Mahina walked toward the ice cage with an expressionless face, looking down at the man who had been spouting nonsense just moments ago.
“You should wait for your family to come save you. Or… this magic should last for about three hours, so you can just wait it out. If you get hurt because you move around too much, you can only blame yourself for your lack of skill.”
With that, Mahina turned to leave.
“You… you stand right there!” he roared hysterically, trying to use his final trump card to regain some dignity. “Do you think you’re still the Duke’s daughter?! You’re just a commoner now! An orphan with no father or mother!”
His voice cracked with fear, sounding exceptionally grating.
Hearing this threat, Mahina stopped in her tracks. She tilted her head, a faint smile appearing on her pale yet beautiful face.
“Then bring it on,” her voice rang out crisp and clear, echoing in the empty courtyard. “Whether it’s expulsion or revenge…”
Compared to seeing Little Merlin’s sad and lonely eyes, or the despair of being alienated by the person she loved most, Raymond’s weak and powerless threat was as laughable as a puppy’s posturing.
‘But if I’m expelled… I won’t be able to see Merlin every day. It should be fine this time since he attacked first.’
“For the current me, besides Merlin… there is nothing left to lose,” Mahina murmured in a low voice, so soft that only she could hear it.
Just thinking about Merlin’s face when she was crying her heart out in the dungeon made Mahina’s heart ache as if it were being put through a meat grinder. She had to leave quickly. She needed to find a place to tidy her appearance and adjust her breathing before she saw Little Merlin. After all, she had promised Merlin she would let her see the gentle Mahina who loved to smile.
As for the rest? Let it be.
“Stop acting so high and mighty! You put on this noble front, but in reality, you’re weak as hell!” Raymond’s voice echoed through the empty courtyard, sounding particularly piercing. Thinking he had struck a nerve, he became even more carried away, intending to use the most vicious words possible to retaliate against Mahina’s contempt. “The Elven Princess? How hilarious! She’s nothing but a girl with no magic talent—”
BOOM!
Before he could finish his sentence, a suffocating and terrifying pressure descended instantly. It didn’t matter how he insulted her, but Merlin was absolutely off-limits!
Raymond’s voice stopped abruptly, as if an invisible hand had clamped tightly around his throat. Mahina slowly turned around. At this moment, the last glimmer of rational light in her originally cold pinkish-blue eyes was completely extinguished, replaced by a murderous intent as dark as an abyss, surging with the color of blood.
“No magic talent.” Those words were like a red-hot iron, searing ruthlessly into Mahina’s bleeding wounds. This was the greatest source of pain in Merlin’s heart.
How dare he? How dare he!!
“Shut up.” Mahina’s voice was no longer cold; it was deathly silent.
Crack, crack, crack. The Ice Spiked Cage began a frenzied secondary growth. The ice tips became sharper and longer. They no longer avoided Raymond’s vital points but were aimed precisely at his eyeballs, throat, heart, and lower abdomen. If they advanced just one more inch, Raymond Cavill would become a corpse riddled with holes.
Since she had already completely torn away her noble disguise, what did it matter if she took one more life?
“Ah… ahhh…” The chill of death had already pierced his skin, and blood trickled down his neck. Raymond wanted to scream, but he lost his voice due to extreme terror. He could only watch helplessly as the sharpest ice spike prepared to pierce his pupil.
At the critical moment, a hand firmly grabbed Mahina’s wrist as she was about to strike.
“That’s enough, Mahina.” A mane of silver hair as brilliant as moonlight entered Mahina’s blood-red vision. It was Lucia. “Will Merlin be happy if you dirty your hands for this kind of trash?”
Merlin. That name was like a spell that allowed Mahina to calm down. However, she still did not cancel the magic, leaving it as a warning.
“…I’m sorry,” Mahina whispered, not to the boy, but to Lucia.
Raymond’s eyes were vacant and his pupils dilated; it was as if his soul had been sucked out of him. A warm liquid flowed down his pants, spreading into a puddle on the ground that emitted a foul stench.
Lucia released Mahina’s hand and turned around, looking down at the pathetic man on the ground. “Hmph, insulting a princess… If this causes a diplomatic incident, will your family take responsibility? Since you’ve decided to use your family to threaten others, you should be prepared for your family to bear the consequences of your words and actions.”
Raymond’s lips trembled, but he could not speak.
“The North is already struggling to take care of itself, yet you still have the mind for romance… It seems this time… never mind. You weren’t even supposed to have a seat at the table to begin with.” Lucia’s words were as cold as a blade. “Let’s go, Mahina.”
Mahina quietly followed beside Lucia, looking at her profile. She didn’t quite understand Lucia anymore. Lucia had clearly been at odds with her before and was the one who revealed the truth about her past with Merlin, yet now she was helping her. Both when she left the Talan Estate and now when she was gripped by murderous intent.
“Isn’t this quite good? I actually like you like this. At least you aren’t wearing that fake mask.” Lucia walked with her hands behind her back, her steps light as she stepped on the cracks between the floor tiles. She glanced at Mahina beside her, her lips curving into a playful arc.
“Um… why did you help me?”
Lucia looked straight ahead, her gaze somewhat vacant. “There is no ‘why.’ I just felt like doing it, so I did.”
“I envy you.”
“You aren’t so bad yourself right now.” Recalling the scene from earlier, Mahina had nothing to say and could only shake her head with a bitter smile.
“Are you going to see Little Merlin?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve already seen her. I’m preparing for a short expedition. I should be back before the Star Moon Festival.”
Mahina’s steps faltered as she turned to look at this princess who had suddenly decided to travel far away. “Is it for people or for magical beasts…”
“Don’t be like that. I’ve already washed my hands of that side. That’s what I originally promised the Emperor. I don’t want to get too involved in those kinds of things; he was the one who made me do it anyway. If anything, I envy you now. Living freely on your own, no longer needing to go out and subjugate magical beasts all the time.”
The two of them, each with their own thoughts, walked to the fork in the road leading to the dormitories and the school exit. The setting sun was about to sink below the horizon, stretching the shadows of the world very long.
Suddenly, Lucia stopped. The wind made the leaves rustle and blew her hair about. “Mahina… what is love?”
Mahina could not see her expression and for a moment did not understand why Lucia would suddenly ask such a question. The warmth of relying on each other in the slums, the cracks caused by misunderstandings, the tears shed alone in the middle of the night, and that tiny figure who said “I hate you” while eating chocolate flashed through her mind.
Mahina looked at the two shadows intertwined under the setting sun that were about to part ways, and she spoke slowly.
“Love… is a poison.”
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