For My Birthday, I Was Gifted Five Husbands - Chapter 109

Silvea first met Alokes when she was fourteen.

Plop, plop. In the dark, gloomy caves of Corbenic, the sound of pebbles splashing into a pond echoed.

Plop, plop. “Help, ahhh!” Plop, plop…

After the light splashing came ear-piercing screams.

Ignoring the noise, Silvea looked up at the person who had brought her there.

“Is that the being our family inherits, Father?”

“That’s right, Silvea.”

Her father, the head of the Schroder family at the time, gently stroked her head.

“Usually, a son inherits, but since you’re my only child, on the day you turn twenty, you will gain the authority to command him.”

“Then why does that person have to obey us?”

“That’s the price for living forever. Didn’t I tell you, Silvea? He is our ancestor.”

Long ago, when the Schroder family was just forming,

Alokes ‘Schroder’ appeared as a kind of mage who was a mutant in the family. He had no interest beyond magic itself and no ambition for honor or status.

Who benefited from this? The answer is clear.

The Schroder family grew wealthy by utilizing his research, and they could check the power of the temple, which served the god Arthurian.

The family wished to enjoy wealth forever (rather than openly usurping the throne, they preferred to be secretive power brokers behind the scenes). Alokes wished to live forever.

Human ‘greed’ was the price for magic.

Plop, plop.

“Help, someone help, ahhh…”

Plop, plop.

The sound of pebbles falling finally stopped at the ‘furnace.’

Watching this, Silvea nodded.

“He’s the mage who discovered that magical stones are often found where mages are buried.”

“That’s right. Very clever, Silvea.”

“But why does he want immortality? Why does he remain bound to us, cooperating in producing magical stones?”

“He’s not particularly afraid of death, but he wants to live forever to continue his research.”

At that moment, light flashed from the Corbenic furnace.

The long silver hair shimmered like a silver thread in the underground light.

Silvea looked down on her ancestor, who was bound to his descendants.

The man, with his moonlit silver glow, was beautiful and ephemeral. Had there not been skulls and bloodstains at his feet, he would have seemed less a death’s messenger and more like a spirit of the moon.

He lives forever like that, forever young and beautiful. Silvea’s first impression was just that.

No matter how she thought about it, wasn’t that a pretty good contract? Some people grow old no matter how much cream made with caviar and pearls they smear on their face.

However, since their first meeting, the man had always looked bored.

Silvea thought that until her own death, he would have that same indifferent expression for life.

But now, about twenty years after first meeting Alokes.

“You couldn’t kill Eugenie Norton? You didn’t even bring her back?!”

Had this old fool suddenly gone senile, failing in his orders?

And bleeding heavily from his left shoulder, no less!

With Tristan still in a coma, Silvea’s once-dark hair was suddenly streaked with white strands. Before her fury could erupt again, Alokes responded slowly.

“Yes. I judged it best to leave her be for now.”

“Hah…! Don’t be ridiculous! Isn’t there a survivor of the dark magic family right beside that woman? Right now, the Imperial Order—”

“Think carefully, Silvea.”

“Why bother thinking!”

“Is it better to eat a tiny morsel now, or fatten it up first to prepare a proper feast?”

Alokes loosened the front of his ruffled shirt. It was a style popular a few generations ago.

Though he’d treated the wound on his left shoulder with magic, its healing was slow due to divine power. Yet despite the pain, a crescent-moon smile tugged at his lips.

“Eugenie Norton is just beginning to grow. And if things go well… the Corbenic furnace might never go out.”

“…!”

“That place is quite a headache for you, isn’t it, Silvea?”

For the first time in a long while, a spark flickered in the sky-blue eyes that were nearly losing her mind over her son.