CHAPTER 093
"Have you arrived, Crown Prince?"
As they moved to the drawing room, the High Priest, who had arrived first, greeted Philip and Madden.
"It's been a while, High Priest."
After a brief exchange of greetings, the High Priest cautiously began to speak.
"I heard you have something to discuss."
Philip got straight to the point.
"I wanted to talk about the magic circle."
"The magic circle?"
"I heard you asked the Tower Master to stop the investigation. We'd like to take over."
"What?"
The High Priest wasn’t the only one surprised. Madden was equally taken aback.
This was something that hadn’t been discussed with Madden at all.
However, Philip looked at Madden without any concern.
"Aren’t you a magician as well? You’d find such a task interesting."
Is this the time to be interested? Madden wanted to protest.
He had no interest in the mysterious magic circle, yet the Crown Prince was creating work for him.
With a troubled expression, the High Priest responded.
"This is not a decision I can make on my own. It was decided through a meeting with other priests-"
"So, are you saying it's not possible?"
A magic circle appears in the temple.
It was intriguing, and knowing it was less than a hundred years old made it even more so.
"I understand your concerns. You’re worried it might bring disgrace to the temple, right?"
"……."
The High Priest did not answer.
But his silence was as good as a confirmation.
"It's out of personal curiosity. I promise it won't harm the temple, so please, don’t worry."
Philip spoke softly, and Madden sighed heavily inside.
This wasn’t the kind of trouble he had teamed up with him for!
* * *
While Philip and Madden were visiting the temple, Lewis was working at the magic tower when he received a communication from Michael.
"What’s going on?"
- Madden left the palace with the Crown Prince.
It seemed Michael was contacting him to inform him of the Crown Prince's movements.
"What are they doing together in broad daylight?"
- Who knows. They didn’t inform anyone before leaving.
As he communicated with Michael, Lewis lightly tapped his crystal ball.
The image of the street appeared in the crystal ball.
Lewis could use the crystal ball to see the places he wanted to check.
Since he didn’t know where the Crown Prince was, he started scanning various parts of the capital.
As he randomly viewed different scenes of the city, he finally spotted them.
"They’re at the temple."
In the scene with the temple in the background, the Crown Prince and Madden were visible.
The distant perspective prevented him from hearing any sound, which was a bit disappointing.
"The Crown Prince and Madden are at the temple right now."
- The temple? What are they doing there?
"Who knows, they must have something important to discuss with the High Priest."
The best they could do was create noise-making magic stones. It wasn’t something that posed a significant threat.
'They probably started the provocation because of their inferiority complex and intent to harm me.'
It was the beginning of their provocation, but Lewis had something far more important to him.
Winning Selina’s heart.
That was more important than anything else.
So far, Lewis hadn’t paid much attention to Philip and Madden.
Philip and Madden were originally out of his concern.
That didn’t mean he was going to be careless; he was keeping a moderate eye on their movements with Michael.
First, win Selina’s heart. Paying close attention to Philip and Madden could come after that.
Lewis had set his priorities that way.
It wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience for them to receive his attention, though.
* * *
It had been four days since Lewis visited the Duke’s mansion.
At that time, it felt like he would visit every day, yet it had already been four days.
I didn’t contact him either, so four days had passed!
When he surprised me so much, how could he be so sporadic in his contact?
We used to meet less frequently than before. The fact that four days felt like a long time showed how much time I had spent with Lewis.
"Michael, is the Marquis very busy?"
"Lewis is always busy."
When I asked Michael in the hallway, he answered with a smile.
Indeed, meeting me was probably squeezed into his busy schedule.
…Should I contact him first?
Back in my room, I activated the communication ball, and Lewis answered quickly.
- Selina?
"Marquis!"
Hearing his voice was so easy with the communication ball.
Why did I wait four days?
"I was thinking of visiting the magic tower to see you today, would that be alright?"
I had contacted him first before, and I had enough reasons to visit the magic tower with the magic stones there.
Even if there was still noise with me around, Lewis said it was better to have me there!
- I’d love that.
Of course. The immediate response showed that his busy schedule was probably the reason for the sporadic contact.
"So, what time should I come?"
I arranged a time with Lewis and ended the communication.
It was just over an hour later when I met Lewis.
"You’ve arrived, Lady."
"Hello! Is the Marquis upstairs?"
"Yes. He said to come up as soon as you arrived."
After a brief exchange of greetings with the mage who greeted me, I headed up to Lewis's office.
