That day, I had no idea why the Empress summoned me to the Imperial Palace.
I could only guess that it wasn’t for a good reason, judging by Ray’s reaction.
And when I thought it might be about the battle for the throne, I realized there was nothing I could do.
All I had was my noble status.
‘I really do need power.’
Only if I had something in my grasp would I be able to wield it when my friend is in trouble.
There are many kinds of power.
Physical strength and official authority, for example—but the problem is that both are difficult for me to obtain.
‘I know my place. Even if I started training now, I’d only be mediocre at best. It’s unlikely I’d ever reach the skill level of my second brother.’
And I was too young to gain official authority.
To become an official, one must be an adult, or at the very least have debuted in society.
But I was only eleven years old.
The only type of power I could obtain without being limited by physical ability or age was financial power.
It was a power I had possessed even in my past life, so it wasn’t difficult to achieve.
‘Money may not bring happiness, but it can offer many paths.’
If needed, I could even help my poor clownfish-like friend—caught in a whale fight—escape into exile abroad.
Of course, my age made it a bit awkward to be a merchant.
But my family’s name would make up for the trust my age lacked, so it would be fine.
I decided once again to become a merchant.
Although, it wouldn’t be easy right away.
I had to go on a trip with my friends.
‘My first trip!’
My heart swelled.
It wasn’t that I enjoyed traveling.
What thrilled me was that it would be the first trip with my friends.
The ‘bad guy’ I didn’t want to think about right now was never a friend, nor had we ever traveled together.
This would be my very first trip with people outside my family.
“The lodging is…?”
“Oh. Lodging, food, servants to accompany us, escort knights, carriage. I’ll take care of all of it.”
“What? Isn’t that too much?”
Wouldn’t that cost a lot of money?
Surprised by Ray’s words, I asked, and he just smiled without answering.
That’s when I realized—I had just talked about money with someone from the wealthiest family in the empire.
‘That was dumb of me.’
I really need to earn a lot of money.
Who knows what might happen later, but I need to be able to support Ray so he doesn’t live in poverty…
As I was thinking that, Ray spoke up.
“I’ll take care of everything else, so Seiana, you just need to decide where you want to go.”
“Hmm. I want to go here.”
I pointed to a spot on the map.
Surprisingly, there was a place near the travel destination that I knew well—it was the seaside where I had made seaweed contracts every year.
‘Might as well go and make a contract while I’m at it.’
I’d use my saved-up allowance to make a contract and bring back some herbal pills.
If they worked well for my family, it would be easier to get investment.
I’d seen it done enough times to know roughly how to make the pills.
I didn’t know the exact proportions, but I had seen seaweed dried, ground, and mixed with honey and oil.
‘I can’t make cosmetics like a pharmacist, but herbal pills are easy enough.’
It was a relief that no one else knew about the seaweed.
If it had been expensive, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.
Even though I picked this seaside location, Ray didn’t ask why I wanted to go.
I had been wondering how to answer if he did, so I was relieved.
‘It’s the sea, but it’s all mudflats, so the water’s murky and there’s not much to see.’
If he asked why I wanted to go, it would’ve been hard to answer.
Other than being a quiet rural beach, there wasn’t a compelling reason to visit.
Ray asked if I wasn’t interested in going somewhere else.
But I wasn’t someone who enjoyed planning trips—I preferred just tagging along.
So it was difficult to answer even when asked.
I only picked the beach because I had a purpose…
I asked Ray, but he said anywhere was fine and left it to me, which made it awkward again.
To be honest, I had no interest in the fairies, which were supposedly the main focus of this trip.
I was only going to protect the innocence of my two friends…
Ah, it was only then that I noticed Ari was unusually quiet.
I looked at her, lost in thought, but she didn’t even seem to notice my gaze.
“Ari.”
“Oh, yeah!”
“Are you okay? Are you sick?”
Even when I called her, she didn’t respond right away, so I got worried.
I asked if she was feeling unwell, but Ari shook her head, saying she was fine.
Still, concern lingered on her face.
“Is something wrong?”
“Yeah.”
“Actually…”
“A few days ago, someone I know got seriously hurt. They’re still unconscious. But… that person is very old.”
“Oh no. That must be hard. Were you close?”
