Chapter 15
“Asha.”
Trisha gave up her plan to storm into Pantheon right away and went down to the parlor instead.
After all, if the master of Pantheon had come to her personally, there was no longer any need to go there herself.
“You’re here?”
Asha sat with his usual poised manner, sipping the tea and eating the refreshments that had been served to him.
“What brings you here?”
“I came to give you something.”
“To give me… something?”
Out of nowhere?
Trisha blinked in mild confusion but sat down across from him anyway.
A soft clink rang out as Asha set his teacup down.
“You truly look like a noble lady now.”
“Do I?”
Trisha barely managed to suppress the laugh that tried to escape.
Of all people, she was hardly someone who’d ever been called “ladylike,” even when she’d lived as Trisha.
‘I know exactly what people used to say behind my back, thank you very much.’
Tea and a sugar bowl were set in front of her. She drank her tea without adding sugar.
Asha’s eyes lingered on her for a moment.
‘I thought she’d be pleased.’
She’d lived as a commoner—shouldn’t she be happy to be told she now looked like a noblewoman?
But her reaction was… far from delighted.
“So, what is it? The thing you came to give me.”
Asha studied her disinterested face for a moment, then reached into his inner pocket.
He’d come here for this very reason—to deliver what he brought.
“Here.”
He pulled something out and placed it on the table, sliding it toward her.
Trisha’s gaze naturally followed it.
A jewelry case?
The small square box, just about palm-sized, was clearly a velvet case meant for a bracelet or necklace.
The finish alone told her it wasn’t cheap.
And Asha wasn’t the sort of man to suddenly give such gifts without reason.
Frowning slightly, Trisha set down her cup and opened the case.
…This is…
Inside was a dazzling bracelet, glittering so brightly it hurt the eyes.
More precisely—it was the bracelet she had been searching for.
The one decorated with the gem Sam had sold to Pantheon.
That subtle, dark crimson glow—
It was unmistakably the original stone from the cufflink she’d been looking for.
Trisha’s head snapped up.
“This!”
“It was a fine gem that happened to come my way.”
Happened to?
Really, just by chance?
Doubt flashed through Trisha’s mind.
She already knew, from interrogating Sam, that this gem had been sold to Asha’s guild, Pantheon.
If Pantheon had recognized it as a mana stone, she could understand why they’d buy it.
What she didn’t understand was why Sam had taken it there instead of to a jeweler.
But if it wasn’t recognized as a mana stone—why would Pantheon buy it at all?
And more importantly, why would Asha give it to her?
And not just as-is—but recast into a new bracelet?
Confusion flickered in her eyes as she looked up.
Asha met her gaze calmly, his face unreadable.
“…Thank you.”
But do you even know what this is?
She bit back the words before they slipped out.
“Think nothing of it. But…”
Before she could respond, Asha lightly pressed a finger to her forehead.
The gesture—half teasing, half scolding—was something one might do to a mischievous child.
“Stop calling me Asha so casually.”
Then he straightened up.
“Wait—where are you going?”
“My business here is done. I’m heading back.”
He was really leaving after just this?
A strange feeling told Trisha she shouldn’t let him go yet.
Before she knew it, her hand had grabbed the collar of his coat.
“…What? Have something else to say?”
“I, um…”
Startled by her own action, she quickly let go and fumbled for words.
She needed to say something harmless—something that wouldn’t expose that she knew the gem’s true nature.
“Why… why are you suddenly giving me something like this?”
“……”
At the simple, almost childlike question, Asha looked at her for a long moment.
“Consider it a birthday present.”
“A birthday present?”
Trisha frowned slightly. Her actual birthday was still a long way off.
‘That’s not something you could just forget by accident.’
Seeing her puzzled look, Asha added an explanation.
“You received a new name not long ago. Think of that day as your new birthday.”
“Oh…”
It was a reasonable answer—but it didn’t feel right.
She knew better than anyone that neither she nor Asha were the kind to celebrate birthdays.
“So I thought I’d do it, just this once.”
Asha had recognized the mana stone entirely by coincidence.
It had happened when the Crown Prince, who occasionally visited Pantheon, invited him out to eat.
As they were leaving together, they saw a rough-looking man arguing with the receptionist in the lobby, waving a gemstone in his hand.
“This isn’t a jewelry shop!”
“What? That’s not what I heard! Someone told me I could sell this here for a ton of money!”
“I don’t know who told you that, but we—”
“Oh, what, you think I’m just some lowborn you can ignore? This is a rare gem! Just look at it!”
Asha had intended to walk right past them.
Idiots who couldn’t tell the difference between an information guild and a jewelry shop popped up now and then.
But the Crown Prince stopped, intrigued.
“There’s a summoning spell on that.”
“A summoning spell? Then that means the stone he’s holding is a mana stone?”
“Yes. Whatever the stone’s bound to—it’ll try to protect whoever possesses it. Who knows what might pop out, though…”
Though not nearly on Trisha’s level, the Crown Prince possessed a faint sensitivity to magic, and on good days, he could indeed recognize mana stones.
“If I were to buy that from him right now, Your Highness wouldn’t report it to the palace, would you?”
“What?”
The prince widened his eyes dramatically.
“Why would I bother doing something that tedious?”
A truly princely response.
Asha immediately bought the mana stone from the man.
A fool who didn’t even know where he was selling it certainly didn’t know its worth—so Asha got it for half its value.
“Congratulations. You’ve acquired quite the rare mana stone.”
The prince’s congratulations were perfunctory. His interest in the stone ended there.
Later, as Asha left the Binz mansion, he recalled that moment.
He paused in the garden, then slowly turned his gaze back toward the parlor window—
the very room where he had just been speaking with the young girl, Ishas.
“Why are you suddenly giving me something like this?”
That confused look on her face…
The child’s expression was exactly the same as Trisha’s had been long ago—
so much so that it hurt to look at her.
‘I shouldn’t have let you go that day.’
The guilt that had taken root in him ever since had never once let him rest.
That was why he’d been happy to see the girl.
If he couldn’t protect Trisha herself, then at least he would protect her daughter.
That was how he would atone.
He had the mana stone reforged into a bracelet and paid extra to have a protection spell woven into it.
Then he placed it in the hands of the innocent child—
a small, silent gesture to keep Trisha’s daughter safe.
‘Trisha.’
His gaze drifted toward the horizon.
He was looking in the direction of the Imperial Palace.
The palace—where Trisha, once thought dead, was said to be recovering.
How had the Crown Prince found her and brought her back?
Ever since hearing she was alive, Asha had tried several times to request an audience with her—
and every time, he’d been turned away.
“Why are you in such a rush? She’ll wake soon enough. Just wait a little longer.”
That was how the Crown Prince had brushed him off.
‘Once Trisha returns, things will become complicated.’
Whether Ishas truly was Trisha’s daughter or not,
what awaited the girl after that would be too much for a child to bear.
‘Then may that mana stone at least protect her body.’
As Asha’s thoughts lingered on the palace, the image of Ishas opening the case—her face full of confusion—flashed in his mind.
The face identical to Trisha’s back in their academy days.
He pushed the thought away and resumed walking.
His footsteps echoed softly against the stone.
