Chapter 137
“Don’t follow me this time.”
She said only those words and, without hesitation, left the place with determined steps. The sound of their footsteps gradually grew fainter as they walked away. Once they left, the hidden door closed again.
In the empty space, the black mage was left alone.
He recalled her voice. It had been filled with clear resentment toward Lutan, as if she were angry.
Lutan couldn’t say a word. The fact that she was by his side might have been purely due to his own greed.
The greed to possess her completely, the greed to keep her from looking elsewhere, the greed to blind her to the truth and have her remain by his side, content.
She couldn’t simply let the Crown Prince be, it seemed, but to Lutan, it didn’t matter how that matter turned out. To him, only Roina, his salvation, mattered.
No matter what the Crown Prince did in the Imperial Palace, even if he destroyed this world, as long as he and she could be at peace together, Lutan wouldn’t care.
The peaceful and warm place they had made together, alone with her in the Mage Tower.
He had stayed in the past that she could not remember.
He knew as well. As Roina had said, she was not the same Roina from the past that he remembered. But still, he stubbornly pursued her. It was Roina who had saved him when he was stuck in the muck.
But now, as she clearly rejected and pushed him away for the first time, he didn’t know what to do. He had become like a child in this situation.
Could it be that just staying by her side wasn’t enough now? Even just staying near her and protecting her?
He covered his face. He didn’t know what to do in situations like this. She was always the one to reach out first. If his actions were suffocating her, he didn’t know how to handle it.
He stood there, lost in thought for a long while.
“…Seph…”
“…Please… sir…”
Yoseph heard faint voices in the hazy darkness. His whole body felt heavy and numb. It felt as if he were submerged deep in water.
What had happened to him? His memory was unclear.
He was simply staring at her. Strong, warm, delicate… a truly beautiful person. She was sitting in front of him, glaring at the other person.
But how had it come to this?
A man with black hair and ominous purple eyes, wearing makeup that would suit a woman rather than a man. The man, with a sinister, serpentine aura, smiled crookedly, raising the corner of his lips as he looked at him.
“Yoseph, sir!”
“Gah!!!”
In an instant, he regained consciousness as if he had been pulled to the surface. A chilling, ominous premonition ran down his spine, and his body was drenched in cold sweat. Panting heavily, he found himself surrounded by the family’s guard knights, their worried eyes fixed on him.
“Are you alright, sir?”
“…Roina.”
Yoseph’s eyes, which had been dimmed as though staring into the distance, regained focus and shone with clarity. He cried out with an anxious expression.
“Roina!! What happened to her?”
“There was no one else but you, Young Master!”
Startled by his outburst, the knight responded reflexively. It was his habit to always summarize the objective facts as quickly and concisely as possible. After saying that, he abruptly shut his mouth.
Yoseph looked around. It was the same inn room he had seen just before losing consciousness. Unlike before, the window was now open and a cool breeze was flowing in.
The knight standing in front of him glanced at him and slowly opened his mouth again.
“We departed immediately after receiving your telegram. When we arrived, Young Master had collapsed, and there was no one else present. We woke you as soon as we assessed the situation, so we don’t know much else.”
Since the room was small, there were only about ten knights visible. A few had entered the room, and others were in the hallway, managing the innkeeper and other guests.
A sudden intrusion by a noble family’s knights had attracted the attention of passersby and some curious guests. The innkeeper had initially attempted to protest, but after checking the pouch handed over by one of the knights, he wore a satisfied expression and helped calm the guests down.
Yoseph frowned in pain. The magic tools he had taken out in preparation had not even been used. He had lost consciousness without being able to lift a finger, and Roina and Ryuhyeon had disappeared. With a mind only recently awakened, he coolly assessed the situation.
As he looked around the room for any remaining traces, he suddenly spotted the incense burner he had seen earlier, now completely extinguished and left in plain view beneath the bed. As he approached and checked it, he found a small note inside the burner.
‘I’ll be borrowing Roina for a bit. I’ll return her soon, so please don’t worry.’
There were also traces of a spell. After briefly reviewing the details, Yoseph was certain. The opponent had definitely used both illusion magic and d***s.
The note crumpled in his hand. How could anyone feel reassured by a message like this, which sounded more like mockery? Especially when the person had used something as dirty as illusions.
“I will visit the envoy from Ryeo and lodge a formal protest.”
Let’s go. The knights were concerned about the Young Master, who had only just regained consciousness, but with those words, he hurriedly set off, and they had no choice but to follow.
“Mmm…”
Roina stirred groggily. Something soft was wrapped around her, making her body feel comfortable, but her throat felt parched and unpleasant, and her mind was still hazy. Unconsciously, she clutched something warm within her arms and mumbled in her sleep.
“Oh my, Roina. Are you trying to get ahead this early? How did you know I like things fast…”
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.