Chapter 2.2

“I said I need to date someone. So let’s meet less often for a while.”  

After dropping this bombshell, Evelyn lived her life well. She strolled leisurely and joyfully through the Royal Palace as if Donovan had never existed in her life.  

‘That’s the outfit I bought for her.’  

‘Looks like she cut her hair.’  

‘Who’s that guy she’s smiling and chatting with?’  

Donovan followed Evelyn around under a concealment spell, tearing at the fabric of his trousers in frustration.  

‘She should have come looking for me. At the very least, she should have pretended to miss me. Was I nothing more than a former employer to her?’  

He faintly realized he was acting like a clingy ex-boyfriend, but he couldn’t stop himself. His heart was being shredded like that of a man suffering from heartbreak.  

“Earl, you’re back? You don’t look well… Are you feeling unwell?”  

“I’m just a little tired.”  

Returning from the Royal Palace, Donovan shut himself in his room. The servants knocked on his door, but he sent them away with a single sentence.  

“Don’t let anyone in until I call for you. I want to be alone.”  

He secluded himself in his room. He paced around restlessly before collapsing into the armchair in the middle of the room. 

Where did it all go wrong?  

Was it a mistake to come to the Earl’s residence in the first place?  

Donovan looked around his room. The room of the heir to the Yerenst Earldom. A family with a long-standing tradition. Thinking about such things brought a bitter smile to his lips.  

The Yerenst family had once been known for producing exceptional mages for generations.  

– The Yerenst family seems to have passed its prime. It’s been three generations without a single mage.  

The Yerenst family had not produced a notable mage for several generations. At some point, rumors began to circulate in high society.  

– What’s the problem? Why do none of the children react to the magic stones?  

The head of the family, the Earl, grew anxious and searched desperately for a solution. Their ancestors had once assisted the first king with magic during the kingdom’s founding and had been granted the title of Earl. Losing the ability that symbolized their family made everyone restless.  

– Do you know what people are saying outside? They’re saying the Yerenst family’s days are over!  

With few children in the family, both direct and collateral lines were on the verge of madness.  

– What if the family line ends?  

– How dare you say such an ominous thing!  

-“I’m just saying it because I’m frustrated!  

It was during this time that Donovan Yerenst was born. He was the lifeline that appeared after a hundred years of drought, the salvation to end their long winter.  

– The magic he holds is extraordinary. 

– Did you confirm it with the magic stone?

– Yes, without a doubt.  

The fact that his birth mother was a commoner hardly mattered. Donovan was summoned to the Earldom at less than ten years old.  

– I will give you an honorable opportunity. From today, you will live in the family’s mansion. 

– But my father was only a collateral member of the family, and he passed away long ago.  

– That doesn’t matter. Restore glory to our family.  

The Earl sternly instructed him, greedily clutching the treasure that had fallen into his hands. From then on, no amount of knocking, crying, or shouting helped. Donovan was completely separated from his biological parents.  

Over time, Donovan began to forget what he had once wanted. He had to forget in order to survive and endure. As time passed, his mother’s face faded from his memory.  

With no portraits left of her, he clumsily drew her face and placed the small drawing inside a locket. He wore it around his neck.  

– Don’t forget. You must excel at the academy more than anyone else. Especially in magic, you must have no equal.  

Following the Earl’s wishes, Donovan entered the academy at the age of seventeen.  

– …Yes, I understand.  

The Yerenst family sent generous checks to the academy every month, ensuring Donovan lacked nothing in terms of clothing or food. This was because Donovan fulfilled his responsibilities. The Earl frequently sent letters to pressure him.  

「Our family is not dead yet. The Yerenst family has produced an unparalleled genius. Prove it.」  

Sitting in his chair, Donovan read the letter from his family and tore it to pieces with a sneer. The shredded paper fluttered to the floor.  

Donovan used magic to burn the letter to ashes, leaving no trace. Recalling the contents of the letter made his chest burn with anger.  

「I’ve seen your report card. Make sure you don’t lose the top spot. Keep working hard.」  

Though he was used to the dry tone of the letters that never praised him, he felt rising contempt. What were they so afraid of?  

「Alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, bad friends—stay away from anything that clouds your mind, distracts you, or leads you astray.」

Donovan lived according to the teachings of his family, constantly wary and building walls between himself and others.  

