"My child, are you truly going to stay this stubborn and refuse to ease your father's heart?"
Julius glanced up from the mountain of paperwork in front of him as his mother entered the study.
"…To what do I owe the visit, Mother?"
"What do you mean, 'to what'? Being caught between you and your father is driving me to my grave. You're both so stubborn…"
Julius continued working, unbothered by her complaints. Watching him, Lady Yushargen let out a long sigh. Only then did he finally put the papers down and look at her.
"Father doesn't approve of me marrying Mia."
"She won't become Queen unless she passes the rite of passage anyway, right?"
"No—"
Julius cut her off firmly.
"That doesn't matter. Whether she passes or not, I intend to marry her."
"But you don't even know what the rite will entail…"
Lady Yushargen trailed off and cleared her throat as if realizing she'd said too much. Julius didn't miss her flustered expression.
"What do you mean?"
"It's nothing."
"Tell me. If the Grand Vizier is plotting something—"
"Plotting? Nothing's been decided yet. But there are rumors that it won't be anything easy."
"…So not something like materialization magic, but maybe being sent to a harsh region, or made to fight in combat trials."
Julius narrowed his striking eyes as he spoke. His mother looked away and sighed.
"I expected as much. The Grand Vizier wants to place his goddaughter on the throne…"
"What I mean is, why are you so set on her even knowing all this?"
"I don't see what's wrong with wanting to marry the woman I love."
Julius stood and walked over to the window. A red bird chirped brightly from within its cage as it noticed him. Even when he opened the cage door, the bird didn't fly away—it flitted gently onto his finger.
"You call it love? If love is what you're after, then Shamanaz would be a better match! What do you even know about that girl?"
"…Does love deepen just because you've known someone longer?"
Despite his somber expression, the bird chirped happily in his hand. Julius had always loved raising animals—his household contained all sorts of creatures: beasts, divine beasts, even monsters. This bird was one such monster.
But having been raised from a chick, it saw Julius as its parent. Even with the cage left open, it never tried to escape. Julius had named it Neria.
Neria had been the name of a siren girl who once fled from him.
"I understand how you feel. But… does she want you as much as you want her?"
"…!"
Julius flinched. Seeing his reaction, Lady Yushargen sighed with a melancholy expression, as if she'd expected this.
"My poor son. Once again, your love goes unreturned."
"Please don't speak nonsense, Mother. It's only because she hasn't known me long. In time, she'll…"
Suddenly, Neria's expression turned vicious. A grotesque shriek echoed through the room.
"Jules!"
"Argh!"
Neria bit down on Julius's hand. Flesh tore away, and blood began pouring from the wound.
"Heavens! What on earth—quick, call the physician!"
"It's nothing. No need to summon a doctor over this. A simple healing spell—"
"No magic! You've overexerted yourself lately. Your body's been weakened. I'll call the physician, so stay put."
Julius waved her off.
"Then I'll go myself. I had a headache anyway—a walk will do me good."
With that, Julius briskly left the room. His mother's shrill voice followed behind him.
"You see?! Creatures that don't know gratitude will always betray you! That black-haired human girl will betray you too, mark my words!"
Julius stepped into the sunlit garden. His mind was a storm.
The bleeding hadn't stopped. In fact, it was worsening. The surrounding skin was swelling with a sickly blue hue, and pain throbbed sharply.
"Damn it… I shouldn't have taken it lightly. She's a monster after all…"
Suppressing a groan, he made his way to his friend Rodolphe. Lunch was approaching anyway—he could get treatment and eat with him.
"Hey. What brings you here? And what's with that wound?"
Rodolphe had just seen off a student and was putting away some books. He jumped when Julius entered—his porcelain skin even paler than usual, drenched in sweat from the pain.
"As you can see, I'm in bad shape. Sorry, but could you patch me up? I'll buy you lunch."
"Of course. Come here—lie down."
Once Julius lay down, Rodolphe began treatment. A vivid green light flowed from his hand and enveloped the wound. The bleeding stopped, and the swollen skin returned to normal.
Julius tried to sit up with a calm expression, but Rodolphe gently stopped him.
