<CHAPTER 10>

“Leila, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

Joshua examined my stiff, pale face as if I had turned to stone.

But regardless, I couldn’t escape the shock.

This can’t be!

How did I not realize this?

Was I really that dense!?

There had been plenty of hints.

That kind of spring-flower-like hair color was as rare as mine.

And that child had been strikingly beautiful.

More than anything, I saw the prince as an adult in my dream!

…Or not?

I definitely knew of his existence.

But somehow, I couldn’t properly remember his face.

It would be more accurate to say that part of my memory was blurry.

Everything else was clear, yet only my memories of the prince were tangled.

Anyway, this is truly shocking!

The person who saved me was the Second Prince.

While I stood there blankly, the prince stepped back.

Ah, this isn’t the time for this!

To assess the situation, it was clear that the person who had sent me a separate invitation was the prince.

That’s why Isabella didn’t understand what I was talking about.

And the fact that he came wearing the ribbon I gave him on his wrist…

At least it means he’s not hostile toward me.

If things went well, I might even be able to hear directly about him losing his magic.

“Joshua, wait here.”

“Huh? Suddenly? Where are you going!?”

Leaving behind the flustered Joshua, I began to follow the prince without hesitation.

Walking at a pace fast enough to not lose him but not too fast, the prince exited the banquet hall and stopped in the garden.

“…Greetings, Your Highness.”

When I greeted him, the prince turned to look at me.

Under the moonlight, he matched perfectly with the distant music flowing from the banquet hall.

“We meet again, Leila.”

“I never imagined Your Highness had such mischievous hobbies.”

“Don’t misunderstand. That day we met was truly a coincidence. I had my own reasons to be there.”

The prince explained with a gentle smile.

His reasons… was it because of the rumor that he had lost his magic?

“Anyway, thank you for accepting the invitation. I wanted to see you again.”

“…Me?”

“Yes. You—”

At that moment, the ground suddenly trembled, and a chilling premonition passed through me.

Both the prince and I stopped talking and looked up at the sky.

Then, a red magic circle appeared in the pitch-black sky, and beneath it, monsters began pouring out as if being vomited.

This can’t be. Are those really monsters?

I lost my sense of reality at the scene before me.

Sinister and dangerous creatures that moved by magic.

The knowledge I only understood in theory shattered as it confronted reality.

Grotesque winged monsters poured down toward the palace.

“Get a hold of yourself, Leila!”

The prince grabbed my shoulder.

“Can you run?”

Feeling an out-of-place sense of déjà vu, I nodded blankly.

And then we began to run.

“Aaaah! Help me!”

Soon, screams and the sounds of things collapsing echoed from all around.

I looked toward the banquet hall amidst the chaos.

Are Joshua and Father okay?

“It’s alright. This is the royal palace. We just need to reach the guards.”

The prince spoke firmly, as if to reassure me.

As he said, this was the royal palace.

And it was in the middle of the prince’s birthday banquet.

So how could monsters appear here?

I bit my lip tightly and looked up at the ominous purple-clouded sky.

At that moment, I saw debris from a shattered building falling toward the prince.

And in that instant, I made a choice completely unlike myself.

I didn’t hesitate.

To the point that even I couldn’t understand why, I acted blindly.

It was truly strange.

By the time I came to my senses, I was already holding him tightly.

“Watch out!”

For a fleeting moment, I may have regretted it.

Could I really save the prince like this?

We might both end up crushed to death meaninglessly.

Overwhelmed by fear, I shut my eyes tightly.

And amidst the emotions crashing over me like waves, I thought—

Ah… this time, I really wanted to grow old before dying.

What am I even thinking right now…

Thud!

A heavy crash rang out as the falling debris shattered upon impact.

But the terrible pain I expected never came.

Sensing something strange, I slowly opened my tightly shut eyes.

What I saw was the prince—Herace Miles Osborne—staring at me with an equally disbelieving expression, and…

The shattered fragments of debris that should have crushed us above our heads.

How are we both unharmed?

Though it lasted only a moment, I had prepared myself for death.

Yet, as if by magic, both the prince and I were completely fine.

Yes… just like magic.

Could it be that the rumor about the prince losing his magic was false?

“What just happened?”

“That’s what I’d like to ask.”

Instead, the prince looked even more bewildered than I did.

Looking down at his hand, he spoke.

“As you know, I… But that was definitely magic. Right before impact, I felt a strong mana wrapping around us.”

“But if it wasn’t Your Highness, then here…”

There’s no one else but me.

I couldn’t finish such an absurd assumption.

Was it more believable that the prince had suddenly regained his lost magic rather than me having used magic?

But the prince seemed to think otherwise, smiling as he looked at my confused face.

“It seems like you saved me, Leila.”

“What? That can’t be!”

“What were you thinking when you saw that falling?”

At his question, I hesitated.

At first, I moved without thinking.

Then regret and resignation followed.

And lastly…

I didn’t want to die so meaninglessly like this.

I thought of Father and Joshua, who must be looking for me even now.

And Isabella, who would be burdened with guilt because of me.

And the simple yet earnest dream I gained after learning about the future.

For a moment, it was hard to believe I had imagined the end.

Because I felt such a strong will to live.

“The source of magic is strong desire. Mages can achieve what they wish through magic. It’s not a power granted to just anyone.”

The prince extended his hand toward me.

“Can you keep moving?”

Under the purple sky where despair poured down, he stood like moonlight.

A strong will to live became magic…?

Holding his hand as I stood up, I nodded.

My head felt like it would explode from the confusion, but I couldn’t afford to stop moving.

At that moment, a familiar voice echoed from afar.

“Leila!”

“…Father?”

Turning my head, I saw Father running toward me with Joshua tucked under one arm.

Reaching me in an instant, Father lifted me up with his other arm.

His silver hair was disheveled, as if he had been searching for me himself.

“Why are you in a place like this…! Your Highness, Prince Herace?”

Only then did Father notice the prince and look between us in confusion.

I hesitated, unable to explain the situation right away.

It was difficult to summarize what had happened between us in just a few words.

Instead, the prince spoke first.

“The young lady was helping me. I… fell, you see. I was flustered.”

“I-Is that so?”

As if that could be true.

I replied inwardly while looking at the prince’s shameless smile.

“You must have been startled, but you did well, Leila. Your Highness, please come with us as well. Everyone from the banquet has been evacuated to a safe place.”

“Very well.”

After answering briefly, the prince looked at me and subtly raised his index finger to his lips.

Is he telling me not to say anything?

Even I thought it wasn’t the right time to speak carelessly.

Monsters were still roaming around, and Joshua was trembling in Father’s arms.

After glancing at Father, I nodded.

It was the moment another secret was formed between him and me.