"Marquis!"
I grabbed the doorknob of his office and opened the door.
"You’re here?"
Ah, but there was a guest.
A woman was sitting on the sofa in front of Lewis’s desk.
Someone I hadn’t seen before. If she were a noble lady around my age, I would have known her face.
A magician?
There were many female magicians in the magic tower. However, this woman didn’t seem to be one.
The magicians of the tower typically wore robes, but she was just in a dress.
"Ah, this is the Lady Elsner!"
"Yes."
As soon as she saw me, she exclaimed in surprise and turned to Lewis.
She spoke to Lewis with familiarity, which was surprising.
Lewis's half-hearted response aside, it was remarkable. Not many people could speak to him so casually.
As I looked at her with wide eyes, she introduced herself.
"I’m Rosaline Hayes, a magician from Tyria."
Ah, she’s from another country!
Tyria was a neighboring country of the Ravens Empire.
"I’m Selina Elsner. Nice to meet you!"
I exchanged greetings with her.
I thought we might have a conversation together, but Rosaline seemed ready to leave.
She smiled at me and spoke to Lewis.
"Then, I’ll be going now."
"Yes, take care."
Lewis responded briefly to her.
He wasn’t overly friendly but responded properly.
After she left, I asked Lewis.
"Why was a magician from Tyria here?"
Traveling or for work? Given she’s a magician, it’s probably work-related.
"She came to see me."
"What? To see you, Marquis?"
An unexpected answer? She came to meet Lewis?
"Nothing important."
Lewis said dismissively and changed the subject.
"It’s been a while, hasn’t it?"
"Ah, yes. It’s only been four days, but it feels like a long time."
"Me too. I felt so empty without you."
He’s so straightforward.
It seemed he was going to express his feelings openly, whether at the Duke’s mansion or the magic tower.
Seeing the usual Lewis put me at ease. I was also getting used to this candid Lewis, which felt a bit surprising!
While I was feeling this strange mix of emotions, Lewis spoke up.
"The Crown Prince and Madden were meeting with the High Priest?"
"What? Why the High Priest?"
"I don’t know. I couldn’t hear them."
He couldn’t hear them?
When I tilted my head in confusion, Lewis pointed to the crystal ball on his desk.
"I was spying on them with that."
Ah, so he didn’t know what they were saying because he was just watching from a distance.
If he was only watching, it was like a CCTV.
"So the two of them were meeting with the High Priest?"
"Yes. That’s what I saw."
"It makes me uneasy when they move together… Could they be planning something to get the High Priest on their side?"
That would be bad!
Unlike me, Lewis didn’t seem worried.
His calm demeanor suggested otherwise.
"You don’t need to worry. I’ll look into it."
Our conversation soon shifted to another topic.
Lewis brought up another subject again.
Just like that, the brief thought I had about Rosaline completely vanished during our conversation.
I completely forgot the subtle feeling I had when I first saw her.
* * *
The next day, I went out with Bella for some shopping.
As Bella entered a store, she asked.
"Selina, is there anything you want?"
"No, I’m fine! I already have plenty, right?"
"Really? This would look great on you."
Bella held up some jewelry in front of me, looking disappointed even though I said I was fine!
After wandering through various stores, the maids' hands were full of paper bags.
"Shopping is great for refreshing. For stress relief, wielding a sword is the best!"
"Haha, that’s right."
Just as we were laughing and talking while leaving a hat shop, I noticed something missing from Bella.
What was it? What did she leave behind…?
Oh, her hat!
"Bella, where’s your hat?"
"Oh? My hat!"
Bella had left her hat behind. No wonder something felt missing.
"Miss, I’ll go get it."
"No, it’s just nearby. I’ll go get it."
Bella refused the maid’s offer and went back into the store alone.
I ended up standing there with the maids.
Really, Bella. She would have realized when she got back to the mansion if I hadn’t noticed!
Though Bella would likely just shrug it off.
As I waited for her to return, I looked around and noticed a familiar face.
It was Lewis.
He was partially obscured by busy passersby, but it was definitely Lewis.
Did he come out for lunch?
It was indeed lunchtime.
It seemed he hadn’t noticed me. I was about to raise my hand and call out to him.
"Marquis… Ah!"
I saw his companion just then.
So he wasn’t alone?
Hidden behind the crowd, I hadn’t seen them before, but he wasn’t alone. And his companion was—
"Rosaline?"
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