Ch. 255
It was said that all the Spirit King’s Contract Seals had been burned and lost, but that was only a story from the human world. It was possible they still remained in the hands of other races.
“……What will you do if someone actually finds one and brings it to you? Will you accept? Besides, if you’re giving everyone a chance, then it’s not like you’re giving me special treatment!”
“That’s not true. You’re special, senior.”
“How so?”
“I gave you the chance to be the very first one to die… to find it.”
It was the kind of item you could easily die searching for, since it meant combing through other races’ territories. But marrying me was that kind of affair anyway.
He had to be prepared to die.
Besides, the meaning behind that condition was obvious no matter how you looked at it.
It was just another way of saying, ‘I have no interest in marriage.’
“Hmm… Then I’ll just wait by your side, Geenie, for everyone else to die so I’m the only one left.”
“Senior, you know you sometimes show your not-so-normal side, right?”
“That’s just how we are.”
“Leave me out of it!”
Just as he was smiling placidly, Bright suddenly thrust the paper bag he’d brought toward me.
I’d been smelling something delicious for a while. It seemed he’d been hiding it under his cloak.
To be honest, I preferred this to a flower crown.
“Here. I only bought your favorite snacks. Eat them while they’re warm. You must be hungry, right?”
“My, my. You really are useful, senior.”
“I was planning to use this to persuade you if you didn’t let me in.”
With my heart pounding, I peered into the bag and—just as expected—found the results of a flawless, impeccable menu selection.
In his expert-level understanding of my preferences, Bright was like a well-tamed horse.
I pulled out a skewer, and while chewing, I glared at Bright, who was still loitering in my room as if he had more business to attend to.
“You’re not leaving?”
“I haven’t even gotten to the important part yet.”
As far as I was concerned, our business ended the moment I received the paper bag. Munch, munch.
Chewing on the well-cooked meat and vegetables, I casually draped myself over a chair.
“Didn’t you come here to talk about Ash?”
“I have news more important than that.”
“You have news more important than the fact that the man I’m hanging around with is an imperial prince?”
Bright had been my source of information for a long time.
Ever since he was assigned to the Royal Palace communications room, almost all information passed through him. Divulging what he saw and heard there was forbidden, but it seemed there was little more important to Bright than me.
“They say a fake Geenie Crowell has appeared in Beilan.”
For a moment, I couldn’t tell whether the meat I was chewing was pork or lamb.
As I hastily swallowed, Bright poured me a glass of water.
“They haven’t identified her yet, but she’s impersonating you to gather people. She’s been swindling money by feigning miracles. I don’t know if it’s dyed or real, but she has blonde hair, she’s about your age… and crucially, everyone believes her because she’s a Water Spirit Mage.”
“Is she crazy!”
“Dmitri’s side seems to be in a difficult position because they don’t know if it’s the real you or not…”
“What do they take me for! Do they not know me at all? I mean, I would commit fraud! Right. It’s understandable they’d be confused.”
After quickly coming to terms with it, I picked up a chicken skewer to calm my nerves.
Chewing on something diligently helps me relax.
As I sat there, my eyes darting while my mouth worked, Bright moved closer and knelt on one knee.
“What should we do?”
“What do you mean? If you report it to the Royal Palace, they’ll take care of it.”
“Then I’ll report it to my superiors as soon as the sun rises tomorrow. Since you’re here, I’ll say it’s best to deal with that woman.”
“What do you think will happen to her if she’s caught?”
“She’ll be killed.”
The price for impersonating the Saintess—backed by both Elan and Dmitri—wouldn’t be light.
It was absurd, but also amusing. Above all, I didn’t understand.
“Should I tell them to capture her but not kill her? If I say it’s a message from you, the higher-ups will consider it.”
“I don’t know. Why would she do something like that?”
“Because you’ve become that influential. You don’t seem to realize it, Geenie, but your name alone can change many things. Think of it simply. The world is teeming with people like me now.”
“…That gave me the creeps!”
To quell the unpleasant feeling, I attacked the grilled potato and cheese with extra aggression.
Bright watched with a pleased expression, so I gave him a light kick and grumbled to my heart’s content.
I couldn’t deny he was a comfortable presence. We’d spent most of our adolescence together, after all.
“The old days were better. It was so much more comfortable back then. I never even wanted to be famous! My goal was to live a long, quiet life.”
“I think that was impossible from the start. There’s no way you could live an ordinary life, Geenie. You stand out wherever you go, and you make people move for you even when you don’t want them to. If they refuse you, you subdue them with force. How cool is that!”
“Ugh, you pervert… Wait a minute. Now that I think about it, this might be a good thing. Tell them not to capture her—just keep an eye on her. The fake ‘me,’ I mean.”
“Do you have a good idea?”
The genius looked at me with admiration, as if I were a genius myself.
I couldn’t stand seeing others act all high and mighty, but I lived for my own brilliance.
“If I get into trouble and my identity is revealed, I can just pretend to be the fake Geenie Crowell. She could be useful.”
