For several days, there was no contact from Luca’s side. And she didn’t contact him either. Maria thought this incident would just be quietly buried like this.
But a letter arrived at House Certi that shattered her expectations.
[I have something to say. Please come to the magic tower when you have time.]
‘What had to come has come.’
Those two concise sentences carried great meaning.
They also hinted at a future where she would soon be ruined.
“It was a good life……”
“Wh-why are you like this, Miss?”
“Sylvie…… you were the best maid. Sometimes you say annoying things and lack tact, but still, thank you for always thinking of me……”
There was still so much she hadn’t done. She needed to be filial to her parents, be godmother when Sylvie had a baby. Buy more pretty clothes and eat more delicious food.
But contrary to Maria’s despair, time steadily flowed. She could no longer ignore Luca’s letter.
The carriage slowly entered the palace grounds. More precisely, the carriage’s destination was the magic tower located right next to the palace.
Maria moved inside the magic tower guided by an attendant. Her appearance was so poor she looked like a death row inmate awaiting execution.
Maria took a deep breath and opened the door after being guided to the reception room.
Inside the reception room sat Luca, already settled and reading a book. The moment Maria entered, Luca and Maria’s gazes met in midair.
The brief frozen silence between them broke when Maria looked away.
“Have you…… been well……?”
Haha, as if he could be well.
Luca’s appearance looked no better than Maria’s. His eyes were redder than when they’d last met. At first glance, one might think he’d been crying, but actually his nerves were on edge from lack of sleep.
Maria hurriedly sat down.
The awkwardness felt deadly. There wouldn’t really be anything to say sitting face to face like this.
Luca remained silent for a while. And Maria couldn’t raise her head either, staring holes into her teacup. She had nothing particular to say, and anything she said would probably only stoke Luca’s anger…….
“Um…… excuse me……”
Still, there must be a reason he called her here, so she couldn’t just sit here blankly.
She thought she’d develop calluses on her bottom soon. No matter how long she waited, he wouldn’t open his mouth.
After some time passed, Luca’s mouth finally seemed ready to open.
Maria raised her head toward Luca. Her neck ached from keeping it lowered too long.
“……Last time.”
Luca pressed his forehead as his head throbbed.
Why did it have to be Maria Certi? His tangled thoughts wouldn’t sort themselves out at all.
Moreover, Maria’s expression was blank, like she knew nothing. Despite her sharp eyes, her expression looked stupidly vacant.
Luca felt anger rising to the top of his head.
Of all people, it was her. His enemy he’d thought he’d never face again. The culprit who ruined his life, whom he’d cursed to death.
That day, what had possessed him to approach her at the ball? He’d just been irritated seeing her stroll through the ball acting like nothing was wrong.
His life had fallen into endless h*ll because of her, yet unlike him, she’d been doing too well. So he wanted to properly confirm it. Her five years later and her changed present.
‘I shouldn’t have done that.’
It was an uncontrollable desire. Back then, he’d been seized by a thirst he’d never felt before. The mana that began seeping into him each time he kissed her.
His mana had instinctively discovered a ‘supplier.’ But who would have thought—that Maria, the most hateful person in his life, would become his supplier?
“Last time……”
“I’m sorry.”
Maria hurriedly cut off Luca’s words.
She somehow anticipated what he might say. She could feel his rage reaching the top of his head.
Luca’s eyes were cold like they held frost. An extremely sharp, heavy atmosphere. She had nothing else to say in this atmosphere. She could only apologize on her hands and knees.
“Should I…… just stay out of your sight forever? From now on, I’ll make sure nothing happens to displease House Clodence, whether balls or high society.”
If that happened, she could no longer inherit House Certi or meet her parents’ expectations. But rather than the family being ruined right now, it was better for her alone to disappear.
“If you want, I could spend my life hidden away in some country convent……”
“Stop.”
Luca stood up from his seat like he couldn’t bear it anymore.
If he listened to any more of Maria’s useless words, he felt he’d go mad.
He distanced himself from Maria in frustration. Looking out the small window attached to the reception room seemed to open his airways a bit.
Though it was unavoidable. That’s why even more anger at himself came along with indescribable disgust.
‘Should I kill her?’
For the first time, Luca felt intense murderous desire toward someone. He’d always been evaluated as calm since childhood. Even he didn’t know he could be seized by such intense emotion.
The gentle and calm eldest son of House Clodence, a mage with genius talent.
Maria Certi alone had destroyed all these evaluations. The hatred toward her, enough to want to kill her right now, the disgust—all of it was pointless now anyway. They were already inevitably bound together.
Rather, if someone else had been there that day. Yes, if Claude had been there instead, this tragic result wouldn’t have happened. Even if he received everyone’s pointing fingers and was dismissed from the family, Maria as an option was truly the worst.
