“Magic confidential document?”

Ah. I had ordered Viole to bring me anything found in Death Gorge. However, there were far fewer items than I’d expected. I glanced inside the pouch and frowned at the paper within.

“These were discovered in Death Gorge within the last three months. Most items disintegrated during the purification process, and these are all that remain.”

“What? What kind of objects couldn’t withstand purification and disappeared?”

“Generally, items too deeply corrupted by black magic cannot endure holy power,” Rigan explained from beside me as he observed.

I clicked my tongue and rummaged through the pouch. Nothing particularly useful seemed to be inside. My face contorted with displeasure. Viole must have some grudge against me to include even obvious garbage in the pouch.

Growing impatient while sifting through the contents, I finally turned the pouch upside down and dumped everything onto the floor. The cascade of objects clearly contained nothing of value.

While scanning them with disinterested eyes, I suddenly froze at the sight of one particular item.

‘That’s…’

What caught my attention was a bright red velvet ribbon. Its color had faded slightly, suggesting considerable time had passed.

To anyone else, it would appear to be an ordinary velvet ribbon. Yet simultaneously, it was anything but ordinary.

I slowly reached out, my hand trembling slightly. Struggling to maintain a composed expression, I examined the bottom of the ribbon and the clumsily embroidered butterfly pattern beneath it.

“Ha.”

“What’s wrong, Your Majesty?”

“Nothing.” Rigan approached me when I suddenly displayed this strange reaction.

At that moment, I hastily grabbed the ribbon along with the other items and stuffed them back into the pouch.

“Nothing useful here.”

“Pardon?”

“You, tell Viole to bring more useful information. Otherwise, I’ll cut all support to the Magic Tower.”

“Understood.”

Rigan’s face showed slight confusion, likely noticing something odd about my behavior. Nevertheless, he didn’t inquire further, simply bowing his head before leaving the room.

The moment the door closed, I gritted my teeth and turned the pouch upside down again, shaking it vigorously. I swallowed hard while holding the fluttering red hair ribbon. My reaction was somewhat intense, but unavoidable.

Because I recognized this item.

The owner of this hair ribbon was none other than someone I had firmly believed, until just moments ago, could never be involved in this.

‘Sever Kelliard.’

My lips tightened.

What on earth is this?

* * *

I couldn’t precisely remember when I gave this ribbon to Sever.

I only recall it was a warm spring day with pleasant sunshine. I was, typically, tricked by my older sisters into climbing a tree and then whimpering because I couldn’t get down.

Sever happened to be passing by.

No, perhaps it wasn’t coincidence. The garden wasn’t far from my palace, and Sever knew I played there every afternoon with the cat my sister Ameli had raised and then abandoned.

“What are you doing?”

“The cat is in the tree… I was trying to rescue it.”

“You climbed this high by yourself?”

“No, there was a ladder when I climbed up, but…”

“Did the other Highnesses take it away?”

“Yes…”

Sever looked momentarily speechless at my answer.

This made sense since nearly nine out of ten times we encountered each other, I was being tormented by my sisters or brothers.

Honestly, at this point, I might have been beyond merely stupid—perhaps completely hopeless.

I often promised myself never to be fooled by my siblings again, but they always cleverly lured me into their traps, and I fell for them every time.

“The cat was in the tree, so I had no choice. This cat limps and can’t get down by itself.”

“Didn’t you wonder how a limping cat managed to climb the tree in the first place?”

“…Um.”

“…”

“…Sorry.”

Sever looked at my expression and, whatever thought crossed his mind, let out a small laugh. Soon, however, he spoke again with his usual stoic face.

“I’ll bring a ladder. Please wait a moment.”

“No! If the servants see, they’ll try to get rid of the cat!”

“Why… would they discard the cat?”

“My sister said the cat’s limping was unsightly and ordered it thrown out. But this cat grew up in the palace and knows nothing of the outside world. It will die if abandoned.”

“…”

“Please don’t tell anyone. I’ll get down by myself, okay?”

Sever fell silent at my words. After a few seconds, he spoke.

“I can help the cat down.”

“Really?”

“But first, Your Highness needs to come down.”

“B-but…”

I trembled involuntarily as I looked at the dizzying distance to the ground.

“It’s too high. I can’t get down alone.”

“Jump.”

“What?”

“I’ll catch you.”

I looked at Sever with an anxious face. Though I knew he was quite an exceptional swordsman, I didn’t believe a boy around my age could catch me.

I shook my head.

“N-no.”

“Will you stay there forever?”

“I don’t want that either!”

“Then just come down.”

“Can’t you use magic or something to help me down?”

“I’m a swordsman, not a mage.”

I hesitated for a long time at Sever’s words.

The long process might have been tedious and boring, but nevertheless, Sever quietly waited for me to decide.

After about ten minutes, I carefully placed the cat beside me, stroked its head once, and whispered softly.

“W-wait. Once I get down first, I’ll help you down too.”

“Meow.”

The cat meowed softly in response, almost replying to my words. With great determination, I gulped.

“I-I’m coming down, okay?”

“Yes.”

“I’m really coming down.”

“Yes.”

“You have to catch me, promise?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t look under my skirt!”

“…Yes.”

After finishing my words, I squeezed my eyes shut. Even if Sever couldn’t catch me properly, I’d probably just injure an arm or leg at worst.

With this thought, courage emerged from somewhere unknown, and I jumped from the tree.

At that moment, cool wind brushed against my cheeks. Then, in the blink of an eye, strong arms embraced me.

“Ugh.”

Hearing a faint groan near my ear, I quickly opened my eyes.

Worried that I might be too heavy and had broken one of his bones—not an entirely impossible hypothesis—I looked up.

That’s when I noticed a thin, shallow cut near Sever’s wrist and was utterly shocked.

It seemed he had been slightly scratched by one of the decorations on my dress.

Though not a serious wound, the sight of red blood startled me tremendously, and I hastily freed myself from his arms.

“A-are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. This hardly needs to be stopped—”

“No! W-wait, let me stop the bleeding.”

Sever fell silent at my words. His gaze rested on me as I frantically searched for something.

Soon, I hurriedly untied my hair ribbon and, roughly imitating something I’d once seen in a book, wrapped it around his wrist.

“This should help. F-first, let’s get the cat down, then see a doctor together.”

Looking back now, it was an incredibly foolish action. Binding a wound with a dirty hair ribbon rather than a clean bandage.

Though he surely knew that binding with unclean fabric would only make things worse, Sever simply watched quietly as I tied it.

In retrospect, it was his consideration toward a foolish princess, and perhaps his own form of noble courtesy.

I liked how he told the doctor, who scolded us that wounds should never be treated this way, that the mistake was his. I felt sorry that being with me made him appear somewhat clumsy to others.

But now…

I tightened my grip on the hair ribbon.

‘Why is this in Death Gorge?’

I inhaled deeply while pondering this question to myself.

My mind, which had gone blank with shock just moments ago, gradually began to calm. Yet I remained in a labyrinth of confusion.

In truth, I knew well.

My giving the hair ribbon to Sever happened in the distant past of my childhood, more than ten years ago.

The hypothesis that Sever had kept it all this time wasn’t very realistic. He had no reason to do so.

But what if he really had kept it?

Just thinking about this possibility made me feel strange. For reasons I couldn’t identify, my stomach churned.