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Chapter : 18
A Dark Night
A few days later, inside the tower deep in the forest where Leon and Lowell trained in magic.
Hiss.
Lowell was staring fixedly at a dying flame. She had lost count of how many times the fire had gone out already.
The flickering light atop the small candle once again failed to last even three seconds before losing its strength.
She had come to Leon’s tower, a place where she could finally train comfortably after a long time, and wanted to do well—but things weren’t going the way she hoped.
“Isn’t this candle made wrong or something?”
In the end, unable to hold it in any longer, Lowell leaned back and complained.
“No.”
Leon replied without even looking at her.
“…….”
At his indifferent attitude, Lowell stuck out her lower lip and glared at him. But when Leon showed no reaction at all, she fixed her posture, sat properly, and recited the spell again.
Hiss.
But the candle flame quickly lost strength again. Earlier it had lasted three seconds at least—now it went out the moment it lit.
It seemed her brain was exhausted from repeating the same spell over and over.
Whoosh.
So the method Lowell chose was… lighting the fire using only mana, without chanting the spell.
“What’s the point of using tricks like that?”
Leon had approached without her noticing, and he asked as he looked at the flame now burning far higher than before.
“…To recover my confidence?”
Lowell laughed awkwardly, fidgeting with her fingers.
But when Leon continued to look serious, Lowell moved her hand and extinguished the flame. She knew he was right.
“No matter how I think about it, spells just don’t seem to suit me.”
“So what? Because they don’t suit you, you’re just going to give up? You said you wanted to find your rightful place.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
As she answered, Lowell’s gaze dropped weakly to the floor.
“Spells are like tools. No matter how well-forged a blade is, you can’t use it properly without a handle. In the same way, mana can only be properly manifested through spells.”
Leon let out a short sigh at Lowell’s listless 모습 and waved his hand in front of her.
Whoosh.
As Leon recited a fire spell, a strong flame immediately sprang up on the candle.
“You’re not someone who can’t memorize spells at all—you’re closer to someone who doesn’t understand their structure. Once you properly understand it just once, you’ll pick it up quickly after that.”
“Is understanding the structure originally that hard?”
“It is. But once you get past that hurdle—”
The conversation suddenly stopped. Lowell had moved closer, staring intently at Leon.
“…Why.”
Leon trailed off, caught off guard by the sudden intense eye contact.
“No, it’s just—I thought you’d say something like, ‘How would I know if it’s hard or not? I’m a genius magic knight, so it’s never been hard for me.’”
“…What?”
Leon stared into the violet eyes blinking right in front of him. After a brief moment of eye contact, he realized Lowell was being completely serious. With a sigh, he added,
“Unless you’re educated from a very young age, learning spell-based magic is difficult. The thought processes of a normal human and the structure of spell magic don’t align. I know that because I’ve been through it myself.”
“What? You’ve been through it? I thought a genius magic knight wouldn’t have had to deal with that.”
Lowell was surprised to learn there was a setting about the villain in the book, Leon Lifmann, that she hadn’t known. Then again… she hadn’t exactly created the character with great care, so forgetting something wasn’t that strange.
“Are you mocking me right now?”
“…A little?”
Lowell slightly hunched her shoulders, smiling playfully as she showed “a little” with her fingers.
Leon watched that scattered smile. Perhaps because the lifted corners of her lips looked mischievous, Leon unknowingly let out something like a chuckling sigh before continuing.
“My mana manifested when I was thirteen. Before that, I’d never received proper magical training. The Lifmann family has handled finance for generations, and my parents and siblings believed that all knights were inferior, whether they could use magic or not.”
Leon paused, let out a small sigh, then continued.
“My siblings were already attending a regular academy to become financial officials, so when I said I wanted to be a knight, no one took me seriously. So I read magic books and trained on my own.”
That was as far as Leon went. It seemed like he might have wanted to say more, but a sudden sense of futility stopped him.
What’s so impressive about this story anyway?
That thought brushed through his mind.
“I see. That must have been hard.”
As Leon’s gaze drifted emptily, Lowell spoke softly.
“Running forward believing only in yourself, when no one recognizes or acknowledges you—that’s hard, right? You did well.”
As she said that, Lowell reached out and gently patted Leon’s head.
And when Leon’s silver hair began to scatter, Lowell realized what she was doing.
It was a habit she’d picked up from gently patting Aria’s head whenever she was upset. Her hand had moved reflexively.
Aria had said she liked it—it made her feel comforted.
“…….”
Of course, judging by Leon—who had frozen and was now staring deeply at her—it seemed that was a trait unique to Aria.
“Um… I actually have a spell I’m good at now. Want to see?”
Lowell suddenly said that as she looked into Leon’s blue eyes. The tone was like, ‘I eat really well—want to watch?’ but avoiding the awkward atmosphere was more important right now.
When Leon flinched slightly and stepped back, Lowell slowly began chanting the coordinates-shift spell.
Swish.
A small magic circle formed in her hand, and the necklace Leon had once given her appeared on her palm.
