Chapter 63: Found You (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 63: Found You (4)
Arsen took every word spoken to him with the utmost seriousness.
This didn't mean he couldn't distinguish between jest and earnestness. Arsen was simply the type to listen intently to everything, then act only on the words that benefited him.
To offer an example:
When Arsen had previously relayed Count Hale Latran's insults to Calian verbatim, it wasn't out of any desire to offend the prince. Rather, his goal was to ensure Calian fully grasped the Count's insolence and punished him accordingly. Truly, it was.
In any case, the point was that Arsen was no mindless, earnest fool.
—You must not be the first to harm them, Sir Hertz.
Thus, Arsen had perfectly filtered out the crucial part of Yan's warning.
Therefore, Arsen’s spectacular explosion of Gray’s carriage…
…was not an impulsive act of rage, triggered when Gray’s knights beat Kyrie for intervening as they harassed Hina. No, it was the result of a thoroughly calculated plan.
It truly was.
*
An explosion, caused by Arsen.
Could there be a more bizarre combination?
Calian quietly lowered his gaze.
Tessid Redington immediately strode to the window, but nothing was visible from the reception room. He summoned the butler and ordered him to find out what was happening. At the same time, Gray called for one of his knights waiting outside to investigate.
Instead of moving hastily, Calian focused on the surrounding flow of mana. He tried to sense more of Arsen’s presence, but there was nothing beyond that initial burst.
Yan approached Calian and spoke in a cautious voice.
“Your Highness.”
Calian’s gaze, still lowered, shifted to Yan. The man’s expression was plain to see.
Yan was thoroughly flustered.
And his attention was fixed on Calian, not the commotion outside.
Calian's voice, still sharp from his exchange with Gray, slipped out before he could soften it.
“The explosion came from outside, yet you are watching me.”
“Ah…”
“What is it?”
Faced with Calian’s question, Yan was momentarily speechless. He was terrified of how Calian would react the moment he learned something had happened to Kyrie.
Stepping slightly in front of Calian to block his view, Yan said, “I will go down and check on it myself.”
His intention was obvious.
He didn’t want Calian going down there personally.
Calian stared at Yan for another moment before sidestepping him and heading for the stairs. He paused on the landing, between the staircase leading up to the private rooms and the one leading down to the exit. He gestured toward the outside and spoke.
“Sir Hertz is raising hell to call for me, and yet you’re trying to stop me from going.”
There was only one reason Calian concluded that Arsen was ‘calling’ him: the fact that he had caused an explosion.
An explosion implied fire magic, but Arsen was an ice mage. Therefore, the blast could only mean one thing: Arsen had deliberately used a fire spell as a signal.
If it had been a true emergency, Arsen would have been hurling ice spears at his opponents, not using a spell he rarely employed. There had to be another meaning behind the explosion.
Yan fell silent, his thoughts accurately pierced by Calian’s words.
Calian spoke again. “Since I asked for the reason and you won’t answer, I have no choice but to go see for myself.”
At that, Yan hesitated for a moment before rushing to block Calian’s path once more.
“I am sorry, Your Highness.”
Calian frowned, looking at the man apologizing for getting in his way. If Yan was going this far, he could already guess the situation. Before Calian could take another step, Yan spoke quickly in a low voice.
“Your Highness, you cannot afford to clash with the Margrave any further. Provoking him will only put you at a disadvantage. You know this. Please, don’t be rash.”
Calian stared into Yan’s eyes, his expression unreadable.
“I’ll decide what to do after I see who they’ve touched.”
With that, he started down the stairs.
*
When a pale mage appeared out of nowhere and, without a word, conjured a fireball the size of a horse’s head, Gray’s knights were utterly bewildered. Then, as the massive fireball flew straight at them, they all dove for cover. Grazing past their heads, the fireball blew Gray’s carriage to smithereens.
—Boom!
A tremendous explosion shook their eardrums.
The four knights, who had instinctively ducked, slowly raised their heads. Of the three carriages, it was Gray’s that had been obliterated.
Seeing this, Hector, the knight who enjoyed Gray’s deepest trust, rushed toward Arsen, radiating killing intent.
“What in the world is the meaning of—!”
Ignoring him completely, Arsen turned his back on Hector. He cast a ‘Clean’ spell, restoring Kyrie’s soiled clothes. Though the dirt and blood vanished, the spell could do nothing about the wounds underneath.
At a glance, the injuries weren't severe, but he was scraped and bruised all over—a pitiful sight. Arsen clicked his tongue and asked Kyrie, “Why did you just stand there and take it?”
Kyrie offered a faint smile without answering. He had likely recognized them as Brissen’s knights and worried that Calian would be put in a difficult position because of him.
