The man looked like a beggar.

And he spoke in a very low-class and rough manner befitting a beggar’s appearance. Profanity was the norm, and his behavior was hot-tempered and rough. Moreover, he even showed signs of frequent mood swings.

Completely enraged, he shouted Givnen’s name at the top of his lungs. Surprisingly, it was not Givnen but his proxy, Sack, who came instead.

“Sir Arpeggio, the Master requests that you please keep it down as there is an important guest visiting.”

“Why are you here? I told you to go get that bastard Givnen right now.”

“The Master is currently meeting with an important guest at Horizon, and later he has a party scheduled. If you wish to meet with the Master, it seems you’ll need to make a separate appointment.”

“That bastard is deliberately avoiding me, isn’t he? Throwing this lump of flesh at me and expecting me to do what? Is this a joke?”

Sack looked at the terrified Riley and then patted her shoulder as if trying to calm her down.

“His language may be harsh, but he’s not a bad person.”

“Hey, are you ignoring me?”

“Sir Arpeggio, this is not a lump of flesh, but Sir Ryston’s daughter.”

The man who had been fuming, that is, Arpeggio, stopped moving.

Then, flustered, he came right up to Riley’s face and began examining it closely.

“The daughter of that unlucky bastard?”

“Yes, according to the Master.”

“…So she was alive?”

“That’s right.”

“I can’t believe it. This? How on earth can you tell she’s his child?”

“Even if you wish to deny it, it’s an unchangeable fact.”

Arpeggio blinked a couple of times and then placed his index finger on Riley’s forehead.

He furrowed his brow.

“Does she really have magical power? It’s not even circulating at all. What kind of freak is this? How is she alive and standing here?”

“The Master also wonders about that.”

“At this level, she’s no different from a normal person. Is she really a magician?”

“The Master says she is a magician.”

“She plans to enter Horizon Academy in this state?”

“That’s why he said your help was needed, Sir Arpeggio.”

“Both of them are out of their minds.”

“In my opinion, Sir Arpeggio is the most out of his mind.”

Arpeggio ignored Sack’s insult and made Riley stand up.

“Alright, let’s go for now. I need to check if she’s of any use.”

“The Master said not to handle her roughly. He said he’d expel you from Horizon if she gets even the slightest injury, so please keep that in mind.”

“Hmph, so he’s found someone to replace me and now he’s talking about expelling me?”

“Then, I’ll be going.”

Riley looked at Sack with pleading eyes. Sack lightly ignored her desperate cry to be taken away from here and left.

And Arpeggio dragged Riley somewhere. Then he suddenly started drawing a magic circle on the ground.

“Stand here.”

Riley thought she wanted to run away right now, but she couldn’t see an exit. Moreover, she felt like she might get hit if she didn’t listen. So Riley stood in the center of the magic circle as Arpeggio instructed.

“If you’re really Ryston’s child, prove it yourself. Whether you’re worth raising or not.”

“…How do I prove it?”

“You’ll know soon. And that answer is not something someone teaches you, but something you find yourself.”

He started muttering something.

At that moment, the magic circle began to glow, and a huge pillar of light engulfed the magic circle.

Everything went black, and darkness fell.

[This is the timeline separator]

‘Where… is this?’

Looking around, nothing could be seen. Even waving her hands around, all she could see was pitch-black darkness. As soon as she realized she was isolated alone in darkness where light was completely blocked, breathing became difficult.

Not only that, but it felt cramped and stuffy as if trapped in a narrow space.

A closed room, limited oxygen, darkness without a speck of light.

As several words overlapped, extreme fear and confusion soon followed.

“Huk, huk… huk.”

Riley instinctively grabbed her throat. Whether her airway was gradually narrowing or oxygen was running out, she soon felt her breath catch and her lungs expand and then rapidly shrink.

I’m dying, if this continues, I’ll die.

Riley grabbed her throat and cried out for help. Save me, release me from this pain. But her voice didn’t come out, and even her movements writhing in pain became sluggish. The more she tried to move, the more a lead-like weight pressed down on her body.

