Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 95

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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 95
Of course, Caliona had not forgotten her circumstances.
She had long since understood that Evangellin had never treated her as an equal.
Crash!
Caliona swept everything within reach across the room with her arm, and in that moment, she swore she would never again trust that contemptible liar who had mocked her.
The broken things scattered on the floor seemed to lay bare the resentment she could not otherwise express.
“Gasp, hagh…….”
Only after the room had descended into complete chaos did Caliona stop moving.
She gripped the table’s edge and worked to steady her ragged breathing.
Caliona’s room at Belegoat was admittedly sparse by any reasonable standard. Yet she lived here in a comfort incomparably greater than when she had wandered the streets.
But such things meant nothing to Caliona. Because all this time, what truly mattered had not been at her side.
She lifted her trembling hands to cover her face.
“Liriope…….”
Her younger sister—the only one she had—whom Caliona had worried over without a single day’s respite for the past year.
No matter how many times she turned over Evangellin’s words, they were unbearable; from her constricted throat came a sound like a beast’s cry, fractured and suppressed.
To think she had trusted such a man all this time.
Caliona had spent less than a month at the Outer Estate, and of that, her mind had been truly clear for even less.
Yet brief as that was, the harsh memories from that place remained etched vividly in her mind.
She could not begin to imagine what ordeal timid, fragile Liriope must have endured there.
‘So that’s why she became so strong and steadfast in just a year. Why she says she’ll kill Stella, bristling with caution like a defensive hedgehog. Of course—to survive, she would have needed to be that way. How much suffering must she have borne…….’
The mere thought of it broke Caliona’s heart.
Tears she had not shed before Liriope now fell in steady drops.
Certainly, Liriope had only repeated that she was well and healthy, no matter how much Caliona pressed her.
Perhaps because they were sisters, Liriope’s silence mirrored Caliona’s own. She, too, had never mentioned her own struggles for fear of worrying her younger sister.
‘But…… Liriope was right. We are only sisters, just the two of us. We cannot let such secrets pile up between us.’
Her angelic younger sister had not even voiced her frustration or disappointment at this reunion after so long, though she must have felt plenty of both.
Instead, with warm words, she had melted Caliona’s frozen heart and granted her something far more precious—an insight.
“Just as you will be my sister until you die, I will be your sister until I die.”
“Don’t you forget that either.”
Caliona steadied the turbulent surge of her emotions as she recalled Liriope’s words.
By some grace of fortune, Liriope had returned to her side unharmed.
‘Those letters that came occasionally over the past year, bringing news of Liriope…… I thought Evangellin had sent them. But that wasn’t true at all. There was another hand behind them.’
When she considered how foolishly she had been mistaken all this time, a bitter laugh escaped her.
But now that she thought it through, there had been many strange inconsistencies if she claimed Evangellin had sent those letters.
For one, it was odd that he would send word anonymously when he could have simply told her directly.
Moreover, whenever the subject of Liriope came up, Evangellin had always slipped away from the topic like an eel.
And today, from a careless remark Evangellin let fall, Caliona had finally understood who the true author of those letters was.
“But the more I think about it, the stranger it is. Why your sister instead of you? And both the Tower Master and Velkius, at that.”
“Velkius doesn’t show it, but I naturally thought he’d always been interested in you.”
Velkius.
Velkius Belegoat—the sole heir of the Tower Master of Northern Magic Tower.
His name had been mentioned often enough by Evangellin, and each time, he had observed Caliona with an enigmatic gaze.
Caliona had found this odd in her own right, but since there was no real point of contact between Velkius, the Tower Master’s son, and herself, she had never harbored any clear suspicion.
Yet now, as she retraced her memories with him woven back into them, the puzzle pieces that had been subtly misaligned suddenly seemed to fit.
But why?
How had the Tower Master’s son become entangled with Liriope?
‘This won’t do. There’s nothing to gain from growing close to anyone bearing the Belegoat name.’
A gnawing anxiety consumed her—what if he had approached Liriope with impure intentions?
Velkius Belegoat was a dangerous presence in himself.
Even if his help to Liriope had been motivated by pure goodwill…….
Gratitude aside, Caliona could not welcome his interest in her younger sister.
A single careless gesture from him could shatter both their lives in an instant.
