To the Promised Land Where Scheming and Betrayal Flow (1)
“Lord Sion.”
Once again, Raido vanished with—whoosh!—Just like some magical girl.
At this rate, Sion wondered if he would eventually transform with strange background music, too. After that, Lucia finally spoke to Sion for the first time.
“If it isn’t rude, may I have a word with you?”
“That is···.”
Sion started to answer, but then instinctively glanced toward Lilith. For someone who held the seat of the Succubus Queen, she was always strangely wary of Lucia.
It couldn’t simply be jealousy, after all, she had the overwhelming advantage. And Lucia, for her part, had never made an active move to approach Sion, only watching him quietly. That’s why Sion couldn’t figure out why Lilith in particular was so wary of her.
“Why are you looking at me?
You’re the one who should decide. Why’s a man looking for a woman’s approval?”
But Lilith answered coolly, as though she had never once given him that uneasy gaze. Sion was left wondering what the hell that was supposed to mean, but nodded anyway, about to say he would go.
“···.”
Lishi was staring at Lucia with a gaze full of suspicion.
It was like a house cat glaring warily at a new cat brought into the home.
“Lishi.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“I’ll be gone for a bit to speak with Lucia. You can wait, can’t you?”
“···Of course.”
Her words said one thing, but her eyes were still flashing with wariness.
Sion genuinely worried she might actually tail them. Suppressing that unease, he set off with Lucia into the garden arranged inside the castle.
Lucia walked silently, while Sion sank into thought.
‘I’ve been so focused on Lilith and Lishi that I haven’t really paid attention to Lucia.’
Normally, after the war he would’ve been working to deepen his relationship with her. But then Lishika suddenly entered the picture, and all his attention had shifted there.
“Are your wounds alright?”
At Lucia’s question, Sion blinked, wondering what she meant, before sighing in realization.
“No problem. If anything, thanks to you, the enemy’s attack was completely crushed.”
“That doesn’t erase my mistake. Even my father scolded me for the first time in ages.”
“···.”
Really? The old man who beats enemies half to death for fun gets angry over a little magical slip-up? That’s over the top.
Sion scratched his cheek, repeating several times that it was nothing serious. Sure, her mistake was big, but she’d already completely shattered the enemy’s sharp momentum with her first attack. Her slip was more than covered by that.
“More importantly, it seems you had something you wanted to say.”
“···That’s true. I did.”
Lucia hesitated as if debating, then finally took a deep breath and spoke.
“I must seem strange, don’t I?”
“Strange, how do you mean···.”
“The way I treat you, my lord.
To you, I’m just the daughter of a magician named Raido. But I keep wishing you would see me differently.”
“···I don’t think that’s strange.
It’s natural when dealing with the opposite sex.”
“My father always said I’m weak to men like you. He said I take after my mother, that I like frail-looking men.”
So that was it. But if that’s the logic, Raido is the exact opposite of frail!
For a magician, he’s practically muscular. Not hulking, but definitely nothing like the lanky, stick-figure wizards people imagine.
“Oh, and by the way, my father said he pursued my mother twenty-four hours a day, nonstop.
He bragged about it, said he wouldn’t let up until she gave in!
He told her, ‘Please save me. I love you so much I’ll die, but if I die I can’t love you, so I can’t die. So can’t I just love you instead?’”
“···.”
Sion shivered.
That crazy old wizard had actually been a romantic lunatic like that?
And his wife, what crime had she committed to end up marrying a man like that···.
“But you know what··· Mother said she didn’t really dislike it. She thought if a man clings to you that desperately, maybe you really can entrust him with your life.”
“···.”
So that’s how it was.
People don’t grow to resemble their spouses after marriage. They’re crazy in the same way to begin with, that’s why they marry.
Her mother had to be just as insane!
“In that sense, I think I take after my father.”
Chills ran down Sion’s spine.
What did she mean by that? Did she mean she fought with her fists? Was he about to get beaten until he agreed to marry her?
“Can’t it be possible?”
“···Eh?”
“I know you feel nothing for me, my lord. This is all just my delusion, and it may never end well.”
Lucia’s hands, clasped tightly together, trembled with unease. It was obvious she had gathered immense courage to say all this.
“But that’s how feelings are, aren’t they? The one who loves always loses. The one who loves is always wrong. And yet, you still hope, just once, that person will look your way.”
“Lucia, that’s···.”
“Sometimes, I just want you to smile at me. Maybe walk with me once in a while. Or, if possible, smile only for me, just occasionally. Is that too greedy?”
Sion found himself sighing quietly.
He remembered these exact lines. Later, she said these very same words to Kim Yoo-hyun!
It felt like he was stealing someone else’s woman, and though the feeling was odd, it wasn’t unpleasant.
In fact, it was strangely exhilarating. Was this that “NTL” thing some readers kept talking about?!
‘Shit, am I this kind of guy? Could some part of Sion Clausen still remain inside me?’
Not even when Lilith had approached, or when Lishi called him “Master,” had it felt quite like this.
Well, excluding when he slept with Lilith, of course. Perhaps this was the thrill of forbidden, immoral desire. Even though Lucia and Kim Yoo-hyun only grew close much later in the story, to Sion, who knew the novel, it already felt like it had happened.
