Eight-year-old Odelia nodded vigorously with a determined expression. Then, after hesitating for a moment, she spoke in a timid voice.

“Uh, Cedion, you see.”

“Yeah?”

“Actually, I have a secret too.”

“What is it?”

“My real name is Odelia. Not Ode.”

“What?”

Cedrion feigned surprise. In truth, on the night he first met Ode, he had already looked up the noble lineage records in his father’s study and confirmed the name ‘Odelia Lure’ beneath ‘Alexandre Lure.’

Young Ode didn’t know that he was from Norhart, nor that noble families kept genealogical records, so she probably thought she was revealing a true secret.

“Isn’t Ode also your name?”

“Well, Father calls me that, but…”

Ode’s large violet eyes darted around anxiously. Though she had opened her heart to him, she still seemed nervous about getting scolded by her father. She was every bit a child.

“Then just keep being Ode. Only your father and I will call you that. Instead…”

“Instead…?”

“What happened today must stay a real secret, okay?”

“Yes! Of course!”

Her lips were firmly pressed together in determination, and her small chin wrinkled like a plump walnut. Her tiny fists clenched the hem of her dress tightly. Cedrion ruffled the bonnet-wearing child’s hair.

Children who shared secrets grew closer.

Cedrion taught her a few more simple spells, and Ode talked about why she, a noble from the royal capital, was here. In reality, it was more that Cedrion pieced together the details from the things she innocently chattered about.

“When can you say you learned magic, Ode?”

“When is Father coming back?”

“You said it was a hundred nights when you arrived, so I guess about seventy nights remain now?”

The Marquis of Lure had sent his motherless daughter to the villa so she could play freely, but he himself was too busy with matters in the royal capital to accompany her. Given that it was the fifth month, the peak of the social season, that made sense.

“What does your father do?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure… He always sees His Majesty. But whenever he returns from the palace, he’s in a bad mood.”

“Really?”

“They say adults drink when they’re tired. So when Father kisses me, he always smells like alcohol.”

If he entered the palace daily, he must hold an important position in the cabinet. Well, Lure was one of the founding noble families, so it was only natural that he would hold a high office. Cedrion listened to Ode’s babbling while deep in thought.

It would be easy to ask his own father, but as a rebellious boy, he didn’t want to rely on him. Moreover, if asked why he was curious, he wouldn’t have an answer.

In any case, it wasn’t something Cedrion needed to know. He was just Cedrion, the boy training to become a mage. All he had to do was play the role of an older brother to Ode and use their meetings as an escape from the dull life in the Grand Duke’s castle.

“But, actually…”

Ode spoke as she kicked her feet in the water. Having taken off her shoes and socks, her bare feet splashed in the sun-warmed stream.

“Actually, I know it’s a lie. Why do adults tell lies that are so obvious?”

“Huh?”

“Father won’t come back even after a hundred nights. There are too many things in Belvo that need him.”

Cedrion felt a sharp pang in his chest. How many lies had he already told this young girl?

‘I’ve said I would contact the Mage Tower, I haven’t told her I’m a noble, I haven’t told her I’m from Norhart, and…’

As he blankly stared into her violet eyes, which reflected the shimmering water surface like a mirror, Cedrion quietly counted his own sins.

As guilt weighed on the boy and the sun began to set, it was time for them to part ways. When Cedrion cast a warmth and drying spell to help Ode put her socks back on, her eyes widened in amazement again.

“Wow, that’s amazing! Can you teach me this too?”

“Nope. This is a very, very difficult spell. I learned it when I was ten.”

Another lie. He had learned it even earlier, but if he admitted that, he would have no excuse not to teach her. The warming spell required precise temperature control, making it tricky and potentially dangerous, so he had no choice.

Perhaps when the Marquis of Lure finally visited Meldorf after this social season ended, Ode could learn magic then?

With that naive thought, Cedrion casually added, “I’ll teach you this winter.”

“Really? But I’ll only be nine then.”

“Yes, because you’re special, Ode.”

Cedrion firmly tied the ribbon of her bonnet and patted her head again. He had told so many lies, so he resolved to treat her like a real little sister.

A few days later.

“…Ouch!”

On their way to a valley filled with rocks to practice levitation magic, Ode tripped over a stone.

