“I was searching the ground floor. I found another door inside one of the rooms. When I opened it and went in, I found more doors beyond that one. I think I kept going deeper and deeper for quite a while.”

As Claren continued, he knitted his brows with worry and looked at Emond and Paulo. The two of them still hadn’t fully come to their senses. Judging by the circumstances, it was highly likely that they had been checking the stolen items for the gift when they were caught in a magical trap.

“At some point, I couldn’t even hear the sound of my brothers opening and closing doors anymore.”

“So you were separated by quite a distance?”

“Yeah. The layout was incredibly complicated. Still, I kept looking for the gift. I was worried, of course, but my brothers had swords, and so did I. I thought it wouldn’t be too dangerous.”

Even now, swords still hung at the waists of the three older brothers. Since they hadn’t dropped them anywhere, it seemed they’d been trapped without even a chance to fight back. After all, who would have expected the thieves to bind their legs with magic?

“Then, when I opened one particular door… I found the thieves.”

At that moment, the eyes of the three listeners widened as if they might pop out of their sockets. He had seen the thieves himself?

Ricciardo hurriedly asked.

“D-did you see their faces?”

“I did, but… I don’t remember them clearly. There were about eight or nine people, and all I can recall is that they were carrying black bags.”

“Were they wearing masks?”

Ailie asked next.

Claren shook his head.

“They weren’t. But the moment I opened the door, the thieves opened their bags, and after that… I don’t remember anything.”

“After they opened the bags?”

“Yes. I definitely saw something pitch-black sloshing around inside one of them. I know I saw it—but beyond that…”

Claren frowned as he spoke. It was as though that part alone had been cleanly cut out of his memory. No matter how hard he tried to recall it, nothing more came to mind.

Ailie watched Claren for a moment, lost in thought. If that was the case, then what they needed to do now was—

“Ailie, what do you want to do?”

At Ricciardo question, Claren and Liton’s gazes followed. Their eyes were filled with tangled emotions, plainly asking what are we supposed to do now?

Ailie answered in a steady, confident voice, as if to put them at ease.

“There’s only one answer.”

She looked around at their wide-eyed faces, then rose decisively from her seat.

“Let’s go back to the Erdei Count’s estate.”

The moment the words left her mouth, the expressions on the three faces watching her shifted, each in a different way. Ricciardo nodded as if he understood. Liton narrowed his eyes, concern flickering across his face. And Claren, unable to let go just yet, cast a lingering glance toward the small storage room.

“What do you intend to do about the Erdei young masters?” Liton asked.

“My father is well-versed in magical theory. Rather than agonizing over it here, it’ll be faster to return to the estate.”

Ailie replied calmly.

The Count of Erdei’s study was filled with countless books on magic. Although he himself was not a mage, the Count had been deeply interested in magic in his younger years. They could show her brothers to her father, search for a way to undo the spell and, once dawn broke, summon a mage from the castle.

When Liton fell silent without protest, Claren took his turn to speak.

“But Ari, we still haven’t found your gift.”

“It’s all right, Brother. I’m already happy just to be back in Erdei. Seeing my family again after two years is more than enough for me.”

As Ailie spoke, her mother’s warm voice naturally surfaced in her mind.

“What do you mean, Ari? Your coming home is already the greatest gift to our family.”

The three weeks she would spend in Erdei would pass in the blink of an eye. She wanted to spend every possible day with her family, easing all the quiet sorrows that had built up over time. She hadn’t wished for a holiday wasted on something like a theft incident.

“But still—”

“And I have no intention of giving up on the gift my brothers put so much effort into preparing.”

That was why Ailie planned to catch the thieves efficiently.

“Brother Claren, please trust Her Majesty the Empress. She’s not the kind of person who would turn a blind eye to troubles arising in the Erdei County.”

Right? Ricciardo said, turning his gaze toward Ailie. His lips curved upward in a bright, confident smile. Looking at him, Sirion’s face suddenly came to mind.

Their features weren’t alike, nor the way they smiled. They didn’t resemble each other at all—

Except for one thing.

The feeling that, no matter what she said, they would believe in her.

“Of course. Please trust me.”

***

Late at night, the Imperial Library was tightly shut.

At a time when everyone but the on-duty guards would be asleep, two men approached the library doors. They were Sirion Fedroti, the imperial physician, and the library’s archivist.

With dark circles under his eyes, the archivist grumbled as he pulled out a heavy ring of keys, clearly displeased at having been summoned so late.

“When I heard about it during the day, I thought, well, fine… but getting up at this hour is really no joke.”

“I apologize for the inconvenience.”

“Oh, there’s no need to apologize. You’re the one having a harder time, Doctor.”

Blinking his sleepy eyes, the archivist fumbled with a clatter of metal and finally opened the library doors.

