A violent shout pierced her ears, and at the same time, a flower vase exploded.
She felt a stinging sensation and touched her cheek. When she looked at her hand, there was blood on it. Had she been scratched by a piece of the vase?
When she looked back at Aisha Labelyn, the woman seemed to have lost some of her sanity. Her eyes were bloodshot, and pink mana streamed from her entire body as she glared at Rachel.
“You provoked me in every possible way, telling me to make an effort, and now you say you’ve achieved your goal without telling me the condition? Are you playing with me? What if you fail to meet the condition, Acting Marchioness?! What if you end up marrying His Majesty? Then I’ll be left like a dog chasing a chicken that’s already flown away! Are you kidding me?!”
“……”
Rachel had thought something seemed a little strange about Aisha from the moment they first met today.
Without making it obvious, Rachel slowly placed her hand on the magic tool inside her clothes. It would probably be difficult to make Aisha take a stabilizer, so she would have to activate her defensive magic instead.
There was already a faint commotion outside, as though people had heard the disturbance in the room.
Careful not to provoke Aisha, Rachel spoke cautiously.
“I intend to fulfill the condition. In fact, it’s no different from His Majesty saying that he needs time to accept my rejection—”
“Don’t lie to me! Are you saying His Majesty is clinging to you that desperately? No, why are you telling me this? Are you trying to say that you have His Majesty’s heart when I couldn’t win it? Is that it?”
“……That’s not what I mean. What matters is that His Majesty has agreed to accept my rejection, even if it’s conditional. I’ve finally been given a chance to step aside, so winning His Majesty’s heart is entirely up to you now—”
“Shut up!”
Vooooom—
At last, Aisha rose about a foot into the air. The air was now visibly warping.
“You should help me until the very end! Is achieving your own goal all that matters? You’re the one who shook His Majesty’s heart! If it weren’t for you, His Majesty would have married me. I would have smoothly become Empress and won him over! But what? Instead of apologizing and begging for forgiveness, you’re saying we don’t need to meet anymore? And that you have no obligation to tell me the condition?!”
The decorations around them began to tremble.
Cracks spread across the terrace glass and the walls with sharp, splitting sounds. As mana swirled violently through the air, Rachel felt herself struggling more and more to breathe.
“P-please calm down, Lady Aisha. Do you realize your mana is about to go out of control?”
“……”
Then a strange look appeared in Aisha’s bloodshot orange eyes. Her lips curled upward, taking on a cruel expression unlike her usual one. Soon, an artificial-sounding voice came from her mouth.
“Oh, the shock is just too much. I can’t control my mana.”
The moment Rachel understood what those words meant,
she immediately activated her defensive magic tool. At the same time, mana burst from Aisha and swept through the entire room.
BOOM—!
The defensive magic tool, which was said to be capable of withstanding even an Archmage’s magic once, certainly proved its worth. It completely blocked the first explosion of mana unleashed by a mage who had reached the highest tier, as well as the residual shock waves.
But the problem was the second attack.
“AAAAAAH—!”
Seeing that Rachel was unharmed behind the cracked defensive barrier, the sanity vanished from Aisha’s eyes. Mana erupted like an explosion and pounded against the damaged barrier.
The terrace, doors, and even the walls burst apart in every direction.
As the nobles in the hall finally realized what was happening and fled screaming, Rachel reached for her heart with trembling hands.
‘Please.’
She couldn’t die like this. She had finally made it this far. She had even obtained a chance to reject the Emperor. She had received an apology from her younger sibling, and after enduring so much hardship, she had gained a title and become independent.
But there was no sign that <Regression> would activate. Just then, the defensive barrier, which had been covered in cracks, finally shattered completely.
As Rachel slowly closed her eyes at the sight of the wave of pink mana rushing toward her,
something wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her away.
CRACK—!
When she opened her eyes, she saw an enormous surge of red energy blocking the pink mana. She also saw Nathan Valencia’s pale face as he held her tightly in his arms.
