Chapter 1 – I Should Not Have Trusted That Man

Ethea’s father, Javir, was an alchemist, and as such, he often created strange things.

One day, they ran out of candles at home, but it was too late to go buy more. Javir, in a pinch, used sand, mercury, a fairy’s feather, and some unknown secret ingredient to create a star.

The sparkling dust inside the small flask was so bright it lit up the whole room. Ethea knew it wasn’t a real star but a glowing metal, but to her eyes, it looked like a star. As a child, she was proud of her father for making such things.

“Wow! How did you make this? It looks like a star!”

“Well, you don’t have to look at the sky to catch a star.”

“It’s so cool! Dad, you’re the best!”

“It’s not about being cool. We just don’t have candles, so we’ll make do with this tonight.”

Javir’s downside was his lack of romance and smiles. Whenever Ethea saw her father’s stiff face and curt speech, she felt discouraged.

The artificial star made that night didn’t last long; before dawn, it turned into black sand. Still, Ethea thought alchemy was a beautiful art. At that time, she didn’t know its dangers.

＊ ＊ ＊

Before she knew it, she was sixteen.

At that time, Ethea lived in a village behind the imperial city. Since her father Javir was the head of the Imperial Alchemy Association, it was convenient to live as close to the palace as possible. Many others in that village also worked for the palace.

Ethea’s house was spacious and stylish, but lonely. Javir disliked anything that might interfere with his alchemy entering the house.

Once, Javir was experimenting with fragrance-related metals and conducted a long-term experiment at home. During that time, Ethea’s mother, Luire, happened to use a perfume, and it had a decisive impact on the experiment’s failure. It was a minor mistake due to carelessness, but Javir informed Luire of their divorce because of it.

Divorce wasn’t something just anyone could do, especially couples with children.

Children were proof of the union of a couple’s souls. They were precious vessels containing the souls of loved ones—not just a fancy saying, but truly so.

Once a couple had a child and united their souls, they couldn’t have children with anyone else. They wouldn’t feel s*xual attraction toward others.

There were rare exceptions—some people had affairs. Some tried to build new families with their affair partners and have children, but it was difficult. Most ended up having deformed children or stillbirths.

People called this ‘Hea’s curse.’ Hea was said to be an ancient god.

Thus, the weight of marriage and childbearing was heavy. Once married and with a child, the principle was to stay together until death, and divorce was extremely rare.

Yet Javir abandoned Luire so coldly. If others knew he divorced over something as trivial as perfume, they would find it strange.

After the divorce, only Javir and Ethea lived in the house. Even the servants were dismissed. Since the lady of the house was the cause of an experiment’s failure, the servants feared they might suffer the same fate.

Ethea couldn’t believe it. How could a high-ranking official, head of the Imperial Alchemy Association, have no servants in his home?

In such circumstances, Ethea was the one who suffered. She had too many roles to play: a good daughter, a diligent student, a hardworking servant, a reliable guard, and a skilled alchemy assistant. It was overwhelming.

When she returned from school at 3 p.m., silence greeted her. Without time to feel lonely in the empty house, she had to take care of the laboratory, do homework, prepare dinner, clean—everything.

That day, she was busy cleaning when she heard someone entering the backyard. It wasn’t Javir’s usual return time, so Ethea went out to see who it was.

There stood a tall man, like an oak tree. At first, she thought he was an adult because of his height, but his youthful face revealed he was a boy her age. He wasn’t the grocery or newspaper delivery boy who often visited her house.

His appearance was unusual. His skin was pale as if he’d never seen sunlight, and his hair, completely covering his eyes, was silver with a hint of violet, giving him an air of mystery.

However, his clothes were far from fashionable or stylish. It felt like his good looks were wasted by his outfit.

Still, his scent was nice. It was as if he’d bathed in lavender flowers; a strong floral fragrance emanated from him.

Fortunately, Javir wasn’t conducting fragrance experiments at the time; otherwise, Ethea would have been very upset. Her father might have scolded her for letting in a guest who could disrupt his experiment.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, yeah. Prince.”

Ethea doubted her ears.

“Prince? From the palace?”

“Yes. The thirteenth prince.”

With that specific introduction, Ethea stepped closer to look at him. Through his long bangs, she caught a glimpse of his eyes.

Imperial descendants’ deep golden eyes. He really was a prince.

To Ethea, imperial family members were people she only read about in books. Javir, who was taciturn and not affectionate, never spoke about the imperial family members he saw regularly.

Was this boy truly a descendant of the hero Drenai, possessing the power of exorcism?

Even in her bewilderment, Ethea tried to be as polite as possible and greeted him again.

“……Your Highness, may I ask why you’re here?”

“Oh. It’s time to be lazy.”

It was a confusing answer. Not ‘I want to be lazy,’ but ‘It’s time to be lazy,’ as if laziness was part of his daily routine. It made her laugh.

And it annoyed her a little. Just because he was a prince, did he think he could enter someone’s house for such a reason? Most homes here belonged to people who worked for the palace. Wandering in and out could cause unnecessary rumors.

The uninvited guest smiled shamelessly and continued.

“I was wandering around looking for something interesting, and I smelled sulfur here, so I came.”

“Excuse me?”

“If there’s a sulfur smell, it’s probably related to alchemy.”

“That’s true…….”

“I like alchemy too. It’s fascinating.”

Someone with the power of exorcism found alchemy fascinating? Ethea found him even more interesting.

“I especially like Alchemist Parazia’s books. He seems to have a real talent for making the world beautiful. I was amazed by the stardust used as a substitute for candles in emergencies.”

It was a statement that invited ridicule.

Certainly, Alchemist Javir Parazia had a talent for making the world beautiful. The problem was that his family was far from beautiful. His wife had to leave the house for using perfume, and his daughter had to take on the roles of servant and assistant alone. Such circumstances could hardly be called beautiful.

“My father, um…… seems to be highly regarded, I suppose.”

“Father? Then, are you……?”

“Yes. Ethea Parazia. I’m his daughter. This is his house.”

His eyes widened.

“That’s great! It’s an honor!”

“It’s not that much of an honor.”

“I’d really like to meet him. Would that be possible?”

“He hasn’t returned from the palace yet.”

“I see. Oh, by the way, could you speak more comfortably? I don’t want to hear formal speech from someone my age, especially outside the palace. This isn’t an order—only if you want to.”

His broad smile and gentle tone showed Ethea his exceptional sociability.

Had she ever had such a long conversation with kids at school? Because of her busy chores and alchemy work, Ethea rarely had time to play or chat with other children. Naturally, she spoke less and wasn’t very skilled at conversation.

For that reason, she never imagined she’d talk to a prince for more than a few words. Ethea forgot her earlier wariness and nodded.

“Should I? Then…….”

“Did you just get home from school?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Oh, don’t call me ‘Your Highness.’ Just use my name.”

“Your name?”

It was hard to remember all the names of the Emperor’s children. Of course, she didn’t know the thirteenth prince’s name. As Ethea stared blankly, he told her his name.

“Lyle. You probably know the family name already.”

That was how she remembered the day she first met him.