I Want To Be Your First – R19 - Chapter 99

Berthwald’s face became expressionless. As such, Violet waved her hand and said, “Listen till the end.”

“The wizards of our memories, who would recite spells with a cane in hand and cause bursts of fire and water, have already disappeared. Sages have remained in their stead.”

“Sage?”

“Yes, those who seek truth, those that renounce the world. They have many names. They’re the people that wander around and study all sorts of things.”

A sage, a seeker. Those that inherited the legacy of the missing wizards were more of researchers than wizards. As they realised that there’s a limit to changing the world with magic, they changed their way of using magic to pursue the limits of knowledge.

They didn’t move based on personal interest, but devoted all their energy to unearthing mysterious phenomena literally.

After hearing the name, Berthwald looked at Violet with a dubious gaze.

“In pursuit of truth… The name itself gives off the vibe of a con artist. Are you certain?”

“You, why can’t you trust me? I’m not interested in joking when it comes to commissions.”

Violet raised both of her hands and gave him a guileless look, as if she were innocent.

As such, Berthwald furrowed his brows and looked even more doubtful. At his dubious gaze, Violet shrugged her shoulders, pretending to give up targeting him, and continued.

“Wow, you won’t believe me. Whether you believe it or not, I know one of those liberating wizards. Apparently, they study cursed people and make it their job to free them.”

As if she had never dismissed the curse as nonsense, Violet recited the information with a nonchalant face.

“Perhaps that person would know what a Servant or whatnot is. I heard that they know everything about curses.”

“In that case, please locate the liberating wizard right away. Any amount of money can be used.”

“But, as you’re aware, they’ve suffered so much persecution that it won’t be easy to find out the dwelling of the sages. I have a way of contacting them, but I don’t know where they are. It’s questionable whether they’d inform me again.”

Just as Berthwald was about to reproach her with a disapproving face, Violet hurriedly added.

“Didn’t I just inform you? Most of the people looking for that person are leaders of the Empire. Especially the church, it isn’t the first or second time they were exterminated after their hideouts were located, so it would take quite a while to relax their guard.”

“……”

“For now, I’ll make contact with them. Since we’re acquaintances, they wouldn’t pretend to not know me.”

Berthwald’s frown relaxed.

Violet would have refused flatly from the very beginning if she thought that it wasn’t possible, so her leaving a little leeway meant that there was a high possibility.

“I’ve understood for now.”

As she had accepted the commision, the only thing remaining was coordination of fees. Berthwald continued to speak, saying that she should stay in the mansion until she has heard from him.

“In that case, I’ll take it that you’ve accepted and hand you half of the commission fee tomorrow. The other half will be paid as soon as we’ve met with the sage.”

“What do you mean, a commission fee? Forget about it.”

Forget about the commission fee. What was she saying?

Berthwald looked at her with widened eyes and slowly began to frown.

His mother, who was seated before him, was the vicious guild leader of Northride, who would release her guild members and turn the commissioner’s house into ruin if their payment was late for even a day. It wasn’t at the level of a bad joke for Violet, who wouldn’t compromise when it comes to money, to refuse to accept the fee for a commission.

He was about to tell her to stop joking, but Violet spoke with a smile first.

“It’s the truth. Have you ever seen me joking when it comes to money?”

“…….”

“Take it as your wedding gift, son.”

A dimple appeared in the middle of her white cheek. Violet looked at her son that was before her lovingly, and gave a big smile that was uncharacteristic of her.

Berthwald looked at her with a bewildered face, before his eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed. He couldn’t figure out what she was up to.

He was about to sound her out with a rebuttal, but an odd scene was reflected in Berthwald’s field of vision from the other side of the garden.

Berthwald’s eyes widened, and narrowed even further than before.

“What in the world is going on about that?”

Surprise, anger, and a ferocious glint appeared in his blue pupils. Berthwald sprang up from his seat, knocked the table away without hesitation and rushed out to the garden.

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As Ariel stared blankly at the sea, she held the handle of the bench tightly. The wood’s unique rough texture could be felt with her palm through the smooth varnish.

Nedik, where Richter was, was a little chilly, but Grand Pahar was located further south, so it felt much warmer.

‘As expected, home is the best.’

‘My home seems to be much warmer.’

As she continued to repeat to herself internally, she realised the unexpected word she had used, and a blush rose on her face slowly.

‘My home.’

When she got married and came down to the south, she had many worries about whether she would be able to adapt well, but now she was calling this place her home unhesitatingly.

