I Bought the Villains With Money - Chapter 50
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 50.
Though Casion looked reluctant to speak, I pressed him further.
“It’s just a feeling.”
“When did you start feeling it?”
“Since I was young. But do you trust me?”
When I nodded vigorously, Casion was the one who looked surprised.
“Why do you trust me? How can you?”
“I just do. I have a feeling about it.”
Truth be told, I’d reasoned it out rationally—Casion liked the trinket I’d been considering buying from the street vendor, and I knew exactly how expensive the Magic Necklace was.
‘There’s no need to reveal that I know precisely what Magical Artifacts are.’
It could only make him suspicious instead.
“You’re really remarkable.”
Casion said something out of nowhere.
“What’s remarkable about me?”
“Sometimes you say exactly what I want to hear. Do you happen to have Mind Reading?”
“Oh, so my words pleased you? Which ones? I’ll do it more often from now on. Tell me.”
I reached out and stroked his hair, but Casion grimaced and pushed my hand away, stepping back at a distance.
“Go find Dayson. He might cause a fuss if he notices I’m gone.”
“I doubt he’ll even care that we’re away. His eyes will be completely glazed over.”
I could already picture Julia’s personal fortune being thoroughly drained today. It was all too clear without seeing it.
Dayson wouldn’t just pass by strange Magical Artifacts. And since he’d want to show off to Bella, how extravagantly would he spend?
Even if the mage doubled the price, he’d pay without haggling once.
‘All for the sake of his pride.’
“We still need to rejoin them. It’s getting close to time to head back.”
Casion looked up at the sky, where an enormous clock floated in the air.
I lifted my head to check the time as well. It was nearly eight in the evening—the hour when the Magical Elders began arriving one by one.
“Your Highness, let’s stop by just one more place. There’s somewhere I need to go.”
I grabbed Casion and walked quickly.
I wanted to run, but Casion wasn’t healthy enough to sprint without caution, so I couldn’t push him too hard.
Even now, he was barely managing on the Painkiller Pills that Lebert had made for him.
As we hurried, I could sense the few ceremonial guards assigned to us growing flustered.
“Where are you going, Diana?”
“Trust me the way I trust you. I can’t explain now—just come along. Something good might happen, or it might not.”
Despite my cryptic answer, Casion didn’t protest and followed.
I led him away from the busy street where the mages were casting all manner of spells.
After we’d gone in about two blocks, the sounds of laughter and chatter grew steadily quieter, then faded entirely.
I stopped and held out a Ring to Casion.
“What’s this, a proposal?”
Without a trace of alarm, Casion took the Ring and slipped it on as he spoke.
“That’s unfunny. It’s not a proposal—it’s a pass. A pass to cross the Magical Barrier. Once you put it on like this and step across, just like so.”
I stepped forward beyond a faintly shimmering transparent veil in front of me.
Then I stretched out my hand, grabbed Casion, and pulled him through. He followed without quite understanding, still wearing the Ring.
“Now we can move about freely inside here, while those people remain outside.”
I gestured toward the guards following at a distance. One of them met my eyes and smiled warmly. I smiled back and quickly turned away.
“Why are you ditching the guards?”
“There’s someone I need to meet in secret. We don’t have much time—shouldn’t we move ahead while we can?”
The Ring that nullified the Magical Barrier had a time limit.
An hourglass glowed on the Ring’s gem, letting us check the remaining time.
We had thirty minutes left. In that time, I had to meet with the mage Guardián.
Casion was the kind who knew when to keep quiet. This time too, he followed without a single objection to my suggestion.
Thanks to that, we reached my intended destination quickly.
I hid myself in a corner and fixed my eyes on the shabby building before me.
Far from the bustling street, this place had far fewer magical lights than elsewhere.
Perhaps because of that, it was dark and quiet, with an eerie, desolate air hanging over it.
“Who are we supposed to meet here?”
“Wait. Stay quiet.”
I pulled Casion behind me. He looked at me with eyes full of doubt.
Not long after, I heard the sound of hoofbeats. Magical lights began flickering on one by one in the distance.
***
“An unexpected visitor has arrived.”
“Those rascals must have sold a magical artifact for removing barriers. Don’t worry about it, Guardián.”
Guardián clicked his tongue, watching the Disciple running alongside him.
“Even if they’d happened to buy an artifact for removing barriers, would they have made it this far? There’s nothing out here.”
“Then they must have a purpose, sir?”
The Disciple’s expression turned vicious at once. Guardián stopped him just as he reached for the Magic Staff tucked in his pocket.
“They must have some purpose, yes.”
“Then they’ve surely come to assassinate you, haven’t they?”
Guardián had many enemies. He was capable, but his temperament was foul, and he belonged to no faction.
“They’d hire children barely ten years old as assassins?”
Guardián chided his Disciple’s foolishness while keeping his eyes fixed on the alley ahead.
Two small children—yet neither of them was ordinary.
“Two corpses-to-be.”
Guardián wondered what to do.
