Chapter 12 (Part 2)

As soon as they arrived at the shelter, the two sorcerers jumped out of the carriage, their faces brimming with excitement as they started talking in a language only they understood.  

“This is the first time I’ve been to a place where the energy of sorcery is this strong!”  

“Hara, please. Calm down.”  

“No, damn it, but look! The entire forest is enveloped in sorcery! And it’s ancient sorcery too! When else would I get to visit a place like this? Long live the empire!”  

Of course, it wasn’t much of a conversation—just Hymen repeatedly telling the overly excited Hara, “Please calm down,” with a tone full of exhaustion.  

Grace, watching them with a dismayed expression, suddenly felt a strange sense of familiarity seeing how close they seemed. She turned to Leonardo and asked,  

“Are those two in a relationship?”  

“I wouldn’t know.”  

Leonardo shook his head, but just then, Hymen, who had been wrestling with Hara from afar, stormed over with an irritated expression.  

“I’ll take a look around the area with Hara.”  

When Leonardo nodded at him, Hymen turned to walk back to Hara’s side.  

Then, as if he had just remembered something, he quickly turned back and extended a hand toward Grace.  

Caught off guard, Grace shook his hand, and he introduced himself.  

“My name is Hymen Roxburgh. That woman is Kim Hara, a sorceress from the Eastern Continent.”  

After saying so, Hymen approached the bouncing Hara and gave her a hard slap on the back.  

With a loud smack, Hara cried out in pain, but Hymen said something to her, and, as if nothing had happened, Hara smiled brightly and started walking ahead.  

Watching Hymen follow her, looking older than when he had come over to greet them, Grace muttered to herself.  

“…He looks so worn out.”  

“He does, even to me.”  

“That man, he’s the infamous stuttering sorcerer, right?”  

“Yes, that’s him.”  

Grace had heard rumors about a stuttering, ill-tempered sorcerer at the Sorcerer’s Tower.  

‘They said he’s foul-tempered but skilled in love-related sorcery, so women often seek him out.’  

She couldn’t recall exactly what kind of sorcery it was.  

Though they had already disappeared deep into the forest in such a short time, Hymen’s angry voice echoed back to them.  

Hearing it, Grace laughed and said,  

“He doesn’t stutter when he’s angry.”  

“He also doesn’t stutter when he’s clearly expressing his thoughts.”  

“Is that so? Then shall we organize the luggage in the meantime?”  

Saying this, Grace approached the carriage but suddenly took a step back with a startled expression.  

Seeing her reaction, Leonardo stepped forward.  

“What’s wrong?”  

But there was no need for Grace to answer. Two familiar Pla were hiding behind a tree, their presence now all too familiar.  

As soon as they saw Leonardo and Grace, the Pla stretched their mouths into wide grins as if greeting them warmly.  

With a stiff expression, Grace declared,  

“I’m definitely catching them this time.”  

There was no need to fail or feel afraid today.  

With the artifacts Amelia had packed generously and, if necessary, the help of the sorcerers, she had everything she needed.  

Sensing the fiery determination in Grace’s eyes, Leonardo said,  

“Let’s think about that later. For now, shouldn’t we move the meat you like into the storage first?”  

At his words, Grace seemed to realize something and hurriedly ran toward the luggage she had packed.  

Watching Grace, always earnest when it came to food, Leonardo chuckled softly. Then, he cast a warning spell toward the still-lingering Pla.  

Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the creatures scattered with strange noises as if they hadn’t expected Leonardo to act.  

‘…They almost seem like they’re thinking.’  

Sorcery that grants personality to beasts, and sorcery that controls beasts.  

What exactly had Jacob been trying to create?  

Leonardo stared at the spot where the Pla had disappeared for a while before carrying the luggage into the shelter at Grace’s urging.  

As he entered the reception room, a clattering sound from the kitchen suggested someone was working there, prompting Leonardo to raise his voice.  

“Have you put all the food away?”  

“Yes! Once we put the meat in, it’s done!”  

Hearing this, Leonardo walked toward the storage area.  

Aside from the marker indicating the women’s dormitory was being purified, the place looked no different from the last time, which gave Leonardo a sense of relief.  

At the same time, he felt a strange sensation.  

‘It feels like I’ve become a child secretly making a mess in their parents’ room.’  

Leonardo shook off the feeling and set the luggage down on the floor.  

By the time he finished, Grace had put all the food away and came out to the reception room. Looking around, she remarked, almost nostalgically,  

“It’s exactly the same here. Now that I think about it, it hasn’t been that long since we left this place, but it feels like so much time has passed.”  

Leonardo turned to look at her in response to her comment.  