Her organs twisted, and she felt nauseous. As her heartbeat gradually slowed, a chill came over her. Cold. Cold, scared.

Her body began to tremble, and her joints ached.

A sense of helplessness that she couldn’t do anything. An overwhelming fear of death.

She was overwhelmed by a feeling of despair.

‘No, no… It hurts, I don’t want to die. No… No, no, no!’

Riley screamed in agony.

But as her voice didn’t escape her lips and her body reached its limit, fear and despair soon turned to anger.

‘Let me go, let me go right now, leave me alone, just let me go… Disappear, die. I hate this.’

Riley wished for just three things.

First, she wished the darkness would disappear.

Second, she hoped she could breathe.

Third, she wished this uncomfortable space would disappear entirely.

“…Disappear.”

Suddenly, her voice escaped her lips.

Crash!

The space began to crack and break. Light began to seep through the cracks, and soon her blocked airways opened. Cold blood began to circulate rapidly.

Thump, thump, thump! The fierce blood flow, as intense as her pounding heart, grew colder and colder as it went on. But strangely, it wasn’t cold. Though her body was full of circulating coldness, rather than feeling cold, it felt cool and refreshing like ice water on a hot summer day.

Her body, which had felt as heavy as lead, now felt as light as a feather.

Bang!

The space that had started to break apart completely expanded and then exploded, pouring out an enormous light. Riley covered her eyes from the brightness, and when the light dimmed, she slowly opened her eyes.

She saw Arpeggio leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking at her.

“Huk, huk….”

Arpeggio checked his watch.

“Exactly 1 minute.”

“…”

“Now you’re starting to look like a magician. No wonder you were no different from a normal person, being a magician with your ‘magic blood’ blocked. Seeing that you managed to survive with your magic blood blocked, your father must have done something. Well, he was a guy who used all sorts of outlandish magic.”

Riley didn’t understand what Arpeggio was saying. Or rather, she didn’t have the composure to understand.

She was still confused by the experience of just 1 minute.

“Your magical power has been opened, and seeing how you instinctively wielded that tremendous magical power, you seem usable. Of course, it’s still unstable.”

Arpeggio extended his hand to Riley, who was sitting down, and asked.

“How does it feel to be reborn?”

Riley took Arpeggio’s hand. Arpeggio pulled Riley to her feet.

“It feels good, my body feels light as if it could fly, and refreshed.”

“I’m sure it does. Just thinking about maintaining that heavy body with trapped magical power for over 20 years is horrifying.”

“…What exactly happened?”

“Nothing much, I just forced your magical power to open by pushing you to the brink of death.”

“…”

“For some reason, your blood flow that circulates magical power was completely blocked. They say your mana circuits were tangled. A normal human would have had their body blown to pieces by the stagnant magical power exploding inside, but seeing you’re fine, either your body is a mutant or Ryston did something to your body. Probably the latter, I understand. Why you shouldn’t expose your magical power.”

Riley shuddered at the thought that her body could have exploded, feeling a chill.

“So what happens to me now? Can I use magic?”

“How would I know? It’s up to you.”

“…Ah, then the proof… Have I been proven?”

Arpeggio had clearly told her to prove herself.

He said she would know the answer, but honestly, she still doesn’t understand what’s what.

“Come here every evening at 6 PM. Don’t come before that. It’s my sleeping time.”

“Are you taking me as your disciple?”

“Disciple my foot, how old do you think I am to take a disciple already? I’m still young. Besides, do you know how many people are desperate to become my disciple? You think a snot-nosed brat like you can covet that precious position? Not a chance.”

“Then…”

“I’ll help you step foot in Horizon. This much was agreed upon in the first place.”

“Ah, I see. Thank you.”

Arpeggio turned away, waving his hand at Riley’s thanks.

“Now that we’re done, get lost. And come back starting tomorrow.”

His way of speaking may be harsh, but he doesn’t seem like a bad person.

Riley bowed and left the magic storage room.

‘He seemed to know a lot about father… But I was too scared to ask about father.’

This was an unexpected harvest.

However… I don’t think I can pry information about father from him right away. He’s too hot-tempered, and we’re still awkward with each other, so it might be better to ask later after building a stronger relationship.

