Chapter 516
Phoebe, who was passing the table, shot her eyes wide open.
Ian locked eyes with Thesaya, who had a mischievous glint in hers.
"Sounds good," said Ian.
"Huh?" Thesaya blinked in surprise, a beat too slow.
It seemed she hadn't expected him to agree so readily.
Ian suppressed a smirk and added, "Let’s go to my room, not yours."
"Oh, okay. Let’s do that." Thesaya quickly nodded, as if to recover from her surprise.
While Phoebe shook her head as if to say she couldn't be helped, Ian leisurely stood up and looked at Diana. She was looking up at Ian with her mouth slightly agape, her eyes pleading as if to ask if he was really going to leave her like this.
"I have a suggestion," Ian said, picking up the bottle from the table.
Thesaya, who was getting up after him, looked at him. "Yes. Go on.""What if you gave her back that wooden mask she used to wear? Might be more effective for handling soldiers if they can’t see her face."
He looked back at Thesaya and tilted his head toward Diana.
"As you can see, she’s not very good at controlling her expression."
As Diana’s mouth opened a little wider, Thesaya looked at her and nodded. "That’s a good idea. It will add to her authority. Phoebe? Take care of it as soon as the sun rises."
"Yes, my lady." Phoebe, who was now standing behind Diana, bowed her head.
Diana squeezed her eyes shut.
"See you tomorrow," Ian said and turned away, holding his goblet and the bottle.
Thesaya, who quickly followed him, looked back at Diana. "Finish your meal comfortably. You’ll be busy starting tomorrow."
***
"I didn’t think you’d agree to it right away, Ian. I even had a comeback ready in case you refused," said Thesaya the moment she shut the door to Ian’s room.
"I thought you wanted to show off to the pointy-ears," Ian replied without looking back as he crossed the room.
The lamps on the walls faintly illuminated the room. The table with the candlestick was also neatly arranged.
Placing the bottle and goblets on it, he added, "Didn’t you want to keep them misunderstanding our relationship?"
He’d already heard from Diana that the fairies of Erenos considered him the head of the house’s lover. Rather than correcting them, Thesaya had used that misunderstanding to solidify her position.
"That’s not all of it, but… yes. You’re not wrong." Thesaya, smiling bashfully as she placed her goblet on the table, immediately took off her necklace and continued, "Everyone has to believe it, so there won’t be any noise even if I continue to side with you, Ian. In that sense…"
She placed the Elixir of Life on the table and shrugged. "The more I think about it, the more useful Diana seems to be."
"It seems like you’re dead set on working her to the bone."
"Was it that obvious?" Thesaya smiled brightly and continued, "Everyone knows she’s your comrade. Since she lived beyond the Wall for a long time, her feelings toward the Empire probably aren’t good. Isn’t that why she said she’d stay in the South?"
"Well…" Pouring wine into his goblet, Ian let a slight smile play on his lips.
It seemed Diana’s future wouldn’t be very smooth. He could only hope that the fact that she got to stay in the South would be some comfort.
"Anyway, it’s unexpected. I didn’t think the Platinum Dragon would have announced its intention to break down the Wall in advance."
"Probably most of your trustworthy friends already know," Thesaya said, unfastening the dagger on her thigh and perching on a chair.
So the messenger really visited everyone.
"The Platinum Dragon must have already expected that I could become a target of the royal family and the Order," added Ian.
"That was Half-Ear’s speculation. The Platinum Dragon just said to help you because you might be in danger. Since we don’t know where you’ll return, we were told to keep our eyes and ears wide open." Thesaya shrugged, looking up at Ian as he filled her goblet.
"The Platinum Dragon really believed I’d make it back, huh..." Ian’s smile deepened.
Otherwise, there was no reason for it to have made such careful preparations. Of course, the danger the Platinum Dragon warned of likely extended beyond just the Empire or the Great Church. It probably included the unknown threats beyond the Black Wall and the fallout from the Wall’s collapse.
Though I doubt it could have predicted that the Dark Prince would be alive.
A faint, bitter smile touched Ian’s lips as he sipped his wine. There was no way to know what state the Platinum Dragon was in now. The talisman he carried against his chest had remained silent. To think that even this situation had been part of its design felt far too hopeful.
"So I did my best to prepare in my way. I formally learned spells and spent a lot of time communing with the Tree of Life," said Thesaya, who had taken a few sips of her drink. Her voice now carried a faint trace of intoxication.
"To be honest, even doing it just once every few months is enough. It takes a lot of focus. Not that I’m trying to show off or anything." Thesaya flicked her tongue out slightly.
Seems like you are.
"So, was there anything else Miguel said?" asked Ian.
"That was the entirety of the Platinum Dragon’s message. Well, after that, they stayed for a few days, helped train the private soldiers, and purified the seeds of madness lurking nearby. It was something the city council hadn’t even grasped. Thanks to that, my standing went up a bit." A curve formed on Thesaya’s lips.
Unlike when she spoke of the fairies, it was a very soft and wistful smile.
"And then they left, just like they came—manes of their white horses streaming in the wind, looking magnificent."
"White horses?" Ian’s brow twitched as he asked again.
Thesaya nodded. "Yes. There were two. It said one of them was the horse you used to ride."
It was enough to make Ian’s eyes widen for a moment. Staring blankly at Thesaya, he said, "Nila is alive?"
"Ah, you thought the horse was dead. I see. It had a huge scar on her side."
