At that moment, Xenon recalled a conversation from the not-so-distant past. When he had suddenly warped to the imperial palace to see Anelli.
He had said the same thing to Anelli, whom he was meeting after a long time.
That she seemed to have lost weight, asking if the imperial palace food didn't suit her taste.
He didn't know if Anelli was asking with the same feelings he had back then. But the mere fact that she was asking the same question made his heart feel soft and warm.
However, he couldn't indulge in this feeling for long.
Xenon cleared his throat and regained his composure.
"Flowers need sunlight to bloom; it seems my appearance has become haggard from lack of sun, I suppose."
As he made this excuse, the worry in Anelli's eyes faded slightly. Perhaps thinking that Xenon was relaxed enough to joke, she let out a sigh of relief.
Well, it wasn't exactly wrong. His anxiety until now had been because of Anelli, and now the person in question had appeared right before his eyes.
With his sole worry resolved, it was only natural he had the leisure to act nonchalant.
"What is this place? Why is my magic being dispelled?"
Anelli, belatedly looking around the room, frowned. Samuel, who had also been inspecting the interior, answered in a blunt voice.
"It seems an anti-magic spell has been placed on the room."
"Since they're trying to detain a mage, they must have put in some effort on their part."
As Xenon shrugged and added the explanation, Anelli narrowed her brows.
"Is that something to accept so calmly? Why on earth are you under suspicion?"
She had probably heard a rough outline of the situation from Heinri.
Xenon gave an awkward laugh and scratched the back of his head.
"The karma of having a disgraceful older brother."
That alone seemed to allow Anelli to infer much. Xenon awkwardly averted his gaze from Anelli's face, which had cooled and settled, and changed the subject indifferently.
"But how did you get in here?"
"As a squire of a holy knight."
Hearing Anelli's casual reply, Xenon instinctively looked at Samuel.
Come to think of it, Samuel's armor practically screamed 'I am a holy knight.'
So, Anelli had come in pretending to be Samuel's squire.
'Is everyone blind?'
Where in the world does a squire stand with such an elegant and dignified posture?
"...Did they believe that? No, before that. How did you apply the appearance-altering magic? Using it in the imperial palace should have triggered alarms."
"I temporarily stopped the palace barrier."
Xenon sighed softly. It seemed Anelli now had no regard for the emperor or anything else.
While he himself acted boldly trusting the Magic Tower, the only things Anelli seemed to trust were her high reputation and the Dullahans who could transform into animals...
As Xenon was steeped in pity, it suddenly dawned on him that Anelli might actually have more reliable backing than he did.
'Depending on the situation, a Dullahan army might be more formidable than the Magic Tower's forces?'
While Xenon was marveling at this trivial realization, Anelli surveyed the room where Xenon was confined.
At a glance, this room seemed similar to the guest room Xenon had stayed in before, but upon closer inspection, it had fewer furnishings and was barren.
Anelli seemed to have noticed this too, her expression dissatisfied.
"This room also prevents the use of communication magical artifacts?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
Xenon, who gave a short answer, subtly furrowed his brow. Somehow, it felt like admitting defeat to such a shoddy anti-magic barrier, so he unnecessarily added an explanation.
"Of course, this barrier is no problem for me at all, but if I carelessly used magic and ignored it, I'd get caught. I was just biding my time."
"You're sure it's no problem?"
"Of course!"
Anelli still looked thoroughly unconvinced. Seeing him imprisoned so helplessly, she seemed to have formed a solid misunderstanding.
And he couldn't even prove otherwise.
Xenon clicked his tongue and swallowed a sigh. Meanwhile, Anelli, who had been examining every corner of the room, asked with a serious face.
"But if you're locked up like this, what about our Nadav?"
"Ah."
It had to come up.
Xenon moistened his parched lips with his tongue and took a deep breath. Then, he explained the situation as objectively as possible.
"Actually, that horse abandoned me and ran off."
No, was that objective?
Xenon realized his mistake only after speaking, but he maintained a serious expression. It wasn't exactly wrong, was it?
From Xenon's perspective, who couldn't communicate with Nadav, he could only explain that the horse had suddenly bolted, abandoning him.
"What do you mean?"
"When the monster attacked. That horse suddenly went wild, incited the other horses around it, then threw me off and ran away."
Both Anelli and even Samuel looked at Xenon with incredulous faces.
Anelli, with wide eyes, was particularly speechless, her lips moving soundlessly for a long moment. Finally, she squeezed out a question.
"Did you abandon Nadav and come here?"
"No, I didn't abandon him; he volunteered to..."
Betrayal flickered in her widened purple eyes.
