Page 218

The carriage moved.

It was a carriage bearing the symbol of the Blue Magic Tower.

‘I wonder if the kids are doing okay.’

Iris weighed on my mind, and because Sharin pestered me along with her, I couldn’t even say a proper goodbye.

I had vaguely explained the situation to Hannon, so it should be fine.

“Sharin, how long are you planning to stick to me?”

“Foreverrr~”

Right next to me, Sharin clung close.

She rubbed her face against my arm, fully enjoying the moment.

Did she really like me that much?

That’s what it felt like—Sharin genuinely adored me.

“If not now, it’s hard to find a chance, you knooow?”

“Didn’t you talk things out with Isabel?”

There was a time when Sharin and Isabel fought, and she had a conversation with Seron back then.

I think they promised something then, so I’m not sure if this is okay.

“Yeah, but I still have a date, remember?”

Since Seron got a date first, the others are getting their turns too.

That much was definitely agreed upon.

Everyone had been so busy lately that dating hadn’t really come up.

“You’ll have to deal with it if the others complain later.”

“I don’t care about that.”

Sharin, indifferent, hugged my arm tighter and let out a lazy smile.

Her signature scent and softness kept pressing on me.

For someone who skips meals out of laziness, I have no idea how she maintains such curves.

“By the way, hubby~ What did you do with Isabel back then?”

“What do you mean ‘did’?”

Sharin stared directly at my lips.

That brought back memories.

Specifically, the reason she and Isabel fought.

I averted my eyes slightly.

Seeing that, Sharin pressed even closer to me.

Cornering me like this...

I swear I can see her tail wagging behind her.

Dangerous.

I’m going to get eaten.

“Thanks to you, I realized how jealous I can be.”

Her hand lightly touched my chest.

For some reason, her fingertips felt incredibly hot.

“Hehehe...”

Sharin let out a sultry giggle.

“I’m going to do everything the others do, and more.”

Her face slowly leaned in closer.

At the same time, I noticed how flushed her face was.

She was definitely embarrassed too.

Affection isn’t one-sided—it takes two.

I’ve only been receiving love without giving any back.

These girls have been putting in so much courage to express their feelings to someone like me.

“Sharin.”

I gently wrapped my hand around her wrist.

Her shoulders twitched.

“I haven’t answered your feelings yet.”

Sharin looked quietly at me.

“But I’ll do my best to respond with everything I’ve got. So don’t push yourself too hard.”

It’s okay not to rush things and force your emotions out like this.

When I said that, Sharin blinked a few times.

Then she let out an incredulous laugh.

“Hubby, you really don’t know anything about love.”

“Well...”

“That’s why this is happening.”

She suddenly cupped my cheeks with both hands.

“You have no idea how greedy I am right now or how much desire is boiling inside me.”

Her hands trailed heat across my cheeks.

Without hesitation, she closed the gap and pressed her lips onto mine.

Soft sensations trickled through my mouth.

After thoroughly savoring the kiss, she pulled back.

A thin string of saliva clung to her lips, looking almost indecent.

“You’re right—me and the other girls probably are pushing ourselves too hard.”

She tapped the bridge of my nose.

“To hold ourselves back.”

So that’s how it is.

The look in her glossy eyes told me she meant every word.

Clunk—

At that moment, the carriage stopped.

Sharin, who had been in an awkward position trying to act smug, nearly lost her balance, and I quickly caught her.

She flinched, then sneakily nestled closer into my arms.

This girl, seriously.

I gently pushed her aside and pulled down the curtain to properly put on the veil.

With that, my appearance shifted from Vikamon to Ryu.

“What’s going on?”

I called toward the coachman.

“Uh... uhh…”

Strange noises came from up front.

Peering out the window, I realized we were near a city adjacent to the capital.

Since the Blue Magic Tower was in the capital, we still had some way to go.

“Sharin.”

“Just when things were getting good.”

She grumbled and stood up.

Then she looked out the window toward the city and frowned.

“This place…”

The look in her eyes told me she had some kind of history with this place.

At the same time, something clicked in my mind.

The name of the city was Grimberg.

A city of vice and crime, home to the Empire’s poorest.

Despite being the most prosperous nation in the world, the Empire’s vast size had become its weakness.

No matter how strong the law, cracks always formed.

The bigger the land, the more of these cracks appeared.

Even the capital itself was dozens of times larger than Seoul.

So eliminating crime in the surrounding cities was nearly impossible.

And Grimberg had the highest crime rate of all.

It was also once Sharin’s hometown.

The place where her mother had hidden Sharin’s magical talent to protect her.

This was that place.

A city filled with nothing but bad memories for her.

Especially for someone like Sharin, who remembers everything from her childhood clearly.

“Sharin, take a rest for now.”

I didn’t want to bring back bad memories for Sharin unnecessarily.

So I left her behind and stepped out of the carriage first.

It was to ask the coachman what was going on.

The coachman was frozen, staring at a single point.

