After finishing all his affairs of state at the imperial palace, Asrahan remained deep in thought the entire way back to the Duke of Candel’s residence.
Seeing his grave expression, the coachman assumed he must have discussed some serious matter with the emperor.
In truth, however, Asrahan’s concern was exceedingly simple.
‘Would it be better to go check on her condition? But the mage said she would see me tomorrow…’
It sat ill with him to have someone sick in his house. And yet, Lariette’s words weighed on his mind, making him hesitate to stop by her room.
It would hardly be proper to go out of his way to visit her. Besides, she might misunderstand something pointless again.
All of those reasons pointed to the conclusion that he should not go. The strange thing was that, despite the situation being so clear, he continued to waver.
Unable to understand himself in the slightest, Asrahan furrowed his brow and scowled. The innocent coachman pitifully trembled beneath the fearsome aura.
In the end, he failed to reach a conclusion before arriving at the duke’s residence. It was the first time the road home, which he usually considered long, had felt so short.
But in conclusion, his worries had been meaningless.
Because the moment Asrahan opened the front door and stepped inside, something small and pink suddenly popped out.
“Asrahan! You’re back?”
Perhaps because she had rushed down the stairs, Lariette’s wavy hair was tousled every which way.
The violet eyes that had lost their vitality because of her illness were sparkling once more, sending him a warm gaze.
Asrahan stood blankly the moment he crossed the threshold, looking down at her, finding it unbearably awkward that someone other than Halstein had come out to greet him.
“Your cold.”
“I’m almost all better! Thanks to the priest you sent. He said if he comes once more in two days to treat me, I’ll be completely cured.”
Feel for yourself! Lariette took his hand and drew it to her forehead. Her smooth forehead was perfectly fine, as though it had never been feverish at all.
‘She’s already recovered this much?’
No matter how much divine power had been poured into her, it should have been difficult for such a severe cold to vanish in half a day. Either the illness had not been as serious as he had thought, or the priest possessed rather strong divine power. It had to be one of the two.
However, it was not a particularly important matter, so Asrahan soon changed the subject.
“You need only fulfill your duties as a mage. There is no need to come out and greet me like this.”
“But I wanted to see you. Did you not think of me today, Asrahan?”
“…No. Not at all.”
Asrahan abruptly turned and walked past her.
He could hardly go around announcing that he had thought of her all day. It was certain to be misunderstood.
“Huh, that reaction is suspicious. You did think of me, didn’t you?”
“I said I did not.”
“I think you did—”
Lariette trotted after him as he strode away, speaking with a sly grin.
Because of the vast difference in their strides, she had to move her feet without pause, and when she began panting softly, Asrahan subtly slowed his pace.
“Asrahan, are you going out to work tomorrow too?”
Lariette grabbed the end of his coat, as if telling him to stop going. It was such a small force he could barely feel it, but Asrahan stopped walking.
Even then, she found herself thinking that because it was formal attire meant for visiting the imperial palace, his clothes were more splendid than usual and suited him extremely well. Of course, there was no outfit that would not suit such a handsome face.
“I was planning to handle documents at the estate tomorrow. Is this about the purification?”
“No, I don’t think the purification will work until three days have passed. Not that. A date, a date!”
“Did we not go out yesterday as well?”
And your body does not seem fully recovered yet, Mage. Asrahan added with an indifferent face.
“It ended too quickly! Besides, do you even know what day tomorrow is?”
“…What day?”
After confirming the look on his face as he raised one eyebrow in puzzlement, Lariette put on a sulky expression, as if asking how he could possibly be like that.
Asrahan counted the date in bewilderment, but nothing in particular came to mind. It was only natural, since there was no such day he was supposed to commemorate in the first place.
After letting out a short sigh, Lariette pulled something out of her bosom as though she had been waiting for this moment.
“Ta-da!”
She brought what was in her hand right up before his eyes in an excited voice. Asrahan narrowed his eyes and looked at it, then soon spoke in a puzzled tone.
“What is this scrap of paper?”
“A scrap of paper?! Do you have any idea how hard this was to get? How can you call it a mere scrap of paper?!”
“What is this paper?”
