Chapter 70: The Princess Has Been Kidnapped!!
Chapter 70: The Princess Has Been Kidnapped!!
Hearing Kevra's question, Gwen remained silent.
It seemed that after Viktor's audience with His Majesty, Gwen's Heart of Justice had become intermittent, gradually losing its effectiveness.
Although Gwen could still occasionally use the Heart of Justice to probe others' words, its effect was far from what it used to be.
For instance, she could still sometimes detect when others were lying.
But the sometimes effective, sometimes ineffective Heart of Justice seemed to be constantly telling her something.
Could it be that just because she couldn't stand the way those mages targeted Viktor,
And the one lie she told in front of His Majesty for Viktor's sake,
The Heart of Justice no longer considered her righteous?
Gwen looked pained, her expression as if she was about to cry.
"This might be for the best," Kevra said, patting Gwen's head and comforting her with a smile.
"Such a useless ability, it's fine if it disappears."
She looked at Gwen, her eyes filled with sympathy.
Gwen was a child who couldn't adapt.
Perhaps due to the Heart of Justice that had existed since her childhood, Gwen had an extremely strong sense of justice.
She couldn't stand any bullying behavior.
However, in this era, people were divided into different classes.
Commoners, as the lowest class, were meant to be oppressed by nobles like leeks to be harvested.
But Gwen, with such a strong sense of justice, was born a noble.
Her actions were misunderstood by everyone, and she was treated as an oddity.
So Gwen had no friends, because no one liked her since childhood.
Not even her own family.
Perhaps due to the Heart of Justice, she not only couldn't lie but would also straightforwardly point out everyone's lies.
This sense of justice was indeed admirable, but...
As mentioned before, Gwen was a noble.
Among the hypocritical nobles, Gwen's behavior was considered wrong.
Even when nobles were engaged in hypocritical conversations, she would point out whether the other party was lying.
This wasn't a good thing among nobles, especially since her father held significant military power.
Because of this, her father didn't like Gwen.
He greatly disliked Gwen's inability to lie, or perhaps he disliked the absolute sense of justice that had existed in her heart since childhood, rather than her own interests.
He needed an obedient, sensible child, and in this aspect, Kevra's brother did very well.
Gwen, possessing this ability, was like an annoying fly in the house. Adults would always avoid her in their conversations, fearing her presence.
Even the servants had to be cautious when chatting around Gwen.
Only Kevra, as the eldest sister in the family, loved and protected her.
As time passed, Gwen grew older.
The family didn't need useless children, and Gwen's absolute justice couldn't bring more benefits to the family.
So, Gwen was sent by her father to train as a knight.
As a girl who could have lived a beautiful life, she instead became a knight.
It was also because of this that Gwen was betrothed to Viktor.
At that time, the former head of the Clayvenna family and her father had a very good relationship, and he often brought his children to visit her father.
It was also then that Kevra first met Viktor.
As a child, Viktor was very arrogant, always wearing a cold, sullen face, not speaking a word to anyone.
So, her father arranged Gwen's betrothal to Viktor as a family alliance.
This was Gwen's childhood experience.
Therefore, the experiences brought by the Heart of Justice weren't particularly good for Gwen.
Kevra felt that if this ability disappeared, it might actually be better for Gwen.
She wouldn't have to constantly pay attention to others' hypocrisy anymore.
Kevra comforted Gwen, but Gwen could only respond with prolonged silence, lost in her thoughts.
......
Viktor sat in the carriage, feeling the bumps as it traveled over the cobblestone road, passing by shop after shop. He just stared blankly.
Vega was napping on Viktor's leg, too tired and constantly looking for opportunities to catch up on sleep.
"We're here," Viktor reminded.
Vega perked up and looked out the window.
This was the imperial palace.
A servant opened the carriage door, and Viktor placed Vega on his shoulder before getting out.
As soon as he alighted, Viktor saw a group of servants standing in front of the carriage.
The palace servants had already come to welcome him.
Viktor nodded to them and walked into the crowd.
The servants calmly led Viktor into the palace, stopping in front of a small cabin and nodding to him.
"Lord Viktor, please go in. His Majesty is waiting for you."
