I wanted to comply with Ruperi's wish.
But making a promise I could not keep would only give him false hope, so I silently watched him.
'I'm sorry.'
He had known I would leave after all.
I let Ruperi sort through his feelings and looked at the hall behind him.
High-ranking figures from Horein had gathered there.
I saw people from the Five Great Houses, the group of priests who had given Ruperi gifts, and Horein's adorable young children smiling brightly.
It had a warmth different from dark Miten.
'Could I not remain at the Kreuz estate a little longer, since I have only heard Father's voice so far?'
Could I not block Father from summoning my soul and spend more time at Ruperi's side?
The warmth I had tasted once was addictive enough to make me never want to let go of it again.
Seeing Ruperi desperately hold back his tears, I did not want to leave him.
After hesitating, I made words appear before Ruperi.
[I'll leave someday.]
Ruperi flinched.
[But I'll stay by your side for as long as I can.]
At those words, Ruperi looked at me with reddened eyes.
Though he stood with the light behind him, Ruperi's blue eyes still shone brilliantly.
[I don't know when I'll have to leave, but I'll stay with you for a long time—no, until you're sick of me—before I go. So don't be so sad.]
"……Is that really true, Paul?"
[You don't have to pretend to sleep at night. I won't leave.]
"You really will stay by my side?"
[I really will.]
At that, Ruperi's eyes widened before brightening at once.
A single tear seemed to slide down his face, but Ruperi suddenly hugged me, so I could no longer see it.
"Thank you, Paul!"
I did not know whether it was the right thing to reveal my true feelings to Ruperi.
But I decided not to think too deeply about it.
Pushing every problem aside, I smiled faintly along with Ruperi.
Ruperi pulled away from me and smiled brightly.
[……Ruperi?]
A stream of blood ran from Ruperi's nose.
***
- Your Grace, I have something urgent to tell you. May we move to the lounge?
Hadel remembered Didike Roem's words.
Didike Roem had approached with a grim expression and subtly spoken to him before leading Hadel to the lounge.
Looking at the pure-white priestly robes walking ahead of him, Hadel tilted his head.
'What could he possibly want to discuss?'
Hadel remained puzzled, but the words he heard the moment he entered the lounge were unexpected.
"The teddy bear must be burned."
"The teddy bear?"
"Did you not sense the aura? It is the aura of Miten."
Hadel's eyes widened at those words.
The aura of Miten?
"What do you mean? By teddy bear, do you mean Ruperi's toy?"
Didike nodded. Then he began explaining the aura he had sensed when he met Ruperi.
As Hadel knew, Didike had come under the Pope's orders to congratulate Ruperi on his birthday. He was practically the Pope's representative.
He had arrived late because of work, but fortunately, he had delivered the Pope's congratulations before Ruperi left the banquet.
But when he met Ruperi, he had sensed something ominous.
"An ominous aura?"
"It was an eerie aura. And it was coming from the teddy bear."
"It came from the teddy bear?"
"Did you not sense it, Duke Kreuz? It was faint, but to me…… Ah, perhaps you could not have sensed it."
The teddy bear's aura had been that weak.
Unless someone had Mana Sense as exceptionally keen as Didike's, or had honed that sense to its utmost limit, they would not immediately realize that it was the aura of Miten.
Even so, the teddy bear seemed to have been near Ruperi for quite a long time. Didike could not understand how Hadel had felt no suspicion whatsoever about its strange atmosphere.
"But its atmosphere must have been unusual. Even if you could not sense the aura, did you never think there was something strange about it?"
"I did feel that way, but…… it was only its atmosphere. I never sensed anything evil from it……"
Hadel trailed off and tilted his head again.
It seemed the teddy bear had already been accepted within his boundaries.
This was Hadel's problem. Once someone entered his circle, he might be suspicious at first, but he would dwell on the matter too long and allow things to worsen.
Nothing had gone wrong so far, but Didike, who had watched him closely, could foresee that this temperament would someday hold him back.
"Come to your senses. It has only been a few months since House Dikidia sent curse mages. Can you truly say with certainty that there is nothing wrong with that teddy bear?"
"Are you saying that I was bewitched into buying the teddy bear?"
