Chapter 35
The blond boy named Alex turned straight towards Llewellyn.
“Huh?”
Alex glanced up and down at Llewellyn’s appearance and asked with an absurd look.
“Your Grace, what on earth are you doing? Why are you tied up like this and how come you couldn’t resist?”
“Alex, why are you raising your voice before Rosenia for nothing?”
When Llewellyn replied irrelevantly, Alex feigned indifference. The boy glanced at Rosenia with his purple eyes and asked Llewellyn again.
“You’re not serious, are you?”
“Should I get my sincerity tested by you?”
“…Come on, Your Grace!”
Listening to the conversation between the two, Rosenia tilted her head, feeling a little strange.
‘Rather than how a lord and vassal should interact, these two talk just like a hyung and dongsaeng.’
‘It couldn’t be that Llewellyn spoils all his subordinates like his brothers right?’
While she went over these thoughts, Adrian’s eerie voice came from the side.
“…What is this?”
Then Alex looked back at Adrian, muttering, “Oh, yeah I forgot.”
The boy’s ambition to destroy Adrian Hill’s very existence left Rosenia utterly speechless.
‘Did this guy have nine lives?’
“It looks like you were trying to attack His Grace earlier. You probably didn’t think of the aftermath of your mistake, right Lord Hill?”
“It wasn’t me but your master who made trouble without a forethought of its aftermath. Can’t you even figure out this much?”
Despite standing in front of Adrian, Alex did not show an ounce of fear.
His personality was originally like that. And from what she knew about him, it was because of this that Llewellyn and the people of the Duchy of Rasiane had a rough time.
“His Grace couldn’t have come all the way here because of a woman. I know this is all some part of a grand plan.”
“I’m not at all interested in your bullshit. I only wish to question Llewellyn Rasiane.”
Not wanting to deal with him anymore, Adrian reached out to Alex and cast a restraining spell.
“Haah.”
At that moment, Rosenia let out a sigh. Because she already knew that Adrian’s restraining spell wouldn’t work on Alex.
“…”
Sure enough, just as soon as Adrian’s mana reached Alex, it dissipated in the air.
Alex grinned at seeing Adrian’s frown. Rosenia grabbed Adrian’s arm and said.
“Brother, magic doesn’t work on that boy.”
“…Magic doesn’t work on him?”
“There was such a case among the experimental subjects that we went to save three years ago, remember?”
“…”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed as he recalled the incident that happened three years ago. Rosenia also remembered it but she was much calmer than the time she ran into Alex in the garden.
“Look at this boy here. He has a unique constitution on which magic doesn’t work! As long as you study this well, I’m sure it’ll help the Mage Tower…”
The skinny wizard cried out enthusiastically and tried to coax them like a fraud. Rosenia shuddered seeing that crazy look…
“Brother, don’t listen to that nonsense! You’re not going to fall for the words of that son of a bitch, are you?”
Adrian, who cared about his sister dearly, naturally sided with her. Well, she knew he did it for her sake, but Adrian clearly looked down at such wizards. No, he hated them.
Adrian rejected his proposal with a single strike of his sword. But the skinny wizard was displeased with the way things turned out and he casted a spell to topple the stone cave.
“Arghh!”
“Please save me!”
It was followed by the rumbling sound of the cave collapsing and the screams of the children. They saved most of the poor children using their powers, but there were some whom they couldn’t rescue given the lack of time. It took less than 10 seconds for the entire cave to collapse.
“Didn’t he die then?”
Adrian, who returned back to the present, mumbled while staring at Alex with a complex expression.
Alex looked at Adrian’s distorted face and laughed lightly in a relaxed manner. Either he has his liver outside his stomach* or he has too many lives. It looks like it’s either one of the two.
*[TL note:It is a Korean saying used to make fun of, condemn or criticize someone who acts way too recklessly without fearing possible consequences.]
‘It looks like he too is a madman.’
‘Why am I surrounded by only crazy people?’ Just as Rosenia was agonizing over this, she heard Alex’s spirited voice provoking Adrian.
“Now you know. Magic doesn’t work on me, your great spells are wasted on me. What are you going to do, Lord of the Mage Tower?”
‘Ah I see, he really wants to die…’
‘God, there goes one bastard…’
“If magic doesn’t work on you, so what?”
Adrian responded to Alex with a laugh. His whole aura, as he twirled his cane, was very dangerous. It was natural for Adrian not to panic just because his magic did not work. It was because his cane was actually…
~Sreung!
It was because it was a sword-stick which could also be used as a makeshift sword.
So, the part that appeared to be the body of the cane was actually just a shaft in which the blade was hidden. Adrian, who pulled out a sword, stared at Alex and murmured grimly.
“If spells don’t work, then we can use strength.”
“…What?”
It seemed Alex didn’t know. Well, he couldn’t be blamed for it; after all, only few were aware of the fact that Adrian Hill, the greatest wizard of his time, was quite proficient and accomplished in swordsmanship as well.