Of course, it’s questionable whether he’ll answer straightforwardly even then.

“You look happy.”

Riley stopped at the familiar voice. As soon as Riley turned around, something pounced on her. Pushed behind a wall in an instant, Riley stared at the person who had embraced her.

“Givnen?”

“It’s troublesome to see you looking happy while being with another man.”

Givnen met Riley’s eyes as he released her from his embrace.

“…What brings you here? Sack said you were attending to a guest.”

“The important guest left just now. I waited to take you back.”

“Ah, I can go by myself.”

“You don’t like going with me?”

“No, it’s not that, but you’re busy.”

“I have enough time to take you back. I also have something to talk about.”

Riley, trapped between the wall and Givnen’s body, looked around nervously in case someone might see.

“What if someone sees…”

“I told you before, not just anyone can come here.”

“Still, you never know…”

“What does it matter? We’re going to get married.”

His expression was no different from usual, but for some reason, he seemed a bit upset.

Did something bad happen upstairs? Riley, momentarily flustered, reached out and patted his back. Givnen stared at Riley.

“You looked upset.”

Puheu, Givnen chuckled, his shoulders shaking.

What’s so funny? As Riley tilted her head in confusion, Givnen interlocked his fingers with hers.

“I’m not upset, I feel better now.”

“…Suddenly?”

“Let’s go, I’ll take you back.”

Relieved to see Givnen looking happy, Riley nodded.

[This is the timeline separator]

It seems that when he said he would take her back, he meant walking her back.

I wondered why he chose to walk today when he always moves around in a floating stone carriage.

“If we arrive early, we’ll have to part sooner.”

He simply chose to walk because he didn’t want to return to work quickly.

Thanks to that, Riley was walking among the crowd, holding hands with Givnen.

“Why do you keep looking around like that?”

“…It’s my first time walking in a crowded place. And.”

“And?”

“You stand out too much.”

“I stand out? I don’t think so.”

“Maybe you don’t notice. The whole world knows.”

Of course, it’s an exaggeration. No matter how famous he is, the probability that every person in the empire knows his face is low.

However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who recognize him. And even if they don’t know who he is, his appearance and height are far from ordinary, making him stand out excessively.

“The day I attended the reception.”

“…”

“I could only see you.”

Although it was a fact without a shred of lie, could this have been interpreted a bit differently by Givnen? Givnen stopped walking.

“Why?”

“Did you really only see me?”

“Yes. You looked like you were living in a different world. So I thought other people might see you that way too.”

“I don’t care how I appear in other people’s eyes, but that’s quite a nice thing to hear.”

“Anyway, it’s burdensome to walk like this with you who stands out so much, so I can’t help but be conscious of our surroundings.”

“So you don’t like it?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it.”

“I like walking like this, just the two of us.”

“…”

“Actually, it’s my first time walking like this alone with someone.”

Riley tilted her head at Givnen’s words.

“That’s impossible.”

“Why is it impossible?”

“You must have gone on countless dates until now, so it’s impossible that you’ve never walked side by side like this.”

Givnen frowned at Riley’s words.

“Why do you assume I’ve been on countless dates?”

“Well…”

Because there were so many rumors of romantic involvement.

Riley couldn’t bring herself to finish her sentence and looked around nervously. Givnen squinted his eyes as if he understood.

“So there’s a fool here who believes all those rumors.”

“I don’t believe all of them, but you said it yourself before. That eight-tenths are false, and two-tenths are true.”

“Those two-tenths are so few they can be counted on one hand. And even those were for short periods. The times I actually went on dates are even fewer.”

“I see.”

“I don’t know why I have to explain even this. This isn’t the conversation I wanted to have with you.”

“Ah, right. You said you had something to say. What is it?”

“I have bad news and good news. Which do you want to hear first?”

Riley thought for a moment before answering Givnen’s question.

“The bad news.”

“I hear Baron Ryan’s family arrived in Blestige today.”

“…They settled things quite quickly. Then what’s the good news?”

Givnen smiled as he answered.

“The date for the formal meeting of our families has been set.”

“!”