Chapter 52

“Kya-ha-ha! My daughter! My adorable youngest daughter! Where are you! I heard she was here!”

The Camellia Palace suddenly became noisy.

It was because of Majang Kirsion’s visit.

Naturally, the maids’ chatter increased as well.

-Oh my, it seems like the Lady is here again. She’s been showing up often these days.

-Indeed.

-The rumors about Lady Cecilia being the adopted daughter of the Lady must have been true.

-I know, right? No wonder Lady Cecilia has such discerning taste.

-Oh, come on, when did you stop criticizing her behind her back? You always said she was too strict, yet here you are.

-Was it just me?

-Of course not, I was criticizing her with you too. Ho ho ho!

As Kirsion briskly marched through the gossiping maids and stewards, she shouted loudly.

“My daughter! Where is my daughter!”

But there was no answer in return.

Eventually, Kirsion began to forcefully open every door in the Camellia Palace.

“Are you here?”

Bang!

“Not here. Then what about here?”

Bang!

“Or here?”

Boom!

After barging into about a dozen innocent doors,

Bang!

“Here you are!”

Kirsion finally found her precious youngest daughter, Cecilia, whom she had been desperately(?) searching for.

At that moment, Cecilia was busy with some clothing designers, discussing designs for formal attire for Theo.

Her face was full of irritation.

She had planned to finish her work as quickly as possible since one day was enough for the third test, but now she had been interrupted.

“…Could you all leave for a moment, please?”

The designers quickly left, reading the atmosphere.

Cecilia then glared at Kirsion with blazing eyes.

“What is the meaning of this rudeness, Mother? I’ve asked you to please maintain your dignity while in the palace!”

Kirsion flinched slightly, but soon, a huge smile spread across her face.

It seemed like her nostrils might start spewing fire.

“Dignity? Isn’t it strange to maintain dignity in a situation like this? Your mother is about to become filthy rich!”

“Aren’t you already rich, Mother?”

“Not just rich! I mean filthy rich! Kyahaha!”

Cecilia shook her head in disbelief as she watched Kirsion laughing half-madly.

Ever since Theo gained fame.

Kirsion had been showing up like this more often.

She kept saying that the advertising effect of Theo was beyond imagination.

Thanks to this, it was said that the Vasque Workshop’s orders were fully booked until the end of next year.

Despite this, orders continued to flood in.

As expected, an elf who was a slave to capitalism, the type to jump out of bed at the mere mention of money, couldn’t help but go wild with excitement.

However, Cecilia didn’t like Kirsion’s attitude at all.

It wasn’t just because of the uneasy feeling that came with the thought of making money by exploiting her son’s name.

Her greatest concern was whether Theo had sustained any serious injuries during the Blossoming Ceremony.

‘When he was only confined to the Rose Palace, I used to constantly push him. But now that he’s making such a name for himself outside, I feel even more frustrated… I must truly be unfit as a mother, my son.’

Looking back now,

Cecilia realized she hadn’t been a very good mother to Theo.

She was always scolding him for not doing things properly.

‘A tool to win back the affection of my drifting husband.’

Sometimes, she had even viewed him that way.

She thought that if Theo could make a name for himself, Kyle’s visits to the Rose Palace would increase again.

But Theo hadn’t lived up to Cecilia’s hopes.

And as a result, the distance between mother and son had only grown.

Their awkward relationship began to improve, however, thanks to Theo’s courage.

As Theo began to stand out, Cecilia’s heart started to open, and Theo began to walk in step with her.

At the time, she hadn’t realized this at all.

All she could think about was how she could help Theo spread his wings,

how he could endure the pressure and opposition that would inevitably come his way from others.

She was too preoccupied with those concerns.

But.

Now that Theo had been away for so long, she realized something painfully clear.

She had been cruel to her son all this time.

Theo was still only fifteen, still just a child.

At an age where a mother’s warmth was more important than ever, she had let him grow up too quickly, and that pained her.

‘The third Blossoming Ceremony is approaching soon… will he be okay?’

His meeting with his father wouldn’t be the warmest reunion.

That worried her as well.

“Kya-ha-ha-ha!”

“…….”

The problem was, that immature woman had no idea what was going on in her daughter’s conflicted heart.

‘…I’ll have to send her away first and think later.’

