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Chapter 16  

Alina looked toward Rihart—
the thin boy standing there, covered in dust, holding one arm in pain.

“Hic… sniff… Risse…”

Tears spilled nonstop from his clear eyes.
When he met Alina’s gaze, he staggered toward her.

As he approached, Alina instinctively stepped back.

Rihart’s expression collapsed—hurt and confused.

“R-Risse…”

“Hah! So you jumped in without even knowing who he was?”

Rihart’s older brother shouted in amusement.

“That kid is the Second Prince of the Great Malerhark Empire—
Maximilian Rihart von Holtzreger!”

“…”

Alina froze and stayed silent.
Seeing her expression, the man smirked with a nasty grin.

“So go ahead—report me to Lillith.
I’d love to hear what she says when I tell her I was just disciplining my baby brother.”

“Risse…”

Rihart’s trembling voice snapped Alina back to her senses.
She glared at Rishian.

After a moment of thought, she reached into her basket—

—and pulled out a peach.

Without hesitation, she threw it straight at the First Prince.

It hit him square in the face.

“You—what the—?!”

“So you’re Prince Rishian. Perfect.”

Her lime-green eyes were burning with anger.

“When I entered the palace, I received the full training about the royal family—
your bodies, your diets, your allergies.”

“What nonsense—Ah—ACHOO!”

Rishian tried to reach her but suddenly began coughing violently.

When he coughed, the snake tormenting Til vanished like smoke.
Til, finally released, dropped to the ground as if fainting.

Alina saw this and marched toward Rishian with a hardened expression—
another ripe peach in her hand.

“What I mean is this, Your Highness.”

“Ah—ACHOO!—Hkk—ACHOO!”

Alina held the peach right up to his face as he coughed uncontrollably.

She glanced at the wide-eyed Rihart before speaking:

“I happen to know you have a peach allergy.
And not just that—I know exactly how strong it is
and how much each triggers it.”

She squeezed the soft peach in her hand, crushing it.

“You can’t stand peach fuzz, right? Even holding one close makes you cough nonstop.”

Light pink skin split between her fingers; juice dripped down.

Rishian recoiled, shuddering.

“S-Stop—ACHOO! Stop that!”

“And peach flesh and juice…?
You hate those even more, don’t you?”

Alina smiled sweetly.

Rishian looked horrified.

“You—damn brat! A-ACHOO! You—just wait!”

Coughing miserably, he turned and ran away.
A pitiful retreat compared to his earlier arrogance.

Once his footsteps faded, Alina collapsed to the ground.

“Wow… What did I just do…?”

She did know Rishian’s allergy perfectly.

It was mild—so mild that he often forgot about it himself.
A shower and a single pill would fix him right up.

He looked like he was suffering a lot, though…

She had never bullied anyone before.
So she found herself instinctively worrying about even him.

“Risse, are you okay?”

Still worrying about Rishian, she looked up.

Rihart was running toward her, his beautiful face streaked with tears.

That alone was heartbreaking—
but combined with dust and dirt all over him,
He looked even more pitiful.

I’m worrying about the wrong person.

Alina hardened her resolve.

Rishian was the one who made Rihart like this.

He abused him.
Starved him.
Tormented him.

He deserved far worse.

“If anyone should be asked if they’re okay, it’s you.
You’re the one who got hurt.”

Alina pulled Rihart’s hand, stopping him from frantically checking her for injuries.

As he stumbled, she wrapped her arms around him.

Rihart quietly hugged her back.

Holding him gently like a frightened puppy,
She brushed the sand out of his silver hair and sighed.

She had been shocked to learn he was the second prince.

But the moment their eyes met—
None of that mattered.

Watching this small boy desperately trying to protect her—
Every fear, every past memory, felt irrelevant.

Her past life was just that: past.

And this boy…
He would never kill her.

Alina stroked his head and spoke softly:

“Rihart, are you okay?”

“…Not at all.”

Still clinging to her, he mumbled:

“I was fine before… but the moment I thought about you seeing me like this, I wasn’t fine anymore…”

“You were going to keep your identity secret from me forever?”

