was a Holy Maiden.
“Even if that’s the case, the Emperor is by his side.”
“Right. That’s true.”
Those eyes that had been creepily glistening, incomparably more than the eyes that had been watching her until now, after the series of shocking stories that continued today.
‘Is it because he was attacked by divine power before?’
She was even more frightened because she seemed to gradually feel that thing hiding inside the Emperor’s body.
Especially after hearing about what the dream meant and the story that the strangers who had the dream returned to their own world, the Emperor’s voice calling her was terrifying.
That tremendous anger that made her certain she must never let him find out that she had given him the Mirror knowing all of that.
But there was no time to be angry about being frightened by the Emperor.
‘That was an instinctive fear that living creatures have.’
However, the person before her had received it head-on and yet calmly laid out what they had agreed to discuss. Thanks to that, the anger toward Angel quickly subsided, but strange was still strange.
‘Did he not notice, or is that much nothing to him?’
As Angel was looking over the Prince’s body as if gauging his ability, a knock sounded along with a servant’s voice.
“Holy Maiden-nim, the priest’s room is ready.”
Angel looked at the Prince.
“Let’s go.”
Without offering any particular greeting, the Prince opened the door and spoke familiarly to the servant.
“You had to do more work because of me.”
“Not at all, priest-nim.”
The sharp face that seemed to mock the other person until just now had disappeared somewhere, and now there was only a cheerful young person there.
Angel deliberately turned her head as if to ignore that appearance. Through the gap in the closing door, the sound of the Prince introducing himself flowed in.
“Please call me Sol.”
“Yes. Sol-nim. This way.”
Come to think of it, they had decided to call him Sol at the Imperial Palace. The conversation earlier had been so shocking that it seemed she hadn’t told the Emperor and Seoho the man’s alias either.
Angel glared at the completely closed door and gritted her teeth.
“Just what…, is he thinking?”
***
After being guided to his room and the servant withdrew, the smile that had been on Luminos’s face disappeared as if washed away.
‘Rosetta Borealis.’
Luminos recalled the Emperor he had faced in person for the first time today. The praise that he was beautiful as if not human was quite famous, and indeed, as rumored, the Emperor was a very beautiful person.
However, within that beauty existed a monster opening its pitch-black maw wide and smacking its lips.
“It’s natural since he used the Mirror, but.”
Someone who was as obsessed with strangers as his father. At the same time, someone who had greater power and authority than his father.
The state council meeting that took place at the Imperial Palace this time had been helpful to Luminos in many ways.
The Iakos Kingdom had been doing business with the Empire’s nobles for a long time. Therefore, it wasn’t difficult to guess the relationship between the two through the nobles who had participated in the state council meeting.
‘Well, they didn’t know that much either.’
However, the Emperor’s possessiveness toward the stranger and his vigilance toward those around him were stories that everyone unanimously conveyed. And seeing it in person, it was no different from those stories.
“Lee Seoho.”
The stranger he saw in person was more full of life than when seen through magic, and was not a stupid person.
Perhaps because the appearance of him acting dazed during their first meeting remained deeply impressed, today’s appearance of him confidently asking questions was truly unexpected. Though his attitude changed a bit at the end.
“…Lee Seoho.”
As Luminos was muttering the man’s name once more, he turned his gaze to the window at the sound of chirping. A yellow canary was sitting on a branch close to the window, looking at him.
‘Will I be discovered soon?’
Probably so. The Emperor wasn’t a dull person.
During the period when the state council meeting was being held, slipping one familiar into the Imperial Palace among the nobles gathering there had been a very easy task. Even now, the Emperor must be looking for information about the talking canary.
‘Since there were many people coming and going from the Imperial Palace, it will take quite a while to investigate….’
If he kept his mouth shut like this, he could drag out the time a bit more.
However, he had revealed today that he was a mage, and hadn’t he learned that the stranger named Seoho was from the same country as his mother?
‘I didn’t know he would really be from the same country as Mother.’