Seeing her hopping up and down in disbelief, he quickly corrected his wording. Only then did Lariette lower her voice and begin explaining.
“What else would it be? Performance tickets! Tomorrow is the last day, it’s a famous show with only renowned actors, and these are premium box seats!”
“A performance… you say?”
“Yes! Let’s go watch it together tomorrow.”
They say the finale song is incredibly romantic and beautiful. Lariette added with a grin.
However, Asrahan firmly rejected her proposal.
“No.”
Having never even imagined she would be refused, Lariette looked as though she had been struck on the back of the head.
Asrahan, on the contrary, was flustered by her surprise.
In this state, with this body, where exactly was he supposed to go? Wherever he went, people would flee from him, and hateful gazes would follow without fail.
There was no way he would voluntarily seek out a place crowded with people under such circumstances. It seemed that to her, possessing the power of purification, his filthy aura appeared far too harmless.
Asrahan had not said it aloud until now because it wounded his pride to speak of it himself, but feeling the need to tell her, he slowly parted his lips.
“Mage. Are you truly not afraid of me?”
“What is this all of a sudden…”
“…The rumor that I am a War Demon was not earned for nothing.”
In an instant, pitch-black energy began to rise from his body.
When those blue eyes, utterly devoid of emotion, turned toward her, Lariette stiffened without realizing it, as though ice water had been poured over her.
It felt as if an enormous beast stood before her. The anxiety that if she moved even slightly, her limbs might be severed at once began to consume her.
“With one gesture of my hand, dozens, hundreds of lives were lost. I have lived too close to death, so it is no strange thing that others smell the scent of death from me.”
“…”
“You will inevitably feel it.”
The feeling that I could kill you at any moment. Asrahan whispered coldly into her ear.
Lariette faced him, without even the strength to swallow her dry saliva. His words were not wrong. When she first saw him, and even now, she did feel a subtle fear of him.
And yet, it irritated her too much to simply agree with him.
Smack—!
Her small hand moved without hesitation.
Although it was an action he could have easily stopped, Asrahan did nothing. He was too stunned.
“Just now…?”
“I hit you on the back. Is there a problem?”
Of course there was a problem. Who on earth would dare strike the back of the Duke of Candel with their palm?
Asrahan looked at her with clear disbelief on his face.
From afar came a loud thud. It was the sound of Halstein, who had been hiding and secretly watching them, falling over.
“I have just dared to attack the Duke of Candel. What are you going to do about it?”
“What…”
“Besides, I’ve been stealing glances at Your Grace’s face all the time. I grabbed your hand without permission too, and I called you by your name.”
Lariette abruptly confessed her sins.
Asrahan could not grasp the context at all and merely stood there in silence.
“So are you going to kill me?”
She took one step closer to him and continued.
“And the people who feel fear toward you, Asrahan—are you going to kill all of them too?”
“…If I did, I suppose I would have killed half the world.”
Asrahan muttered without withdrawing his aura. Unless they fearlessly mocked or insulted him, he could hardly attack civilians.
“Then why are you shutting yourself away, Asrahan? What did you do wrong?”
Lariette vented her frustration at him with an exasperated expression.
“The answer I want isn’t whether you can or can’t. It’s whether you want to go see the performance or not. Don’t mind what other people think. Think about what you want to do, Asrahan.”
“I…”
“Think about it and tell me by tomorrow morning! For your information, if you say you don’t want to, I’ll just go watch it with some other man.”
I’ll have you know I’m not that unpopular! She declared with a snort, then immediately turned and left.
She had pretended to be confident, but in truth, she was running away because she was worried about how to clean up after herself.
Asrahan remained frozen in place, watching her retreating figure.
And as if he had been waiting for that very moment, Halstein approached him and spoke.
“She truly is a bold person. …Master, you are not angry, are you?”
“…I am not angry.”
He was merely flustered; no rage toward her had risen within him. Perhaps because he was too dumbfounded.
“Phew, I see. Your expression was so awful that I must have misunderstood.”
Halstein stroked his chest in relief.
Expression? At his words, Asrahan finally became aware of his own face. Before he knew it, a deep crease had formed between his brows.
‘I’ll just go watch it with some other man.’
