TYND 45

TL: Motokare

“Theon! You put the sun-moon-stars outfit on Chi-chi. Isn’t it cute? I thought it was cute too. It suits Chi-chi so well.”

“Yes. That robe suits you too. You look cute.”

“Thanks. Hey, Theon, don’t you have any green or blue cloaks? Are all your cloaks always black?”

“I’ve a ceremonial cloak as white as your hair.”

“But we can’t go to Siren’s Sea in a ceremonial cloak…”

“I’ve a red one too.”

“Red cloaks are for when something bad happens to the country. I learnt that.”

“Is that so?”

Theon stroked Rothy’s head, pleased by how diligently he’d been studying despite their busy schedule. 

“When I get paid, I’ll buy you a cloak. A blue or green one.”

“I’ll look forward to it. Have you finished packing?”

“Yeah!”

The bag Rothy brought from the dressing room was a simple black one. Previously, he’d carried a bright yellow bag with a cute rabbit doll attached. 

“Tired of the rabbit?”

“No, I like rabbits, but sixteen-year-old boys don’t go around carrying yellow bags with rabbit dolls on them.”

“I see, Aeruhen must’ve said something.”

“Ah… please don’t scold Aeruhen.”

“Carry whatever bag you want.”

Rothy shook his head vigorously, going ‘uuuung’.

“I like this bag too. It’s the same colour as your hair. Black colour’s cool. You know, actually my favourite colours are black and red. But don’t tell Chi-chi.”

Theon couldn’t control his rising smile—there was no need to. When his hand cupped Rothy’s cheek, the boy naturally rubbed his face against his palm even though his hands were thick-knuckled and were rough rather than soft, Rothy smiled brightly as if they were the gentlest thing in the world. 

“Wowowow, it’s the archduchess! Your Grace! Look here, Your Grace!”

Rothy awkwardly smiled and waved at those calling out to him. Many citizens of Falsen had come to see the couple departing for their inspection of Siren’s Sea. They’d planned to leave quietly, but the territory’s people showed too much enthusiasm, to the point of camping in front of the archduke’s estate for a glimpse of them. This forced them to turn the departure into a public event. The journey from the estate to the portal would take ten minutes on horseback, but it became a thirty minutes affair instead in an open top carriage. 

“Rothy, you can sit if you’re tired.”

“I’m fine……”

Rothy claimed he was fine, but Theon thought it was nothing short of abuse to make him stand and wave with a smiling face for thirty minutes given his stamina.

“I’m sitting.”

When Theon sat, Rothy’s eyes widened. He could almost see his mind ticking, wondering, ‘Is Theon tired?’, before his cheeks turned red, and sat down next to him.

“Thank you for always being so considerate, Your Grace…”

A quick-witted boy like him couldn’t have missed that was Theon looking out for him. When Rothy leaned slightly against Theon, a smile appeared on his cold face. 

The cheers grew louder. 

Unlike Theon who didn’t wave, Rothy enthusiastically greeted the people, occasionally summoning pink petals and scattering them over the crowd. Everyone, regardless of age or gender, looked love-struck. 

“He’s just like a snow fairy.”

“Shouldn’t we call him a flower fairy instead?”

“He’s a fairy either way.”

Normally, formal and uncomfortable attire was expected for public appearances, Rothy wore a mage’s robe, with an ornate staff to boot, making it obvious that he was a mage—the only disciple of Yolone Sirin, and the youngest archmage. 

He’d reactivated the climate barrier and restored the Great Northern Mine in half a day, then single handedly stopped the hydra invasion at Hydra’s Nest and refrozen the crumbling glacier in Devil’s Icefield.

That wasn’t all. Recently, he’d become the fourth person in Imperial history to receive a ducal title. And so, the North now had two archducal houses. 

Across Falsen and throughout the entire North, Rothy’s fame had reached unprecedented heights. And not only that—

“The archduke’s different from the rumours.”

“Right? He’s such warm-looking eyes.”

“Those rumours about him being the ‘Demon of Seará’ must’ve been false.”

People labelled him as the cruel lord of the North, the heartless Demon of Seará, the most cold-blooded man to ever come out of House Falsen… But the archduke they were seeing was quite different from the rumours. Though he didn’t meet the eyes of each person cheering for him, the warmth in his eyes when he looked at Rothy to the gentle hands steadying him when the carriage shook was enough to convince them. 

