Episode 21. Their Story
Veritas did not throw a fit demanding the Tower Master's ring.
It was unexpected. Because Veritas was a guy with a record.
"You don't need to devour this ring? Last time, when you obtained the magic core, you made such a fuss."
-Items that belong to you will soon belong to me. Because you and I share an existence. It's enough that you have them.
"What if I lose it?"
-How are you going to lose it when it's on your finger? A Page is a lump of pure magical power. It can't be lost in the first place.
Veritas followed up with a complicated explanation, but Binaeril listened half-heartedly and let it slide.
"Anyway, it means I don't have to eat it? What a relief."
The Tower Master had said this ring was a symbol of the contract with a spirit.
"Then are the other Pages in forms like this? Like a ring, or a necklace."
-Even I don't know that. Didn't I just say it? A Page is a lump of pure magical power. There's a high probability they've each transformed into a form fitting their environment.
"I see."
Binaeril imagined himself covered in dangling accessories from head to toe.
If he collected all the Pages, would he have to go around so cumbersomely?
For now, he decided to first find the spirit contracted with the ring.
"It's been a while."
His rather desolate hideout.
In the place where everything began, the ring's spirit was there.
Binaeril crossed the threshold of the Grand Library and stepped inside.
The familiar scenery of the library, smelling of almonds, welcomed him.
"...Eden."
Binaeril called the spirit's name.
A brown-haired girl poked her small face out from between the bookshelves.
"You came after too long. I'm sorry."
Eden welcomed Binaeril and rubbed her face against his pant leg.
Binaeril calmly stroked Eden. Eden felt to Binaeril like a pet he had raised for a long time.
"Can you recognize this?"
Binaeril held out the azure ring on his right hand.
Eden looked up at him with clear eyes and nodded.
The library's spirit smiled softly.
"It's a gift I received from the Tower Master. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Eden rose from the ground, circled once around Binaeril, and hopped in delight.
It seemed to be her own expression of joy.
Eden, having risen to Binaeril's eye level, spread her earthy dress wide and bowed her head.
Binaeril recognized it as a greeting asking to be taken care of from now on.
"Hahaha."
Eden threw herself in like a diver and entered his ring.
"Now, let's go."
Binaeril left the library with his only friend, the spirit.
After the list of selected candidates for the Scala examination was announced, Elfenbein was abuzz.
Binaeril asked casually of the three people seated in the dean's office.
"It's quite noisy outside?"
"Sigh... it certainly is."
Dean Yulio replied as if nursing a headache.
Rike was downcast with her head bowed, and Silvia conversely looked angry about something.
"On your way in, did you hear what the students are saying?"
"They said this Scala selection would be based on tournament results."
"That's right."
"But looking at the selection list, they seem to think it's unfair."
"Why?"
"The Imperial Princess who did not participate in the matches was included on the selection list."
"Hey!"
Silvia, who had been listening to Binaeril's story, stood up indignantly.
"Do you even know who the person in question is? If you have no sense, at least keep quiet."
Binaeril blinked his eyes and looked at Silvia.
"Silvia, it's fine. It's not Binaeril's fault."
"But Princess...!"
"It's not exactly wrong, is it?"
"Right. It's not exactly wrong. Rike became the dean's disciple because she's an Imperial Princess, and it's true she was recommended for that reason."
Rike made a bitter expression.
Silvia's expression turned fierce.
"You. You must be speaking so rudely because you aren't from the Empire. I won't forgive anyone who treats Her Highness carelessly. Even if it's you."
Binaeril met Silvia's gaze with eyes that were neither frightened nor apologetic.
"You should at least shield the Princess."
"Silvia, stop..."
"I'll step out for a moment."
Unable to contain her anger, Silvia left her seat.
Dean Yulio let out a sigh.
"Binaeril is right. But Binaeril, aren't you surprised? Even though you know I'm the Imperial Princess."
Binaeril met Dean Yulio's eyes secretly behind her back. It was the dean who had asked him to keep the identity a secret.
"It doesn't matter to me whether you're the Imperial Princess or the Emperor. It won't change our relationship."
"But you just spoke as if I was in the wrong."
"No? When did I? I only said a student without skill shouldn't receive special treatment based on status or background alone."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
Binaeril shook his head.
"Not you. Do you think you're lacking to be selected for Scala yourself?"
"Opinions calling it favoritism, corruption, or princess-this-or-that don't matter at all. You just need to show that you have the skill."
"My skill?"
"Yes. What people curse is the talentless Imperial Princess Friederike. That's a straw man. Not the talented mage Rike."
"The talented mage Rike..."
She chewed over Binaeril's evaluation.
"I believe in you. The dean recommended you for that reason too. Right?"
"Of course."
Dean Yulio nodded heavily as if in agreement.
"But how should I show it? The tournament is already over, and my magic isn't flashy like Binaeril's, so showing it in front of people..."
