IWBAACTWITOS Chapter 31

When Julian entered the conference hall, everyone's eyes turned to him. Some blushed at his beauty or let out admiring gasps.

Julian exchanged words with Imperial officials, then turned his head to look at Althe. The moment their eyes met, Althe was startled, but since he wasn't exactly an expressive person anyway, he bowed with his usual stoic face.

'So that's the Remetio Chancellor.'

When he'd heard the nickname "a devil with an angel's face," Althe had cringed—who comes up with such cringey nicknames? But now that he saw Julian in person, he had to admit the "angel's face" part was accurate.

"Then, let us begin the conference."

From the prince's attack incident to the punishment of the tutors, the Kingdom found many aspects of the Empire's demands and attitude uncomfortable. In some ways, it could be seen as excessive interference, but since taking in the prince had been based on the Empire's goodwill in the first place, they couldn't simply refuse.

'Ah, seriously. What were they thinking, pulling that stunt on Imperial soil?'

Had they gone mad from internal fighting? Sure, they say war won't break out, but that doesn't mean the Empire's going to just sit there and take it like idiots. Thanks to that, neutral faction members like Althe were only suffering collateral damage. Especially since Althe would be going to the Empire with Julian after this conference ended.

'Teaching, of all the things not in my destiny.'

It wasn't so much that he disliked teaching someone—it was that the subjects were mere five-year-old children. He'd been walking a solid path as a magistrate, and now instead of reciting law, he had to teach addition and subtraction.

'If only there were a guarantee this would end within a year or two, I could think of it as a vacation.'

"The exiled tutor will be executed as soon as he arrives in the Kingdom."

A red seal stamped down on the document listing the tutor's crimes. Althe had been the one who judged execution appropriate, but he wasn't without sympathy.

'Poor bastard. This incident will make the Second Prince faction's mayflies anxious about when they might be discarded. He's destroying his own support base.'

"Then with this, the conference is—"

"Wait."

Julian, who'd kept his mouth shut throughout the conference, spoke for the first time.

"There's one last agenda item I'd like to propose."

"Yes, please speak freely, Your Grace."

With the chairman's permission, Julian smiled brightly. His adjutant quickly distributed documents. Everyone was shocked when they confirmed the contents.

"This..."

"Adoption?"

When people looked at Julian as if demanding an explanation, he took a sip of tea and smiled radiantly.

"As you know, my youngest daughter was born recently. In the past thousand years, there's only been one instance of more than three children being born to the Three Families, hasn't there? But you see, my wife and I really want a son."

"...Excuse me?"

'And that's... a reason?'

Adopting another country's prince because he wanted a son. Even Althe couldn't hide his shocked expression this time.

"Of course, the Remetio succession will go to one of my two daughters."

"But, Your Grace. That's..."

"I don't think this is a bad proposal for the Kingdom either?"

Certainly, from a succession rights perspective alone, it was a way to resolve everything at once without bloodshed. But still, taking their country's prince and saying it's not a bad proposal? Everyone in the conference hall started clutching their heads and calculating.

"I'm not asking for a decision in this conference. Adoption isn't such a simple matter, after all. I brought this up today so you can return to the Celis Kingdom and report it to the King and Queen."

"For now... understood."

"Then the conference ends here."

Before the chairman could even declare adjournment, Julian stood up and left. As if he'd never had any interest in anything but this matter from the start. It was an attitude that could be seen as rude, but no one could express their displeasure.

'Status is king.'

His plan to calmly exchange greetings with Julian after the conference fell through. When the chairman belatedly declared adjournment, Althe hurriedly gathered his documents and rushed out of the conference hall, breaking into a run.

Surprisingly, Julian stopped walking at Althe's calling voice and calmly waited for him.

"It's my first time meeting you, Your Grace. I'm Althe of Divels."

"Pleased to meet you. Sorry, but I scheduled my return trip rather tight—will that be all right?"

"Ah, yes. It's fine."

"Good. Then, first... let's go to the toy shop."

"...Toy shop?"

At Althe's question, Julian answered with an angelic smile.

"To pick up a custom-order rabbit doll."

"I'm going to try not to change fate as much as possible."

"Even though Yan's fate is to be betrayed even by those he trusted, and meet his death?"

"...He doesn't die."

"It's the same as dying. He's possessed by an evil spirit and endangers this world."

"But in the end..."

"In the end, he's saved?"

The one wearing Yan's face smiled bitterly. At that smile, I couldn't continue my words.

"Is that enough?"

"..."

"Since he's saved in the end, is that all okay?"

"..."

"Answer me, hm? Do you think that's okay?"

He seemed desperate somehow, urging my answer. Under the pressure to respond to his question, I barely managed to open my mouth, but my answer was small and pitiful.

"...That's not okay, but."

'But what?'

I asked myself accusingly, but my reason only produced the predetermined answer.

"If I change Yan's fate, we won't be able to destroy the evil spirit. And then this world will perish."

