Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage Vol 2- Descent of Darkness

Episode 18: Ill Omen

*Adela*

"Hello, is anyone home?" I said, knocking on the wooden door.

"Master!" a girl with black hair said as the door slid open. She was one of the students who had left Nine Petal thanks to the intimidation of Mayu's group the previous year.

I smiled at her. "Nice to see you, Changying."

"Almost feared that this place had become a ghost town," Iah said as he walked in.

"Yeah, it was so quiet," Ms. Key said as she removed her shoes by the front door, trading them for some guest slippers.

Changying studied Iah and me. "Lady, this young man is your former fiancée, isn't he? Did you renew your marriage contract? Or did you two fall in love on your own terms?" Her eyes glowed. "Ah, sorry young master. I'm Changying. I'm one of the young Lady's caretakers."

Nyima's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Wait, you two were engaged?"

Iah's face turned bright red. "Yes. And no, we're not in love. Nor are we engaged anew. I'm her classmate at Nine Petal Academy."

Changying's face became pale as soon as he mentioned the academy. "Oh... P-please follow me. Lady Grace should be here." She opened the screen door only to let a little black blur run out of the room.

"Adela, you're back!" my cousin Celeste yelled, jumping at me.

I hugged her and ruffled her straight black hair, messing it up in the process. "You've gotten bigger!"

Celeste grinned. "Have I? Yay, I can be as big as my cus one day." She glanced at the others, especially Iah. "Who are you?"

"You don't remember me? We saw each other several months ago. I'm Iah Wudi, next in line for the throne of Mina."

She clapped her hands. "Oh right! You're the cousin of Azuazu."

I snickered. "Azuazu? Do you mean Azure?"

"Azure?" Celeste said, tiling her head. "His real name is Tian lan se, but I call him Azuazu for short."

Iah ruffled her hair too. "What a cute little girl you are. You kind of remind me of Azuazu himself."

She puffed her cheeks. "I'm not like him, I don't worship my cousin!"

Iah covered a smile. "No, I'm pretty sure that you do, right Adela?"

Smiling, I glanced at my cousin. "Yeah, you do. You're always clinging onto me."

Celeste puffed her cheeks more. "I do not. Ah, are you two dating?"

Iah shook his head. "Nope, not at all. What about Azuazu and you?" he said, giving her a wink.

Celeste glared at him. "I'm five!"

He held his hands up and backed away. "Right, right. Don't look at me like that." He shifted his golden eyes at me. "This girl is a lot like her cousin."

I covered up my mouth and continued on my way. Now wasn't the time for idle chat and joking around. There was a mission to fulfill.

Celeste turned her back to us and ran deeper into the house. "Anyway, Mom said to meet her in the main room. Follow me!"

We followed Celeste into a room with a red screen door. I opened the door and walked in with Celeste. The place was filled with priestesses and their young male helpers who were dressed in female garb.