Chapter 28

The Crown Prince’s calm voice held no emotion. Ant trembled slightly. But Camilla showed no sign of trembling.

“That Gilrota had a patron.”

Camilla met their gazes as she spoke.

“Did you know?”

Ayla was genuinely surprised. She had never heard this before. A patron. Camilla said Gilrota had a patron. But Ayla had never heard about or seen Gilrota’s patron. On the day the security force investigators came and went, taking items from Gilrota’s room, and even afterward, she had never heard anything about a patron visiting.

“Do you have evidence?”

Unable to move freely, Damian hadn’t been able to investigate Gilrota himself. All he knew was about Gilrota the academy student; he knew nothing of the external aspects. So Camilla’s words were new to him. Gilrota having a patron—this was quite intriguing.

In response to Damian’s question, Camilla spread a letter on the table. Damian and Ayla read through it:

Ant. Congratulate me. I got into the academy. That person is sending me to the academy. What will the academy, symbol of scholarship, be like? I’m really excited.

The neatly written letters conveyed excitement and nervousness. It was truly a letter from a boy anticipating his academy entrance. The handwriting matched that of the letter she had given them earlier.

It was Gilrota’s letter.

Damian looked at the letter with an expressionless face and called out to Ant.

“Mr. Ant.”

Ant startled violently. His heart sank.

“Y-y-yes?”

“This person mentioned in the letter. Have you ever seen them?”

Gilrota occasionally wrote about ‘that person’ in his letters. Ant knew it was a patron. But Ant had never seen this patron, not even once. He didn’t even know their name. Thinking about it now, it seemed Gilrota had deliberately hidden information about the patron.

Why had Gilrota done that?

Ant shook his head. This time, his answer came calmly, without any stuttering or nervousness.

“No. I’ve never seen them, and I don’t know their name.”

“Didn’t Gilrota tell you?”

“He wrote in letters that they were a good person, and occasionally mentioned what the patron had bought him, but…”

Ant continued with a gloomy expression.

“Come to think of it, they didn’t even come to the entrance ceremony. But I was more focused on Gilrota’s admission, so I just assumed they were busy and didn’t think much of it. I should have asked then.”

Tears suddenly welled up in Ant’s eyes. He sank into self-reproach and regret. Soon he began sniffling. Camilla pressed her fingers to her temple with an exasperated expression, while Ayla looked at Ant with a somewhat bitter expression. She thought about comforting him as he cried like that. But she was stopped by Damian’s hand holding hers.

Damian silently held her hand while staring at the letter. Ayla looked at him with eyes demanding answers. A hypothesis had formed in Damian’s mind. But he couldn’t speak rashly here yet. Above all, he couldn’t mention Gilrota’s drug use in front of Ant, his only friend.

Damian snapped two fingers. With the sound came silence. Camilla watched him with a hardened expression. Again. Space and time stopped again. He used such magic freely. Could such a person really be contained under the mere title of genius mage?

Wasn’t this practically monstrous?

“There are things we can’t discuss in front of Mr. Ant.”

Damian flashed a bright smile at Camilla who was watching him. She knew that smile was more artificial and calculated than any other.

“Camilla. Do you know about the herb called Soledina?”

She did know. She had even supervised the herb’s harvesting process herself. She also knew it was now forbidden.

“According to our suspicions, it seems Gilrota was using drugs.”

“Drugs…?”

Damian pointed to something on the table. At his fingertip lay a round yellow candy.

“It’s made with Soledina.”

Camilla’s lips pressed tightly together. She knew illegal drugs circulated in back alleys from time to time. Those people knew well what would make money and how to use it. She had heard drugs also circulated in young nobles’ social clubs.

But a drug made with Soledina was an entirely different matter.

Soledina wasn’t an herb that could be obtained easily. It was only found and could only be harvested in the king’s tomb. Only court pharmacists could harvest it under the supervision of three departments. Yet such strictly controlled Soledina had been made into an illegal drug.

Was it a crime by the three departments or the pharmacists? Or…

No way. That’s impossible. Yet the thought clearly forming in her mind seemed correct, judging by the Crown Prince’s reaction.

