Chapter 45

Elena clearly remembered how Sabel Kelton insulted Lexion.

So she wanted to confront him right away.

But with Lexion by her side, she had to cease such an idea.

“Let’s go this way.”

Hoping that Lexion would not see Sabel, Elena took his hand.

The place where she led him was not on the road where Sabel came, but on another road next to him.

She didn’t mind it, but she didn’t want Lexion to run into Sabel.

So, while they went the other way, Elena was planning to secretly cast a spell on Sabel.

‘So he won’t humiliate him again.’

But Lexion did not move.

His gaze was already on Sabel.

And Sabel, too, found them and was walking in their direction.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, Your Excellency.”

Sabel greeted them with a smile, pretending to be a nice person.

He even brought the woman next to him to say hello; Elena hated it even though he didn’t do anything special.

Elena looked at them coldly.

Lexion also looked at Sabel with cold eyes.

“Long time no see. But every time we meet, the person next to you changes.”

“Ye-yes?”

Lexion’s sudden words startled Sabel.

Elena grinned.

Sabel’s scandalous affairs with women were a rumor within the duke’s circle.

Sabel would come all the way to the capital to meet women.

“It hasn’t been long since I returned to the Empire, but in the meantime, the woman beside you has already changed three times.”

“W-what…!”

As Lexion struck the wedge, Sabel’s face turned white.

In addition, the face of the lady, who was next to him, was also distorted.

She said hello to Lexion and passed by Sabel.

“All right, see you next time!”

Sabel hurriedly followed her.

As the two disappeared, Elena let out a laugh she had been holding back.

“Hahaha!”

As she laughed out loud, Lexion’s gaze returned to her.

Lexion looked at Elena, smiling and his gaze soft.

After a while, Elena recovered from her fullhearted laughter.

“Ah. I’m sorry, Lexion. Did I laugh too much?”

“No. It was a sight to see.”

The two walked again.

On the way to the lakeshore, the sunset colored the sky.

“I have always felt indebted to you.”

Elena raised her head and stared at Lexion.

He wasn’t looking at her, he was staring straight ahead.

The man’s profile was just as good as the front.

‘No. This is not the time to think like this.’

He was feeling indebted to her.

Why was Lexion…to her?

“Because you always stood up for me ever since I was young.”

In front of Lexion, who stared into the distance, the figure of Elena, who was more reliable than anyone during his childhood, was drawn.

Elena who stood in front of him and saved him whenever he was in danger.

Even though she was young herself, she was always there for him.

“… That was natural. Because I wanted to protect Lexion.”

Elena said softly as her cheeks were dyed red.

‘Because I couldn’t pretend to not know the pain of a child.’

But she didn’t know that Lexion would even have a sense of debt to her.

Amid their short conversation, the view of the lakeshore caught her eye.

The lakeside, dyed in vermilion in the setting sun, sparkled like jewels.

Elena looked at it with a small admiration.

And Lexion stared at her as she looked at the lake shore.

“I want to do that too.”

The conversation that seemed to be over continued.

Elena looked at Lexion with surprised eyes.

“Just as you wanted to protect me, I also want to protect you.”

“Lexion….”

“So from now on, I will stand before you.”

Thump, Thump.

Elena’s heartbeat was pounding from Lexion’s gentle words.

Then she heard something pop.

As she turned her head toward the source of the sound, fireworks were embroidered in the dark sky once the sun had set.

As she looked up at the sky, she felt Lexion’s persistent gaze on her.

****

It was an incredibly joyous day.

Lexion rented out the entire high-class restaurant for her and enjoyed a delicious meal.

And the lakeside – where the fireworks exploded magnificently – it turned out that Lexion had rented a charter.

It was so much fun that she thought today might be the most perfect birthday in her life.

And that became more of a problem.

‘I’m screwed….’

Elena, who trudged into the dormitory in the West Tower, immediately collapsed on her bed.

It felt like tears were about to flow.

‘How can I survive these three months?’

It was a problem because Lexion was so cool.

She – who had set those three months for them to date to Lexion – felt resentful in her heart.

