Chapter 9

It was herbal medicine—the very same herbal medicine Ceres had made before to ease Alex’s condition. Cheyenne stared blankly at the pouch of medicine.

‘She’s… giving him medicine?’

Ceres was the one who knew better than anyone what Alex had done. He was the one responsible for the injury that had left her unconscious for quite some time, too.

‘And yet…….’

Clench.

Without realizing it, Cheyenne tightened his grip around the medicine in his hand. He couldn’t bring himself to look her in the face.

He was sorry. So very sorry. And yet, at the same time, he felt pathetic for being unable to let go of the medicine……

“At the very least, he has to stay alive, doesn’t he?”

“Huh?”

“That way, even if it’s later, he can properly pay for his crimes—or at least have the chance to do something.”

As if trying to lighten Cheyenne’s heavy heart, Ceres looked toward the place where Prince Alex was standing, her gaze somewhat cold.

‘His circumstances are certainly pitiful.’

He had joined hands with the Evil God because he wanted to cure his illness and somehow keep himself alive. There were parts of his circumstances that she could understand, at least to some extent.

Having once lived as a healer and as the head of the Ellersia family, she knew better than anyone how powerful a person’s desire to live could be.

‘Humans are capable of selling even their own children just to survive.’

Not every human was like that, of course, but it was something that had actually happened. There had once been a patient who sold his own daughter to raise money for expensive medicine.

‘In the end, he died.’

Not from the chronic illness he had.

He died in an accident.

Apparently, he was stabbed to death while walking down the street. For a while, there was even a rumor that it had been revenge carried out by the daughter who had been sold to a red-light district.

Whatever the case, that was how powerful the human desire to live could be. If it meant staying alive, what wouldn’t a person do?

‘Even so…….’

Just because someone’s circumstances are pitiful doesn’t mean everything can be forgiven, right? Wanting to survive was no excuse for taking part in harming someone else.

He would have to properly pay for those crimes somehow.

“…I’m sorry.”

An apology quietly slipped from Cheyenne’s lips. His head had dropped again before he knew it, and he couldn’t even bring himself to look at her properly.

“I don’t think you have anything to apologize for.”

“Because I hid it.”

“What about it?”

“…Huh?”

Cheyenne’s eyes widened at the unexpected response. He had thought she would blame him for hiding the fact that Alex was alive.

“You’re that man’s older brother, after all.”

Then it was understandable. If our Yuliana Antonian had committed a crime and gone into hiding, would I have been able to report her right away?

‘Of course, I would have beaten her up before she could ever do something like that.’

Leaving the slightly wide-eyed Cheyenne behind, Ceres turned her gaze back toward Prince Alex, who was already quite far away.

Seeing how noticeably more gaunt Prince Alex looked compared to the last time she had seen him, Ceres couldn’t shake a certain thought.

‘Could that man be the same?’

Hadn’t she heard that he had suffered from intense heat since childhood, leaving his skin severely dried out? It had been the same when she had examined him up close before.

That suddenly brought a thought to mind.

‘Like Kai…….’

Could Prince Alex, too, have been born with a Tamer Relic whose contract had gone wrong?

It was just a thought, but……

‘First, I need to confirm it.’

If she could find out what Prince Alex’s symptoms had been when the Sacred Spring was polluted, she felt she could get a rough idea of what was happening.

And the person who would know Prince Alex’s condition at that time best……

“…….”

At that moment, Ceres’s eyes met someone else’s.

A man who had been quietly following behind Prince Alex.

“…….”

Jutel had stopped walking at some point and was staring directly at her.

Despite the distance between them, Ceres could tell perfectly well that he was looking straight at her.

“Hmm.”

It seemed she would have to meet that man at least once.

As Ceres watched Jutel quietly resume following behind Prince Alex as though nothing had happened, she clicked her tongue softly.

‘Can a demon really act like that?’

Why was he still here, anyway, acting like that?

When Jutel had suddenly disappeared from the Duke Schweiss’s Estate, where he had been treated after getting injured, she hadn’t paid much attention to it.

She certainly hadn’t expected him to end up back at Prince Alex’s side.

“Ceres?”

“Let’s go.”

At Kai and Cheyenne’s call, Ceres finally tore her gaze away from Jutel and quietly left the place.

—

“Haa… I couldn’t open the tenth door again today.”

“Want me to tell you how? I’m getting ready to open the thirteenth door right now.”

