Chapter 75

Meanwhile, Caldeon, having already scoured the magic tower once and destroyed most of its spaces, was moved outside due to the tower’s temporary shield activating. His eyes widened slightly as he saw Roseanne and Tearen searching for something around the tower.

A sudden, uneasy premonition gripping him, he quickly headed toward the two.

Roseanne and Tearen greeted him with faces that immediately hardened the moment they saw him.

“Why are you here?” Caldeon asked them. Roseanne and Tearen instinctively glanced at each other.

“Tearen,” Caldeon called him, pressing for a quick answer.

“Th-that is… the Saintess went inside the magic tower.”

Tearen explained that Roseanne had intended to accompany Enria, but the entrance vanished the moment Enria stepped inside.

Caldeon’s face immediately turned terrifying.

“How could Enria?”

He couldn’t understand why she had come to the tower, when he had clearly commanded the spirits and Hwioren to guard her closely.

His chilling gaze fell on Roseanne, who confessed that she had asked Tearen to help her bring Enria out.

“Actually, I got a message from Enri, and I asked Lord Tearen for help. Lord Tearen knew nothing and only helped us, so please don’t hold him responsible… Ugh!”

“Caldeon!”

Before Roseanne could finish speaking, Caldeon’s black shadow wrapped around her neck. Startled, Tearen called out to Caldeon, quickly using his magic to sever the black shadow choking Roseanne’s throat.

“Who commissioned you? A black magician? Or the tower?”

“What are you talking about?! Who commissioned Roseanne…!”

“Otherwise, there is no reason to bring Enria here. You know perfectly well that a black magician is after her life.” Caldeon said, his face so cold it seemed he might kill someone at any moment.

Instinctively feeling his life was in danger, Roseanne stammered fearfully as she offered what sounded like an excuse, not a defense.

“Th-that’s why I was going to accompany her… But the tower door suddenly…” The voice wouldn’t come out clearly, perhaps due to the black shadow squeezing her neck, and Roseanne painfully rubbed her throat several times.

She insisted she truly didn’t expect things to turn out like this, and that she had simply wanted to help Enria, who purely wanted to save Hayden.

Despite her words, Caldeon didn’t soften his terrifying expression. He stared at Tearen and Roseanne for a moment, then spun around and said, “If anything happens to Enria, I’ll kill you two lovebirds first.”

Tearen and Roseanne’s eyes widened.

‘Lovebirds?’

Roseanne’s face flushed as she realized Caldeon subconsciously considered them a couple, and she stole a glance at Tearen’s expression. Tearen also muttered in a sigh-filled voice, asking why he was suddenly calling them lovebirds, and then quickly glanced at Roseanne’s face, worried she might be upset.

Caldeon, who, even in his anger, was diligently pairing them up with his words for the sake of Enria who wished to unite them, created numerous black shadows and began searching for the vanished tower entrance. With both Enria and Hayden trapped in the tower, Caldeon felt an anxiety so overwhelming it was suffocating.

As soon as one of the black shadows found the magic tower’s entrance, Caldeon swiftly entered, marking his path with black shadows as he began searching for Enria.

However, the person Caldeon found first was not Enria, but Hayden.

Hayden was in the arms of a light-attribute magician, attacking Pahomel with divine power, while the light-attribute magician assisted Hayden, blocking Pahomel’s attacks with a light shield.

The moment Caldeon appeared, Pahomel instantly transformed into black smoke and concealed himself. Caldeon tried to capture the hidden Pahomel with black shadows, but Pahomel was one step faster and escaped.

“Daddy.” Hayden called Caldeon with a strangely calm expression. As if he had expected Caldeon to seek him out before Enria, Hayden told him, “Mommy gone.”

“Your mother is gone?”

Hayden nodded his head. “Gwon took her.”

“What is ‘Gwon’?” Caldeon asked, slightly furrowing his brow at Hayden’s next word. Belona, who was holding Hayden, quickly interjected.

“It’s Groen. He seems to have a bit of trouble pronouncing it.”

Only then did Caldeon look at Belona. Belona inwardly admired the adult version of Hayden. She had heard many rumors about the Duke of the North with black magic, but this was her first time seeing Caldeon in person.

‘He looks exactly the same.’

Having spent some time with Hayden, she found Caldeon, who was his spitting image, both curious and impressive. Displeased with Belona’s gaze directed at him, Caldeon frowned and asked her, “Why is a light-attribute magician holding my son?”

“Ah.”

Belona explained that Pahomel had ordered her to kill Hayden with light-attribute magic, but she had refused, unsure if the order was right. She then asked if Caldeon knew why Pahomel would try to kill the mother and son who might be the owner of the oracle.

To her question, Caldeon took Hayden from her arms and answered calmly.

“He is not the Tower Lord. The man just now was a black magician wearing the skin of the Tower Lord.”

