Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 101

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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 101
“I’ve heard his name mentioned in passing through Hyde. I learned his face the last time he got tangled up with you.”
“Hyde?”
Liriope turned the name over in her mind, certain she’d heard it somewhere before. Then she recalled a story Seraphina had mentioned not long ago.
“Oh, you mean the Magic Tower Master’s adopted son who died recently? So you’ve never actually met him alone or had a separate conversation with him?”
“Not once.”
Belkieros answered with finality.
Liriope thought to herself, as I suspected.
Stella had a vain streak, and it seemed likely she’d harbored improper feelings toward Belkieros, the Magic Tower Master’s son, entirely on her own.
“Goodness, the fool. This time he spent half a month in the Punishment Chamber and came back looking like a rag doll.”
Then, suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoing from ahead caught Liriope’s attention.
Belkieros turned his head to follow her gaze. A group of people came into view, walking toward the Recovery Room.
“Well, he won’t learn his lesson anyway. In a few days, he’ll defy Cameron again, get beaten half to death, and end up locked in the Punishment Chamber all over again. Mark my words.”
“I honestly can’t tell which is worse—this fool or Cameron.”
Liriope’s eyes fixed on an unconscious boy being dragged along by two adult Mages.
He bore deep scars all over his body—the marks of brutal punishment in the Punishment Chamber.
His crimson hair was nearly the same color as the blood caked onto his skin.
The moment Liriope recognized who he was, her expression hardened.
One of the three children who had escaped the External Estate with Caliona last year.
The boy who had left her with a startling impression, whose air of leadership had suited him better than anyone she’d ever met.
Kassel. It had been so long.
It was definitely him.
‘But why does he look like this? Has he been tortured?’
Liriope watched Kassel pass before her in his pitiful state, and without thinking, her feet began to follow.
At the same moment, the grip around her hand tightened considerably.
“Where are you going?”
“Just a moment—I know that boy. I need to check if he’s all right.”
Belkieros, too, had recognized the blood-soaked boy being dragged past in an instant.
He noticed the swift change that crossed Liriope’s expression beside him.
In that instant, Belkieros’s eyes sharpened like steel, though Liriope did not see it.
She shook free of his grip and rushed after Kassel.
“…….”
Belkieros stared at his empty hand for a moment, then watched Liriope’s receding back.
The frozen golden eyes that had remained motionless and expressionless were soon concealed beneath dark lashes.
A moment later, Belkieros drew a slow breath and clenched his chilled hand tightly.
Then, with deliberate calm, he opened his eyes and began to follow Liriope’s footsteps, one measured pace after another.
The fierce emotion that had surged within him for an instant mercifully receded, leaving no trace.
* * *
“Ugh, urghhh……. D-don’t come any closer!”
In the dead of night, Cameron was suffering from a terrible nightmare.
In the dream, Cameron was a one-legged cripple. In that state, Sophia and Stella seized him and forcibly bound him to a scale.
“Sophia, Stella……. Why are you both looking at me like that? No, it’s all a misunderstanding. I can explain……. Ughh, hack! So just let go of me……! Release me right now! Gasp!”
Cameron thrashed in terror until he finally jolted awake.
Even after waking, he could not fully escape the nightmare, gasping for breath and staring blankly into the darkness.
Sixteen years had passed, and yet the look in those old lover’s eyes remained vivid enough to make Cameron shudder.
That terrible gaze—steeped in betrayal, rage, despair, sorrow, and hatred.
In the dream, her daughter had gazed upon him with that same piercing look.
The mere recollection of that nightmare filled Cameron with revulsion.
‘Damn it……! This is all because those brats in the Education Hall couldn’t keep their mouths shut.’
It was humiliating enough that the children in the Education Hall had witnessed his degradation. But what terrified him more was something else entirely.
By sheer misfortune, a Magic Resonance Phenomenon had occurred, and those damned brats had caught glimpses of Cameron’s nightmare.
He’d realized it only after pressing them on their strange behavior, and in that moment, Cameron had nearly slaughtered every child in the Education Hall on impulse.
But the reason he’d barely restrained himself was not due to any newfound morality or compassion.
‘If I kill them now that the rumors have already spread, I’d be admitting the nightmare is true.’
Cameron did not want the people of the Magic Tower to dredge up the events of the past.
And for some reason, he was most terrified that Stella would learn of it above anyone else.
How desperate must he have been, tormented by nightmares for days on end, that he’d taken the drastic measure of permitting Stella to undergo the 21st Floor Exam?
Moreover, he had thrown his full support behind her training, giving her no chance to lend an ear to the rumors.
If Cameron had known that the nightmare plaguing his sleep was artificially induced by another person, would things have been different?
But, unaware of what Liriope had done, Cameron could only clutch his head in anguish, tormented by the terrible dreams that robbed him of sleep.
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
“Hah! It’s about time she made contact, so why is everything so quiet?”
Stella stood by the window, anxiously awaiting news from someone.
‘Caliona—I need to put that girl in her place once and for all.’
Stella gnawed at her nails nervously.
Lately, Caliona had been needling her relentlessly, and Stella felt as though she might go mad from irritation.
And it wasn’t just Caliona—Milena, who’d lately been acting defiant and refusing to bow her head, was just as much an eyesore. So was Liriope, who dared to wear Belkieros’s cloak around the tower.
But regrettably, Stella had been warned about Liriope directly by Cameron not long ago.
The possibility that Liriope might have the Magic Tower Master as her backer had alarmed even Stella enough to make her back down.
‘But is it just my imagination? These days when I walk the corridors, even worthless little things look at me strangely…….’
Whether it was because of her pathetic return from the Corrupted Holy Site or something else, Stella felt her anger rising ever higher.
In any case, everything was infuriating—this situation and that situation.
Including the person who’d been making Stella wait for days now.
‘That bastard Hyde, he better send word today.’
Just as Caliona had Evangeline eagerly courting her, Stella too had a boy ardently pursuing her affections.
That was Hyde, the Magic Tower Master’s adopted son.
Of course, what she truly wanted was only Belkieros, the Magic Tower Master’s biological son. But as the old saying goes, when pheasant isn’t available, chicken will do.
Life was long, and it wouldn’t hurt to build a chicken coop beforehand and keep her options open.
And among them, Hyde was by far the most premium chicken.
Stella had raised her standing more than once using magical artifacts that Hyde had secretly procured for her, artifacts she’d used to search the Corrupted Holy Sites.
The low-grade magical artifact she’d used recently to show Liriope what she was made of was one of them.
Regrettably, Hyde was no longer among the living, though Stella was unaware of this fact. His sworn brothers lacked the delicacy to inform her of such news, and besides, they did not hold her in such high regard.
Ding!
“……!”
At that very moment, a bell chimed from outside the window.
Stella’s face brightened at once.
After the bell chimed twice more, Stella plucked a flower from the potted plant on her windowsill. In the empty space beneath, a small box came into view.
She hastily opened it, and a letter and some object of unknown purpose caught her eye.
“This is…….”
Stella’s expression shifted with each word she read from the letter.
And finally, the worry and anxiety drained from her face, replaced by bold confidence.
‘Perfect! I’ve basically already passed the 21st Floor Exam!’
Stella had no doubt that with Hyde’s help, she would easily pass the 21st Floor Exam.
But here lies the problem.
Who, then, could have sent this letter from Stella’s finest option—the already-deceased Hyde?

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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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