Laura covered her mouth with her hand.

Then he brushed her disheveled hair off her forehead with an irritated touch.

“I can’t just give my power to someone who has no qualifications. So…”

“Who is this master, anyway?”

“……”

“Oh right, you said you were waiting. That means you haven’t found the master yet. So how will you recognize your master?”

“……”

He seemed unwilling to answer, furrowing his brow.

“What qualifications do you need to become the master?”

“The only thing certain is that it’s not you.”

“What did someone say? I just asked out of curiosity. And maybe I can help.”

“How could you help? Ordinary people can’t handle my power.”

“That’s why I want to help.”

“……”

“You said your body becomes unstable when I kiss you. Let me prevent that.”

“How?”

“Kiss me.”

At her audacious demand, his brow creased.

“Just a moment ago, I said I needed to keep my body pure…”

“I know, I know. That’s why we should kiss even more.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Frequent kissing can build immunity. Then your body will stabilize and the power won’t be wasted. How about it?”

Honestly, I don’t know what he meant by ‘power’.

I don’t understand who he’s waiting for, either.

The only thing I understood from our conversation was that he responded to our kisses. Enough to know it’s dangerous.

‘He’s making ridiculous excuses because he was shaken by my indifference and hurt his pride.’

That must be the reason why he’s coming up with such absurd excuses.

If that’s the case, I had no intention of backing down even more.

“Even if there is a real master, kissing shouldn’t harm your body, right? Maybe it will even get better once you get used to it.”

And in addition, I would gain mana.

Good for the younger sister, good for the brother-in-law¹a word that metaphorically refers to mutual benefit and goodness in a certain matter. There was no better plan than this.

“Say you’ll do it.”

Laura tightly grabbed his hand.

He glared at her, holding onto her hand uncomfortably.

I’ll kiss you!

Kissing won’t wear out your lips.

Let’s get some mana easily!

Laura looked at him with eyes burning with excitement.

Finally.

“Okay.”

“Honey!”

Laura happily embraced him.

Killian pulled her away from him with an uncomfortable expression.

“I haven’t finished my words yet.”

“What is it? I’ll do anything you want!”

“I’ll allow one kiss per day.”

“……”

My excited mood sank.

How petty!

“If you don’t accept the conditions, then let’s just forget about it.”

He turned around as if he didn’t care.

“Just a moment!”

Laura tightly grasped his clothing.

He reluctantly turned around, nodding his head as if to say ‘if you have something to say, then say it.’

To have such a cold expression when discussing kissing.

Although she grumbled inwardly, Laura had no choice but to accept his proposal.

“Alright. So I should kiss you then?”

I vowed to find him wherever he might hide and kiss him once a day! She said softly to herself.

His sharply angled jaw trembled for a moment. Then he answered very reluctantly.

“…I’ll do it.”

“I’ll wait happily.”

Laura readily agreed and added nonchalantly,

“Is it okay to touch your hand?”

“My hand?”

“Like this.”

Laura took his hand and shook it.

He stared at her hand, his brow still furrowed.

“Is this okay? It won’t make your body weird or anything, right?”

Laura eyed him warily.

She was nervous about what this was going to be like, touching his hands once a day.

Can we touch hands as much as we want?

“…If you want to.”

Fortunately, this seemed to be okay.

With joy swelling in her chest, Laura whispered sweetly,

“Let’s hold hands and go together anytime, anywhere.”

“……”

Silence fell.

Laura hesitated, wondering if she should tell him she wanted to sit down and touch his hand.

“My wife will soon have her wish fulfilled.”

“What?”

For a moment, Laura was bewildered, wondering if she had blurted out, ‘I want to sit down and touch your hand.’

“A letter has come down from the imperial palace……. Wife, will you let go of my hand so I can show you the letter?”

“Oh, yes.”

Laura let go of his hand with a disappointed look and sat on the sofa.

After a while, he found a document with the emperor’s seal on the desk and sat across from her.

“Here, take a look.”

Laura looked at the letter he handed her with a heavy expression.

[We announce to the citizens of the Empire.

I, the Emperor, Protector of the Apostol Empire, has seized the country of Pheade for the bright future of the Empire.

Although Phaede was a small country, it had superior abilities to the Empire, namely magic.

I wanted to create even greater and more powerful apostles through magic.

For this, ‘Elixir’ is essential.

If anyone knows the recipe for Elixir, come forward.

I will reward you handsomely.

May peace be upon Apostol.

Christopher Hermont, Emperor of Apostol]

“This is…”

Laura read the letter several times with trembling eyes and looked up with a bewildered expression.

“The recipe for Elixir? Does such a thing exist?”

Of course, it does.

