***

“Why is there no news from Chamuka! Did he lose our baby?”
Astrid shouted as she collapsed onto the map.
Her sensitivity had reached its peak after staying awake for three straight nights.
She had been occupying Ferik’s office for quite some time, receiving real-time reports on Leticia’s location.
She wanted to follow Leticia like Chamuka did, but then there would be no one to collect and relay information.
I should have trained more. Why am I a mage and not a knight? Why don’t I have better mobility than Chamuka…
“If I don’t see our baby soon, I might die…”
Astrid was on the verge of tears after not seeing her cute and lovely disciple for three days.
Whenever she was exhausted, seeing that adorable smile saying, “Master, hang in there!” would give her strength…
Still collapsed on the map, she pleaded to her disciple who was somewhere far away.
“I miss you. Come back. Master will do better…”
That face that would adorably furrow its brows and worry, “Master, what if you harm your body like that,” that face that would open its eyes wide with love and admire, “Master, you’re truly amazing!” that good-natured expression that would freeze prettily and say, “Master, this isn’t right”—
“Our baby is an angel without wings, and knowing how good he is, I, I…!”
—At that point in her reminiscing, Astrid banged her forehead on the table where the map was spread.
“I should have hidden it better!”
If normal people were watching, they would have pointed out that her point of remorse was misplaced, but unfortunately, the only person present was Hilda, who was half out of her mind regarding Astrid.
Then the door opened, and Ferik, who was completely out of his mind for Astrid, entered.
He strode toward Astrid, who was collapsed on the table, sobbing.
He lifted her into his arms, then rubbed her forehead where a red mark had formed, and said.
“New information has arrived.”
Seated, Ferik naturally placed Astrid on his lap.
Astrid’s body, limp from lack of proper sleep, leaned against Ferik’s chest.
“Traces were found of someone climbing the rocky mountain of Ladanta 30 minutes ago, and they’re following those traces.”
Astrid, who had been writhing just because there was no contact for 30 minutes, could slightly ease her sensitivity at this information.
“They’ll catch up soon.”
Ferik nodded at her hopeful murmur.
But soon, at the thought of Chamuka meeting her lovely disciple, the worries she had postponed came flooding back.
“…But will Chamuka be able to persuade him?”
“He originally just said he’d be gone for three days, so if Chamuka asks him to come, he probably will.”
“What if he just wrote the note like that but was actually trying to run away because he’s afraid of us?”
“If that were the case, he wouldn’t have left so many traces.”
Astrid muttered “Yes, right, that’s true” several times, but still anxiously bit her lip repeatedly.
Ferik offered his finger for her to bite instead, so her lips wouldn’t tear.
“Don’t do that.”
Frowning, Astrid pushed away Ferik’s hand and fixed her gaze on the map.
She took out a pen, wrote down the information Ferik had mentioned, and attached it to the map.
Watching her intently, Ferik said:
“Chamuka will definitely bring him back. Don’t worry.”
“I don’t think he won’t be able to bring her back. He’s a Basilinte too. He won’t let go of the person he’s chosen as his mate.”
What Astrid was worried about was Leticia being forcibly brought back despite genuinely wanting to leave them.
She thought of her disciple’s resentful gaze and lowered her eyes gloomily.
“What if my disciple resents me?”
“It’s not like you’d let her go even if she did.”
“That’s true. But if my disciple truly wants to leave, I can’t stop him either.”
It was difficult for ordinary humans to grasp just how powerful a mage Leticia was.
On the surface, she was just a beautiful, slender boy, and she didn’t appear particularly strong.
Rather, when among the Basilinte, Leticia often became a very fragile existence.
Of course, Astrid’s situation was similar.
Originally, unless a mage had an unusual awakening, they weren’t physically exceptional.
Moreover, having seen Leticia collapse after using massive magic, the Basilinte treated her as an extremely fragile being.
To be specific, she was treated exactly the same as 4-year-old Kalia.
‘The very fact that he can use magic while having his power constantly drained by the source of the curse is remarkable.’
Without such limitations, her lovely disciple could probably easily conquer a country.
Leticia had that power.
‘Of course, he doesn’t seem to have any intention of using that power.’
Apart from devoting most of his time to curse research, her disciple wasn’t particularly interested in magic. He didn’t seek wealth or power with that strength either.
Whenever Astrid thought of her disciple, she didn’t think of a powerful water mage, but of a boy sitting quietly by a library window, smiling kindly.
Quiet, kind, and occasionally quirky.
A being that couldn’t be found anywhere else in Basilinte, and thus made everyone anxious about how to treat him.
“I wish that child were more selfish and greedy.”
It would have been better if he hadn’t thought so little of himself and had taken better care of himself.
If only he had been more brazen and confident.
“He doesn’t want anything from us, so I don’t know how to hold onto him.”
“That’s…”
As Ferik was about to respond to Astrid’s lament, his words stopped unnaturally.
Just as Astrid was about to look up at Ferik in confusion.
The door burst open with urgent footsteps.
“Your Grace! There’s a fire on the first floor…!”
Simultaneously with the knight’s cry, a fierce heat engulfed the windows.
At the sound of breaking glass, Astrid jumped up from Ferik’s lap.
“Kalia?!”
Kalia’s playroom was on the first floor.
The knight reported quickly with a grim expression.
“The fire that started in Lady Kalia’s room cannot be contained at all. Your orders—”
Astrid tried to hurry down to the first floor with Ferik.
However, when Ferik didn’t move an inch, Astrid turned back in confusion.
“Ferik?”
His eyes were unfocused. Yet his hand, which tightly gripped Astrid’s arm, had veins standing out.
As his hand squeezed so tightly it seemed about to break her arm, she couldn’t bear it and pushed Ferik hard.
“It hurts! What’s wrong with you?”
But Ferik didn’t budge.
Astrid felt anxious. She could feel the flames growing fiercer, but Ferik’s condition was strange.
“It hurts, stop it! Let go!”
As his grip tightened even more, Astrid struggled to shake off his hand.
Then, with unfocused eyes, he slightly moved his lips.
“Don’t go.”
“What are you saying? Let’s go down together! Right now on the first floor—”
“Return to me.”
[Return to me.]
Astrid hesitated at the trace of a curse she felt in those words.
For a moment, Ferik smiled. A man who didn’t know how to smile, smiling clearly.
“You have returned.”
[You have returned.]
With those final words, Ferik’s eyes closed and his head dropped. As if he had lost consciousness.
Astrid sensed the scent of magic power thickly permeating the heat rising from the first floor.
It wasn’t just a fire. It wasn’t an accident either.
This was Kalia’s ‘fire’.
Her daughter, who could never produce such a massive fire due to the magic power being drained by the source of the curse, had fully awakened her magic power.
Astrid turned to look outside the window with a face devoid of reality.
It was raining.
And now, she could command those raindrops.
Because the magic power that had disappeared for the past 15 years was rising within Astrid.
Finally, the curse on Basilinte had been lifted.