A Runaway Villainess, Now Healing In An Enemy Country - Chapter 28
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Chapter 28】
“It failed in less than a day!”
That devilish bastard. Look at him tattling.
As I trembled with anger, Jepi, who appeared like the wind as usual, spoke to me.
“I’ll keep Irene’s secret.”
“Thanks. But it’s completely useless now…”
I didn’t add the unnecessary comment about how he should have come a few seconds earlier to at least cover Nishe’s mouth.
‘I’m screwed. What am I going to say to the Duke.’
“I’m sorry, it’s because of me…”
Coco, who had set down a basket of snacks on the table, fidgeted and bowed her head.
Even though she had been promoted from just a cook to head chef now that there were assistants helping in the kitchen, this girl was still timid.
“Coco, it’s not because of you, so don’t apologize.”
“That’s right, that’s right. Who told her to use magic there in the first place?”
“You should be the one apologizing.”
“I only said what was right, so why should I.”
I glared at Nishe, who only said what was right, then turned my head away sharply. Everything from his expression to his tone was so annoying I could go crazy.
“I want to hit him just once.”
“If that’s Irene’s wish, I’ll hit him for you.”
Whoosh!
As if she had been waiting for me to say just that, Ally stepped forward and kicked Nishe in the abdomen.
‘I think she just wanted to hit him anyway.’
Of course, Nishe didn’t just take it quietly either. Ally ended up hitting the arm that blocked rather than his abdomen.
It seemed like it would immediately turn into a brawl, but unusually, Nishe’s reaction was lukewarm.
“I need to eat the financiers, so don’t pick a fight.”
Ah…
I had noticed recently too, but Nishe was really crazy about desserts, which didn’t match his appearance at all.
There was a reason he had come all the way to the kitchen the other day, targeting the sample cookies Coco had given me.
“Sugar pig.”
He might not mind being called just a pig, but he seemed to dislike the nickname “sugar pig,” as Nishe wrinkled his face in annoyance and shouted at the air again.
“Master! Come take her away!”
“You’re doing this because you want to eat them all yourself, aren’t you?!”
I was thoroughly annoyed.
Without any prompting, Nishe and I sat at the table combatively and started eating the financiers.
Was it because we had spent a long time together at Winter Castle? Somehow I seemed to be getting childish too…
At least it was a delicious mess.
* * *
They say life is a comedy when viewed from afar and a tragedy when seen up close. And the Duke was a man who was both generous and strict.
What this means is.
[Assignment
Complete prohibition of magical power use]
A blackboard with the assignment written in elegant cursive.
The Duke, like a meticulous teacher, wrote today’s date under that instruction and marked it with a circle.
“You used magical power a total of eight times over four days.”
All the previous dates were marked with X’s.
It meant that I had failed all the assignments he had given me so far, and the count would start over from today.
“Most revered master. Can’t you just overlook the magical power I used to make that blackboard?”
“Did I ask you to make it for me? No.”
Even though he’s using it more efficiently than anyone else, how unfair.
Since he kept coming to my desk inconveniently to write during every lesson, I ended up making him this thing called a blackboard yesterday.
The previous seven times were mistakes, but this one time was a sacrifice.
“Tch.”
Even after the first day, I often used magical power.
Most of it was everyday actions like changing clothes without using my hands, taking off shoes while lying down, turning lights on and off remotely… and so on.
Simple manipulation of magical power that couldn’t even be called magic. That’s why I kept realizing it after doing it.
From a distance, I must look stupid and ridiculous. Nishe, that bastard, made fun of me so much for it.
My feelings? They couldn’t be more tragic than this.
‘I need to hear about how magical awakening works.’
I keep going back to square one, ugh.
Fortunately, he wasn’t so cold-blooded as to not give me another chance just because I failed. But he also didn’t lower the standards for success.
“Open your book.”
“Yes, yes…”
“Today I’ll explain the process of magical power manipulation.”
The Duke’s lessons were still at a basic level.
However, surprisingly, the more I listened, the more interesting they became. Even though it was content I already knew, hearing it from his perspective made it sound fresh.
There were actually things I didn’t know or had misunderstood.
‘I’m an early graduate from the Royal Academy’s Department of Magic.’
I had followed an elite among elite courses, but in the end, I was apparently just a frog in a well.