“No. I’m going to figure it out on my own.”

“It’ll be hard.”

“Shut up.”

Another Magic Tower.

As one mage emerged from its entrance with a sigh, the fellow mage waiting for him spoke teasingly.

“…….”

A small figure stood there, looking back and forth between the two mages and the pure-white building.

It was Jien, the Magic Tower Master’s only disciple.

‘What is that?’

Quite some time had passed since Jien began learning magic from Cheyenne, but until now, he had only gone back and forth between the training grounds where he took lessons and the library where he could borrow books.

The other areas of the Magic Tower were still unfamiliar to Jien and had never particularly caught his attention.

‘They open doors?’

For the first time, Jien found himself interested in a new place within the Magic Tower.

He had come outside at Cheyenne’s request to deliver some magical materials to someone else, but when he reached the small, mysterious-looking pure-white building, he found himself stopping in front of it.

“…….”

He could have simply walked past it as usual, but for some reason, his feet refused to carry him away.

Unable to understand the reason himself, Jien tilted his head slightly.

‘Why…….’

…Why does it feel familiar?

Strangely, the pure-white building didn’t feel unfamiliar at all. Even though he was definitely seeing it for the first time.

“Want to go inside?”

At that moment, someone quietly approached Jien from the side and revealed himself.

It was none other than Cheyenne, the Master of the Magic Tower.

“…? You said you were busy.”

Hadn’t you told me to deliver the documents for you because you were busy? Then why are you here right now?

Jien gave Cheyenne a puzzled look.

“I am busy. Resting properly is work, too, you know. If you keep taking lessons for several hours every time, you’ll just keel over. You need to take a break once in a while and fool around a little. That’s how your learning efficiency shoots way, way up.”

“…….”

Somehow… Jien had thought it was a little strange.

Usually, things like documents were all left to Luka, the secretary, so he had wondered why Cheyenne had suddenly asked him to do this.

Perhaps he had deliberately sent Jien outside to get some fresh air and take a break.

‘But I like studying more than resting.’

Magic was fascinating. The more he learned, the more interesting it became. He wanted to study it more deeply, to the point that he wished there were more than twenty-four hours in a day.

“What does that place do?”

“Another Magic Tower. It’s a space personally designed and built by Archmage Artia, who passed away a long time ago.”

“Artia?”

“You should know quite well, too.”

Jien’s gaze fell on the ring on his hand. The reason he had ended up at the auction house in the first place was because of ‘Artia’—this ring he had left behind.

But that didn’t mean Jien actually know much about him. The only thing that remained vivid in his mind was the sight of people at the auction house going wild over that name.

“If you don’t know much about Archmage Artia, you’ll have a hard time even passing the first stage.”

“The first stage?”

“You can open the doors there one stage at a time.”

“Doors?”

“It’s filled with questions about Archmage Artia.”

“Ah……”

“You have to solve the questions to open the door leading to the next stage. And if you answer them correctly, you get a present, too. Things like ancient magical tools or magic formulas.”

“…….”

“Can anyone go inside?”

“Anyone affiliated with the Magic Tower.”

At Cheyenne’s words, Jien’s gaze returned to the pure-white building. He wasn’t particularly interested in ancient objects, but the magic formulas were somewhat tempting.

“If you’re curious, go inside sometime.”

“…Really? Is it okay for me to go inside?”

Although he was Cheyenne’s disciple, he wasn’t officially affiliated with the Magic Tower yet, so Jien hesitated a little. Hadn’t Cheyenne just said that only those affiliated with the Magic Tower could enter?

“You’re my disciple, aren’t you?”

“But…….”

“If my disciple can’t enter, then nobody can enter that place.”

“…Yes.”

Only after seeing the serious look on Cheyenne’s face did Jien slowly nod. A faint smile appeared at the corners of Cheyenne’s lips as he looked at the child.

The kid who once wouldn’t even properly answer his questions was now actually having something resembling a conversation with him.

“Then deliver that and come see me in an hour.”

“An hour?”

“Yeah.”

“Ten minutes would be enough……”

“One hour!”

“…….”

“And no coming back to the classroom before then!”

Jien subtly avoided his gaze and remained silent, so Cheyenne firmly reminded him of the return time once more.

“…Yes.”

In the end, Jien reluctantly nodded.

He didn’t like being forced to take a break like this, but…….