“Lucia.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“This might be awkward to ask, but···.”
“Don’t worry. Please, go ahead.”
“What exactly do you like about me? I don’t really understand.”
At that, Lucia faltered. She hadn’t expected the question, and answering suddenly embarrassed her.
“At first, it was just a simple liking. Then, seeing how different you were from the rumors, lowering yourself for others, I found myself intrigued. And then··· during that speech. Something struck me deeply. ‘Ah, this man doesn’t take anyone lightly.’”
The speech!
Sion smacked his forehead internally. Who knew Lucia would respond to that, of all things?
“I thought it was just another fancy speech nobles like to make. But that day, in the middle of a battlefield turned inferno by my mistake, I saw you rush into hell for the sake of some soldier you didn’t even know. And I thought, what if it had been me lying there instead? Would you have come to save me, too?”
Of course he would’ve. Unless it was certain death, he would’ve jumped in.
If Lucia were harmed, Raido might go berserk. He had to prevent that future at all costs, even before the war with the Celestials began.
“And I still can’t forget.”
“Forget what···.”
“The first day we met. When I nearly suffered humiliation, you defeated my knight and then looked at me with those eyes. Eyes full of concern, even tinged with fear, as though you worried deeply about me.”
“···.”
Sion couldn’t very well tell her the truth—
“That was because Kim Yoo-hyun scared the hell out of me. I was so relieved to be alive that I nearly cried.”
“Does that answer your question?”
“···More than enough.”
Lucia had never been the girl overflowing with pink romance from the start. She was simply her father’s disciple, and he, the daughter of his mentor. But as time passed, she grew closer, touched by Kim Yoo-hyun’s tough exterior hiding a soft heart.
That was when Lucia’s stock skyrocketed among readers. But later, Sion Clausen himself had sabotaged it, killing her after tearing the two apart.
‘And he shouted, “Now you know how it feels.” Goddamn it··· what the hell were you even avenging? You brought it on yourself, spiraled alone, and then acted out like a lunatic!’
At least that tragedy wouldn’t happen this time. But the real tragedy was that even without him messing it up, the world itself was on its way to ruin.
“Is it impossible, my lord? I only wanted to be closer. If I’ve made you uncomfortable···.”
That line, too, was word-for-word from the novel. Even if the timing changed, the words remained.
Resolving himself, Sion spoke.
“As long as you promise not to set me on fire again, Lucia.”
“Uuugh! T-that was a mistake. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry. Your magic was undeniably powerful. And maybe your talent isn’t limited to magic alone.”
“···What do you mean by that?
Not limited to magic?”
She couldn’t possibly know now, but Sion knew very well. Unlike her father Raido, who had been a court magician, Lucia had enormous mana reserves and decent control, but often couldn’t handle her output.
The magician who should control magic was instead controlled by it, a fatal flaw. That’s why, in the story, she’d been dead weight on Kim Yoo-hyun’s party for a while.
Readers mocked her endlessly for it.
‘But during the war against the Celestials, she awakened and finally gained control. Though soon after, Sion kidnapped her, she suffered terribly, and eventually retired from the story···.’
Sion reflected grimly.
Perhaps the author wrote her off that way for balance. Otherwise, Lucia’s overwhelming potential would have shattered the world’s power scale completely.
* * *
The war with Nudia officially ended.
Unlike the anxious Marquis of Lichten, who watched with half hope and half worry, Sion was busy preparing for the royal capital.
“Do you really think Count Basura will honor the agreement, Sion?”
“Don’t worry. Count Dishe has no choice but to comply.”
Sion held countless weaknesses of Count Dishe in his hands and knew exactly how to ruin him with them. The count wanted to ask how a Hispania noble could possibly know so much about Nudia’s internal politics. But he didn’t dare.
The sinister smile on Sion’s face seemed to say: ‘Could you handle it if I told you my source?’
“I’ve reported your accomplishments to the capital, but I can’t help worrying.”
“Because I have zero mana sensitivity?”
“In this world, that is indeed a grave weakness.”
Sion knew that.
Kim Yoo-hyun himself had once said this world was overflowing with mana compared to the martial world he came from. That was why there were so many strong people here, mana made them thrive.
But Sion couldn’t use it at all.
“Don’t worry, Father. Some fight with swords. I’ll fight differently, behind the scenes.”
He had no intention of giving up his strengths to brute-force things like Kim Yoo-hyun. Sure, he lacked personal combat ability, but it wasn’t urgent.
“Have you chosen your entourage?”
“Lishi will serve as my guard. Lucia will accompany me, along with her protector Kim Yoo-hyun. And Lady Lilith as well. The rest, I’ll fill with knights and soldiers.”
“That should be sufficient.”
Sufficient?
Hell no.
This wasn’t “sufficient”, it was overkill.
One elite knight, one rising powerhouse, and one top-tier demon. It was practically a terrorist squad marching into the capital.
‘Now it really begins.’
The Clausen March had only been the prologue. The real story started now, full of plots and encounters.
Once, the lead had been Kim Yoo-hyun.
Now, it was Sion Clausen himself.
‘Let’s go! To the Promised Land where scheming and betrayal are everyday life!’
