[CHAPTER 7: MISUNDERSTANDINGS]
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In an unbothered manner, the ravenette blinked as Callisto carried him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. His wrists and ankles were bound together with anti-mana shackles. Erix allowed himself to be caught by the knight, knowing the redhead wouldn't listen to his explanations. A commotion was created when people spotted the knight carrying the Emperor's royal aide in such a manner, especially when he was still covered in blood.
Evrin almost fainted from shock while Canticle covered her mouth with a beet-red face; it was like she was approving the sight of the two men like that. In the end, all four of them returned to the imperial palace. The royals rode in the carriage while the ravenette rode with Callisto on his horse. 'I wonder what His Imperial Majesty would say if he found out about this incident?' Erix raised a brow at his thought as Callisto dragged him towards the throne room.
After reaching their destination, they entered the room. The Emperor raised a confused brow at the absurd sight in front of him. Callisto looked extremely furious and tense while Erix - still covered in blood - seemed relaxed and unbothered. "What is this all about, gentlemen?" The Emperor questioned, displeased at them. Before the ravenette could open his mouth, Callisto told him what happened.
Once he was done explaining, the Emperor rubbed his forehead with furrowed brows. "...What about your side of this matter, Erix?" He questioned, raising his narrowed gaze at the ravenette. The young man folded his hands behind his lower back and his lips curled into an innocent smile.
"It seems that Sir Artuate misunderstood my actions, Your Imperial Majesty," He stated as he straightened his posture while looking at the Emperor. "For I disposed spies from the Holy Empire, who was tailing us from the moment His Highness - Prince Evrin - and I departed from the boutique," He explained with a bow of his head, missing how Callisto turned to him in shock while the Emperor's eyes widened a bit.
"Those devotee bastards again? Ha...!" The Emperor scoffed with fury and slammed his fist against the armrest of the throne, causing a loud thud to echo through the room. He leaned back on his throne with his right hand holding his face as he angrily sighed. "How many?" He demanded, glaring at the ravenette through the gaps of his fingers. "Three in total: one wizard and two swordsmen, Your Imperial Majesty," The ravenette answered with a closed-eye smile, unbothered by the heated glare he was receiving from him.
'That's why that one guy was wearing a hooded robe?!' Callisto gulped as he connected the puzzle pieces together. "Did you properly dispose of them?" The Emperor questioned in a cold manner, crossing his right leg over his left thigh. "Of course, Your Imperial Majesty," He reassured as his lips curled into a vicious smile while his eyes were half-lidded with dark emotions, "I never leave evidence behind for such things..."
Chills ran down Callisto's spine after hearing his words and curled his fingers into a fist to calm his thundering heartbeat. "Good," The Emperor scoffed with a smirk while his tense shoulders relaxed. "You truly are brave for appearing in front of me in such a bloody sight," He added, grimacing at the messy sight of his royal aide, "I'm starting to get nauseous from that smell of death around you..."
Bewildered, the ravenette blinked at his words before nodding. Slowly, he snapped his fingers with a small hum. Out of nowhere, a large blueish triangular magic circle appeared underneath his feet. Startled by the sudden light and intense aura of magic, Callisto stumbled away from him. They watched how the circle started to surround the ravenette in a barrier-like motion. A ticking sound was heard when the blood started to get pulled off his clothes, floating to the rings of the circle before getting absorbed.
Once there wasn't a single droplet of blood left, the circle disappeared with a small sizzling sound. "Hm," The ravenette hummed with his lips in a thin line as he neatened his clothes. Ascian sweatdropped at his actions since he had experienced such a sight in the past. Yet, he could never get used to it. Erix always seemed to have tricks up his sleeves when it comes to magic. The Emperor's gaze caught something glimmering in the corner of his eye and raised a brow.
"Ha?" He spat out with astonishment when he spotted the collar-like item around the ravenette's throat. Immediately, a dark aura surrounded him as he got irked at the sight of the collar, knowing damn well who the culprit was. Meanwhile, the two younger men tensed up with confused expressions at the Emperor's sudden displeasure. "Both of you are dismissed," The Emperor sneered, glaring to the side while shooing them away. With a bow of their heads, they obeyed his order.
The redhead carefully closed the door behind him when they stepped into the hallway. Awkwardly, he glanced at the ravenette, who was fixing his gloves with a stoic expression. A sense of guilt grew inside Callisto's chest; he honestly felt horrible for thinking ill of the ravenette. "I'll be taking my leave first, sir Artuate," His voice caused the redhead to snap out of his daze-like state. Unconsciously, the redhead grabbed his bicep, surprising them both.
"Suzerain Malefic... Sir, I..." Embarrassed, he tried to apologize to him while releasing his bicep. However, the ravenette sent him a business-like smile. "You don't have to apologize to me, Sir Artuate.," The ravenette reassured in a gentle manner, causing the redhead's shoulders to tense up in disbelief. An awkward silence erupted between them as they stared at each other with different emotions. "At least allow me to repent for my mistake, sir," Callisto begged with drooping eyes as his lips nervously twitched.
'He looks like a sad puppy,' The ravenette held back a chuckle at his thought with an amused sigh, 'How cute...' Gently, he gave Callisto's bicep a reassuring pat. His gesture surprised Callisto, which made the tip of his ears turn pink. "It's really not necessary to do that," He mused with a smile as he took his hand off his bicep, "Your reaction is perfectly normal if you witnessed my 'duties', just like today..."
'Ah,' The redhead's eyes widened when he watched how the ravenette's true emotions flashed through his irises; he looked hurt and dejected. "Ahem," The ravenette awkwardly cleared his throat and turned to the side, "Now that's settled, I will be taking my leave. His Highness, Prince Saide must be waiting for my presence..." In a sluggish manner, the redhead nodded to show that he understood while his bangs covered his eyes.
