Chapter 33
“Are you saying that being the Lord of the Magic Tower gives you the ability to make prophecies now? No, more importantly, what on earth could prevent the Duke of Western from attending the Festival of Vows…?”
Could something bad… have happened to him?
Flustered, Maia asked again.
“Tell me properly. What do you mean by that…?”
“…You’re overreacting.”
Maia’s lips, which had been spilling out words rapidly, suddenly stopped.
Lihi was now looking at her with an expression devoid of a smile.
…Oh no. Why did I react like that?
Maia averted her eyes, her lips trembling slightly under his gaze.
“I was going to tell you even if you didn’t ask again. It’s not that something bad is going to happen to the Duke of Western. I simply gave a heads-up to the Emperor. He won’t be able to attend.”
Maia was at a loss for words. She should have waited a little longer. Why had she been so impatient?
“You were that anxious just hearing that he wouldn’t attend?”
Lihi asked with a smile Maia couldn’t quite comprehend.
“…Sorry.”
Maia muttered softly, biting her lip.
What complicated her feelings wasn’t how Lihi might interpret her earlier reaction.
…It was the fact that she had panicked so visibly and acted so rashly—just from hearing that the Duke of Western would not attend the festival.
But one thing is clear. My marriage with His Grace won’t last long.
…Even after saying something like that to the Duke’s face.
Am I still not free from him?
Maia clenched her trembling hands tightly.
And in that moment—
“…?!”
A finger suddenly slipped into her mouth, forcing her lips open.
“Don’t bite yourself. Your tooth might chip.”
Lihi, still wearing a bright smile, was lightly pressing down on her tongue.
Beyond shocked, Maia felt goosebumps race down her entire body.
She blinked rapidly, unsure what to do with this strange, unfamiliar sensation.
Lihi let out a soft chuckle, clearly entertained by her reaction.
This bastard… Is he actually insane?
Oblivious—or perhaps indifferent—to Maia’s swirling emotions, Lihi didn’t stop smiling as he gently applied pressure with his fingertip.
“Ah!”
A spark of fire lit in Maia’s once-shimmering eyes.
“Ah-ya!”
Even as she struck him sharply in the neck with the edge of her hand, it was clear from his expression that he wasn’t hurt at all.
“Da-ja chi-uh!”
Her sincere threat emerged as an utterly ridiculous, garbled cry.
Maia wanted to die from embarrassment.
She could feel her face burning.
But the crazy bastard—he just kept gazing at her, as if she were the most adorable thing in the world.
“Alright, I’ll stop. You’re practically killing me with your eyes.”
Lihi finally withdrew the finger pressing down on her tongue.
Maia glared at him with murder in her eyes, her lips tingling from the odd sensation.
“Are you actually insane? What the hell was that just now? Have you lost it?”
Maia snapped, her voice trembling with fury.
“…Just because.”
That bizarre response had no remorse or explanation. As Maia’s brows furrowed in confusion—
“I didn’t want to see you angry. Or with that trembling look on your face.”
Maia’s amethyst eyes, delicate as lilac petals, widened.
“…You probably can’t understand. How much pain I feel every time you waver because of that man.”
Golden eyes, like sweetly melted honey laced with bitterness, looked directly at her.
“If only you could forget that man completely.”
Lihi reached out and gently brushed away a lock of hair from her forehead.
“If I could drive out every last trace of warmth he left behind…”
“…”
Maia could say nothing. She stared blankly at Lihi.
A mixture of incomprehensible desperation and emotion swirled in his golden gaze, on the verge of overflowing.
“Everyone calls me omnipotent, but in reality, I’m nothing of the sort.”
What did he mean by that?
Maia truly had no idea.
Why was this longtime friend acting this way, all of a sudden?
“…I’ve wasted enough time with nonsense.”
The warmth receded.
“Anyway, the Duke of Western won’t be coming to the Festival. But don’t think you can skip it too.”
Lihi layered his broken expression with a smile, as if nothing had happened.
“Make sure you come.”
“…You—”
Maia barely managed to get a word out, but she couldn’t continue.
Those mysterious golden eyes, not showing the slightest bit of emotion, stared right back at her.