"Thanks. As a token of my gratitude, I'll treat you to a top-tier lunch at Marquis Karaba's restaurant."
"Hahaha, eating that much at lunch would ruin my work in the afternoon. But seriously, what happened?"
"I was bitten by a monster I was raising."
Hearing that, Rodolphe shook his head with disbelief.
"Your unusual tastes haven't changed. I didn't think even you would go so far as to keep a monster."
"She'd never acted like that before. I have no idea what set her off."
"What kind of monster is it?"
"A lamia."
"A lamia?! Do you know that a lamia is a witch in the form of a bird?"
"…Yes, I know. But why does that matter?"
"In what situation did she bite you?"
Julius explained the situation. Rodolphe's green eyes widened in shock.
"Lamia consider their male keeper their own. You made her jealous."
"Jealous? Of Mia, you mean?"
Rodolphe nodded and laughed.
"Though the keeper himself is the one nursing a one-sided crush."
"…First my mother, now you. Are you all just here to mock me?"
Julius's expression darkened. Rodolphe clicked his tongue and sighed.
"Once her rite of passage is decided, why don't you at least try talking to her? Offer to help her train."
"That damn Leca sticks to her like glue in the name of guarding her. There's never a single opening. Damn it…!"
Julius grabbed the silver goblet next to him and hurled it at the chalkboard. It clanged loudly against the surface and clattered to the floor.
"Whoa, whoa—Jules. Calm down. I get it, being the most handsome man in all of Sibareth, this kind of thing might be new to you—but honestly, this is something most men in the world deal with. So try to be patient, yeah?"
Julius let out a sigh deep enough to match the one his mother had released earlier. Then, with a resigned groan, he flopped back down on the bed.
"A unicorn trial… That seems a little dangerous, doesn't it?"
The Grand Vizier smiled, crow's feet forming at the corners of his eyes.
"Is His Majesty underestimating this young lady's abilities? Even if she were an impure woman, I believe she would still be strong enough to subdue a unicorn."
As he spoke, the vizier cast a glance at Mia. She flinched under his gaze.
Does this old man know I got something from Leca's father?
Unicorn or whatever—sure, they might be strong, but with that item, it'll be easy enough…
"Who told you about that?"
"Not so much told, Your Majesty… it's simply a feeling I have."
Jakiel's reply made Mia flinch again. Just how much does this suspicious old man know…?
"In that case, maiden from another world—do you accept the rite of passage involving a unicorn?"
Mia snorted inwardly. Why even ask? As if I have a choice. She answered sullenly.
"Shouldn't I at least be told what kind of trial it is and what a unicorn even is before I answer?"
"Then—perhaps read this."
The royal court mage, Roland, who had been silently observing, conjured a large floating book into the air. It drifted toward Mia, its pages flipping on their own until it stopped on a particular spread.
On the left page were illustrations of two beautiful white horses with crimson horns. One had wings, the other did not. Mia read the explanation written on the right-hand page.
Unicorns are ancient creatures native to Muria.
However, after some flew into Muria from other regions, crossbreeding with pegasi began. Some of these hybrid unicorns, now with wings, have left Muria and taken residence in places like Naizman and Sibareth.
The purebred unicorns of Muria were originally gentle and quiet divine beasts, but those mixed with the warlike pegasi became far more aggressive and violent—exceeding even pegasi in combativeness.
These hybrid unicorns possess extremely powerful mana and combat capabilities. It takes a high-level mage or a holy knight to stand against them. Even then, battling a winged unicorn is no easy feat.
However, fighting isn't the only option. Because unicorns are divine beasts with high intelligence, they can choose to cooperate with a person they take a liking to—without a fight.
That said, unicorns will only ever ally with humans who are absolutely pure—virgin women, virgin men, or individuals who are absolutely faithful to their spouses.
Humans who are sexually promiscuous—no matter how strong or magically gifted—will be pierced by a unicorn's horn and die instantly.
To date, no human has ever defeated a winged hybrid unicorn in combat. Only those who have managed to earn their cooperation have survived.
And even among the sexually pure, unicorns do not always accept them.
There is no known explanation for a unicorn's fickle preferences.