After all, they didn’t approach him with sincerity. They came close because he was a magic prodigy, because he was the heir to the Yerenst Family.  

Sitting in the armchair, he buried his head in his hands. For whom had he suppressed his emotions? For himself? For Evelyn?

Every time he met Evelyn, he tried hard to conceal his true emotions. Now, Donovan deeply regretted having done so.  

‘It was useless.’  

In the end, everything was just an excuse. Simply because he lacked the confidence to protect her, he had only hovered around Evelyn.  

Unable to endure the suffocating frustration, he stood up from his seat.  

***

Donovan walked slowly along the wall where the portraits of past heads of the family were hung. This was a place he had often escaped to when his mind felt troubled. He stopped in front of the first portrait.  

Before him was the portrait of the first head of the family. He was said to be a handsome man with green eyes, and Donovan bore a striking resemblance to him.  

– A genetic throwback, they say. It’s a blessing for such a powerful mage to appear after skipping generations.  

– Goodness, how can this be? Doesn’t he seem like that man’s reincarnation?  

Those who had seen Donovan and the portraits on the wall always sighed in admiration and offered praise.  

– Hahaha, is that so?  

The Earl enjoyed such reactions, though he pretended to laugh modestly. Every time, Donovan suppressed his nausea.  

‘It feels like a staged play.’  

Until he came of age, the family had bided their time, carefully weighing their options to choose the best hand. But now, the family began to reveal their true colors in earnest.  

– It’s about time you started thinking about marriage. Even as an academy student, at your age, you should at least have a fiancée.  

Donovan, who had endured most things, could not tolerate this.  

– I will not be sold off for the sake of the family. Do you think I’m some kind of stud horse?  

At his blunt disdain, the Earl’s face hardened, and he raised his hand. Donovan had to cradle the cheek that had been struck. He no longer felt disappointment.  

– Think about everything the family has done for you up until now.  

– What are you referring to? Isn’t my success at the academy enough for you?  

Donovan responded with a sneer. He genuinely wondered.  

What has the family ever done for me?

He had never once desired any of it.  

– Stop talking back and do as you’re told. 

The Earl did not allow defiance.  

After that, the family incessantly sent portraits to the academy. Sitting and drinking tea with unwanted company was pure torture.  

‘I’ll need to come up with something.’  

In a magic practice session, he deliberately made an unprecedented mistake, resulting in such poor marks that word reached the family.  

When the grades arrived, the Earl trembled with anger upon seeing the report. He immediately summoned Donovan back to the family estate.  

– Are you rebelling now?  

– Rebelling? Not at all. I’ve just been too distracted to study properly.  

The Earl threw a teacup. However, even after being summoned to the family estate, Donovan stubbornly refused to yield. He endured as the spilled tea from the cup dripped onto him.

– You insolent brat. I sent you to the academy to graduate properly, and now you’re rebelling?  

The Earl ground his teeth. After that, the pressure for arranged meetings lessened, but that didn’t mean the family had given up on him.  

The Earl had merely granted him a reprieve. Even now, the Earl occasionally sent women his way.  

‘Just when I’m about to forget, they shove someone in front of me again.’  

Women who deliberately dropped handkerchiefs before him, women who bumped into him, women who blatantly used tricks to ask for directions—he was sick of them.  

Thinking only of one person, Donovan pressed his forehead against the cold wall and closed his eyes.  

‘Evelyn.’  

Out of habit, he pictured Evelyn’s face in his mind. Everything Donovan possessed had been chosen by the Earl. Evelyn alone was the one person he had chosen for himself.  

‘This is what they call cooking porridge only to feed it to a dog.’  

Rage boiled within him. He hadn’t left her untouched all this time just to hand her over to another man. Donovan had no intention of doing so.  

‘Date someone else?’  

Even if he became the Earl of Yerenst, without Evelyn, it would mean nothing to him.  

‘What kind of bastard has bewitched you?’  

There weren’t many people around Evelyn. That had been intentional on his part. In his mind, he began listing and eliminating suspects one by one.  

At a banquet, he had seen a knight with Evelyn as he returned with a glass of fruit wine.  

‘Was it that guy?’