Chapter 14

I need someone to stop my order brothers

It was a remark that only those who were full of  themselves could make. The confidence to ignore was over the top.

“But if you don’t wanna look stupid, there’s another way.”

If it’s an easier way, I would choose it. It’s a good law to have a lot of choices.

“What’s the other way?”

The Grand Duke stared at me and asked…

“Do you like Lucas?”

“Lucas?”

I nodded my head, unaware of the intent of the sudden question.

“Of course I like him. He’s kind and a friendly brother. It would be every girl’s dream to have an older brother like him.”

It’s a disadvantage that I’m too friendly with Ashinov just to get to know them, but it wasn’t like a big disadvantage either,but unfortunately I guess it wasn’t the answer that the Grand Duke was looking for.

“No, I mean, having Lucas as your partner?”1

“·······?”

That’s when I realized the real meaning of the Grand Duke’s question.

“You want me to marry Lucas and leave him in charge of being the Duke? Why did you think I’d consider that way?”

“Lucas is the perfect option. I don’t think that it would be bad either, as long as you want it.”

The Grand Duke is right, Lucas is definitely the perfect option. He was the first to get adopted by the Ashinov Family, and he’s very smart, handsome and even friendly.

“But he’s my brother.”

“But you’re not blood related.”

“He’s still my brother in the Family register.”

“I see”

The Grand Duke barely nodded to convince me.

Of course, I thought it would end there, but he suddenly suggested something again.

“Dana, so if Theon or Cisse·········”

“Ugh, Grandpa!”

I urgently shouted to interrupt the Grand Duke.

“I’ll become the heir!”

My unexpected shout surprised him.

“If I don’t succeed, Lucas will need to have a political marriage that he doesn’t want. Being the heir? I’ll just do it. What’s the big deal about it?”

To save Lucas from his political marriage, I need to bring him to my side, and at the same time, gain authority to handle the family affairs. This was enough reason to become the heir of the damned Ashinov Family.

I felt so proud of myself that I raised my chin high and mighty. He smiled nostalgically at me, when he saw me doing that.

“You’re different from Linte, but you look like him in a way.”

“Well, It would be the same as your father would say it”

“What’s the big deal?”

When I asked, the Grand Duke nodded with a smile.

“Although the conclusion would be completely different.”

My father left the house thinking it wasn’t a big deal. And Me, his daughter, who said she would be the heir.

“You think of the same thing and come to such a different conclusion.”

“Anyway, if that’s your decision, I’ll send Lucas as your deputy during the test. He’ll also like the idea.”

Lucas is a genius lieutenant. It was good to hear that he would be the deputy for my test.

Back in the room, after the conversation with the grandpa, I immediately took out the key. As soon as Marina and Hedin saw the key, their eyes were wide open with surprise.

“Did the Archduke give you this?”

“Yes, it’s the storage key.”

“Yes. The key is the big warehouse’s ·····.”

Hedin smiled awkwardly, while clouding the end of his sentence. I guess the warehouse I can open with this key is a much greater place than I thought.

“Heart of winter.”

I took the key and shouted the spell my grandfather had told me. Then, as he said, an elegant door made of white marble appeared in front of me.

“Would you like to take a look?”

I asked Marina and Hedin, but they shook their heads.

“We can’t go inside. The only one the heart of winter allows is the blood of Ashinov.”

“I see.”

I looked down at the key once again and opened the white door. As I entered, the door closed alone with a loud noise. The interior was spacious.

There was a spacious room at the end of a long hallway with portraits of those who appeared to be the ancestors of the Ashinov Family.

“Wow·····”

The room was filled with all kinds of treasures. All kinds of jewelry, art, weapons, and gold coins filled the floor and looked as insignificant as a carpet on the floor.

I watched the treasures frantically with my mouth wide open. Armor made of dragon scales.Tiara with blue diamonds with the size of a child’s fist. Beautiful swords, obviously crafted by a Dwarf.

Everywhere I turned my eyes to look, there were only precious things.

“Huh?”

I caught something familiar in my eyes as I looked around so frantically.

“Isn’t that my bag?”

I died at the hands of the wizard Pamel. The bag I had with me at the time!

I quickly picked up the bag. It was even more obvious up close.

Pamel must have collected it as a trophy after killing me, mistaken as the devil. It was a bag made of Wyvern leather caught in the mist mountain range, so it was hard to keep up with, but I didn’t know it would be fine even after 500 years.

In this bag, there was a powerful… spell. I couldn’t open the hard lock unless I said the pre-imprinted spell.

“The spell is ·····.”

“Killadrien.”

It was the name of it’s master. As soon as the name came out of my mouth, the lock snapped open. There were things inside that I had when I died.

There was even a preservation spell in the bag, so even after 500 years, my stuff was intact. Master’s possessions, necklaces and miscellaneous items.

“Penalty!”

There was medicine left in the bag that the master made for me, so I counted the number of pills in a small bottle. There were 10 pills inside the bottle.

“It’s not as strong as it used to be, but it’s strong enough to be effective right?”

I was excited to find it like this, so I lay down on the floor after putting the medicine in my mouth.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the energy that filled my body. Master said there was a way for mana to flow through his body.

If you find it properly and move it, you can quickly build up a lot of power. But it took much more time because ordinary people didn’t know how to do it and moved their power inefficiently.

I moved my power carefully, reflecting on the master’s teachings. I had to move carefully because if I made any mistakes, I could ruin my body.

“Of course, in my previous life, I have done it a hundred times, so there’s no mistake.”

The fragile child’s body was all over the place. Only by opening this path where the energy flows, could a huge mana core be built. I widened the blocked road little by little. The wider the road, the more flexible the power became.

Cold sweat ran all over my body due to the prolonged work. I opened my eyes only after everything was covered with the scent of flowers. The sweat on my whole body dried up.

As I raised my body slowly, my arms moved lightly, I felt much lighter than before. This was the effect of power training. I picked a sword rolling around and started doing the sword technique that the master had taught me.

“Well, it’s not as good as it used to be.”

It wasn’t the elegant moves I’d remembered before, but it was still worth a break. The same was with my magic.

Destructive magic, as it used to be, was still difficult, but as you trained little by little, you could get stronger at magic.

“How long has it been? “

It was hard to know the time because there was no window in the warehouse. I grabbed my Master’s belongings. I closed the bag again and went outside. I suddenly remembered something and stopped walking.

“Ah! Before I leave, ······.”

I tried to put a halt on my power from leaking. I thought it would be better to hide it because it would be annoying if they found out that I have abilities.

“This is the way the master taught me!”

After that, I took some treasures and held them in my hands. It was really time to go outside. As soon as I opened the door wide with pride, I felt refreshed with the blowing wind.

······

“Danae!”

“Little!”

“Hey!”

The three people waiting for me talked all together.

“Oh, how are you all?”

I greeted them bewildered. The greeting drew a deep sigh from the three men with a look of despondent.

“What the hell were you doing inside?”

“What?”

“You haven’t been out for three days!”

Baratheon shouted as he was the most impatient one, while holding me by the shoulders and turning me around. I was most surprised by that remark.

“Three days? I haven’t been out for three days?”

Yes! You were. It was a relief to know you were in there, otherwise I would have searched the whole empire for you.”