Prince Mikhail sat at the edge of the carriage, his face clouded with confusion. As Luce approached him, he glanced around the tranquil forest, but found no signs of anything out of the ordinary.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
Mikhail gave a slight shake of his head in response.
“…I just had a few things on my mind.”
“That so? Well, that’s a relief.”
Luce responded with a disinterested look, then got straight to the point. With a flat expression void of any emotion, the dragon pointed his thumb over his shoulder. In the direction he gestured, a wooden coffin lay on the ground.
“It’s over there.”
“…”
“Adrian’s corpse, I mean.”
Mikhail, still seated in the carriage and looking up at Luce, bit his lip faintly upon seeing the coffin. Luce stretched out a hand, silently telling him to come over—an invitation to stand up and walk to the coffin. He wanted to end this binding verbal contract between them once and for all.
Luce opened his mouth to casually add another layer to his lie.
“As soon as I found it at the bottom of the cliff, I brought it he—”
“More importantly… Aren’t you curious what’s in this freight wagon?”
Mikhail cut him off with an unexpected question. Luce glanced around at the wagon Mikhail was sitting on.
“This thing?”
One of the wagon doors was open, making the interior clearly visible even from outside.
“You mean what used to be in here, not what is?”
He had a point—the inside of the wagon was completely empty. With a nonchalant tone, Luce asked again, but Mikhail slowly stood up from where he had been sitting on the edge. As he moved, more of the interior came into view.
Still, it was pitch black inside the wagon, and Luce, arms crossed and wearing a skeptical look, swept his gaze over it as if wondering why this was even a topic of discussion—until a twitch flickered at the corner of his eye.
Sunlight, which had been blocked by Mikhail, now spilled into the wagon, illuminating something inside. The wagon wasn’t empty.
There, resting on the floor, was a small stone with a gleaming red surface, as if it were crying out to be seen.
“…”
Shit.
The moment Luce laid eyes on it, he realized the situation had taken a turn for the worst. He could practically feel Mikhail’s piercing gaze stabbing into his back, as if the prince had already gleaned everything through that “All-Seeing Eye” of his.
“You can’t really get a good look just standing there. Don’t you think you should take a closer look?”
Even with his back turned, Mikhail’s voice rang clear. His tone had shifted slightly. It wasn’t the formal speech of a royal addressing a dragon, but something more casual—more like the Mikhail who used to be Adrian’s roommate at Basamiel Academy.
The dragon noticed the change in tone and gave a slight shrug before stepping up onto the wagon.
“All-Seeing Eye, huh… What a cheesy name.”
He had been meaning to take a proper look at it anyway. Muttering in an annoyed tone, Luce’s voice filled the dark wagon as he strode in and picked up the lone stone resting on the floor.
Huh?
The stone was much lighter than he expected, and Luce’s eyes narrowed slightly. This weight—it was far lighter than the time he had handed Fellen Deeps’ sword to Mikhail back at Basamiel.
“…Yeah. This is how it should be.”
With a sharp grin tugging at the corners of his lips, Luce muttered softly. It felt like he had finally passed the lofty standards of Ordinas.
He tossed the All-Seeing Eye lightly into the air, then caught it with ease. Just as he turned back toward the wagon’s entrance—
“You didn’t check the most important thing.”
Mikhail, leaning against the doorframe and watching the clearly pleased Luce, casually threw out the words.
At Mikhail’s words, Luce looked down at the stone in his hand. He was probably telling him to breathe into it, to reveal the rightful owner of the All-Seeing Eye. But there was no need—Luce already knew what the result would be.
“…”
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to breathe into it?”
Mikhail’s voice rang out sharply, cutting through the silence like a rebuke.
“Or is it…”
Mikhail deliberately drew out his words with a mirthless smile. He didn’t look amused in the slightest.
“…that you already know the answer, so there’s no need to check?”
Mikhail stepped into the wagon, where the dragon still stood. Without waiting for a reply, he reached out and snatched the All-Seeing Eye from Luce’s hand.
Hoo—
Mikhail slowly exhaled over the crimson stone, letting his breath coat its surface. All the while, he never took his eyes off Luce.
Moments later, letters began to emerge on the stone’s gleaming surface. Mikhail angled it away so Luce couldn’t see the name just yet.
“Isn’t that right?”
Then, he held it up for Luce to see.
It should have read Adrian Heather. But the name inscribed across the surface was completely different.
“Luce Fennigan.”
“…”
Luce said nothing, even with the stone held right in front of his face. Because there was no denying it. The words Luce Fennigan were scribbled in a rough hand across the surface of the All-Seeing Eye. Back during the entrance ceremony, he had genuinely wondered whether that stone would show Adrian Heather or not. No matter how deep its vision went, the stone never failed to point to its true owner.
“Or… would you prefer I keep calling you Adrian Heather?”
Mikhail’s voice was frigid, each word dropping like ice. That cursed All-Seeing Eye had never once been helpful to the dragon.
“Ahh…”
Luce—or rather, Adrian Heather, who had spent a full year at Basamiel with Mikhail—let out a quiet sigh and nodded. Now that he was caught, there was no walking it back.
Come to think of it, Mikhail didn’t even seem all that surprised. For someone who had only realized the truth in the time that he stopped by the lair briefly to pick up the Mandrake, Mikhail was awfully composed.
Adrian gave a faint snort, tousled his blond hair carelessly, and asked,
“When did you figure it out?”
So they had both been putting on a performance for no reason. Adrian’s offhand tone stirred something in Mikhail’s gaze. Mikhail stared at him for a long moment before replying slowly, breaking up each word.
“Is that what matters to you right now?”
“…”
“I’ve known for quite a while. Honestly, I was waiting—waiting for you to come clean and tell me yourself.”
There was no emotion in Mikhail’s voice as he began to speak.
“That Adrian I thought was dead… the one I even used a wish on, asking the dragon for his corpse… turns out he’s been right beside me all along. Looking at me with that calm, unaffected face.”
But the longer Mikhail spoke, the more his seething anger became palpable, like heat pressing against Adrian’s skin. He listened silently, not offering a word in defense.
“Goddammit!”
Thud! Mikhail’s fist slammed against the wall of the wagon. The sharp crack of his punch made it clear—he was far from calm.
“What the hell is in that coffin you brought? If I open it and accept what I see, were you just planning to brush it all off again like nothing happened?”
“…I was just trying to grant the wish you told me.”
Adrian, who had remained silent until now, finally responded in a low voice. There hadn’t been any malice in it. What Mikhail had asked for was Adrian Heather’s corpse. If giving him that let him hold a funeral, it was supposed to be a kindness.
“That’s why I warned you—you’d regret making that wish.”
“No.”
Mikhail answered immediately, his voice firm.
“I still don’t regret it. Know why? If I hadn’t made that wish, I never would’ve uncovered the truth. Isn’t that right?”
“Mikhail, sometimes the truth is better left unknown.”
Just look at the mess this had become. Adrian rubbed his temple with his fingers, muttering like he had a headache.
Mikhail let out a short breath.
“Leave it unknown, huh…? How is that even possible?”
He bit down on his lip, forcing back the fury rising inside him.
“That was your big plan? To let me see the body, grant the wish, and be done with it?”
Mikhail’s unrelenting stare bore down on him.
“Then let’s find out.”
Footsteps stomped out of the wagon. Adrian could only watch as Mikhail brushed past him.
He marched straight toward the coffin Luce had brought from the lair.
Clack.
With a glint of cold fury in his eyes, Mikhail opened the lid.