Caliona had not asked Liriope many questions earlier, as she seemed too exhausted, but it seemed there would be much to discuss tomorrow.
Caliona’s eyes followed the source of the black aura that had been wavering in her vision.
The hand that Evangellin had damaged was now almost entirely restored to its original form.
Some dark substance clung and writhed as it reconstructed bone, muscle, flesh, and skin.
The Northern Magic Tower was a den of demons far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.
Caliona wanted to pummel her past self for bringing her younger sister here with her own hands, oblivious to what Belegoat truly was.
Yet moments later, as she lifted her head to gaze into the mirror, the purple of her eyes no longer held the anguish and self-reproach from before—only steely resolve.
Yes, there was no time to sit and wallow in guilt.
Now that circumstances had reached this point, she had to do whatever she could for her younger sister.
Caliona stared long and quietly at the candlestick’s flame in the mirror, glimmering like a star in the darkness.
10. The Drive Hunt
“Are you sure you’re all right? Your fever seems to have come down considerably. Should I cast another Heat Preservation spell?”
“No, that’s enough…….”
Liriope, lying in bed, declined Velkius’s offer in a feeble voice.
At that, Velkius, who had been watching her with concern from beside her all this while, frowned slightly.
Liriope had been suffering from a fever for two days now.
It seemed to stem from the tension she had felt when meeting the Tower Master.
Even before returning to her room that day, her body had felt cold and achy, and though she sensed something ominous in it…….
Caliona, who had been anxiously waiting for Liriope all this while, was apparently quite shocked when she returned looking pallid.
Caliona hurried Liriope into bed and rushed out to fetch medicine.
The moment Liriope took it, she fell asleep as if struck unconscious.
She had hoped her condition would clear immediately after that, but unfortunately, she still found herself bedridden.
Yet within the tender care Caliona had provided throughout, lounging idly about in bed held a peculiar pleasure.
Cameron, for his part, had not dragged the ailing Liriope out, simply telling her to rest well, which made these days all the more pleasant.
The Tower Master, Seraphina, had been silent since that day, as if it were all a dream.
‘The more I recall that moment, the more…… I simply cannot believe it. An 8th Rank mage, yes, but how can she possess such an aura?’
Liriope found herself trembling anew as she recalled that day once more, as she had done several times before.
It was as if she remained trapped in that moment and place, and the very thought of meeting the Tower Master made her entire body quake.
[Yes. That Tower Master—she was truly a monster beyond imagination.]
Ode, too, murmured in agreement with Liriope’s sentiment.
[Moreover, something strange occurred the moment I laid eyes upon the Tower Master…….]
‘What do you mean, something strange?’
[No, let me think on this a while longer before I speak further.]
Liriope was curious about what Ode had been about to say, but he seemed to have fallen into deep contemplation.
Ever since meeting the Tower Master that day, Ode had appeared to be mulling something over. So Liriope decided to refrain from disturbing him until his thoughts had settled.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have dragged you out like that.”
“Don’t say such things. My illness isn’t your fault.”
“If only it were Contamination, I could heal it.”
Velkius stood at Liriope’s bedside with an uncomfortable expression while Caliona was briefly away.
He appeared displeased with himself.
The mana of the Belegoat was fundamentally incompatible with healing and restoration magic.
At best, for physical trauma, he could employ magic with numbing or paralytic effects to dull pain, and could repair wounds through a concept of ‘reconstruction’ rather than true healing.
Velkius had begun to study body-reconstruction magic for Liriope’s sake, and his skill had by now reached a respectable level.
Yet even he had no effective recourse against a common fever.
If only the fever were caused by toxins from a Contaminated Sacred Ground—then Purification Magic would suffice. A regrettable limitation.
Velkius reached forward and gently brushed aside the hair fallen across Liriope’s forehead.
His cool touch caused her expression to soften unconsciously.
Velkius hesitated for a moment, then placed his hand fully against her forehead.
Their eyes met.
For reasons neither could fathom, they simply stared at each other’s faces in silence.
[Oi, there’s a presence just outside the door.]
At that precise moment, Ode’s murmur arrived, oddly caustic in tone.
Click.
‘……! Is it sister?’
The doorknob suddenly began to turn.
Liriope, though she had done nothing wrong, started in alarm and quickly pushed Velkius away.

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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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