Chapter 29
Mid-level of the Eastern Tower.
A small, barren room lit up with a blue magic circle. Even before the spell fully manifested, a tall figure appeared.
Asius pressed his tired eyes and headed straight for the bed. The frail body buried in the sheets rose and fell gently. It looked like she had woken up once while he was gone. Her position had changed from when he had left. The princess was curled up on her side, fast asleep.
“…She’s not dead.”
It wasn’t likely she would suddenly die within half an hour, but still.
About a hundred years ago, there had been cases where an awakened saintess went berserk, unable to control her power. Right after awakening, someone needed to be there to keep her in check. That must’ve been why he felt uneasy.
Trying to rationalize his concern, Asius leaned over the princess. The hand in his pants pocket twitched. Her hair had fallen over her cheek, covering her face—it had been bothering him.
‘I’m not trying to touch her while she’s sleeping, but…’
But in truth, he was always quicker to act than to think. Almost instinctively, his hand reached out and gently grasped the edge of the sheet covering her body.
A soft and sweet divine energy brushed against the nape of his neck, as if tempting him. A light shiver ran through him. He knew he shouldn’t get swept up in it, yet his expression loosened.
Tousled golden hair. Long, lowered lashes. The delicate line from her nose to her lips.
He couldn’t deny the truth. Hellar’s daughter looked beautiful, even in her sleep. Among all the saintesses in history, none could compare to her beauty.
He could already envision the fanatics who would worship her as the goddess incarnate once her existence was made public.
No, she was better kept hidden. He hated troublesome things.
He should build a bedroom for her in the top floor of the Magic Tower. With a lush garden outside the window and flowers blooming year-round, so there’d be nothing to distract her gaze.
How many jewels would be enough? What kind of dresses? None would do her justice. No amount of shiny rocks or stitched-together fabrics could fully capture that beauty.
Asius took a deep breath of her sweet scent and scanned her with sharply heightened senses.
Her unmoving eyelids, each fine lash, and the rhythmic rise and fall of her body—he examined all of it closely… and suddenly snapped out of it.
“Ah…”
He let out a dazed breath.
What the hell had he just been thinking? His brows furrowed harshly.
“…I’m insane.”
This was serious. Maybe the Duke of Narnark had been right after all. There was no reason to be this obsessed with the princess.
In their relationship, Asius always had to be the one in control. It wasn’t enough to accommodate her; being swayed by her would be dangerous. His face was shadowed with bitter self-mockery.
Just as he was about to straighten up—
Perhaps because her curled-up position was uncomfortable, Lizbel stirred. Her delicate brows twitched slightly. Then, without warning, she turned her body.
Her face came into view, startlingly close. Her nose nearly brushed his. Asius froze, missing the chance to pull back.
“Ah…?”
Only after letting out a low gasp did he realize how unnecessarily close he’d leaned toward her. Close enough to count the lashes on her eyes.
“….”
Her even breath touched the tip of his nose and chin. It tickled like a soft breeze.
Asius stared down at her silent, sleeping face, forgetting to even breathe. Her unnaturally red lips were slightly parted against her pale skin. Her neat white teeth peeked out faintly.
Thump.
Something pounded in his chest.
Thump. Thump.
If he lowered his head just a bit more, their lips would meet. Tangling their tongues and sharing breaths would be all too easy. Something primal stirred deep inside him.
“…I want to taste her.”
It was a brutally clear desire. Completely different from when he had tried to coax her with sweet words for the sake of her submission.
Asius quickly pulled back, a grimace on his face. Just watching this woman up close made his thoughts spiral into dangerously uncontrollable places.
What was he doing, hovering over a sleeping person?
Knowing he didn’t have the strongest self-control, Asius chose once again to swiftly remove the source of temptation.
In other words—he ran away.
Just as his presence vanished completely from the room and the remnants of the glowing magic circle dissipated into the air, Lizbel’s tightly shut eyes slowly opened.
Her blue irises swept across the empty chamber. A raspy voice escaped her dry tongue.
“What kind of man…”
What kind of man stares at you so fiercely, so piercingly—even with your eyes closed, you can feel it?
As if he’d devour you with his gaze alone.
