CH 118

“Thanks to you, I arrived safely. Thank you very much.”

“If you’re thankful, I would appreciate it if you could treat me to a meal.”

Cartal’s mouth was tightly shut in a straight line. Even though he had a terrifyingly glaring look on his face, the Lord of the Wizard Tower didn’t seem to care about it at all. And in the end, Cartal had no choice but to order the head maid to prepare lunch for them, including his portion.

In 10 minutes.

Serdel sat in the dining room with the two of them in a very chaotic situation. She was thirsty for no reason, so she drank some water and then looked alternately between Cartal and the Lord of the Wizard Tower.

“How did you two come together?”

Ha! At Serdel’s question, Cartal burst out laughing.

“I thought the teleport scroll was a round-trip scroll, but it wasn’t!”

Serdel rolled her eyes for a moment. What does that mean?

‘It’s not a round trip?’

Come to think about it, the Lord of the Wizard Tower only mentioned a scroll that could be used to travel to the territory, not a round-trip scroll. 

Maybe, because Serdel was excited to receive the gift alone, she only thought she could comfortably go back and forth between territory and capital. But, at that moment, Serdel realized what kind of mistake she had made and bowed her head.

“I’m sorry, father. I should have asked the Lord of the Wizard Tower in detail—” 

“No. You have nothing to say sorry for.”

Cartal glared at the Lord of the Wizard Tower.

“Shouldn’t you have told her that when you first gave her the gift? For what purpose did you give my daughter a scroll? Thanks to you, I’ve become a rude person who complains more than expresses gratitude, even though you share good gifts!”

“That’s why Lord Serdel will call me. If possible, we’ll visit the Count territory together.”

Cartal’s hand, which was holding the glass of water, trembled in response to the Lord of the Wizard Tower’s carefree answer. Both his eyes were on fire.

“I almost came back in a carriage. That would have been a very long journey!”

“It wasn’t a long trip, so wasn’t that enough?”

The Lord of the Wizard Tower shrugged his shoulders. 

Then Cartal averted his gaze as if he couldn’t bear to look at him any longer. His normally serious face turned pale and red. Serdel, who felt it wasn’t just a round-trip scroll, asked indirectly.

“Did something happen?”

“Nothing happened.”

At that time, the maids came in with the trolley and put food in front of each of them.

“Let’s eat now—”

“I asked him to send the Lord to the Wizard Tower for a few days on condition that I take him to the Capital, but he refused.” 

Cartal frowned. 

“So I told him to take his time in the carriage, and he called me back. So I suggested it again, and it was rejected. I think I’ve been rejected 40 times in two hours.”

‘—Then did he accept for the 41st time?’

The Lord of the Wizard Tower is a strong talker. Because he refused for two hours, he must have been tortured, so Cartal’s anger was understandable.

“I will contact you separately soon.”

[I’m trying to figure out how the Countess crossed the dimension.]

Serdel’s eyes calmed down as she heard a secret whisper in her mind.

[Also, how she was able to hide her appearance so perfectly from another dimension. The Countess I’ve seen is pretty predictable, but she doesn’t have any special powers.]

“….”

[In the end, it is the power she gained while crossing the dimension. I think we’ll have to find out how this was possible to track down the people who made the Countess like that.]

“Yes, please contact me. Then, shall we start eating?”

Serdel smiled at the Lord of the Wizard Tower, then raised the glass. When they finished the meal, tea and dessert were served to each of them.

“Ah, Lord of the Wizard Tower, please give me a moment before you leave. The clothes and shoes I was supposed to give you arrived this morning.”

“Oh, I look forward to seeing Lord Serdel’s eyes.”

Ehem! Then, Cartal coughed. And he slightly raised the corner of his mouth.

“I’m going to the office now. Butler, I need a report to see if anything happened while I was gone, so please follow me.”

“Yes, Master.”

The butler, the head maid, Monem, and Serdel all looked at each other for a moment, and then Serdel made a sign with her eyes to Monem. Then, as if she understood, she quickly followed behind the butler.

“Shall we go too?” 

“Of course.” 

She headed to the office with the Lord of the Wizard Tower, and as soon as she sat down on the sofa, Serdel opened her mouth.

“After the tragedy of the day, my brother investigated the people who had made our mother that way for quite a long time. And yet, he hasn’t found any clues about it.”