Cecilia, eyes blazing with frustration, glared at Kirsion.

Suddenly, a passing comment from the stewards came to her mind.

– There have been many inquiries recently about finding a swordsmanship master for the young master.

– Did the young master have a swordsmanship teacher? I didn’t even know…! Who could it be?

– Someone named Evelyn Nerevil, who manages the Fourth Training Hall. In the past, she was the commander of the White Armored Dragon Cavalry….

He still found her irritating, but a memory of his mother, who admitted that her skills were the best in the North, came to mind.

“Mother.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Have you ever made a prosthetic hand before?”

* * *

“Ugh…!”

After the sparring between Theo and Erika had ended.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Erika grimaced due to the throbbing pain from muscle aches.

She hadn’t noticed it while they were fighting, but now her entire body was screaming in agony.

A Ragnar defeating a Ranke with brute force?

How could that even be possible?

「Heh heh! See? Not as easy as you thought, right?」

At that moment, Holcus’s sneering laughter echoed in her ears.

One of Erika’s eyebrows twitched.

「…Could you just shut up? I’m about to die from exhaustion.」

「I told you, didn’t I? I said you wouldn’t be able to do it. You didn’t listen, and look at you now. Puhahahaha!」

「You little bastard.」

If he kept egging her on like that, he’d really get hit. Sensing this, Holcus quickly stifled his laughter.

However, his twitching lips were impossible to control.

Twitch, twitch-

‘Should I kill this little brat or not?’

Erika wanted to smack her annoying younger brother across the head, but she had no strength left in her body. She sighed and gave up.

Even getting up was a struggle now.

Seeing her like this, Holcus was thoroughly pleased.

It felt like a ten-year burden had been lifted off his chest.

‘Puhahahaha! I should use this trick more often!’

In fact, Erika had charged at Theo because of Holcus’s “scheme.”

Even though his sister was formidable, he had subtly provoked her, implying she wouldn’t be able to win against him.

Naturally, Erika, who had a strong competitive spirit, wasn’t going to just sit by and let that slide.

And the result was what they saw now.

‘Still, to think that my sister, who seemed invincible, was defeated. Is he even human?’

Unlike Erika, Theo seemed completely fine, only slightly out of breath. His stamina still seemed intact.

‘Good-looking, great at fighting, excellent stamina, and he even beat my sister. Is there anything that guy can’t do?’

Above all,

The words Theo had said during the sparring still buzzed in his head.

– How could the head of House Ragnar become the consort of House Ranke? After all, we are a prestigious family.

– Anyone with Ragnar’s inheritance rights could dream of such things, right?

‘That was so cool.’

He hadn’t said it in any dramatic or desperate way.

He had said it very calmly.

As if he was just doing what needed to be done.

And because of that.

Because of that, it hit Holcus even harder.

He had known Theo was cool.

But this time, it felt different from before.

It wasn’t just because he was handsome or dressed well; it was his tone of voice and every action he took. He exuded the presence of a hidden dragon, quietly aiming for a grand title.

It was the kind of presence filled with ambition that any man could dream of.

Thump, thump!

Remembering that moment… his heart began to race again, pounding madly.

– As if he had somehow been swept up in Theo’s resolve.

‘My sister always said she would become the head of the family… a leader who wouldn’t fall short of Ranke. Someone who would place Ranke far above Ragnar.’

When he was younger, he dismissed it as nonsense, wondering how a vassal family could surpass a great family. He thought his sister was talking nonsense.

But now, looking back, he understood.

He understood just how grand her dreams had been.

And Theo, too, had equally magnificent dreams.

So now came the question.

What was his dream?

Was it simply to be cool?

Or was it just to become strong?

‘I don’t know… not yet.’

Holcus’s mind was tangled with many thoughts.

– He wanted to find a dream.

Up until now, he had spent each day just looking for things that seemed fun or cool without much thought.

But now, he wanted to throw himself into something bigger.

Something like what Theo or Erika had.

Thump, thump, thump-

His heart raced even faster.

‘If I keep watching those two, maybe I’ll figure out what I want to do?’

As Holcus, despite his large build, fidgeted restlessly, someone from afar watched him.

‘Young Master Theo has pulled in another one.’

Wellington chuckled lightly, realizing that another member had been added to the dawn training group at the Fourth Training Hall.

