Chapter 65: The Mad Young Lady

“What are you… doing?”

Watching the two who were endlessly entangled, Leonora felt as if a crack had split open in her heart, and from that fissure, her dwindling sanity kept leaking out.

The scene before her eyes began to blur, and warm tears slid down her cheeks, accompanied by her trembling, furious voice.

“Let her go… I said let her go!!”

Leonora, utterly losing her mind, hurled flames at Beatrice in a frenzy, but before the torrents of fire could reach her, they were completely blocked by a prismatic barrier.

“Bastard! Bastard!!”

The fire that spurted from her sword grew more and more intense, yet when it crashed against the barrier, it seemed feeble and powerless.

Meanwhile, behind the barrier, the two only kissed more passionately under the fierce assault—as if Beatrice had grown even more assertive.

She had always taken the path of a knight, her control over Magic not even matching that of an apprentice witch, so her mana was quickly running dry, and the fire sword in her hand was no longer as blazing as before.

When the fire sword finally fizzled out, Leonora simply rushed forward, intending to smash the barrier with her fists.

But after just two steps, her legs gave out beneath her, and she almost collapsed to the ground.

This was the backlash of mana depletion; right now, Leonora probably couldn’t even lift that wooden sword of hers.

“Let her go… she’s mine…”

As she drew near and saw the entwined tongues of the two, it was as if her last bit of strength was drained from her, and she collapsed to the floor.

Seeing that this troublemaker had finally quieted down, Beatrice lost interest in toying with her.

“Had enough? Open your eyes wide and watch closely.”

After a brief pause, she kissed Aurora again, and after a deep, lingering kiss, she gently bit out a soft, pink thing from Aurora’s mouth.

On the tender surface of Aurora’s tongue, a purple Contract Mark glimmered faintly….

“This is… a Familiars’ Red Chain Contract Mark.”

Finally releasing Aurora’s lips, Beatrice cradled the breathless Aurora in her arms. Her cold eyes turned to the collapsed Leonora on the floor, and she spoke indifferently, “Looks like you do recognize it.”

Leonora shook her head, discarding the unrealistic guesses in her mind. She shouted at Beatrice, “How could a normal person become a familiar?! You must have done something to her!”

“Person?”

She lifted Aurora’s ear, which was hidden beneath her white silk hair, and gently bit down.

In the next moment, her pupils began to glow purple, and Aurora’s appearance started to change.

The bitten ear slowly lengthened, her waist-length hair began to shimmer with a faint golden light, and her originally dark pupils were now tinged with pale gold.

This was the first time Leonora had seen Aurora look like this, and she couldn’t help but freeze in shock.

But then Beatrice’s mocking voice sounded by her ear.

“You’ve lived with her for so long, and you mean to say you never knew she was a fairy?”

“Fairy… Impossible, she never told me!”

In truth, she understood deep down—Aurora’s appearance had never changed since she was born, there must be a reason. She had asked Aurora about it, but never got an answer; each time, Aurora would just smile gently and brush it off with a joke, saying things like eating more vegetables, exercising more, and smiling more would keep you from aging. Thinking back, those were all lies to fool a child.

But if what she said was true, why didn’t Aurora tell her?

With confusion in her heart, she trembled as she spoke, “Why… didn’t you tell me, Aurora?”

“Was it because you hated me? Was it because you were afraid of me? I don’t understand…”

“It’s because… you once said that you hated non-humans the most.”

“I didn’t want you to hate me, so I kept it hidden.”

“Of course, even after hiding it, you still hate me all the same.”

“I… that was…”

“Have you said enough?”

Before Leonora could finish, Beatrice interrupted her.

She felt that if she let these two keep talking, the atmosphere might turn ambiguous, with misunderstandings cleared and their relationship warming up—that sort of development was not something she wanted to see.

“Duke Edron, take your daughter home. We’re leaving.”

“Father…”

She whipped her head around, only to see her father standing behind her, though she had no idea when he’d arrived.

“Father, please talk to Aurora, make her come back!”

She staggered to her feet, her hands stained with mud as she grabbed at the man’s clothes, pleading, “Father, Mother, you both like Aurora so much! Please ask her to come back, I won’t ever get mad at her again, please, just let her come back!”

The Duke did not respond.

After a moment, he closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, then spoke slowly, “Take care of yourself, Aurora.”

“Thank you.”

With that, Aurora turned and left the mansion with Beatrice.

It was as if her last hope had evaporated with the Duke’s “take care of yourself.” Leonora’s pupils shrank violently.

Her weak body clung to the Duke as she began to scream in madness, “Father, how can you just give Aurora away to someone else?!”

“Aurora is mine, she’s always been mine! I won’t allow anyone to take her from me!”

“Father, isn’t our family powerful? As long as we get rid of that witch…”

“Pa!”

A loud slap rang out in the night.

She clutched her cheek and fell silent, the madness from before vanishing instantly with the sound of the slap.

“Have you had enough, Leonora!”

“Don’t forget, it was you who drove her away yourself, and now you come begging to me?”

“She already has a new family with that witch, can’t you see? I looked into that witch—she’s the Magic Consultant at Orphea Magic Academy. To be a teacher there already means she’s formidable, let alone being a Magic Consultant. Crossing her would only bring trouble to our family!”

“You are never to think about this again. It’s for our family’s good, and for Aurora’s good as well…”

Leaving these final words, the Duke turned and walked straight back into the mansion.

“Please wait… Father!”

When Leonora spun around, she realized that Aurora and that witch had long since vanished down the distant street.

“Aurora… my Aurora……”

The night sky, which had been threatening rain for so long, finally began to drizzle.

Raindrops soaked the girl’s ink-black hair, mingling with tears that ran from the corners of her eyes to fall together on the cold ground.

She slowly rose from the ground, step by step heading out of the mansion, as if believing that as long as she kept moving forward, she could catch up to Aurora.

Her unsteady steps were suddenly tripped up by a stone, and somewhere, a wound split open, crimson blood slowly blooming on the ground.

Staring at the blood, she suddenly remembered the past—whenever she hurt herself, whenever she bled, Aurora would always come find her immediately. So maybe, if she hurt herself, Aurora would come back?

With this in mind, she picked up the stone, tore open the bandages on her already scarred wrist, and drew cut after cut across her battered skin…