novelraw Chapter 167 : Chapter 167
Chapter 167 : Chapter 167
Chapter 167: Greed
They say people dream when they sleep.
Strangely, wishes are also called dreams.
It seemed that people who are not mages experience good things every night.
I don’t know exactly what that is, but if I had a dream, it would be leaving for the south.
Lying in the middle of the desert would be so warm.
It would be nice if my older brothers and sisters were beside me.
Even better if I could make friends there.
They say the desert is hot.
Because I can make it cool.
Duke’s dream usually ended there.
They say to wish big if you’re making a wish, but even this dream is hard enough, what meaning is there beyond that?
Just the desert is a full and selfish dream.
Deciding where to live is not up to Duke, but the Church. A place where the Church’s influence is small.
Ekampote, where Sister Ocellin is the Lord, is said to be a land blessed by heaven.
Leaving such a land just because it’s cold was a crazy thing to do.
The older brothers and sisters wouldn’t listen either.
Not that I hate them.
I like them, if anything. Because Duke only has them. I could do anything for them.
‘Do not expect too much.’
On the way here, the kind brother Andison said that.
‘If things go wrong, we might have to run away.’
That wasn’t just because Brother Andison was being careful.
Stories of mages exploited by nobles were not ghost stories, but reality happening somewhere even now.
Serzila was not just a noble family, but a Grand Duke’s family.
Perhaps he might end up making ice until he dies. But they say the North already has plenty of ice.
‘That sister didn’t look like that kind of person.’
This time, Brother Andison was wrong.
Duke thought so. Anyway, if Brother Harad hadn’t come, they would have died.
The Otherworld is not heaven.
Then we must acknowledge it quickly and find the best option. That’s the reason Duke chose Serzila.
Brother Harad was warm.
Looking closely, I get the thought that he might be hot, not just warm. Maybe more than that.
It was a simple feeling. When I told him, Brother Harad told me not to ignore that feeling.
That such moments pile up to become intuition.
They say intuition is the most important element for a vague mage.
Thinking about it now, maybe I was just hungry for praise. Or dreaming?
However, unlike the dream, the place we arrived at was the North.
The North, said to be the second coldest place in the world.
As expected, Brother Andison was wrong.
A pretty sister who looked strict came and showed us two big houses, not a small beast cage.
Saying these are the houses we will live in from now on.
Sister Ocellin was taken away, but that was because there was work she could do well separately.
The strict and pretty sister told the brothers and sisters to think about what work they wanted to do.
Saying she would reflect it as much as possible.
‘What about me?’
When Duke asked that, that sister shed her strictness and smiled.
She said I could do anything.
‘You may practice magic. Only under Harad’s permission.’
Brother Harad was a real mage, unlike Duke’s older brothers and sisters.
And a mage more amazing than the Otherworld mages.
But he seemed like an amazing person in Serzila too.
‘However, keep in mind. It is relatively safe, not completely safe. If discovered, we cannot protect you. That applies to Harad as well.’
The strict sister told us to be grateful for the Grand Heir’s generosity as she left. Saying that person accepted us.
But the one who accepted us was Sister Serzila.
Brother Andison must still be agonizing over the answer to what he wants to do.
Sister Loque said she wanted to work in the blacksmith’s shop.
Brother Grex’s dream was to be a hunter, and Brother Rosen wanted to continue merchant work.
It hasn’t even been a few days since we arrived, but everyone’s faces brightened.
Duke thought that was enough.
Although we arrived at the complete opposite side instead of the desert, because the older brothers and sisters are beside me.
“I am Shura.”
……Even a friend?
Duke looked down at the hand extended toward him.
It is adorably small.
Duke lifted his gaze slightly. Her small lips were pretty.
Her eyes resembling green gems were even prettier.
And what about her curly brown hair.
“I’m Shura.”
“I, I’m Duke.”
Duke couldn’t take her hand or meet her eyes. For some reason, his face felt hot.
“Are you cold?”
At that moment, Shura closed the distance.