"It could have magic on it. We are talking about Miten."
But Hadel shook his head.
"There is no magic on it. Its atmosphere seemed strange to me too, so I infused it with Divine Power, but I did not sense Miten's Darkness Magic."
Hadel said that, but honestly, he did suspect the teddy bear.
Yet the aura of Miten coming from that adorable teddy bear…….
'Wait a moment.'
Was he trusting the teddy bear too much?
He had bought it as a friend for Ruperi because it looked lonely. But it was true that the moment he saw the doll section, that teddy bear alone had caught his eye.
The teddy bear had an eerie atmosphere, and whenever Ruperi caused one incident or another, it had been nearby.
And several weeks earlier, Ruperi had been speaking with the teddy bear.
Had he not even wondered whether the teddy bear had always been that cold?
As Hadel's expression gradually hardened, Didike finally relaxed his own stiff face.
"I am the same. I cast Divine Magic on the teddy bear, but I could not sense any Darkness Magic."
"Then the spell from earlier……"
"That is right. It was a Protection spell, but Miten's mages find our Divine Power dreadful, so I cast it as a test."
"But the teddy bear did not react. You said you could not sense Darkness Magic either."
Then why had Didike sensed the aura of Miten?
At the question implicit in Hadel's words, Didike fell silent.
It was a reasonable doubt even to him. The teddy bear had not reacted to the Divine Power of Horanus, nor had he found any trace of Darkness Magic.
Yet he could sense Miten's aura.
'Is there a type of Darkness Magic that erases its traces? It is quite difficult to erase traces of Mana.'
Didike narrowed his eyes. In the end, he decided to trust his senses.
"Whatever the case, I am certain that I can sense Miten's aura from that teddy bear. As you know, I am skilled at sensing auras."
"That is true. Your Mana Sense is superior to mine."
"So you must trust my words—no, trust my senses."
Didike spoke firmly to the indecisive man.
"You must take the teddy bear from the Young Master and burn it. Then send him to the Grand Temple for an examination to determine whether he has been affected by the teddy bear."
***
The birthday banquet ended without incident.
Many high-ranking figures had attended, but none of them discovered my identity.
I no longer tried to untangle my twisted Mana. Instead, I researched a spell that would prevent Father from summoning me so that I could remain beside Ruperi longer.
'My connection with my original body is stronger than I thought.'
I could use Necromancy, but only on dead souls.
Except for when I researched the Soul-Exchange Ritual, I had never paid attention to living souls. In that sense, I had learned something new.
SCRATCH, SCRATCH—
As I wrote formulas across a sheet of white paper, Ruperi, who had been watching me, asked,
"Paul, you're studying, right?"
[Yeah.]
"You're not doodling?"
Doodling?
I stopped my quill and examined the formulas I had written.
Beautiful formulas and graphs, along with theories briefly written down.
It was difficult to conduct research with the inconvenient body of a teddy bear, so my handwriting was clumsy, but it was not unreadable.
[Does this look like doodling to you?]
"Yeah."
[Which part?]
"Um, all of it?"
Ruperi frowned and agonized, as though he did not know which part to point out.
Seeing him struggle, I tightened my grip around the quill.
'So he thinks I've been doodling?'
Who did he think I was going through all this trouble for?
'As expected, he doesn't know the first thing about magic.'
As I sulked and considered how to get angry at Ruperi effectively—
DRIP, DRIP—
[Ruperi!]
"Ah, again."
Blood dripped from Ruperi's nose. Red circles spread across the white paper.
I hurried to get a handkerchief, but Ruperi was used to it. He took one from his pocket and covered his nose.
[Are you okay?]
"I'm okay. I've been getting nosebleeds often lately."
"Maybe I'm tired?"
Ruperi muttered that, but he had slept well ever since I promised to stay by his side.
The nosebleed that had first appeared at the birthday banquet continued even after a week had passed.
I had thought it would gradually stop with time, but the amount of blood was increasing instead.
'What is wrong? His complexion does not look good either.'
Should I call a doctor?
That thought became reality not long afterward.
"Young Master!"
"Ruperi!"
The world spun, and Ruperi collapsed.