Said the King.
"I sent people out belatedly. But I couldn't find them. They had gone deep inside. So I wouldn't be able to find them."
"..."
"I regretted it, but it was already too late. Still, I assumed he was doing well. That’s why I believed he wasn’t coming back."
Eve paused at the last remark.
"But... Dad a long time ago..."
As Eve stammered, the King slowly nodded.
"...I was tricked by that mermaid."
Mermaid.
Eve's eyes widened. The King spoke in a self-deprecating voice, as if groaning.
"Yes. The mermaid whose identity I revealed deceived me. He told me that my son was alive and well."
The King's fist was trembling slightly, as if suppressing his anger.
"I foolishly believed in the mermaid. Without knowing he was fake... I believed without a doubt that he was living happily ever after."
He thought there was no way his son was dead. He thought that if he was living well and in good health, that was enough.
It might have been his own wish.
"That is why I trusted the mermaid's words even more. In exchange for granting his request, the mermaid demanded that I share my power. Since I was the one who had advocated for the severance of the Beastman Realm, I had no choice but to grant his wish."
The King extended his hand. In an instant, light gathered, and a blue gem emerged from within.
"Have you ever seen this?"
Eve shook her head at the King's question. Then she stared at Eve intently.
"Have you heard anything else about me?"
"There are some, but not many. Other than handling multiple spells at once..."
"I see."
The King quietly nodded. Then, the blue gem in his hand flew toward Eve. At its light and gentle movement, like a bird, Eve instinctively reached out her hand.
The jewel that gently landed on her palm vanished immediately. It was before she could even fully grasp it in her hand.
The King wondered if something was changing in Eve's body, but the jewel disappeared before long.
Just like when he gifted his magic stone to Aden.
"Also..."
The King muttered as if sighing.
The King knew how to wield various magic. His sons were also born with at least two or more magical abilities.
However, the King's youngest son, Aden, was not like that.
Aden was famous for being 'incompetent'. The ice magic he did possess was even weaker than that of the wolves in the Beast World.
However, the King never once scolded his son.
But Aden left. With the person he loved.
The youngest Prince, an incompetent who knew nothing but melting ice.
He abandoned his family name and status and disappeared somewhere.
This was the whole story that people knew.
Just when he believed he was living well, the Dragon came looking for him. Breaking even his promise to the first leader.
And he said this to him.
"There is someone with magic similar to your son."
"She is the daughter of your youngest son, the one called the 'incompetent.'"
The wavering King became furious at the words that followed.
"I heard that after her father passed away, she lived raising her younger sibling all by herself."
Aden is dead.
It couldn't have been that way.
He believed that his son would still be alive and well. The mermaid said the same thing.
That is why he believed that until now, he was not looking for him under the pretext of revenge.
Besides, there was no way the dragon would willingly tell the story of his granddaughter.
He believed that the intention was to confuse him with false information and then take the key to the restraints.
But he just saw it clearly with his own two eyes.
Just as he gave it to Aden, the magic he gave vanished futilely from the child's hands.
"So that's why. That's why... you were able to uncover it. That mermaid's lie."
“What do you mean?”
“Here.”
The King gestured toward Eve's empty hand. The jewel that had flown into Eve's hand had completely melted away.
"That isn't just a simple illusion. It's another form of magic. Did anything strange happen when you touched that mermaid?"
Eve, who had been thinking deeply about the King's question, spoke. She had a hunch.
"A mermaid lunged at me. I used magic with all my might. Since it was underwater, I thought my ice might be of at least some use..."
However, Mentira was unable to attack Eve.
Eve carefully opened her palm.
As if gaining momentum, the ice that had been soaring high into the sky melted away.
It was the first time such a change had occurred. As she gazed at the vanished ice with surprised eyes, the King spoke.
"The magic stone I gave you is 'Amplification.' It is the exact same one I gave to that fake mermaid."
The magic that had become stronger for a moment after being absorbed disappeared.
"...It seems you possess the exact same magic as Aden."
Eve lifted her head. She seemed to be thinking the same thing as him.
“One is ice.”
Their blue eyes, exactly alike as if stolen, held each other without wavering.
"One is a blank slate."
Two magic spells collided inside the body.
Blanking magic is invisible unless attacked. That is why they did not suspect that the magic had been mixed up.
'I just thought I had to exert force.'
It seemed that she had used another power, the Blank Slate, to break Mentira's brainwashing.
If other magic was nullified, it made sense that it could not absorb the King's magic stone.
A sigh burst from the King's mouth.
Throughout the entire Beast World and the Human World, no one in history has ever possessed the Blank Slate Magic.
The royal family knows how to cast one or more spells. That was all. There was no fixed rule.
Therefore, he didn't think Aden would have the Blank Slate magic.
It was strange that even a weak, incompetent person couldn't absorb the magic stone, but why didn't he think of that?
And why did he only realize it now?
"If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have believed that mermaid..."
The King shuddered with agony.
He should have questioned why a mermaid of all people wanted amplification magic, and he resented his own ignorance.
And he felt pathetic for only finding his granddaughter now.
If he were a parent, he should have suspected it at least once. If he had realized that the child had the ability to erase the slate, he could have at least erased the label of being 'incompetent'.
Eve also looked at the King with confused eyes.
At first, she was just angry. She intended to use the fox's magic to walk in confidently on two feet, point out the King's wrongdoing, and use this as an opportunity to retrieve the key.
However, the person standing before Eve's eyes right now was just a father.
Once, she asked her father why he came to the beast world.
Father sat Eve on his lap, hugged her tightly, and said.
"I was so lonely. I felt like I was left all alone in the world. I thought Mom would be with me."
"Wasn't there anyone there to comfort Dad?"
At Eve's question, the father gently stroked his little daughter's cheek.
"There was."
It was a voice full of regret.
"But I left. I thought it wasn't the right place for me. It was just like running away."
She didn't remember what kind of face her father had when he said that.
However, she could feel the longing in the voice.
"...What is your name?"
The King asked in a trembling voice.
“It’s Eve.”
"Eve... What a pretty name."
The King slowly nodded his head.
The eyes looking at Eve were tinged with unspeakable tenderness. It was a face similar to his father's.
"I heard that you want to come to the human world."
Eve paused at the King's words.
"...How did you know?"
"That dragon said it thought it had found my granddaughter. But I didn't believe it; I thought it was a plan to confuse me using my granddaughter."
The King spoke again.
"...Don't you have any intention of staying here?"
"Yes?"
"This is where your father used to live. If you wish, I will give you a castle and let you live as a human, not a beastman. Even though this is the human world, I can do at least that much for my only granddaughter."
"..."
Eve, clenching her fist as if hesitating, slowly pulled her lips away.
"...There is only one reason I came here."
The King slowly raised his head.
"I've come to get the key. I need to unlock Noelier's restraints."
The desire to come to the human world, and the desire to run away from the dragon.
It had been a long time since it vanished, like ice melting in her hand.
“That’s it.”
So please give me back the keys.
Eve's voice echoed like a reverberation in the spacious hall.
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