Chapter 48
Still… why did she even carry something like that around in the first place? …Whatever.
Riana’s eyes narrowed on Gray.
“You remember our deal, right? It still stands. I said it was for as long as you stayed in this castle.”
Gray rolled his eyes like he was tired of hearing it.
“Yeah, yeah. I wasn’t planning to break it.”
A lot had changed since he’d become a knight, but for something like love to be possible, it would probably take much more time.
He still had trouble understanding that word.
Shrugging, he rolled the handkerchief up into a tight ball and tied it with a knot.
“Willie!”
At his name, Willie jumped up, leapt into the air, and caught the ball in his mouth.
“See?”
Gray grinned like he’d done something great.
Riana frowned, looking at the shredded fabric between Willie’s fangs.
“I do see… and your character is just…”
Really—he literally gave something someone had handed him straight to a dog.
Then again, this was the male lead who once sliced off the villainess’s head without blinking. Where would his “good character” even be hiding?
When she didn’t look impressed, Gray scratched the back of his neck.
“…Was that not the right thing to do?”
Guess you only find out by trying—whether it’s love or anything else.
The prince’s speech wrapped up, and the clicking of cameras broke the calm as a photographer started taking pictures.
The children began whispering to each other.
“The older kids said the food here is amazing!”
“Really? I should’ve eaten less breakfast!”
In the middle of the quiet murmuring, a boy’s voice suddenly caught Riana’s ear.
“Hey, Hugo!”
The boy named Hugo turned toward the speaker. Riana looked in the same direction.
“Huh? What is it, Louis?”
“Do you see that person sitting in the front row of the executives’ seats?”
“Where?”
“There! First row. Oh—he’s standing now, buttoning his jacket.”
“Oh…”
Hugo squinted to see better.
Curious, Riana followed Louis’s pointing finger.
It was Killian, now standing to give his welcome after the prince.
“He’s in our textbook. Remember?”
Hugo looked confused, so Louis smacked him lightly on the shoulder.
“You know, the Magic Society and Ethics textbook! The part about criminal mages.”
“…Hmm…”
“He’s in there as an example for Magical Power Disorder. Killian Droche, the Duke!”
Riana’s eyebrows rose.
She already knew the man was impressive, but to be in a school textbook? That was something else.
What exactly did it say about him?
She perked her ears. She wasn’t the only curious one—Hugo looked intrigued too.
“…Magical Power Disorder? What’s that again?”
“You idiot! You don’t know?”
Right—at least know that much. Even this non-mage big sister knows it.
Riana smirked a little to herself, proud of how much she’d adapted to this world.
But then another voice, much closer, reached her ears.
“What are you smiling at?”
It was Gray, who had been watching her whether she was looking at the stage or the kids.
She turned her head quickly. “…Huh?”
“You suddenly smiled.”
She shrugged. “Just watching the kids—”
And then Louis’s next words cut into her thoughts like a blade:
“Magical Power Disorder is that disease where mages kill people!”
Riana’s lips froze mid-sentence. She stared at the boy in shock.
Unaware that anyone was listening, Louis kept bragging.
“When someone’s born with power so strong they can’t control it, the power ends up controlling them. And when they completely lose control… boom!”
The sound wasn’t loud at this distance, but it still made Riana’s body flinch.
If she reacted like that, how must Hugo—standing right next to Louis—feel? Hugo let out a small “U-ugh!”
Finding the reaction amusing, Louis smirked and went on.
“That’s the kind of mage who ends up killing everyone around them. And that guy right there? He’s one of them.”
“H-he is?”
Hugo’s eyes trembled as he looked toward Killian, who was adjusting the microphone on stage.
The pale morning sunlight made his skin look even paler. His sharp black suit and pitch-black hair only made him seem more severe.
He was tall, his expression was hard.
To a child’s eyes, he was scary from head to toe.
Hugo tore his eyes away, as if that would erase the image, and muttered almost tearfully,
“Then… then he’s a murderer?”
“No, not yet. But he will be. On the same page as him in the textbook is the world’s most murderous mage, Raphael Jenkins.”
“W-who’s that?”
“Another case of Magical Power Disorder! He lost control and killed seventy-one miners in the same place.”
“Ugh…”
Hugo shook as if trying to make himself smaller.
Riana frowned. He wasn’t even talking about her, but the words still hurt in her chest.
Louis, chin tilted proudly, kept talking.
“So, that Duke will eventually slaughter people too. The scary part is no one knows when. Could be four years, four hours, or four minutes.”
He clicked his tongue rhythmically—“tick-tock, tick-tock”—like a fast clock.
“Ugh…”
Hugo whimpered and finally burst into tears.
Pointing toward the stage, he cried out,
“Waaah! Monster! He’s a monster!”
Riana put a palm over her forehead.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake.”
She felt drained.
And she wasn’t the only one affected. The kids started murmuring all over again.
“What’s wrong with Hugo?”
“What did he just say?”
“Didn’t he call someone a monster? Who?”
Amid the confusion, Louis shouted proudly,
“That Duke—he’s got Magical Power Disorder!”
“That scary disease?”
“Y-yeah…! I saw it in the textbook!”
Soon, more kids started crying along with Hugo.
The panicked teachers tried to calm them, but it was no use.
“S-sorry…! I don’t know why they’re like this…”
Covering their mouths didn’t help—kids broke free of the adults’ hands, wailing and struggling. Some even tried to run away.
From the stage, Killian looked out at the chaos silently, then closed his eyes.
He didn’t follow the program or give his speech.
Instead, he stepped down from the stage, walking neither quickly nor slowly.
He didn’t return to his seat—he left entirely, disappearing from sight so the children wouldn’t see him.
“…Ha.”
Riana let out a sigh through her teeth.
For some reason, her chest felt tight.
The welcome ceremony was wrapped up in a hurry.
The orphanage teachers tried to line the children up for the next stop, Genevieve Castle.
“Come on, kids, let’s get in pairs again!”
Some were still sniffling, some hiccuping from crying, others messing around in the confusion.
“Please, quiet down and listen to your teachers—!”
It was impossible to control them with just words. But yelling at them here, in front of the Duke’s retainers and the Ministry of Magic officials, wasn’t an option either.
“Follow me this way, do you see my hand?”
While the director and teachers struggled, one little girl with neatly braided pale-yellow hair quietly slipped out of the group.
Her name was Ginny.
Ginny was a few handspans shorter than the other kids, so the teachers didn’t notice her.
“G-Ginny? Where are you going!”
Only Hugo spotted her.
He tried to follow her weaving between people, then gave up on just watching and broke from the line himself.
“Ginny! Hey!”
But Ginny ignored his calls, running straight toward her goal.
Her wide blue eyes were fixed in the direction one man had just gone.
The Duke of Droche!
