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CHAPTER 10
“Where do you think you’re going? Shouldn’t you take my meat from my plate and burn it before you leave?”
Khalid glared at the man who was still sprawled on the floor in a daze.
“You tripped me just now. Are you insane, you damn bastard?”
“Your ears must have rotted from hearing yourself called trash. Perhaps we’re even, then.”
Ignoring Arne’s words completely, Khalid checked the black mask pulled up to the bridge of his nose once more. Then he lifted Luna’s plate and poured its contents over the head of the man who was trying to stand.
The charcoal-black chunks of meat crumbled like powder, scattering ashes over Arne’s face. Half-burned sauce stuck messily to his brown hair and dust-covered clothes.
“Now you finally look like the useless husk you are.”
Khalid crossed his legs and leisurely mocked Arne’s earlier insult as if he were enjoying the sight.
Everyone around them, including Luna, froze at his fearless actions.
Arne was a reckless troublemaker who acted however he pleased because he had money and magic backing him. He was the kind of person everyone avoided whenever possible. No one even thought about stepping in between them.
As if he had never experienced something like this in his life, Arne’s eyes widened. He suppressed his flushed anger, his face turning red and then pale.
Mana gathered in his hand, and flames began to swirl around his fingers.
“Are you planning to start a fight here? Just like earlier, you’re an idiot who can’t think of anything else once something catches your attention.”
Khalid continued his harsh evaluation while still sitting with his legs crossed.
Arne looked around after hearing the words of the black-cloaked wandering swordsman.
Everyone was holding their breath and staring at him.
Then he met the eyes of the pink-haired woman looking at him with concern.
His shoulders rose as he made the flames at his fingertips burn even brighter.
He couldn’t continue making a fool of himself in front of his future wife.
“You’re begging me to kill you. I’ll gladly grant your wish.”
“I wonder who’s actually saying that.”
Khalid arrogantly lifted his chin and tapped his foot.
He stood up and looked down coldly at Arne, whose height still failed to match his gaze.
He had no interest whatsoever in other people’s romances, but if the person involved was his purification mage, that was a different story.
The veins on the back of Khalid’s hand bulged.
“Do you know that someone like you isn’t even worth wasting a fist on, let alone a sword?”
“What?”
Smack—!
Before Arne could even finish speaking, a sharp sound that tore through the air rang out right beside them.
Caught off guard, Arne’s head violently snapped to the side from the slap.
His vision flashed as if the sky had collapsed. His mouth split open, and the metallic taste of blood filled it.
Smack—!
“Ugh!”
Before he could recover, Arne was struck on the opposite cheek.
A trained swordsman’s strike made both sides of his face swell like he had been stung by bees.
The flames he had summoned had disappeared long ago without accomplishing anything.
Even though his jaw hadn’t been hit, his vision kept turning black and white.
Dizzy, Arne covered his face with his hands and staggered backward.
This time, the world itself seemed to tilt.
Even Luna’s pale face, her hands covering her mouth in shock, appeared slanted.
What was happening?
Ah.
This completely insane man had actually grabbed him and lifted him up.
Crash—! Bang!!
The large brown-haired figure was thrown into an empty corner of the restaurant.
Several tables snapped in half, chair backs broke, and they swallowed Arne beneath them.
Blood splattered, and his fingers and thighs twitched among the shattered pieces.
“Instead of using your precious wealth and magic to act arrogant, worry about the quality of places like this. Everything about it is pathetic.”
Khalid shook his hand as if he had touched something filthy and spoke in a low voice.
Unless someone knew that Arne had been the one to start the trouble, anyone watching would have thought the black-masked silver-haired man was the villain because of how brutally he acted.
“Wizard. No… Lady Aderette.”
“Yes?”
Luna flinched when her client naturally called her name and answered awkwardly.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
With a disciplined voice, she followed behind the man as he walked away leisurely.
“Thank you for helping me!”
At the entrance of the plaza, Luna sat on a bench and hurriedly bought a turkey skewer before offering it to Khalid.
The scene he had shown her was still vivid in her mind, and her heart was still pounding.
Khalid had lowered his mask, but he didn’t seem interested in accepting the food. With his arms crossed, he alternated between looking at the turkey skewer and Luna with a cold expression.
“You’re mistaken. I didn’t help you.”
“Then what was it?”
“I dislike mages. And I dislike people who have filthy mouths even more.”
“Cough. I see……”
Luna listened while taking a bite of her own skewer, then choked slightly.
Come to think of it, I’m a mage too.