‘I don’t know how good that boy is, but… He will surely lose to Adrian. I can’t even imagine Adrian Hill losing a fight.’
~Clang!
Soon, both swords clashed and as was expected, Alex’s blade trembled from the impact. It seemed he wasn’t strong enough.
The living room soon became a mess because of their fight, and Rosenia carefully stole closer to Llewellyn’s side. If she could manage to help him escape during this gap, the fight would eventually come to a stop.
She was trying to release him from Adrian’s spell, but then suddenly Llewellyn jumped up from his seat.
“…?!”
Seeing her flinch in surprise, Llewellyn gently pulled her into his arms.
Rosenia looked up at him with her eyes wide-open. ‘How on earth did you undo a restraining spell? And that too a spell cast by Adrian Hill!’
“My Divine Power is as strong as your brother’s mana.”
Llewellyn grinned and whispered as if he had grasped her unspoken question.
‘…Is this really the male lead?’ Rosenia couldn’t find any other words to answer, so she just mumbled, “I see, that’s great.” Then Llewellyn laughed out aloud.
‘What’s so funny?’
~Kiss!
While Adrian wasn’t looking, Llewellyn kissed her lightly on the lips and smiled mischievously.
Rosenia couldn’t scold him even though she was dumbfounded. Her heart was pounding rapidly. It felt nice, as if she was being tickled.
But on the other hand, she was also nervous… On a closer look, Llwellyn’s eyes were not normal.
‘I have a hunch that something big is going to happen…’
It would be nice if it was just a hunch.
Llewellyn asked her a question, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
“Rose, are you sure you don’t want to run away with me?”
“…”
From what she understood from her experience with him, his manner of speaking could be divided into three main categories: ‘very polite’, ‘a little light’ and ‘very light.’*
*[T/N:It refers to Formal Polite speech, Informal polite speech and Casual speech respectively.]
He was currently speaking in ‘a little light’ tone. Whenever he spoke in a ‘very polite’ manner, he was relatively normal but when he spoke other than that… he turned into his insane self. Just like now.
‘I can’t agree with whatever you say when you’re out of your mind…’
Rosenia concluded as a very rational person.
“We can’t run away.”
“Why?…”
Llewellyn’s words fell short. It meant that he was beginning to go crazy because of her answer.
Rosenia carefully answered after much consideration; she didn’t want him to get crazier than this.
“If I run away with you, Adrian will destroy the Duchy of Rasiane…”
“Why is your brother so obsessed with you? No matter how close your relationship is, isn’t your brother’s care a little too much?”
“Well, I guess it’s because I trained him too well…”
“What?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Rosenia sighed as she looked around.
Let’s say Adrian’s overprotectiveness was because she was prone to death and almost-died often. But as Llewellyn said, Adrian’s obsession with her was quite severe. ‘Did I cast a spell on him when I was a child without realizing it? Or did something happen before mother disappeared…’
‘Anyway, how troublesome.’
A change was needed. For both Adrian and her. She couldn’t keep on living like this.
‘I think I should really run away with Llewellyn…’
Then later if I vehemently oppose him, Adrian wouldn’t be able to hit the Duke of Rasiane.
‘But then it might hurt Adrian…’
Just as her worries surfaced, she heard a loud crashing sound.
Bang!
Alex flew in the air and crashed into the living room wall. He was thrown so hard that she suspected whether he was even alive.
The crumbled and broken debris scattered to the floor. Alex groaned and stared at Adrian with a distressed look on his face.
“For a novice, you’re holding out quite well. Still, it’s impossible to beat me.”
“You, you little punk… How can a wizard have such swordsmanship skills…. Are you kidding me?”
It seemed Alex had lost his mind to the pain and had forgotten Adrian’s status as not only the head of the Hill family, but also as the sole owner of the Mage Tower. Seeing as he was making such impolite remarks, it seemed that he was fine.
~Tip-tap ~Tip-tap
Adrian approached Alex with a sword in his left hand. Looking at his fierce eyes, he seemed determined to inflict a fatal wound on him.
Frightened, Rosenia grabbed Llewellyn’s arm and said urgently.
“Aren’t you going to stop them? He’s going to get in trouble!”
She said so because she knew Llewellyn would be able to deal with Adrian, but he just laughed and replied in a carefree voice.
“Just wait and see.”
“…?”
She wondered what he was talking about for a moment, but just then, two people came in by smashing the broken living room window.
Rosenia flinched and dug into Llewellyn’s arms. The two new faces were completely unknown to her.
One was a man with a sturdy build, black hair and blue eyes. Even if looked from a distance, he appeared as tall as a mountain.
The other man looked to be around thirty and had gray eyes, with long gray hair tied together.
The seemingly lonely lifeless face suddenly came alive as soon as his eyes fell on her. Rosenia tilted her head wondering why this person felt strangely familiar.
‘Ah, isn’t it…’
A speculation flashed in her mind. Just as she opened her mouth to ask the gray haired man a question, Alex got up from the floor and rushed towards Adrian.