Older people often don’t recover from such incidents.
If it were someone close, of course she’d be worried.
I nodded inwardly.
I was wondering how to comfort her when I noticed Ari’s expression looked strange.
Even though I was empathizing, she looked puzzled—as if she didn’t understand why I was reacting that way.
Ray had the same expression.
“Were you close?”
“Were we?”
“I’m not sure.”
The two of them looked at each other, then at me, and muttered.
Could it be someone they didn’t get along with?
Then why were they worried?
Just like them, I had a question mark floating above my head.
And the reason for their confusion was…
“Being close means treating someone like you treat Seiana, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What do you mean by ‘how I treat you’?”
“Well…”
“Like this?”
As I asked, both of them naturally reached out and held my hands.
What does “like this” mean?
With both my hands held, I fell into deep thought.
And then I jumped when I realized they were saying holding hands was proof of closeness.
“Holding hands doesn’t mean we’re close!”
“What! It doesn’t?”
Crash!
Both of them looked at me with wide, shocked eyes.
As if their world had just crumbled.
Their pupils trembled as they muttered in disbelief, “Weren’t we close then?”
Seeing them like that, I could tell the shock was real.
“Then… we’re not close?”
“You can hold hands without being close. And even if you’re close, you might not hold hands.”
It’s just that you two have a lot of physical contact.
When people become close after dating for a while and develop affection, they consider it intimacy.
That’s all.
“I’m close with the young ladies of the group too. Though I don’t hold hands with them like this.”
“What! That can’t be! There’s no way Seianna could have another woman besides me!”
Ari shouted with a face more shocked than before, saying something really strange.
Then, her expression quickly turned into one filled with hostility.
Ray, on the other hand, turned gloomy and asked me:
“Are there any men in the group?”
“Men? Ah, the young lords? No. They say they come on other days, but there haven’t been any when I was there.”
“I see. That’s a relief.”
Ray smiled brightly at my words.
Seeing that, Ari was furious as a bonus.
***
Close, huh.
Raymund and Aries tilted their heads, thinking of the violet.
That he was a good person was certain, but it was ambiguous to say they were fond of him.
‘Because he’s also an Ability User.’
When they meet him, discomfort comes before joy.
They can’t even hold hands or hug.
Naturally, they never meet him privately either.
When he collapsed, the first thought wasn’t concern for his health, but rather the possibility that a new Ability User might be born.
It wasn’t just Aries or Raymund being cold — any other Ability User would’ve thought the same.
‘That’s just how Ability Users are.’
They have no one they’re close with.
No one to exchange emotions with.
So, instead of emotion and sensitivity, they judged everything with facts and reason.
As soon as they heard the story, the two felt sharply how different they were from Seianna, who immediately showed concern.
Since they didn’t even know who the person was, it was hard to say outright that they weren’t actually worried about him — so they both forced bitter smiles inwardly.
But only for a moment.
“To others, you two also seem close.”
“What?”
“Such terrible people!”
At Seianna’s following words, the two jumped up in shock.
They glared at each other, as if to say, “How dare you tie me together with someone like this?”
Seianna just smiled brightly after saying such a shocking thing.
When the lighthearted conversation made the concern fade from Aries’s face, Seianna asked if there was anywhere she wanted to stop by during the trip.
But there was only one answer Aries could give.
“Anywhere is fine with me, so let’s go wherever you want to go, Seianna.”
And you say you’re not close?
Muttering discontentedly, Seianna pouted her cheeks at how it was the same answer Raymund had given.
It was unavoidable.
No one here believed in the existence of fairies.
Not even Seianna herself.
It was ironic for people who didn’t believe in fairies to go on a fairy-related trip, but thanks to their mutual effort to protect each other’s childlike hearts, no one noticed.
After roughly finishing the trip planning, Raymund went to tell the Count the plan in person.
Though it would’ve been easier for both sides to relay it through the royal family, sometimes things get distorted as they pass from mouth to mouth.
They might even think they’re being ignored.
Just as Raymund expected, the Count frowned upon seeing the first item on the plan.
“The royal family is covering all the costs? Why? Isn’t the Count’s family not poor?”
The Count spoke his mind despite the fear and displeasure in his eyes.
That reaction was both amusing and curious.