9. Visiting the Sick One
CLAUDE hadn’t been working in his position for very long, but he was already a skilled diplomat. As I’d requested of him the previous evening, he set up a meeting with Karina the next day, during the morning.
As expected, Karina didn’t complain when we said that we just wanted to visit Elena to see how she was and show her some new magic.
I dressed in a cream dress—my most modest piece—with just a few bows at the neckline and hips. Then I pulled a small, light-blue box from my trunk. It was tied with a white ribbon.
Inside was a hairpiece with a Magic Crystal. Karina had written in her letter that her original one had broken, so I’d brought this one to replace it. Of course, I had Ed cast another protective spell on it, too.
Just as I was finishing getting ready, there was a knock on the door. Ellie answered it. Once the door was open, I could see a Nigrenian civil official, plus my guard, Hendrick, and also the two magicians I’d brought from Najir. One was Ed, of course. The other was a man named Toll.
“Shall we get going? Where are the flowers?”
“Prince Harold had these prepared for us.”
Ellie didn’t miss a beat. She showed me the vase of flowers the civil official had brought.
The vase was filled with gorgeous lavender flowers. It was quite big and required both of Ellie’s hands to hold it, but it wasn’t so big as to have been too gaudy. It was perfect. Harold had chosen well.
“I see. Then, let us go.”
I stood up from my chair and the civil official, Harold’s right-hand man, led the way to Karina’s chambers.
✦ ✦ ✦
I couldn’t explain it, but…something didn’t feel right.
Once we entered Karina’s room, the air felt heavy somehow.
If you asked me what exactly was wrong, I couldn’t tell you, but as soon as I stepped into the room, I felt it. It was something oppressive. As if some unknown magical power was concentrated there…
I looked back over my shoulder to see Ed enter the room and immediately frown, as if deep in thought. He must’ve noticed whatever it was I had.
“Thank you for letting us come to see you on such short notice.”
I grasped my skirts and curtsied. Karina nodded curtly in response. She’d come to receive us at the door. Now, she turned around. I looked past Karina to see that she was heading over to the windows.
When I saw the small figure sitting there, I was taken aback.
There was a sofa and table set located in front of the window. Elena was sitting on the sofa, hugging her knees, looking extremely pale and drawn, as if she might vanish at any moment.
Her cheeks were sunken and her eyes were unfocused. She wore a light pink, loose dress and gazed absently out the windows.
“Elena, you’ve got guests.”
Karina spoke to her. Finally, Elena seemed to become aware of our presence, turning her gaze this way. The next moment, her eyes widened rapidly.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Miss Elena? It’s me, Annabel, Princess of Najir. I heard you weren’t feeling well, so I came to pay you a visit.”
I lowered my head in a polite greeting.
Elena stayed staring this way for a moment. Her eyes had the look of one who’d given up on life, but just for a moment, I thought I saw a spark of life there. Then her eyes suddenly filled with tears.
“Lady Elena?”
I was alarmed by her sudden tears and wasn’t sure what to say.
But Elena said nothing. She just sat there, tears dripping down her chin. She kept opening and closing her mouth like she wanted to say something. But no words came out.
“It’s all right. I’m sure she’s just overwhelmed with gratitude by your visit.”
Karina placed a hand on Elena’s shoulder, smiling as if to say: “What a silly thing you are!” But Elena just looked up at Karina with fear and anxiety in her eyes.
Hmm? What’s going on here?
Seeing Elena and Karina interact increased my discomfort.
It was a nice scene: the privileged princess comforting her most trusted magician friend. But there was a hard look in Karina’s eyes that I couldn’t help noticing. I was sure I hadn’t imagined it, either. Something intimidating was there.
The next moment, though, Karina turned to face us, smiling her usual warm smile. I couldn’t see any hint of unkindness in those gentle eyes—it was almost a little too perfect of a switch.
“Elena, some magicians from Najir have come today to show you some magic. Won’t that be fun?” Karina leaned down a little and took Elena’s hand. Elena blinked in confusion for a few seconds, but then she smiled too.
Toll was the first to demonstrate some magic for Elena.
He started with simple Levitation magic by making a pen float above his palm. It was simple stuff. We studied it at Grail Academy. Even children could cast such a spell in Najir.
But Elena’s eyes widened, and she reached out tentatively to put her hand between the floating pen and Toll’s hand. Once she realized it really was floating, her face lit up with joy.
“Wow…” Speaking for the first time, Elena’s voice sounded like that of an excited child.
“You must’ve been able to conjure this kind of magic easily enough before you fell sick, Miss Elena?”
Apparently, Elena could use Transference magic as well as Material Composition. Levitation magic should have been child’s play for her.
But when I made a comment to that effect, surprised that Elena was acting like she’d never seen Levitation before, Elena’s face resumed the same stricken expression from just before.
She opened and closed her mouth like she wanted to say something, but no words came out.
After that, Ed and Toll took turns to show her some increasingly difficult magic. Ed conjured a flame in midair then transformed it into the shape of a phoenix. Elena’s eyes lit up and she beamed with excitement. After every demonstration, she turned excitedly to the next magician, her eyes filled with anticipation.
I was relieved to see that Elena was enjoying it so much. Far more than I’d expected her to, in fact.
She seems much more expressive than the last time we met.
When Karina brought Elena to Najir, she’d been very expressionless and non-demonstrative. I’d thought her a bit cold and felt sure I’d have trouble getting to know her. She’d barely spoken then, too. But now, Elena seemed somehow very different.
“Hey… We want to see some new magic. Like we saw when we came to Najir.”
After about an hour, Karina suddenly made a request.
“Elena’s a magician. So it’ll be a good learning experience for her.”
I nodded to Ed and Toll. They spoke to each other for a few moments, then Ed stepped forward.
“How about the Illusion you saw last time?”
“We’ve already seen that one. Haven’t you got anything else?”
Ed frowned.
Clearly, he hadn’t been expecting such a refusal.
“Our magicians are hard at work day and night on new forms of magic. But we’ve nothing else that’s complete as of now. The magic we’re researching now would be very hard for outsiders to comprehend.”
“What do you mean, ‘hard to comprehend?’”
Karina sounded most interested. Ed thought for a moment but seemed not to know how to answer. Instead, Toll stepped in.
“Edoile is working on creating Magic Sigils that can be used even by non-magical folk. And I’m currently researching magic that can be used to obscure memories. It falls under the Illusion category of magic.”
“Magic that obscures memories! How fascinating!”
Karina gave Toll a beseeching look, palms pressed together.
Seeing this, Elena suddenly went pale.
“No! You can’t!”
Elena had leaped to her feet, shouting. She was extremely pale and looked like she’d keel over at any second.
“Elena! She needs help!”
I turned to Ed in a panic. Ed nodded, stepping forward to lay hands on Elena so that he could apply some healing magic. But as he touched her, his expression grew stiff.
“Sorry, it looks like she’s had enough for today. Perhaps another time.”
Then Karina took hold of Elena’s arm and pulled her away, out of Ed’s reach. Then she stepped in front of the girl, as if to hide her from view.
“Yes, of course. We mustn’t stay any longer. We wouldn’t want to keep Elena from her rest. Please excuse us.”
We all turned and left Elena’s room, aware that our presence was no longer desired.