Click.

When he placed his hand on the translucent orb resting on the table by the entrance, light flooded into the library.

The enormous library was revealed by the orb’s glow. Books were densely packed along every wall, the shelves standing so close together that there was barely room for one person to pass through.

This was a place that would delight any book lover, but leave anyone else feeling dizzy the moment they laid eyes on it.

“Thank you.”

Sirion stepped into the library, his pale lavender eyes sparkling as they fixed on one of the bookshelves immediately. Having loved books since childhood, it was only natural for his heart to swell at the sight of so many volumes. But tonight, his purpose was clear.

Clear enough that nothing else could distract him.

“This will take a while. Please, have a seat and rest.”

“Is it all right if I fall asleep?”

“Of course. You’re going through the trouble because of me.”

In response to the archivist’s half-joking remark, Sirion gave a perfectly earnest reply. Scratching his cheek in mild embarrassment, the archivist sat down in a chair. Meanwhile, Sirion was already heading deeper between the shelves.

“But why at this hour of all times? When do you even sleep?”

“I’m busy during the day as well. I couldn’t find the time.”

“Heh….”

The sound that followed was half admiration for such diligence—coming to the library even in the dead of night—and half worry that the doctor himself might end up becoming a patient at this rate.

“I don’t enjoy working at this hour either. But it was His Majesty’s command.”

Sirion added the remark as he pulled out a thick book. Even as he spoke to the archivist, his eyes never left the page. The youthful face bent over the book looked surprisingly serious.

“Is that really the reason? You seem far more motivated than that.”

“……”

At the archivist’s offhand comment, Sirion’s hand, just about to turn the page, froze.

He had cut into his personal time to come to the imperial library this late at night. The emperor who had issued the order was abroad attending an international conference, and the empress—the very subject of this matter—was likely away in Erdei for her retreat.

‘Overly motivated….’

Sirion quietly turned the words over in his mind.

It wasn’t wrong. As a palace physician merely carrying out an order, he didn’t need to go this far. It would have been enough to do his best during working hours alone.

Then why did he feel so restless?

“Sirion?”

Thud.

At the sound of his name, the book slipped from Sirion’s hands and fell to the floor.

It felt as though his churning heart—his impatience that left him no room even for sleep—had been laid bare.

“My apologies. I was too absorbed to hear you properly.”

“No, no need to apologize. If anything, I’m sorry for interrupting you for no reason.”

“…Not at all.”

Sirion bent down and picked up the fallen book.

[On Healing the Mind.]

That was the title written on the inside of the cover. He quickly flipped through the pages again, searching for the spot where he had left off.

Was it duty? Or was it something else?

Sirion wanted to help Ailie as quickly as possible and free her from a suffering he had yet to fully comprehend.

He wanted nothing in return. Even his position as an imperial physician felt far beyond what he deserved; he had no particular need for money. Nor did he dare wish to become special to the empress.

This was simply stubbornness.

“I will make you well, no matter what.”

He wanted to take responsibility for those words.

He wanted to see those trembling, pale rose-colored eyes light up with a smile.

The trust the empress had shown him, someone she had once been reluctant to see before her first consultation. He wanted to become someone worthy of that trust.

‘I have to protect you. Because you believed in me.’

The house had long since fallen, surviving only in the form of his surname: the barony of Fedroti.

Sirion’s father, Baron Fedroti, was beyond redemption. He was perpetually drunk and so ill-tempered that he picked fights day after day.

When he died in the street one day, it was—strangely enough—a stroke of luck for young Sirion.

His mother, now alone, made no attempt to raise him. After repeatedly saying that Sirion’s eyes resembled his father’s, she returned to her hometown just days later. From then on, one of his father’s relatives took him in.

However, Baron Fedroti could hardly have treated his relatives kindly while he was alive. They grew increasingly uncomfortable with him and eventually cast him back out onto the streets, discarding him as though he were something that had outlived its usefulness.

The man who took in the wandering boy was his adoptive father and teacher: Karwin, an imperial physician.

The affection that Sirion received for the first time so late in life felt utterly unfamiliar, almost embarrassingly tender. Karwin raised him with care and devotion, taking him on as his disciple and educating him personally.

Yet Karwin passed away before Sirion could officially become an imperial physician. That had been three months ago.

After his years of work as an assistant were finally recognized, Sirion passed the examination and succeeded Karwin as a physician. Now, by the emperor’s command, he was responsible for the empress’s health.

‘Can I really do this on my own?’

He doubted it. He doubted everything. All of it felt uncertain and overwhelming.

And then—there were the words the empress had once given him.

“…You’ve already done this much, and yet you ask something so obvious.”

The moment he heard them, something deep inside him began to change.