“Airy. Ancient black magic. What is it? How is it different from regular black magic?”
[Airy doesn’t know well either.]Airy shook her head back and forth while skillfully adjusting the direction of the wind sphere that hid and carried us to the imperial palace, like a capable helmsman.
The dark red black magic barrier surrounding the imperial city became denser and denser as we approached the imperial palace.
I shut my mouth so as not to distract Airy and tried pressing the surface of the sphere with my fingertips. It was fascinating how it bounced back elastically like transparent jelly.
Each time my hand touched, the passing scenery of the imperial city seemed slightly distorted through the transparent sphere.
“I heard from the priests that before the Goddess left the earth, she exterminated the seeds of the ancient black magicians.”
I had heard this at the temple I visited a couple times a month while guarding Justin in my previous life. That the Goddess herself had purged the evil apostles who disrupted the order of the world.
[Yuriella. Evil is like a cockroach. Even if you kill it, it comes out again. The more you kill, the deeper it hides and just waits for the day to spring back out. Growing in strength and size. Just because it hasn’t been seen doesn’t mean it’s completely gone. It wouldn’t be strange for it to pop out anytime.]“What were the ancient black magicians you met like? Were there any that were too much for you to handle?”
[The Goddess mainly worked with Popo, so I didn’t fight the black magicians.]“Popo?”
[Yes. The ancient black magicians did a lot of bad things to the earth.]Airy seemed lost in thought for a moment as if recalling memories from a distant time, then spoke.
[The earth embraces everything. Fire and ice cannot exist alone without the earth. The three are connected. If they gain the ability to control the earth, they would have the whole world. I also wouldn’t be able to use my full power without those three. It’s terrible.]My heart also grew heavy at the spirit’s low voice.
“What if the emperor gets his hands on Flama, who has become a complete magic sword?”
What if the empress dowager’s boasting to Cassandra wasn’t a bluff but a confidence with grounds?
If they have the ability to control Flama……?
If the knowledge of black magic from ancient times was passed down unbroken to the current emperor?
An uncomfortable pricking sensation crept up my spine.
The survival warning that was familiar to the child who barely eked out a daily living in the suffocating streets.
The sharp premonition that had guided me, who stood on the boundary between life and death on the battlefield, towards life.
My unfounded gut feelings were often more accurate than the dozens of pages of reports handed to me by my adjutants.
The warnings sent by my instincts had saved my life and the lives of my subordinates.
“If the emperor gains perfect control over Flama as a magic sword?”
Airy, who had been silent, let out a long sigh at my repeated question.
[The magic sword Flama will also vary depending on the ability of its master. If the emperor can perfectly control it, he will likely be able to cause any disaster that can be created with fire. The world may become a sea of flames.]Holy flame cannot harm people. It only burns and purifies the wicked.
But Flama filled with magic energy will bring about unimaginable catastrophe.
It was said that the emperor was consumed by darkness from birth in order to grasp the magic sword.
“Airy. Something has been bothering me. How did the talent for black magic, passed down only to Figlera women for generations, manifest in the male emperor?”
[It must be a random mutation. Mutations can occur in any individual.]“A mutation?”
Just that a boy with a talent for black magic was born by chance?
“The people of the Eastern Continent say that even a fateful encounter of robes brushing is a connection from 500 past lives. Let alone the birth of a life called a universe. Isn’t it too thoughtless to say it’s just a coincidence, a mutation?”
[Yuriella, you’re too kind for your own good. The emperor is the one who killed you. Do you want to be considerate of someone worse than a cockroach?]“That’s not what I mean.”
[Don’t go soft, Yuriella. To marry a good man, you need to become a bit shrewder and smarter.]“Hmm. I’m already a married woman, Airy.”
[A fake married woman. Since it’s a contract marriage.]Airy snorted indifferently.
“It may be fake, but the paperwork is real. So let’s talk about that after the divorce-”
[Right. We need to get divorced first. Let’s divorce quickly.]Airy smiled brightly, suddenly holding out divorce papers and a pen.
