Instantly, the boy forgot all his pain and confusion.
There was a glimmer of light in the eyes of Nocton, who fell to the floor. He had no choice but to be patient, but he did not endure because he had no confidence to overcome the opponent in front of him.
The hand that he clenched his fist to dig into his palm slowly unfolded.
“I asked you something obvious. There is no child who would not be scared if they knew what you really were. If she wasn’t lured by that dirty trick, she won’t be around.”
Putting the empty glass bottle on the desk, the Duchess slowly walked to the window. When she opened the window, a maple tree that grew outside of the office’s window revealed its leaves. With the blue sky as the background, it looked very beautiful when the sunlight shot thinly through the leaves of the maple leaves.
“She’s such a pretty girl. She has bright hair and her face is a little fierce, but she’s as cute as a little animal. Valrose is a great Marquis house. Just in time, Floyd needs a good match.”
Nocton Edgar’s head slowly lifted.
His eyes fixed on his mother’s back, standing against him by the window. The eyes that were soaked in pain are sunken with fear.
“She’s still not old enough. But if we wait for about four years, she will become an adult.”
The boy’s fingertips were dyed black.
For Nocton Edgar, magic was easy. As easy as moving his hands and feet, as easy as blinking his eyes.
It was ridiculously easy to hurt others just by lifting his hands without much calculation.
Patricia Edgar was so good at swords that she can even be ordained as a knight. There were nearly to ten guards hidden around her, so even though she knew that Nocton was a wizard, she was not wary.
The boy was confident.
Even if not ten, but twenty, it is not in the least difficult to grasp Patricia’s mind, and even a hundred guards won’t notice it.
But that ability comes today, it was not the power that suddenly bloomed at this moment.
“In the future … please never kill a life.”
It’s too easy to hurt someone.
It’s too easy to manipulate a person to run his way.
Nocton knew for a long time.
But even when he was younger than now, when he was less patient than he is now, he never killed a single life.
The reason was simple.
“Never kill anything. Understand? It’s a promise!“
Although it was one-sided, it was a promise with Roa Valrose.
As long as he doesn’t kill someone, such a perverse heart rises.
But Valrose’s words never kill didn’t mean that he really doesn’t have to kill. In that word, the promise was implicit in the morality of life.
She’s a real go-getter, but she has a higher moral opinion than the universal standard. Therefore, it may be fine for a simple hypnosis, but it would not be acceptable to destroy other people’s minds. She will not tolerate it.
“You don’t have to look so eagerly. I’m just taking the path that is good for everyone. Be mature, my dear child.”
So even if the smiling Duchess put a dagger in Nocton’s heart, he could not move his fingertips in the end.
“Before you destroy her, you should let her go.”
***
From that day on, Duchess Edgar began to do strange things at mealtime.
After eating with her family, she poured something other than alcohol into the glass.
“These days, there seems to be a group of people trying to put a curse on the Empire and manipulate other people’s minds. I think it’s better be careful, but it’s hard to call a priest every day, so I prepared it myself.”
The thinly-drenched blue liquid in the glass, obviously, was holy water.
Patricia Edgar smiled gently and raised her glass.
“For the glorious future of the Duke of Edgar.”
Floyd and Dansha’s expressions were distorted, as if wondering if their mother was crazy, and Geranium Edgar inhaled the liquid with a face he didn’t know what she was thinking.
And also, Nocton Edgar tilted his glass with a calm face. The holy liquid was locked in his throat.
Every day since then, the Duchess has done the same thing at the end of dinner. As if the value of holy water is not precious enough to waste it like that.
Patricia Edgar’s face, which was becoming increasingly impatient, is now fully relaxed.
The Duchess acted as if she could finish Nocton whenever she wished.
However, Nocton was an even more brilliant wizard than Patricia Edgar could possibly be, his life was not at risk, because he only drank a few drops of holy water every day.
It was obviously a painful time, but ironically in the process he was developing a tolerance to divine power. Later, he easily adapted to his tragedy, so that he could think of something else while putting holy water in his mouth.
When Patricia Edgar had her composure, Nocton earned his own composure as well.
As the assassination attempt died down, he had time to find out how the Duchess knew his magic.
The answer was Bello Leopard. It’s all because of the stupid servant who poisoned his cup and then put it in his own mouth due to the black magic.
Bello did not lose his life even though he took the poison he was trying to give to Nocton instead. Bello, who ran out of the study, vomited immediately, and Nocton took the potion immediately after Valrose returned.
The servant who had been with him for years had been scratching his inside, but he couldn’t forsake his promise and let him die. Instead, Bello Leopard lost his voice due to the aftereffects of the poison and was kicked out of the mansion for disobeying his master.
The maid and servant were nobles, even if they had no title or from a low rank family, so he nevertheless had a place to go. After that, Bello Leopard went to Patricia Edgar because he was afraid of being dealt with by the Duchess even though he had failed to poison him. Eventually, he couldn’t even see the shadows.
