CH 116

Even though it was the Perante she had been desperately searching for, now that she was facing him in this manner, Riett didn’t feel the least bit pleased.

There couldn’t be any pure reason for secretly visiting at this dawn.

Riett immediately grasped her dagger and charged at Perante.

Swish-!

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind obscured Riett’s vision. At that moment when Riett briefly closed her eyes, Perante approached and grabbed Riett’s wrist.

‘Before you know it…!’

Riett swiftly shook off Perante’s grip on her wrist and deftly swung her dagger.

Swish- The sound of the blade cutting through the air was chilling. However, Perante skillfully evaded the attack.

Riett focused fiercely and unleashed her attacks on Perante, seeking the moment of vulnerability.

When Perante bent his body to avoid the blade, his exposed shoulder became visible.

Riett didn’t miss that instant and thrust her dagger into his shoulder.

Thud-!

But the tip of the blade didn’t reach Perante’s shoulder.

Instead, Riett was blown back by a strong gust of wind and collided with the wall.

Thump-!

A loud noise reverberated through the room.

Feeling the pain radiating from her spine, Riett furrowed her brows.

‘Damn it.’

It seemed impossible without Mishan by her side.

With that thought in mind, Riett firmly grasped her dagger once again.

If she dropped the blade here, she might as well be signing her death warrant.

Riett let out a deep breath.

And just as she opened her eyes, preparing to attack Perante again, he approached, getting closer to her.

“Lower your weapon.”

His calm voice bordered more on command than persuasion. However, Riett couldn’t drop her weapon.

Without Mishan by her side now, if she let go of her blade, this fight would be over.

As Riett tried to stand up, Perante kneeled, locking eyes with her.

His blue eyes were cold.

Taking advantage of Perante’s momentary lapse in concentration, Riett swung her dagger. Swish- Blood oozed from the wound on Perante’s cheek.

Without missing a beat, as she attempted to strike with her dagger again, another strong gust of wind struck.

Thud.

A strange sound came from the floor. Without a chance to visually confirm it, a tree branch sprouted from beneath Riett’s feet, entangling her body.

And her wrist was tightly bound as well.

Due to the strong pressure squeezing her wrist, Riett’s grip gradually weakened.

Clang- Eventually, the dagger she was holding fell to the ground.

Perante casually wiped the blood flowing from his cheek and picked up the fallen dagger from the ground.

Then, holding the ends of the blade with both hands, he snapped it with a snap sound.

“…!”

Riett’s eyes widened as she watched.

“Since you won’t listen, I have no choice.”

Perante threw the broken dagger to the ground with a swift motion.

“You…!”

Riett glared at Perante and shouted.

Bound and unable to escape, she felt that this was the only way to release the boiling anger in her heart. It had been a companion like a friend to her for a long time.

‘Evan gave it to me…….’

A gift received as a reward for a tiring day of the dance party. Perhaps because of those memories, it felt even more painful.

Perante tilted his head, and his long emerald hair flowed down his shoulders.

“It’s quite peculiar. Having such an intense personality and yet having a following spirit.”

Pure curiosity gleamed in his speaking face. It didn’t seem mocking, but it didn’t put her in a good mood either.

“Shut up! Why do you think I got so intense?”

Riett’s red pupils flashed with anger. However, Perante merely murmured, ‘Hmm…’ and looked at her as if observing such a Riett.

Then, as if suddenly clenching his fist, Perante lightly waved his hand.

Riett knew what stance that was. It was the stance taken when using powerful spirit magic.

‘Damn it.’

It seemed it was finally coming to an end.

She had to resist somehow, but with the sturdy tree branch tightly binding her wrist, she couldn’t move an inch.

This sense of powerlessness was truly rare.

‘If Mishan was here, would it have been different?’

Riett lowered her head shortly after.

Even though Perante had never assumed the stance to amplify the power of the spirits he used.

Yet he had subdued her with such formidable spirit magic.

She had trained diligently for a month, but she was still insufficient to confront Perante, who possessed such power.

Riett bit her lip and stared at Perante. His fragile-looking face and ice-cold eyes seemed incompatible.

Just as Perante raised his hand to strike without expression,

Crash-!

With a loud noise, the door opened.

Both Riett and Perante turned their heads toward the door simultaneously.

“Evan…”

Startled, Riett unintentionally mumbled.

Beyond the shattered door stood Evan.

Evan’s gaze went beyond the broken dagger and landed on Riett, entangled in the sturdy tree branch.

Evan’s black eyes flickered dangerously.

Perante also seemed less composed this time. His brows slightly furrowed.

“You are Duke Kreutz, I presume. Why are you here now…?”

Instead of answering, Evan picked up Riett’s sword, which was placed next to the door.

He had been worried about what he could do with just a sword in front of a Spirit Mage. But for a moment, Evan swiftly closed the distance between him and Perante and swung the sword.

Perante quickly stood up and moved his body back to avoid it, but some of his long hair was cut off.

To be able to cut off the hair so neatly with a sword…?

As Riett thought that, she realized that there was a faint blue light emanating from the sword.

‘It’s a sword energy.’

She had heard that with skillful use of sword energy, even flimsy tree branches could be turned into sturdy swords.

