“Mmm…”
As I slowly lifted my heavy eyelids, a familiar ceiling greeted me.
‘…A familiar ceiling?’
Rubbing my aching body awake, my eyes snapped open as a strange sense of unease slowly crept in.
“When did I return to the Imperial Palace?”
Unfortunately, my memory cut off completely after finishing the spar with Eain and being carried by him.
The side effects from abusing the physical enhancement potion had knocked me unconscious almost immediately.
I honestly hadn’t expected to fall asleep the instant the effects wore off…
At least it was still nighttime, which meant I hadn’t slept through an entire day.
‘Did Eain bring me back to the palace?’
Just as that thought crossed my mind, something sparkling on the table caught my eye.
“This is… the emergency warp stone I kept hidden. The broken one.”
It had definitely lost all its light before, reduced to nothing more than a black stone.
Yet now, as if nothing had ever happened, it radiated dazzling magical energy once more.
“Was it Kanak?”
Kanak was the only person capable of restoring it this perfectly.
But he shouldn’t have even known it was broken.
More importantly, I hadn’t even met him today, so none of this made sense.
‘What exactly happened while I was asleep…?!’
I stared blankly at the warp stone in confusion when suddenly I sensed a tiny presence somewhere in the room.
Too small to be human.
Too insignificant to be a magical beast.
“I think something’s over there.”
While peering into the dark corner of the bedroom still untouched by light, I spotted a pair of round purple eyes blinking softly.
“…A cat?”
At first I thought it was some small magical creature creeping around, but upon closer inspection, it was simply a black cat with fur darker than the night itself and violet eyes like amethysts.
“Kitty, how did you get in here?”
The knights were guarding the door, and the windows were locked.
Strange.
Then again, Kanak used to casually open locked windows and enter whenever he pleased too.
‘Is the Imperial Princess Palace security really okay at this point…?!’
Honestly, locking doors suddenly felt meaningless.
“Maybe one of the maids’ cats got lost?”
That seemed plausible enough.
With a shrug, I illuminated the room.
The cat was so black I couldn’t even tell where it was without light.
“But you look a lot like Romi.”
Back when I was Lesha, I had raised a divine beast named Romi—a black cat.
Great mages often dispersed their overwhelming magical power in various ways to manage it more efficiently, and one of the most famous methods was creating divine beasts, extremely rare existences born from mana itself.
‘I heard the more mana you poured into creating a divine beast, the rarer the creature you’d receive… so I dumped literally all my mana into it.’
Because the room had been dark earlier, I hadn’t noticed before.
Around the cat’s neck was a purple ribbon holding a top-grade mana stone.
A collar?
“So you really do have an owner. I figured as much— huh?”
My words abruptly trailed off.
“W-Wait a second. You don’t just resemble Romi—you ARE Romi!”
That collar was one I personally made!
And that top-grade mana stone? I’d stolen it right out from under those greedy Elders who kept eyeing my jewels and gave it to Romi instead!
“So that’s how you got in despite the windows being locked.”
I had never imagined Romi would be here, which was why it took me so long to recognize him.
“I thought you definitely left.”
Normally, divine beasts lived by using their summoner—their master’s mana—as a medium.
Once they lost their master, they usually disappeared as well or abandoned their home.
After learning that, a few days before casting the dimensional transfer spell, I had transferred more than half my remaining mana to Romi.
Enough for him to survive at least another five hundred years without me.
“Romi, come here.”
Wait.
Divine beasts only obeyed their masters, didn’t they?
Then there was no way he’d respond now that I wasn’t Lesha anymore.
It had simply been so long since I’d seen a divine beast that I forgot.
Tch. I wanted to pet him too.
Sulking slightly in disappointment, I watched as Romi quietly stared at me before gracefully padding closer.
Then he suddenly leapt straight into my arms.
As if that wasn’t enough, he began kneading affectionately against my palm.
The soft, fluffy black bundle pressing repeatedly against my skin felt unbelievably comforting.
…At this point, it really seemed like Romi recognized me.
“Do you know who I am?”
“Mrr.”
Romi answered briefly before licking the back of my hand with his rough tongue.
Though my body was different, my mana remained the same.
It seemed he had sensed that and come searching for me.
After spending a long while purring happily while being pampered, Romi suddenly vanished.
Well, as long as I was here, he probably wouldn’t go far…
So there was no reason to worry.
The next morning, the moment I woke up, Delsi rushed in saying a letter had arrived from House Haver.
Undoing the silver ribbon tied around the envelope, my eyes were immediately drawn to the neat handwriting inside.
Lady Sierra, this is Eain.
Did you return safely yesterday?
It still troubles me that I couldn’t escort you personally.
If you have time this afternoon, would you like to begin learning swordsmanship?
If you permit it, I will send a carriage to the Princess Palace.
P.S. I heard an anonymous swordsmanship tournament will be held during the upcoming festival. We could train with participation in mind.
Honestly, the Imperial Palace training grounds were probably the best place possible to practice.
But if I trained there, both the Emperor and Crown Prince would absolutely foam at the mouth together.
‘How dare someone with that body hold a sword?!’
They’d rush over immediately to stop me.
‘It’s thoughtful, but honestly… what a hassle.’
Perhaps Eain knew that too, which was why he invited me to the Haver estate for the first time.
House Haver was famous for possessing exceptionally capable private soldiers, so naturally its training facilities were outstanding as well.
‘This is strange. In the original story, Eain never once invited Sierra to his home.’
Yesterday morning didn’t count.
I had visited secretly as a “sparring partner,” not as the Imperial Princess herself.
But why did Kanak suddenly come to mind?
Every time I met Eain lately, Kanak’s expression had looked rather unpleasant.
‘…It should be fine, right? I’m only going there to learn. It won’t interfere with research.’
Still…
What did Eain mean by “I couldn’t escort you personally”?
Wasn’t Eain the one who brought me back?
‘I naturally assumed it was him.’
Thinking I misread it, I checked the letter again.
But no—the wording was exactly the same.
“Delsi, do you know when I returned to the palace yesterday?”
“No, Your Highness. When I entered your bedroom, you were already asleep. I was worried because you hadn’t returned for so long, but I’m relieved you came back safely.”
I had hoped Delsi might know something, but unfortunately she seemed equally clueless.
There was no way I could have returned on my own while unconscious from the potion’s side effects.
My gaze slowly drifted back toward the warp stone on the table.
‘Then did Kanak really come to House Haver?’
When?
Why?
And how did he even know?
As question after question flooded my mind, Delsi placed down a warm cup of tea and spoke cheerfully.
“I’m really glad you seem so much healthier lately. Are you going out again today?”
“Yeah. Delsi, please send word to House Haver that I’ll visit this evening.”
“Yes! So you really reconciled with the young duke, right? Actually, the rumors started dying down yesterday afternoon. Apparently the people spreading the nastiest gossip all suffered misfortune.”
Delsi waved her hands happily, calling it punishment.
When I stared at her questioningly, she coughed lightly before leaning closer and whispering:
“Well… I heard this from the maids in the annex, but the noble ladies who kept speaking badly about Your Highness all apparently slipped, fell, or got splashed with mud yesterday afternoon and humiliated themselves. Almost like someone used magic on them!”
Chuckling about the bizarre coincidence, Delsi left the room saying she would send a message to House Haver.
“…I need to visit the Magic Tower.”
After hearing everything Delsi said, my vague suspicions solidified into certainty.
Some unwelcome guest had definitely interfered in my day yesterday.
