Chapter 231
She’d had similar nightmares before. Back then, too, the feeling had been so unsettling—so ominous—that she hadn’t even wanted to leave the house.
It wasn’t just yesterday, but a while ago. The reason she remembered every detail so clearly was because that day was the shocking day she had regained her memories.
At the time, she hadn’t realized the girl crying tears of blood was her. But now that she knew, it wasn’t just eerie—it made her stomach churn. She wanted comfort from someone. To hear that it was just a dream, that she didn’t have to worry, that nothing bad would happen.
Instinctively, her gaze searched for someone to lean on. But the man beside her was fast asleep. Watching his still, closed eyelids, she couldn’t bring herself to wake him, no matter how badly she wanted to talk. Unless he woke up on his own, she wouldn’t disturb him.
Letting out a sigh, Jaha steeled herself.
It’s just a dream. This ominous feeling is all in my head. I should just shrug it off as nonsense and move on—it’s only because I’m being timid that I can’t.
It’s all an illusion. Even this suffocating feeling, like I’m sinking into a swamp, wrapped in something sticky.
“Should I go back?”
To that eccentric mage’s shop, she meant.
To shake off the nightmare’s aftereffects, Jaha deliberately forced her thoughts elsewhere. The mysterious little shop where she’d been turned away after yesterday’s pointless standoff was the perfect distraction.
What’s the deal with that shopkeeper, casting spatial magic with just a short incantation and a gesture?
With skills like that, noble families would be lining up to recruit him—so why run a shop?
What exactly is the “Robe of the Vanished World”?
‘If you want to know, you’ll have to apologize.’
If she wanted answers, she’d have to improve her relationship with that mage.
If I swallow my pride and butter him up, maybe I’ll get the info I want eventually.
He seemed fussy and petty, but it wasn’t like they were mortal enemies. She could manage.
Having reached a positive conclusion, Jaha’s eyelids grew heavy. As the tension left her body, sleep rushed in like a tide. Before she knew it, she was swept away into the dark.
◇ ◆ ◇
First, bowing your head and stepping in is quite a blow to one’s pride. Especially when you believe the other party is more at fault. But the one who regrets digs the well—this has been an unchanging truth throughout all ages.
Taking a deep breath, Jaha steadied her mind and entered the general store. The shopkeeper, the mage, remained indifferent as ever, too absorbed in scribbling something on paper to care whether anyone came or went.
“I think I was rude the other day, so I came to apologize.”
Mustering her courage, she spoke up, but the mage gave no reaction.
“You kept ignoring me, so I got angry and acted emotionally.”
Jaha laid out her thoughts honestly. She had come determined to swallow her pride and bend like a tongue in the mouth, but seeing his attitude now, she realized blind flattery wouldn’t work.
The mage clicked his tongue once and continued his work. His displeasure was obvious, but unlike last time, he didn’t drive her out with magic.
Whatever he was writing, there seemed to be no end to it—his hand never stopped moving. Jaha waited without pressing him.
Her opponent was a mage, a man with a strong sense of superiority. The term “non-mage” made that abundantly clear. To him, Jaha, as a non-mage, was a second-class citizen. If he was busy, she was naturally expected to wait. That was his logic.
Jaha decided to follow his rules—just this once. She didn’t agree with his mindset at all, but she had a goal to achieve.
How much time had passed?
An hour? Two?
It probably hadn’t actually been that long, but standing still doing nothing made it feel much longer.
It was a feeling of punishment she hadn’t experienced in a while. Who would’ve thought she’d relive the childhood memory of being scolded by a teacher and made to stand at the back of the classroom at this age?
Her legs screamed at her to sit down somewhere—anywhere—but she endured.
Finally, the mage set down his pen.
Though the joy of it finally being over was great, so too was her anger at having to wait like a folding screen all this time. But determined not to ruin things at the last moment, Jaha kept her composure.
“If you’ve said what you came to say, why are you still here?”
“There’s something I’d like to ask.”
“What?”
“I lack the knowledge to fully appreciate just how remarkable that robe is. Could you enlighten me?”
When she pointed at the Robe of the Vanished World, the mage’s forehead creased.
“So you didn’t come to apologize—you came to satisfy your curiosity.”
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