"How was it, Ruperi? It was fun, was it not?"
"Yes! I want to play like this again next time!"
"When I have time, we can play at night again. Next time, I will show you how to conceal your presence and move through the garden."
"Wow! Paul! Father says he will play with us at night again!"
Are you that happy about it?
Ruperi beamed and bounced on the balls of his feet.
It was late. Hadel was glad to see his son smiling so happily, but he needed to send him inside before it grew any later.
Just as he was about to part with Ruperi—
"Ruperi."
"Yes?"
"Since you may come out again at night, I will cast a protection spell on you."
For some reason, Hadel was uneasy that Ruperi might break his promise again.
"A protection spell?"
"I told you not to come out alone, but this is just in case."
Second-Tier Divine Magic: Protection.
When Hadel reached out his hand, a holy light settled brilliantly over Ruperi's head.
As Hadel, a Grade 2 Holy Knight, had not regulated his Divine Power, a second-tier Protection spell was cast.
"And I should cast one on Paul as well."
He cast Protection on the teddy bear too. The moment its warm aura seeped into Nellis's body, she stiffened.
'W-why are you casting it on me too?'
I don't want to feel this sort of warmth!
Regardless of Nellis's revulsion, Hadel smiled kindly and ushered Ruperi and the teddy bear into the bedroom.
***
The next day, Praten frowned at the party plan lying on his desk.
It had been a plan scribbled in a hurry, but he had not written it this messily.
Every numbered item he had written down as it came to him was crossed out, and beside them were things that might have been letters—or forms with no discernible meaning.
The one bit of writing he could make out was:
"Seriously?"
Around it were clumsy circles and lines of unknown purpose, drawn with abandon.
He could not make any sense of it.
No, perhaps he understood the lines. Were they stars?
"Could a ghost really have moved in?"
It might have been the work of the ghost Anchina had mentioned.
Anchina had brought the party plan over with a poor complexion, saying it had been doodled on again.
"Can Divine Power exorcise ghosts?"
Tilting his head for a moment, Praten set the matter aside and turned to the next page.
The scribbling continued. Why had the plan been covered in such doodles……?
"Hm?"
Then he reached the final page, where, unlike the previous pages, a carefully drawn circle caught his green eyes.
The last page contained traces of their deliberation over whom to invite to the surprise birthday party.
Inside the circle was the first person they had written down as someone they absolutely had to invite.
Sharos Sorin Streck.
The moment he saw the name, Praten thought he understood who had been tormenting Anchina night after night.
His younger brother Ruperi, who had grown cold lately.
"What? You knew all along?"
Of course Ruperi had noticed. He was perceptive.
Anchina had met with Praten frequently and even spirited Paul away. There was no way Ruperi would not have noticed.
Praten had expected him to dislike it and call it pointless. Instead, he had slipped into the study and hidden his identity by leaving childlike doodles.
"Since he has gone this far, I should do as Ruperi wants."
With a faint smile, Praten decided to read through the party plan again now that he knew whose doodles they were.
But once he reached the final page, there was one thing he simply could not do as Ruperi asked.
"How can I leave out Ruperi's friend?"
He felt sorry for Ruperi, but Sharos had to be invited.
***
The next day, we went to look over the party plan again.
Even when we voiced our opinions, they had not always been reflected in the plan, so we headed to the study just in case.
Fortunately, it seemed Praten had noticed that Ruperi had visited his study.
The points we had agreed on were written neatly in his tidy handwriting.
"What do you think? Do you like it?"
[I do. Very much.]
Pleased, I returned to the bedroom and decided to stop sneaking out to add my opinions to the party plan.
It was also fortunate, since I would have run into Duke Kreuz again if I had kept sneaking out at night.
I shuddered at the thought of the Divine Magic being cast on me.
'Ugh.'
It was a fresh, unpleasant Divine Power that somehow felt as though it were soothing my heart.
It felt similar to when Duke Kreuz had stroked my head, which made me never want to experience it again.
'It is Divine Power in both cases, so why does it feel different from the Priest of Mitnus's?'
Was it because the way they wielded Divine Power was different?
Remembering what had happened a few days before, I shivered and looked at Ruperi sleeping soundly.