Silently, his turquoise-coloured irises were pinned on the ravenette's backside when he head down the hallway, heading towards the imperial library. The moment he was gone, Callisto crouched to the floor with his head in his hands. In a frustrated manner, he messed up his hair with a groan. 'If you're used to people reacting like that,' He lifted his gaze and placed it on the spot where the ravenette stood a moment ago, 'Why did your eyes look so helpless?'
He got to his feet and headed in the opposite hallway. His destination was the training grounds. He wanted to get his mind away from what happened that afternoon, so the best way to do that was to practice swordsmanship. The moment he reached the training grounds, a fiery aura of determination surrounded him - which caused the other knights to back away with pale faces.
The time ticked away like dust - the sun started to set over the horizon, welcoming the summer evening. The sky was decorated with warm and beautiful colours. The ravenette leaned against the tree trunk and stared at the sky with a relaxed expression, ignoring the peachy-blonde-haired prince groaning and complaining in front of him. "This... ugh... is too... difficult... Uncle!" Saide complained with a glare as his right hand was stretched out in front of him, trying to create a proper magic circle.
"Of course, it's going to be difficult if you keep complaining like that, Your Highness," He scolded him in a playful manner and bent his knee to support his elbow. He chuckled when Saide sent him an annoyed glare, scowling with hatred. "Concentrate on the flow of your magic, Your Highness," He reminded him with amused eyes, watching how the golden magic circle wobbled a bit from the lack of concentration.
"If the pathways of the magic flow are hindered in any way, the structure of the circle will collapse," He added while pointing at the wobbling circle that was supposed to be a magic circle with three smaller circles around it. Sweat dripped down the blonde's forehead as he narrowed his eyes at the circle in front of his fingertips. "Try imagining your magic as a creek flowing through the valley - calm and peaceful," The ravenette suggested with a smile.
With a nod, Saide took a deep breath while closing his eyes; trying to picture a peaceful creek that he had seen in the forest. "Oh~!" Erix hummed in an impressed manner when the wobbling circle started to stabilize itself. It was growing larger and brighter in colour as the lines of the circle moved in a clockwise manner.
However, the blonde's concentration was interrupted when it felt like his chest was tightening up. Gasping, his eyes snapped open and ripped his hand away from the unfinished circle. Realizing what he had done, his eyes widened in horror. It felt like time slowed down for him; the unfinished circle exploded in large amounts of golden mana an arm-length away from his face.
All he could hear was his thundering heartbeat in his ears and he wanted to run away, yet it felt like his feet were glued to the ground. His eyes started to tear up when the scorching hot mana explosion inched closer to his face. 'Am I going to die...?' He thought when all he could see was the golden-coloured mana. Almost as if the gods heard his thoughts, he felt a muscular arm wrap itself around his waist, hurriedly pulling him away from the explosion.
His head turned to the side and his eyes glistened over with tears when he saw Erix's face; he felt like he was in safe hands. A vicious scowl was seen on the ravenette's face as his torso leaned forward while his other arm stretched out towards the mana explosion. Not even a second later, a large black coloured circle with five smaller circles around it - which caused it to be arrow-shaped - appeared from his fingertips. An enormous wave of dark magenta-coloured mana erupted from the black circle.
Saide's breath hitched as he watched how the dark magenta-coloured flames engulfed the golden mana. It looked as if the dark flames came from a dragon's mouth, burning and destroying everything in its path. The dark flames started to form a barrier around the unfinished golden circle, forcing the golden flames to be extinguished to nothingness. The sounds of flames crackling and sizzling filled the area as the dark flamed barrier grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared.
Once the barrier was nowhere to be seen, the black circle in front of Erix's fingertips vanished. Beads of sweat dripped down the ravenette's face as he panted with a tense expression. Saide clung to him, shoving his face into the crevis of the ravenette's nape. The ravenette could feel the teen tremble while holding onto him for dear life. He sighed when he heard the teen sniffle a bit, trying to hide the fact that he was crying.
"Come now, Your Highness," He whispered, wrapping his arms around the trembling teen with a small smile, "Everything is fine now. You're safe..." That only caused the teen to sniffle louder in a stubborn manner. Awkwardly, the ravenette gave his back a reassuring pat, trying to soothe the frightened prince. After a couple of minutes, the ravenette sweatdropped; the prince was still clinging to him. It was fortunate that he stopped crying, but his grip on the older man was extremely tight.
"Have you calmed down now, Your Highness?" He asked with a crooked smile and felt the blonde against his shoulder. "Do you know... that you smell like tobacco and roses?" Saide questioned as he lifted his head and rested his chin on the ravenette's shoulder, "That scent gets stronger every time you use your magic..." The ravenette tensed up at his words and nervously chuckled, "That's the first I've heard something say to me..."
"Uncle, did your markings get worse...?" Saide's question caught him completely off-guard. A dense silence surrounded them when the ravenette refused to answer him. "Why do you ask, Your Highness?" He muttered with a strained smile, trying to calm his nerves. "Because that scent only gets this strong when you've overused your magic," Saide answered, rolling his eyes at his response and leaning back to face him.
"...Curse you and your sensitive nose, Your Highness," The ravenette sighed with a dejected smile as he released him before getting back on his feet. He looked at the orange-pink sky and closed his eyes when a soothing summer breeze past him. "The markings will settle down soon, so don't worry," He tried to reassure the blonde, who was staring at him with a stern yet sympathetic expression. "It's bound to settle..." He muttered to himself as he touched his throat with a frown, "It must settle down before the Imperial Summer Ball..."