Alessia’s already pale face instantly hardened. Her eyes, which had quickly darkened, held an unfathomable depth.
A tense silence filled the air before Alessia quietly spoke.
“…What do you mean by that?”
“Exactly what I said. I sensed magical energy from you.”
Kaon had been replaying a certain scene in his mind the entire time he waited for Alessia to wake up. It was what he had witnessed in the forest earlier that dawn.
As he was about to finish off the monster after their battle, Kaon had turned abruptly, sensing a powerful surge of magic. The wounded monster couldn’t chase him.
Emerging outside, he saw wild foxes attacking her. Alessia, already collapsed, was barely managing to wave her arm in resistance. There was no time for thought; instinct drove him to act.
Just as he reached her at a maddening speed, an explosive force emanated from the ring.
‘Something’s…’
In the chaotic scene, Kaon had focused solely on Alessia, momentarily mesmerized. A strange sense of unease washed over him. The sight of Alessia, eyes wide open, was indescribably eerie.
A massive blaze seemed to consume the forest, cutting through the air with terrifying intensity. The ground scorched where the flames passed, and acrid smoke spread everywhere. Then, in an instant, it all vanished.
Kaon replayed the moment in his mind.
When Alessia cast the spell, she was enveloped in an unnatural current. That current was an alien flow created by an enormous amount of magical energy.
Kaon had seen a similar flow before, which is why he was certain it was magic.
The problem was that Alessia wasn’t a mage. She had admitted it herself and couldn’t use magic without the ring. Yet, the magic had unmistakably surrounded her body, not the ruby ring.
He had seen Alessia cast spells countless times. But this was the first time he had witnessed something like this. It was entirely different from before.
Moreover, magic operated through magical energy. Magic, in essence, stimulated natural forces with artificial energy to create new phenomena. This meant that without a mage supplying magical energy, the magic wouldn’t sustain.
Alessia’s spells used the ring’s magical energy. Thus far, her spells had been consistent regardless of her physical condition.
However, that dawn, the flames that had started from the ring vanished the moment Alessia lost consciousness. This was in stark contrast to the day she had collapsed in place of a knight, where the flames retained their heat until the monster’s core melted away, despite her fading consciousness.
“I have nothing to say if you don’t believe me. But I saw it, and I’m telling you. That magical energy was definitely surrounding you.”
As if to protect you. Kaon left the last part unsaid. Her unfocused eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.
“That can’t be.”
“Alessia.”
“That can’t be…”
Muttering the same words repeatedly, Alessia closed her eyes as if she couldn’t face anything. Her jaw trembled slightly, and her lips moved incessantly. The depth of her anguish was palpable.
‘Was I too hasty?’
Kaon clenched and unclenched his fists nervously. It pained him to see Alessia, looking on the verge of tears yet not shedding any.
Alessia had lived her life as a descendant of a mage family who couldn’t use magic. He might have given undue significance to what could be a mere coincidence, planting false hope in her. Perhaps he should have waited until she was fully healed to discuss it. But the scene he had witnessed was too intense to hold back.
Just as Kaon was about to tell her to stop thinking about it and that it was enough, a soft voice broke the silence.
“My name is taken from the middle name of Ingelos.”
***
“So, you’re saying you weren’t always without magical power? That you were so powerful that you were given the name of the founding patriarch…?”
As Kaon pieced together the story he had just heard, his words trailed off.
Ingelos.
Now synonymous with the family itself, it was originally the name of a great mage recorded in the history of the Kingdom of Gaios. Even Kaon, who wasn’t a mage, knew how legendary that name was in the world of mages.
It was hard to believe that Alessia had been born with such immense magical power that she was given the middle name of that great mage.
‘Experimenting on their own child? Are they completely insane? And no one stopped them?’
More unbelievable than anything was the way Alessia had been born. What kind of deranged parents would think of their child as nothing more than an experimental result?
Their obsession with power was pathological. Compared to them, even the money-obsessed Mage Tower seemed humane. Though they were also far from normal, the House of Ingelos seemed willing to sell their souls to the devil for power.
‘…So that’s why they did it.’
The scars on Alessia’s body were still vivid in his mind. It was a miracle she had survived such severe injuries. He doubted he would ever forget those scars.
Ingelos seemed to have gone mad when Alessia, whom they saw as their future, failed to meet their expectations. No sane person would do what they did.
“It happened when I was very young. So young that I can barely remember,” Alessia replied calmly, her trembling having subsided.
Kaon felt a deeper pang of sorrow at her words. The girl who had always seemed so tough had merely become that way to survive. The realization left him with an indescribable feeling.
He was only seventeen. Alessia was the same age. She would soon turn eighteen, but they were still so young.
Born in Ferdinand, which had been at war with monsters for many years, he thought he had endured his fair share of hardships, both mentally and physically.
But compared to Alessia, his struggles were nothing. He had loving parents, a sister who quietly supported him, and many people who believed in and followed him. He even had the innate ability to excel without much effort.
But what about Alessia? She had nothing. For failing to meet expectations, she had lived a life of despair, endlessly persecuted and threatened by those who were supposed to be her family.
“Don’t feel sorry for me. It’s all in the past. I’m not the only one who’s lost their magic.”
“…You’re not the only one?”
“Right. It sometimes happens when someone is severely injured. There are even rare cases where it disappears for no reason.”
Her voice, tinged with sadness, dissipated into the air. Alessia was one of those rare cases.
“Is there any chance it could come back…?”
“Maybe. But as far as I know, it hasn’t happened before. Even Ingelos gave up.”
Kaon couldn’t ask any more questions. Although necessary, it felt like he was reopening Alessia’s unhealed wounds, and he couldn’t bring himself to continue. Imagining what she must have gone through until Ingelos gave up on her was too painful.
“Kaon.”
When he looked up, he saw her red eyes gazing at him.
“I won’t ask if you’re sure about what you saw. To be honest, I don’t have much hope.”
She lowered her gaze to the ring. Kaon followed her eyes. The ring that had brought them together and marked the beginning of their strained relationship. Now, it might hold the key to an unexpected future.
“Still, I want to check. It’s not because I’m holding onto false hope. So, there’s no need for you to feel guilty.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“What’s there to be unsure about? I have nothing to lose anyway.”
Alessia smiled faintly. She genuinely seemed unburdened. It must have taken her a long time to reach this state of mind.
“If you say so. Then, once your body heals…”
“No need for that. I can cast a spell right now.”
Kaon, who had been nodding slowly, suddenly furrowed his brow. This girl really knew no middle ground. She had collapsed from casting a spell just this morning, and now she was talking nonsense about doing it again when she should be resting.
“You’re not even fully healed.”
“We just need to check if magical energy is flowing through me. Even if I can’t feel it, if it’s really there, you should be able to see it. It doesn’t have to be a grand spell. Isn’t that right?”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
She wasn’t wrong, but Kaon felt uneasy about it. Still, he was the one who had brought up the topic of magical energy to a recovering patient, so he couldn’t very well back out now.
“I can’t do anything strenuous anyway. I’ll just try to create a small flame. Just watch.”
She was so insistent that Kaon couldn’t argue any further. He watched silently as she prepared. Alessia raised her right hand and began to murmur words that were unfamiliar to him but clearly well-practiced.
Before long, a small flame appeared in the air. It was as if an invisible candle was holding it up.
“Uh…”
Kaon’s expression changed subtly as he watched her, tense with anticipation.
🍉🍉🍉
