TBFP 11

Chapter : 11

“Well, that would have been impossible if your magical attributes weren’t so similar to mine.”

As Leticia flinched, the strange pattern gradually faded and disappeared.

Astrid burst into laughter seeing Leticia’s startled reaction.

“You’re really cute! If I were in better shape, I would have done anything to take you as my disciple!”

Astrid’s gaze, while pinching Leticia’s cheeks, grew distant as if recalling old memories.

“They say it’s like finding a needle in a haystack to find a kind and talented disciple in this field, but after seeing only those with terrible personalities and no talent, seeing you really… I should have met someone like you when I was alive. If I had, I would have kidnapped you, locked you up in my lab, and raised you well. We could have done research together, had discussions, written papers, and cursed at the academic world…”

Leticia stiffened at the somewhat manic muttering.

“I should have divorced earlier and fled to the magic tower. If only that trash had been a little less pretty…!”

It wasn’t hard to guess that ‘that trash’ referred to the Grand Duke of Basilinte.

Astrid gripped Leticia’s shoulders and declared:

“Baby, listen carefully. No matter what that trash says, you don’t need to listen to any of it. Your life is precious.”

Astrid’s words were kind, and her eyes were full of affection. Unusually so for someone meeting a child for the first time.

However, Leticia knew that her life was not something she could control at will.

“That’s not something I can decide.”

Leticia looked around the empty dressing room of the theater, mentioning again the facts that had already been revealed.

“As you can see, I’m a fake pretending to be the prince of Herta. My life is shared between the Herta Imperial Family and the Grand Duke of Basilinte.”

It was Leticia’s life, but it didn’t belong to Leticia. She deliberately shrugged her shoulders lightly.

“I’ve received compensation too. The Herta Imperial Family said they would save my family in exchange for my death. And His Grace the Grand Duke also said he would give me compensation.”

“Those compensations don’t seem to be worth as much as your life.”

Leticia smiled softly at Astrid’s frowning rebuttal. Among those who grew up kindly in greenhouses, there were often people who said such things.

“A person’s life is precious and cannot be replaced by anything. Yes, yes, I know. But…”

“Oh dear. Baby, I’m not saying such naive things.”

Astrid smiled calmly. She stroked Leticia’s eyes with her hand and whispered.

“I’m saying that mountains of gold, palaces made of jewels, thousands and tens of thousands of lives, none of these are worth as much as your life.”

She wasn’t the elegant Grand Duchess but like a magician from a story. Strange and mysterious.

“The magic tower, in exchange for taking me, filled twelve warehouses with gold and created a river in the desert. My dear, Ferik eloped with me because he didn’t have the ability to pay the price to take me.”

Strictly speaking, even the Emperor of Herta, the most powerful on the continent, didn’t have the ability to take a magician of Astrid’s caliber, but Astrid omitted this fact as she whispered to Leticia.

“And yet, a magician who will become more amazing than me has to die for such a measly compensation?”

“Am I…”

Before the question ‘a magician?’ could be finished, Astrid answered.

“Not yet. Have you experienced a big fire recently?”

Leticia nodded.

“Then you just need to burn once more. Originally, you need stimulation from the opposite attribute to bloom. Then you’ll become a real magician, and the magic tower will offer any price to take you in.”

“…Then will the magic tower lift the curse on the Grand Duchy?”

Astrid paused. But soon she smiled as if nothing was wrong.

“They’ll make it rain occasionally when needed. If you do well, they might even create a lake. And baby, you don’t need to worry about what happens to this land.”

“…”

“It will continue to live on, just as it has until now.”

It meant that this land would continue to be in ruins. That the magic tower wouldn’t be able to lift the curse.

Leticia pondered how to address Astrid and quietly asked.

“What about you, Astrid?”

“Me?”

“You have a son here, and a husband too. Aren’t you worried?”

Of course, she had just heard about wanting to divorce that husband.

Astrid’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at Leticia’s question. Then she immediately hugged Leticia tightly.

“That’s not something for you to worry about either. Don’t be considerate towards me- no, towards us. We haven’t fallen so low as to need consideration from a child. Neither I nor this place.”

Her tone was cold, unlike her affectionate embrace. As if drawing a line between this land and Leticia.

“Now, it’s time for you to wake up. It was nice meeting you. We probably won’t see each other again.”

Leticia silently gazed at Astrid.

The gist of Astrid’s long speech was ultimately this.

Don’t die.

While talking about Leticia’s talent and value as a magician, and even how to awaken it, Astrid was telling Leticia not to die.

“If you happen to meet my master at the magic tower, please give them my rega…”

“I’m curious about one thing. What made His Grace, the Grand Duke, believe that a royal descendant from Herta could break the curse of this place?”

The Grand Duke didn’t seem crazy enough to suddenly have such a belief without any basis.

So there must have been a reason for this belief, and that reason was probably provided by the ‘great magician’ standing before her, the Grand Duchess.

“For instance, did he and Astrid ever discuss the sacrifice needed to lift the curse in the past?”

“Well…”

Her words trailed off as if trying to buy time.

Leticia stared intently at Astrid’s face. Enough to catch even the faintest sign of wavering.

“Is there a possibility that the curse on this land could be lifted if I’m offered as a sacrifice?”

“…No.”

It was just a moment’s hesitation, but it was enough.

Leticia wasn’t a great magician, nor was she a real prince, just a child but still.

She was an actor. An actor who practiced dozens of expressions in front of the mirror every day.

“My death has value, doesn’t it?”

At that moment, her vision closed and she was expelled from the empty dressing room behind the stage, so Leticia couldn’t know whether her words had reached Astrid or not.

***

The blonde prince woke up a day after collapsing in the forest.

The Grand Duke, who had been by his side the whole time, opened his mouth.

“Astrid?”

It was a call with almost no emotion, as always.

However, if there really were no emotions, he wouldn’t have called the Grand Duchess’s name to the blonde prince.

“…”

Soon after, Ferik, meeting the prince’s purple eyes, realized his expectations hadn’t been met and fell silent.

The prince blinked, seemingly confused by the sudden change to an unfamiliar place.

“Y-Your Grace?”

Ferik stood up from his seat.

The prince seemed to have something to say, but Ferik left the room without giving him a chance to speak.