Chapter . 50
Every time I visited here, I thoroughly set up barriers to ensure no sound leaked and the magic circle's operation wouldn't cause any damage, but now it was cracking.
Since the Throne Magic Circle was right below the throne, it had its own protective barrier. I had set up my own barrier separately to avoid damaging that one too, but.......
'If the audience chamber collapses at this rate?'
Only ominous thoughts occurred. Wouldn't a similar crisis have happened back then too? Michelon had to finish what I had sent before that. I believed he would, but if I couldn't hold out until then... even if I held out, if he didn't succeed in the end, the audience chamber might really collapse this time.
Just as the chest-tightening fear reached its peak, the ground beneath my feet began to move. Looking down, the characters were moving. Patterns blossoming brilliantly like golden flowers... the magic circle was moving!
It didn't make sense. Not the spell inside it, nor the light, but the magic circle itself was moving. I couldn't believe my eyes. Even the shape of the magic circle itself... changing from a circle to an oval, then back to a circle. That couldn't be. I must be seeing things because of the pain.......
I squeezed my eyes shut. My vision was dark, and my head was dizzy. The throne shone like a beacon in a place both far and near. Michelon's scream tore through my muffled ears.
"Aaaaaagh!"
How much must it hurt? My mouth was also full of screams, but soon chaos filled it instead, leaking out endlessly.......
What felt like at least a hundred years passed, and finally, the mana storm cleared and the magic circle's radiance slowly faded. Only then could my eyes, blurred with tears, see properly.
Michelon had transformed into a human. Into a boy with golden hair.
As I looked, his eyes, which had been closed like a marble statue, opened. Golden eyes, but human pupils, not a dragon's.
Laughter escaped me without realizing.
"...Leontes?"
Closer to the voice I heard before the regression. As if he had grown significantly.......
I clutched my chest. The scar beneath the token, the heart beneath the scar, and further beneath... I felt four circles. This was the first time my circles increased so rapidly. Is this even possible?
At some point, my eyes closed. The brilliant magic circle, the friend upon it, darkness descended over that beautiful scene.
***
"Are you conscious now?"
When I opened my eyes, I was lying on the bed in my bedroom.
The golden-eyed boy watched me sharply.
"Even after feeding you several bottles of magic potion, you didn't open your eyes."
"...You're around my age."
Although glad, it felt a bit awkward since it wasn't the dragon face I had gotten used to in the meantime. But if Michelon was satisfied, then fine.
"Your eyes seem fine. What about elsewhere? No burst internal organs?"
"None at all."
"Are you sure? Your voice sounds like something burst?"
"I was sleeping because I was tired, and you woke me up."
My reasonable answer made the boy jump up and down.
"Sleeping because you were tired? Tired? You collapsed in the audience chamber vomiting blood! Like a corpse! I thought you were dead!"
"I won't die leaving you behind. Both my mother and my nanny died leaving me behind. I know what it feels like to be left alone."
At my calm persuasion, the golden-eyed boy shut his mouth for a moment and exhaled a long breath. But thinking he had calmed down was a mistake.
"Do you think I'm doing this because of me right now?! Do you think I only think about myself!"
"Mm, we should all think about ourselves. Especially you should do so more. I also thought about myself. I don't want to die unable to close my eyes because I left someone behind like Mother or Nanny."
Before the regression, I hadn't worried about Michelon. Because I thought the strong him would live well on his own once freed from the brand. Since it would be better without me.
But after regressing like this, I realized I hadn't thought about the dragon who would have been left alone after being severed from the existence that was his only connection to the world, albeit a bad contractor. Maybe that's why he threw away his life without lingering attachment.
"...Forget it!"
Actually saying that, Michelon's face looked like it would explode from holding back unsaid words.
"If you have something to say, say it. Holding it in causes heartburn."
"Talking with you causes more heartburn!"
My head ached from the conversation too.
"...Come to think of it, it must have been hard bringing me here. Thank you."
"Then should I have left you there? My contractor? What do you take me for? You almost died doing what I asked, did you think I'd leave you there without even keeping the contract?"
