Chapter 29

After all that, Nikan sighed deeply and stood in front of his son’s room.

Of course, as the head of the family, Nikan used the best room in the Agnes Duchy. The next person to use the best room was the heir, Wood. Other than the bedroom, his room had a separate playroom, reception room and dress room, so nearly half of the floor was all Wood’s.

Because of that, he had to walk long on the central stairs to Wood’s bedroom. When the door was opened after a long hallway, unlike Vivian’s room, a clear and strong color-oriented bedroom appeared.

Click.

Nikan entered his son’s room with a complex expression. Wood was lying on a bed with red curtains.

“Master.”

Hans, who was looking at Wood’s condition inside, greeted him. Nikan waved his hand and bid his greeting.

“How is Wood?”

“There is nothing dangerous. But I think it’s better for a knowledgeable wizard to find out more.”

“…I see. If you’re done treating, go get some rest.”

Hans, with Nikan’s disdainful words, bowed his head and left the bedroom.

The bedroom was in silence.

Nikan dragged a chair and sat by the bed. His head was pounding nonstop.

‘There should be an aftereffect from the mana explosion.’

Although his life wasn’t at risk, it was clear that a sharp scar would be left on his body caused by the tremendous storm.

If the mana was twisted, it’s safe to say that the life as a wizard was over. Nikan clasped his face in a terrible mood.

“Just why the hell did you do that, Wood…?”

Do you hate Navia that much to take that risk?

A terrible sense of skepticism weighed in his whole body. He was never wrong. There had never been a failure.

The only failure in life was the fact that his daughter was born with the mana reflux disease. But now he doubted his choice. Was it right to have Navia here even if things got this far?

‘Should I get rid of her?’

His foster daughter could die in an accident. It wouldn’t be hard to disguise it.

He looked out the window.

The sunny sky began to cloud quickly after the emergence of the storm.

“It looks like it will rain.”

Nikan’s eyes sank coldly as he looked at the sky, which was likely to rain tomorrow.

Rainy days were easier to disguise as carriage accidents.

‘Should I just get rid of Navia?’

Clean and bright silver hair without any impurities. Fair and smooth skin. From the dim colors to the red eyes that marked the beauty of a flower at the top of a hill.

When he recalled her great beauty that would overwhelm an audience in ten years, he couldn’t help but feel regret. If a nickname was given to Navia’s beauty, it would be ‘calamitous beauty.’

(T/N: The word used here for calamitous beauty is ‘경국지색’ which is an idiom that means a beauty so great that tilts a country, a woman so beautiful she may jeopardize the fate of the country because the ruler favors her so much.)

She was objectively the greatest beauty, but he was more regretful because she matched Prince Ares’ tastes according information he obtained secretly.

Nikan was tired, but he took care of the sleeping Wood.

Time went by quickly as he had to deal with the embezzlement problem that broke out in the house, and wizards were called in to continuously inject mana so that the aftereffects of the mana explosion would not remain. The day passed in a flash.

In the meantime, Wood and Navia remained unconscious.

Nikan fell asleep on the sofa in Wood’s bedroom and soon heard his son’s voice.

“Eu…Dad…?”

It felt as if he had been hit with cold water.

“Wood!”

Wood raised his upper body with a distorted look as his body throbbed.

Nikan ran quickly and held his son in his arms.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Wood looked around, wondering why he was in his bedroom.

“You were unconscious because of a mana explosion. What the hell happened for the storm to appear? It’s a relief it occurred close by…”

Nikan was heartbroken to see his son’s pale skin in daylight.

His little son almost died. Rather than that event, the truth was more important for Nikan.

Wood didn’t understand Nikan’s words and frowned.

“Mana explosion…?”

A storm was created?

‘I don’t remember such a thing…’

When he woke up at dawn, he called in a servant and went to the cabin where he kept Navia. He remembered that he was a little scared because of the cold dawn air and the calmness in the depressed forest.

Then he found Navia escaping from a hole in the cabin.

And, and…what was it?

“I don’t remember.”

It remained clear in his mind until he caught Navia.

He clearly remembered the feeling of being swept away by the intense desire to extinguish the red eyes that looked straight at him with death.

Strange memories were mixed in between.

The sparks with the blue energy were so bright it looked white…

Within those sparks, red…

Shock!

He got goosebumps all over his body.

Perhaps because of his red hair, his favorite color was red.

Until now.

Wood was suffocating because of the red curtains that filled his room.

Red.

He was afraid of the color red.

The color red that flew eerily through the pure white light was scary.

“Aaak!”

He screamed and tore sheets on his bed.

“Wood!”

Nikan was surprised and grabbed Wood, but he was violently repelled.

Wood tore and trampled the curtains while squinting his eyes. He didn’t understand why he did it, but he followed his instincts.

And then, he suddenly heard a voice.

“Why should I?”

This was something he couldn’t remember.

But he knew exactly whose voice it was.

Wood murmured as if he were possessed.

“It’s all because of her…”

His body was throbbing, and his mana felt like it was swept away empty.

“She made me like this! It’s because of her!”

Wood’s angry face was mixed with unnoticed fear.

Nikan watched his son’s unstable condition and pat Wood with a mixed expression.

“Yes. Father will handle it, so don’t worry.”

Then he called in the doctors to take care of Wood’s condition and left the bedroom. Nikan unconsciously walked in the direction of his office and then turned to Navia’s room.

Lyndon approached him and assisted him.

“What about Navia?”

“She is still asleep.”

“Yes…”

Nikan had complicated thoughts.

As long as Navia was engaged, Agnes could reign the Empire for at least 100 years. They would be at the pinnacle even after Wood led the family…

The emotion that came to Wood’s face referring to Navia was most definitely fear.

Fear.

Why on earth did he feel fear from that little girl?

‘It’s probably because of the mana explosion.’

Nikan concluded with that and spoke to Lyndon.

“We need to get ready to meet the Imperial Family.”

“Yes, Master. However… Lord Spencer is requesting an audience and is waiting in the drawing room.”

‘Ah, is today the day his vacation ends?’

But Navia was still unconscious, and he had to go to the Palace.

“Tell him we’ll talk tomorrow.”

“That… He said it’s an important issue that he needs to tell you right now.”

When Lyndon spoke cautiously, Nikan sighed and nodded.

“Ha… Okay.”

It wasn’t hard to make time to talk for a bit. But he didn’t like it when it was bothersome. He thought he would get angry if it was something worthless.

He went to the drawing room and saw Edward dressed neatly.

“Mr. Spencer, you have something to tell me?”

Nikan, who was tired and had no time to relax, greeted him and got straight to the point.

Edward spoke regardless of Nikan’s attitude.

“I asked to see you because I have something important to tell you.”

“What is it?”

Nikan asked half-heartedly.

Edward expected his attitude to change quickly.

“I found a cure for the mana reflux disease.”