Belona’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.

“A light-attribute magician felt doubt. You are quite lucky, Hayden.”

It was certainly lucky that the light magic, the only weakness of black magic, hadn’t attacked Hayden. If Belona had done as Pahomel commanded, Hayden would undoubtedly be dead or seriously injured.

“Belna’s nice.” Hayden said to Caldeon in his clumsy pronunciation.

Belona quickly jumped in to clarify, in case Caldeon didn’t understand.

“Belna is me. My name is Belona.” Belona added that even her name was difficult for him to pronounce, and she smiled affectionately at Hayden.

Caldeon was filled with a strange emotion upon seeing a light-attribute magician, who should never be friendly with someone who possesses black magic, show affection for Hayden.

Light-attribute magic has the property of binding black magic, so he had always tried not to cross paths or be associated with it, and he had diligently practiced swordsmanship and martial arts in case the magic tower used that power to attack him.

“Anyway, it’s an honor to meet you, Your Grace.”

“…I didn’t expect a light-attribute magician to be so young.”

“I’m not that young. I’m the same age as Groen. Ah, I’m Groen’s rumored lover.”

Caldeon shook his head once when Belona asked, ‘Have you heard the rumors about us?’, then asked where Groen was. He had a feeling Enria would be captured by Groen, as Hayden had told him to punish Groen.

Sure enough, Belona said Groen would be with Enria, and the two were probably fighting fiercely. When she added that if Groen had truly intended to kill Enria, Enria would already be dead, Hayden shook his head and refuted her statement.

“Mommy strong.”

“Yes. Your mother is strong. So this is just something I’m saying, little one.” Belona agreed with Hayden, telling him he was entirely right.

Caldeon looked at Belona for a moment and then entrusted Hayden to her. “Can you protect him?”

“…Protecting him isn’t difficult, but can you trust me?”

“You have protected Hayden so far, so even if I don’t trust you, you are trustworthy. Pahomel is a black magician, so if he reappears, do not hesitate to kill him.”

“The evidence that the Tower Lord is a black magician is still insufficient, so I’ll compromise with a defensive spell. Frankly, I have too many reservations about attacking my lover’s father.”

Belona said, shrugging her shoulder once. Caldeon nodded once, expressing his consent for her to do as she wished. Belona took Hayden from Caldeon and asked him, “But you seem more composed than I expected. Are you certain the Saintess is still alive?”

“Enria doesn’t die easily. And if, by some chance, she were to die, I would know.”

Belona’s eyes widened slightly at the mention that Caldeon would know if Enria died. With a look that asked how he could possibly know that, Caldeon turned toward the door and elaborated.

“If Enria were to die, my heart wouldn’t remain unaffected like this.”

He then swiftly opened the door and left. Belona, left alone with Hayden, stood there dumbfounded, trying to understand the meaning of Caldeon’s words.

***

Roseanne quickly ran to the magic tower entrance that Caldeon had found, then stopped when she saw Tearen casually following her.

“Lord Tearen, you shouldn’t come inside.”

“I can’t let you go alone.”

“My brother will be here soon.”

“Then why don’t you wait here until then.” Tearen’s face was full of concern after his notoriously ill-tempered friend had just choked Roseanne with black magic right in front of him.

“I’ll be fine.”

“You might be fine; it’s your business. But I won’t be fine, precisely because it is your business.”

Roseanne’s eyes blinked slowly at Tearen’s significant words, and her face soon flushed red. Her heart pounded with excitement just knowing that Tearen was worried about her well-being.

“Tearen! Roseanne!”

Just then, Rahar, who arrived late, called out to the two loudly. Rahar was accompanied by Undy and Lonn, two spirits, and as they came closer, countless more spirits could be seen behind them. They had all gathered, one after another, as soon as they heard the owner of the oracle, Hayden, had been kidnapped by a black magician, determined to rescue him.

Roseanne looked at them and said with a worried expression, “If the fire spirit that consumes the souls of spirits appears, everyone will be in danger.”

At that, the bravely gathered spirits looked at each other with concerned faces. Just as the atmosphere seemed to grow heavy, one of the spirits suddenly stepped forward and said to Roseanne, “Since this is the task of rescuing the owner of the oracle, our deaths will not be in vain.”

Following this, the countless spirits who had been worried about the appearance of Panz nodded their heads, solidifying their resolve.

Roseanne looked at them, then turned her gaze to Tearen and Rahar. When both of them signaled with their eyes that it would be okay, she sighed briefly as if she had no choice and turned around.

“Alright, let’s go. To save the owners of the oracle.”

Roseanne showed her strong will to definitely save them and entered the entrance of the magic tower. As she went in, she didn’t forget to add a final command to Tearen not to follow.

Rahar and the spirits followed behind her. Tearen watched them all enter the magic tower, praying that everyone would safely rescue Enria and Hayden and return.