Until just a year ago, the smell of smoked salmon and dry wind surrounded her, but it was ironic that only the fragrant scent of peonies filled her surroundings, even when it’s winter. Ariel’s nose twitched and she turned towards the direction that the floral scent was coming from.

She caught sight of a man’s silhouette at the edge of her vision abruptly. It was the man that was standing next to her mother-in-law, Violet.

What did Mother-in-law call him? Was it Ruth?

Ruth was standing beside the bench, and looked straight ahead wordlessly.

She couldn’t tell what he looked like as only his silhouette was visible, but one thing was clear. Ariel looked at the red energy emanating from his silhouette, and pointed to the seat next to her.

“Excuse me. You’d be uncomfortable if you kept standing. There’s an empty seat right here. Please have a seat.”

“It’s fine.”

“Here, there’s plenty of room.”

“There’s no need for that.”

Contrary to Ariel’s polite attitude, Ruth took a step back in an insolent manner. With a forced smile on her face, Ariel suggested once again.

“I think their conversation would take a while, so why don’t you sit down? I’ll move out of the way a little more…”

Just as she reached for his arm while she was speaking.

“Ugh, don’t touch me!”

Ruth, who had an expressionless face the entire time, batted Ariel’s hand away with a ferocious face. He looked downwards  at Ariel with a frown and began to rub the arm that Ariel touched roughly.

“…Hah, what’s this, seriously.”

How unlucky, really.

Though it was spoken in a whisper such that others couldn’t hear it, unfortunately, Ariel’s ears didn’t miss his whisper.

The hand that was hovering in mid-air clenched, and she placed it down onto the hem of her dress as if nothing had happened. The slightly lifted corners of her mouth turned downwards, and a blurry light spread within the round curves of her eyes.

She had almost choked up unknowingly. Ariel bit her lips tightly to pretend to be composed.

It wasn’t something to be gloomy over.

It’s because the people that she met for the first time would all react like this. Touching a blind person would cause you to be cursed, how unlucky.

She just forgot about it, as she was surrounded by friendly people. It was unavoidable that anyone would have felt uneasy upon seeing these clouded eyes. It was a very familiar occurrence.

…It really was a familiar occurrence.

It’s just been a while… She was just surprised as it’s been a long while since she has experienced this.

She clasped her twitching fingers together into a clenched fist. The embarrassment on her face slowly disappeared and a calm light spread.

‘I’m not angry.’

‘I won’t get angry about something like this.’

‘I’m not cursed and I’m not unlucky. That person doesn’t really know me, so he’s just saying it thoughtlessly.’

She became calm. She didn’t intend to correct the common sense of the world, whether it’s right or wrong. She didn’t have the will for that.

There’s only one thing that bothered her.

She raised her head again with a deep sigh. The red waves in the middle of Ruth’s chest were darker than before.

Ariel stared at that red colour, before jumping up and pouncing on Ruth. Just like that, she wrapped her hands around his waist and hugged Ruth tightly.

“Heok…!”

In response, Ruth’s hand reached his waist reflexively. However, Ariel was hugging his waist, so he was caught in a dilemma and couldn’t draw his sword, leaving him to stutter helplessly in vain.

As Ruth looked down at Ariel with a pale face, he squeezed out his words with a dumbfounded tone.

“W, w what are you doing! Let go!”

“I want to let you know it’s a superstition that you’ll be cursed if you touch a blind person.”

“No, you crazy…! What nonsense are you spouting! Get off me right now!”

“…And it’s greatly disrespectful to tell someone you’re meeting for the first time that they’re unlucky. I’ll let you go if you apologise.”

Ariel intoned her words clearly and her arms around him tightened.

As she was used to insults, she was dulled to them, so she wasn’t particularly angry or sad. Normally, she would have thought so and moved on.

However.

…It was alright for Ariel Aegis to be reviled, but it wasn’t right to put up with such humiliation as Countess Janssel. As such, her body moved unconsciously.

“W—what do you mean…!”

“Please apologise.”

“Ha, Miss! If you don’t let go, I’ll just throw you off like this! Right now, keugh!”

A large hand grabbed Ruth by the neck as her vision was dimmed by a shadow.

“…Count?”

Berthwald had arrived before they knew it and cut in between the two with a cold expression. Berthwald grabbed Ruth by the collar and stared at him, before pushing him in the direction of the bench.

Ariel, who was hugging Ruth, was also pushed to the bench due to the recoil. Looking at Ruth with a ferocious face, Berthwald slowly lowered his gaze to look at Ariel, who was sticking to him like a cicada.

“What the hell is going on right now?”

A chilling tone was present in his emotionless voice.