Before Adin was born, there were no mages in the Elias family. At least, that’s what Count Elias believed. He thought there were no naturally-born mages among his direct descendants. So the Count tried to create a mage from outside the family. At the time, when Amila, Liselotte, and Robide’s biological mother was still alive, the Count had relations with a mage from outside the family. His sole purpose was to have a mage child.
Then, the Countess of Elias died from a postpartum illness after giving birth to Liselotte. The Count, as if he had been waiting for this moment, brought the child he had made from outside the family. That child was ‘Adin.’
However, in the end, the Count’s efforts were in vain.
“Hurry up and create a fire!”
Liselotte shouted at Adin. The two strong men who were holding Adin moved closer to her. Adin, who was bound by restraints, didn’t move. She didn’t recite an incantation to cast a spell, nor did she draw a magic circle, which is the foundation for manifesting magic. She only uttered one thing.
“I can’t.”
Count Elias, who needed a mage, furrowed his brow. The atmosphere quickly turned hostile, and Liselotte bit her nails. Liselotte kept ordering Adin to use some kind of magic, but Adin’s lips were sealed.
The Count’s efforts were in vain. He had gone to such lengths to have Adin, but she refused to obey his orders. Now, the Count was too old to have another child. In the original novel, Adin was the Count’s last child, so for the Count, who desired a mage, Adin, who was born with a mage’s talent but refused to use magic, was like a ‘dilemma.’
I could guess why Adin didn’t want to use magic. I picked up my knife and just scraped the end of my plate.
Meanwhile, Liselotte, who had been restless, made a bad move.
“Order that lowly thing to be magically restrained-”
“Stop!”
Bang-!
Count Elias slammed his fist on the dining table. Liselotte’s shoulders flinched. Although Adin was an illegitimate child, she was still a ‘child’ of Count Elias. Count Elias wasn’t the type to tolerate his authority being undermined. He would see both Adin disobeying his orders and Liselotte trying to use the restraints on her own as equally displeasing.
As expected, a fuming Count Elias kept tapping on his plate with a fork.
“What is this behavior at the dinner table? Send back what you brought. And Liselotte, I need to have a private talk with you.”
“A-a talk? B-but I just wanted my father to feel a little more at ease…”
“At ease with what? Liselotte, you will stop with her education from now on. I’ll personally-”
But even if he did that, as long as the Count’s authority remained overwhelmingly intact, everything would be fine.
I put down my knife.
“Then I’ll educate her instead of Liselotte.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to me. Honestly, being in the spotlight wasn’t my thing. I’d much rather plot behind the scenes, away from people’s eyes.
But what could I do? It’s a fan’s duty to save their favorite character from suffering.
Contrary to my firm resolve, the reactions from those around me were cold.
“You?”
“You, sister?”
Robide started, and then Liselotte scoffed.
“You don’t know how stubborn that bug is, do you? Just gently persuading her won’t work.”
“But she’s not making any progress, is she? If she’s useful to our family, we need to persuade her gently. Don’t you agree, Father?”
She must have thought she made a good point, but I shot down her argument with just the facts. Liselotte’s face turned red. Her hands trembled, so Count Elias stepped in between us.
“I understand your intentions. But you might be in danger if you handle her.”
“We can put magical restraints on her and keep her in the tower. I’ll just stay outside the bars. If that’s not enough, I’ll borrow more tools to subordinate her.”
“Is there another reason you want to take on her education, even if it comes to that?”
‘Because this child, whom you treat so carelessly, is my favorite character,’—if I said that, they would probably think I’m crazy. So, I gave a reason that a meek lady would give.
“Why should we have to be at odds with each other over such a small issue?”
I clasped my hands and waited for Count Elias’s answer in a demure posture. ‘Amila Elias’ was a lady who was submissive to the Count.
The Count stared at me for a moment and then opened his mouth.
“I will allow it.”
The dinner was over soon after. After dinner, Count Elias handed me a key to the tower. Although it wasn’t the key to the prison where Adin was locked up, it allowed me to enter other parts of the tower.
“Don’t overdo it, Amila Elias. If you get hurt, the education will be over.”
“I will keep that in mind, Father.”
Count Elias, who had handed me the key, then left. Robide stuck close to Count Elias and disappeared with him.
Liselotte, who remained at the dinner table, glared at me. It seemed she had already forgotten that I was the one who had saved her from her father’s unwanted attention. Count Elias never ‘talked’ to his children. In the original novel, the ‘talk’ scenes with Adin were often followed by physical abuse.
