Chapter 6
I was ready to spend the night in the Dragon’s Tower, but luckily, a search party found us in the middle of the night.
They said royal hounds were released to track us down.
So our missing case ended in about six hours.
But during that time, our parents were terribly shocked, and the palace was in chaos.
I found out later that the night before the Founding Day, one of the princes had died from illness.
Now I realized what Carmen’s knight meant when he said something unfortunate had happened.
I thought he was just making excuses, but it was real.
Anyway, after that, my parents scolded me like never before.
As punishment, they banned me from going out.
For three whole weeks!
I was really sad, but I couldn’t do anything about it.
Stuck at home, all I could do was read books, stare at the ceiling, count down the days left, and remember the happy times outside.
It was so boring that I kept falling asleep.
I took naps more often.
About ten days later, I woke up suddenly from a nap in the middle of the night.
I tried to sleep again, but my stomach was growling.
So I got out of bed and went downstairs to check the kitchen.
“Carmen…”
That’s when I heard my parents’ voices from the study.
I thought I heard Carmen’s name.
Ever since we came back from the tower, I kept wondering about him.
Was he scolded by the Emperor?
Was he sad because he couldn’t see me?
Carmen had become one of my main concerns.
I quietly pressed my ear to the closed study door.
“He already… has a high fever…”
“…lizard… supply route…”
“…”
I froze.
Something about their conversation didn’t feel right.
I focused all my hearing on what they were saying.
My hand resting on the door began to shake.
From what I could gather:
Carmen was sick.
The medicine was hard to find…
If this continues, he might die.
Lizard was the name of a magic beast.
It looked like a lizard but was bigger than a person, with several horns on its back.
It was classified as an A-grade beast.
Lizards carried tiny poisonous creatures on their tails.
If you got stung by one, you’d catch what they called “Lizard Disease.”
Symptoms included fever, headaches, extreme fatigue, and chills… and it could be fatal if untreated.
You could catch it from a bite, or by eating animals or plants contaminated by its poison.
There’s no way a magic beast would be roaming around the palace.
So he was probably infected indirectly.
Even so, it was strange something like this could happen in the royal family.
Thankfully, there was a known cure.
The detoxifying herb, Baraka.
It had purple leaves and a terrible smell, which earned it the nickname “flower of the demon realm.”
It grew in the northern region and could appear here in Hebram during winter.
And it was winter now.
So it shouldn’t be that hard to find.
Then why couldn’t the palace get any?
I remembered my parents saying there was a supply issue with the cure.
Had Baraka suddenly gone extinct?
I felt frustrated and started pulling at my hair as I read.
Carmen was a prince.
What on earth was our empire’s royal family doing?
I nervously bit my fingernails.
I wanted to run straight to the palace and ask them myself, but I was under house arrest.
Was it really that hard to find Baraka?
As I kept biting my nails, I looked down at the drawing of Baraka.
Purple leaves, awful smell—such a unique plant.
Maybe I should find out for myself if it’s really so rare.
I told my nanny I was just tired from too many naps, then gathered a stack of parchment and laid them on the study floor.
With ink and a feather pen, I began drawing magic circles on each sheet.
I didn’t have much magical power, so I couldn’t summon strong or large familiars.
But I could summon small and weak ones.
Familiar magic could be used on animals, not just beasts.
My first familiar, Camembert, was originally just a puppy.
Baraka was said to have a strong smell.
Dogs had great noses, but I could only summon two or three with my magic.
But I knew creatures with even better sense of smell.
Moths and ants.
Since insects were tiny, I could summon many of them even with my weak magic.
I kept drawing until I used up all my parchment and ink.
There were hundreds of magic circles by dawn.
I placed my hand on them and chanted the summoning spell.
A blue light flashed all over the study.
I panted and looked down at the floor.
“Ugh…”
The room was full of ants and moths.
I got goosebumps on my arms.
If anyone saw this, they’d freak out.
I smiled awkwardly and showed them a book.
“Okay, everyone. We’re looking for a flower that looks like this.”
I explained what I’d read about Baraka’s smell and appearance.
My insect familiars listened closely, then flew out the window.
After seeing them off, I closed the window and felt all the strength leave my body.
Even though they were small, summoning so many insects had worn me out.
My shoulders and arms felt like jelly.
Or maybe I was just exhausted…
That was the last thing I remembered.
I collapsed and fell asleep on the study floor.
“Ugh…”
When I woke up again, it was already afternoon.
I saw parchment and books scattered everywhere.
I quickly noticed that many of the magic contracts had faded.
A lot of my insect familiars had died during the mission.
I bowed my head briefly to honor their sacrifice.
Then I heard a tapping sound by the window.
When I looked, I saw moths hitting the glass.
I opened it, and they all rushed in.
They seemed to be in a big hurry.
A silkworm moth flapped its tattered wings and started explaining everything.
My eyes widened as I listened.
“Young lady, when did you wake up?”
My nanny opened the door and stepped in.
“If you were awake, you should’ve said so! And why did you make such a mess in the study yesterday…”
She was about to scold me, but when she saw the swarm of ants and moths at the window, she screamed.
She put down the water tray and held the tray like a weapon.
“Young lady, get back! I’ll handle this—!”
“Nanny! No, don’t kill them!”
I stretched my arms to block her.
My insect familiars quickly hid behind me.
“They’re my familiars. More importantly—where are my parents?”
“Familiars…? The master went outside just now, out in the garden…”
“Thanks!”
I dashed out of the room.
I tumbled down the stairs and ran with all my strength to reach the garden before the carriage left.
Panting like crazy, I explained to my parents where my familiars had found Baraka—the healing herb that could cure Carmen’s illness.
It was in the hills behind the palace.
As I spoke, I suddenly realized how strange this all sounded.
My parents looked shocked.
“You’ve been home all day—how on earth do you know that?”
“Um…”
I glanced at Mom’s face.
My parents hated magic.
They didn’t even like my alchemist uncle, and they weren’t happy he taught me summoning and familiar magic.
But I had no choice.
I called my familiars over.
“They told me.”
My parents, who were just about to get into the carriage, froze in shock.
Behind me, a long line of moths and ants came marching in.
I carefully explained everything—how I overheard their conversation, how I used insect familiars to track the scent of Baraka.
They looked stunned, but they listened seriously.
To reach the hill where Baraka was found, we had to pass through the palace.
So they said they would inform the palace and ask for help.
Not long after, we got permission and headed to the palace together.
Since my directions were vague—“behind a big rock in the hill”—they needed me to come along.
At the palace, we met with the Empress and the royal knights.
The Empress looked very pale when I greeted her.
I started to get nervous.
My familiars told me the knights were whispering things like, “Do we really need to follow a little kid’s directions?”
But it was real.
They’d see soon enough.
“It’s here.”
We reached the place, and I asked them to stop the carriage.
The others followed in their own carriages.
Even though we’d come pretty far, the hill wasn’t dense with trees.
The grass was short and blown over by the wind.
I spotted a big rock—the one the moth had told me about.
“It should be behind that.”
I pointed to the rock.
The knights walked over to check.
I held my breath and watched, feeling anxious.
Something didn’t feel right.
The knights looked behind the rock.
One of them lifted his head and said,
“There’s nothing here.”
“What? That can’t be…!”
Panicking, I ran over to check.
But there was really nothing there.
Then the knight captain behind me said,
“Do you mean this?”
He was holding a purple vine flower.
It wasn’t Baraka.
I stared blankly at the strange purple flower in his hand.
Somewhere behind me, I heard the Empress let out a soft sigh.