How thorough with the preparation. Singing that she absolutely can’t bear to see me become a widow with a broken heart, when did she prepare that?
“Airy.”
When I glared at her with a deliberately stern face, Airy hid the papers behind her back and quickly changed the subject, stretching the corners of her mouth into a long, mischievous grin.
[I don’t know why the emperor was born with such an ability, but what makes black magic scary is that it allows artificial interventions that amplify its original power.]“Artificial interventions?”
[Yes. The Goddess stepped in and was able to sweep it away. Popo couldn’t handle it alone. The ancient black magicians defeated Popo.]“No matter how outstanding their abilities, aren’t they just humans who can’t overcome the power of nature? How in the world did they defeat the spirit of the earth?”
[With life.]Airy shuddered, rubbing her arms as if getting goosebumps just from the thought.
[They defeated with life.]“Life…?”
[Yes. They sacrificed people as offerings. A lot… of people… Even Popo, who has a heart like a rock, would have nightmares and vomit whenever she went on extermination missions with the Goddess. I never went at all, and the ice dragon Iel only went once and never went again. The altars they built were so terrible…]Airy sighed, her small shoulders slumping.
[They sometimes used spells that offered human life force, sometimes human lives as sacrifices. The more sacrifices, the purer and more immaculate the life force or blood, the stronger the magic they could draw out.]Airy’s expression completely crumpled as she recalled that time.
“What about Flama?”
[Flama diligently followed whenever the Goddess called. But soon the Goddess excluded him from missions. He must have been so shocked that he suffered from amnesia for a while after the last mission and ended up living as the fire lizard Salamandra.]“Really? I never heard that from Flama.”
[He probably didn’t want to talk about it. That guy is unexpectedly tender-hearted too.]“I see…”
[Originally, when the Goddess first created us, we had no sense of self. We were just swords imbued with powerful forces of nature.]Airy slowly rolled the wind sphere inside the imperial palace after circling the outskirts.
The hand moving the wind became more delicate than before, but remained serene without any hint of tension.
What broke Airy’s serenity was rather the long-ago memories not even recorded in history.
[Seeing those damned black magicians appear and disrupt the world using innocent lives as mediums, the Goddess gave us holy swords the insight to discern the most virtuous and upright individuals and the free will to choose them as our masters.]Was it also because of the free will arranged by the Goddess that Flama reacted to me?
Flama reacted strongly to me alone. Once to my blood taken by Cassandra.
And again when I approached closely.
And each time Flama reacted to me, Nero caught on fire.
At first, it was a real fire that burned Nero’s fur.
The second time, they said the flames manifested in the form of holy fire, but with a chilling energy.
According to Popo, Flama had hastily detached some of his memories and sealed them in Nero’s body when Nero was lost and wandering in Collina Rosa.
Then where does the power remaining in Flama to fight and endure the magic energy come from?
How could Flama, whose memories had vanished, react to me?
What remained there that allowed it?
[Oh! It’s Nero! Yuriella, it’s Nero!]The wind sphere abruptly stopped as it was passing the lobby of the imperial palace heading towards the central staircase.
“…! Where?”
[There!]Airy pointed towards a huge marble pillar.
The patchy back of the truly jet-black calico cat could be seen behind the gigantic pillar.
“Nero…!”
Even knowing the wind sphere itself was an excellent barrier, I couldn’t freely call out to Nero for fear of being discovered.
– Meow.
But as if he heard my voice softer than a sigh, Nero slightly raised his head and looked straight up at me.
‘Flama…’
Are your memories really inside Nero?
How much do you remember?
Did you come to me even though you remember everything?
My vision blurred with welling tears and I couldn’t see Nero’s figure well.
That’s when the entrance of the imperial palace became noisy.
The emperor seemed to be going out, descending the stairs with a tail of advisors and attendants.
“Airy. Hurry.”