"..."

"Do you want this world to perish?"

"Absolutely not."

His answer was firm. But the moment he uttered that answer, he covered his mouth and frowned.

Anguish, then resignation. He rubbed his face dry as if trying to hide the sadness in his eyes. I waited for him quietly.

"I see."

"..."

"Well, if it's world destruction, anyone would make that choice. Even I answered that it can't happen."

"...I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

Because I'm the one who created the world's destruction, the evil spirit. I couldn't possibly tell him that truth, so I lowered my head. As the silence stretched, he looked back at the fairy tale book he'd dropped and changed the subject.

"The princess in the fairy tale you changed, that was interesting."

"..."

"Making a contract with a dragon, usually portrayed as the villain in boring fairy tales—that's cool, isn't it? She changed her own fate, changed the prince's fate, and changed the dragon's fate too. You have talent for creating stories."

He seemed to have enjoyed the nonsense fairy tale I'd told the kids. Should I be happy that at least one proper audience member listened, or should I be afraid that he'd been watching everything? I couldn't quite tell.

"Are you watching everything I do?"

"...I apologize if it was unpleasant. It won't happen again."

Perhaps noticing my displeasure, he bowed apologetically—almost excessively so. That apology felt oddly disconnected. When I first met him, he'd resembled Yan from my original story, but this attitude was completely different.

"Who exactly are you?"

"...I don't want to tell you."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to see you pity me."

"Are you perhaps Yan's... I mean, Yan's lingering attachment or something? Anyway, are you connected to Yan? Is that why you want to change Yan's future?"

At my question, he seemed to ponder briefly before nodding.

"Close. I'm like his shadow."

At that answer, I was at a loss for words. I should have answered more firmly to his question—whether it was all okay since he'd be saved in the end.

"This is why I said I didn't want to tell you."

"I'll, I'll do something for—"

Just as I was about to ask what I could do for him, he cut me off mid-sentence.

"No, there's nothing you can do for me. I never planned to change fate in the first place. I just took a brief interest in your existence, which wasn't in the plan. I just... had expectations for a very brief moment, that's all."

'Five years of watching me, and he calls that a very brief expectation?'

"I said it's my choice who to save, didn't I? Isn't there anything I can do for you, even something small?"

"Then can you be my friend?"

"Friend?"

"Yeah, you're the first person who doesn't hate me. And for some reason, I like you."

"Friends when I don't even know your name?"

"Can't we just be 'you' and 'you'?"

"...I guess that works. But I'll tell you my name. My name is Yoon Mir. Yoon is my surname, and Mir is my name. Mir means dragon."

At the word dragon, he looked surprised for a moment before smiling.

"That's a cool name, Mir."

Mir. It had been so long since I'd heard my real name called.

My grandmother had a dream about a dragon and thought it meant she'd have a grandson, then was even happier when the hospital said it was a girl. She said raising two sons was too exhausting for my mom. But contrary to her prediction, I was worse than any son.

"Mir."

"Yeah?"

"Actually, I lied about something... The person you need to save is someone else. They're probably waiting desperately for you. Like me, they can't cross dreams to meet you, so they can't come."

When he said this with a fresh smile, I puffed out my cheeks. He let out a phlegmy laugh. After laughing and teasing me for a while, he placed his hand on my head.

"...You'll find out soon."

"I hate 'to be continued.'"

"What does 'to be continued' mean?"

"It means shut up and wait if you're curious."

"Then I'll have to 'to be continued.' Sorry. I can't judge if it's okay for me to tell you first. You'll be able to meet them soon if you wait a little."

"...Okay, fine."

Perhaps because we'd become friends, the hand stroking my head felt much softer and more familiar. He stroked my head reluctantly, then told me it was time to wake from the dream.

"Can I meet you again in dreams?"

"...No. I won't come to meet you again."

"Why?"

"Because being with you makes me have pointless expectations."

"..."

"You don't need to feel indebted. I'm the one who understood and gave up on my own. And crossing dreams has severe restrictions anyway."

"Still, we just became friends."

They say lonely people recognize other lonely people, right? I didn't want to let go of the only person who called me by my name.

He whispered to soothe me in a low, rough voice.

"As a friend, I don't want you to get hurt, so don't use divine power if possible. Wishes aren't granted that simply, and they don't necessarily flow according to intention. Wishes that change fate's major branches are even more dangerous. The only reliable results are natural phenomena, but those use up your life force too rapidly and drastically."

"Okay. I'll be careful."

"Saying you'll be careful means you'll end up using it."

"..."

"And one more thing—even without divine power, your actions can twist fate. Things have already changed, and you might suffer because of those changes. So always be careful, Mir. Humans always do unexpected things."

"Okay. I'll be careful, so stop nagging."

"I'm doing it because we're friends. I can't meet you, but I'll come check on you sometimes."

"Yeah, thanks."

Dry lips brushed past my forehead, and I woke from the dream.