To My Gentle Villain

Chapter 15

"Dahlia, don't be too conscious. After you make your debut, a lot of men will propose to you. You can make a decision then,"

Yvon sighed, replacing the withered flowers in the vase with new roses.

"The Young Duke is a very intriguing man..... Maybe he fell in love with you at first sight. You must have been very surprised, weren't you? But how pretty you are in your mother's eyes, compared to how pretty you would be in his eyes?"

"But doesn't mother like Archduke Edelred?"

asked Dahlia indifferently while sitting in front of the mirror and combing her long hair. After instructing her maid to redecorate her daughter's room after a long time, Yvon approached.

"It is not so. Indeed, it would be an honor to be able to become family with the Prince of Edelred. However... . It would be burdensome on you. The Count and I are looking for an ordinary noble family who does not have powers."

"Ordinary... ? Would that be possible?"

Her brow creased.

Dahlia's hair was soft and full of luster, even without perfume. Her light hair, which was a rarity in the South, had a subtle rosy color, and despite her thin and small body, no one could ignore her presence.

Her blue eyes resembled a lake and her clear, transparent skin glowed. She sometimes felt like she wasn't human.

Her daughter didn't seem to like her pale skin tone and light-colored hair, but in the eyes of others, she is an object of envy and admiration.

So, even if Duke Edelred fell in love at first sight, it was not so strange.

"Is it possible. And that way, you can live safely."

Yvon gently grabbed her white shoulders exposed over her dress. Dahlia understood her mother's hopes behind her words. To live peacefully in a safe place away from the forces and powers that make life complicated and perilous.

But would it be possible?

Even those who profess they are ordinary, do they really have no desire for power?

Perhaps it is just an excuse to save their pride since they can't have it... ?

Even after Yvon left, she did not leave the mirror, absentmindedly lost in thought over questions that had been plaguing her countless times.

It was not an illusion that her seal turned red last night. Perhaps, if Dahlia had been exposed to Jurgen's power just a little longer, it would have been broken.

'There's one you should be most around, miss. A sentinel with a high matching rate with the guiding powers of the young lady. Actually, the rank of the Sentinel doesn't matter. It's unlikely, but if a sentinel with a matching rate of over 90% appeared... . Hmm, the seal would be broken.'

'What if it breaks?'

'I don't know either what would happen. But I've never seen anyone with two powers survive. Maybe... the young lady will go into a rampage. The best possibility would be that one of the two abilities stay and the other disappears, but even then, the outcome would be unpredictable. So, lady, please stop worrying this old man. My blood is drying up from stressing and fretting over you everyday.'

Rodrigo's wrinkled face and a pleasant, light-hearted smile, but the heavy truth inside his quip was not hidden.

Dahlia got up and left the room donning a thin shawl over her dress.

She felt that she should meet Rodrigo immediately. After meeting him and telling him everything that transpired last night, she wanted an answer.

Leaving her main house, she followed a narrow promenade towards Rodrigo's annex.

With every step she took, the tiny pearl earrings hanging from her ear lobe glittered, and her shadow overlaid over the shadows of the leaves created by her light passing through the woods.

But upon arriving at Rodrigo's annex, she sighed and lamented as she looked at the tightly closed door.

"Ha, he's at the gate... . I forgot."

Since Rodrigo opened a portal with his mana he would be near it too.

Dahlia stared north of the Blenheim Mansion, not far from the annex, toward the lake in the forest. The space of Kayena, the god of the earth, and the place where the five major portals of the continent exist.

Maybe Rodrigo would be there, not northwest of the Mint, where the gate is located. Since Rodrigo was growing older and feeling the limit of his strength these days, he did not accompany her father on missions anymore.

Maybe his death is near. Even the lifespan extended with high-level magic would soon come to an end.

'Shall we go... ?'

Dahlia took a deep breath in her nervous heart, and then took a step forward. At the end of the pure white passageway created by the metaphysical intertwining of dozens of arches, a door connected to the forest lake is visible. There seemed to be a sound of water coming from somewhere. It was a sound coming from the lake of the forest, a sacred space.

Dahlia gently pushed the door as high as the mansion.

A majestic stream of water flowing over the stone statue of Kayena, the god of the earth, creating a light mist, and between the water fog the spectacular view of trees with huge roots soared high in the sky without end.

Dahlia shook off the overwhelming and took a determined step forward. A black silhouette was seen above the stone bridge that cut the lake in a straight line.

Thinking that it was Rodrigo, she gladly ran to him, holding the hem of her dress.

But as she got closer, the intuition that something was deeply wrong made her whole body freeze. Slowly Dahlia stopped walking, she wrapped her arms around her navel, which was starting to get hot, and raised her head.

"Sir Edelred... ?"

The moment she met his red eyes without focus, a suffocating darkness engulfed her.