He found himself intrigued by the children.
Children clever enough to buy a Ring for removing barriers just to meet a mage, yet carrying the scent of death about them.
But there was no reason for Guardián, the first mage on the continent to unlock 8-Circle magic, to spare them his time.
Guardián walked on in silence. He and his Disciple stopped before the Mage Association, disguised as a shabby house. The children still hadn’t moved.
‘Are they not here to meet me?’
Since they simply stared at him without speaking, a capricious curiosity took hold of him. Guardián turned his head toward the children.
“Sir, aren’t you going inside?”
The Mage Association was right in front of them, and the mages’ meeting would begin in ten minutes.
‘Since it’s never started on time, it won’t convene for another thirty minutes at least.’
Mages, after all, had no sense of punctuality whatsoever.
“Bring those two.”
Guardián spoke to his Disciple.
“The time’s running out, sir. If they’re a concern, I can chase them away.”
“Never mind. At a glance, they’re children of noble birth.”
The way they were wrapped in fine blue silk—that wasn’t something ordinary wealth could accomplish. Only those who possessed both power and fortune could flaunt themselves to such a degree.
Guardián wasn’t the sort to bow before power or be seduced by wealth, but he decided to soften his approach, hoping the newly appointed Mage Division Chief of Broom would have an easy time of it.
“I’ll be right back.”
The Disciple vanished from sight in an instant, and the next moment he appeared before Guardián, dangling a child in each hand.
Despite the sudden Teleportation Magic, the two children showed no fear—they merely rolled their eyes about obediently.
“Please put us down.”
The girl opened her mouth. At Guardián’s gesture, the Disciple set the children down gently. The sound of their shoes tapped against the ground.
Guardián looked at the girl, then shifted his gaze to the boy.
Black hair and golden eyes.
At first glance, it brought someone to mind: Karman, the king of Petrola.
Guardián recognized that this child was Casion, Karman’s third son.
‘They say he’s gravely ill, yet he looks perfectly fine.’
Long ago, Guardián had received a letter from Violeta, the former queen of Petrola.
It was about two years after Violeta had been cast out from her place as queen and given birth to the child.
The child suffered from irregular high fevers, and since no physician could name the illness, she pleaded with Guardián to come see him just once—a request he, unintentionally, ignored.
‘I was in the midst of researching the magic to transcend from 7-Circle to 8-Circle.’
Back then, he’d truly shut himself away in a cave, studying magic alone.
That time seemed so recent, yet the child now stood before him looking quite healthy.
‘They say death’s stench clings to him, but he doesn’t look like he’ll die anytime soon. According to the former Queen Violeta’s account, it would’ve been no surprise if he’d died on the spot. But who is this girl?’
Guardián’s eyes met those of the blonde girl, cute and bright.
The girl met his gaze without hiding the delight she felt at meeting him.
But beneath that gleam of joy lay an assessment of him.
A calculating gaze determining whether he would be of use or not.
“How do you do? I am Diana Viola Irenbert.”
Her simple greeting contained everything about the girl. Her confident tone, her perfect courtesy, and her name—Irenbert.
After her greeting, Diana gave Casion a nudge.
“Casion Lichte Petrola.”
Once even wary Casion had finished his introduction, the Disciple visibly grew anxious.
One of the children he’d carried by the scruff of the neck was a prince, and the other was from the House of Irenbert, wielding power second only to royalty.
Only someone of Guardián’s caliber could stand before royalty without shrinking back.
Still, he was a mage, and Guardián didn’t want to see his Disciple take a deferential stance.
“Stay back.”
Guardián clicked his tongue inwardly. The moment the Disciple stepped back a couple of paces, he cast a Silent Shield.
A small semicircular barrier materialized above Guardián, Diana, and Casion.
Now, so long as no skilled mage capable of piercing Guardián’s Silent Shield appeared, nothing the three of them said within would leak beyond it.
‘The more I see it, the more fascinating the world of magic becomes.’
Diana gazed directly at Guardián, wishing she possessed magical talent herself.
“Are you lost?”
Guardián asked, adopting the gentle tone of an affable adult toward the two children.
“We found our way just fine.”
Diana replied.
“There shouldn’t be an invitation to reach this place.”
“It depends on how resourceful one is.”
Guardián caught sight of the small, gleaming rings on Diana’s and Casion’s hands and let out an amused chuckle.
“And what do you intend to do with those expensive counterfeit invitations?”
“Please examine us, Guardián.”
The child’s audacious request caught Guardián off guard, and he fell momentarily silent.
I Bought the Villains with Money (Serial)
Author | Lee In-hye
Publisher | Kim Joo-hyung
Publishing Company | J Plus Media Co., Ltd. — Tiramisu
Marketing | Han Jae-hyuk
Address | 1101, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Ace Techno Tower 8th Building, 11th Floor)
Email | [email protected]
Homepage | http://blog.naver.com/jayplemedia1
© Lee In-hye 2021
※ This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder,
and its contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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