I had not cast Sleep Magic on him. After a lengthy battle of wills, I had finally gotten him to sleep first.
If I had not tied a curtain cord between my soft body and Ruperi's arm to settle his anxiety, I would probably still be arguing with him.
'Is he afraid I will disappear?'
You really are sharp.
But he could rest easy for now. I could not escape at the moment anyway.
And even if I did escape, I should see the surprise birthday party first.
As I looked at the sleeping Ruperi, I whispered to him.
[Do not worry. When I leave, I will make sure to tell you.]
Perhaps my intent reached him. A faint smile touched Ruperi's blank face.
With a small smile of my own, I settled beside him. It was time to untangle my twisted Mana.
When I closed my eyes, I could sense the crude Mana Core that had formed inside the teddy bear.
The flow of Mana was still tangled, and I wanted to sigh at the thought of how to undo it.
'I can do this. I am a Grade 2 Necromancer.'
I circulated the Mana inside me. Controlling it, I slowly untangled the wild knots in its flow.
I worked at it so intently that I felt as if nonexistent cold sweat were running down my body.
As I entered a trance while unraveling the tangled flow of Mana—
- ……llis, can you hear me……?
I heard a strange voice.
My eyes flew open.
[Gasp!]
But the strange voice had dissipated, and I was startled once more by the blue eyes that were watching me intently, their owner resting his chin on his hand.
[W-when did you wake up?]
"Just now."
[It doesn't look like you woke up just now.]
"I did. You were gathering power even after I woke up, so I was wondering how long you would keep at it. Are you done now?"
I was not done.
I wanted to tell him to sleep first, but the blue eyes staring at me without moving made it seem I would have to end today's Mana circulation here.
[I'm done. Let's sleep now.]
"Really? Paul, I waited for you!"
Ruperi brightened and hugged me.
I did not sweat, and my body should not have been able to grow cold, yet the warmth reaching me made it feel as though my chilled body was warming up.
'I can't get used to this warmth.'
But Ruperi's body heat was high like any child's, and he hugged me with all his heart. It felt as though the walls around my heart were crumbling down.
'Do I really have to escape from the Kreuz estate?'
That inner voice suddenly slipped out.
'What am I thinking? Of course I have to escape! The Kreuz estate is far too dangerous!'
I came to my senses with a start, but perhaps circulating Mana had exhausted me; my vision began to blur.
Just as I was about to surrender to the closing darkness, I remembered the strange voice I had heard earlier.
- ……llis, can you hear me……?
What on earth had that voice been?
But it did not end there.
Over the next several days—or rather, every few days—it began to return whenever I circulated my Mana.
At first, it was faint. But as my Mana flow gradually stabilized, the voices became clearer.
- ……I wish……I cannot…….
- How dare you……leave as you please. Come back……you should know I will not let you be…….
There were pleading voices, scolding voices, and finally even sobbing voices.
'Is it a Wraith's voice?'
But Wraiths were spiritual entities. They did not have voices.
While I pondered those strange sounds, Ruperi, seated beside me, came into view.
Ruperi's birthday was in summer.
A breeze carrying a fair amount of warmth entered through the open window. Ruperi's black hair fluttered softly before settling again.
When I looked at the blue eyes beneath it, like a summer sky, I no longer thought of Aplin.
Ruperi was currently in the drawing room, choosing the clothes he would wear to his birthday party—no, banquet.
Then, perhaps sensing my gaze, he turned his head.
"What is it, Paul? Do you want to choose clothes with me too?"
Praten, Anchina, and the tailor were nearby, so Ruperi did not wait for an answer. He set me down on his lap.
The catalog showed clothing in a variety of designs.
I chose an outfit to my taste, and, as expected of a Kreuz, Ruperi chose the exact opposite.
'Fine. I will indulge him. If he wants to wear blue like a proper Kreuz, then so be it.'
My opinions had been reflected in the banquet preparations, so I did not need to insist on the clothes too.
Satisfied, I spent the days afterward being tormented by Ruperi—no, spending time with him—as we watched the preparations for the banquet.
At night, I continued to untangle the twisted flow of Mana.
- You cunning little thing. Do you think you are no longer a Teneris just because you escaped House Teneris?
Not long after, I learned the identity of the strange voice.