Of course, if the sword energy was manifested too strongly, the wooden blade would not withstand and break easily.

Perhaps this sword would also break soon if a little more time passed in its current state.

However, for some reason, Evan swung the sword with the sword energy still infused in it mercilessly.

Gold streaks appeared on Perante’s delicate forehead.

As Perante applied force to his brows, another gust of wind swept over and engulfed Evan.

“Evan!”

Riett shouted anxiously as she looked at Evan, but he didn’t evade.

Instead, he closed his eyes, exhaled shortly, and swung the sword forcefully.

The gust of wind aimed at Evan clashed with the sword and dissipated instantly.

Perante murmured, 

“Oh no…”

Evan’s eyes widened, and he charged at Perante. The blue light emanating from the sword was even stronger than before.

Perante assumed the stance to amplify the power of the spirits and swung his hand.

Sharp branches burst through the ground and lined up in the air. They resembled arrows.

The arrows swiftly flew towards Evan, but he skillfully deflected multiple arrows.

Thud, the powerless arrows fell to the ground. Eventually, Evan’s sword pointed at Perante.

With a chilling gaze, Evan seemed prepared to pierce through Perante at any moment. Perante’s Adam’s apple trembled.

In the end, Perante raised both hands in surrender.

Seeing Perante give up the fight much more easily than expected, Riett found it surprising.

“The intervention of another person was an unexpected variable.”

While Perante stood with his hands raised meekly, Evan still had a determined expression as he aimed his sword at him.

“Why did you come here?”

“I came to have a talk.”

Evan’s eyebrows furrowed.

“A talk?”

“Yes, regarding the Spirit Stone.”

As Perante answered, he made a casual gesture, and the tree branches that had surrounded Riett dissipated into the ground like being absorbed. Riett gently touched her reddened wrist and stood up.

“You sneaked in on such an ambitious night just to talk about the Spirit Stone?”

Perante’s gaze returned to Riett.

“Because of the rumors that I am a spy for the Haren Empire, it wasn’t easy for me to move around during the day.”

“It’s not just a rumor; it’s a fact.”

No wonder he had such audacity. Riett clenched her teeth tightly.

“Well, yes… It was indeed a fact.”

“Why did you do it?”

Evan asked, aiming the sword directly at Perante’s throat. The bluish light on the blunt end of the sword flickered ominously.

Yet, Perante looked at Riett with a faint smile.

“Because I knew you would become a Spirit Mage.”

Riett understood what Perante was saying.

“That day. The day we first met.”

As she imitated Perante clumsily that day and failed miserably, Perante’s expression hardened for a moment.

“Duchess Marren, have you experienced such incidents before?”

“Never.”

“Well… I suppose it was probably just a mole passing by.”

At that time, she didn’t know that it was because of the power of the spirits, and she simply accepted Perante’s words.

But Perante knew.

He knew that the power she unconsciously used originated from the spirits.

“Yes, I found out at that time.”

Riett swallowed nervously.

“Then… why did you leak the location of the Spirit Stone to the Haren Empire? What did they propose?”

Perante fell silent for a moment. But Evan couldn’t tolerate such silence. He opened his mouth again under the threatening presence of his sword.

“It was to make you look like a spy. It’s better to stomp on the sprout before it grows.”

There was no benefit in having a competitor. Perante added with a sneer.

So… he knew early on that Riett had the potential to become a Spirit Mage and wanted to eliminate the competition before they matured.

And he resorted to the despicable method of labeling her a spy.

Now, with a clear understanding of the cause and process of being branded a spy, a vein popped on Riett’s forehead.

“Evan, give me that sword for a moment.”

She felt that venting her anger a few times at Perante directly might ease her frustration.

But despite the glowing energy on the sword touching his neck, Perante seemed oddly composed. Though he winced slightly whenever Evan pushed the sword closer.

While maintaining a submissive posture, Riett didn’t like Perante’s strangely calm attitude.

“I know we’re not meant to sit and talk in peace.”

“You know that, and yet you come all the way here to attack me?”

Riett’s irritated breath escaped. Perante lowered his raised hands.

“I had no intention of attacking. Duchess Marren was the one who swung the dagger first.”

“That… Of course, someone would react when they wake up to a stranger!”

Moreover, that stranger was Perante. Riett remembered what Perante had tried to do, tying her up with the tree branches.

“You had no intention of attacking? Then what was that stance you took after tying me up?”

“That was to reinforce the protective barrier, which I initially created as a noise-canceling measure because it seemed to make quite a bit of noise.”

Come to think of it, even though there was a considerable commotion in the room, none of the household staff appeared.

“Although the noise seemed to reach the adjacent room due to being a step too late.”

Perante glanced at Evan briefly as he spoke. Yes, what had happened was probably for the best.

Riett needed to understand the reason why Perante had personally come here.

“So, what do you have to say about the Spirit Stone that you caused all this chaos?”

Although she had been desperately searching for Perante for the sake of the Spirit Stone, now that he appeared first, she became more cautious than relieved.

Riett observed Perante sensitively, waiting for his response. Perante slowly parted his lips.

“Perhaps, Duchess Marren also had the same thought as me.”

Riett stared at Perante with an expression of disbelief.

“That we need to form a strategic alliance for a while to find the Spirit Stone.”