AS we walked down the hallway away from Karina’s room, I realized I was still holding something in my hand. Looking down at it, I gasped.
“Oh no! I forgot to give it to her…”
I was holding the box containing the hair accessory with the Magic Crystal I meant to give to Karina.
“You’ve still plenty of time during your visit. Why don’t you just give it to her later?”
“Oh, you’re right! I’ll do that.”
Claude smiled at me reassuringly and I smiled back. Tonight was the ball. I would definitely see Karina there. I could give her my gift then.
“Once we get back to my room, can we go over the guests who’ll be attending the ball one more time?”
Claude nodded, pleased by my request.
The ball would be a spectacular affair.
Dignitaries from all over Nigren would be attending to welcome Daniel and me. I wanted to make sure I didn’t make any mistakes that’d damage Najir’s image.
I had to make sure I familiarized myself fully with the names and backgrounds of every single guest.
“But first…” I turned to face Ed and Toll, who were walking behind us. “Did you figure anything out about Elena’s mystery ailment?”
We went to see Karina and Elena today on the pretext of a magical demonstration because Prince Harold had asked us for help figuring out Elena’s illness.
We spent around an hour in close proximity to Elena, so I figured the two magicians might’ve been able to learn something about what was plaguing her.
But Ed met my look of expectation with a somber frown.
“Actually…there’s something that concerns me about that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I believe the Lady Elena is under the influence of magic. Strong magic, at that.”
“What?” I frowned. This was unexpected.
“When she swooned just then, I touched her skin. At that moment, I clearly felt the presence of strong magic acting upon her.” Ed explained what he felt today, choosing his words carefully.
“So you’re saying that…Elena has been cursed?” I lowered my voice, speaking in hushed tones.
Elena was suffering from a mystery ailment and her body was shrouded with magic. The first conclusion I came to was that she’d been cursed. A curse was a type of damaging magic cast on an enemy to weaken them.
“I only felt it for a second, so I can’t say for sure. But it didn’t really feel like a curse. All I know is that she’s under the influence of powerful magic. I’m not even sure I could cast such heavy magic on another person.”
“It’s that bad?”
Ed was the finest magician in all the world, the pride of the Royal Magicians of Najir. Now he was saying that someone had afflicted Elena with magic stronger than his own?
“But Elena is Nigren’s finest magician, isn’t she? Who could’ve done such a thing to someone like her?”
“About that, I don’t know. All I know is that it’s a type of magic that doesn’t last for long. It needs to be continuously recast. That means whoever is behind it has to be someone near Elena.”
“Someone close to Elena…”
Karina’s letters had never really mentioned any other magicians but Elena, had they? I thought back over all the letters I’d received from her, but I couldn’t recall a single name.
“Why did she suddenly stand up screaming like that, though?” I was still confused by Elena’s sudden, dramatic outburst.
Toll had just been about to show us the new memory-obscuring magic he was researching, but Elena’s shrieks had put a stop to that.
“I don’t know what that was about, either. I want to spend more time examining Elena. If possible, without Princess Karina present.”
I nodded, understanding what Ed wanted. If he was to properly treat Elena, Karina couldn’t be there. She’d only try to stop it, otherwise. But why?
“Let’s speak to Prince Harold and ask him if he can engineer an opportunity for us.”
I nodded to Claude, who nodded briskly back.
I wonder what could be going on…
As we walked down the beautifully decorated corridor, I replayed the scene in Karina’s room in my mind. And I thought about how Karina had been in general, ever since we arrived here.
Something wasn’t right.
I could feel something gnawing away at the back of my brain. Some kind of suspicion, but I just didn’t know what it was.