Chapter 2

“That’s right.”

“How is that possible?! Where did you see Amy? Did you actually meet her yourself?”

Agnes simply couldn’t believe it.

A whole year had already passed.

She hadn’t even wanted to imagine it, but she had begun to think that perhaps she would have to accept that Amy was dead.

And yet, out of nowhere, a stranger had appeared and told her that Amy was alive?

“Where is our Amy? How did you meet her?”

Agnes asked desperately, clinging to that tiny sliver of hope as though it were her last lifeline.

In response, he held out a letter.

Her hands trembling, Agnes hurriedly accepted it and unfolded it.

The moment she saw the handwriting, she cried out almost like a scream.

“This! Is Rupert alive too?”

Rupert was the butler’s son who had grown up alongside Agnes from the moment he was born.

Even though a year had passed since his disappearance, there was no way Agnes could have forgotten Rupert’s handwriting.

Ever since they had first learned to read and write, she had always sat beside Rupert and studied with him.

Her heart felt as though it were about to burst.

The man nodded at Agnes as she looked up at him with reddened eyes.

“Yes, that’s correct. Rupert was together with Miss Amy.”

Thank God!

Agnes’s hands trembled as she held the letter.

A wave of longing swept over her vision.

Only after wiping away her tears with the back of her hand, afraid that they might fall onto the paper and smear the ink, was Agnes finally able to read the letter.

[I imagine you must have been very surprised to hear the news, so I am writing you this letter. It is Rupert. You must have been terribly worried all this time.

Miss Amy and I are safe.

We also gained special abilities after being caught in the Rift. It seems that Miss Amy has acquired an ability similar to prophecy.

We are both safe and have not been injured, so please don’t worry.

Please use the box we sent with this letter for anything you need urgently.

We will come see you soon.

P.S. Big sister, I love you. I miss you. I’ll be there soon.]

At the bottom of the letter were crooked lines of writing, with ink splattered all over the place.

Agnes barely managed to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes again.

Are you really going to bawl your eyes out in front of someone you’ve never even met before?

After forcing herself to calm down, Agnes carefully folded the letter and put it away.

There was something she needed to ask him.

“How did you receive this? And how exactly did you meet Amy?”

“Well…”

He covered his mouth as if concealing his expression, then smiled from behind his fingers.

“Are you curious?”

When Agnes nodded, he suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him.

She had no time even to be surprised at the impropriety of a strange man touching her.

His long fingers brushed across the back of her hand.

At that moment, a golden symbol appeared on her skin.

It was shaped like a leaf.

“So it really was true.”

A golden symbol had appeared on the back of his hand as well, the same hand that was holding Agnes’s.

But his symbol was shaped like a seed.

The moment he looked directly at it, his expression changed completely.

The cold, seemingly indifferent eyes of the man curved gently at the corners.

His black irises sparkled in fragments like precious gemstones.

Smack.

He lowered his head and kissed the back of Agnes’s hand.

Before she even had time to react, the man quickly introduced himself.

“Allow me to introduce myself once again, Miss Agnes. My name is Kesenor Celesta. I am your destined consort.”

“What?”

“Or, to put it simply, let’s say I’m a candidate to be your husband.”

Agnes could only gape at him in disbelief.

The man released her hand and leaned back leisurely against the sofa.

“I met Miss Amy two weeks ago.”

With that, he began explaining how he had met Amy.

Two Weeks Earlier

Kesenor’s butler came to him with a troubled expression.

“My lord, there are people asking to see you.”

“Who?”

“A man named Rupert and a young lady named Amy of House Laverose.”

“I don’t recognize those names.”

“As far as I know, the family has absolutely no connection with us. However, they insist that they must see you.”

Kesenor thought they were nothing more than cheeky little intruders.

A young lady from a mere viscount’s family—

And one who was only six years old, at that—

wanted to meet him?

Kesenor was not so idle that he could waste his time on such matters.

He scoffed and told his butler to politely refuse them.

But then—

“I’m sorry! I have something to tell you!”

The little girl was carried into the Celestial Magic Tower by a man.

The Celestial Magic Tower was filled with the greatest mages in the world.

Naturally, it was protected by powerful barriers, meaning that ordinary people could not simply enter.

Because of that, Kesenor had no choice but to hear what exactly these people wanted to say.

After having the rude intruders brought into the drawing room, the adorable little girl suddenly asked him:

“What’s on the back of your hand, mister?”

“What are you talking about?”

“There’s a seed there.”

Kesenor’s face went pale.

Only Kesenor’s parents and a handful of high-ranking mages knew that secret.

There was no way it could have leaked.

More importantly, there was absolutely no way that a child this young could know about it.

Yet the girl spoke with complete certainty.

