Chapter 57
“Wh-What?”
At Elena’s sudden approach, the faces of the two men were stained with embarrassment.
In comparison, Elena had a serene expression on her face.
She even smiled and spoke in a tranquil tone.
“Are you, perchance, thinking that I and Duke Halos are deluding the Imperial family? Moreover, do you honestly think anyone can easily deceive the Imperial family?”
Assaulted by such unexpected and straightforward words, the men could not respond.
They were dumbfounded at the sharp wizard’s speech.
Elena looked at them and derisively said to these moronic men whose mouths were twitching.
“Are you behaving like that just because you’re an aristocrat?”
One of them became furious at the openly thrown sarcasm.
“Ha! A simple magic arrangement. Isn’t it enough to use magic supplies? And since there are no wizards in the Empire, you can deceive anyone if you want.”
At the man’s words, Elena chuckled.
‘These guys are really stupid.’
Elena smiled and held up her hands.
“Then, do I have any magic supplies now?”
She was wearing nothing but a pale purple dress and shoes.
Elena usually did not like to wear any jewelry on her body.
However, occasionally – whenever she met with Lexion – she would wear the necklace he had given her. But not today.
Earlier, she pondered whether to wear the necklace.
But Lexion stopped her.
They were going to a place where they would meet numerous people; it was best to go comfortably.
Of course, even without ornaments, her existence was still splendid.
Anyway, the men were staring blankly at Elena.
As she said, Elena didn’t seem to have any magical supplies on her.
“… Uh, not really.”
One of them replied, lost.
The man beside him jabbed him on his side.
Elena watched their brief interaction and walked towards the men a little more.
In response, they stepped back
Eventually, Elena reached out and both men simultaneously closed their eyes.
However, they were not Elena’s intended target.
It was a table next to the two men.
There were a few skewed marshmallows on the table.
It was meant to be dipped in cheese or chocolate, and Elena picked up one of them.
The men, who had their eyes open now, stared at her with terrified faces.
Then, flames ignited in Elena’s hands. Meanwhile, she didn’t hear any reaction from those foolish aristocrats.
The flames engulfed the marshmallows and roasted them to perfection.
Elena then handed a partially burnt skewed marshmallow to one of the young men.
And smiled brightly.
“Is my hand supposed to look like a magic item?”
The men could not say anything.
****
After he made an audience with the Emperor, Lexion managed to shake off the nobles who were clustering around him.
Not only those who wanted to flatter the new Duke Halos but also the close friends of the former Duke approached him as if they were lucky.
Lexion roughly dealt with them and hurriedly searched for Elena.
He was worried that she would be humiliated at her first party.
Fortunately, he easily found her.
However, there was a commotion occurring near her.
As soon as Lexion witnessed the two noblemen’s crude treatment of Elena, he moved quickly.
His eyes blazed with fire.
And at that moment, Elena’s hand was also on fire.
Even though it was just roasted marshmallows, they firsthand saw that it was executed by a magician, which caused the nobles to be wary.
All the nobles, including those irksome pair who were disrespectful to her, kept their mouths shut.
Lexion frowned at their actions and approached Elena.
“Elena, what’s going on?”
“Ah. It’s no big deal.”
Elena casually said.
“Did they do you any harm?”
Lexion tried to move forward as if he would cause irreparable damage to the two men at any moment.
But Elena stopped him.
And spoke softly to Lexion.
“I have already given them a satisfactory response. No need to trouble yourself.”
“Ha.”
Lexion sighed.
“If you’re okay with it, we can only let what happened today pass. But if this happens again… You should tell me next time, understand?”
Lexion grabbed Elena’s hand and asked her.
“I know.”
As Elena playfully rolled her eyes, Lexion’s expression softened a little.
And the nobles who were watching them had trouble keeping their mouths shut.
‘The battlefield monster….’
‘Has he always been a sweet person?’
The Solace’s Sword; the man dubbed as the War Demon.
Cold to everyone yet was kind to only one woman.
To a wizard who came from the Magic Tower. A woman born with astonishing beauty.
The nobles could not believe the situation unfolding before their eyes.
However, the two were immersed in their own world.
