Chapter 28.1

Early in the morning, a special guest came to the castle. It was Princess Ingrit and her brother, Cain.

With Ingrit’s coming-of-age ceremony just around the corner, I had to go with them to the temple to practice the long and tedious ceremony.

I woke up at dawn and took a bath in water with infused herbs for more than two hours. It was a procedure that one had to go through in order to enter the place that served God, so it had to be followed without any complaint.

The truth is, I thought I would be able to get out of here by then. But in the end, this tedious hardship came to me, not Celina.

No matter how twisted my destiny was, I didn’t know it would twist like this.

I kept forcing myself not to rub my eyes or yawn. There were a lot of eyes on me, so I didn’t want to do anything that would make me lose my honor.

Cola wasn’t with me today. Even if it was for surveillance, it made no sense for an animal to be with me in a place like this.

This was an altar located somewhere in the backwoods. Mikael was drawing a complex and difficult-looking pattern on the flat stone floor to move several people at once.

The people from the imperial palace, except for Cain and Ingrit, were all gathered on one side, standing silent.

It was very easy to distinguish between those who went to the temple and those who did not. Of the more than ten people, me, Ingrit, Cain, and Mikael were the only ones wearing temple clothes.

Me and Ingrit were going to practice for the ceremony, and Cain and Mikael were going to wait for us in their separate places.

“Celina.”

Cain, who was wearing a black hood, stood beside me and called me. Today, not a knife, but a white sash with a distinctive loop was wrapped around his waist.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Please take care of my sister today. She said she practiced beforehand, but she is insufficient in many ways, so I’m worried she will cause trouble.”

His voice, lowered to the fullest, was polite. It was different from when he used his unique way of speaking, using honorifics mixed with informal speech.

The imperial children asked me how I was doing dozens of times today. As I kept saying I was fine, I felt like saying ‘fine’ was going to become a fixed habit.

“How can you say that? You don’t have to worry about that when it comes to the Princess. I should be the one careful not to cause any trouble.”

I answered with a tone of voice as neat as possible. Was it because of the sadness of being trapped here and the anxiety of not knowing what my future would be like? Surprisingly, my heart was fine even when looking at the crown prince.

I didn’t know it would feel so different from last time. Of course, the fact that I was breathing the same air as Cain in close proximity to him was really good.

“You don’t have to be so humble.”

In my memory, Cain and Celina had a not-so-bad relationship. When Celina went to the palace to talk to the princess, they would often sit next to each other and talk.

The suspicious words I heard in the imperial palace on the day of the kidnapping. About whether I was upset and that he was bothering me. Each of them was their own thing.

The question about whether I was upset was related to Elijah. We were once having a drink with alcohol, and as the atmosphere loosened a little, there was something Cain said in passing.

He asked why the archmage cared so much about me, who didn’t have any magical power. At the time, Ingrit was astonished, but Celina was extremely calm.

The thing about him bothering me was exactly that. Isn’t there such a mischievous and trivial prank where the tall person lifts the short person’s object high to tease them?

“I heard you’re looking for a servant again.”

Cain started gazing at Mikael, who sparkled under the morning sun.

“That’s correct. Did you hear it from my father?”

I glanced at him, desperately wishing for things to work out between the two of them. For the happiness of many, I had to connect the two.

“Yes. It seems the previous wizard was lacking.”

“No. Quite the contrary. I’m the one lacking. Ian should be in a better place.”

“You were a good master.”

The corners of his mouth rose slightly.

“Not that much.”

“I’ll also try to see if there’s someone nice.”

“Thank you for your concern.”

I replied formally with a smile.

“It is finished, Master.”

After finishing his task, Mikael stood up and fixed his gaze on me.

Then, he started to step towards me as if it was the natural thing to do. I reached out to my protagonist, who was getting closer and closer.

“Mikael.”

It was a face I hadn’t seen properly in a few days. From what I had heard, he seemed to be doing a very good job.

Want to read more chapters and support us? Please consider becoming a patron to read up to 40 chapters in advance!