Chapter 81
The curt Niyan came to the garden again that night. Last time it had been stargazing under the night sky; today, he suddenly said he would show a fireworks display.
“A fireworks show? Out of nowhere?”
“You may look forward to it.”
With his face once again transformed into a smile, he gathered not only me but all the maids of the mansion as well.
“Oh my. A fireworks show? I’m really looking forward to it.”
“To think we’ll get to see the Great Mage’s magic—what luck could be greater?”
The maids who gathered in the garden chatted and laughed, freely expressing their excitement.
Standing before everyone, Niyan waved his fingers back and forth like a magician performing a magic show. Then a small circle was drawn in midair and shot straight up into the sky.
Bang, bang.
Yellow, red, and green lights spread in all directions across the black sky. They bloomed in flower shapes or spread out in simple circular patterns. It wasn’t large enough to cover the entire sky, but it was enough to blanket the garden.
They were fireworks I had often seen back when I lived as Im Yoon‑kyung. There, fireworks frequently served as the grand finale at festivals and events. To me, they were like memories from a previous life.
“Oh my, oh my. How can they be so beautiful?”
The maids cheered and exclaimed in admiration as they watched the fireworks. Some were so stunned they simply stood there with their mouths hanging open. This must have been their first time ever seeing such a rare sight.
Perhaps because it had been so long.
Each time a firework burst, my heart thumped along with it. Back in what was now my former life, in my childhood, watching fireworks with my mom and dad had been my favorite thing to do. Whenever I saw fireworks shot into the sky, sparkling as they fell, my chest would tremble with excitement.
As these thoughts swirled around, my heart ended up feeling unsettled and wistful.
How long would I continue living here? Would I never be able to go back?
Forgotten thoughts suddenly came crashing over me.
When I happened to look back, there was a smile on Niyan’s face, as if drawn there. The sight of him smiling while looking at me felt strangely unfamiliar in that moment.
Okhee asked me for treatment after a very long time. While I was reading comfortably in my room, he fluttered his wings and gestured for me to follow him. I changed into comfortable clothes and immediately followed after him.
As expected, we entered the forest at night. Just when it felt like we had gone quite deep, we arrived near a lake. Okhee perched on a low tree and cried out “Ok-ok,” as if to tell me this was the place. Beneath the tree, a faint light could be seen. When I went closer to take a look, it was Gwangho, the light fox I had met before.
Perhaps remembering that I had saved him, he whimpered vigorously the moment he saw me. Trapped inside an iron cage and pleading for help, he looked utterly pitiful. There wasn’t even any bait trap—how on earth had he gotten caught? And in the first place, I wasn’t even sure whether a creature presumed to be a divine beast like Gwangho needed food at all.
I approached the cage and tapped the outside lightly. It looked extremely sturdy, like an ordinary iron cage.
As I was pondering what to do, space warped in an empty clearing nearby and a gust of wind arose. It was the phenomenon that occurred every time teleportation was used.
“Ta-da! I’m here.”
Appearing in the air wrapped in wind was, as always, Niyan. There was only one person who used teleportation when coming to me. Since he came straight into the forest, it seemed his coordinates were set to me.
However, when I showed no reaction, he jutted out his lips as if sulking.
“Huh? This isn’t what we agreed on? You said you’d welcome me, and now—huh?”
He had been grumbling as soon as he arrived, but only now did he seem to grasp the situation. His chattering mouth fell silent. Thanks to that, I could once again focus on resolving the problem.
The cage holding Gwangho had wood on the top and bottom, with iron bars standing sparsely between them. From a common-sense perspective, breaking the wood rather than the iron would have been the obvious choice, but touching that part carried a high risk of injuring Gwangho.
After much deliberation, I firmly grabbed one of the bars lined up side by side and yanked it outward with force. With a loud ting! one of the bars popped out.
“Gasp!!”
I heard a horrified cry beside me, but I ignored it and continued working. If I pulled out just one more, there would be enough space for Gwangho to slip through.
Ting!
Just as expected, when I pulled out one more bar, Gwangho shot out like an arrow. He bounced around, clung to my arm, and rubbed his face against me, as if thanking me.
I stroked the sparkling, soft creature two or three times. Then I noticed something like a burn mark on Gwangho’s left front leg. I immediately dabbed some saliva on it and rubbed it in; the red, swollen wound subsided back to normal in an instant. At that moment, another shocked gasp erupted from beside me.
“Go on. Be more careful next time.”
Gwangho spun around in place a few times before disappearing deep into the forest. Okhee, who had been perched in the tree, also flapped his wings and flew after him. I had been waving until then, but I turned my head toward Niyan, who had slowly approached.