“As you know, the manipulation of magical power doesn’t necessarily result in the manifestation of magic.”
The Duke picked up a pen from the desk with his magi.
His black mist-like magi placed the pen on my palm as if handing it to me, then dispersed.
“Such movement is simply emitting magical power outside the body, and it would be inappropriate to call it magic.”
“Right… My mistakes are this kind.”
Just as we don’t live consciously breathing, magical power was similar. It’s a force that has existed since birth.
Since I have little magical power and it’s my habit to seek maximum efficiency, I consciously restrain myself quite a bit when using magical power.
I’m on a different level from a certain young duke who carelessly releases magical power like killing intent.
“Master, could you please not look at me with that expression of ‘why is this kid who knows well acting like this?’ Seven mistakes is pretty impressive, isn’t it.”
Telling me not to use any magical power at all is similar to telling me to live without moving my index finger.
It’s not that I can’t move it, but when living life, there eventually comes a moment when I unconsciously move it!
“Not really. I’ve never made such mistakes.”
The Duke casually denied my passionate argument.
‘Never? How ridiculous.’
He was so confident that I almost believed him for a moment. But this is a man who made a huge mistake just recently.
I didn’t back down and delivered a pointed remark.
“That’s a lie. Don’t you remember? Master, you also unconsciously used magi in the underground prison and got backlash.”
“…”
“Oh right. How’s your body? You look fine now, but you’re naturally so pale that it’s hard to tell the difference.”
The Duke looked at me without even blinking.
His brief answer came at a very slow pace.
“…No problems.”
“You’re not getting sleepy again or anything, right?”
“I’m not. At least.”
“At least?”
Tap, tap.
The sound of snowflakes weakly hitting the window crept into the gaps of silence in the study.
The man who seemed like winter itself painted in reality spoke.
“I’ll be alive until next winter, so don’t worry.”
“…I told you to live a long, long life.”
“I know. I can’t forget those words.”
He answered like that and moved his magi again.
When the black magi touched my bundled hair, the loosely tied hair tie slipped off with a soft rustle.
“What are you doing right now…?”
“This is also a simple manifestation. To manifest magic with magical power, you need the appropriate formula.”
The magi began braiding my hair into one strand.
Sorry to Ally, but it was incomparably more delicate than her touch.
“This is magic.”
The magi that carefully touched my hair only disappeared after tying a ribbon at the end.
‘So right now, as a demonstration, he did my hair…’
The Duke continued the lesson as if nothing had happened.
“Magic must have a clear purpose. Only then can you develop a formula without unnecessary elements.”
“…Ah, I know that.”
“You seem to be quite fast at calculating formulas. Though the equations are strangely complex.”
“I told you before. It’s a habit to extract maximum efficiency from minimal magical power.”
I swallowed the words that you, who uses magi like magical power, seem like an even bigger eccentric than me.
Soon the Duke told another story I already knew.
“Formulas are tools of magic. The core of magic manifestation is ‘what kind of image’ rather than calculation ability. This is especially true for first magic manifestation.”
I know.
The origin of magic is human desire.
I’ve heard countless times that to fulfill that desire, it’s important to first conjure a clear and intense image.
Images like thinking of the sun to create light, imagining dew on leaves to make water drops.
‘I know but… it didn’t work as I wanted.’
Mages are born with magical power, but that doesn’t mean they become mages from birth.
Simply releasing magical power and manifesting it as magic are different matters. The moment a magical power holder becomes a mage is when that ‘first magic’ manifests.
That’s why first magic carries intense meaning.
The Duke asks with a probing gaze.
“Irene. What was your first magic?”
“…Ah, um.”
I actually didn’t have good memories of my first magic. Since I manifested it at an age later than average.
Eight years old.
Others say they achieve it at six, Noaren was recognized as a mage at four, but I remained just a magical power holder.
The Duke at that time regarded me as something like a half-breed.
“How did such a thing come to be born in the family.”
It was strange. My theoretical understanding was a step above Noaren’s, yet I fell so far behind.
Because my magical power was small? But compared to the overall average rather than just the family, it wasn’t particularly small.
When it seemed I would never succeed at first magic no matter how hard I tried, I encountered magical alchemy.
And that winter.
“I made… a ring. As my first magic.”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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