And in that moment, a wind swept through the room, lifting strands of hair into the air.
“Wait, Li—”
She reached out belatedly, but there was nothing to grasp.
“Don’t ever come back. Our relationship ends here.”
Why… why did it feel like goodbye again?
Even though this time, he had smiled as he left.
Maia stood frozen, gazing at the empty spot where Lihi had disappeared.
It felt like she had returned to that day in the forest, when he’d left in a fury colder than ice—leaving her behind, unable to stop him.
With every step, a vivid crimson shimmered like a scene from a myth, fluttering in the wind.
A breathtakingly handsome man, whose appearance defied the passage of nearly fifty years, stood on the ceremonial stage, a peculiar smile on his lips.
The Emperor had appeared.
His red gaze passed through the midday sunlight and landed on a pair of purple eyes glowing like crystal.
For a moment, the Emperor’s lips curved faintly.
“As the moon waxes once more, the time of oath has returned.”
His voice, calm and flawless, resonated across the square.
“I hereby declare the beginning of the ceremony that honors the great hero who founded our Empire.”
“Waaaaah—!”
“Glory forever to the Adelstein Empire!”
“Endless praise to His Majesty the Emperor and to Luar!”
The deafening cheers shook the capital to its core.
The Festival of Vows had begun.
People flooded the streets of the Holy City, reveling in the festivities.
Petals rained endlessly from the sky, and there wasn’t a single face without a smile.
“…”
Once upon a time, I would’ve been among those people too.
Maia stopped walking, her eyes falling on a happy family.
Her mother had always been too busy to join, but she used to roam these very streets with Aunt Amica, Hailey, and Viper.
“These days, even women without underworld backgrounds carry self-defense weapons. Pick one. Ten or so should be enough to start with.”
“Viper! Good heavens, what kind of terrifying tool are you handing to Lady Maia?! Don’t accept that, my lady!”
“The young maid just doesn’t get it. The higher the class, the more they need to defend themselves. Real perverts prefer noblewomen.”
“Viper’s right. Maia, you’re not meant to live like some greenhouse flower. Ten is too much, but you should at least buy one.”
Voices from the past bubbled up, full of worry and love.
Everyone had tried to protect her in their own way.
“…”
But now, standing silently behind Maia, were only her maids.
No husband. No family. No friends.
“…It’s all so noisy.”
There was no one by her side.
Maia lowered her gaze.
Perhaps this was what she had truly lost by choosing the life of a noblewoman.
Things you don’t even realize exist—until they’re gone.
The kind of love that quietly surrounds you but means everything in the world.
“…Let’s return to the ducal estate.”
“I’ll call for the carriage.”
What point is there in standing in a corner of a festival when the people who matter aren’t with you?
Better to return.
To that stark, silent winter palace, where even the heartbeat seemed to grow cold.
Maia slowly turned and walked away.
The Duke of Western would not be attending the Festival of Vows.
Maia had wondered what trick Lihi might’ve used—but surprisingly, the answer came quickly.
“His Majesty has ordered the Duke of Western to tour the northern territories.”
It was the Emperor who had stepped in.
“And since the husband cannot attend, he has ordered that the wife must appear without fail.”
It felt… strange.
Maia suppressed the discomfort rising in her chest and nodded slightly.
Even if Lihi was the Lord of the Magic Tower, could the Emperor truly follow his will so easily?
The Duke of Western was departing the day before Maia was to head to the Tower. The timing was too perfect—clearly planned.
…Lihi—no, Lihail Earis—was the Lord of the Magic Tower.
He was also the most beloved retainer of Luar, the founder of the Empire and the legendary Archmage.
Of course, that made him important.
But the Adelstein Empire had always strictly separated magic and politics.
And yet, here was the Emperor complying with Lihi’s request—without any apparent benefit to himself.
Why?
If Lihi had so much influence, wouldn’t it be easier for him to just command the Emperor to approve Maia and the Duke’s divorce?
Why go through such a convoluted charade?
“…Ha.”
Everything seemed to fit together too perfectly.
Like I’m nothing more than a soulless doll, a powerless actor on someone else’s stage.
And that thought… kept creeping in, quietly and relentlessly.