"Well. Let's put our heads together and think about that. For now, we'll need to soothe the angry Silvia, won't we?"
"Shall I go?"
"No. I'll go. If Rike speaks, the loyal Silvia will just say 'Understood' and come back. Without being convinced of anything. It would be better for me, who she dislikes, to go and say a word."
Binaeril decided to try talking with Silvia.
Silvia was getting some air at the building's terrace.
Even from here, the clamorous noise from outside was heard clearly enough.
She felt the urge to cover her ears.
The indecisive Princess, the dean who didn't actively defend her, and Binaeril who prattled on without tact—she resented them all.
Among them, the most hateful was the gray-haired boy who spat out nasty words with a cold expression.
"Acting like he knows everything when he doesn't. What a rotten bastard."
"Hey, hey, say it quietly. The rotten bastard will hear you."
The subject of the slander answered from behind her.
"I said it so you'd hear. Isn't that what you like? Being coldly told the truth."
Binaeril nodded seriously, trying to ease the awkward atmosphere.
"That is true."
"How could you react like that in front of the Princess? What if she's hurt?"
"Rike didn't seem to mind at all. Rather, it seemed someone else's feelings were hurt?"
Silvia approached him aggressively and growled.
"Just because the Princess acts like she's fine doesn't mean it's okay to say that in front of her."
"She's not acting fine; she's actually fine. It's not Rike's fault."
"Then whose fault is it?"
Binaeril stared at Silvia for a moment and then tossed out casually.
"Isn't it yours?"
"It wouldn't be easy for many people to infer Albrecht Empire's Second Princess Friederike from just the name 'Rike'. That means someone already knew her true identity."
The curiosity Binaeril had when hearing the students' reactions was this.
'How did they know Rike is the Imperial Princess?'
"Only the dean, Rike herself, and you knew the truth. If no one had revealed her identity, no one could have known. Rike doesn't particularly get along with anyone."
Binaeril took a breath and continued.
"But one person who had a small connection with Rike previously, Gillian Baemeseu, where did she go? Why hasn't she been seen once since then?"
Only then did Silvia realize where things had gone wrong.
"I think this way. Could her overly loyal guard have overprotected Rike and leaked her identity in the process... What do you think, am I wrong?"
Actually, Binaeril hadn't deduced such a perfectly fitting chain of causality on his own either.
The piece about Gillian Baemeseu bearing a grudge had been pointed out by Veritas.
"So that's how it was. The Princess was put in a difficult position because of me."
Silvia didn't burst out in anger. It wasn't the reaction of someone caught in a mistake.
She was sincerely feeling the weight of her mistake.
Watching Silvia's expression, Binaeril glimpsed the depth of her feelings for Rike.
"Why do you shield Rike so much? If you were just a simple maid, or even a guard, you wouldn't go this far."
He might have been able to hear it through Veritas, but somehow he felt he shouldn't.
There seemed to be something more than a simple lord-vassal or princess-guard relationship between Silvia and Rike.
"Princess Friederike risked her own life for my younger brother when she was young."
"Your younger brother?"
"Yes. For my younger brother, who was just a page."
Binaeril kept silent. He thought it would be more comfortable for Silvia to speak that way.
"The Emperor, who is now ill, was a stern man. Even a small mistake before him would often result in flogging or scolding for the pages. My younger brother was no different. My brother was Princess Friederike's exclusive page."
Silvia continued.
"The First Princess Charlotte was a good person too, but Princess Friederike was even more so. She cared about the pages getting beaten and scolded.
The two were of similar age. Though they shouldn't have, my brother seems to have gotten close to Lady Rike beyond the relationship of master and servant.
Then the Emperor fell ill, and the central nobles wouldn't leave the two princesses alone. I found out later that poison had been put in Princess Friederike's food."
"Poison?"
"It was a poison that had undergone magical processing, undetectable by the Empire's methods. My brother had been feeding the Princess poison every day without knowing the circumstances."
At this point, Binaeril recalled one fact.
Rike had a unique constitution.
She possessed eyes that could detect magical energy.
"Lady Rike... I don't know how she knew. But she knew. That she herself was eating poison every day. That a page her age brought her poisoned meals every day."
"And she just ate it?"
"Yes. Do you know why?"
Binaeril had no idea.
"Because she was afraid of what punishment my brother would receive if the matter was revealed. An Imperial Princess who ate poison every day for her servant friend..."
Silvia's eyes seemed devoid of emotion.
Sometimes, certain memories wear down a person's emotions—Binaeril had a premonition of that then.
"The matter was revealed in the end, and my brother was hanged. But having heard all the facts, how could I think the Princess killed my brother?"
Silvia's last words were too heavy.
She was several years older than Rike and Binaeril, but she was not yet an adult.
It was a statement too heavy for one who was not an adult.
"I owe her a debt. The debt of my brother's life."