“I don’t know the exact date, but I think it’s been over a hundred years.” I answered without trying to withhold my smile.
It seed he didn’t like my answer. He sighed. “I don’t want to joke around. You may not be happy with this situation, nor am I. Please cooperate properly so we both can be done with this as soon as possible.”
“But I’m cooperating wholeheartedly.”
“Then, please don’t joke.”
“About what?”
“About the ti. It doesn’t need to be exact, but can you at least give a rough estimate of how long it has been?”
Kaichen had assud that I was joking. Seeing him so flustered in a serious situation made laugh even more. “It’s true! I am not joking. It has been ‘roughly’ over a hundred years. I used to count the days when I was trapped in here, eagerly waiting for you… for soone to co break the magic.”
“Do you an that you have been confined here for a hundred years?”
“Yes! But it has been barely a day since the magic has been broken.” Less than a day has passed in the original novel. Only a few hours, to be exact, not even half a day. But a full day had passed for . I had checked the newspaper to be sure before I t with Angel. I knew that the passage of ti here was different, but it had still shocked .
“Forbidden magic is maintained by the ntal strength of the dium. Are you saying that you… the dium, have been here for a hundred years?”
“Yes! I am not lying. I am telling I worked really hard to break it, but nothing worked.” When I put my hands together as if I was asking him to believe , Kaichen’s eyebrows twitched. He glanced at for a brief mont in disbelief, then turned his head. He glanced around the room, into the air, and fell deep in thought as he pressed his hands on his temples.
I stared at him. He was so handso that it was difficult to keep my mouth shut. It was fun teasing him. The fact that my body reacts strangely to him makes think that Dalia and Kaichen must have shared a past. That was very troubleso.
I wanted to beco an apprentice to Kaichen by actively cooperating like this. Being his apprentice would give access to Julius, the protagonist of the novel. Even if that wasn’t possible, I could be of help to Julius by helping his close friend, Kaichen.
I hoped that Julius would prosper and beco an emperor as soon as possible. The novel can then be completed wholly, and I can live a simple, prosperous life after that. I had it all planned out, so it was important for to be in Kaichen’s good graces, for which I needed to cooperate.
Unfortunately, I don’t have Dalia’s mory. That was indeed unfortunate. Usually, people would have the mories of the body they possess. But I don’t have any access to Dalia’s mories. I wonder if there were mistakes like mine where the possessor got a really bad body with no mory. I comforted myself in the fact that at the least I wasn’t trapped in the body of a criminal soon to be executed. My life would have been short and miserable.
“For now, I’ll believe you,” said Kaichen reluctantly. He had an indifferent face but if you looked closely, his dazzling golden eyes looked at as though he had a lot of questions swirling in his mind. “I’d like to stay here for a while to investigate the matter, if you don’t mind.”
“Why? Aren’t you going to your magic tower?”
“The magic manifested here. There’s no reason for to go to the magic tower for now. Why?”
I realized that I had it all wrong. In the original novel, Kaichen had taken Dalia to the magic tower because she had lost her mind completely. Kaichen had to use his private laboratory to get information from her. Kaichen had spent a lot of ti with Dalia going back and forth between the magic tower and Acrab to get the whole information to do his research.
But, what about now? I am sane and obediently cooperating, so there is no need to go to the magic tower. He looked unwilling to stay but he knew it was best to stay here and do his research. Perhaps he had thought a lot about it. Oh no…
I licked my lower lips and bit it. It was a nervous habit of mine that I hadn’t been able to get rid of. “I will cooperate with your research if we do it at the magic tower.”
“Not everyone can enter the magic tower.”
“There must be a way. I can’t do it here. I can’t cooperate.”
“Weren’t you doing well a while ago?”
“I decided not to do it now.”
“This is not a matter that should be taken lightly. You know that it’s not the ti to act as you please.”
I did not back down. His cold words won’t deter . My heart was pounding, and my shoulders shrank as a reaction to his cold words. This ti, I couldn’t suppress my body’s reaction to his words, which seed to shrink in fear.
“Take it as you please,” I said with determination, “If you want to cooperate to continue your Forbidden Ti Magic research, please take to the magic tower. It doesn’t even have to be the tower, just out of here.”
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