“It’s definitely not because he didn’t have enough abilities that he couldn’t find it.”

“Yes. Do you know by any chance that the previous Lord of the Wizard Tower sealed my memory?”

The Lord of the Wizard Tower’s forehead hardened. 

“You mean my father? I didn’t know. Wizards don’t share what they have been asked to do. Even between parents and children. Please excuse me for a moment.”

Suddenly, he reached out his hand and gently stroked Serdel’s hair, which covered her neck. 

His face turned to the back of Serdel’s neck. At that moment, the energy that was emanating from the Lord of the Wizard Tower’s hand began to wrap around her neck as well as her head and then disappeared.

“I can feel my father’s energy, even though it’s very weak and it looks like it’ll be gone sooner or later. From what I didn’t notice before, it seems that the magic was applied with great care— or did the Lord forcibly break the energy my father planted? No way. Did it happen the day before?”

Even though she didn’t explain in detail, as usual, he quickly figured out about Serdel’s situation and understood what she was saying at once.

“Yes. So I got my memory back, and I was reminded of the warnings I had heard from my mother.”

“What kind of warning?”

“She told me to watch out of Imperial family, and—” 

Serdel hesitated for a moment, but then she looked right into his eyes, which were focused on her. The Lord of the Wizard Tower was the same as the arrangement made by her mother. He will help her, and she will know how to deal with it thanks to her foresight. Moreover, he will never betray her.

“This is something I discovered through my powers. My mother didn’t die on the spot and she was kidnapped. At that time, the corpse that was brought to the Count’s mansion wasn’t my mother’s body, but a body that had been prepared by the enemies.” 

The Lord of the Wizard Tower’s eyes sank deeply.

“My mother also said that she had been sacrificed. Because of the restrictions, she couldn’t tell me in detail.”

“The Imperial Family, the Sacrifice, the Restrictions.”

“Usually, assassins move in small groups and attack in secret, but I found out at the time that there were many of them. The range of attacks was wide and varied. I’m just starting to think they might not be assassins because they’re wearing black and hiding their face.” 

“I’ve heard it from my father before. There are shadows in the Imperial family that move for the Emperor and Empress.”

If it was a shadow, it meant that people other than the guard knights were also working secretly.

Does Addis know about their existence?

“That’s all right. Maro, Henry and Behman will be joining the Imperial Wizards soon, so let’s gather information from them.”

“No, I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

The three of them are close friends, but in the first place, they are Falden’s subordinates. Besides, regardless of how irrelevant this may seem, Falden was also a member of the Imperial family. So although she benefited much from having him as a business partner, she couldn’t help but be wary of him. 

“There’s something going on. Okay. Then let’s think about a different direction. Ah, you didn’t forget to escort me, did you?”

“I didn’t forget.”

Serdel held out the box she had left on the drawers.

“I chose it because I thought it would suit the Lord of the Wizard Tower very well. I hope you like it.”

The expression of the Lord of the Wizard Tower, who took out the clothes and shoes from the box, hardened.

“Since your hair is purple, the purple shirt and pants went well with it. Oh, would you like to see the shoes too?”

“….”

“I also chose purple shoes in particular.”

“…Have I ever been very disrespectful to the Lord? If so, please forgive me. Please, I beg you.”

When Serdel blinked and asked what he meant, the Lord of the Wizard Tower shut his mouth tightly.

“Do you not like it? I think it’ll suit you very well. You’ll look even better with your hair pulled back.”

The Lord of the Wizard Tower brought the catalog to one side and unfolded it. He looked around and pointed to a model with blonde hair wearing a yellow shirt and pants.

“What do you think?”

“Bright and pretty!”

This time, he pointed to a model with blue hair, a blue shirt, and yellow pants.

“What about this outfit?”

“Wow, the colors are so pretty. Should I have bought you yellow pants?”

The Lord of the Wizard Tower, who covered the catalog so that it made a clicking sound, washed his face dry. 

“I think I can see why the Count laughed at me when I said that I was expecting the eyes of the Lord.”

“…Did my father laugh at you? I didn’t see it… If you don’t like it…”

“It’s rude to give and take it away. Anyway, I’ll take it with gratitude.” 

He sighed as he put his clothes into the box one by one.

At the same time, Dell, who had come over through the terrace to get some sun in the garden, saw it and covered his snout with his front paw.

[Pft.]