His neck became warm, and when he raised his gaze, Shura’s face was right in front of him.
“It’s a scarf my dad knitted. Warm, right?”
Shura smiled slightly.
“Ye, yeah…….”
Duke’s whole body felt hot.
What was the desert again?
* * *
“……How do I look?”
“About what?”
Shura tilted her head.
Harad, who was looking down at Duke and Shura from the window, burst into a hollow laugh.
‘Did he really have no friends?’
Duke looked awkward with a peer.
It must be because he had only hung out with adults until now.
‘Looking at it like this, Shura seems younger.’
Not meaning Duke is more mature, but Shura finally became like a child.
“I will protect you.”
“Serzila said she would protect me.”
Before anyone knew it, Shura learned how to rely on others.
Like this, Serzila was becoming a clear foundation for that child.
Someday, Duke will become like that too.
“There is such a thing as ‘what if’ in the world. They say mages have to be careful about that.”
“Then Dad, Sister, and Harad Oppa will protect me.”
“Can’t you include me too?”
“Okay.”
A child’s shyness is short.
At least for Duke and Shura, it had to be so.
In Shura’s eyes, Duke must have nodded.
They were rare young mages to each other.
Duke and Shura soon sat down in the yard and gathered snow.
Duke, the vessel of Glacier, knew how to sculpt with snow too.
“I can do things like this too.”
“Wow!”
Shura smiled brightly. Duke smiled along.
That sight was extremely unfamiliar to Harad.
He had seen children playing many times.
Since there are few lands as lively as the North.
But it was the first time seeing young mages laughing like that.
‘It is changing.’
It is a sight unimaginable in the previous life.
Even then, Serzila embraced mages, but excluding Harad, there was only one.
Even that was barely permitted because Harad said it was necessary.
However, that ice guy couldn’t live inside the territory.
This time was different.
Permission was easy, and Serzila even gave them houses and jobs.
Because the regressed Harad had changed a lot from the Harad of this time in the previous life.
It was a change caused by that.
‘Very different.’
Emotions felt new.
It was surprising, and he felt proud too.
It was a clear sense of accomplishment.
‘It must change more.’
He only brought in fifteen mages.
Their living space was narrow, and it was still dangerous.
He had to expand it in the future.
‘I didn’t expect to have thoughts like this.’
Harad smiled bitterly.
The more he felt rewarded, the bigger his greed grew.
‘The subject must not change.’
If Elaine hadn’t given him regression, if Ellen hadn’t permitted it, it would have been impossible.
So regression had to be used for Elaine.
That snowman completed under the window is merely a byproduct.
For Harad, that byproduct was enough.
The things he wanted could be obtained sufficiently even with byproducts.
No, perhaps even more than that.
If there is a problem…….
“Are you laughing?”
Ellen was gradually becoming sullen.
Without even a moment to enjoy the snowman.
“I didn’t laugh.”
“You did.”
“I often get misunderstood. Since I have a naturally smiling face.”
“…….”
* * *
‘Silly.’
Harad’s lips, looking down out the window, were constantly twitching.
It was a face holding back laughter to anyone’s eyes.
‘Naturally smiling face, my foot.’
Harad looked elegant, but not like he had a smiling face.
His warm yet cold gaze was closer to making the opponent intimidated.
But Ellen held back for now.
Because she understood. Harad seemed cold but had a surprisingly tender side.
Kubel and Shura were proof of that.
Although he accepted them because she wanted it, Harad cherished that father and daughter quite a bit for that.
‘Still, not right now.’
When someone’s head is this complicated.
There are many things she wants to say, but she needs to organize her thoughts.
That way she won’t make mistakes.
‘What was it?’
Something tormented Harad’s heart.
It seemed like it was mocking her. Showing off that it could kill anytime, it squeezed and released someone else’s heart as it pleased.
‘Magic?’
There is no need to ponder further.
It was too obvious a problem.
‘Magic.’
Right, that was definitely magic.
