It might not have been the most fitting expression for a dieval fantasy world, but the only way to describe the feeling was—
‘...It’s like being ensnared by a bewitching spirit’
Crack. Crackle.
With each creaking shift of bone, the body that had been Arno’s changed in height and facial structure.
Her fra took on the skeletal structure of a woman, and curves began to form across her body.
To call it a real-ti gender transformation wouldn’t have been an exaggeration.
Watching the grotesquely fluid shift, Ihan couldn’t help but think—if fox spirits like the nine-tailed gumiho truly existed, this is what their transformations would look like.
Her once-short, silver hair...
Shraaak.
...flowed down to her waist in an instant.
“Huu.”
The transformation complete, a breathtakingly beautiful woman—who could easily pass for soone in her twenties, or even her late teens—let out a sigh.
She casually tied her now-flowing silver hair into a loose bundle with a handkerchief, her crimson eyes gleaming with a peculiar, almost mystical light.
Gulp.
It was unclear who swallowed audibly, but no one could be blad.
Anyone would feel a suffocating tension in the presence of such an overwhelming, otherworldly existence.
And then, in a voice that shattered the heavy atmosphere—
“Elza, bring a cup of tea as well.”
“......”
A... surprisingly mundane request.
Elza, the head maid, let out a long sigh, pressing her fingers to her temples.
Truly...!
“I respect you deeply, but every ti you pull these stunts, I feel like my lifespan shortens, Your Excellency. What kind of prank is this?”
“Sorry, Elza. But wasn’t my acting convincing?”
“......”
“Don’t be mad.”
“...Haaah!”
Ignoring the tension in the room, the woman plopped down comfortably—right between a frozen-stiff Levi and an equally rigid Kunta.
“Relax, kids. You’re looking at like I’m about to do sothing terrible.”
“...Kunta wants to run.”
“Don’t.”
She reached over and gently patted Kunta’s head.
And each ti she did, the massive warrior flinched like a prey animal trapped in a predator’s grasp.
At least...
“Th-Then... what about Lord Arno?”
Unlike Kunta, Levi managed to maintain her composure as she calmly asked about the real Arno’s whereabouts.
Perhaps the woman found Levi’s steadfastness endearing, because she bead at her.
“My grandson should be fast asleep in the underground training hall by now. He’ll wake up soon enough.”
“......”
“Don’t look at like that. I rely sparred with him to test how much he’d improved. It wasn’t intentional.”
“I-I see...”
“...You don’t believe ? How cold.”
Unlike with Kunta, her tone toward Levi carried an unmistakable fondness.
And then—
“Mother, what in the world are you doing?!”
Iliad de Offen, his expression dark and icy, fixed his gaze on her.
“What have you done to Arno?”
“I told you—I rely sparred with him. My grandson was excited when I offered to be his opponent, so I... may have put in a little effort. And, well, I accidentally knocked him out. Since I wasn’t sure what to do, I simply ‘disguised’ myself as him for a bit.”
“And you expect to believe that?”
“It’s the truth, Iliad. If you need proof, ask him when he wakes up.”
“......”
“...But I do admit I took the joke too far. No need to glare at so harshly—you're going to make this poor mother feel hurt.”
“Huuuh!!”
For the first ti, the ever-composed Iliad failed to contain his anger.
And seeing this, she did at least acknowledge her mistake.
She didn’t bow her head or formally apologize, but then again...
Who in the entire kingdom would dare demand an apology from the Sword Saint?
So this was already more than enough.
Which was why...
“...Sir Turtle, I apologize on my mother’s behalf. I never imagined she would pull sothing like this.”
“There’s no need to apologize. I’m not particularly bothered.”
More than anything—
...He already knew that Aura Masters were all lunatics anyway.
Ihan swallowed those last words.
Saying that in front of her would likely earn him a beating.
And sure enough—
“So, child. How did you figure out that I was ‘disguised’ as Arno?”
“You an ‘transford,’ don’t you?”
“Iliad, save the nagging for later.”
Still completely unbothered, she kept her easygoing attitude.
Scratching his cheek, Ihan decided to humor her.
“...It wasn’t anything special.”
He figured it wouldn’t hurt to play along with the whims of an unpredictable Aura Master.
“At first, I thought you really were Arno. But as we spoke, sothing started to feel... off.”
“What was it?”
“The muscles.”
“...?”
“Friends and lovers may betray you, but muscles never lie. And yours were different from Arno’s in several ways.”
He crossed his arms.
“I personally oversaw the conditioning of Arno’s body through interval training. His arms, legs, shoulders, and back—I built all of it. He’s my work. If I couldn’t recognize the difference, I’d have no right to call myself an instructor.”
“......”
“Of course, even after realizing it, I chose to play along. You didn’t seem to have any ill intent, and I didn’t sll any blood. So I figured it was just a prank.”
He sighed.
“...But at so point, you started exerting your presence on . From every direction, waves of intent kept crashing down, and I couldn’t even tell where they were coming from... It was enough to make break into a cold sweat.”
Drip.
Ihan casually pulled back his collar, revealing his soaking wet shirt.
A testant to how much he had sweated while withstanding the crushing force.
“It was terrifying.”
And he wasn’t joking.
It had been sharp, like the killing intent of a Heaven-Slaying Star-ranked spearman—akin to being stung by a wasp hundreds of tis per second.