But she was more curious about how the emperor of the Empire knew about this.

“According to Warren’s report.”

Warren Howard. Her colleague, the wizard who killed her.

She had momentarily forgotten that he was doing magical research for the Empire.

“The only wizard who could complete the elixir is dead. But is there anyone who knows how to make it?”

“Probably not.”

“But what is this?”

Laura held up the letter.

“What do you think is the first thing we need to do before we can find out the secret to making Elixir?”

“We need the ingredients that make up the elixir.”

The ingredients have already been publicly revealed by Warren.

phoenix feathers, lizard eyes, and ant hearts.

“Could the purpose of this decree be…”

“Right. The ingredients have been revealed, but we don’t know exactly what they are. That’s why the emperor sent the official letter.”

“An imperial decree to find the ingredients of the elixir.”

Laura murmured as she looked down at the official letter.

“If we find out the secret of the ingredients, we can make the elixir. And if someone shows up who knows how to make it, it will be a great achievement, just as written here.”

Killian took the letter back from her and wrapped it up tightly.

Laura chuckled inwardly at the emperor’s grand plan.

The plan was to find the ingredients of the elixir and discover the recipe. Killing two birds with one stone.

But would it be that easy?

She had also discovered the ingredient with difficulty. She had not completely solved the secret of the last ingredient.

“Isn’t it difficult? Even ‘Laura Tauler,’ who was rumored to be capable, is already dead and gone.”

“You’ll find out when you attend the party thrown by the Duke of Tormaite.”

“A party?”

“The Duke might find a phoenix.”

“Yes?”

Laura was taken aback by the news she had never imagined.

phoenix’s feather, one of the ingredients of the elixir.

To get it, they needed a phoenix.

They had to pull out a phoenix’s feather.

But phoenix is not a common bird that can be seen easily. It is almost impossible to get a bird that can only be found in legends.

Of course, she could do it. She knew how to find it.

But there was one obstacle.

It was also why she couldn’t easily approach it.

So it was surprising that Duke Tormaite had found such a phoenix.

“To be precise, not yet. I mean, we might find it at this party.”

“How?”

“The Duke has put a bounty on it.”

“The Duke made a mistake. People who are only after money will flock there to cheat.”

“He knows that too.”

Killian got up from his seat and picked up the neatly placed invitation on the desk.

“Phoenix owners are expected to attend this party.”

“Just a moment. Did I hear you wrong? You just said owners, right?”

Judging by the plural form, it seems that it’s not just one phoenix but several.

“You heard me right.”

“Is that possible? It would be difficult to find even one.”

“That’s the purpose of the party. To find the real phoenix.”

“Among the things that scammers bring in pretending to be phoenixes, could there be a real phoenix?”

“That’s right. The Duke will choose one of the phoenixes that each person claims to be real. The bounty will go to the person who has the real one.”

“What about the rest?”

“Take a look at this.”

Killian handed her the party invitation.

[You are invited to the Phoenix Gallery.

 

At this party, we will have time to admire a legendary phoenix.

Why don’t you come and see a beautiful phoenix and find something you like to collect?

Maybe the phoenix you choose is the real one!

Good luck to you.

 

Date: **/**/**

Place: Duke Tormaite’s banquet hall]

“You can buy a phoenix?”

Laura was stunned.

A party where phoenixes can be exhibited and sold.

She couldn’t even imagine such a thing.

Perhaps because it was an empire, the scale was certainly different.

“Would you like to buy one too, wife?”

“Yes!”

Laura exclaimed in excitement.

Of course!

She might be lucky enough to get her hands on a real phoenix!

She tightly held the invitation and looked up at Killian with a desire for permission to buy one.

Killian stared into her sparkling amethyst eyes.

They used to look dull and fierce, but now they shone brilliantly like jewels. The mysterious eyes, as if holding a secret, seemed to suck in others’ souls.

“Go ahead as you please.”

“Thank you, honey!”

Laura, thrilled with joy, jumped up and tightly held his hand.

“Don’t get your hopes up too high.”

“Why?”

“Wife, do you really think that you can find the real phoenix?”

“Then who can find it?”

She asked because she really didn’t know.

Who else in this world could find the real phoenix besides her?

That’s when it happened.

A refreshing laughter tickled her ears.

Laura, who was momentarily dazed, looked at the laughing Killian.

He’s laughing.

Even though he was a noble and charming man, he always exuded a cold aura. But just by laughing innocently, the atmosphere changed completely.

Laura stared at the young, beautiful man in awe.

“That’s a lot of conviction. I’ll support that mindset.”

Killian said with a smile.

Only then did Laura come to her senses.

• 1
  a word that metaphorically refers to mutual benefit and goodness in a certain matter