What kind of courage did I have when I slapped his cheek in the bathroom back then?
After witnessing power on a completely different level, her heart tightened.
“Sir Client, our promise from last time is still valid for life, right? The one where we pretend it never happened. You’ll definitely keep it, won’t you?”
“I don’t understand why you keep bringing it up if you want me to forget.”
Khalid took the skewer from Luna’s hand with a blunt tone and handed her the drink beside him.
“Oh, no. Absolutely not.”
“You said you would buy me dinner, but it ended up ruined. I’ll buy it again next time.”
“Don’t worry about it. Rather, thank you for scolding that guy. I think everyone there probably enjoyed it? He’s a famous troublemaker in this area.”
“What kind of relationship do you have with that troublemaker for you to endure something like that?”
“We studied magic together. Though I only learned the theory.”
Luna smiled bitterly.
After her parents, who were her magic teachers, passed away and her family began to decline, not only Arne but almost everyone’s attitude toward her changed overnight.
Even so, she had stubbornly survived with her grandfather.
If it hadn’t been for her client, she probably would have endured the insults as usual and let it go.
That was why she felt grateful toward him.
“Next time, become an excellent mage and personally strike him down yourself, Lady.”
“Excuse me?”
Luna’s expression immediately brightened at his unexpected words.
This man who secretly treated her kindly really was gentle after all.
That was why, strangely, she wasn’t afraid of him.
“You said you hated mages, but you’re encouraging me? May I ask why you dislike mages?”
“……”
Khalid fell silent.
Then he quietly bit into the turkey skewer.
He said nothing until he finished eating the entire thing.
Luna also remained silent and lifted her gaze.
The unfamiliar night sky filled with countless stars was breathtakingly beautiful.
“Because the curse placed on me is magic. That’s why I hate it.”
Khalid finally opened his lips, as if forcing the words out while the wind carried them away.
“Ah……”
Perhaps because he was surrounded by the stars, his voice did not seem to enter her ears.
It struck directly into her heart.
So deeply that the purple mark of his curse appeared vividly in her mind.
Suddenly, her chest tightened and stung.
Luna thought it was because she hadn’t completely purified him.
“I’ll definitely purify your curse!”
“Do you think it will recover in a day or two?”
He asked while calmly nodding.
There was a faint desperation hidden behind his tightly closed lips.
Looking at the man, Luna felt pity… and something else.
How had this person ended up cursed?
For some reason, she felt he wouldn’t answer even if she asked.
She would leave that question for later.
For now, she needed to focus on lifting his curse completely.
That would make her feel at ease.
“Of course! I’m really fine.”
Because her answer came late, doubtful eyes scanned Luna from head to toe.
Soon, he let out a quiet sigh and stood.
“……I understand. Let’s return.”
Luna stood up after him and cheered inwardly.
After all, her sponsor had said he would pay her soon.
She had to insist that she was absolutely fine!
“Sir Client. May I ask your name?”
Luna walked beside him and asked warmly.
“Have you forgotten the rules of Raven? There’s no need for you to know.”
“Now of all times?”
Luna puffed out her cheeks and looked up at him, feeling it was unfair.
“Lady, aren’t we in a contractual relationship?”
“Yes.”
“There is nothing good that comes from knowing about me. You only need to perform the purification properly.”
“Yes……”
What a sly fox.
With just one question, he erased everything unnecessary.
What was the big deal about telling her his name?
She thought they had become closer.
With her lips sticking out in disappointment, Luna followed behind her client.
Before long, they arrived near the mansion, and they exchanged polite farewells.
“I’ll return the cloak tomorrow.”
“It’s fine.”
“But still. It belongs to you.”
“I have plenty of those. Go inside quickly before you catch a cold.”
An unexpected argument began, and both of their eyebrows twitched.
All evening, Luna felt as though she had been swept along by her client.
Just as she was about to say something more, he turned around and disappeared from her sight in an instant.
Left alone, she could only stare at the pitch-black forest path leading to the mansion.
“Seriously, he’s so… huh?”
Wait.
But how did the client know how to get here?
I never told him the direction of my house.
Even after carefully thinking back over the time she spent with him, she had never once mentioned where she lived.
Luna quietly grabbed the hem of her dress.
Because she knew nothing about his identity, her anxiety returned.
One thing was certain.
If he ever decided to, he could bury her in an even deeper abyss at any time.
Rubbing her suddenly cold neck, Luna quietly entered the house.
And she had no idea that her client was still nearby, watching her.