And magic powerful enough to make Ellen feel helpless, stronger than the rabbit.
‘Dream. Secret.’
Those must all be magic too.
Are they related?
‘They are. Because Imja is like that.’
Imja.
That woman whose identity cannot be guessed is related to Harad’s secret.
So that unidentified magic mixed in Harad’s heart must also be related.
Since Harad called it Imja’s gift.
‘A gift?’
That?
Ellen could not understand Harad’s words.
It was even unpleasant.
That thing attacked Harad’s heart as if to kill.
That vessel, already important enough, and its core.
‘I was the one worried.’
Harad took the side of the gift Imja gave…….
Thud.
Ellen’s fist hit Harad’s chest.
“It is fine now.”
Harad said.
It was true.
Nothing was felt right now.
Even though it must be inside there.
It is something that powerful yet secretive.
Just what kind of amazing secret is it.
“It was about this big.”
“Hmm?”
“I said it was like a stone about this big.”
She doesn’t know what it is.
But Ellen felt it was like a stone.
It had a form as if a stone the size of Ellen’s fist was overlaid on Harad’s heart.
Like that, it had carelessly kneaded someone else’s heart.
That was terrible.
It would be terrible even if it just touched the heart, but inside Harad’s heart, there is even the Origin, the sun.
What if something goes wrong?
“Is it correct?”
Ellen, who was staring at Harad’s chest, raised her head.
Harad’s eyes had become round.
The corners of his mouth twitched.
It was a movement clearly different from when he was holding back laughter earlier.
Ellen knew he made that expression when he obtained more than expected.
So it means she chose the correct answer.
The magic dwelling in Harad’s heart looks like a stone, and it is related to dreams and Harad’s secret.
……Imja gave that.
“You said Imja only in words.”
“We are close enough to receive gifts.”
“Why receive a gift, you said you had no thoughts.”
“It was a gift I was forced to receive.”
Harad no longer looked out the window.
Before she knew it, he was smiling brightly at Ellen.
That was burdensome to Ellen.
Often Harad looked at her like that.
With eyes expecting something.
What on earth is he expecting.
For me to guess the dream or the secret?
It feels uncomfortable to just say so.
Ellen sometimes felt that Harad’s eyes seemed to be looking not at her, but at someone else.
“……Is it really a gift?”
“It is.”
“Not a curse? You said you received it forcibly. What kind of gift hurts the recipient. And so cruelly at that.”
The heart is a special part.
A mage’s heart was even more so.
Magic attacking another mage’s heart.
In Ellen’s opinion, there was nothing more vicious than that.
Harad lifted Bahav’s curse.
He said he didn’t lift it but just seared and destroyed it, but Harad seemed quite familiar with curses.
Why is he familiar.
Because he himself is already under a curse…….
“It’s a curse, right, that thing.”
Ellen spoke with certainty.
“No. This is a gift.”
There was certainty in Harad’s voice too.
“…….”
That was annoying.
Bothersome, unpleasant, angry, jealous…….
“Ah.”
Suddenly her eyes closed.
“Fuck.”
Dream.
* * *
Grand Duke Elaine was sitting.
It was Serzila’s throne, and Harad was standing behind her.
For some reason, Harad’s face was not visible.
It looked as if only his face was cleverly hidden in darkness.
-Harad.
To Grand Duke Elaine, that face seemed clearly visible.
She tilted her head back and looked up at Harad.
-Do not forget.
That voice is quite sweet.
-You are mine.
The gaze is exceptionally gentle.
Even the blind and deaf would notice it wasn't words or actions a man would send.
Harad did not react.
His face was still cleverly hidden in darkness.
As if it didn’t matter, honey dripped from Grand Duke Elaine’s eyes.
-So keep in mind.
That gaze…… suddenly became fierce.
Those eyes, as if aiming at an enemy, are not looking at Harad.
They were looking beyond him.
It is clearly a dream.
Our eyes met, Ellen thought.
-Harad is mine.
That is why they became fierce.