She had thought he had already left.
But he was still there, pressing down on Aisha’s mana as he hurriedly checked Rachel. Then the man’s gaze fixed on her cheek, and he froze.
He held his breath for a moment.
Then his eyes began to blaze as he slowly clenched his teeth.
“……Are you hurt?”
Rachel belatedly remembered the wound she had received when the flower vase shattered.
“……The flower vase exploded. Then Lady Aisha lost control.”
In truth, it had seemed more like she had deliberately let her mana run wild.
But since Rachel had no evidence, she kept that thought to herself. Even so, Nathan was already turning toward Aisha Labelyn with a fierce look in his eyes.
“……Please stay like this for a moment.”
Rachel instinctively held her breath. Soon, she heard an abnormal heartbeat through the body pressed against hers.
Thump—
Then a golden ring formed along his hand. It was the Valencia family’s signature supernatural ability, <Sealing>.
The ring left Nathan’s hand and cut through the swirling mana before striking Aisha Labelyn directly.
“AAAAAH!”
With the power of a master swordsman combined with the supernatural ability of <Sealing>, Aisha’s momentum visibly weakened.
But he didn’t stop there. He steadily increased the power of his ability until he finally suppressed Aisha Labelyn’s <Mana> ability itself.
It was a powerful seal that would last at least a month or two.
“Gasp……!”
“My lady!”
“Lady Aisha!”
The retainers of House Labelyn rushed toward Aisha Labelyn, who had collapsed on the floor. Rachel also blinked in surprise.
She had heard that Aisha was one of the most powerful users of <Mana> in the history of House Labelyn.
Yet even she was no match for Nathan Valencia.
And she had been subdued in just a few minutes, making the gap in their abilities all the more obvious.
But the man who had performed this incredible feat had no interest in any of that.
“Are you all right? Should I call a physician?”
“……”
His eyes had been fixed on Rachel the entire time. His hand hovered in the air, unable to touch her cheek.
After seeing the pained look that passed through his red eyes,
Rachel shook her head, looking a little dazed.
“I’m f-fine. It isn’t that deep……”
“You’re still bleeding. We should call a physician after all—”
He was just about to order his adjutant to bring a physician when—
“What on earth happened here?”
“……!”
Rachel instinctively tensed. When she turned around, Sein Marcus was standing there, looking around the room. Several nobles were visible behind him.
With a stiff expression, Sein murmured,
“From the looks of things, Duke, you subdued Aisha. There are traces of defensive magic, too. It seems the Acting Marchioness used a magic tool—”
The man, who had been pointing out the traces as though explaining the scene, finally turned his gaze toward Rachel.
“Before I left the room, Aisha and the Acting Marchioness were chatting quite happily, weren’t they? What on earth happened to make Aisha lose control?”
“……”
His words were subtle, but if one listened carefully, he seemed to be blaming her.
Just as Rachel was about to speak, Nathan Valencia stepped forward.
“You make it sound as though you’re blaming the Acting Marchioness.”
“……!”
He furrowed his brow deeply.
“And where was the Archmage until now? You were in the mansion, so you should have noticed the abnormal mana before anyone else. Yet you only appeared after I returned and dealt with the situation.”
“……I was also startled by my disciple’s loss of control. I first tried to protect the guests, and then I barely remembered that there was a mana stabilizer in the room, so I went to get it. In the meantime, Your Grace had already resolved the situation.”
Sein held up a yellow potion and looked back at Rachel.
“But even if the Duke noticed something was wrong and returned, how did the Acting Marchioness happen to have a defensive magic tool with her? Forgive my lack of knowledge about high society, but do nobles usually bring magic tools to parties?”
“……”
Ordinary nobles rarely carried magic tools unless they were in a time of war. Even if they did have one, it was usually carried by their escort knights and used to protect their master.
Rachel could hear the nobles standing a short distance away whispering among themselves.
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