It was nothing, and yet strangely, that voice kept circling around his ears.
The next morning, Lariette descended the stairs of the Duke of Candel’s residence one step at a time, her heart trembling.
Yesterday, she had grown emotional without realizing it and shouted with great confidence, but when she actually faced reality, she was scared.
If he was not there, if he said he would not go, who was she supposed to go with? She had said she would watch it with some other man, but there was no way any man existed who would go see a performance with her.
Fortunately, however, as she cautiously stepped down, she soon spotted a black crown of hair below the stairs.
“…You are late, Mage.”
Unlike usual, when he swept half his bangs back, Asrahan had completely covered his forehead.
Perhaps because he did not want to stand out, he wore a black turtleneck and a thin coat that looked like everyday clothes, but because of his dazzling appearance, that wish was impossible.
“You came out too early, Asrahan. It’s a good thing I didn’t have many things to dress myself up with.”
Despite her chiding tone, Lariette smiled brightly and ran toward him. However, in her haste to descend, her feet tangled, and she was in danger of falling.
“Ahh!”
Of course, as a mage, she had enough power to land without hurting herself. However, Lariette wickedly chose not to use magic and instead waited for Asrahan’s response.
And just as she had expected, Asrahan moved slightly and caught her body.
Burying her face in his firm embrace, Lariette carefully lifted her head and looked at his handsome face. Then she smiled brightly and thanked him.
“Hehe, thank you.”
“Do not try to take my hand under the pretense of this.”
“You can just pretend you can’t help it and hold it.”
Tch. Lariette, who had been planning to slyly hold his hand as they left, clicked her tongue briefly. She had been pulling hard, but it seemed he still had not been dragged very far.
‘But the fact that he came out at all is something!’
This meant she had pulled him at least a handspan closer. Lariette consoled herself with that thought.
***
Unexpectedly, Asrahan did not attract much attention until the performance ended.
It was because the moment they got out of the carriage, they went straight into the theater, and the premium box seats Lariette had reserved turned out to be a far more private space than expected.
Lariette had gone out of her way to reserve dark seats that were not very visible to others, harboring wicked thoughts, only to be disappointed when he did not make even the slightest bit of contact.
But that lasted only a moment. Once the performance began, she became so absorbed that she even forgot Asrahan existed.
As rumored, the performance was fantastic.
The story was thrilling, and the songs were terribly beautiful. On top of that, the male lead was extremely handsome. His looks could not compare to Asrahan’s or Doha’s, but compared to ordinary people, he was vastly good-looking.
As a rule, she believed that when it came to handsome men, the more the better, so she watched the performance without ceasing to admire it.
And when the curtain fell and the theater lights came on brightly, Lariette quickly turned her head to look at Asrahan. She intended to share her impressions of the performance.
“That was really fun, wasn’t it?”
“It was not bad.”
Though he had watched with considerable focus, his reaction was anything but honest. Lariette paid it no mind and continued making a fuss, practically bouncing in place.
“The songs were amazing too! They were so heartrending that I almost cried. And did you see the male lead’s face? He was really handsome!”
Asrahan, who had been quietly listening to the chatter he had grown rather accustomed to, unconsciously glanced sideways at her at the last sentence. But Lariette, unaware of anything, continued speaking excitedly.
“He appeared so coolly and saved the female lead—it was seriously amazing! And with his blond hair, he looked so much like a prince.”
“……Is blond hair your preference?”
“No, handsome faces are my preference.”
Hair color wasn’t important. Only the face mattered. Lariette answered firmly.
Had he been that handsome? Asrahan furrowed his brows and tried to recall, but nothing came to mind.
A subtle displeasure grated on his nerves. Without understanding why he was displeased, he spoke bluntly.
“If you’ve finished watching, let’s go.”
“Already? Asrahan, weren’t there any scenes that stood out to you?”
“……Not particularly.”
Asrahan turned his head away from her, moved his lips slightly, then answered slowly.
Because he could not say that the first thing that came to mind was her face as she watched the performance, looking as though she might cry at any moment.
Lariette grumbled that his reaction was boring and rose to her feet.
“Then I’ll go to the restroom first. Asrahan, will you wait here for a bit? I’ll be right back.”
