Chapter 69

Those who use others as tools cross the line easily. At first, they swear they won’t cause harm—but later, when circumstances change, they flip their hand without hesitation.

And in the first place, how could Helio believe him? A man who could say, without batting an eye, that Sabina was merely a tool for his purpose—and then act like a gentle lamb, fawning in front of her.

But Helio had nothing to counter Ashton’s remark about his frequent contact with Reyes. Ashton struck precisely at the point that had been confusing the boy lately. While putting the word “deceit” in his mouth, was the boy himself truly clean?

Helio’s cheeks flushed bright red, then turned pale. It was from shame. Ashton erased all expression from his face and looked at the foolishly innocent, stupid boy. He disliked this child. But he needed him.

“Can’t you trust me?”

“How can I trust you? You lie so well.”

A hand thr*st out. Helio stared at that hand with a stiff face.

Ashton Bryant smiled sharply.

“Read it.”

The boy hesitated. This was someone who, even when he had been ambushed by magic, had flung Helio away while leaving only the faintest clue behind. If Helio grabbed this hand, wouldn’t he be read in return? His lips trembled. But there was no other option.

If he didn’t take a risk, he couldn’t gain anything.

Helio, with chilled fingertips, grasped the man’s hand.

“Ugh!”

The next moment, he was thrown aside again. Helio rolled across the floor, coughing harshly. His stomach lurched as if he might vomit up everything he had eaten at lunch. He bent over and dry-heaved. A cold gaze fell over his head.

“You’re far from it.”

“You!”

Even staggering, Helio lunged again. By connecting to Ashton’s mind, he could once more read a fragment of information. What he wanted to know this time was whether “Sabina would truly be safe,” and the sentence he managed to decipher was: “I can’t guarantee it.”

“You lied!”

“Shut up.”

Ashton seemed angry, too. Sparks jumped in his blue eyes.

He raised his hand high, as if he might slap Helio across the face at any moment. But even if he vented his anger here, nothing would change. He lowered his hand.

The man stared quietly at the delicate face of the boy clutching his collar.

He had thought anger and fear would be sufficient fuel. But it wasn’t enough. The boy could sharpen his magic only within an ethical boundary, under adults’ protection, in a warm bed.

But strengthening his power slowly, legally, under those constraints was not what Ashton wanted. He wanted magic powerful enough to brainwash an entire lifetime. Powerful, meticulous magic.

It had to be completed before winter came. For that, he had to practice magic on humans.

Then there was only one answer.

Ashton pried the white hand off his collar and whispered.

“I’ll be your practice target.”

Helio furrowed his brow. Those words sounded profoundly strange. What had this man just said? Helio was his obstacle. And yet he was now saying he would help the boy.

“Why?”

Ashton had gotten too lazy to even tack on a reason. He just said something rough.

“Because I don’t think you can.”

Ironically, that was the line that provoked Helio the most.

* * *

“It’s late, Lady Sabina. I contacted Mr. Bryant’s residence, and they said you weren’t there.”

Only when it was close to midnight, as Sabina finally returned home, Mitchell’s sulky complaint struck her. Sabina pretended not to hear and first set her staff onto a stool.

“Julia, undress me.”

“Where on earth did you go? I won’t tell you to mind your reputation. Ever since you became the head of the household, you’ve long since given that up. However….”

Mitchell’s view was that, for Sabina’s safety, at least she—Sabina’s closest attendant—needed to know where Sabina was going and when she planned to return.

Worn out, Sabina waved her hand as if to shut Mitchell up.

“There aren’t many mages in Brinita as powerful as me.”

“But few people refrain from using magic the way you do, Lady Sabina.”

“This again.”

“What do you mean, ‘again’? This is the first time I’ve said it. Of course, I respect your cautious attitude far more than those who use magic recklessly and invite premature disaster, but why is that cautious attitude selectively applied only when it comes to not using magic….”

“Stop.”

Seeing Sabina truly looked exhausted, Mitchell realized something was off and closed her mouth.

“I didn’t go anywhere dangerous. But I met a lot of people.”

Not only Mitchell but Julia looked curious about whom she had met. But Sabina didn’t say more, and went up to her bedroom.

She trudged over and flopped face-down onto the bed. A week had passed since she had told the tavern owner, and he had kept his promise—hunting down, like picking out lice, the pharmacists who exported magical medicine to Letona, and presenting that list to Sabina.

Sabina had spent today visiting the people on that list one by one. But the results were not impressive.

The pharmacists were reluctant to answer questions about their customers. Customer information was confidential they were obliged to protect, and among the exports to Letona, there were often cases that used illegal raw materials.

In foreign countries that didn’t properly understand magical medicine, there was no way proper regulatory standards had been established.

Sensing something odd in what Sabina was probing, the pharmacists politely dismissed her. Sabina realized she had lost the chance to get further information from them.

‘I misjudged. I should’ve pretended to be a customer.’

Sabina was clumsy at that sort of social maneuvering or politics. She had lived a life where people knelt at her feet without her needing to try, and so she’d never had any reason to learn such things. Until now, she’d never regretted it. But today, she regretted it a little. All she had gained were cramped calves and sore soles.

Sabina blinked with her cheek pressed to the blanket.

‘It wasn’t as though there were no results at all, but….’

None of the pharmacists she met today used crystal bottles like the one Ashton had. Sabina regretted not having recorded that bottle with a burn-record device. If she could learn what region that bottle had been made in and to whom it had been sold, she might have secured a more advantageous position.

But a moment later, she decided to change her mind.

‘It’s pointless to regret it now.’

In the first place, it wasn’t that she was curious about ‘who’ had sold Ashton the medicine. She was curious about ‘what’ kind of medicine Ashton had. She got up from bed and sat at a round table. In a drawer nearby, there were always paper, pen, and ink. Sabina began writing a letter.

The recipient was an old friend she hadn’t seen in a long time.