A Mage Must Be Killed by a Mage
Just as I was about to leave the sparring grounds, a familiar figure came striding toward me from a distance.
It was Bella, her golden bob neatly arranged, a sheaf of documents clutched to her chest. She must have confirmed the lecture was over and come straight here.
I gave the wooden sword in my hand a light shake, slotted it back into the rack, and prepared to greet her.
But Bella's gaze as she approached was not on me. It was locked on Theodore and Sienna standing at my side.
Well, I did send Bella away first when Sienna showed up. She wouldn't know about the two of them yet.
Bella's shoulders stiffened ever so slightly, and a sharp light I had never seen before entered those usually unreadable, indifferent eyes. As if snarling at an uninvited guest who had trespassed on her territory, she made her wariness of Sienna blatant and thick. Her hand reflexively seized the hem of my sleeve, the grip thick with displeasure that a strange woman had claimed the place at my side.
"...Young Master."
Bella's voice as she called me carried a chill of suspicion, and raw hostility aimed straight at Sienna.
"Why are those people at your side, Young Master?"
Before I could even answer, Theodore thumped his own chest and spoke up with complete confidence.
"Me? As of today I swore to become Hatelion's sword, that's why I'm here. And that one..."
When Theodore jerked his chin toward Sienna, Bella's nerves wound even tighter.
"Sienna was sent from Elysia's side. Under the pretext of being a bodyguard knight."
All trace of her usual composure gone, Bella chewed her lip and glared at Sienna.
"...Young Master. Do you mean to keep that arrogant woman's subordinate at your side just like that? There's no telling what impure motives she crawled in here with."
It was more than simple distrust of someone from Elysia's camp, someone from the South. Displeasure at having her place stolen, and a peculiar agitation, bled through every word.
Sienna, apparently offended by Bella's hostility, shot right back without yielding an inch.
"Whatever my motives, I think I'm still better than a woman who starts being rude to someone she's never even met. Are all Northern women like that?"
When Sienna's sharp retort flew out, Bella's voice sank even colder.
"I'm not being rude. I'm pointing out that you were never even the right vessel to sit in that seat in the first place. Can a woman who wagged her tail under that frivolous young lady even hope to change her ways?"
Sienna's brow furrowed at Bella's venom, but she soon let out a short, scoffing laugh and took a step toward her.
"Whether I'm the right vessel isn't for you to decide. That's for the Young Master to judge himself. And my contract with the Count's house is ending soon... I'm thinking of contracting with the Young Master, you know?"
At that unexpected bombshell, Bella's eyes shook without mercy. This was no longer something she could dismiss as mere displeasure at a Southern woman crawling in. The woman was openly declaring she meant to covet—and share—the place at the Young Master's side that Bella had always considered hers alone.
Bella's body went rigid, the strength draining from her fingertips.
Thud.
The document folder slipped through her fingers and fell weakly to the sparring ground floor.
Just as the tension stretched taut, the one who broke that suffocating silence was, of course, Theodore, who had no grasp of the situation whatsoever.
"Huh? Sienna, you were thinking of joining Hatelion too?"
As if he had completely forgotten the ugly atmosphere of a moment ago, Theodore cheerfully tried to mediate, tapping between the two frozen women.
"That's great, then! I've decided to bury my bones here too, so we'll all end up working under Hatelion anyway, right? Let's get along as colleagues from now on, Sienna, and you too, Aide..."
"..."
"..."
The more the idiot rattled on, the more Bella's lips trembled with unbearable humiliation. The sense of crisis that she might lose ground to a woman who had been Elysia's pawn made her look ready to explode on the spot, but she seemed to remember she was standing in front of me, and forcibly swallowed the rage rising in her throat.
She didn't even seem to have the presence of mind to pick up the documents she had dropped. After sending Sienna one last warning look, Bella whipped her head around.
"...Excuse me. I'll take my leave, Young Master."
Gone was every trace of her former blank composure. Unable to master the wreck of her emotions, Bella fled the scene as if running away.
Once Bella had left and the surge of anger cooled, reason slowly returning, Sienna finally realized she had caused a massive incident and clapped a hand over her own mouth. Glancing at my face, fidgeting, she couldn't bear the awkwardness and blurted out an excuse.
"Ahem...! But if you think about it, I feel like you should take responsibility, Young Master."
Apparently ashamed of having spilled her true feelings in a fit of pique, Sienna flushed and piled on more excuses.
"I was sent here as your escort, and if I don't get a single scouting offer before I go back, a knight might feel a little hurt, you know? Like, am I not even worth that much? So..."
She was shamelessly trying to dump the blame for her slip on me, but it didn't particularly matter.
"So you really intend to become a knight of the North?"
"Yes...?"
"Then become a knight of Hatelion."
It was what I had wanted from the start, after all.
After washing up, I entered the lecture hall relatively early. It was empty of people, quietly hollow inside.
I sat for a moment, quietly catching my breath, when the classroom door opened and Yuriel stepped in.
Spotting me, she blinked once in delight, then approached with a gentle smile. But as her gaze passed the doorway, the tip of her eyebrow bent ever so slightly.
"Good morning, Caelus. ...But that woman standing out in front of the classroom—do you know who she is?"
Yuriel's voice held a subtle sharpness and wariness in place of her usual warmth.
"A newly appointed escort knight."
At my calm answer she let out a light sigh, then poked out her pink lips in a pout.
"There are more and more women around you, Caelus..."
Muttering as if complaining, Yuriel confirmed they were the only two in the classroom, then sat pressed right up against me without reservation. Then she naturally took my hand and pressed it firmly against her soft cheek.
Like a cat fawning on its owner, she nuzzled slowly, her cheek glued to my hand.
"I don't like it when you smell like someone else..."
Yuriel murmured, burying her cheek even deeper into my palm. The soft, yielding feel of her cheek against my fingertips, and her sweet scent, stirred something strange in my head.
I let that warmth sit for a while, then asked, lazily, as if changing the subject.
"Do you know Serin Asteria?"
The moment that name left my mouth, Yuriel's nuzzling against my palm stopped dead. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at me, cheeks slightly puffed, her gaze full of wounded feeling.
"...You really don't understand a woman's heart at all, Caelus."
There was a pout in her voice, but now that I had brought it up there was no reason to put it off, so I pulled a document folder from my coat and held it out in front of her. It was the report Bella had delivered at the sparring grounds, sent up from the Northern main house.
"Read this first."
Yuriel took the papers with a sulky face, but as she scanned down the contents, the playfulness gradually drained from her expression.
"...Hatelion's problem is the elders."
Yuriel murmured low.
"Yes. Among those old men's children, quite a few have colluded with Zenon. That's why the elders have been pushing Zenon and trying to steer patronage his way all this time. And now that the Grand Ducal House wants to cut all support for Zenon, they're opposing it blindly, claiming there's no justification."
At my words Yuriel closed the documents and let out a quiet sigh.
"And it's not as if you can actually present that justification, either.... Magic Tower mages cluster together so disgustingly tight that even self-defense wouldn't help. The moment anyone touches a mage of the Magic Tower, you're making an enemy of the entire Tower."
Yuriel tapped the papers in her arms, looking troubled.
"Right. Even if we exposed that Zenon used his subordinates to try to harm us, both sides would just get dragged into a mud fight and take fatal damage. It's a card neither Zenon's side nor ours can ever bring to the surface first."
"In the end, there's only one way to deal with him cleanly."
She pressed even closer and gently wrapped her hand around my wrist.
At my firm conclusion, Yuriel finally nodded, as if she had grasped my intent.
"That's why I have to meet Serin."