[Okay.]We had to take Nero away before Justin discovered him.
My body fidgeted without me realizing it in my impatient heart.
“Hurry, Airy.”
– Meow.
Nero’s plump front paws twitched. Then a determined light filled his round green eyes.
“Nero…?”
Nero suddenly turned his body and scurried far away from the wind sphere we were riding, nimbly avoiding the dark red barrier.
“Nero!”
[Yuriella. Don’t cry.]Airy quickly pulled the wind sphere out of the imperial palace for fear of being discovered by the emperor and comforted me, who may have been crying without knowing it.
[Nero didn’t run away because he hates Yuriella. Nero didn’t come to us because he wants to meet Yuriella in a cooler way.]“I know…”
Knowing that makes my heart ache even more.
I know with what kind of heart he is wandering the imperial palace alone like that.
“Let’s go to Cassandra. We need to find a way. It’s… a matter of time before Nero is discovered by the emperor.”
[Yes! Yuriella.]Watching the back of the emperor leaving through the entrance, Airy lifted the wind sphere high and swiftly passed through an open window.
Careful just in case. In the opposite direction of the main gate where a carriage was waiting to take the emperor.
*
Pausing as he was about to board the carriage, Justin glanced back at the head attendant Dario.
“You have something on you.”
The emperor kindly removed the black fur sticking to Dario’s head attendant uniform.
“Ah. I apologize. I…”
Only then did Dario notice the dirty cat fur clinging to his uniform and begin frantically removing it, turning pale.
“Did you start keeping a cat by any chance?”
Dario was so flustered that he failed to realize the emperor had specifically pointed out it was cat fur just by seeing the animal fur.
“Ah, yes… It was skinny and wandering alone so I felt sorry for it… I apologize. I will get rid of it right away-”
“No. Since you took it in, it’s fate. Take good care of it. Bring it to my room too.”
“Pardon?”
Dario looked up at the emperor with a stupid face, wiping cold sweat with the back of his hand.
“What do cats like? Should I prepare toys or snacks? They say you have to play with them often to win their affection?”
“Pardon? Ah, yes…”
Dario’s face became twice as stupid as before.
It was nothing new that His Majesty was an unpredictable person.
But until he left the office earlier, he was as barren and desolate as the desert at night. Suddenly brightening up in just a few steps was abrupt.
Cat toys from someone who detested animals. Bringing it despite agonizing over possibly being discovered. Playing with it.
“The day is so sunny, I feel like being crafty. Contact Mother and ask if she would like to go horseback riding together after a long time.”
“Yes…?”
He had always sternly taught his subordinates, ‘You must not make His Majesty speak twice’.
“Go to the Swan Palace quickly and tell her. That her son wants to be a filial child today.”
How many times was he stupidly asking again?
“The Chia forest path would be perfect. Tell her to come out no matter what as I have an urgent matter to discuss.”
Justin stared at something for a long time, his head raised, with a smile on his lips.
Dario turned his head to look in the direction of the emperor’s gaze.
This was also unprecedented, but he was burning with curiosity. Just what was there that made him look so excited?
Dario’s head tilted in confusion.
‘The sky?’
The emperor was just smiling at the empty sky.
The head attendant narrowed his eyes and closely examined the emperor’s expression but couldn’t figure out anything.
The emperor was simply reading the trajectory left by the wind sphere, not the empty sky.
Was it just his mood that made breathing much easier just from the heartless person who didn’t even visit his dreams briefly passing by?
Justin could guess where the wind’s trajectory was headed and who she wanted to meet.
‘Then I should get rid of the interfering pest.’
What’s the big deal about enduring the rising nausea while briefly playing the filial son act?
‘Take your time meeting who you need to meet, Solas.’
Nothing comes from being impatient.
That’s why he almost lost her forever once.
Even after meeting again, he only raised her guard by being elated.
‘More prudently. More thoroughly.’
This is likely the last chance.
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
_____
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