Because of Cedrion’s careful attention, her nanny never realized how recklessly she played and would always put patent leather shoes on her. Naturally, they were ill-suited for the forest path, and Odelia ended up falling at least once a day.

She never cried. Even when her stockings tore at the knees from serious falls, she never shed a tear. Cedrion, who had been quite a crybaby himself as a child, found that admirable.

This time, too, after confirming she wasn’t seriously hurt, he cleaned off her clothes with magic and absentmindedly said what had become a habit.

“Even when you fall, you don’t cry. That’s pretty.”

But this time, instead of simply letting him dust off her dress, Odelia tilted her head and asked.

“Odelia is pretty?”

“Of course.”

“Then… can Odelia become the Crown Princess?”

“The Crown Princess?”

“Yes, Father says Odelia must become the Crown Princess. His Majesty wishes for it as well.”

Was Marquis Lure’s closeness with the royal family due to marriage talks? Cedrion recalled the royal family’s only son, Michael, whom he had seen a few times at the palace in Belvo when he was younger.

Was that boy a year older than Odelia? Or two years older? Either way, he had a doll-like beauty, so they would suit each other well. Cedrion shrugged absentmindedly at the thought.

“Then there’s no reason you can’t be.”

“But His Highness doesn’t like Odelia. He says I’m ugly.”

“What?

“So he doesn’t play with me. When the nanny leaves us alone so we can spend time together, he tells me to go away because I’m annoying. Honestly, I don’t mind since I get to come here and learn magic with you…”

Cedrion lifted his head and looked at Odelia’s face.

Her tiny face somehow managed to hold such large eyes and a delicate nose—it was hard to believe. She was truly beautiful, like the dolls Cedrion used to play with when he was little.

Cedrion’s mother, the Grand Duchess of Norhart, was also beautiful, but he felt that Odelia would grow up to be even more stunning.

“Michael… His Highness said that?”

“Yes. He even refuses to eat meals with me, saying I ruin his appetite.”

Odelia’s purple eyes darkened slightly as she spoke.

Eat meals together? Cedrion tried not to show his surprise as he asked carefully,

“Is His Highness staying at your villa right now?”

“…H-how did you know?”

Whatever shadow had darkened her expression was gone now. Odelia’s wide eyes trembled slightly in shock, like a startled rabbit, unaware that she had given herself away.

The boy suppressed the urge to smile and gently replied,

“Well, I am a mage.”

“Mages can know things like that too?”

Cedrion merely shrugged. He hadn’t actually said yes, so it wasn’t a lie.

“Then I shouldn’t lie to you.”

“You were planning to lie to me?”

“That’s not what I meant…”

Pretending to focus on adjusting Odelia’s clothes, Cedrion casually asked,

“So, is His Highness staying at your villa?”

“Mm… Father says I need to get close to him before I can become the Crown Princess.”

“I see.”

It seemed the marriage talk between the royal family and the Lure family was more serious than he had thought.

“And your father… he still hasn’t returned?”

“The Council session hasn’t ended yet, so he won’t be back until the end of the sixth month.”

The way Odelia pronounced “Council session” so carefully, just like when she spoke of “Lure’s estate,” made Cedrion stifle a laugh.

“So, you’re playing with me because His Highness doesn’t want to?”

“Mm… To play with His Highness, I have to play the ‘Priest Game,’ but if I do that, I won’t have time to learn magic from you.”

“Priest Game?”

“Umm…”

Odelia fidgeted with her fingers in Cedrion’s grasp. Her lips pressed tightly together, wavering slightly as if she wanted to speak but was holding back. She must have realized that lying would be pointless in front of a mage.

“Is it a secret?”

“…I think so.”

Cedrion didn’t press further.

‘Michael being in Meldorf in the first place is a royal secret, so of course that game would be too. The royal guards must be here protecting him, and Odelia probably feels stifled by it, which is why she keeps sneaking away to play.’

In a way, she and Cedrion were similar. He too had escaped the tedious lessons required of the Norhart heir. He didn’t know when Michael had arrived, but thanks to him, Cedrion got to play the role of an older brother to such an adorable child every day. He had no complaints.

“Well, try to get along.”

“Mm-hmm…”

He should have questioned her about the ‘Priest Game’—Cedrion would later regret this deeply.