‘I wonder if I can change it.’

But, looking at Lexion’s attitude today, it would be absolutely unreasonable.

Besides, the biggest problem…

Just looking at Lexion, her heart started racing again.

****

Two days later, in the morning.

Elena has been busy these past two days trying to get through the aftermath of her birthday.

Fortunately, Lexion was also busy, so there were no sudden visits to her laboratory.

She sighed in relief and took the minutes of the meeting.

Today was the Magic Tower’s regular meeting.

Knock—

As she was about to leave the laboratory, the door opened.

“Elena, are you ready?”

“Yes, teacher.”

Following Jeremy, Elena quickly moved forward.

The Magic Tower’s regular meeting was held every quarter, and the Archmage convened the Magic Tower’s executives to deliver key issues.

The executives of the Magic Tower consisted of the owner of each tower, the chief researchers, and the general team leaders of each field.

Since Elena was the Chief Researcher of the West Tower, she was entitled to attend the regular meeting of the Magic Tower.

On the way to the conference room with Jeremy.

She suddenly remembered the time she attended her first regular meeting.

‘At that time, I was a nervous wreck.’

After the meeting, she realized that there was nothing special and she was exhausted.

Recalling the days she missed, they arrived in front of the conference room.

Inside was a very large round table.

Elena and Jeremy greeted those close friends of theirs who arrived first at the meeting and sat down in their assigned seats.

After some time passed and the round table was full, the Archmage appeared.

She appeared in the middle of the empty table.

Elena stared blankly at Karen, who suddenly appeared in the air.

‘As expected of the Archmage!’

The Archmage was the only wizard who could use teleport without much effort.

Of course, there were a few others who could use teleportation in the tower except for Elena.

However, their teleportation range was short and unskilled.

But the Archmage was different.

Befitting the title of an Archmage, she was able to travel quite a distance and was said to be quite skilled.

‘It’s a story I’ve heard from Jeremy, but…’

While Elena was busy smiling and admiring Karen.

Karen made a light gesture.

A tall chair in the conference room flew from her motion.

Eventually, the chair fell to the floor for Karen to sit on.

The Archmage, as usual, sat down on the chair.

And gestured again.

At Karen’s gesture, Jacob, the owner of the East Tower, stood up.

Jacob was also close friends with Elena and Jeremy.

Now in his mid-40s, he was considered a middle-aged man.

‘I don’t like the beard, but…’

He was handsome like a mature man.

Elena looked at Jacob, her eyes twinkling.

“Report.”

Karen’s languid voice continued, and Jacob started reporting.

“Some time ago, a suspicious movement was detected on the Black Continent.”

Black Continent.

These two words caused the Executives to murmur.

Unlike the White Continent, the Black Continent was closed off and infested with demons.

And a suspicious movement was caught in such a place.

Elena tensed up as she held the quill.

“According to the investigator belonging to our East Tower, someone has started using demons.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the gossip grew louder and turned into buzzing.

They had no choice but to do so.

‘A monster is a creature without intelligence.’

They were monsters stronger than humans, but because they had no intelligence, humans could fight them.

But if someone was ordering them.

‘It means they have the knowledge to control those demons.’

It would cause the worst possible scenario.

This wasn’t just a problem for the Magic Tower.

All living creatures in the White Continent would be threatened.

Elena’s fiddled with her fingers anxiously.

At that moment, Karen, who was watching the situation, opened her mouth.

“Quiet.”

At her words, the conference room became silent as if cold water had been poured on it.

“Jacob, did your investigator properly see someone wielding a demon?”

“That, that…”

At Karen’s question, Jacob stuttered.

“When the investigator looked down from the sky, they said that a human was among the demons. And that the demon did not attack him, but rather followed the movement of his hand.”

“I see. It is a phenomenon that has never occurred before. A demon not attacking a human. It can be seen as beating a demon.”

At Karen’s words, the executives were relieved.

But her words did not end there.

“But there is no evidence that he is not using a demon.”

The wizards were engulfed in silence.

“So it is necessary to investigate the Black Continent in detail.”