“Ah! It worked! This was in a drawer!”
Lowell grabbed the necklace tightly and exclaimed in a bright, high-pitched voice.
“You said you were good at it, but you’re that surprised after succeeding once?”
Leon teased her, but the corners of his mouth were slightly raised—a pleasant smile.
After that, a quiet time passed without much conversation: Lowell practiced understanding magic spells, and Leon read his book.
“This.”
Just as Leon finished reading a book, a basket of bread was suddenly pushed over the pages.
“What is this?”
Leon lifted his head and looked at the person holding out the basket.
“No matter what, it didn’t seem right for you to eat nothing.”
Lowell pushed the basket closer, gesturing for him to take it.
“…I usually don’t eat anything when I’m researching.”
“That’s ridiculous. You need to put something in for your brain to work properly.”
Leon refused several more times, but Lowell was firm. Memories of being a Korean who lived on the power of meals whispered to her that the man sitting in front of her needed to eat properly.
In the end, Leon took the basket and closed his book. He was about to tell her to eat some too, but when he saw the bread crumbs around Lowell’s mouth, he gave up—it looked like she’d already eaten plenty.
“Did you find anything?”
Lowell, now perched on the desk, leaned her upper body toward Leon and asked.
She glanced at the book Leon had been reading earlier. The title “The Influence of Reversion Variables” stood out, and several other books related to time lay on the desk.
“Just a bit further than what I found before.”
Leon answered briefly.
After the villa incident, Leon had accelerated his investigation. Until then, it had been hard to fully believe Lowell’s claims about regression, but with demons now appearing, there was no longer any reason to doubt her.
“Do you think the demons are involved in my regression?”
Lowell suddenly straightened up and asked.
“At this point, it’s likely. An ordinary magic knight wouldn’t even have access to time magic, let alone magic related to regression. And like I said before, they obsess over the magic they cast—so the demons probably followed the young lady because of that.”
“Why on earth….”
Lowell murmured softly, staring at the floor.
“Still, you said this is the first time demons have appeared. That means something went wrong with the regression. Just the fact that things are different from before makes this valuable enough.”
Seeing Lowell’s drooping shoulders, Leon added,
“Was that supposed to comfort you?”
“No. It’s the truth.”
As that playful exchange ended, their crossing gazes drifted apart again. But thanks to Leon’s words, Lowell felt the dense tension inside her ease somewhat.
“You know…”
Feeling more at ease, Lowell suddenly spoke up.
“Yeah?”
“Why do you look so tired today? You look kind of worn out and exhausted.”
Lowell bent at the waist and blinked right in front of Leon’s cheek.
“What?”
At the sudden question, an immediately irritated expression crossed Leon’s face. Soon, an incredulous question spilled from his lips.
“…Just how does your train of thought work?”
“No, I’m not just saying it—you really look tired. Come to think of it, you haven’t been coming to the bedroom lately. Are you actually sleeping?”
“I don’t need to sleep all the time like you do. I manage my stamina just fine, so don’t worry about it.”
Leon avoided Lowell’s eyes so close to his face, recalling how she used to fall asleep at the drop of a hat.
“…Really?”
But seeing the shadows under Leon’s eyes, Lowell found it hard to believe him, so she frowned and asked again.
“Yes.”
Since Leon answered firmly once more, Lowell didn’t press further. She wasn’t sure, but it didn’t seem likely that Leon—a genius magic knight who had fought on the battlefield—would fail to manage his stamina properly.
“What… are you doing right now?”
That night, in the bedroom of the mansion engulfed in darkness, Leon’s labored breath spilled out along with a question that couldn’t find its direction.
“…….”
And beneath him was Lowell. Her black hair was spread across the bed, and her pale skin shimmered in the moonlight reflecting off the sheets.
Lowell couldn’t move. Her right hand was pinned by Leon, and his knee wedged between her legs prevented any movement.
More than anything, what rendered her completely helpless was the blue eyes staring deeply into her from right in front of her. The gaze circling her face felt like it was binding her in place.
“I asked what you’re doing.”
With those words, the grip on Lowell’s wrist tightened.
“Ah.”
A small moan slipped from her lips as pain shot up from her wrist pressed into the sheet. Her gaze automatically shifted there, and she saw her slender wrist quickly reddening and swelling.
“…….”
But Leon showed no sign of letting her go. Instead, he leaned closer, pressing down further so she couldn’t move.
Lowell said nothing, just stared into the burning light in his eyes. She couldn’t answer—and didn’t want to.
“Just what are you….”
So Leon tried to seize control of the conversation. Looking down at Lowell beneath him, whose eyes seemed strangely calm, he spoke in an angry voice.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
But once again, he lost the initiative, as always.
“…Why didn’t you say anything.”
At those words, Leon’s eyes flinched and trembled.
A moment later, Lowell’s free hand rose and hovered beside Leon’s cheek. It couldn’t quite bring itself to touch his face, but the withdrawn gesture dripped with unspoken emotion.