There was no way he couldn’t understand what Holcus’s reaction meant.

He had been exactly the same once.

The power to draw people into one’s dream.

That might just be Theo’s greatest strength.

* * *

“Ugh… I can’t just sit here moping forever.”

Erika slowly stood up and looked over at Theo.

Her body still ached all over, creaking with every movement, but she was in the middle of the third and final test.

There was no way she’d let herself retire, not even if it killed her.

“Hey, Sparky.”

“…Are you talking to me?”

Theo looked at her with an incredulous expression, as if he couldn’t believe the nickname was meant for him.

However, Erika just nodded like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Yeah. You’re Sparky, he’s Old Man, and this lady is Ice Queen.”

Wellington let out a chuckle.

“And why exactly am I the ‘Old Man’?”

“You look way too proper.”

“That’s the reason…?”

“And your way of speaking is way too grown-up.”

“….”

“Are you really fifteen?”

While Wellington was still reeling from her remark, Ray blinked her eyes in confusion.

“Why am I the Ice Queen?”

“You shoot ice everywhere.”

“….”

“Why? Do I need another reason?”

In the end, it seemed like she just called them whatever she found convenient.

‘So, I’m just Sparky because of my lightning attribute? Still, why did it have to be such a ridiculous nickname like Sparky?’

Theo thought of a character from a comic he had seen back on Earth and sighed lightly.

“Well, anyway. So?”

“How are we going to get up there? It’s way too hard to meet your father.”

Erika was probably the only person who had the guts to speak so casually about the head of House Ragnar.

“The presence of the Head will grow more intense the closer we get to the mountain lodge. You should give up any idea of overcoming it.”

“Then what?”

“You’ll need to synchronize your magical wave patterns.”

“Wave patterns?”

Erika tilted her head, clearly not understanding what he meant.

Holcus and Rey also wore puzzled expressions.

But Wellington seemed to have grasped something.

“You mean to use reverse-phase interference to neutralize the displacement?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Hm! Easier said than done….”

“It’s difficult, but it’s probably the only way. Controlling and adjusting magic will be the key to this third test.”

“That makes sense.”

Erika, who had been standing there clueless, suddenly frowned.

“Reverse-phase? Waves? Interference? What are you even talking about? Can you explain it so I can understand?”

Holcus and Ray nodded in agreement beside her.

Wellington gave her an amused smile as he looked back at her.

The expression on his face seemed to say, How do you not know this?

Erika found Wellington’s attitude somewhat irritating, but instead of snapping at him, she quietly listened to his explanation.

“Magic power functions as a type of wave. It possesses the properties of vibration. Naturally, the head of the family’s aura is also made up of waves, so in order to get through it, we need to reverse-engineer and create magical waves that will cancel out his.”

“…So, you’re saying we just need to create a force that’s the opposite of this damn pressure and release it?”

“In simpler terms, yes, that’s the gist of it.”

“Then why didn’t you just say that from the start, you bastard! You used all those complicated words just because I called you Old Man, didn’t you?”

Wellington simply shrugged his shoulders without answering.

Erika glared at him, but then frowned deeply.

Even though his explanation made sense, it was still far too difficult.

They had only been using magic openly for less than a month. Even though they had mastered the Breathing Technique, this level of fine control was beyond them.

However—

“Don’t focus too much on just trying to cancel out the waves. No matter how hard we try, we won’t be able to fully block the head of the family’s aura. Even if one of the Nine Dragons were here, it would be impossible.”

Theo spoke calmly as he stepped forward.

Boom!

The pressure, much stronger than before, bore down on his shoulders.

He staggered slightly but quickly regained his balance.

Something even the Nine Dragons couldn’t do.

At his words, the eyes of the other four naturally shifted toward the Overseer.

The Overseer stood there with his hands behind his back, just smiling.

“We only need to create enough space to move around. That much should still be possible.”

Step, step—

Theo began walking forward slowly.

With each step, faint ripples formed across the ground where his feet touched.

His balance was stable, and his pace gradually quickened.

“Well, I’ll go ahead.”

Whoosh—

Theo started ascending the slope first.

“You should hurry as well. The scores for the third test will be distributed based on who reaches the top first.”

The Overseer’s casual remark sent the other four into a frenzy of movement.