But I didn’t have anything to say to Liselotte. Liselotte, the Count, and even all the main characters, including the male and female leads, were just cast members to me. All except for one person, my favorite character, ‘Adin Elias.’
I looked indifferently at the trembling Liselotte, then walked past her.
“Lady Amila, where are you going?” a knight asked me. He was a knight from the Count’s family whom the Count had ordered to accompany me to the clock tower where Adin was imprisoned.
I briefly looked up at the clock tower. It looked like an ordinary clock tower on the outside, but in reality, it was like a surveillance tower. If Adin escaped from the tower’s prison, the bell on the clock tower would ring. The sound of the bell was so loud that it would echo all the way to the offices in the main mansion.
What a solid prison.
Suppressing a sneer, I knelt on the grass near the clock tower before entering. I smiled at the knight who was there as my protector and guard.
“I just thought I’d pick some weeds. She’ll be so happy if she eats them, won’t she?”
The knight tilted his head. A moment later, he made a choking sound, as if he had guessed what I meant.
Pluck-!
When I pulled out a weed that looked like a dragonfly, it smelled like food waste. The smell was so horrible that it would make you vomit if you got too close. I nonchalantly picked a bunch of weeds and held them in my arms.
The knight’s face showed disgust for a moment, but he soon walked ahead. Following his lead, I stepped inside the tower. I had to go through three doors to get into the tower. The first door was a thick iron one, seemingly built to stop strong men. The second door was designed to stop mages, with a magic-sensing sensor that looked like a silver coin. And the last door was stamped with the Elias family’s crest, a red eagle.
The knight opened the first door. The second door was easy to pass through since neither the knight nor I were mages. I opened the third door with the key I received from the Count.
A few minutes later, after walking down a corridor, I arrived at the place I wanted to go. It was the prison where Adin was locked up. The water had risen from the prison floor to Adin’s knees, but the water inside the prison did not come out because of the barrier surrounding it. The stems that grew in the water inside the prison were wrapped tightly around Adin’s arms, legs, and neck.
I knew the identity of the stems that bound Adin. The stems that bound Adin were ‘Stigma,’ a magical creature that reacts strongly to magic. In the original novel, Stigma was described as a deadly restraint for mages.
I faced Adin, who was bound by Stigma. Adin glared at me from behind the iron bars of the prison. After scanning me with her sharp red eyes, Adin’s magic radiated a red light near me. The knight’s face crumpled, and he quickly pulled me back. He then took out a red, fist-sized stone from his pocket.
“Stop!”
The red stone was a Stigma seed. And the Stigma seed can control Stigma. As a red light came from the stone, the red light coming from Adin’s magic soon faded.
“Ahhh!”
Adin screamed and fell to her knees. The knight blocked my way with his arm and said, “This lowly creature tried to use an attack spell on you, my lady. It would be best if you retreat now.”
Instead of listening to the knight’s warning, I let go of the weeds in my arms. And then, I held out my hand to the knight.
“That stone, it’s a restraint to handle this child, right? Give it to me. I’ll educate her from inside.”
“My lady.”
“You go back. Tell the other guards to stand down as well. My purpose is to educate her, so how can I retreat? I’ll take full responsibility.”
“But-”
“Of course, I’m willing to pay the price for that responsibility.”
The knight still wouldn’t listen to me, so I sighed and revealed the method I had thought of. A strange light appeared in the knight’s eyes.
“What do you mean by ‘price’?”
“It costs money to live a decent life, doesn’t it? I don’t really have a need for money, anyway.”
The knight stopped trying to hold me back. I had deliberately raised my voice so the guards could hear me, and they must have heard what I said. The knight and the guards retreated. I looked down at Adin, who was on her knees. And I showed the red stone in a way that the knight and the guards could see it clearly.
I deliberately shook the stone in front of Adin. Adin’s magic started to radiate a red light again. At this point, if I were to hold the Stigma seed, I could easily subdue Adin, but I didn’t. Instead, I stood awkwardly, allowing Adin to target me with her attack spell.
Didn’t I mention earlier that the Count’s efforts were in vain? The reason his efforts were in vain was not just because Adin wouldn’t use magic for him. In fact, there was a mage very close to Count Elias.
Foolishly.
A red, laser-like light shot by my wrist. Blood flowed down my arm, and a window flickered in front of my eyes. A special window that was only visible to me.
[Target ‘Amila Matias Elias’ has awakened her ability.]
[Awakened Ability: The Path to Overcoming Trials (Lv.1)]
[Would you like to check the details of the ability? (Y/N)]
The ability awakening window appeared in front of me.