“Do so.”
“I really will be right back, so don’t you dare leave first!”
Surely he wouldn’t abandon his date and leave, but she still suspected that if it were him, he just might.
Asrahan leaned back against the plush sofa and answered by quietly closing his eyes.
Lariette, who hurried to the restroom, quickly took care of her business. She was embarrassed that he might misunderstand and think she was doing something major.
After washing her hands, she wiped away the remaining moisture with a handkerchief and walked down the corridor leading back to the performance hall. By then, quite a few of the audience members had already left.
She was worried that he might still be sitting in the audience and get chased out, but since the seats were several times more expensive than the general seats, she believed no such unfortunate thing would happen.
Lariette imagined how the cold Asrahan would react if such a situation did occur, and without realizing it, she let out a small chuckle.
And at that moment, a voice she did not want to hear called her name.
“Lari?”
Lariette turned toward the direction of the voice and soon frowned. It was a face she had not wanted to see again until the day she died—no, not even after death.
“……Marquis Segrev.”
“Oh dear, how rude of me. I called your name so carelessly. But then, what should I call you now?”
I suppose I cannot call you Lady Blanchet. Marquis Segrev muttered with a mocking chuckle.
It seemed he knew of her circumstances, how she had left the ducal household almost as if she had been driven out.
Every time he laughed, the folds of fat under his chin wobbled limply. Lariette’s expression twisted in disgust.
“I believe I told you I didn’t want to see that face again. Have you gone deaf already?”
Lariette opened her mouth as she gathered mana in her hand. Although her mana was not completely full, it was more than enough to deal with the likes of him.
However, despite knowing her magical abilities, Marquis Segrev looked relaxed.
He leisurely draped an arm over the shoulder of the young woman who seemed to be his date and looked at Lariette.
“You’re the one who seems not to understand the situation.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he jerked his chin toward something behind her. Sensing an ominous presence, Lariette quickly cast a protection spell, but it was already too late.
Kiiing—
A sharp blade shattered the barrier Lariette had formed in an instant.
Then a large, hair-covered hand covered her mouth and bound the hand with which she had been about to cast magic.
“Mmph!”
“Do you think I’m a fool? That I would walk around without bringing a few knights?”
Marquis Segrev smiled lecherously as he slowly approached her.
Lariette struggled in the knight’s grasp, but she could not overpower a professionally trained man with strength alone.
“I’ve been waiting for the chance to meet you again. I could not forget the humiliation of that day.”
“Mmmph! Mmph!!”
“To think you’re no longer a noble lady or anything of the sort, yet you act so arrogantly just because you trust in one little spell. How amusing, truly.”
As if taking revenge for last time, he patted Lariette’s cheek with his palm.
His face was flushed with the satisfaction of having plucked a rare flower, and the gaze with which he looked down at her was filled with lust.
The audience members nearby murmured for a moment before soon avoiding the area.
The splendid ornaments Marquis Segrev wore and the knights standing behind him proved that he was not of ordinary status.
“Now, what shall I do with you? Naturally, I cannot take a commoner as my wife. Shall I at least make you my concubine?”
Marquis Segrev ran his thick, fleshy fingers down the nape of her neck.
Lariette thrashed, but only her captured wrist turned red.
And at that moment, the marquis’s hand that had been caressing her fell with a thud.
“Huh……?”
He stared blankly at the place where his hand had been.
Before he knew it, his wrist had been cleanly severed, revealing a bright red cross-section.
“You said you would return soon, but you did not come.”
Asrahan walked slowly toward her, his black coat and loosely tied bandages fluttering. In the hand he held lightly, a black blade gleamed sharply.
“I waited, mage.”
He spoke indifferently and lightly swung his sword. At the same time, the head of the knight who had been restraining Lariette rolled across the floor, and blood spurted like a fountain.
Asrahan, who quickly reached Lariette’s side, calmly looked her over. And when he discovered her wrist, red and swollen, darkness fell over his face in an instant.
“I intend to kill every last one of those who do not know their place. Will you be disappointed in me?”
Asrahan was asking Lariette for permission. Permission to slaughter them all before her eyes.
And even if he did, for her to continue liking him.