A gentle breeze rolled off the sea and blew my hair back. I reached up to smooth it down with one hand.
Before me stretched the blue ocean. It seemed to go on forever. It looked so peaceful. It seemed strange after the horrible tragedy that had taken place here the other day.
“Princess Annabel, it’s almost time.”
It was Hendrick, my guard. He was calling out to me gently.
“All right.”
I turned and nodded, then took one more look out at the vast ocean. Shaking my head a little, I turned back once more and walked out of the gazebo.
“The trunks have already been loaded into the carriages. The Nigrenians have already gathered to see us off. You’re to address them.”
Hendrick tipped his head, indicating that my presence was required.
Today, I was to return to Najir.
We’d only been here a matter of days, yet somehow, it seemed like years since we’d traveled to the border via Magic Sigil.
After everything had happened, Prince Harold conducted an investigation to see if there was any truth behind Elena’s claims.
The results were unexpected. It turned out that there was an element of truth to both sides of the story.
Upon discovering the existence of a new breed of magical children in the hills, Nigren had sent men to go and retrieve Elena from her village. Since Nigren had so few magic users of its own, they considered the new breed of magicians to be vital assets to the country’s development and prosperity. They were an extremely valued resource.
At first, her parents had refused to hand over their precious daughter. The Nigrenians had offered increasingly valuable treasures and wealth to tempt them. Elena’s tribe had liked that. They became increasingly demanding until they’d reached the point of insisting that their members were installed in positions of influence in government. The Nigrenians were at a loss about how to come to an agreement.
This was the same story Claude had told me while we were both students at Grail Academy.
The demands of the hill-tribe ended up incensing the Nigrenian politicians.
Then they threatened Elena’s tribe with treason if they continued to hold out and extracted Elena by force, bringing her back to the palace with them.
In the end, Elena’s tribe had accepted a decent sum of money and land from Prince Harold and moved to a different location.
There are two kinds of people in this world.
Some handle unexpected good luck and fortune well and wisely. And some lose their heads, go too far, and ruin everything for themselves.
Unfortunately, Elena’s tribe was the latter.
They’d wasted the money on extravagant frivolities, and soon, it was all gone. Then they came back to the Nigrenian officials, demanding their daughter’s return. They were arrested for trespassing.
In the end, they had to sell the land to pay off their debts. After that, they’d disappeared without a trace.
I just wanted to be happy.
Elena’s final words haunted me.
I believe that was the honest wish of her soul.
From what I could make of it, her childhood was filled with misfortune.
Born to a poor tribe, scratching out a living in the barren hills, Elena spent her early days in poverty.
I’d also learned her real name. It was “Hily,” a derogatory term in their language. It meant “creature” or “monster.” Not only had her tribe treated her like an outcast—a freak—due to her magical powers, they’d also refused to give her a proper name.
I think she must’ve been happy to find herself in Nigren, among kind people for the first time.
Compared to the horrible mistreatment she’d suffered in her youth, the people of Nigren treated her like someone special. Even though she was aware she’d been bought for large sums of money, she didn’t care. That was how alone she’d been.
“Hendrick…do you think that she’s gone to Heaven?”
“I don’t know, Princess. Perhaps…if she prayed while she was still alive.”
Hendrick’s gaze was solemn.
I gazed back at him, finally smiling a little.
That was Hendrick for you. The man was always so serious about everything.
None of us knew what the final spell cast by Elena had really been.
Even Ed, the Royal Magician of the most magical land in the world, said he’d never seen it before. It was truly an unknown form of magic.
After Elena died, a thorough search of Karina’s room turned up several notebooks filled with black magic. Among them were copies of the Classified Books that’d been stolen during the celebrations for my coming-of-age.
During her visit to Najir, Elena was able to observe many forms of magic, including Ed’s Illusion spell. Then, using her unique power as an Eidetic Magician, she could make them her own. She disguised herself as Ed, who had free access to the Classified Books section, and stole them.
But they’d been discovered missing right away, and Najir leaped into action, immediately launching a search. She’d panicked and quickly put them back. But not before she’d made copies.
The copies were well-thumbed, with copious notes written in the margins.
“She really was a magical genius, wasn’t she? What a shame.”
Ed’s words, as he flipped through the notes, struck me as very significant.
Would things have been different if Nigren had discovered Elena sooner and gone to take her away from her miserable childhood home?
What if she’d been raised in Najir instead and given the finest magical education?
What if someone had taken notice of her as a person rather than an asset?
It was all too late now, but I couldn’t help thinking…
If only it was possible to go back in time and do things over…