At the main gates of Marquis Sirius’s manor, a guard who had been slacking off suddenly straightened his back without warning.
A gust of wind blew past the gates, merely sweeping away some dust from the quiet street. On the empty road, there was nothing else besides the gradually sinking sunlight.
Despite that, the guard felt a chill run down his spine.
— Someone was coming.
His intuition from twenty years of guarding told him that a carriage was approaching the manor.
He glanced at the setting sun.
At this hour… it was highly unlikely to be a guest of Marquis Sirius. Furthermore, the Marquis himself had headed out early this morning — if the guard’s guess was correct, it had to be the Marquis returning.
As if to confirm the guard’s suspicion, the sound of galloping hooves suddenly echoed from the other end of the street.
The guard looked out of the corner of his eye. Even as the sunlight faded, the House White crest on the carriage was as conspicuous as if it were glowing.
Good heavens, if he had been any slower to react, the Marquis would have certainly replaced him!
He stopped looking toward the street and simply opened the gates. He puffed out his chest and raised his gaze, adopting the standard standing posture he had perfected over twenty years as he waited for the Marquis’s carriage to pass —
The sound of the wheels drew closer, and the guard counted down in his mind:
20 meters, 15 meters, 10 meters…
“Lord Marquis, you—huh?”
His lines were prepared, but the sound of the wheels vanished.
The carriage had stopped right in front of the manor gates.
The guard glanced outside again. The moment he saw the carriage door open, a wave of cold air surged toward him!
He instinctively turned around, snapping his gaze back. Then, he heard it —
*Tap, tap, tap.*
He knew that sound; it was the noise made by the heels of noble ladies or madams when they struck the ground.
But the House White crest… and a woman?
Wait, a woman!
In that instant, a bone-chilling cold shot up the guard’s spine!
“The Witch! It’s the Witch!”
The guard’s cry of alarm and his movement to ring the bell happened almost simultaneously. After that… after that, he had to run!
The Witch of the White Duchy… he would let the people inside the residence deal with her! His meager salary was only enough to justify ringing the alarm!
***
“…”
After stepping down from the carriage, Elena stood silently at the entrance of the Marquis’s manor.
She did not know how to describe her current mood.
Elena only felt a fire in her heart, a fire that burned in silence, a fire waiting for fuel.
This flame craved to burn; it craved to rampaging!
The fire pushed against her rationality, seeking to treat it as kindling and ignite a blaze capable of destroying everything —
But in Elena’s heart, the silhouette of a silver-haired girl stood between this fire and her reason.
‘Ai’er…’
Elena took a deep breath.
She stared at the manor not far away. Since her mother’s passing, the building had undergone several “renovations.” Now, the Marquis’s manor looked more like a Duke’s palace.
Sebas and the head maid followed closely behind Elena. No matter what happened next, they were prepared to stand by their Young Lady’s side until the end.
“…Are you not coming out?”
The girl’s voice was cold, seemingly devoid of any emotion. She stood at the gate, waiting.
She watched as soldiers continuously converged from the direction of the residence, but they only dared to grip their swords and huddle more than 10 meters behind the gate — she was waiting.
She was waiting — waiting for the man named Sirius White to crawl out, waiting for an explanation.
“Not coming out? Then I shall enter myself.” With eyes devoid of light, Elena took a step forward —
“Hold on, Young Lady of the House of Duke White.”
The voice of an elder brought Elena to a halt.
In the next second, a magic circle expanded out of thin air before Elena’s eyes.
The sound came first, then the person.
A complex staff, pitch-black robes, pale hair and beard, and a target-expressionless face.
A white-bearded old man walked out of the magic circle.
Sebas recognized this old man’s face, and because he recognized him, he furrowed his brows deeply.
“Young Lady, this man is one of the Empire’s current ten Great Mages. His name is—”
“I do not care about his name.”
Elena simply raised her left hand slightly, cutting Sebas off.
“I want to see Marquis Sirius.”
“How unfortunate, little girl; Sirius is not currently at the manor. If you have some business, I can pass it on—”
*Whoosh — Clang!*
“What an impatient little girl.”
Without any warning, an ice spike the thickness of a wooden pillar lunged toward the Great Mage! However, in less than a second, it was blocked by the Defense Magic the Great Mage had manifested out of thin air, shattering into countless shards of ice.
“I want to see Marquis Sirius. Immediately.”
Before the white-bearded Great Mage could respond, a sound like shattering glass drew his attention.
The Defense Magic circle he had previously deployed actually showed cracks.
Seeing this, the Great Mage narrowed his eyes into slits. ‘Interesting… So this is the Witch of the White Duchy? She is even more interesting than the rumors suggest.’
Even though he had only deployed a simple Defense Magic, it wasn’t something just any Magic User could damage.
In this moment, the Great Mage seemed to understand why the Empire had been silently observing the situation in the White Duchy.
He knew better than anyone how greedy the Empire was for power.
But now was not the time to think about such things.
“Little girl, why don’t you tell me this — how is a guest supposed to see a master who is not even in the house?”
“If he is not here, then I will tear down his house and wait in the ruins!”
Cold air instantly exploded outward with Elena at the center! But all the frost eventually pointed toward the white-bearded Great Mage, like ten thousand arrows fired at once.
Elena’s fingertips began to tremble slightly. Every time the cold air threatened to disperse, the girl’s fingers would twitch violently. A moment later, the dispersing chill would return to its original direction.
Elena knew she couldn’t defeat a Great Mage. If she wanted to oppose one of the ten strongest Magic Users in the Empire, she could only place her hopes on the Mana within her body.
Even if this Mana had branded her with the title of “Witch” and caused her to hurt those important to her time and time again…
This Mana was the only thing she could rely on now.
“Get out of my way!”
The moment her voice fell, an invisible chill swept violently toward the Great Mage. But just as the cold was about to reach him, it seemed to bounce off an invisible wall, exploding like splashing water —
The frost scattered in all directions. White mist rose the moment it touched the ground and walls, and in an instant, a massive amount of ice crystals completely swallowed the manor’s gates!
But —
Once the mist cleared, the white-bearded Great Mage simply stood where he was, completely unmoved.
Though his transparent Defense Magic showed cracks, it was trivial. He stroked his white beard and looked at Elena with great interest, seemingly waiting for the girl’s next spell.
“Little girl, I will tell you the truth. Your control of Mana is chaotic. Even if you try again, the most you could do is leave another small crack in my Defense Magic.”
‘Heh, is that so?’
Elena did not respond. She remained silent, continuing to mobilize the Mana within her body.
She needed stronger power, a more tyrannical power!
If the price of this power… if the price could bring that silver-haired girl she longed for back to her side —
The girl’s hands twitched frequently as the flow of Mana became increasingly uncontrollable.
But Elena did not care.
She looked at the transparent Defense Magic in front of the Great Mage.
If one time wasn’t enough, she would do it again! Twice, three times, countless times! Until that damn Defense Magic was shattered!
Then, after clearing all the obstacles standing before her, she would take that silver-haired girl —
Take Ai’er—
‘Back to your side?
My dear Elena…
Can you really do it?’
The moment the voice rang out, an incredibly familiar chill gradually rose from the depths of Elena’s heart.