Chapter 4: Summer Festival (2)

Tehis touched his cheek in the empty space left by Chloe, who had left without even waiting for a carriage to take her. Ignoring his aide’s keen gaze from the corner, he turned away.

As he rubbed his fingers stained with red while heading to the bathroom, one thought lingered in his mind.

‘She did say I was her first.’

Meaning, being in a relationship with someone.

So, does that mean all these actions were done only with me? All the touching, hugging, and kissing?

“……”

Tehis unconsciously rubbed his neck and pressed his lips together.

It’s all pointless thoughts. It’s just that, yes, the challenge thrown by the Princess is bothering me. Because it’s a pity to lose a mage of her caliber.

That’s why.

“……”

Click.

Tehis undressed and entered the bathroom. The steam that had filled the room surrounded his scar-laden body.

His skin, warmer than usual, disappeared into the hot water.

* * *

Until the day she met Tehis again, Chloe’s schedule was monotonous. She focused on her personal research, which was gradually yielding plausible results, and occasionally checked on the fairy egg. Attaching the new top-grade mana stone to her earrings was hardly considered work.

After repeating the cycle of eating, researching, recording, and sleeping several times, a week had passed.

On the morning of the promised day, Chloe rubbed her eyes as she emerged from her bedroom to the sound of the communication sphere ringing.

“What is it?”

– Miss Chloe, a letter arrived from Grand Duke Escalante last night.

“Please send it to my private room.”

Waving her hand while yawning, the magic circle in the living room glowed. With the transmission allowed, the familiar stationery arrived promptly.

Tearing the sealing wax and pulling out the contents, she found the neat handwriting as always.

[Chloe,

The end of the festival is approaching. I was worried it might be canceled, but fortunately, it’s proceeding as planned.

I’ve heard there’s a special dish that only appears during the summer festival in the capital. How about meeting a little earlier than promised to dine together?

And they say the food at the night market is better than at restaurants. It might not be a bad experience if we wander around in disguise.

Whether we have dinner together or not doesn’t matter, so please come to the Grand Duke’s residence at your convenience.

Looking forward to meeting you.

Tehis Escalante]

After rereading the letter, Chloe checked the clock. Since the previously agreed meeting time was somewhat ambiguous, experiencing the festival’s special food seemed like a good idea.

‘Before that, I’ll just finish yesterday’s experiment…’

Should I make a potion?

Chloe chuckled at the sudden thought, recalling Tehis’s reaction to her offer to pour her potion.

‘It’s my second specialty, and yet he seemed disappointed.’

She decided to have him try it this time. It seemed like he had some strange prejudice.

Rereading the word “disguise” in the letter, she leisurely moved along.

It seemed like it was going to be an unusually pleasant day.

* * *

“We’ve arrived, Miss Chloe.”

“Thank you for your hard work today.”

Chloe greeted the familiar coachman and entered the front gate of the Grand Duke’s residence. Moving leisurely without anyone stopping her, she knocked on the office door.

“Tess, may I come in?”

“I’m coming out now.”

Almost simultaneously with his words, the door opened.

Above the plain tunic of a beige color, his presence was marked by his black hair and blue eyes. The Grand Duke, dressed as a commoner in an attempt at disguise, was unmistakably Escalante to anyone who saw him.

“Go back inside.”

Chloe pushed Tehis, who was just stepping out, back into the office. Entering with him and closing the door, she looked up at his bewildered gaze and smiled brightly.

“I knew this would happen, so I brought a dye potion.”

“A dye potion… you say?”

“Rest assured, there are no monster eyeballs mixed in, as you feared.”

Leaving the speechless Grand Duke behind, the mage raised her right palm to the air. The ring on her finger glowed, and a brown potion appeared in her hand.

“This is it. The right amount is about a third, so let’s split it and drink half each.”

“So there are no side effects if taken in excess, I presume.”

“Would I make it so carelessly? I’m somewhat of an expert.”

As Chloe shrugged lightly and opened the lid, the brown liquid swirled inside.

“Drinking it will dye you this color. Since you seem quite skeptical, I’ll drink it first to show you.”

“It’s not that I doubt your skills, but…”

Waving off his excuses, Chloe brought the potion to her lips without hesitation. After drinking roughly the estimated amount, she checked and found a little more than half remaining.

‘Is there no mirror here?’

Looking around, she roughly pulled a strand of her hair to check. Seeing the purple quickly turning brown, she smiled in satisfaction.

“How is it? Looks pretty good, right?”

“The effect is remarkable. How long does it last?”

“About half a day. I deliberately made it last that long; is that alright?”

“That’s perfect.”

Tehis took the potion from Chloe and hesitated before drinking.

‘Didn’t she just put her lips on this?’

When he didn’t immediately drink, Chloe shook her head.

“It tastes like ordinary apple, so don’t worry.”

“…I wasn’t worried.”

