Chapter 70

After Caldeon collected the blood in a glass vial and handed it to Fyoren, Enria cast a healing spell on the palm he had cut to draw the blood.

“You can just leave it. It’s nothing.”

Caldeon sounded slightly displeased, as if he didn’t like her using holy power.

Ignoring him, Enria wrapped his palm with far more meticulous holy energy than usual. Only after the wound closed completely did she finally look up at him.

“How could the woman of Caldeon leave a wound alone when she’s a healing Saintess?”

“……”

“And I’m not the type to ignore it when my man is hurt.”

For a moment, Caldeon’s obsidian eyes flashed with something strange. Then he suddenly leaned down and brushed his lips against hers with a feather-light kiss before pulling back.

The unexpected, ticklish gesture made Enria’s eyes widen as her cheeks reddened in real time.

Finding her reaction adorable, Caldeon’s lips curved into a lazy smile.

“Right. Your man was hurt.”

“……”

“And my woman knows how to use healing magic.”

“……”

“Which means I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

A deep, pleased laugh rumbled from his chest.

‘How does that even follow…?’

Enria tilted her head slightly.

“Enria.”

His smile vanished as if it had never existed.

“But I don’t want you to strain yourself.”

“Strain? This isn’t even remotely—”

“Especially when you’re using your holy power and abilities… for me.”

Caldeon let his voice trail as he looked at her.

Enria knew exactly what he meant. She felt the same every time he threw his body in front of danger for her and got wounded.

When someone you love gets hurt because of you, it’s only natural to feel that ache.

Wanting to give him everything she could, just as he wished she’d spare herself any burden, Enria spoke gently.

“I want to use my holy power and abilities for you, Caldeon.”

“I don’t want you using them because of other people.”

“You’re not ‘other people.’ I’m using them for the one I love.”

“Trying to tempt me like that won’t—”

Caldeon let out a low groan, shaking his head twice.

“But you’ll give in, won’t you?”

“……”

“You’d never hate me no matter what I do.”

“Of course not. Why would I hate—you… gods, your stubbornness. How am I supposed to break through it? It’s going to be my life’s greatest challenge.”

He sighed, short and helpless.

Enria thought he must love her several times more than she loved him. Otherwise, with his personality, he would never let her have her way when he genuinely didn’t want her to use her powers.

Thinking of Hayden, who was getting just as stubborn, Caldeon let out a deeper sigh.

“Ah—such an obvious sigh.”

Teasing him, Enria grinned. Caldeon stared at her with those black eyes, then tugged her closer and kissed her.

What began as a soft, innocent kiss soon deepened into something hungrier and more consuming.

***

While Caldeon and Enria were spending “treatment” time sweetened by affection, Pahomel resolved to infiltrate the Grand Duke’s castle again using black magic.

He considered getting Panz’s help, but the spirit still couldn’t fully control the power he’d gained from consuming elemental souls. Forcing it would be risky.

Pahomel could slip past holy barriers and avoid detection by curses on his own anyway.

Besides—Caldeon was injured from their last fight. Surely he’d be away from Enria and Hayden at least briefly for treatment.

Pahomel himself had a twisted ankle thanks to Caldeon, but he couldn’t afford to wait.

‘If not now, who knows when I’ll get another chance.’

Determined to kill Enria and kidnap Hayden to extract information about black mana, he slipped into the castle. He planned to wait for the moment when the two weren’t with Caldeon and snatch both at once. Hidden in black smoke, he waited.

But when he saw Enria using holy power to heal Caldeon, he changed his mind.

The longer he lingered, the more likely holy wards would detect him. And those two would stay together as long as she healed him.

So he turned his focus to Hayden.

Hayden wasn’t easy either—he was with Windel and Graum—but he was still a child. Tricking him should be simple. Black magic could briefly create illusions resembling living beings, perfect for fooling him.

Unfortunately, Pahomel didn’t know that Hayden could already distinguish black magic’s aura.

He only saw that the child looked at his fake Windel with curiosity and approached him, and assumed his trick worked.

To keep Windel and Graum from noticing, Pahomel created a fake Hayden behind Windel and hid the real child with a smoke veil.

Hayden toddled toward him, and Pahomel wrapped him in smoke, vanishing with him.

He reached his hideout in the Mage Tower and cheered.

Had kidnapping been this easy, he would’ve done it ages ago.

Hayden looked around with Caldeon’s obsidian eyes—wide, curious, fearless. It annoyed Pahomel. The brat had inherited his father’s arrogance.

He decided not to bother with experiments. The boy needed to die first.

Enria would come running to save Hayden even if he were dead—mothers always did.

Pahomel reached toward the child.

“Blame your parents for your misfortune, child.”

Black smoke wrapped around Hayden. The boy only giggled brightly as it touched him.

Pahomel sneered and wrapped black magic around Hayden’s ankle.

But snapping his neck like Caldeon had done to his ankle?

Not so easy.

The moment the smoke tightened, a shadow poured from Hayden’s small body—forming a massive, hand-like shape. It swept away Pahomel’s black magic as if clearing dust.

“……!”

Pahomel’s eyes almost popped out.

“N-no way…!”

Even if he was the prophesied one, how could a child handle black mana as easily as Caldeon? Magic of any kind required training and honing.

‘How—how is this possible!?’

Horrified, Pahomel cast attack spells.

Every one of them dissolved the moment Hayden’s shadow brushed against them.

The child babbled nonsense, the massive shadow growing until it filled the room.

Pahomel limped closer, panicking, and grabbed Hayden’s neck with his bare hand.

He squeezed, desperate.

Hayden’s black eyes flickered with some unreadable light.

“Die… die, descendant of black mana!”