“You’re here?”
“My goodness. Do you know what you just did, Miss?”
“I saved Gwangho and treated him.”
“What’s Gwangho? Ah. You mean that fox divine beast.”
For a genius mage spoken of as the next Master of the Mage Tower, it seemed there shouldn’t be much in this world that could surprise him. Yet Niyan’s eyes sparkled with wonder, as if he had never seen anything like this before. Moreover, from his words, I could be certain that Gwangho was indeed a divine beast.
“How did you do it?”
“My saliva has healing properties.”
Since everything had already been revealed to the Emperor and the entire scene had been thoroughly exposed, there was nothing in particular to hide, so I just told him. At that, his red eyes widened dramatically.
“Healing properties? Wow. How is that even possible?”
“Is it really that amazing?”
“Of course it is! There was an enormous curse placed on that cage.”
“A curse?”
I hadn’t felt anything at all, so a curse was news to me. If what Niyan said was true, something should have happened—but I was no different than usual.
In response, he continued.
“There’s nothing to hide. That cage was installed by the Mage Tower to capture the fox divine beast.”
“No, why would the Mage Tower want to capture Gwangho?”
“That fox divine beast commands all animals. If you capture him, you can receive an endless supply of magical materials.”
“They experiment on animals? How cruel.”
“It’s a method the Master of the Mage Tower devised to curry favor with the research mages. Anyway, to lure and capture that nimble creature, all sorts of curse-type magical traps were set. Miss, you destroyed all of that with your bare hands.”
“Oh. That’s impressive.”
I admired it sincerely, but Niyan looked dumbfounded, as if I were talking about someone else.
It didn’t really feel real. Because I truly hadn’t felt anything at all. It had nothing to do with whether I trusted his words or not.
But Niyan’s next action made me realize the gravity of the matter.
He suddenly dropped to one knee in front of me and bowed his head. He looked like a knight pledging loyalty before a king.
“Niyan, what are you doing right now?”
“I sincerely respect you, Lady Aileen. From this day forward, I, Niyan Oliverts, will be your loyal servant.”
“Huh? Why?”
This time, I was the one who jumped in surprise at his sudden 180-degree change in attitude. What on earth was this that made him go this far?
“Lady Aileen, since you’ve never formally learned magic, you probably don’t know.”
“Yes, I really don’t.”
“That’s what makes it even more amazing. The curses placed there destroy life itself. They are dangerous powers that even the caster cannot undo, similar to the power of demons. Lady Aileen, who possesses the power to break them, wields divine authority.”
“Ah.”
Divine power—was that really true? The healing ability I possessed was far greater than I had imagined.
Thinking about it, since death and life are opposite in nature, it was actually quite a convincing explanation that the power to grant life would be divine authority.
While I was contemplating my healing ability, Niyan hesitated, his lips moving slightly. He seemed to have something to say, cautiously.
“There’s something I haven’t told you….”
“What is it?”
“Well, actually….”
Just how difficult of a confession was it that he was hesitating like that? Being Korean by nature and quick-tempered, I immediately went into pressuring mode.
“Hurry up and say it.”
“I’m a member of the Night Watch.”
“The Night Watch….”
“Yes. My goal is to take revenge on the Emperor. I lost someone precious to the former Emperor.”
“Oh my.”
His confession was truly shocking.
What—so that meant he really had known all of my circumstances from the start?
“I see. It’s unfortunate that you came to bear a grudge against the Emperor, but then does that mean you knew my feelings all along and teased me anyway?”
“What? Teased you? That’s impossible. Haven’t we been building a friendship with each other?”
Unfortunate was unfortunate, but boundaries needed to be clearly set.
I firmly grabbed the shoulder of Niyan, who continued to act shamelessly. Holding him so he couldn’t escape, I smiled gently and spoke. It wasn’t a question—it was a notice.
“It’s okay if I hit you just once, right?”
“W-with… those bare hands that ripped out iron bars so brutally…? Won’t it… hurt?”
Niyan shuddered, looking at the fist I was holding.
“Of course it’ll hurt. That’s why I’m hitting you.”
“Yow!”
And with my clenched fist, I flicked him sharply on the forehead.
Perhaps he had some conscience, because it seemed he hadn’t put up a magical barrier or anything. You could tell from the bump that instantly swelled up on his head.
I had been extremely confused about whether this guy was an enemy or an ally, but now that things were finally clear, I felt completely relieved.
Another fortunate thing was that Raymond hadn’t seen Niyan fooling around like that. It was fortunate that he became polite because of my healing ability. Otherwise, who knows what might have happened.
And so, I gained a genius mage as an ally.
