Ah! What a relief!

As I'd thought, I shouldn't have agreed to come to the crown prince's crowded birthday party.

I sat on the grass and leaned against a tree in the garden behind the castle.

My eyes, which I was about to close, opened again when a shrill voice entered my eardrums.

"Rey! Rey! Guess what I found!"

Arkanio Angelos, my 10-year-old childhood friend, ran towards me, carrying a small ruby earring.

"Arka, have you developed a hobby of stealing now?" I said suspiciously.

Arka frowned and sat next to me. "You're so cruel, Rey! I told you I found it! Hmph!"

"Even so, you shouldn't have taken it, let alone taken it outside. The person who had it must be looking for it now."

"Well... I wanted to return it, so I waited there for a while. But the owner didn't show up, so I just took it. I thought maybe my dog would like it."

"Honest-"

"Hey, you!" A voice distracted me and Arka.

The owner of that voice is a girl with lavender hair tied in a bun and a dress styled like an adult.

The girl approached with her chin raised, making her look arrogant.

"Rey, do you know that child?" Arka whispered- to be precise, he thought he whispered.

"Who are you calling a child?! I'm referring to you, redhead!" She pointed hard at Arka's chest several times, making him stumble backward.

I held the girl's thin wrist.

Is this girl eating properly?

"How dare you hold my hand." She smacked my hand hard, making me fall. She then patted the part of the hand I was holding.

"Rey! Are you okay?!" Arka lifted me and checked the abrasions on my arms.

He then looked at the girl angrily, making the girl a little intimidated.

"Hey! You have to apologize!"

"Why should I? All of this was your fault."

"What do you mean?! You started first! Don't let me use violence on a woman, especially a girl like you." Arka raised his fist in front of the girl's face to scare her.

The girl crossed her arms and looked at Arkanio lightly, even though her legs now seemed shaking.

"That's it, stop it." I turned Arka back and looked at the girl. "Did Arka do something wrong to you?"

"That brat is a thief! He stole my favorite earring!" The girl pointed to her left ear, which was not wearing an earring.

"Hey! I found it! I never steal! Why do you think I would steal useless earring like this?!" Arka slammed the earring into the front of the girl's leg, causing it to split in two.

The girl was shocked and looked at Arka angrily. Tears piled up at the corners of her eyes without the intention of falling.

"You are... too much." She kicked her broken earring at Arka, then walked away with hasty steps.

I took the fragment and then looked at Arka.

"I... didn't mean to break it..."

"Sigh... it's alright. What happened has happened. There's no need to fret over it. If you want to make amends, you should find a way to fix this mess."

"How? Should I buy something better than this?"

"My favorite earring... According to what I heard, it seems like these earrings are meaningful to her. Maybe she likes the motif and material, or someone gave her those earrings. We can buy and replace them with the same ones. That's it if the first assumption is correct. However, if the latter is correct, the only way is to repair this earring."

"But Rey! I'm not a craftsman! I can't fix this!" Arka shook my shoulder.

"Stop it, it's making me dizzy. What do you think the craftsmen out there are for?"

"Oh- you're right, hehe." Arka smiled brightly and took my hand. "Come on! Find a craftsman!"

"Wa-wait! Arka, there are no craftsmen open at night. We have to wait for tomorrow."

"But the girl will come home, and so will we! And I don't know who- is he..?"

He?

I looked at Arka's gaze and saw a teenage boy with violet hair and sharp black eyes as if anyone he saw would get pulled into a black hole.

That boy walked slowly, and his gaze locked on Arka. Arka hid behind me even though it didn't help because I was shorter than him.

"Sigh... what other trouble did you cause this time."

"I didn't do anything! I swear!"

When the boy was close enough, I dared to speak up. "Wait. Before you fight with fists, let's talk about this with a cool head."

"Return."

"Excuse me?"

He pointed at my fist.

"Ah.. this?" I showed the girl's earring to him.

He was about to take it, but I put my hand behind my back. "Sorry, may I ask if this belongs to your acquaintance?"

"Little sister."

"That girl is your sister?"

He didn't answer and just opened his palm.

So indifferent.

"Sorry, we will fix it before returning it. Can you give us some time? And please convey our apologies to her."

"No need."

"We insisted. We felt bad after breaking it."

"Give." He showed an annoyed expression, making me spontaneously show the earring.

Suddenly, a gust of wind tickled my hand. The earring fragments floated and gathered together before sparkling. After the light disappeared, the earring returned to their normal appearance as if the incident had never happened.

"Rey, I'm not hallucinating, am I?"

I shook my head, unable to make a sound.

So that's the thing called magic that I always hear about.

The man turned around, making me grab Arka's hand and follow him.

I guess he didn't mind because he didn't stop in his steps even though he knew I was following him.

Not far away, we can see the girl sitting on a park bench while squeezing her dress. She looked like she was desperately holding back the tears that wanted to fall.

The boy stood in front of her and then knelt.

"What? Do you want to laugh at me? Just do it." The girl looked very angry.

"No one can stop you from crying. Just let it out." The boy offered his handkerchief, but he was ignored.

The girl turned her gaze towards me and Arka, then stood up. "What do you want?! Isn't it enough to destroy my earring?!"

Arka looked down. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to break it. I'm so sorry."

"Just regretting it won't make my earring go back to normal! Do you think saying sorry can solve every problem? The answer is no!"

"Lavenia, you'll damage your vocal cords if you keep screaming like that." The boy stood up and put the earring into the girl's ear.

"Huh? What is this?" The girl, named Lavenia, looked at the boy, surprised.

The boy brought out a small mirror and showed the earring attached to Lavenia's ear.

"Oh... so you guys asked him to help fix it. Quite clever. Okay, this time, I will forgive you, redhead. But I'll cut off your fingers if you make me angry again. And you-" Lavenia pointed at me. "What's your name?"

Very arrogant for a fragile girl.

"Reymond Grigory."

"I don't like it. You look smart, but it turns out you're stupid. Why be friends with a guy who lacks manners."

"Hey! I have a name! And you should introspect yourself!"

"Whatever." The girl turned and darted back into the party.

The boy followed after saying, "Thank you for finding my sister's earring."

Ah, their characteristics are truly unique. That makes me curious about their family circumstance.

"That girl is so rude! If she's like that, she won't make any friends!"

"Honestly, that girl doesn't look too harsh."

"Huh?! What do you mean, Rey?! After seeing her attitude and hearing her saying cruel words, how can you say that?!"

"Well, just my guts."