Chapter 117
After that, just as Diamud had called it, they spent their time devoted to each other.
They nibbled on prepared snacks while lightly playing chess, but suddenly, their competition flared up, and they ended up trying every game prepared in the spare room.
They laughed and chatted, sometimes stubbornly arguing over nonsensical logic, and these frivolous, peaceful hours passed.
Playing was surprisingly exhausting.
Licithea, lying on Diamud’s lap, breathed heavily from exhaustion. He smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Using a magic stone to replace mana… how’s that working out? Not easy, right?”
Just thinking about it gave her a headache.
Frowning deeply as she checked her own learning status, Licithea suddenly stood up, as if an idea had struck her.
“Diamud, could you lift this table for a moment?”
“This?”
Even with Licithea’s sudden request, Diamud calmly lifted the large game table into the air.
Licithea glanced around and took a decorative sword off the wall.
It was a dull blade, not even sharp, but that didn’t matter to her.
“When using pure mana, you do it like this…”
Licithea deftly wrapped her mana around the sword.
As she lightly swung, her sword pierced through Diamud’s mana surrounding the table. The air twisted, and a sharp ringing pierced her ears.
The table, no longer under control, fell with a heavy thud.
In the center of the table, Licithea’s sword remained firmly stuck.
“At least you can see the result. It feels like you’re handling something tangible…”
“Well, Lit… not many people approach it with that sense, I’d say.”
Diamud looked at the table, now toppled to the floor as the mana dissipated, with a mix of pity and amusement.
“But this, you can see it, right?”
“Yes. It’s visible.”
Licithea seemed to believe that if she could see it, she could imitate it.
“But… when you try to circulate mana through a mana circuit, it’s like playing hide-and-seek with the wind. No matter how much you catch it, it slips away.”
This time, Diamud could at least relate somewhat.
“Right. At first, it’s confusing. But once you get used to it, it starts to feel like an extension of yourself. Then you’ll be able to control the wind freely.”
Would that day really come? Licithea felt overwhelmed and stared at her own hands.
Then Diamud poured a handful of gems onto her palm.
“Try it once while I’m here.”
“Here?”
“Yeah, we’re alone anyway.”
He seemed nonchalant, as if there was nothing unusual.
Since they were alone, practicing magic wasn’t a problem.
“But… do the rules still apply?”
The rules were the newly established ones between them.
“Of course.”
He leaned in, his lips brushing lightly against hers.
“Rules have to be consistent to work.”
It was a rule he had suggested because Licithea struggled to learn how to substitute mana with a magic stone.
If she achieved the day’s goal, Diamud would get a reward; if not, Licithea had to kiss first as punishment. Clear rewards and punishments, he claimed, enhanced learning—but Licithea secretly doubted whether equal measures of reward and punishment could have any effect.
Still, regardless of learning outcomes, she didn’t dislike the new rule.
“Shall we begin?”
Licithea took a deep breath, held a ruby in her hand, and selected a memory to recall.
Her mana circuit resonated, awakening the mana in the magic stone.
Up to this point, there was no problem.
The real challenge was using the stone’s mana to circulate her own mana through her body.
The mana hesitated at the entrance of her circuit, then slipped away.
Another failure. Licithea placed the ruby down, pouting.
Diamud studied her disappointed expression and traced potential pathways for her mana through her body.
“Where do you think it slipped?”
“Around here…”
Licithea pointed just below her right collarbone. He pressed his lips over the spot.
“Part of the lesson?”
“Yes. One of the standard methods for teaching mana circuit awareness.”
His breath brushed lightly against her skin, tickling her.
Unable to resist, Licithea clutched his hair.
His lips stretched in a long, smiling line.
She felt every detail—where his lips met her skin, the border between lips and skin, all vividly.
Whenever he touched—or nearly touched—her, her senses became hypersensitive.
Sometimes, it was almost overwhelming.
“Applying an unforgettable stimulus to the missed spot so you never make the same mistake again.”
He ended the brief explanation with a long, lingering kiss.
Even though such a moment should be unforgettable in an instant, he behaved as if time and stimulus were proportional.
“Is this really a standard teaching method?”
Exhausted from his relentless kisses, Licithea asked incredulously.
“This is genuine. Proven effective through numerous prior cases.”
“Like this?”
“Usually something else is used, but…”
The simplest and most effective method was sensory stimulation.
It wasn’t uncommon for children just learning magic to bear the marks of rods on their arms and legs.
Diamud, who had learned magic from his parents, had never experienced it himself.
Licithea never needed to know such outdated methods.
“Such old-fashioned practices don’t suit our era of reason and rationality.”
He reminded her of a promise they had once shared and leaned in again.