“…You’re saying you’ll pretend to be the fake Geenie Crowell?”
“That’s right! If things get dicey, I’ll pretend to be the one impersonating me! Hah, just as you’d expect from a Royal Drike Academy graduate, I’m so smart. Sometimes I even scare myself. I’m just too brilliant. Don’t you think?”
“Geenie…”
“I hope that real fake stirs up even more trouble! It’ll make it easier to pin anything I do on her!”
Suddenly, I could breathe easier, and my appetite—previously nonexistent—came back.
[That’s our Master! Wicked, so wicked!]
“I guess I still have a long way to go, Geenie! I still can’t predict what you’ll do! Amazing!”
After boasting a little, I called Rai over, used him as a footstool, and stretched my legs out in the chair.
‘How dare he subtly call me wicked.’
I’d have to give him a loving doggy grooming session myself soon.
“Still, find out what that fake is up to. If she’s going around imitating me, I should at least know her tendencies.”
“Got it. Anything else you want me to do?”
“Let’s see. I have a letter I wrote for the Dean—can you send it? I’ll write one now, so send it to my parents, too. It should be easy for you since you work at the Magic Tower, right?”
“Of course! I can send any number of letters by the fastest post.”
The pretty purple stationery Akia had given me happened to be on the table, and it seemed suitable for a letter to my parents as well.
I put my thoughts into action immediately.
I picked up a quill, wrote down the very simple condition I was presenting to my suitors, and finished with a brief greeting, adding that I’d write again from the next city if possible.
It was a rare, daughterly thing for me to do.
I’d promised to write, and after seeing those faces that resembled mine—filled with worry—right in front of me, it was hard to keep insisting that no news was good news.
“Can you send items too?”
“I’ll do my best.”
Since I had someone to run errands for me, I decided to take care of other people as well.
Along with the letter I’d already written for the Dean, I pulled a jumble of items from my bag and dumped them into Bright’s arms.
“Send this to Mia and Iruze. It’s a local specialty I bought in the last city. I have to give some to Master Yael and Hansen, too. And I got this as a freebie, so you can have it, senior. Ah, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m definitely not dumping it on you because I don’t have space in my bag. This is for Annie, and this one is…”
“Wait, I can’t hold all of this… Why did you buy so much, Geenie?”
“Because they were selling it.”
Did you need any other reason to buy something?
I firmly believed that was reason enough.
—
Although Toomdra ended that way, it was merely the prelude.
Helikke’s festival boasted a grand scale, lasting nearly ten days, and every day the streets overflowed with things for people from all over the continent to enjoy and eat.
The common consensus was that there were an unusual number of people this year.
Everywhere you looked, there were excited faces, and everywhere you went, you could hear laughter.
Akia and I were heading to the plaza, and I still couldn’t understand why I had to go separately from the men.
“We’re in the room right next door anyway… Can’t we just go with the men?”
“You don’t understand! The real charm of this Flower Crown Festival is men and women meeting in front of the fountain!”
[Right, right! Honestly, Master, you have no sense of romance!]
“It’s a waste to show them how we’ve dressed up right away!”
“I see…”
That rascal Rai never missed a chance to tease me.
I was annoyed, but I decided to let it slide for the sake of the atmosphere.
“Aren’t you nervous at all, Miss Geenie? I’m already trembling. Enk said the Leader and Chad were making and unmaking their flower crowns all night.”
“Hmm.”
“To be honest… I don’t care whose flower crown is prettier anymore. Just the fact that someone stayed up all night, working hard for me, makes me so happy and thrilled.”
Akia wore a pale yellow dress with delicate pintucks across the chest. Today, her slender shoulders stood out even more, and her exposed nape was milky white, like moonlight.
Her brown hair, neatly combed down to her chest, gleamed with a glossy sheen.
Knowing how much effort she’d put into getting ready, my gaze kept drifting to her flushed cheeks.
“Akia, don’t make such a lovely face. It makes me not want to give you to Chad.”
“Oh my. There you go again.”
“I’m serious. Why don’t you ditch the likes of Chad and become my personal physician?”
Akia laughed it off as a joke, but I was being quite serious.
Today, Akia was truly radiant.
“There are so many people. We should hurry.”
“Wasn’t it around here?”
“No. The Flower Crown Festival is held over there.”
As befitting the capital of a nation, Helikke had over ten plazas, and the one we were heading to was the southern plaza with the fountain.
As we got closer, the path felt narrower, packed with people.
I bumped shoulders with strangers without meaning to, and Rai was no different, constantly getting jostled by the crowd.
[I can’t see ahead! Master!]
Near our destination, men holding flower crowns began to appear one by one.
They wore tense expressions, worried their crowns would be ruined in the press of bodies. Some cradled them carefully in their arms, while others held them high above their heads, weaving awkwardly through the street.
They could’ve just worn them on their own heads, but maybe they wanted to be the first to place the painstakingly made crowns on their lovers.
That side of them felt strangely endearing, and I found myself wondering if Ash would be coming the same way.