CH 81

"When I am here, I think of my mother who whispered to me to have good dreams, not the mother who cursed me in my dream."

"......"

"So I was forgetting my mother in my dream here."

Sarah's eyes slowly blinked while listening to Ethan's story. Then the tears that had been on the verge of falling fell down her cheeks.

"Why, why are you crying?"

It was Ethan who panicked when Sarah cried. He raised his upper body against the wall and wiped away tears flowing through Sarah's cheeks with his fingers.

"Because Duke-nim, you don't cry when your face looks like you’re going to cry……, that's why I'm crying instead."

"Do I?"

Ethan narrowed his forehead and fumbled over his face. Then he realized that the corners of his eyes were moist.

"Ah."

"What do you mean 'Ah'...... Cry if you want to cry!"

Had he forgotten how to cry? The reddened corners of his eyes were shining sadly in the light of the spheres that Sarah had cast with her mana. Sarah could feel her heart quivering strangely as she looked at his face.

"Why are you making such a face? It makes people feel weird......"

"What’s weird?"

"I want to give you a hug. Do you want to hug me?"

Sarah made a face that looked like she was about to cry and opened her arms to Ethan. Ethan opened his eyes wide for a moment, then smiled and leaned his head against Sarah's arms.

"......!"

Sarah, who did not know that Ethan would really hug her, stiffened in the same posture with her arms outstretched. He put his head on Sarah's shoulder and whispered, smiling softly.

"Didn't you say you'd give me a hug? Then you have to put more strength in it."

Sarah hugged Ethan in an unnatural posture and patted him on the back with a nice low voice that fell on his ear. Then his body relaxed gently, adding a moderate weight to her shoulders.

"......"

Not long after that, she began to hear Ethan's even breathing sound. He fell asleep. Sarah could magically lift him up and take him to the bedroom, but she didn't.

'What do I do?'

Her heart was beating like crazy.

* * *

"Haam."

Early in the morning, Sarah rubbed her eyes with a tired face and went down to the secret room of Ambrosia mansion along with Veron.

"Are you tired?"

"Ah no, I’m fine. I just couldn't sleep a bit yesterday."

"I'll tell Ronda to put on a medicine that's good for fatigue recovery."

"Thank you."

The corners of Veron's eyes, who watched Sarah slowly blinking and walking, were dyed with concern. Sarah recovered her health quickly after she collapsed in the Imperial Palace, but the people of Duke Ambrosia’s family still vividly remembered her, who came into Ethan's arms without any power. Even Sarah was well aware of the worries of the people of Duke’s family.

"I’m really okay, so don't worry. I'll go alone from here."

"Can't the knights be around?"

"Of course. They're my disciples. They can't hurt me, and even if they do, I'll win."

"......Yes."

Veron seemed a little uneasy at Sarah's confident reply, but then nodded and backed away. Sarah murmured with a smiling face as she looked back at Veron.

"......It's been a long time since I've been treated like this."

The only people who treat her, a great magician, like a flower in a greenhouse were the people of Duke Ambrosia’s family, except for her disciples. The Emperor also saw her vomit blood and collapse, but didn't he negotiate casually? Unlike the people of Ambrosia, who trembled as if Sarah was going to die right away, he had that unquestionable attitude because he believed she would be fine. That was normal.

"It's not bad though."

Although their protection was excessive, it was not bad. With a small smile, Sarah opened the door to the secret room where her disciples were sleeping.

"Hi, my lovely disciples."

Sarah looked at the sleeping disciples lying on the bed with peaceful expressions on their faces. Benjamin, Oliven, Belluna. In her eyes, they were precious people who formed a relationship due to their own circumstances. Such disciples began to obsess over her at some point, and she knew this day would come when she realized it.

'There are no disciples who stay with their master for the rest of their life. Someday, you will have to learn to do things on your own.'

As if he had separation anxiety, Oliven had a seizure when she couldn’t be seen. Benjamin somehow followed her wherever she went. And even Belluna, who quietly cooperated without stopping them until they held Sarah. All three of them were the same.

"I taught you wrong."

Sarah, reminded of the accident in which all the big things had struck, once again buried her face in her palm, distraught.

"Fuu."

She took a deep breath in for a moment and then exhaled. Now it was time to wake them up and scold them. The azure mana that slowly flowed from Sarah's fingertips slowly began to wrap around the disciples' bodies. She waited for a while for the mana to seep into every one of them, then snapped her fingers.

"Heok!"

It was Oliven who got up first, breathing heavily. And after that, Benjamin and Belluna finally opened their eyes.

"Are you up?"

Belluna and Oliven's faces hardened with tension as the stranger looked down at them with arms crossed. Benjamin, the only one who had seen her face, raised his blank gaze and looked at Sarah. Then he reached out to Sarah with a very slow and careful hand. His unreachable hand wandered for a moment, then gently grabbed the hem of her sleeve.

"......Master."

As Benjamin spoke in a trembling voice, Oliven and Belluna's eyes widened.

"Master?"

Oliven looked at Benjamin and Sarah in disbelief. That small, fragile-looking woman was his master. Oliven stiffened as if shocked by the fact that he found her unfamiliar. It was the same with Belluna. She had thought that she could inevitably recognize her master, but she couldn't believe the current situation where she couldn't recognize her even if she was in front of her.

"Ha."

Sarah exhaled a short breath, looked at the hesitating disciples, and once again awakened her mana. When the azure mana rose from her, Belluna and Oliven realized that Sarah was their master. Because that was their master's mana. With a snap of Sarah’s fingers, she was dressed in a long robe and a cloth covering her face, just like she had been in the magic tower.

"......Master is here."

Oliven muttered in a voice as if possessed by something. Sarah took out the long staff she always carried when she was in the magic tower, and it was the staff that hit Oliven's head, who was sleeping when she was teaching magic, countless times.

"Masteeeer!!"

When he finally saw the master he knew, Oliven rushed to her with tears. Sarah turned around and lightly dodged Oliven, and he fell with his nose shoved into the floor.

"Hic......, it’s really Master."

Oliven sat down on the floor like that and covered his mouth with both hands, feeling moved. Belluna asked Sarah in an urgent voice as if it was none of her business whether Oliven fell or not.

"Did your, did your body recover?"

She heard that their master blocked the magic stone that Oliven had combined when it was broken. Upon hearing the news, Belluna obediently let herself be caught by knights who came from Ambrosia. Only then could she examine their master's condition. But seeing Oliven and Benjamin on the run, she negotiated with the Duke of Ambrosia, who would banish them without hesitation. She said that she, including those two, would imprison themselves in the 'Swamp of Eternal Sleep' and wait for their master's disposition. Ethan Ambrosia agreed to the negotiation, and so they fell into a deep sleep without properly examining their master's condition.

"......"

Sarah sighed only when she saw her disciples treating her like before. Their master was the Great Elder of the magic tower who covered her face and hid her voice. Not Sarah Millen. So these kids shouldn't be here. Sarah used her mana to create letters in the air. It was the way she had communicated while in the magic tower.

―My beloved disciples.

"Yes, Master."

"Masteeeer!"

"......"

The familiar appearance made them think that they had finally found their master, and the disciples' faces were bright. But their faces died in the next words.

―You all go out.