“Ah.”
Lexion, who was smiling at Elena, suddenly remembered what he had forgotten for a moment.
“The Emperor wants to see you.”
Lexion didn’t even use honorifics, but no one chastised him for it.
Elena nodded at his words.
“Yes. I thought so.”
It was naturally expected from the moment an invitation for her was sent to the Magic Tower.
“Then let’s go and have an audience with him.”
Elena followed Lexion to the throne where the Emperor was located.
The Emperor was currently receiving greetings from the other nobles, so Elena had to wait for her turn.
As she advanced, a nearby servant approached.
“Are you Elena Respell from the Magic Tower?”
“Yes.”
“You may see His Majesty in the next turn.”
‘But other nobles are lining up before me…?’
Elena looked at the waiting nobles. At the same time, the servant added.
“You are the magician who came from the Magic Tower. His Majesty had given a special order.”
“Ah, alright.”
Guided by the attendant, Elena moved to the designated location and waited.
“The Emperor cares a lot about the Magic Tower.”
“I suppose so.”
In response to Lexion’s mumbling, Elena looked up at the Emperor.
The current Emperor of the Solace Empire, Terekan Solace.
He was a man with long, silver hair and green eyes. The top of his head was almost bald.
‘I think he is about 50 years old.’
Still, he was quite handsome and dignified.
But the former Duke Halos, who was the same age as him, was much more handsome.
The former Duke Halos had almost no wrinkles on his aged face.
Nevertheless, the Emperor was a proud man.
There was a reason that the Emperor’s reputation was terrifying.
‘I can see the resemblance of the second prince to him.’
Elena narrowed her eyes and stared at the Emperor. Then, she noticed something strange.
‘Come to think of it. I heard that the top of the Emperor’s head was completely bald.’
When she looked closely, there were wisps of hair sprouting like sheep’s hair.
‘No way….’
When her doubts were about to become certain.
The servant guided her again.
Finally, Elena stood before the Emperor.
“Hello, Your Majesty.”
Elena greeted the Emperor with a smile.
Her salutation was against the etiquette of the Imperial nobles, but the Emperor did not care at all.
Rather, he was more than happy with this magician-like attitude.
The Emperor smiled earnestly.
“Nice to meet you, Wizard from the Magic Tower.”
It was the first time she had faced the Emperor, but he already knew that Elena was a wizard.
Maybe it was because of the small disturbance that happened a while ago.
“A small commotion occurred. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”
The Emperor politely apologized to her.
It was very rare for the Emperor of the Empire to apologize to others.
But who was the opponent?
As a wizard of the Magic Tower, it was only natural.
“It was inconvenient, but it didn’t matter. When I decided to come to this party, I already have an inkling that this might happen.”
Elena smiled softly and accepted it.
She didn’t like him because he sent the second prince to seduce her.
“Haha. I’ll filter out those people next time. I’d appreciate it if you could visit me then as well. For the first time in a long time, the Magic Tower accepted the invitation of the royal family.”
The Emperor was genuinely delighted.
Although the wizard’s speech was sharp, it didn’t hurt his feelings as they were originally like that.
And although his idiotic son failed to make a difference between Halos and the Magic Tower, it didn’t matter anymore.
Because she accepted the invitation that they had directly sent to the Tower.
With this party as a starting point, he planned to continue this budding friendship with the Magic Tower.
The Emperor grinned and confided about the mysterious events he had been through over the past few days.
“By the way, not long ago, a new potion from the Magic Tower has become very popular.”
“Ah. You are talking about the Black Grass.”
“Yes. That’s it. Actually, I used that potion too. It worked pretty well.”
The Emperor was overjoyed to see new hair growing on his head, which had been bare for years.
That was enough to even host a party.
And the air of uncertainty in Elena became clear.
‘You used the medicine I made.’
At this point, she seriously contemplated whether to paste the phrase ‘The Emperor’s Medicine!’ into the Black Grass’ future promotional text.
“May I ask which wizard developed the potion?”
The Emperor asked so politely.
Elena thought for a moment.
To be honest, or not.
Then immediately responded.
“The one who developed the Black Grass was me.”