At this moment, it was clearly communicated that Anelli was more worried about the Dullahan-turned-horse than about him.
Clearing his throat and averting his gaze, Xenon spoke in a serious, grave voice.
"I think there must be a reason he ran off. He's not an ordinary horse, after all."
That horse she was so worried about was a monster.
Not just any monster, but a Dullahan with the power to protect itself anywhere you put it. Frankly, a Dullahan horse clearly stronger than most ordinary monsters.
Honestly, it was only because Nadav and the other Dullahans acted coy in front of Anelli; if you released them into the wild, most monsters would obviously turn tail and run.
Xenon, who had been about to subtly emphasize that point, simply gave up.
'It's not like she hasn't doted on the Dullahans countless times.'
In fact, he should be grateful she hadn't asked about Nadav's safety the moment she saw his face.
"I suspect it reacted to the monster."
"Monster?"
"Yes. The monster that attacked us."
"You think that was a monster? The emperor thinks it was magic. Hearing the circumstances, even I found it hard to conclusively call it a monster."
At Anelli's words, Xenon shook his head.
"It was definitely not magic."
Magic that leaves no trace of magical power cannot exist, so it was not magic.
The emperor probably thought the Magic Tower was such an incredible organization that they could wield magic without even using magical power.
But magic is magic; regardless of skill, any mage would naturally recognize it.
"If it were magic, the imperial mages would have identified it long ago. In my opinion, it is a monster."
At Xenon's answer, Anelli's expression grew serious.
"You must have some idea to be so certain."
Xenon didn't answer immediately. It had happened so fast he hadn't gotten a proper look either. However, he could make an educated guess based on the symptoms of the fallen Empress.
"Perhaps..."
His voice lacked confidence, as the information wasn't certain.
"I think it might be a fallen fairy."
"...A fallen fairy? That's the name of a poison."
"Correct. But it's not a poison; it's a real monster. That poison name was originally derived from the monster."
A poison that assassinates as if putting someone to sleep. There is a poison called 'fallen fairy,' but this case was not that.
If it were poison, the imperial physicians couldn't have failed to identify it.
"It's my first time seeing it directly, so I'm not sure."
Fairies, as beings, were not visible to human eyes. That's why opinions varied among people, but the commonly cited characteristics were unrealistically beautiful appearances and mysterious power.
Thus, they often became staple material in fairy tales.
"You know the fairy tale about a fairy appearing at the bedside of someone who cannot sleep, granting them happy dreams?"
"Yes."
This was a story passed down for so long its creator was unknown. A tale parents often read to children who couldn't sleep.
A romantic story that if you sigh in suffering from sleeplessness, a fairy appears and guides you to happy dreams.
And it was said that after having that dream, you could obtain special luck the next day.
"If that fairy from the tale becomes corrupted, it becomes what I call a 'fallen fairy.' I don't know if it's truly a corrupted fairy, but that's the name it's been given. Like the origin theory that a holy knight's soul becomes a Dullahan—an unproven hypothesis."
Anelli made a subtle expression. Frowning, she parted her lips as if to say something, then closed them again.
Instead, she gestured for him to continue.
"There are almost no records about this fallen fairy. But fortunately, I've read a bit about it."
Fortunately, the Magic Tower held a vast number of books. Naturally, there were also books about monsters.
A fairy who, trying to grant happy dreams to a sleepless human, is instead captured by the human, unable to return to the fairy realm, and after weeping and despairing, becomes corrupted.
The origin of the fallen fairy held such a story.
But whatever the origin theory, the fact that it was a somewhat rare monster remained unchanged.
"According to the records I saw, a fallen fairy steals a human's consciousness, putting them into an eternal sleep."
Xenon rubbed his forehead, trying to recall the contents of the book he had read.
"However... that book said fallen fairies aren't particularly aggressive. I'm not sure if they are violent enough to suddenly attack people. There's hardly any research on them to begin with."
Throughout Xenon's explanation, Anelli's expression barely changed.
Having listened calmly to the end, Anelli rubbed her chin, lost in thought. Then, raising her gaze, she asked in a clear tone.
"So, it's a monster, you say?"
"Yes, that's ri... Wait a moment, you're not planning to go there, are you?"
Xenon, who was about to nod unconsciously, jumped up and asked back. At his reaction, Anelli looked at him with a puzzled expression instead.
"Yes, I'm going. Why?"
"It's dangerous!"
He wondered where she heard the part about falling into an eternal sleep.
Even faced with Xenon's stern expression, Anelli replied very rationally and calmly.
"You said it's an unresearched monster. No one would know the treatment for its attack, so the only way is to ask it directly."