"Not at all. Because you keep contracts well."
Too well, that's the problem.
"Even if it weren't a contract, I wouldn't have left you! Even if you hadn't succeeded this time, I wouldn't have left you!"
Somehow, Michelon only got angrier.
"Why are you getting angrier? We succeeded. You are now human, and you can live more safely until you grow up."
Michelon had a face lost for words for a moment, bit his lip while staring into the air, then opened his mouth again. It was definitely puberty.
"...Why didn't you tell me earlier that it was so dangerous?"
"Was there a need to say? Ilaves died. You saw your Mother's last moments."
"...Don't make excuses. Of course, I knew how dangerous the experiment was, and I was prepared. But all the danger of that experiment was directed at you. Why?"
As the boy's eyes sharpened, his pupils narrowed vertically. It seemed dragon traits appeared when angry. I should think of a way to hide it with magic.
"Originally, it was a dangerous experiment for both the wizard and the dragon."
"Don't lie! You told me not to move saying I had to be the central axis of the magic, but actually, it was a trick to prevent me from stepping in! Whether you took the full brunt of the real backlash you didn't even explain properly or not!"
"There is a reason why the magic Father cast on Ilaves failed."
I spoke calmly step by step.
"This magic has great danger at each stage. It must be attempted multiple times, and accumulated attempts become a stepping stone for success, but the danger also accumulates. If that danger isn't resolved somehow at each moment, it accumulates and eventually returns entirely to the subject at the end."
That was my theory, and it was proven this time. Even Master would have acknowledged it.
But Michelon's eyes only grew colder.
"Then why didn't you explain that? Why did you make excuses about me being the central axis or whatever?"
"You saw Ilaves dying too. I thought you could endure it even without me telling you in advance."
I nodded.
"My thought was right. You did very well."
However, even heartfelt praise couldn't move the dragon's heart.
"You... how do you think I would have felt if something had happened to you there?"
"In our contract, even if one dies, the other doesn't die. Sharing pain through the token doesn't mean we have to share our fates too."
I stated clearly. I had explained this point beforehand, and Michelon knew it too.
"It would be better if both died."
Michelon remarked sarcastically.
"Then you would have valued your life a bit more!"
"It wasn't a danger of death."
"Shut up!"
"If I die, you have to contract with my brothers. I will never let that happen."
"I said shut up! You don't even know what the problem is! You're so smart yet a complete idiot at the same time!"
Making me not know what to do and calling me an idiot.
What would Nanny have done at a time like this... whenever young me whined, she would hug and soothe me. But I was cute back then, Michelon is now the same height as me. And bigger build.
Raising a baby dragon was hard, but a puberty dragon was worse.
"Why are you silent? You must admit it?"
"Because you told me to shut up—"
"Prince, are you awake? May I come in?"
Only the moment Sir Rolf knocked on the bedroom door did I realize I hadn't cast the silence magic I usually did when with Michelon. Any wizard would be like that if they faced an angry dragon as soon as they woke up.
"Tell him to come in, I won't hide in the closet."
Michelon glared with his arms crossed.
"You already went inside? Since you're wearing my clothes."
"I don't have my own clothes yet. Your clothes are even small! They're so tight the seams look like they'll burst."
"I didn't think of that. I'll get clothes tailored for you."
"Woven with gold thread!"
"Of course. I'll even stud them with jewels."
"Prince?"
Sir Rolf called again from behind the door, and I let him in.
As Sir Rolf entered, Michelon threw a challenging look. Sir Rolf's gaze landed on my clothes Michelon was wearing.
"Michelon, this is my knight Sir Rolf. Sir Rolf, this is my friend Michelon."
Since Michelon was a Guardian Dragon, his status was higher. However, since he didn't state his family name even though I introduced him first, it was natural for Sir Rolf to find it strange.