Rihart nodded weakly.

“Second princes are… unwanted.
I thought if you knew who I was… your feelings would change.”

“What feelings?”

“The feeling of… being on my side.”

His small, discouraged voice made Alina’s eyes sting.

She forced a smile.

“That’s disappointing.
So you really thought my heart would change that easily?”

Rihart shot upright, panicked.

“No! Never!”

“Hmm? Sounds like you really expect it to—… ah.”

Alina winced slightly.
Rihart immediately pulled back and examined her anxiously.

“What’s wrong? Where does it hurt?”

“I think I twisted my ankle when I sat down earlier.”

She rubbed her sore ankle with an embarrassed laugh.

She hadn’t been harmed by Rishian or his snake—
but somehow managed to hurt herself instead.

But Rihart wasn’t amused.

He stared seriously at her reddening ankle.

“Hold on.”

Vmmmm—

He cupped her ankle, and a faint blue glow flickered.

A soft breeze brushed around them—
then faded.

Rihart began chanting urgently.

A pale light spread over her ankle.

“Please… please work…”

But despite his pleading,
The light quickly went out.

“Ah…”

Defeated, he looked up at her.

“Sorry… I can’t do anything.”

“That’s nonsense.”

Alina flicked his forehead lightly.

“This kind of thing heals with ointment.
Just help me walk.”

“…Okay.”

With a gloomy face, Rihart helped her up —
slipping his arm under her shoulder.

She leaned on him as they walked slowly.

“Ugh…”

Pain shot up as her foot touched the ground.

She tried to keep her face calm, though—
Rihart watched her every expression with desperate worry.

“If I’d gone to the Academy, I could’ve learned healing magic.
I’m sorry…”

“I said I’m fine. Stop apologizing.
But—why didn’t you go to the Academy?
A royal should, right?”

“Because of Til.”

Alina blinked in surprise.

“Huh?”

“My guardian beast is a small bird.
Father says that means my magic is weak.
Weak beast, weak mage.
And… he already hated me because of my mother.”

“Your mother? Why?”

“She died giving birth to me.”

A hollow emptiness passed through Rihart’s young face.

Alina looked at him quietly before changing the topic.

“So Til is your guardian beast? Amazing.
Zennotat doesn’t have anything like that.”

“Oh. It’s normal in the Malerhark royal family.
When a royal turns four, they learn their first spell—
summoning their guardian beast.
Once summoned, the beast and the royal stay together for life.”

Rihart rubbed his reddened eyes.

“High-magic royals get powerful beasts.
Like Rishian’s Teshi or Lillith’s Mar.”

“Teshi is that snake, right?
What’s Mar?”

“Both Teshi and Mar are dragons.
They just look like snakes in their everyday form.”

“But I didn’t see any snake near the princess.”

“Well, of course—”

A bright voice cut in.

Lillith appeared in front of them.

“It takes a huge amount of mana to keep a guardian beast visible all the time.”

She gave Alina’s ankle a light tap.

Unlike Rihart’s magic,
a bright green ring of light wrapped around the joint—
and vanished instantly.

“It doesn’t hurt at all…”

Alina stood upright, startled.
Lillith winked.

“Hello, delicious little Risse.”

With a cool smile, she approached.

“Since Risse cares about this kid so much,
I couldn’t help feeling bothered too.
So I came to check on him.”

Standing before them, she looked at Rihart.

“Next month, the ambassador from Kestol is visiting.
Come to that banquet. I’ll prepare a seat for you.”

“Am I… allowed to go somewhere like that?”

“You’re a Holtzreger too. Come.
If Rishian misbehaves, I’ll just force-feed him a peach. Don’t worry.”

Alina burst into a laugh.
Lillith smiled at her warmly.

“Oh, and—sorry I couldn’t lend you the mana stone last time.
I came to give it to you, but you weren’t there.”

“I got one from Rishian.”

“…What?”

Lillith stared at Rihart, shocked.

“Why would you do that? What was so urgent?”

“…”

Rihart clamped his mouth shut—
and stared silently at Alina.

And only then did Alina realize
why Lillith had visited the Ivory Palace that day.