Most importantly, the archduchess had shown no fear of the archduke, and was leaning his small body against him in complete trust. The man rumours labelled as cruel was cradling a small, cute, young creature that made people think, ‘Ah, here’s a man who knows how to cherish small, young things…’. 

Knowing how to cherish something was Rothy’s role, not his. 

House Falsen’s tradition is to appear scary to others, but why—

Theon watched the people’s expressions grow increasingly fond and wondered if this was right… But just then the carriage jolted, and instinct took over—he pulled Rothy into his arms again, inadvertently reinforcing his image transformation even further. 

The ride had been planned for thirty minutes, but due to the overwhelming crowds, they arrived at the portal ten minutes late. As they stepped into the two-storey mage tower, Chi-chi poked its head out of Rothy’s sleeve with a squeak. The weasel, seemingly uncomfortable, shook itself and climbed down Rothy’s body to the floor. It then went around sniffing every corner of the mage tower. Rothy crouched down and looked at it.

“You’ve been here many times. Why’re you still so wary?”

Scree

“You worry too much.”

“Rothy, crouching like that isn’t good for your health. Come sit down.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Speak comfortably.”

“Mhm.”

Theon, who worried far more than the weasel, only relaxed once Rothy had settled into a plush chair. A group of mages approached, carrying small rectangular devices. 

“Your Grace, if you’ll allow us, we’ll infuse you with magical power.”

When Theon nodded, the mages activated their devices, transferring the required amount of magical power into him. What they were using was a tremuhle designed to supply the minimum amount of magical power required for portal use. Each of Theon’s entourage received the same treatment, including Chungnip, despite being a mage himself. But they didn’t approach the young archduchess sitting in the chair, preoccupied with his pet. 

Rothy felt no pain when he imbued his magical power into tremuhles, but when it was the other way around, it’d hurt. Chungnip and a few mages who knew about Rothy’s ‘constitution’ were researching the cause but hadn’t uncovered it yet. They’d simply informed the portal mages that Rothy was a seventh-grade mage who was sensitive to external magical power. 

“Five minutes until activation.”

The mages busily prepared the portal activation while Theon and his party waited, watching Rothy play with the weasel.

Whoosh!

A paper hawk suddenly manifested in the air. It was an urgent message from the archduke’s estate. When Zey held out her hand, the hawk landed and turned into paper. Her eyes widened as she read the note. 

“Your Grace, it’s a missive from the capital.”

“From the capital?”

Zey approached with a grave face and handed over the piece of paper. 

“PLEIN’s coming to Siren’s Sea as well.”

A cold tension settled around Theon. The group’s faces—even Rothy’s—hardened at the message. 

“PLEIN… does that mean Harrié’s coming?”

Theon quickly schooled his expression and knelt on one knee before Rothy. 

“Yes. He’s coming himself. Don’t worry. No matter what he tries, I won’t let him take you away.”

 “Mhm. I’m not worried……”

But his face said otherwise. Rothy had never believed that his peace would last forever, and Theon knew it too, so the sudden notice of Harrié’s visit filled him with rage. 

But what Rothy said next surprised him. 

“I hope you both can reconcile……”

“What……?”

“You didn’t part on good terms last time. You weren’t like that originally… I’m sorry I made things bad between you……”

“You misunderstand. We’ve always been enemies.”

“That’s not true… You were on good terms. You were comrades who trusted each other’s backs…”

“That was just a necessity of war.”

Theon’s expression soured as if he’d bitten into something bitter at just imagining himself being on ‘good terms with Harrié Geelin’. Beyond their professional differences as knight and mage, they simply didn’t match as people. Likewise, Harrié would probably spit at just imagining himself being on ‘good terms with Theon Detre Falsen’.

There was no room for their relationship to improve.

“But when I insisted on not going to PLEIN, Harrié might think you stole me. I’ll explain properly when we meet this time…”

Theon gently stroked the cheek of his foolishly kind archduchess. 

From Falsen’s western coast, it’d take two more days by ship to reach Siren’s Sea. They’d planned ten days for this schedule, as it took six days round trip by speedboat from end to end. With PLEIN’s intervention, they couldn’t be certain if it’d become shorter or longer. The group headed straight to the western coastal guard post without stopping to view the seaside. After greeting the waiting guard captain, they got straight to business.