Thesaya smiled as if Ian’s expression was amusing, took another sip of wine, and continued, "That ugly prosthetic guy said it was a sacred beast blessed by the Blazing Goddess. The horse was certainly different from when I first saw it. It was bigger and more beautiful, and it seemed to understand everything I said."
"Good heavens." An exclamation escaped Ian’s lips. He found himself smiling without realizing it.
It seemed he’d have to offer a prayer of thanks to Lu Entre sometime soon. It was another piece of news that would make Lucia happy, though Moro’s thoughts might be a little different.
"Anyway, if there are no problems, the Redhead and Half-Ear should be in the borderlands by now. They said they were going to help some country bumpkin called the Bastard King build up his power there. Well, Scar and your horse are probably in the North."
Ian’s smile turned strange.
He’d only heard in passing that the Bastard King had been steadily growing his power, but now it seemed that the bastard from the borderlands had actually managed to carve out a kingdom from the heart of chaos. If Mev and Nasser were supporting him, it wouldn’t fall so easily either.
"I think I’m drunk. I need to lie down." Thesaya, having set down her empty goblet, stood up just then. With a slight smile on her face, she turned and threw herself onto the bed.
She didn’t even wash before lying down on a bed I haven’t even used yet.
Ian’s eyes narrowed slightly. Not that Thesaya cared—she was already rolling around on the bed.
"Want to lie down too, Ian? It’s very soft."
Ian, pretending not to hear her, took another sip of wine and then said, "So I guess they left without meeting Charlotte."
Thesaya, who had been rolling around, paused. Of course, it was only for a moment.
Lying down, she turned only her head toward Ian and said, "They asked me how to meet her, so I advised against it. Outsiders can’t set foot near Maro Tel. Especially near the jungle, it’s practically suicide. And back then, I was still exchanging letters with Kitty. Though, of course, everyone flipped out at the idea of putting the Platinum Dragon’s message in writing."
Thesaya shrugged, still lying on her stomach. "But I reassured them that it couldn’t be written at length anyway, and that we hadn’t mentioned any important matters directly so far. It wouldn’t do anyone good if word got out that an elder fairy and a beastfolk chieftain were exchanging messages."
"You didn’t use something like a Scroll of Correspondence?"
Ian’s question made Thesaya laugh as she swung her leg.
"Do you know how expensive those are, Ian? It’s no different from writing with gold. And hard to get, too."
"Aha…" Ian chuckled bitterly, thinking of Seras.
Her long letters were, quite literally, a luxury only possible for a Princess.
"We used trained crows to communicate. They’re very smart and tough birds. We used one to send the news at that time, too."
A quiet voice followed, muffled under the curtain of her silver hair. "Kitty was happy, of course. She even wrote back, saying you’d definitely return."
"So, is she doing well?" Ian asked after moistening his lips with wine.
Thesaya hesitated for a moment, then answered, "I don’t know, Ian. It’s been nearly half a year since a reply has arrived."
Ian set down his goblet. "Something happened, didn’t it?"
"I wasn’t planning on talking about this today," Thesaya murmured and pushed herself up.
"I don’t know the exact situation either. As I said, the letters couldn’t be long, and we didn’t communicate often. I was busy with family matters for a while, too, same with Kitty."
Thesaya, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed, shrugged. "She said there were a lot of crazy young ones."
"The ones who serve Kruxica."
"Probably. Of course, I wasn’t too worried. Kitty is strong, right? Besides, she has your gift, the elixir, and Spotty by her side."
Spotty?
Ian echoed the name silently, then gave a faint nod. The image that came to mind was the beastfolk knight with striped fur—a follower of Kruxica, the one Charlotte had once cut the tail off.
"Palmer, I think his name was," said Ian.
"That sounds right. He never even spoke a word to me, but with Kitty, he acted like he’d lick her paws if she asked."
Snorting, Thesaya idly ran a hand over her bare legs and continued, "Anyway, it seemed like he was fighting hard, too. ‘Fought.’, ‘I won.’ The contents of the letters were all like that. Then the signs of the erosion started showing up. There were tons of lightning strikes in the jungle."
"It must have been a good environment for madness to seep in," Ian murmured, listening with the goblet to his lips.
Thesaya shrugged. "It’s not that surprising. The jungle is huge, and there aren’t many beastfolks. Plus, the South prefers handling their problems on their own."
Thesaya sighed, her shoulders slumping, and looked at Ian. "Even though I became the head of the house, there wasn’t much I could do to help. The most I did was convene the Council of Elders. I proposed that we not touch the beastfolk until the aftermath of the erosion had completely subsided. Especially calling in the purification squads."
"Did they accept that?"
"Yes. The capital couldn’t worry about us anyway. They were even requisitioning personnel from the South."
In any case, it sounds like they were looking out for each other.
Thesaya swept her voluminous hair back with her hand and continued, "A letter arrived a while later. She said the situation had gotten a bit complicated. I still don’t know exactly what she meant."
"Was that the last letter?"
"I told her to let me know if she needed help. She said not to worry, that she would figure it out somehow. So I replied, telling her not to die. That was the last one."
Thesaya clicked her tongue and flopped onto her back on the bed.
"That irresponsible Kitty… At one point, I seriously considered going to find her. I figured I could hide well enough on my own. But before I could decide, the Black Wall fell."
Still staring at the ceiling, she slowly turned her head toward him. "So I just waited. Figured maybe you’d come back."
Ian, who had been draining the remaining wine in his goblet, let out a long sigh through his nose. "I was planning on staying for at least a week to observe the situation…"
Finally setting down his empty goblet, he turned to face Thesaya. "But it seems I’ll have to go and check if she’s safe first."