Licithea recalled their first conversation and, almost absentmindedly, grabbed the rubies scattered on the sofa.
The mana sleeping within the rubies awakened and flowed naturally into her mana circuit.
At last, Licithea grasped the wind in her hands.
The ruby, drained of mana, shattered into dust with a crack.
“See? I told you my method was effective.”
“Isn’t the lesson over now?”
He still seemed reluctant to stop.
“My method succeeded, so I should get the reward for teaching well.”
Diamud closed his eyes serenely.
Judging by Licithea’s ultimate success, it didn’t seem his teaching ability was lacking…
“You’re a bad teacher.”
This time, Licithea kissed him.
It wasn’t a reward or punishment, just an expression of affection.
“This… will cost a lot to make up for.”
Diamud looked around the chaotic spare room and smiled awkwardly.
They had only exchanged a slightly intense kiss, yet the room looked like a battlefield.
The biggest problem was the game table with the sword stuck in it.
He considered buying it as a memento but decided it wasn’t the right time.
“Diamud, wait a moment.”
Licithea called him over and adjusted his disheveled clothes.
Once the buttons faced the same direction and the shirt’s wrinkles aligned just right, she looked satisfied.
“All done.”
“Thanks.”
Diamud straightened up only after she finished adjusting him.
Next time, maybe he should wear something more difficult for her to fix.
As he thought that, he habitually smoothed the parts she had touched—the hem, cuffs, and buttons of his shirt.
“Lit, have you heard from Christie?”
“No, still no contact. Busy as always, I suppose…”
Even accounting for her busyness, he found it hard to understand why she hadn’t contacted them.
She couldn’t have neglected everything except the noble succession… could she?
Just then, he murmured and took a letter from his jacket pocket.
“This morning, a letter arrived from Lewis, and the contents seemed a bit strange.”
Licithea carefully read the letter he handed her.
Nothing appeared unusual—just a normal letter asking about each other’s well-being.
“Isn’t this just a friendly letter?”
“Here.”
He pointed to the end of the letter.
There was a request for Licithea to visit Rowen with him sometime.
‘Isn’t this just a casual, polite gesture between close people?’
Licithea’s puzzled expression prompted him to explain further.
“We already settled this on our wedding day with Lewis. I refused, saying it wasn’t my decision, and Lewis accepted it.”
Lewis, meticulous as always, wouldn’t have forgotten this.
So this letter must be a signal to Diamud.
“This is the second time Lewis sent me such an ambiguous letter.”
“The first?”
“The first was when she was half-imprisoned, refusing a marriage arranged by the Marquis of Baldwin.”
Lewis, escaping the Baldwin estate, sought out the young Marquis of Rowen, who she barely knew, pleading for marriage to escape her father.
It seemed Christie, ten years older, widowed with two children, and the second son of the Marquis of Baldwin, married the young Rowen under these circumstances.
“Could there be a problem with Rowen’s succession?”
“Seems likely.”
“Does Diamud want to help Lewis?”
Diamud shook his head.
“No. Lewis didn’t write to me hoping for that. She likely just wanted to notify someone externally.”
It would suffice to inform the Duke of Rowen, nearly arrived in the capital, or Christie’s trusted aides of the letter and its suspicious nature.
“If there’s a problem now, is it because of the succession?”
Christie’s succession ceremony was in just ten days.
If she missed the ceremony at the palace, she could never hold a succession ceremony again.
It was believed that the fortress would not recognize Christie’s succession, giving it political power.
Succession disputes were sometimes exploited, but…
“I’ve never heard of disputes over succession in Rowen.”
Diamud was right.
Since the founding of the Kairos Empire, Rowen’s dukes had never had succession disputes.
“But just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it won’t in the future.”
The golden-eyed man, appearing after a long absence, twirled once in midair.
‘Does he never die? Well… he’s already dead.’
He had once told Licithea this.
Her premonition wasn’t baseless—she had unconsciously deduced it from numerous pieces of information. The problem was she hadn’t yet learned to utilize it properly.
“Diamud, if my guess is correct and there’s a problem with Rowen’s succession…”
Licithea’s golden eyes gleamed greedily.
She had been ready to bow and beg Rowen to fully restore herself—but perhaps she wouldn’t need to.
“If I resolve it, what could we gain from Rowen?”
“Then Rowen would owe an unrepayable debt.”
A satisfied curve formed on Licithea’s lips.
Borrowing Christie Rowen’s mana search ability was nothing.
She could completely take control of Rowen, who held military power in the capital.
“I prefer erasing debts rather than incurring them.”
Thinking about what to request from Rowen already made her heart race.
This time, she intended to claim everything she wanted.