After a brief pause, he drank the potion before the mage could say anything more. As she said, a fresh apple flavor spread in his mouth, but he deliberately ignored it.

Not feeling any noticeable change, Tehis awkwardly ran his fingers through his hair as Chloe exclaimed in admiration.

“It suits you better than expected. Gives a gentle impression?”

“Does it…?”

Unable to see himself, Tehis instead observed Chloe. The light brown harmonized subtly with her orange eyes, creating a natural blend.

‘Not that any color wouldn’t suit her.’

Her basic appearance supported her, but Chloe was someone whose personality was compared to all sorts of colors. Watching a woman who couldn’t be defined by one thing, she took the empty bottle from his hand.

With a sparkle, the bottle vanished as her ring glowed.

“Can you get something like that at the Mage Tower?”

“The ring? I made it.”

Caught off guard by her response, Tehis shifted his gaze from the ring to Chloe.

As if it were nothing, she explained while fiddling with the ring.

“I made it as an experiment when I was deeply into spatial magic. But the capacity is small, and there are many limitations. It’s a failed piece, but it seemed a waste to throw away, so I use it occasionally like this.”

Something she crafted herself? Made as an experiment? A failed piece?

Tehis didn’t know which part he should be surprised by. The mage’s standards were extremely difficult for ordinary people to understand.

Magic, alchemy, artifact creation.

“Are all high-level mages this versatile?”

She was said to be at the Senior level only in practical magic, so at best, the rest would be at a high-level mage’s standard. It was confusing whether it was common to excel in such diverse fields.

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

Chloe chuckled, brushing her hair to one side. Her confident words, spoken with her chin held high, brimmed with self-assurance.

“Of course, it’s because I’m exceptional.”

“I see.”

The Grand Duke, suddenly reminded that she was the Mage Tower Master’s protégé, nodded in agreement. It was hard to imagine all mages being like Chloe.

‘But how old is she?’

Tehis paused at the sudden thought. He naturally assumed she was younger, but the more he learned, the more impressive her achievements seemed.

‘Though I know mages age slowly…’

As Tehis pondered whether it was appropriate to ask her age now, the genius mage, who was in danger of going from younger to older, linked arms with him.

“Let’s go. I’m starting to feel hungry.”

“Yes, Chloe.”

What followed was smooth sailing. From the Grand Duke’s residence to the warp gate, from the warp gate to the capital, and then to the night market—it didn’t take long.

* * *

“Tess, let’s eat that. It smells delicious.”

Tehis bought two skewers from where Chloe pointed and handed one to her.

Though they disguised themselves to enjoy the festival smoothly, not many people knew the nickname of the Grand Duke of Escalante, so they hadn’t changed their names. It was still difficult for commoners to know that his official lover was named Chloe.

If anyone recognized them, it would be taken as a secret date. And there was no one at the festival bold enough to ruin the Grand Duke’s date.

“Hmm… the taste seems ordinary?”

“How about trying something less common than this?”

“Like what?”

Chloe looked around with curious eyes. While the letter mentioned summer festival food, nothing particularly stood out.

“I haven’t tried it myself, so I’m not sure. They say it’s sold next to the fountain in the square around this time of year.”

“Let’s go there. Do you know the way?”

“This way.”

Recalling Lisa’s words, Tehis led the way. From dining at the night market to planning the entire itinerary, she had voluntarily organized everything. Her voice had been enthusiastic as she guided him, even though she wasn’t going herself.

“Oh, is that it?”

“Seems like it.”

Thanks to having studied the map of the capital in advance, Tehis reached the destination without getting lost. Seeing a few people lined up at the stall next to it indicated that festival food was being sold.

“It seems quite popular. Does that mean it’s tasty?”

“Let’s give it a try.”

Chloe observed people returning with something in palm-sized wooden bowls. They were eating something white with wooden spoons, but it was hard to identify at a glance.

“So, what is that?”

“It’s called bingsu. They say it’s made by grinding ice with an artifact, but we’ll have to see it to know for sure.”

Chloe was puzzled by the sudden mention of an unfamiliar word.

If it were a mage directly infusing mana, that might be different, but typical artifacts require mana stones and aren’t used for tasks like cooking. Unless sold at a considerably high price, it would surely result in a loss, and most of the customers appeared to be commoners, which was confusing.

‘Is it an artifact with incredibly efficient mana stone usage?’

Curious about how valuable the food must be to warrant using mana stones, she peeked inside the stall. Every time the cook, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, placed ice in a cylindrical box and applied a mana stone, the sound of ice grinding could be heard.

‘Wait a minute.’

Chloe narrowed her eyes. It didn’t take long for the mage, who could perceive the flow by synchronizing with mana, to notice something strange.

That person…

“…They’re not using mana stones?”

What is a mage doing scamming people here?

At Chloe’s incredulous voice, the hand making the bingsu paused.