Arsen spoke in a scolding tone. “His Highness won’t be pleased with you for this, you know.”
Kyrie was about to express his gratitude when Hector, unable to stand being ignored, took another step forward. Pointing at the wreckage that was once a carriage, he shouted with murderous rage, “What do you think you’re doing? How dare you! Do you have any idea whose carriage that is?!”
In response, Arsen pointed at Kyrie.
“And how dare you touch this boy, knowing whose man he is?”
It was rather rude to equate Kyrie with a carriage, but Arsen said it anyway.
Hector smirked. “Are you another one of the Third Prince’s lackeys?”
Kyrie frowned at the insult directed at Arsen, who had only gotten involved for his sake. But Arsen simply nodded without hesitation.
“That is correct.”
The phrasing was crude, but he was, in fact, Calian’s lackey.
“And are you the Margrave’s dog?”
This time, it was an insult to dogs to be compared to such a man, but Arsen asked anyway.
Hector’s face flushed red, his hand inching toward his sword.
Ignoring him, Arsen pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket and handed it to Kyrie. Blood was still trickling from a cut on Kyrie’s brow.
“Thank you.”
As Kyrie took the handkerchief, Hector surged forward again, infuriated by Arsen’s utter lack of fear. Instantly, a massive ice spear slammed into the ground right in front of his feet.
—Crack!
Startled, Hector yanked his foot back and glared at Arsen. Having planted the spear inches from the knight’s boot, Arsen replied calmly, “Mages dislike having armed men get too close. I can hear you perfectly fine from there, so don’t come any closer.”
Having nearly lost his foot, Hector exploded.
“You bastard! Do you know who I am?!”
An answer drifted from afar.
“My lackey already told you. A dog.”
It was Calian.
Though he was still some distance away, his voice, though not loud, reached everyone with perfect clarity. All eyes turned to him.
Without breaking his stride, Calian glanced at the remains of Gray’s carriage and smirked. He then asked Arsen, “Do I have to pay for the carriage?”
Arsen bowed his head slightly and replied politely, “You may deduct it from my salary, Your Highness.”
Calian chuckled softly. He knew exactly how much Arsen earned. To pay off the Margrave’s carriage, the mage wouldn’t see a single copper for months.
As Calian laughed, Yan, standing behind him, grew even more anxious. He knew that the moment Calian stepped outside, his eyes had gone straight to Kyrie’s bruised face. It wouldn’t have been surprising if Calian had ordered the knights’ heads taken on the spot. The fact that he was laughing instead only heightened Yan’s terror.
Oblivious to Yan’s turmoil, or perhaps simply ignoring it, Calian continued his steady approach toward Arsen. “My maid should have been here. Where is she?”
He was referring to Hina. Yan opened his mouth to answer, but Arsen beat him to it.
However, Arsen didn’t explain where Hina was. Instead, he explained why she wasn’t there.
“They said they didn’t realize she was Your Highness’s maid at first.”
Until that moment, Calian had managed to maintain his composure. As infuriating as the situation was, he had been reining in his anger, telling himself not to escalate things further.
“They said they saw a pretty mute wench and thought the Margrave would like her.”
With those words, the brutally honest Arsen snapped Calian’s last thread of reason.
Calian smiled, a chillingly bright expression.
Yan turned pale as a sheet.
A translucent light shimmered into existence in Calian’s hand as his composure finally shattered.
*
By the time Gray stepped outside, it was all over.
Calian offered no explanation for cutting out the tongues of the four knights who harassed his maid, nor for stripping them of their titles for harming his attendant.
He looked at Gray, who glared back as if he wanted to tear him apart, completely oblivious to his own men’s wrongdoing. Calian held himself back.
Though he wanted nothing more than to slice Gray’s throat, he drew the line there—for now.
With calm eyes, he simply said, “Do not worry about the price of the carriage Sir Hertz accidentally destroyed. Once we arrive in Kairisis, Sir Manasil will pay for it.”
With that, he turned and returned to his room.
Gray couldn’t utter a single word of protest. The entire incident had unfolded in front of Tessid’s stablehands and soldiers.
In the end, Gray decided to leave Redington Castle immediately. He attempted to borrow a carriage from Tessid, but Tessid offered only his apologies, claiming that, of all times, his carriage axles had just broken and were under repair.
Gray couldn’t even vent his anger at the flimsy excuse.
Ultimately, he was forced to move his two beautiful concubines into a luggage wagon.
After stripping it of its fluttering pink curtains and pearl-beaded decorations, he let out a mad shriek inside his own carriage as it finally rumbled toward Kairisis.