Chapter 16 (Part 4)

When her fingers found the spot Leonardo had teased mercilessly, she gently rubbed it, feeling a tingling sensation.  

“Ah!”  

Grace had never thought of touching herself for pleasure, so this kind of behavior felt strange to her.  

But once she felt the sensation, she couldn’t stop.  

Growing bolder, she pressed harder on the spot where the intense sensation had been.  

“Ah, mmm.”  

As the sharp pleasure coursed through her, Grace’s movements became more deliberate.  

Just as Leonardo had done to her, she pressed and rubbed her cl*toris with her fingers, stifling her moans with her hand.  

‘Ngh!’  

Feeling herself growing wetter below, Grace forgot she was the one touching herself.  

She rubbed along the length of her slit and flicked her cl*toris harder.  

“Ngh, ah!”  

Though faint moans escaped her lips, Grace couldn’t stop.  

The thought crossed her mind that there was nothing wrong with seeking pleasure from her own body, and she began rubbing more boldly.  

“Ahhh!”  

As she reached a light climax, Grace gasped for breath.  

She felt the remnants of Leonardo’s presence spill from her, and she realized something.  

‘Oh, my goodness.’  

She couldn’t be satisfied with this alone.  

Feeling strangely hollow, Grace muttered softly.  

“I miss you, Leo.”  

If Leonardo found out about this, he would tease her for being so forward.  

But only he could fill this emptiness.  

Grace sighed and leaned back in the tub. She felt oddly bitter.  

‘I should just finish washing and get out.’  

Rising from the tub, Grace picked up a sponge.  

The sight of it reminded her of bathing with Leonardo, and she sighed deeply, muttering to herself.  

“Seriously, this is bad.”  

At this rate, even the sight of a swaying leaf might remind her of Leonardo.  

Grace finally realized she was suffering from a severe case of lovesickness.  

It was a belated realization, but a profound one nonetheless.  

‘But I can’t just sit around being foolish.’  

Though she had fallen deeply into her first love, she still had responsibilities to attend to.  

Calming her mind, Grace quickly finished her bath and stepped out.  

As she emerged in her robe, Becky approached with clothes in hand and said,  

“Madam is waiting for you.”  

Grace nodded upon seeing the clothes that were easy to move in.  

Thinking that her mother must have wanted to see for herself what it meant to take things to the next level, Grace spoke.  

“All right. Can you wait a moment? I have something I need you to do.”  

Becky, who was attending to Grace, nodded and agreed.  

After tidying her appearance, Grace turned her back, sat at her desk, pulled out a clean sheet of paper, wrote something on it, placed it in an envelope, and sealed it with wax.  

“Take this to the Commander of the 1st Knight Order.”  

At the mention of the Commander of the 1st Knight Order, Becky looked at Grace with wide eyes and asked again.  

“…To Young Lord Fernandez?”  

Becky’s tone questioned whether Grace was serious, but Grace tilted her head as if to ask what was so strange about it.  

Seeing her mistress’s cold gaze, Becky flinched, lowered her head, and accepted the letter Grace handed her. She carefully placed it in her skirt pocket.  

Once Becky had secured the letter, Grace gave her instructions.  

“He might not be at the knight order. If that’s the case, just bring it back.”  

Becky nodded at Grace’s words.  

This meant she couldn’t entrust the task to someone else; she would have to go herself. Feeling conflicted, Becky looked at Grace with wavering eyes.  

Pretending not to notice, Grace handed her a few gold coins and gestured for her to leave.  

Becky left with a gloomy expression, and Grace rubbed the back of her neck, muttering to herself.  

“Was I too harsh on Becky?”  

Considering how much Becky must have struggled while she and Leonardo’s bodies were swapped, it seemed unfair that her mistress only ever called her the favorite without really taking care of her.  

After some thought, Grace concluded that she should give Becky some time off. She then picked up her sword and headed toward Amelia, excited for a sparring session after so long.  

***

Leonardo immediately regretted entering the Sorcerer’s Tower with Caleb.  

