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Chapter 84

Students came and went from the dressing rooms. Some headed to their dorms or homes with their parents. Others lingered in the garden outside the Great Hall, savoring the afterglow of the ball.

Though it was late, the Academy still had a festive atmosphere.

In a shadowy alley behind the Great Hall, a man spotted a student with crimson hair slipping into the darkness amid the commotion and bowed to him.

"Your Highness."

"Please don't call me that here. Too many ears."

Though the student coldly declined, the man's faint smile didn't waver. After a brief apology, he got to the point.

"How was the young count of Grizzly's condition?"

"He appears to be resting in his dormitory, but seems fully recovered."

"Already?"

His expression showed doubt about the student's work.

"Did you not see the hall? Part of the ceiling collapsed. It should have been at least a serious injury—life-threatening in the worst case."

At the student's further explanation, a satisfied smile finally filled his face.

"Is that so. Then, after all..."

"Yes. Your Viscountship's guess was correct."

With unusual, dry teal eyes fixed on the Viscount, the student asserted:

"Verdiana Grizzly—the adopted daughter of the Grizzly Count—is Eostre's incarnation, harboring spring's power."

"At last, we've found her."

The Chancellor, Viscount Sylvain Serpierre, let out a sigh of relief and looked up at the sky.

Was he gazing at the night sky? Or at his beloved lord?

Breaking from that brief reverie, the student met the Chancellor's gaze again and said:

"I entrust my father to you."

"With all my heart."

After slowly enunciating each word, the Chancellor bowed once more.

As he watched the Chancellor's back with an expressionless face, the student suddenly looked up, sensing something.

"What is it?"

"...Nothing."

At the Chancellor's questioning gaze, the teal eyes that had been fixed above returned to their place.

Having urgently teleported to another building's roof, Pallas released his held breath.

To sense my concealed presence—he's no ordinary talent.

Just before Theodor's carriage arrived, Pallas had been surveying the Academy. He'd sensed a beast-person suppressing immense magical power and teleported to follow them.

Crimson hair—a rare color. Pallas could immediately guess the student's lineage.

The red fox Renard family.

Fox beast-people were born with a talent for magic—their magical reserves were overwhelming compared to other beast-people.

Even so, that much is extraordinary.

It was such skilled control that even he, a great mage, would have missed it. The mage beside him surely hadn't noticed.

The current Chancellor—Viscount Serpierre.

"Your Highness."

A rarely heard title.

A red fox beast-person. Vast magical power. A title used for the Imperial family.

There was only one possibility.

So they hid him within the Renard family.

The only son of the current Emperor, Cieldor Maximilian de Albero—the Crown Prince, Lucian Adrian de Albero.

The second son his aging father barely obtained after losing his firstborn in an accident.

Rumors said the Emperor had been overprotective of the young Crown Prince since childhood—even more so than Theodor.

It was well known that the Crown Prince was confined to the inner palace, unable to venture outside.

As a result, no one knew where or how he lived, whether he was preparing to succeed the throne, or even whether he inherited the Emperor or Empress's blood—what kind of beast-person he was.

But if he'd been hidden within another family...

Then the reason the Crown Prince is shrouded in secrecy wasn't the Emperor's overprotectiveness.

And that Crown Prince had discovered—

The location of the only means to save the Emperor: spring's power.

Things are escalating.

But there was still time. "Imperial commands" required procedures.

He needed to move quickly.

He sensed Theodor's presence—he'd arrived.

Pallas teleported to the front of Theodor's carriage.

---

Two Grizzly carriages arrived before the Academy's main gate.

They needed two—one for the injured Ferdinand, and another for the rest.

Ferdinand, fully recovered thanks to Ber, had written that one carriage would suffice—but Theodor had insisted on two.

"See? I got in fine. So go say your goodbyes, Ber."

"Okay."

Ber couldn't tear her gaze from Ferdinand. Smiling wryly, Ferdinand thought perhaps she was the most like their father.

Ber approached her friend, who had come to see her off at the gate.

"Well, Einja—have a good summer break too."

"You too, Ber. Thank you for showing me in that dress. It's a lifelong gift to me."

Ber waved her hands and laughed. Einja sometimes had this habit of exaggerating.

"Lifelong? You looked really beautiful today too—"

"Are you Einja Oakley?"

Suddenly, someone appeared between them and grabbed Einja's wrist.

"Pleased to meet you."

It was Pallas, raising the corner of his mouth.

Before Ber or Einja could react, Pallas spoke rapidly:

"You must be curious who I am, so I'll introduce myself briefly. I am Pallas Manul, the great sage of the North. There isn't a mage in this world who doesn't know my name—I'm that exceptional. Why am I suddenly here? Well, I wanted to see the cubs' faces after so long. My boundless generosity made me worry about the first cub when I heard he was injured. In short, I'm on the Grizzly family's side, so you needn't be so wary."

But despite Pallas's rapid explanation, Einja couldn't even nod. Naturally—a young man suddenly teleporting before her and calling himself a great sage couldn't be trusted at first word.

"La-Lady Pallas! What are you saying, appearing so suddenly!"

Bewildered by the sudden turn, Ber tried to stop him—but Pallas didn't release Einja's wrist.

"Einja Oakley. There's no need to say goodbye to this one today. You'll be coming to Bjorn with us."

"...Pardon?"

As Ber frowned and asked, Einja and Pallas vanished.

"I've been wanting to study that secret art of yours for a while. Consider it done, Theodor."

Having teleported into the carriage with Einja, Pallas casually waved outside the curtain to inform Theodor.

As Ber and Einja gaped in confusion, and Pallas looked utterly unperturbed, Theodor nodded.

"We'll stop by the clinic before leaving the capital—greet your grandparents and pack your things."

"Ah, yes."

At Theodor's firm, decisive words, Einja nodded in a daze.

Ber protested this high-handedness, but Pallas didn't blink. She told Einja she could refuse such proposals—but Einja said leaving for a few weeks was fine and calmed Ber down.

"It's okay, Ber. I've had many questions about my own abilities too. I'll just take this chance to learn a little."

"Einja, why are you so calm!"

"Good. I'll teach you with all my heart."

"Lady Pallas!"

"Your friend says she's fine—why so much fuss?"

With his usual arrogant chin raised, Pallas turned his gaze to Theodor across from him. Their eyes met.

With just a look, Theodor understood Pallas's intent.

Soon—what they'd feared would happen.

The time would come when he'd have to raise his sword to protect his daughter.

A few days after Ber's group arrived at Grizzly Castle—

An imperial command came down.

---

Since childhood, his father had drilled into him like a mantra:

"You are the future of the Albero Imperial family."

As if to compensate for the mother he'd never known—her face or her warm embrace—his father's voice and expression were unbearably gentle and warm.

After the untimely death of the Albero Empire's only legitimate heir—a sibling he'd never known—over a decade later, he was born, taking his mother's life. That child was Lucian Adrian de Albero.

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