No one but a Magic Tower mage, specifically one in charge of the king’s tomb, could break through the magical formulas. Though someone of the Crown Prince’s level could break through easily. And someone of similar level to this Crown Prince…

For once, Camilla couldn’t maintain her composure. With a slightly trembling voice, she said:

“…Are you saying a mage made this drug?”

There was another monster.

“Yes. And we’ve confirmed that. We also found out where the drugs are being distributed.”

“…”

“Count Letir. Do you know of him?”

When she had known him, he had been a naval commander. She knew of him as a major noble family that had produced many Ministers of Military Affairs.

Camilla suddenly felt a headache coming on. Pressing her hand to her head, she held up her palm toward the Crown Prince.

“Wait, just a moment. I need to organize this. So you’re saying the drugs are being distributed in Count Letir’s territory?”

“No. The drugs are probably being distributed in Kelton too. Though I’m not sure if it started in Count Letir’s territory or if that’s just part of it. And the place where the drugs are being distributed,”

“Was a gambling house.”

Ayla finished Damian’s sentence. Camilla felt almost embarrassed by the criminal activities being revealed. Although they were a ducal daughter and Crown Prince, they were only in their early teens. Just growing children. These children had discovered all the adults’ crimes. She wasn’t sure whether to consider it fortunate or unfortunate that they learned so early. At least at their age, she had been a child who knew nothing of reality. She had only chased the light, knowing nothing of darkness. Innocent, if you will.

Looking at their composed faces, Camilla realized these young people couldn’t afford to be innocent like she had been.

“It’s probably not just that one place.”

Ayla said.

“And Damian said running gambling houses is quite profitable. How much money could they make if drugs are being distributed too? Could Count Letir not know about the gambling houses?”

“Are you saying Count Letir is providing cover?”

“Yes. He must be receiving something in return.”

“And the one running these gambling houses would be this mage?”

Ayla nodded.

Camilla couldn’t help but let out a sigh. She had thought it wasn’t a simple accident, but the more she heard, the more tangled it became like thread. She summarized the story in her mind: Gilrota had used drugs, the drugs were made with Soledina. Soledina could only be harvested from the king’s tomb. The drugs were distributed through gambling houses in Count Letir’s territory. A mage ran the gambling houses.

Something flashed through her mind like lightning.

“…I just made an assumption. Is Your Highness making the same assumption?”

The blue lake she met showed no ripples. Though the amethyst beside it was wavering.

“Yes. We think that mage might have been Gilrota’s patron. And the reason the mage killed Gilrota…”

The lake’s blue depths sank. Camilla felt as if she were being swallowed by the lake.

“Seems to be because of Count Letir’s treason.”

* * *


Camilla sank into deep thought. The Crown Prince’s words floated through her mind.

[Gilrota must have noticed the Count was plotting treason. So the mage eliminated him.]

[Though it’s just a hypothesis without certainty, the mage and Count Letir are working together. And we need information about Soledina to catch this mage.]

[Camilla. Do you know about the king’s tomb?]

At that moment, she couldn’t answer that she knew better than anyone. She could only look at the boy and girl with trembling eyes. The boy seemed to have anticipated her reaction.

[If you want to tell us another interesting story, come to the academy anytime.]

[We’ll be waiting, Camilla.]

The boy and girl who had appeared without a trace disappeared without a trace. Ant looked at Camilla in confusion, and she shut herself in her room without saying a word to him.

Camilla stared at the bookshelf. Somewhere among those densely packed books was the thing she most wanted to hide. It was also the cause that had led her to this life.

She rose and walked to the bookshelf. Though she had never taken it out while doing this work, she still clearly remembered where she had put it.

Fifth from the top. Third from the left.

Camilla opened the book. Flipping through scattered pages, she arrived at a title both familiar and strange.

<History of Kings. Age of Tombs.>

And in that page was a neatly folded paper. This old, worn paper was something she had once studied obsessively.

Camilla unfolded the paper. Buried memories began to surface one by one. When she first saw this map, she had been filled with excitement.

Langas, the capital of the Radian Empire, now nothing but desert.

It was a map of the Langas Desert.