Grace, who was scanning her surroundings, tilted her head as if to ask why he was looking at her.  

Leonardo smiled and replied,  

“I was just thinking the same thing. Perhaps it feels that way because so much happened here.”  

The way Leonardo’s gaze lowered as he mentioned “so much” made Grace’s stomach flutter.  

She couldn’t help but think that the “so much” he referred to was something too embarrassing to say out loud.  

‘But then again, what if something like that happens again!’  

No matter how much she thought about it, she and Leonardo could never be together. It was just the way things were. Thinking of it as something predetermined from the start made it easier to accept.  

Grace knew, apart from her feelings for him, that she and Leonardo could not be together.  

‘Liking someone doesn’t mean you have to be with them.’  

And not all affection had to lead to marriage, either.  

To shake off her bitter feelings, Grace raised her voice and said,  

“Back then, I should’ve landed one more good hit on your face, Sir.”  

Leonardo, realizing what “back then” she was referring to, chuckled and replied,  

“Could you have landed a proper hit? Back then, you didn’t even know how to use my body.”  

Now, it seemed she could handle his body as freely as its owner, but that wasn’t the case before.  

Hearing his words as he turned his back to organize the items, Grace flinched.  

Recalling the time they had shared bodies in this very place, every word Leonardo said began to sound suggestive to her.  

Grace swallowed the saliva that had pooled in her mouth and said,  

“I’ll go bring more luggage!”  

“Yes, please do.”  

Knowing that she would only make a mess if she tried to organize things, Grace opted to carry the luggage instead.  

Leonardo, having already experienced Grace’s infamous organizational skills during their previous stay, didn’t stop her.  

Once Grace left and the door closed, Leonardo glanced at the door and let out a deep sigh.  

Then he muttered to himself while looking down.  

“Crazy bastard.”  

Talking to Grace had made him recall “that time,” causing his youthful instincts to stir.  

Fortunately, he had been crouched down with his back turned; otherwise, he surely would’ve been caught.  

‘Stay composed, Leonardo.’  

If he didn’t approach her carefully, she would flee like a wary cat.  

Hearing the sound of Grace unloading the luggage outside, Leonardo smiled faintly. He was looking forward to the few days they would spend here.  

—At least until the moment his body suddenly switched.  

“Ugh!”  

Suddenly opening his eyes in Grace’s body, Leonardo lost his balance due to the awkward posture of carrying luggage and slid to the ground.  

The luggage he had been holding spilled everywhere, making a loud noise.  

“Sir Leo! Are you okay?”  

Grace, who had suddenly opened her eyes in Leonardo’s body, was startled by the noise and shouted.  

Although her head was ringing, Grace gritted her teeth, sprang up, and flung the door open, calling out,  

“Leo—huh?”  

When she opened the door, Hymen and Hara were already standing by Leonardo’s side, supporting him.  

Meanwhile, the sudden opening of the door caused Hara to instinctively look toward Grace, and their surprised gazes met in midair. Then,  

“Oh? Goddess, what are you doing over there?”  

Recognizing “Grace,” Hara asked nonchalantly.  

Before the flustered Hymen could grab Hara and say something, she shrugged off his hand and strode over to Grace, grabbing her hand.  

“What happened to you? Wow, this is serious. Goddess, are you okay?”  

At Hara’s words, Grace’s eyes trembled slightly.  

She hadn’t expected anyone to immediately recognize the sorcery affecting them, let alone address it so directly.  

“Now, you—what are you talking about—?”  

“Of course I know. Your bodies are switched, aren’t they?”  

Hara alternated her gaze between Leonardo and Grace as she spoke.  

She placed her hands on her hips, looking as if she hadn’t said anything out of the ordinary.  

Faced with her confident attitude, Leonardo gestured toward the shelter with his chin instead of asking how she had figured it out.  

“Let’s go inside first.”  

At his suggestion, Hara nodded and drew a simple sorcery circle on Grace’s palm.  

Immediately, Grace felt the tension that had been suffocating her dissipate.  

When Grace looked at her with wide, surprised eyes, Hara smiled.  

“You seemed too tense, Goddess.”  

Instead of thanking her verbally, Grace gave a small bow, to which Hara responded with a bright smile.  

Leading Grace by the hand toward the shelter, she called out to Hymen, who was still behind them.  

“Bring the pretty wizard, Hymen!”  

Glancing back at her words, Grace saw Hymen awkwardly supporting Leonardo.  

Finding the sight uncomfortable and awkward, Grace turned to Hara, who reassured her.  

“He’s good at that kind of thing.”  

Before Grace could ask what exactly he was good at, Hara opened the door.