She wasn’t making a lucky guess.

She spoke as though the seed’s existence were simply an obvious fact.

“Have you found your ‘consort’?”

“How do you know about that…?”

When Kesenor was born, a symbol resembling a seed had appeared on the back of his hand and shone brilliantly.

Naturally, the Marquess of Celesta at the time—Kesenor’s father—had mobilized the full resources of both the magic tower and House Celesta to discover the meaning behind the symbol.

As a result—

They found information about the “seed” in an ancient manuscript so old that it seemed as though it would crumble to dust if touched.

There was also a passage about a “consort.”

It appeared to be some sort of prophetic text, but perhaps because the story was so absurd, it had eventually been dismissed and forgotten.

The ancient manuscript read:

[When the earth splits apart and darkness rises, one who shall give birth to a new world will appear.

He shall be born bearing the Mark of the Seed, and when he finally takes root, he shall become the World Tree.

You who dream of becoming the World Tree,

First, receive the choice of the ‘World Tree’s Consort.’

You shall prove yourself through the Mark of the Leaf beneath the Seed.

Then the Seed shall spread its branches toward the heavens and become the master of a new world.]

Even if Kesenor wanted to dismiss it as nothing more than an absurd fairy tale, there was evidence on the back of his own hand that made that impossible.

Whenever he thought about the story he had heard since childhood, Kesenor would wonder:

If I obtain the Consort in the end, doesn’t that mean I can become the World Tree?

He had searched desperately for whoever the Consort might be.

But there had been no clues whatsoever, making it impossible.

And yet, this little girl who had suddenly appeared was talking about a secret even Kesenor himself had failed to uncover.

“I know who she is.”

“Are you trying to make a deal with me?”

“No! I’m only here to give you a warning.”

“What?”

Kesenor couldn’t make sense of the conversation at all.

He couldn’t even begin to understand the girl’s intentions.

For perhaps the first time, the world’s greatest mage felt utterly powerless.

He hadn’t even been able to stop them from breaking into his tower.

And now he couldn’t even control the conversation.

Feeling almost self-deprecating, Kesenor urged the child to continue.

“Go on, then.”

“If you try to take the ‘Consort’ by force, you’ll fail.”

“What happens then?”

“This world will be destroyed, won’t it?”

“Why would that happen?”

“That’s… a secret!”

As though a terrifying and dreadful thought had suddenly come to mind because of Kesenor’s question, the girl tightly shut her mouth, her large eyes shimmering with tears.

“So this time, you have to treat her well. You can’t hurt her, and you can’t make her sad. Will you promise?”

“Then will you tell me?”

“Yes. Do you promise? You mustn’t make her cry.”

It seemed like a trivial request.

Kesenor nodded.

“Fine. I promise.”

“The ‘Consort’ you’re looking for is…”

She was Agnes Laverose.

The girl’s older sister.

Kesenor couldn’t determine whether the story was true.

But the child clearly knew more than even the world’s greatest mage.

“Mister, I’m going to the Dragon’s Lair. Please help me.”

“What? That’s impossible. We don’t even know where it is.”

“I know where it is.”

“Why are you going there?”

“Because I need to make money. My sister is working outside because we don’t have any money at home.”

Amy clasped her hands together and pleaded earnestly.

“That’s why I need a whole lot of money!”

Kesenor’s expression, which had remained relatively dignified as he regarded Amy, twisted.

She wanted to seek out the world’s strongest monster—a dragon—

for that reason alone?

And yet, the child really did know the location of the Dragon’s Lair.

Not only that, but the servant who had accompanied her—the man named Rupert—had actually fought alongside Kesenor and defeated the dragon.

But that wasn’t the end of the surprises.

“Please give this to my sister.”

With those words, Amy entrusted the gold coins from the Dragon’s Lair to Kesenor.

“What about you? Your sister must be looking for you.”

At that, Amy’s face crumpled as though she were about to cry.

She wanted to see her sister, but there was nothing she could do about it.

“I have to find another Seed.”

Kesenor’s expression turned cold.

Seeing that, the little girl gave a weak, mocking smile.

“You weren’t planning on coming only to me, were you?”

“No. What if you treat my sister badly? I’ll find all of them.”

Was she planning to make them compete against one another?

Hearing that, Kesenor suddenly became impatient.

He had hurried here so quickly that he had arrived in the middle of the night.

And then, finally—

He saw the Leaf, the mark of the Consort, appear on the back of Agnes’s hand.

Kesenor’s heart leaped with joy.

If I obtain her, I can rule the world.

The Seed chosen by her was destined to become the World Tree and the master of a new world.

With such overwhelming power within his reach, why should he have to compete with some men whose identities he didn’t even know?

Then perhaps…

Should I just take her away and hide her?