He learned the details of the event from the Duchess’ butler. He was an ardent follower of Patricia Edgar who hated Nocton, but in the face of black magic, neither respect nor disgust was meaningful.
Now that he’s been caught, Nocton didn’t have to be careful anymore.
Sadly, the Duchess underestimates the boy’s ability to not touch her, he didn’t expect she would blow the whole thing up.
However, as time went by, the boy’s distant appearance was bothering her, and the amount of holy water began to increase day by day. Even his two brothers, his father, and even some servants gave a strange look at Patricia’s action. but the Duchess was absolutely powerful, so no one could dissuade her.
Nocton’s physical condition got worse day by day, and he fell ill for the first time in his life.
His body was like a fireball, as if the heat of drinking holy water had spread all over his body, and his clothes were soaked in cold sweat and sticking to the skin.
With an unpleasant and irritating sensation, he lay alone in bed, letting out all his servants.
It was a good opportunity to kill him no matter who sees it, but Nocton was safer than ever. He cast a spell on the bedroom door. It’s a hypnotic magic that makes you do not want to open the door.
When someone tries to enter Nocton’s bedroom, the subject will return from the door without being aware that they were under the spell.
Once the door was opened, it would be meaningless, but he knew it will work well because he had tested it before on the Duchess.
In case something was going to happen while he wasn’t there, he had also told Valrose not to come for a while.
She can’t get engaged until she becomes an adult anyway, so it would be fine for her to stay in her house.
Thinking so, Nocton sank into a deep, thin sleep.
Meanwhile, something suddenly touched his forehead.
Nocton leaped up. He grabbed the wrist that touched his forehead and pushed the opponent toward the headboard.
He suddenly woke up and moved his body, making his eyes dizzy and nauseous.
A reddish hue was seen in the wobbly vision. Red hair like petals, a look of surprise….
“…Valrose?”
A cracked voice rings badly.
Nocton put his hand on his neck and made a straight face. Even if he thought he might have seen it wrong due to his physical condition, it was clear that Roa Valrose was caught in a clearer view.
“Why are you here? I told you not to come for a while. Besides, I can’t believe you came into my room without permission.”
“Umh … I’m sorry, Nocton. I was told that it was okay to go up to your room, so I just walked in. I came to get the book I had lost in the Duke’s residence and return it to you. But because you’re sick, I wanted to take a look at your condition for a second—”
A book that fell to the side of the bed caught his eye. Certainly, it was an old book that Valrose had read several years ago and dropped it on the shore of the lake.
She came to the mansion with this bait.
He knew what Patricia Edgar is going to do, and he’s just…..
Perhaps because his body is sick, his mind reacts more sensitively than usual. A sharp sound opened Nocton’s mouth.
“I’m sorry I came here when you must be sensitive. Don’t be so nervous, it’s my fault.”
That’s an inarticulate sound. When he tried to ask again what nonsense it was, Valrose’s gaze turned to her wrist. It was only then that Nocton realized he was still grasping Valrose’s wrist, and that his hands were shaking.
Maybe because of a fever in his body, he relaxed his hand in embarrassment.
But the embarrassment grew stronger when he saw a handprint on her white wrist.
He stupidly thought for a moment that the heat might have spread and turned her wrist red, but it couldn’t be. He must have failed to control his strength properly because his mental state was bad.
Nocton opened his mouth. Valrose shrugged her shoulders and laughed at the embarrassed face.
“It’s my fault, so I’ll let this go.”
Then, Valrose hugged Nocton.
No, technically it was not a hug.
She just adjusted his pillow and gently pushed his shoulders to put him back on bed.
Nevertheless, the degree of body contact was not much different from hugging, so Nocton held his breath for no reason.
Strangely, his fingertips flinched and the inside of his chest tickled.
When he looked up at the hem of her clothes, there was a strange sense of heat, as if there was red water in the area where Valrose’s hands touched.
With the boy, who wasn’t able to resist, in bed, Valrose pulled his blanket up to his chin.
The look was rather funny because he just poked his face out of the blanket.
Only
When he saw Valrose’s mouth shaking with laughter, Nocton opened his mouth to say something, but a small hand blocked his mouth. With the mouth closed, Nocton was more surprised than necessary
Whatever she thought she was, Valrose smiled playfully and put the other index finger around his mouth.
“Now that your voice is cracked, no more annoyance.”
His heart throbbed.
He hasn’t eaten anything, but there’s a weird feeling in his stomach.
Although he had never known it before, he wondered if people feel this way when they are sick.
The feeling of tickling even on his lips began to move, so Nocton closed his mouth, which tasted sweet.
T/N: Why Nocton’s father name is 제라늄 … isn’t that Geranium flower…..
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