Knowing that the Mirror had been used, he had sent a familiar into the Imperial Palace to observe the Mirror. And he impulsively spoke to someone whose appearance somehow caught his eye.
And the name he heard reminded him of his mother, so just in case, he pushed himself a bit to approach the Holy Maiden Angel.
‘I hadn’t originally planned to enter the Imperial Palace by this method.’
The fact that the Holy Maiden had negative feelings toward the Emperor was unexpected.
‘I didn’t know she gave him the Mirror knowing the end.’
He hadn’t guessed at all that the Holy Maiden knew the end, even vaguely.
So things became more troublesome than expected.
Because he didn’t want to get involved in the matter between the Emperor and Angel.
However, now that it had been revealed that the stranger named Seoho was from the same country as his mother, he couldn’t just watch the stranger while pretending not to know.
‘I should deal with it before the Emperor moves.’
Luminos’s eyes curved round as he looked at the canary tilting its head cutely.
***
Two days had passed since the day they met Luminos, the Prince of Iakos, and today, Seoho was writing a letter together with Rosetta.
After finishing the final greeting, Seoho asked worriedly.
“Are you sure it’s okay to write in Hangul?”
“Yes, because that’s safer.”
Seoho agreed with Rosetta’s words that the Prince, who played the role of delivering the letter, would inevitably have to touch the letter, and could easily peek at it if he wanted to.
In addition, Rosetta was skeptical about whether the Prince would really deliver the letter to his mother.
So Seoho wrote the letter in Hangul as Rosetta insisted.
“What if the Prince knows this writing?”
“Then the concubine is really from the same country as you.”
“He couldn’t have read my mind, so it’s probably right.”
Since he mentioned Earth and South Korea, which he had never told anyone about, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the woman was really from the same country.
Since he had even confirmed with Aris that there was no such magic, Seoho was all the more certain.
“Still, isn’t it better to be sure?”
“That’s true.”
As Rosetta said, it would be good to test things to erase the last doubt. Using Hangul like this wasn’t bad either.
As Seoho was placing the final period, Rosetta asked with a face full of curiosity.
“So what did you write?”
“Just a light greeting. That I heard we’re from the same country and that we’ll be exchanging letters from now on? Oh, I also wrote who I am.”
“Is that so?”
Since Rosetta seemed to want to know the details, Seoho took out a new piece of paper.
“I’ll just rewrite what I just wrote as is.”
When he changed the letter written in Hangul to the Empire’s language smoothly, albeit a bit slowly but without hesitation, Rosetta was impressed.
“You can write fluently now.”
It was comparable to the time he had written a letter to Angel before. Even to himself, his clearly improved skills made him feel good. Seoho smiled brightly.
“The teacher must be excellent.”
“The student is excellent.”
Seoho didn’t bother to deny it and just grinned. As Rosetta was examining the letter Seoho was rewriting and praising him as amazing, he looked at Seoho as if he remembered something.
“Oh, come to think of it. There’s something I wanted to ask you.”
“Yes?”
“Before, while looking at you, I saw these letters.”
Rosetta took the pen from Seoho’s hand and scribbled something.
“What does this mean?”
Looking down at what he had written, Seoho muttered with a surprised face.
“I didn’t expect to see this here.”
“Hm?”
Seoho pointed to the elegant cursive writing and said.
“Happy Birthday. It means congratulations on your birthday.”
Rosetta looked back and forth between the letter Seoho wrote and the letters he had written.
“The letters seem different from what you wrote.”
“It’s a different language from the letters I’m using.”
“Really?”
It must have been letters he had never written before, but the strokes were smooth and there was no awkward feeling at all. Admiring the beautiful handwriting, Seoho asked.
“But you remembered all of this?”
“Because you were crying that day.”
Seoho, who had been blinking, smiled awkwardly.
“Ah. You saw that too.”
“…May I ask why you cried?”
At the careful question, Seoho hesitated for a moment before answering.
“Um, because I missed my parents?”
“Do you still miss them?”
It was such an obvious question.
“I miss them. A lot.”