Luca hid his complex emotions and exhaled deeply.
“From now on, you’ll become my supplier.”
“What?”
“You’ll become the supplier who provides me with mana, and the partner who helps ensure my life as a mage doesn’t end.”
Luca ground his teeth as he finished speaking. Yes, in the end he had no choice but to select her.
Maria made a strange face, unable to understand.
A supplier? Who? Me?
“M-me?! Why? Why do I suddenly have to do that?!”
“That’s because……”
Luca bit down hard on his trembling lips. It was unbearably terrible. Having to spit out these words, and the future of being entangled with Maria.
“That’s because my mana designated you as a supplier due to last night’s relationship.”
“What?!?!”
Maria raised her voice at the unbelievable fact.
“What is that? Do I have to do it? Can’t I not do it? I’m really, really sorry. I won’t go near you, Luca—no, Sir Clodence—ever again.”
“You can’t.”
“……?”
“A supplier once designated can’t be easily changed.”
Luca spoke and squeezed his eyes shut.
House Clodence was a traditional mage family. Historically, the mages of House Clodence had produced numerous heroes. The reason lay in the family’s secret. It was because of their unique mana circuit.
The mages of Clodence showed explosive mana destructive power compared to other mages. Not the power of mana’s four elements—water, fire, earth, wind—but mana that existed only in House Clodence.
But five years ago, when his body was ruined by Maria’s poison, a fatal problem arose. The mana circuit that released mana developed issues.
“Is it because I pounced on you last time? No, I only kissed you briefly as comfort! Rather, after that, I thought this wasn’t right.”
“……”
“If this was going to happen, you should have let me go. You were the one who held onto the person trying to leave.”
Maria poured out words haphazardly in her panic. Because of the single thought that she didn’t want to be entangled with Luca, she couldn’t grasp what she was saying right now.
“Right? I’ll apologize once more for what happened last time. But find someone else to be the supplier. I don’t have even this much desire to be involved with House Clodence anymore.”
“Are you trying to back out now?”
Luca spoke bleakly.
Even Maria flinched momentarily at the air that sank heavily around him. She’d thought he was just a pretty flower boy, but his gaze glaring with anger was enough to make her knees weak.
“How cowardly. You should pay for what you did. You ran away despicably when you poisoned me too—are you planning to run away this time as well?”
“What did you say? Did you just call me despicable?”
“When you were young, you hid behind your parents to avoid blame—now you’re trying to shirk responsibility and run away?”
“When did I? How could this have happened? Did I do it alone that day? Who else was involved, enjoying it, and now you’re spouting such nonsense?!”
Their voices rose.
The atmosphere turned hostile with the tense confrontation. Maria could no longer endure it. Demanding she suddenly agree to something she didn’t even understand. And so easily telling her to become a bank account with a straw stuck in it.
“Enjoyed? If you hadn’t poisoned me in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Th-that……!!!”
Maria bit her tongue. Everything was because past sins had made her present self.
‘It wasn’t even me who did it!!!’
So Maria could only despair inside even more. That damned Maria. Because of her, the life she’d started anew wasn’t going smoothly.
If only she hadn’t fed him that poison, her life wouldn’t have gotten so desperately tangled.
“I expect you to take responsibility for what you did, Maria Certi.”
Finally, the sound of the reception room door closing was heard.
Luca quickly left the reception room. His steps were fast, like he didn’t want to be there any longer.
Irritation surged to the top of his head. Anger so great he couldn’t control his emotions.
In that moment, mana he couldn’t control scattered in the air without direction. Then cracks appeared in the passing wall.
Seeing that, Luca sneered bitterly. This level of mana. It was the first time his mana moved more explosively than before his body was ruined.
But it was mana supplied through Maria of all people. At that thought, Luca irritably turned his gaze away. Then he quickly left the place.
Meanwhile, Maria clenched both fists in anger that made her whole body tremble.
‘Wow, that attitude……’
Had she ever met someone with such an attitude in all her life?
She really could have properly refuted him. But she didn’t because the sin past Maria committed was too great.
So she felt even more wronged and resentful. The accident last time deserved an apology. But receiving such harsh treatment for past events felt too unfair.
“If I come to the magic tower again, I’m not Maria but a dog, woof woof.”
Supplier or whatever, she had absolutely no intention of becoming Luca’s exclusive catnip. Rather than that, going to a convent would be better—if she got entangled with that attitude any more, her mind would go strange.
So Maria decided to gracefully ignore any future contact from Luca.
Translator
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Ravingcrow1118
I think Luca is purposely ignoring the fact that Maria had fallen into a severe fever after she poisoned him when he said she hid behind her parents. And he is either intentionally being ignorant or maybe he is ignorant of how his vassels harassed her as a child.