It was the face of someone who had seen something they shouldn’t have.

“What’s the matter?”

“Th-there…”

The coachman pointed somewhere with a trembling hand.

I turned my head in the direction he indicated—and saw a graveyard.

Even a city with high crime rates has cemeteries, huh?

For some reason, I had the feeling the place would be crawling with corpses.

Crack!

There was someone standing dazedly in the cemetery.

A woman, barely clothed.

My eyes narrowed as I looked at her.

“Th-that person… crawled out from the ground.”

“…What?”

I was dumbfounded by the coachman’s words.

At the same time, I noticed that beneath the woman, the grave soil had indeed been disturbed.

It was clear someone had dug it up deliberately.

No way…

Xenia’s story flashed through my mind.

A rumor she had told me—about someone who could bring the dead back to life.

Clunk—

At that moment, the carriage door opened.

As I turned toward it, realizing Sharin had gotten off, I saw her staring at the woman.

Sharin’s eyes blankly watched her.

“Sharin?”

“…Mom.”

Instead of answering me, Sharin muttered to herself.

Mom.

The moment that word came out of her mouth, my eyes widened too.

Sharin had just called that woman her mother.

The same woman who had abused her and died of syphilis in the past.

…She had come back to life.

＊ ＊ ＊

The dead had come back to life.

Even seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn’t believe it.

Sharin and I brought her mother into the carriage for now.

Even if she were a stranger, we couldn’t just leave a half-naked woman standing in a graveyard.

And coincidentally, we were on our way to speak with Baekmokgong about matters related to reviving people.

There was no reason to pass up this unexpected lead.

Now, she sat blankly on a seat, wearing the coat I had given her.

Sharin stared at her in silence.

It was only natural.

Her dead mother had suddenly returned—her mind must be in chaos.

I didn’t speak to Sharin either.

I thought it best to give her time to process everything.

Before long, the carriage arrived at the capital.

As we reached the Blue Magic Tower, several carriages were parked at the entrance.

As expected from the Empire’s top magic tower, it seemed to have many visitors.

Clunk—

As the carriage stopped, I stood up from my seat.

“…Husband.”

Just then, Sharin called me.

Her eyes, which had been silently fixed on her mother, now looked away.

“Who do you think is behind this?”

Her gaze held a faint trace of anger.

Was it anger at whoever revived her mother?

Or anger at her abusive mother coming back to life?

I didn’t know.

“That’s what we came to find out.”

Sharin stood and gripped my collar tightly.

“What a brazen bastard.”

One thing was certain—whoever it was wouldn’t live long.

After all, they had earned the wrath of the strongest mage in the world.

“Eh, uh, ah.”

At that moment, Sharin’s mother suddenly stood up.

She pressed her face against the carriage window, mouthing silent words.

As she looked at the Blue Magic Tower, her eyes gleamed with greed.

“Magic Tower, Blue Magic Tower.”

Then she slowly began to speak.

But even as this happened, Sharin’s face gradually twisted.

Her mother, who had been blank and unresponsive even when seeing her own daughter…

Now regained awareness after seeing the Blue Magic Tower?

What kind of twisted person was this?

“Hoo…”

Sharin let out a breath and opened the carriage door.

“She’ll probably regain her memory when she meets Father.”

I had never seen Sharin look so disturbed.

“Well, first we should get her some proper clothes.”

Even with the coat I had given her, she was still half-naked.

She looked to be in her early thirties—as she had been just before her death.

I didn’t know where to look.

Noticing my gaze, Sharin frowned.

“Pervert.”

“Please, call me a gentleman.”

Being called a pervert only stings if the thought was actually indecent.

I asked a maid at the Magic Tower for clothes, and she quickly brought some.

Once we dressed her, we brought her inside the Blue Magic Tower.

“Magic Tower, Magic Tower, money!”

Sharin’s mother looked around, panting.

Her eyes sparkled with greed, as if she owned the whole world.

Was this her first time actually coming to the Blue Magic Tower?

I had only ever seen it on screen before, so seeing it in person was moving.

From the entrance, I could see mages bustling about.

Books and documents were stacked everywhere.

The faces of the mages all looked half-dead from fatigue.

“Oh, Lady Sharin.”

“The daughter of the tower master is here!”

Still, once Sharin arrived, the mages greeted her one by one.

Sharin possessed the greatest magical talent in the field.

Naturally, they all tried to stay on her good side.

It was obvious to anyone she would be the next master of the Blue Magic Tower.

Though, she didn’t seem particularly thrilled about that.

Then, our eyes met, and she gave me a lazy smile.

Maybe the reason she’d grown fond of me was that I didn’t treat her the same way as everyone else.

“You’re here.”

Just then, a man appeared before us.

A handsome middle-aged man with deep blue eyes and dark blue hair like Sharin’s.

As soon as he saw Sharin’s mother standing beside us, confusion crossed his face.

“Who is that woman?”

Here comes a whole new level of family drama.