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Brought to you by ‌‌Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Chapter 65
Ishuel had always known he possessed an innate talent for magic.
He was a rare mage whose kind could be counted on one ‌‌‌‌hand across the entire continent.
When Ishuel's magical aptitude was revealed,
Duchess Ibroyel threw a fit.
She insisted on taking ‌‌‌‍him under her wing to provide intensive instruction, practically vibrating with eagerness. ‌‌‌‌
Yet Kieran never forced magical training upon Ishuel. ‌‌‌
When Ishuel expressed disinterest in magic, Kieran simply brushed aside the pestering Duchess without ceremony.
"I shall teach you magic when you desire it."
As though it mattered not whether ‌‌Ishuel's exceptional magical power remained forever buried, Kieran remained utterly composed.
It was hardly conventional behavior.
Especially considering Kieran himself was a mage.
Though I had ‌‌claimed to dislike learning magic, Kieran's active support paradoxically sparked my curiosity.
I asked Kieran the reason behind his stance.
"One grows stronger only through genuine necessity."
Kieran spoke with unhurried ease.
He offered his counsel leisurely, grounded in the arrogance befitting a Basilian.
"The efforts others accumulate over years—you can shatter them all with your ‌‌‌talent whenever you wish."
"So do as you please when you wish to, Ishuel."
"You are a Basilian, after all."
Thanks to this, I remained free.
I memorized only a handful of useful spells and deployed them casually whenever needed.
I had never once felt regret.
I harbored no interest in fighting others, and whenever such situations arose, Karha invariably handled them for me.
Even when someone occasionally ‌‌‌attacked me, ‌‌
one or two spells infused with potent magical force ‌‌‌resolved everything.
Since I would become neither a scholar nor a mercenary, I believed I would never need to study magic properly going forward....
Today, for the first time, I felt the "necessity" Kieran had spoken of.
I drew a magic circle to catch my falling sister.
The magic circle I traced with trembling hands was pathetic.
Having glimpsed it only in ‌‌passing, I couldn't even be certain I'd drawn it correctly.
A brilliant golden light erupted, and wind lifted ‌‌Chesa—I succeeded that ‌far.
But the magical ‌‌‌force spiraled wildly out of control.
Chesa was hurled into the void by the corrupted power.
The moment I watched her small body bounce helplessly through the air like a ball,
my heart felt as though it were being torn asunder.
In that ‌‌‌‌instant, I could not breathe.
I desperately drew another ‌‌‌‌magic circle, ‌‌‌‌but it was already too late.
Chesa fell.
Fortunately, Kieran used dark magic to catch her.
Once Ishuel confirmed his younger sibling was safe, he collapsed onto the floor with a heavy thud.
"...."
It was pathetic.
If only I had known how to properly wield magic from the beginning....
I had never felt so ‌‌utterly wretched since Mother's death.
Ishuel clenched his lips tightly.
I needed strength.
So that I would never lose my younger sibling before my eyes again.
"Please teach me magic."
I would become a mage.

***
The sound of water droplets fell in a slow, measured rhythm.
The bathroom, thick with hot steam, was shrouded in a hazy mist.
Forearms resting on the marble bathtub were woven with ‌‌‌‌sleek, ‌‌defined muscle.
Water droplets traced slowly down the sharply carved lines ‌‌of muscle.
Though his body was submerged in the hot water, the ‌‌cool glint in his ‌‌‌blue eyes remained undiminished.
Wet hair swept back revealed a pale, perfectly straight forehead.
Beneath the sharply angled bridge of his nose, his lips parted ‌‌slightly.
"Haa...."
He exhaled softly, his eyes closing for a moment.
Then, suddenly, he opened his eyes and rose from ‌‌‌‌the bathtub.
With a splash, water cascaded down, revealing his wet, bare form completely.
Adorned only with a bracelet on his wrist, his body was that of a knight honed to the absolute limit.
Straight bone structure and taut muscle formed lines that ‌‌were beautiful yet sharp.
Truly, ‌‌it was a physique most befitting the ‌praise of "God's Blade."
