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Chapter 63
The very person who had cursed Arkes and completely blocked my natural affinity.
Dante is here!
“All the sorcerers affiliated with the family are under the command of Chief Sorcerer Dante,”
Libia explained beside me while I looked around the guesthouse where the sorcerers stayed, my eyes sparkling.
“Currently, the sorcerers are quite busy, so Dante will be representing them and greeting you on their behalf. Is that alright?”
“Yes, that’s fine!”
I was actually glad—it saved time.
Libia nodded and guided me to the reception room in the guesthouse.
As soon as we entered, a man who had arrived earlier jumped to his feet.
“Ch-Chief Sorcerer Dante la Basilik greets the Spirit Master blessed by the Water King!”
Long gray hair, purple eyes, a fairly handsome face.
Indeed, as Harnen had told me before, he had an ordinary yet refined impression.
‘Someone like this cursed Arkes and tried to kill him twice…’
Clearly, you can’t judge a person by looks alone.
“Uh, Spirit Master…?”
When I stared for too long, Dante cautiously called out to me.
Snapping out of my thoughts, I smiled.
“You’re quite handsome. I guess I stared without realizing it.”
“Thank you… for saying that!”
Dante covered his mouth as if overwhelmed with emotion and bowed deeply at me.
I was caught off guard by his sudden polite greeting and waved my hands.
“Oh, no, please, stand up!”
“But this is the only way I can express my feelings right now…”
“Your feelings have already been conveyed enough. You may stand now!”
“Yes, Spirit Master…!”
Dante straightened up, replying like a nervous job applicant during an interview.
I sighed inwardly.
From the Duke to Lloyd, and now Dante… why are there only strange people in the Bahar main family?
I sat in the chair Libia had pulled out for me.
Even after I sat, Dante remained standing, only taking his seat after I offered a few more times.
While glancing at me repeatedly, I narrowed my eyes and stared back at him.
‘He seems… impressed by me, maybe even a bit nervous…’
He looked excited yet strangely cautious—a reaction uncommon for a stranger at first meeting.
‘Is it because he blocked all my natural affinity back in the Hyla County incident?’
After all, not only Arkes but I almost died because of that. It made sense he was cautious.
If someone you nearly killed becomes your superior, of course you’d be careful.
‘But Dante probably doesn’t know the full story of the past incidents.’
Could it be a pang of conscience?
I decided to test him.
“Um… Chief Sorcerer, do you know a child named Arkes?”
“Eh, yes?”
“He’s a cute little boy with curly black hair and red eyes.”
As I roughly described Arkes, Dante’s purple eyes twitched slightly.
“Why… are you asking me about that…?”
“I’ve just been asking everyone I meet lately. He lived with me until I came to the capital, but as soon as we arrived, he suddenly disappeared.”
Now, the child Dante had tried to kill twice, maybe even three times, had come up in conversation.
How would he react?
“I see… If you lived together, you must have grown fond of him. It must have been upsetting when he suddenly disappeared.”
Dante seemed slightly flustered but quickly masked it with a concerned expression.
“If you want, I could use a spell to find his whereabouts.”
A laughably unnecessary offer.
‘Conscience, my foot…’
He was just being cautious.
I swallowed a sigh and smiled faintly, shaking my head.
“No, it’s fine. Harnen told me not to worry, that Arkes is doing well. I’m just curious, asking around.”
I used Harnen as a shield to end the topic.
But somehow, Dante’s expression seemed unusual.
Just as I tilted my head in curiosity, he quietly spoke after a brief silence.
“…Spirit Master, are you very close to Sorcerer Harnen?”
“Well, yes, we are.”
It was common knowledge in the social circles that a spirit master was close to a sorcerer who had graduated as chief from the Academy alongside them.
I tilted my head, and Dante’s question continued.
“Then… what do you think of Emperor Bellarisian?”
The moment I heard that, all my movements froze.
“…What?”
A cold clarity began creeping into my mind.
My expression rapidly disappeared from my face.
“What did you just say?”
My silver-white eyes, icy and piercing, glared dangerously at Dante.
Yet he seemed oddly relieved at my expression.
“I apologize, I must have offended you, Spirit Master. I will never mention him again.”
He even smiled.
Though he promised never to speak of him again, I kept a wary gaze, scanning Dante carefully.
‘Come to think of it, there’s a “la” in front of Dante’s surname.’
That meant he was a noble from the Belzesti Empire.
But I’d never heard of the Basilik family.
‘Maybe a fallen house or a minor noble?’
As I was pondering,
“Einra, there you are.”
Suddenly, the reception room door flung open, and someone I wasn’t eager to see entered.
“I’ve been looking for you.”
Lloyd strode toward me, his gaze landing on Dante across from me.
A crooked smile tugged at his lips.
“I was searching diligently, while Einra is here, meeting a strange man alone.”
Dante, suddenly receiving the cold gaze of his superior, jumped in alarm, waving his hands.
“Ah, no, Your Grace! I was merely greeting the future young lady as the chief sorcerer of the ducal family…”
“I intended to introduce the servants myself.”
“Your Grace…”
“I didn’t want you meeting a strange man alone like this.”
“It’s really not like that…”
Dante’s face began to tremble as if he was about to cry.
Really, the clumsy man who had blocked all my affinity and tried to kill Arkes… what a strange contrast.
While I watched them with blurry eyes, Lloyd, who had made Dante shiver, smiled again and turned to me.
“So, Einra, now that you’ve taken care of business with him, shall we leave?”
He reached out his hand to me.
I glanced at Dante, still looking upset, and nodded, taking Lloyd’s hand.
“Yes, that’s fine.”
There was nothing more to gain from talking to Dante, so it was best to leave now.
‘A family that didn’t trust me enough to block my Spirit Affinity until marriage.’
And now he wants to ask Dante whether he’s allied with Belzesti? No way he’d answer.
I followed Lloyd out of the reception room.
“I heard your father called for you, Einra.”
As soon as we left, Lloyd turned to me, speaking as if he had been waiting.
“I know you can’t refuse, but couldn’t a servant have told me instead?”
“Oh, right…”
“I went to see you late yesterday because you said you were tired. But when I got there, you weren’t in your room! Do you know how shocked I was?”
“Oh, what a pity…”
I subtly freed my hand from his grip and answered his whining half-heartedly.
Then a thought occurred to me, and I spoke up.
“Your Grace, I’m curious about something. May I ask?”
“Yes, of course.”
Lloyd nodded expectantly.
Seizing the chance, I quickly asked.
“Do you know when the chief sorcerer started working for this family?”
“…….”