Hara’s endless chatter was so grating that it wasn’t just annoying—it was painful.  

Seeing Hymen, who stood nearby looking noticeably thinner than the last time he’d seen him, Leonardo commented.  

“You’ve been through a lot.”  

Hymen gave a pale smile in response, unable to even say he was fine, and handed over the documents he was holding.  

“Oh, right. Where’s the Goddess? Didn’t she come with you?”  

Hara asked, and Leonardo, flipping through the documents, replied curtly.  

“Sir Lowell has returned home.”  

“What’s with the sudden distance? What, did the two of you catch some plague as disastrous as a pandemic? Sir Lowell, really? Ridiculous, pretty mage.” 

Hara’s incessant chatter was as relentless as a natural disaster—or at least, she seemed entirely unaware that her words were the disaster.  

Leonardo, who felt that leaving her unchecked would result in endless prattling, frowned deeply and spoke in a cold voice.  

“Enough. Be quiet.”  

Seeing the murderous look on his face, Hara shrugged her shoulders. She then scurried over to Hymen’s side, grumbling.  

“Geez, you’re so unpleasant.”  

Hara’s grumbling left Leonardo incredulous. Who exactly was speaking their mind here?  

Unlike Leonardo, Caleb, who had somehow already adapted to the eccentric sorcerers in such a short time, shrugged indifferently while reviewing the documents.  

He reported in a calm tone. 

“According to these sorcerers, Jacob Baudouin likely drew a very unstable sorcery circle.”  

“…I suspected as much.”  

If it weren’t unstable, there was no way such an enormous sorcery circle could exist in that area without affecting him and Grace.  

‘If it weren’t for that, we would’ve either gone mad or died.’  

Whether Jacob had been incompetent or simply lacked skill, Leonardo felt grateful for it.  

His gaze fell upon two Pla creatures caged in an iron trap.  

The two were huddled together as if comforting each other, their faces pressed close as they breathed evenly in sleep.  

Noticing where Leonardo was looking, Caleb turned his head and spotted the Pla.  

“According to the sorcerers, they can understand very simple words. Additionally, they have the intelligence of a five-year-old, allowing them to carry out basic reasoning.”  

“…Is that due to Jacob Baudouin’s sorcery?”  

“Yes, it is. However, it seems that only these two were directly affected by it.”  

Leonardo nodded, as he had suspected as much, and Caleb continued.  

“Ultimately, the reason Jacob Baudouin’s sorcery failed is that he didn’t use the proper materials.”  

Leonardo, reviewing the list of presumed materials in the documents, let out a laugh of disbelief.  

Where Basilisk eyes were required, Wyvern eyes had been used instead.  

“What on earth was he thinking?”  

Though he wasn’t addressing anyone in particular, an answer came unexpectedly.  

“Because he didn’t have money!”  

Hara, assisting Hymen, grinned as she answered.  

“When we were at the academy, we used Wyvern eyes as substitutes during practice when we needed Basilisk eyes. He probably thought it was fine to do the same.”  

Hymen nodded in agreement with Hara’s words.  

Caleb handed Leonardo a few pages from the documents and added further explanation.  

“There’s a related section in the back. While these materials seem entirely different to us, sorcerers view them slightly differently.”  

The documents Caleb handed over explained that while Basilisks and Wyverns were different species, their similar magical attributes made them interchangeable in some cases.  

Leonardo, looking puzzled, heard Hymen speak.  

“In sorcery, there are symbolic materials and actual functional materials.”  

“That guy probably thought it was symbolic since he’d always used substitutes at the academy.”  

Listening to the two, Leonardo couldn’t decide whether to feel relieved or more frustrated.  

Hara slapped him on the back and remarked.  

“Why so serious? If we find a sorcery circle that can be broken, it means we can destroy it using Holy Power and sorcery.”  

Leonardo turned to look at Hara.  

She blinked at him as if wondering why he was staring.  

“When will we find it?”  

Hara glanced at Hymen, who had approached her, and grinned. Hymen smiled back and replied.  

“Two days. That’s all it’ll take.”