Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 137

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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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Chapter 137
12. Summary Judgment
“Liriope, over here.”
Someone called to Liriope in a warm, affectionate voice.
“Look at this. I planted flowers in the garden—what do you think? They have that sweet chocolate scent you love, don’t they? This is Mother’s favorite flower.”
When she turned her head, she saw two people holding Liriope’s hands, one on each side.
Their faces were cast in shadow by the sunlight shining behind them, but Liriope knew without a doubt that these were her parents.
“Someone precious gave Mother this flower once and said it looked like me. It’s unusual, isn’t it? Usually when people give flowers as gifts, they give ones with names that match, but this one is special.”
A lukewarm breeze carrying soft laughter brushed against her ear.
The lush purple flowers swaying before her eyes seemed oddly familiar. The landscape with its deep orange sunset descending over them filled Liriope with a subtle, aching nostalgia.
“See? It has the same color as your and Caliona’s eyes.”
Now that she looked at it properly, this was the garden of the house where the whole family had lived together in happiness.
If that was so, then this scene had to be from before her parents’ death.
“Oh, look—Caliona is waving from over there. Let’s go to her quickly.”
Liriope took her parents’ hands willingly and let herself be drawn into the flower bed, which exhaled a sweetness dizzying enough to cloud her head.
Far ahead, where the flower shadows grew deep, a girl with long black hair stood watching. She gestured to Liriope.
The fragrance—growing ever thicker and more cloying, like the sweetness overflowing from ripened fruit—slowly suffocated her as she drew near.
As if her sister were the very source of that scent, the closer Liriope came, the more her nose began to ache and the cool shadow hanging like a curtain deepened.
“No.”
But something was wrong.
Her sister’s face, cleverly hidden in shadow, looked different from usual. Perhaps because the eye color that should have matched the purple petals scattering on either side was reflected in the sunset, it gleamed like something cold and golden.
“No, Liriope.”
Just as Liriope’s feet were about to cross the thin black shadow drawn on the ground—
“Liriope, that way is wrong.”
A pale white hand suddenly reached out from behind her.
Liriope had seen that hand before, long ago.
The dry hand of her sister, reaching through the black Mana that blocked her vision like prison bars for a convict or thorned vines imprisoning a princess, brushing her tear-soaked cheek.
“You cannot come here yet.”
That hand came again now, firmly covering Liriope’s eyes.
“Hush. Close your eyes.”
Through the cool fingers, Liriope glimpsed her parents turning to look back at her. Their faces appeared blackened, as if someone had obsessively painted over them with black dye.
The shadowed purple flower bed, exhaling an ominous fragrance, melted and sagged like black wax.
The girl who had stood there moments before had become a woman, now glaring at Liriope with cold, golden eyes devoid of mercy.
Her sister’s cool yet gentle hand pulled her back forcefully from behind, enfolding her.
The dissolved black shadow, shedding the illusion of a beautiful dream, flooded forward like a wave, as if it could not let her go.
But before it could swallow her whole, Liriope awoke.
* * *
[Are you alright? It’s still early, I know, but you seemed to be having a nightmare, so I woke you.]
The moment her eyes opened, a familiar ceiling greeted Liriope.
The room was dark, and her body was drenched in cold sweat. A voice filled with concern echoed through her mind.
“Od…?”
Hearing Od’s voice for the first time in ages, Liriope felt sleep scatter away. At her call confirming his presence, a sigh-laden answer followed.
[Yes, it seems our connection was severed again. Wasn’t it? Judging by the fact that you’re in your room, the Inundation Phase must have ended. How much time has passed this time?]
Liriope exhaled slowly, then threw off her blankets and rose.
Turning her head to the side, she saw rain pattering against the window. It wasn’t the black rain that had poured down on the Corrupted Sanctum, but dark clouds shrouded the sky, leaving the outside dim and murky.
The clock showed already seven in the morning.
It was morning on the fourth day since the Inundation Phase had ended.
* * *
After the Inundation Phase, the western and northern regions experienced an unusual deluge.
The Recovery Chamber of the Northern Magic Tower was overflowing with the wounded, and mages desperate to replenish their depleted Mana had shut themselves in their rooms.
Consequently, the Magic Tower’s schedule had come to an almost complete standstill.
“Master Fabian, is there anything I might help you with?”
“Bother! Help with what? Stop loitering about making a nuisance of yourself and go to your room, dry your feet, and get some sleep. If you strain yourself now instead of resting and get sick, we won’t have enough materials to make medicine for a good while!”
Liriope also rested quietly in her room. Cassel and Milena needed time to recover, and Caliona, who had walked out of the Ancient Ruins alone, was in much the same state.
The others who had entered the Ruins with her had all died from bad luck, or so it was said, and Caliona seemed to have suffered some psychological damage from it.
Of course, Caliona was not one to openly show distress—after emerging from the Ruins, she had actually appeared quieter than usual. She showed no sign of emotional turmoil whatsoever.
Yet Liriope felt an inexplicable discomfort about her precisely because of that composure.
She didn’t want to leave Caliona alone, but she had no excuse to disturb her sister when she said she was tired and wanted to rest quietly.
So for now, they had agreed to each take a few days to compose themselves, body and spirit.
[What? Your mother was close to the Magic Tower Master in that way? How absolutely preposterous!]
When she explained what Od had missed during their disconnection, he expressed shock. Liriope too narrowed her gaze coldly.
She found it almost impossible to believe herself and wondered if perhaps the southern mage had misunderstood something, but it seemed unlikely.
Od raged at Seraphina’s cunning.
[If what the southern mage said is true, the probability that the Magic Tower Master didn’t know who you were is low. Even a southern mage who had only glimpsed your mother a handful of times nearly twenty years ago remembered her and inferred your connection at a glance. There’s no question that someone with that degree of familiarity would recognize you. Yet she has deliberately pretended not to know you all this time….]
Od’s voice that followed had dropped to a much quieter tone.
[She must have another reason or hidden agenda. In the first place, whether it was truly Belkiers’ doing that she began watching you… perhaps we need to reconsider that from the start.]
At the familiar name that reached her ears, Liriope’s eyes twitched for an instant.
Since their meeting days ago, Belkiers had come to her room every day.
But Liriope had blocked his intrusion with the strongest Ward she could conjure.
Since Belkiers had closed his door when she didn’t want him there, Liriope naturally had the same right.
Of course, she knew that if Belkiers wished, he could break her Ward without difficulty. In fact, he had attempted to do so at first.
But each time Belkiers shattered the Ward, Liriope would painstakingly repair it, and after repeating this cycle several times, he seemed to have felt the strength of her resolve.
Since then, Belkiers lingered silently outside her door or beyond her window each day before vanishing.
In fact, even now… she felt the familiar afterimage of his Mana from outside the window.
Liriope walked quietly to the window and opened it. There, sitting on the sill and being rained upon, was a single purple flower.
Placed there like a stray cat or bird might deposit prey, the flower resembled one that Belkiers had brought her from the Corrupted Sanctum long ago.
Seeing it, the tips of Liriope’s fingers trembled faintly for a moment.

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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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