Yet upon this flawless, beautiful body were carved terrible scars.
Eight long scars etched from the ‌‌shoulder blades across the entire length of his back. ‌‌‌‌
Divided four on each side of the spine, they resembled the traces of wings ‌‌‌at first glance.
It was unbelievable ‌‌that such marks could exist on the body of ‌‌‌‌one of the ‌‌Holy Empire's most renowned knights.
Those who belong to the Holy Empire live without any wound or scar.
For their bodies are devoted solely to God, the principle demands that even a single strand of hair remain pure.
Holy Knights, despite undergoing countless brutal trainings, bore not a single scratch upon their bodies.
All ‌‌were cleanly healed by holy power.
But Hailon's body had been defiled.
Not merely ‌‌‌because of the rough scars as if flesh had ‌been torn.
"...."
He placed his hand above his collarbone.
His hand moved slowly as it traced ‌away the sinister crimson flower pattern.
He then stepped completely out of the bathtub, dried his body with a cloth, and dressed in plain clothes.
Having received the ordination of a Holy Knight, even my casual attire consisted solely of the ‌‌‌restrictive standard-issue garments with collars that rose all the way to my neck.
Hailon stood before the mirror, fastening the silver ‌‌‌buttons attached to the deep navy fabric one by one.
He gazed at his reflection with expressionless eyes.
Until the floral patterns etched across his body were completely concealed beneath the cloth.
Once fully dressed, I stepped outside to find Daren waiting with an anxious expression.
"Hailon."
His face had grown rigid with tension.
"The Holy King is asking for you."
"Tell him to wait."
"But... wouldn't it be better to humor him, at least this once?"
It was about the destruction of the ‌‌‌Holy Temple.
The Holy Temple located in the capital of the Palen Empire, no less.
Hailon had already been displaying suspicious movements of late.
With the Holy King watching, destroying the Holy Temple was something that could never be overlooked.
The Holy King would "educate" his cherished knight to regain his senses.
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
Unlike Daren, who trembled with fear until his face drained of all color, Hailon remained unmoved.
He even appeared bored.
He uttered a brief statement.
"One week."
"...What?"
Leaving ‌‌‌‌the trembling Daren to his confusion, Hailon continued slowly.
"In one week, I will meet with Count Basilian and return to the Holy Empire."
"Is it worth that much?"
Due to memory manipulation, Daren did not know that Count Basilian was a dark ‌‌sorcerer.
Even if he had known.
He would have thought it insufficient reason to delay the enraged Holy King's command.
Hailon held the same conviction.
In truth, had I not heard those words, I ‌would have returned immediately to appease the Holy King's ‌‌wrath.
"The ‌‌‌Holy Empire conducted terrible experiments on fairies—are you perhaps interested?"
What was the legendary ‌fairy woman fleeing from?
Even as Hailon tracked her movements, he harbored doubts.
Lichesia was more than capable of slaying those who pursued her.
But if the opponent was the ‌‌‌Holy Empire, the ‌‌‌matter became different.
Only after seeing the information Count ‌‌‌Basilian would bring could I be certain, but ‌‌‌if someone of high rank was conducting experiments without my knowledge....
Hailon habitually rubbed the bracelet on his wrist.
Leaving behind the faint sound of chains that echoed at the edge of my hearing, my thoughts turned to the infant with pink eyes.
Chesa Basilian.
The child placed at the center of everything unfolding now.
"The child?"
"I'm playing with the servants. The young lady is so beautiful and adorable that everyone seems to ‌adore her."
She was the same.
Everyone wanted ‌‌‌‌‌to possess her.
Behind closed doors they might curse her name, but in her presence they wore expressions of rapture, desperate for even a glance in her direction.
No one could refuse her.
It was ‌‌‌almost strange that a woman surrounded by such universal attention had never formed a connection with anyone until now.
Even as Hailon understood all of this with perfect logic.
Whenever he ‌‌‌‍thought of Lichesia giving her heart to someone, his insides twisted.

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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please ‌read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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