Chapter 21

Thank you raw provider ????haebaragi_syk❄

‘Fuck.’

Jeremy fell from the window and crashed into the balcony floor. He grunted and hurried to examine his wounds. He would have only been surprised if it had been a child throwing the stone, but it was clear that the one who had just hit him was not ordinary.

‘My wing is broken.’

Even by just slightly moving his shoulder blade, he felt a pang of pain. He tried to fly with the broken wing but failed.

‘If you see something like this… … .’

He wasn’t expecting a fairy tale twist in which a young attendant or a kind-hearted maid noticed him and received treatment.

Although not aristocrats, poor commoners often caught birds and boiled them in soup. It was also common for children who wanted to eat meat to deliberately make slingshots to hunt birds.

Jeremy was horrified at the thought of being a soup on the Duke’s servants’ table. He would rather his neck be twisted by a servant’s hand and then revert to his human form in death.

‘At least I wouldn’t be soup.’

The teacher might also grow angry at such absurd news. Then he imagined that anger would be poured out on the Duke of Tintalion, so he thought it might be worth it, satisfied.

If he died, the Duke of Tintalion would not be safe. No, maybe Aslei would find his dead body first, notice the curse’s source, and begin to distrust the tower.

Flap. Jeremy, who was painting an ominous future, raised his head at the welcome sound. It was the eagles that the Master had attached as overseers.

‘Ahh!’

An eagle that dived in snatched him up and soared into the night sky. Jeremy, who thought that he was about to die, was relieved.

The eagle’s claws gripping his body were painful, but it could have been worse. The eagle flew towards its destination.

The Magic Tower. He had a lot to say to his teacher.

❁ ❁ ❁

It was clear that his condition was transmitted through an eagle. The Master of the Tower temporarily released the spell he had cast on him, perhaps in order to make the treatment easier.

Sitting in a chair, Jeremy glared at the Master of the Tower with a defiant look.

“… … I watched the two of them as Master wished.”

“But?”

The wizard asked curtly while preparing the potion. Jeremy felt his hostility grow. It was clear that he, too, had checked their state with the eagle’s eyes.

“It didn’t matter! The Duke was clearly enjoying the situation! But yet does it mean that I should be punished?”

“It seems that Duke Tintalion is a better person than I thought. He is a man of great patience and talented in many ways.”

Jeremy clenched his teeth at the sound of admiration from his teacher. He almost wanted to shout, ‘What’s so great about being patient when you’re a man who has everything?’

He could have endured even more if he had the same circumstances as Aslei.

“Isn’t it enough now—Ack!”

His teacher aligned his bones and back into the socket without warning. He almost bit his tongue. The Head of the Tower sprayed a potion on Jeremy’s wound and made him drink the rest.

“I have said it before. Even if the outcome is favorable, it doesn’t mean that your sins will go away.”

“I don’t know why Master is siding with that bastard so much.”

He thought that his Master hated his nobility as well. Not as much as him, but he also disliked most nobles.

“It’s not crude to take sides with the innocent.”

Jeremy wanted to say Aslei was not innocent. It was a sin for him to have so much, and moreover, it was a sin to be loved by the woman he loved.

“Yes. I see that you will not reflect on yourself by watching them.”

He felt the broken bones reconnect and the pain vanish. But, of course, it was a potion made by The Master of the Tower himself, so it was natural.

The Archmage looked at Jeremy with a disturbed expression. He was a disciple whom he cherished, and he had intended for him to inherit his position as Master of the Magic Tower.

It was a waste of his potential to dismiss him away based on some character flaws alone. But he couldn’t leave Jeremy with such dangerous thoughts.

“… … No harm done, isn’t that right? Rather, he seemed to have strengthened his relationship with his wife. I don’t know why Master is doing this to me.”

“If the Duke got along well with his wife, it must have been because of his hard work. You seem to want to say that your curse was the trigger, but the trigger can be anything.”

Even if such an opportunity did not exist, Aslei would have created a chance on his own.

Such was the character of the Duke he had met to alleviate his spell. He was an intelligent, upright young man that made him want to tell his students to learn from and emulate.

“If you don’t repent, I will. You leave me no choice. The only option left is to inform the Duke that you cursed him, and to ask for their punishment.”