Chapter 80: New teacher?
"Adi, you... you... You killed him!"
Evangeline didn’t know what she was saying. Adrian’s life had been in danger moments ago, and he could very well have died had the situation escalated. She couldn’t describe how relieved she was now that he was safe.
But the first thing she had said to him after that was... blaming him for murder.
She didn’t intend to say that. No, she didn’t even mean it, really. But words were spilling out from her mouth before she could think.
No, her mind was too messed up right now for her to even think properly.
Adrian replied evenly.
"That I did, and?"
He sounded nonchalant, as though he were talking about some trivial affair.
She unconsciously clenched her fists hard and spoke through gritted teeth.
"He, he was only trying to save her brother from that man. He... he was just a pitiful person, and you—"
"Don’t be absurd." He cut her off. "People are only pitiful as long as I exist to pity them. If my own life is at stake, then their circumstances matter little to me."
Then he turned to the middle-aged man who was still holding the boy while staring at them blankly. His expression made it seem as though he could no longer understand what was happening.
"Besides," Adrian continued. "The moment he held that shard of glass to my throat, his fate was all but sealed, regardless of whether I lived or died."
He paused for a bit before continuing.
"Death is the only punishment for any who dares to threaten the life of a Ravenshade. Who knows how much he would’ve suffered before being killed by House Ravenshade? In that sense, I did him a favour by giving him a swift death. His brother and his owner, though, would probably not be so lucky."
He turned in the direction of the headless corpse and spoke to the empty air.
"Wouldn’t you agree, Sir Knight?"
Just as he said those words, a man wearing a military uniform suddenly appeared out of thin air right beside the headless corpse. He looked at Adrian with a somewhat tense gaze.
"Sir Knight, you were supposed to protect us, yet you seemed to have failed at your task. You must be aware of how dangerous slums are, yet you didn’t even try to stop or warn us. That is quite negligent behavior."
The man in the military outfit, the knight, bit his lip.
"Forgive me, Young Master Adrian. I have failed at my duty—"
"I do not need your apology." Adrian cut him off. "What I need is an explanation. Why?"
The knight sighed.
"I was ordered to only interfere when absolutely necessary, which is why I hesitated to stop the two of you. I was quietly taking care of any mutts who dared to approach you with bad intentions, which is why I failed to react in time."
Adrian nodded.
"I see."
Then he pointed at Evangeline.
"I believe it is time for us to return. Pick her up and carry her back to the mansion; she doesn’t seem to be well enough to walk on her own.
The knight glanced at the middle-aged man, piercing him with a chilling gaze, then turned back and picked her up.
After that, things happened quickly. She was brought back to the Ravenshade mansion, and the maids washed her up after seeing the muddy state of her clothes. And soon, she found herself sitting in her carriage as it was driving to her mansion.
Throughout it all, Evangeline had been half-dazed.
The rumbling of the carriage brought a bit of clarity to her eyes as she slowly glanced at her hands.
’Why...’
She bit her lip.
’Why can’t I do things right?’
If she hadn’t lost her composure back then and used Vox Imperium to stop everyone else, then she could’ve saved Adrian, and the beastman wouldn’t have died... either...
Suddenly, Adrian’s words rang in her head.
’The moment he held that shard of glass to my throat, his fate was all but sealed, regardless of whether I lived or died.’
’Death is the only punishment for any who dares to threaten the life of a Ravenshade.’
She froze.
Even if she had used her ability to stop everyone, he would still have been captured by House Ravenshade, and...
’No...you mean that I... I couldn’t have done anything?’
No, would things have been different if she had acted sooner? If she were just a bit quicker in using Vox Imperium before things escalated, could that have solved things?
But it was useless thinking about that now; it was all already ruined.
Why did it have to be this way? Why couldn’t things have resolved more peacefully?
’If only I... If only I were stronger, I might’ve done something...’
If she were stronger, if she were better, and if she had responded in the right way, things might really have ended differently. She had a feeling that if someone like Adrian had been in her place, they would’ve probably done better than her, at the very least.
She looked at her palm where mana slowly gathered and twisted into a spell.
It was one of the spells she had learned during this time. Her mother had told her that only by walking the path of a caster could she utilise her full potential.
Since she had multiple elemental affinities, and all of them were major elements, her greatest strength was her versatility. Infusion arts would not be able to utilise her versatility since each element had a different infusion art, and there was no way to merge them or use two of them simultaneously.
But that was not the case for spells.
And so, she had worked diligently, learning to properly manifest the first four spells her mother had taught her.
’But this isn’t enough; I need to work harder! I need to be better!’
She had to be better so that she would never feel the way she was feeling now.
***
After returning to the mansion, Adrian rested for a bit before going to the clearing outside to train his infusion art.
’That was rather hectic.’
After he returned, the news of what had happened during their outing had somehow spread throughout the entire mansion. While the collective reaction was quite strong, most of it did not matter to him since their reaction had little to do with him.
But the problem was that there were two individuals who had started bothering him since the news spread.
One was his own personal maid, Rue.
She had been frantically checking him for any wounds he may have gotten. And for the minor cut on his neck that would’ve healed on its own within a week, she had tied a thick roll of bandages over his neck. It was so thick that even tilting his head felt hard.
The second person was his younger brother, Elias.
That boy suddenly hugged him and started crying, refusing to let go. Adrian could still clearly recall the troubled look on the face of the boy’s personal maid.
"Huff... Huff..."
Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Adrian tossed the sword aside. This was the end of today’s training.
"You there, child, where are you going?"
Suddenly, he heard a man’s voice calling out from behind, causing him to react instinctively as he hurriedly turned around.
A middle-aged man wearing round, gold-rimmed glasses and a black high-collar coat was standing with his back against the tree, as though he was posing to act mysterious.
The man’s face was shaved clean, and his long, reddish-brown hair was tied neatly behind his back.
"Ahem-ahem."
The man calmly cleared his throat and looked at him, meeting his gaze.
"I asked where you’re going, child; your training is not yet over."
’Where did he come from?’
Adrian narrowed his eyes slightly and took a good look at the man. But no matter how much he stared, he couldn’t recall ever seeing this man in the mansion.
’His outfit suggests that he is a noble, but I have never seen noble guests just roaming around the mansion. More than that, when did he get here?’
Adrian hadn’t seen the man approach at all. It was as though he had appeared out of thin air, just like that knight had. No, he had even been able to sense him when that knight had approached close enough. But he hadn’t sensed that man at all.
And from the man’s presence, Adrian could confidently say that he was way beyond Phase Two, even if he didn’t quite seem to be around his mother’s level.
After staring for a bit more, he asked.
"Forgive me, but I do not believe that I know you, sir. Might I trouble you to introduce yourself?"
The man suddenly chuckled as Adrian finished speaking.
"You speak rather well, little man."
Adrian knew that it was a verbal jab and not a compliment, yet he still nodded as if it were.
"As someone with noble blood flowing through my veins, the least I can do is follow the proper noble etiquette and conduct myself in the manner that is befitting my—"
"You should stop now." The man cut him off. "You do speak well, but it is just as easy enough to tell that you don’t mean any of the things you said. I, on the other hand, am not too fond of pretentious people."
Adrian shut his mouth and silently stared back. The man, too, met his gaze. For a moment, the atmosphere became somewhat tense.
But that tension was soon broken when the man suddenly smiled and took a step closer.
"No need to stare at me with those grey eyes, child. I have been waiting to meet you for quite a while. As for introductions, my name is Avalon, simply Avalon. There is nothing else besides it. And I am going to be your new teacher."