It wasn't entirely unheard of. Many nobles used aliases. Using aliases like the White Knight in jousting tournaments. Especially young nobles who lived as libertines in universities or the army and only gave their real names during duels. Appearing without clothes, sword, or horse was certainly extreme, but being a noble doesn't mean you don't get robbed.
As soon as Sir Rolf exchanged greetings with Michelon, he examined me.
"You look tired, shall I call Goldmund, Prince?"
"No, I'm fine. I just need to rest a little."
At my words, Sir Rolf stared silently.
"...I'll eat well and rest fully today. Let's call Goldmund in the afternoon."
"Understood, Prince."
Sir Rolf nodded and looked at Michelon.
"Will Lord Michelon stay here, or will you go to the room where you will stay?"
In my opinion, Sir Rolf had more than guessed that the person who stayed in my room and devoured tremendous amounts of food was Michelon.
He did not raise objections to the decision of me, the Prince he serves who is in the middle of court intrigue, but he did not welcome someone hiding in my room without a name or clothes. If Michelon insisted on staying by my side, Sir Rolf would stay too.
"Staying only in the bedroom is stifling, I'll look around the quarters."
Michelon, for his part, took everything as a provocation.
"Let's all eat together since it's been a while."
I concluded. Because I wanted to see Nanette, who is the kindest and cutest.
***
"Then, is Lord Michelon also Nanny's son?"
While having breakfast together after washing up refreshingly, Nanette asked with sparkling eyes.
"What?"
Michelon was dumbfounded, but honestly, I agreed with Nanette.
"I wish that were so......."
Our bright Nanette had hit the nail on the head. It was easy for an imperial family member to bring someone into the imperial palace. Whether as a conversation partner, lover, or subordinate. How long the favor lasted depended on the imperial family member's whim.
However, the jealousy of courtiers did not leave lucky newcomers alone. There was even a woman who was shamed to death by the Emperor's sister-in-law for acting like a noble while being a commoner.
Even if not solely because of enemies, I had to give Michelon some suitable status.
"I am neither the son of a woman I haven't even seen nor Leontes's milk brother."
Michelon spoke arrogantly. Judging only by his way of speaking, he was like Maximilian's dragon. Though I already used the name Maxim.
"You thought well. Rather than Lord Michelon being the Prince's milk brother, it would be more plausible for him to be Her Majesty the Empress's illegitimate son since he's also blonde."
Sir Rolf mentioned the rumor always circulating in the palace. That Rhiannon gave birth to a child with men she met before meeting Father or before becoming Empress and hid him. Nanette also laughed and chimed in.
"That's right, he doesn't have red hair like me either. Indeed, Lord Michelon would prefer being another illegitimate son of Her Majesty the Empress rather than my brother! I also want to be the Prince's only milk sibling."
"I don't particularly welcome it, but if you wish, Michelon. Of course, if you become another illegitimate brother of Desmond, and a maternal half-brother at that, he won't like it, and Alexander will target you too, but I will protect you."
"I don't want to be the Empress's illegitimate son!"
To Michelon who disliked this and that, Sir Rolf spoke seriously.
"To be honest, for you to call Prince Leontes so familiarly in front of people when you didn't grow up together from a young age, even that is not enough."
"Sir Rolf is right. If you were a milk brother, people would accept it even if you interact without reserve regardless of whether you are royalty or noble. Since they do so too. But—"
"Listening to you, your nanny must be a good person, so becoming an adopted son would be fine."
Thus, Michelon became my milk brother. My people handled my dragon better than I, who raised him. I should strive harder too.
With biological brothers and half-brothers being terrible, having more milk brothers felt good.
However, the court wasn't a place where things ended with just Michelon's decision.
An unidentified existence suddenly brought by the Prince, a new rising star in the imperial palace recently. To settle him safely in the court, a compelling story incomparable to a reunion of long-lost milk brothers was needed.
"But don't make me look like a kid you picked up on the street and secretly brought into the palace."
"Don't worry. I'll make it so I pick you up on the street, but far from bringing you secretly, I'll make your appearance like a play."
"What?"
"Just that the appearance won't be here."
"What on earth are you plotting again?"