‘…What a strange man.’
Blink. Blink.
Her eyes opened and closed slowly. The consciousness that had been forcefully dragged up by the weight of his presence now began to drift again.
Back into endless darkness.
Lizbel awoke again after a full day had passed.
The reason was clear—once again, it was due to a burning gaze that felt like it might ignite her. Someone had been rustling around her, and now they were leaning over her bed, staring intently.
‘A magician?’
At first, she assumed it was him again, since they didn’t seem to move. But after a few minutes, something felt… off.
‘This feels really different…’
“Oh! She’s awake!”
The voice rang in her ears as soon as she opened her eyes.
“She’s awake! Master!”
From a distance, she heard someone stand up hurriedly. Bang! Something hit the floor with a loud crash.
“…?”
Still groggy, Lizbel turned her head. She saw a blue magical aura fading into the air.
“Huh? Master?”
And then she saw the second thing—a girl leaning close beside her bed, head tilted curiously.
“Why’s he running away?”
Fiery red hair and freckles dusting her nose gave the girl a charming look. Dressed in a frilly, exotic dress, she clearly wasn’t a child of Valdimar.
‘Who is she?’
As Lizbel pondered, the girl furrowed her brows and shouted gruffly.
“I said come here! No!”
“Um…”
“I’m staying with this lady. If anyone’s leaving, it’s you, Master!”
Lizbel was a bit confused.
Until she sat up in bed, the girl continued bickering with someone who wasn’t even present.
“You said to stay by her side! Don’t change your mind like that!”
“Hey.”
The girl immediately stopped her barking at the sound of Lizbel’s small but firm voice. She turned around, the fierce expression gone, and beamed brightly.
“Yes, yes! Did you call me, lady?”
‘Lady’? Lizbel had been called many things, but never something that… basic.
“Who are you?”
She asked without thinking. The girl stared at her in shock.
“You… don’t know me?”
“No.”
The girl grabbed both of her braided red pigtails, looking desperately at her.
“Not even with this hair? Nothing comes to mind?”
“No.”
“You’re so mean!”
She pouted deeply.
Lizbel looked at her in disbelief… then suddenly remembered where she had seen that blazing red before.
“You look like the fox I knew.”
“…!”
The girl lifted her head instantly. Her black eyes, which had been filled with resentment, sparkled brightly again.
“Hehe. I almost got mad that you didn’t remember.”
The smiling girl chattered cheerfully.
“I even put a hole in my body to save you. If you’d forgotten, I might’ve wanted to poke one in you too.”
Her voice was light and cheery, but the words were anything but.
Lizbel asked blankly,
“You’re Tis?”
The red fox left by the mage of Latae. That fox’s name had been Tis.
“Yep! Wanna see this?”
Tis pointed at the front of her cute little dress. A big pink bow decorated her chest.
With a grin, she lifted the ribbon.
“Tada!”
“…?!”
Lizbel’s eyes widened in shock. Beneath the ribbon was a round hole cleanly cut into Tis’s body. Through the neat opening, the background behind her was clearly visible.
Lizbel muttered dumbly,
“You’re really not human.”
“Told you, I’m a fox!”
Tis shrugged and chirped,
“A slash across the body looks gross, right? So Master cut it out all pretty and round.”
“….”
“He even made the ribbon!”
They were all insane. This girl claiming to be a fox, and that magician she called Master.
“….”
When Lizbel thought of the man with black hair and gray eyes, her heart inexplicably clenched. The place where his gaze and breath had lingered—her lips—felt strangely hot.
As she absentmindedly touched her lips, she listened to Tis rambling on.
“Actually, I got in big trouble—for not protecting you properly. But I really tried my best, I swear. Back then, you were pouring out divine energy like crazy—it was hard to handle.”
“I see…”
“Yep! So I sacrificed myself. You were too pretty to die in a place like that.”
To die in a place like that…
The moment she heard those words, memories she had forgotten returned with sharp clarity.
“Why didn’t you just keep running, you idiot? Why do you never listen, huh?”
“Ah.”
That twisted face filled her vision.
A face she never imagined Rozez Valdimar could make.
And with that, the memories of that night crashed over her like a wave.
