Chapter 96
“Responsibility? You want me to take responsibility? Even though you failed despite all I told you?”
His dark green eyes were full of fierceness. Celestia didn’t back down.
“No, you never told me everything. You didn’t tell me the most important thing!”
“The most important thing…”
“Yes. You didn’t tell me how powerful Ivonne was, what kind of enemy I was truly facing! That’s why I lost… That’s why my father is suffering humiliation… because you didn’t tell me!”
“And if…”
The man cut off Celestia’s furious tirade.
“If I were to give you the power to match your enemy, then?”
Celestia initially scowled at the man for interrupting her, but that expression quickly faded.
“Do you think you could rise again? You and Marquis Syand family?”
His words were so sweet, they were almost intoxicating. His words had always been sweet. When he told her to poison Ivonne, when he advised her to poison herself to win over Blitzen, when he instructed her to kill Ivonne and survive… Every time, his words were irresistibly sweet, shaking her to her core.
Once again, like a bee drawn to the scent of nectar, Celestia nodded.
“Yes. I can do it.”
Her voice was hazy and faint, but it held a strong conviction.
‘This time, I will… I will finally defeat Ivonne…’
I can win. I can kill her. I can erase her. I can reclaim everything she took from me!
As Celestia’s dirty face gleamed with greed, a smile crept across the lips of the man hidden behind the white cloth. His cold eyes did not smile, but his lips twisted into a chilling grin.
“Then take this.”
It was as if he had been waiting for her to respond this way. He handed her something.
‘This is…’
It was something Celestia, as the daughter of Marquis Syand, knew well. Or rather, it was something very similar to what she knew well.
‘The sacred relic revered as the imperial treasure…?’
A pink orb resembling delicate cherry blossoms, identical to the relic said to hold the essence of Novnie, the founder of this empire.
‘How did this man get his hands on it…?’
The imperial treasure and those green eyes.
In a flash, Celestia recalled a boy with striking green eyes—Aiden Questiago, the half-brother of Herix.
But it couldn’t be Aiden Questiago. He had been killed by Herix right in front of their father long ago.
The man gestured towards the orb.
“Swallow this orb. If you are… truly a being worth living, if you genuinely have the capability to rise again, you will survive. But…”
“…But?”
“Asking while knowing the answer is truly despicable.”
Fear flickered across Celestia’s face for a moment. Had the man noticed the hesitation swirling within her?
“If you lack confidence, give up. There’s a saying that ignorance is bliss. If knowing your limits only leads to despair, it might be better to live ignorantly.”
The man chose his words carefully, each one was a calculated provocation. Celestia didn’t want to fall for such obvious bait, but she had no choice.
“Who said I can’t do it? I’m special. Truly special. I successfully mastered the forbidden magic you taught me, the terrifying power of magic absorption!”
A vision of her father, German, holding a mop, flashed through her mind. The downfall of the Syand family due to her poor choices and inadequate skills.
“If this orb can make me… stronger than Ivonne, the ancient wizard.”
Celestia demanded confirmation. The man didn’t answer, but his slightly curved eyes conveyed his meaning. She roughly snatched the orb from his hand.
‘Yes, that’s it. I… I just need to become stronger than Ivonne. I need to be a wizard more powerful than an ancient wizard. Father is an ancient wizard, and I will be a wizard even stronger than an ancient wizard. Even if the Emperor abandoned us, if we prove our loyalty… he will have no choice but to keep us alive!’
Celestia immediately brought the orb to her lips.
The orb, which filled her hand, shrank to the size of a small candy as it touched her lips. Just as she placed it in her mouth, the man interrupted.
“Oh.”
He said, as if remembering something important.
“There’s one condition to fully utilize the power of that orb.”
A condition?
Celestia paused, considering asking him about it, but before she could, the orb melted rapidly, like a cotton candy melting and slid down her throat.
“Ugh!”
Startled, she clutched her throat. The man chuckled at her reaction.
“Well, you’ve swallowed it now. No turning back. It’ll start acting up soon.”
“Acting up…”
“Yes, it requires a sacrifice.”
“…what?”
Celestia’s face stiffened.
“It needs the life force of the person with the greatest magic nearby. Let’s see… who might that be around here… Aha.”
He pointed his finger in a specific direction. Panic bells rang in Celestia’s mind, much like the ones that tolled during monster attacks.
“There is German Busse Cyand, the ancient wizard.”
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