“He said that he can’t give you permission,” the person, who was dispatched as the messenger looked apologetic, but it wasn’t his fault.

  “On top of that, I’ve been ordered to send someone who could provide more details straight away?”


  “Yes.”


  “Should I have gone myself?”


  “It’s inevitable. Thanks for your hard work.” I thanked the messenger, leant back on my chair and sighed.

  I reflected.

  However, I couldn’t make a plan without waiting for the investigator’s report. Even the King knows that my daughter had been kidnapped. I reported this to him myself.

  I heard a knock at the door while I was thinking. I told the person to enter, and Jude appeared. Jude, who is usually calm, looked a little pale.

  “What’s wrong? Is it the messenger from the castle?”


  “Yes, mm……”


  “I’m coming in.”


  “Ah, please wait!”


  The person who had entered without waiting for Jude’s reply……

  “Your Highness!”


  Shiny blonde hair and blue eyes. The Crown Prince of the still active King. I hastily got up from my chair.

  “Aren’t you walking around too freely?”


  “What do I have to be reserved about when I’m visiting one of the Four Marquis Houses?”


  He must have realised the opinion that I didn’t voice, because he explained, “The Royal family can’t support the Four Marquises at all. You know this, right?”


  “How about giving equal support for everything?”


  “We’ve left the Marquises to their own devices as much as we could, Albans.”


  “Jude, prepare tea in the parlour,” I spoke to Jude and properly showed the Prince to a place where he could sit.

  Tea and snacks were immediately prepared in the parlour. I gradually got frustrated at the Prince, who was gracefully drinking his tea without saying anything.

  “So, Your Highness. Please carry out your duties as a messenger.”


  “You’re treating me so rudely all of a sudden.”


  “Well, it’s fine. Everyone knows that this is how Albans is. Why did you not get permission? Because we might have a new job for the Four Marquises.”


  “New job?”


  “A messenger came from the Royal Family of Wester last week.”


  “Apparently, Wester has plans to reactivate the big ancient barrier.”


  I squeezed the information from the corner of my brain.

  “So in short, they want to spread barriers around each town?”


  “As expected of someone who trades in magic tools.”


  “Shouldn’t they just do it if they want to do it?”


  “Apparently they don’t have enough magic.”


  “Then why don’t they stop?”


  “You’re too blunt.”


  “The next generation of the Wester Royal family have a lot of magic. They have also been collecting strong magic users and have covered nearly 80% of the magic they need.”


  “That’s good.”


  “It’s not someone else’s business.”


  The Prince finally got serious.

  “There are two children in Wester who have enough magic to cover the remaining 20%.”


  “Children? Two?”


  “One has summery-blue eyes and the other violet eyes.”


  I stood up from my chair with a bang.

  “Don’t tell me…… It’s Lei?! Are they trying to take advantage of Lei?!”


  “Calm down, Albans. Calm down. I didn’t say that.”


  “Then what do you mean?”


  The Prince remained seated on his chair as he leaned a little forward.

  “Well, they said they would protect the children, but they want Kingdom to dispatch strong magic users at fixed intervals in exchange for them.”


  “How sneaky of them!”


  I was in front of the Prince, but I hit my fist into the palm of my other hands.

  “Albans.”


  “Albans!”


  I was taken aback.

  “You’re probably thinking something dangerous right now. Don’t use the power of the Albans which is not only part of the Four Marquises, but also a large business, for such reckless things.”


  “But……”


  “No buts. Listen to me. The other child is probably the illegitimate child of the Lisburn House who we can’t seem to find news on. And they’re both at Lentforce.”


  “Lentforce!”


  “The town where you’re trying to send that search party,” the Prince said as if he was giving me more details.

  “Wester’s Royal family have already gone to meet them at Lentforce. They will protect the two children all the way to Wester’s capital, so they want the Lisburn’ and Albans’ to come and pick them up, and fill the magic stone while they’re at it. That’s how it is.”


  I clenched my fist.

  “Albans, stop. This isn’t like you,” I looked up when I heard the Prince’s voice.

  “If you participate in the meeting with those feelings, then the supervision department will manipulate you.”


  “I’m……”


  “Wester is to blame for not ensuring Lei’s safety and allowing criminals to run wild and endanger noble children. I was going to go pick her up even if they don’t protect her. They did something unnecessary.”


  “Aren’t you being too arrogant, Albans?”


  The Prince laughed, then he went back to looking serious and said, “Eventually, your daughter would be protected. Even if you go to pick her up now, you’ll just miss each other, and the power of the Albans will be dispersed. And Wester would still put in this request even without your daughter. We have to think about the problem separately.”


  “Kingdom and Frontier. The power relationship between these two are about to change. It’s time for us to seriously consider what we can do to protect the people of Kingdom.”


  The Prince stood up.

  “Next week, we will hold a meeting with the royal family, the Four Marquises, the nobles and the supervision department. Anyhow, your daughter will return. Focus on next week’s meeting.”


  “Noted.” I opened my eyes, straightened my sitting position and accepted.

  I was called to a round-table conference that was only held whenever Kingdom is in a state of emergency.