Even elite rcenaries and knights would crumble under such pressure.
And, to put it into perspective—
“I lasted about thirty minutes before I felt like I was dying. So I figured I should ask you to stop.”
Ihan shrugged.
Though his tone was lighthearted, his eyes were not.
In other words—
“...Your eyes don’t look the least bit friendly.”
“Why should I feel good about the way I’ve been treated as a guest?”
“......”
Ihan was just about this close to losing his temper.
“No, let rephrase that. What was I expecting from an Aura User? The real mistake was thinking I’d be welcod in the first place.”
Clack.
“Hm...”
Ihan placed the dagger he had received from Baltar onto the table.
Then—
“Let’s go. The family visit is over.”
“Master?”
“Do you still want to stay and chat?”
“...No. I’ll go with you.”
Like a thread following a needle, Levi imdiately prepared to leave alongside Ihan.
It was as if she had decided that there was no point in staying sowhere he had no intention of being.
“Sir Turtle...”
“Lord Iliad, let’s et again elsewhere next ti.”
“...Let’s do that.”
Iliad looked as if he had no idea what was happening, but Ihan didn’t hold it against him.
In fact, he rather liked the man.
So when Ihan suggested they et again, Iliad—seemingly understanding his feelings—gave a small nod.
“......”
The situation had naturally settled down, and the atmosphere had shifted toward departure.
And yet, she had remained silent.
As if she had rely been observing.
But as Ihan truly moved to leave—
“...I’m sorry.”
“?”
“I know I went too far with my little prank. But won’t you at least let apologize properly?”
“......”
“I won’t just apologize with words. Tell ... How would you have make it up to you?”
“...Huh.”
Ihan looked at her—Felicia—with intrigue.
He had never imagined a day would co when an Aura User would actually apologize to him.
This was sothing so rare that it felt akin to receiving a heartfelt, sincere apology from a monarch admitting to political incompetence.
“...First, let’s confirm that the little wolf cub is unhard.”
For the record, Ihan was the type who believed that if soone was willing to apologize, they should be given a chance.
***
Click.
“To be fair, I wasn’t intentionally exerting pressure on you. Most people wouldn’t have even noticed the difference, let alone reacted as sensitively as you did. It’s likely because your senses are dozens of tis sharper than the average knight’s that you perceived my ‘observation’ as a threat.”
“That was ‘observation’?”
“Well, Baltar sent you here. That made curious. And now, I think I understand why he did.”
Felicia finally set down the dagger she had been idly playing with.
“Yes, it’s real. This is one of the daggers I scattered long ago. That ans you’re entitled to one request from .”
“...A request?”
“A long ti ago, when I was weak, I received help from many people. And in return, I handed out these daggers. There were about ten of them in total. I’ve already retrieved nine, but now, the last one has finally co back to .”
“......”
“...Don’t look at like that.”
“I haven’t said anything.”
“You were thinking it. ‘How could she pull a prank like that on soone who brought her sothing so precious?’”
“And if you knew that...”
“...That’s why I’m apologizing!”
Felicia fidgeted awkwardly, looking sowhat deflated as she offered another apology.
“Honestly...”
Was she really an Aura User?
‘...No, more importantly, how is soone who’s supposedly over ninety years old this emotionally unstable?’
As far as Ihan knew, Felicia was older than Baltar.
And yet, both her words and actions carried the emotional turbulence of a teenager.
Did she only look young on the outside?
“...Sir Turtle, once again, I apologize. She wasn’t always like this, but ever since... well...”
“She changed?”
Iliad, looking exasperated, turned his gaze toward Felicia.
But it wasn’t the look of a son toward his mother.
It was more like the gaze of a father watching over a reckless daughter.
Ihan wondered why that was, but in the next mont, Iliad explained—
“...Nine years ago, my mother conducted an experint.”
“An experint?”
“She tried sothing with Aura—sothing involving spreading her life force down to the cellular level. She kept it a secret from the family, using her own body as a test subject. And as a result, she... beca younger.”
“...?”
“Haaah...”
Seeing the blank look on Ihan’s face, Iliad pinched the bridge of his nose.
Even as the one explaining it, he couldn’t think of a proper way to define this “phenonon.”
So he had no choice but to simply describe what he had seen.
For Ihan’s understanding.
“...It was exactly as I said. My mother had always looked younger than her actual age, but after the experint, she physically regressed into a ten-year-old child.”
“...And?”
“That wasn’t the only thing. She continued aging naturally afterward. It wasn’t so illusion or re disguise—she had genuinely reversed her aging.”
“......”
“...It was exhausting. She was over ninety, but suddenly, she acted and thought like a teenager. Her mood swings beca extre, her pranks intensified... It was like living with an unpredictable child all over again.”
“...Ah.”
“Sir Turtle?”
“N-No, it’s nothing...”
“??”
“......”
Ihan was utterly dumbfounded.
Because he knew exactly what this phenonon was called.
The term originated from texts of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, or possibly the Western Jin Dynasty—described in a work known as The Biographies of Divine Immortals.
It was said that the Eight Elder Immortals didn’t just retain their youth—they reversed into childhood.
And the na of this phenonon was—
Rejuvenation: The Return to Infancy.
...For a mont, Ihan seriously wondered if this world was secretly a mythological wuxia novel disguised as a romance fantasy.
Reviews
All reviews (0)