Viktor turned the golden handle on the door and slowly pushed open the golden door of the cabin.
"Come here, Viktor," Emperor Aubrey said with a smile, gesturing for him to come to his side as he saw Viktor enter.
Viktor walked to the emperor's side and bowed deeply.
Behind the emperor stood Aurelian.
"Today is your first day on the job."
"Viktor, don't disappoint me."
Viktor responded calmly, with his head lowered:
"Rest assured, Your Majesty."
Seeing Viktor, Aurelian also peeked out from behind Emperor Aubrey, giving Viktor a slight smile, like a little fairy in the early morning.
After yesterday's interaction at the banquet, their relationship had grown closer, and Aurelian was no longer so timid when facing Viktor.
Under the guidance of servants and guards, Viktor was led to the princess's private palace.
Looking at the golden walls inlaid with various gemstones, and the crystal-like pendants hanging from the beams below.
Surrounding them were luxurious silk and silver silkworm silk woven curtains.
Vega looked at the princess's palace in amazement.
"So this is royalty? They're really rich!"
"Viktor, I'm serious, you should consider marrying this princess. Then we'll definitely never lack money!"
Viktor completely ignored Vega's thoughts and entered the palace with Aurelian.
Guards stood ready at the door, and servants also waited quietly nearby.
After all, the emperor naturally wouldn't let Viktor and the princess be alone in a room.
"Teacher," Aurelian looked at Viktor, calling him teacher for the first time.
"What are you planning to teach me?"
Viktor looked down at her, reading endless anticipation in her eyes.
Indeed, Aurelian was also looking forward to seeing if this youngest genius of the empire could bring her some courses different from other mediocre mages.
Courses that could make her eyes light up.
Viktor bowed to the princess and extended a hand to her, saying:
"Your Highness, please give me your hand."
Aurelian was a bit puzzled, but she still raised her arm and placed her hand on Viktor's palm.
At this moment, one of her personal female guards looked alertly at Viktor.
When Viktor held Aurelian's small hand, a soft, tender feeling transmitted from his fingertips.
This scene was caught by the female guard, who became extremely agitated, even placing her hand on the hilt of her sword.
Teaching is teaching, why is he touching her hand!
She had heard that Viktor liked minors, but she didn't expect him to dare flirt with the princess!
But before she could open her mouth to warn him, Viktor had already let go of her hand.
Touching an NPC allowed Viktor to see their level.
And Aurelian's level was—
Level 15
Very low, extremely low.
If Viktor didn't know what would happen in the future, he could never have associated this princess, who was like a vase, with the future Eternal Witch.
Moreover, this level seemed to only allow learning first-tier magic.
Viktor didn't say anything, but with a flip of his hand, a gray magic formation slowly appeared in his palm.
It didn't have many complex patterns or obscure runes; this was just a relatively simple spell.
A cloud of black smoke suddenly appeared in the air, enveloping the surroundings.
Viktor waved his hand, dispersing the gray smoke that had hallucinogenic properties.
"How about it? Can you imitate this?"
Aurelian tilted her head, thinking:
"It's a novel spell. My previous teachers haven't taught me this, but..."
She also extended a hand, trying hard to draw the magic formation based on her recent memory.
After a while, the formation in her hand lit up with a gray, misty feeling, and a small cloud of black mist was released from her hand out of thin air.
Vega glanced at Aurelian's spell casting. Her method was like directly copying it.
"Interesting."
It was certain that Aurelian didn't know this spell at first, as the awkwardness of casting a spell for the first time couldn't be faked.
Although the speed of spell casting was not at all comparable to Viktor's, being able to cast a spell after just one look was impressive.
Could she really be a genius?
Viktor understood in his heart and once again changed to a slightly more complex spell in his hand.
This time, two layers of formations appeared in Viktor's hand, with patterns intertwining, more complex, but Viktor only added one or two more runes to the formation.
"[Second-tier Magic: Meteor Fragment]"
A purple rock fragment gradually rose from the air, whooshed out, and violently pierced into the palace floor.
The surrounding space was instantly distorted slightly, merely sucking the surrounding silver curtains into the center, pinned to the ground by the fragment.
After watching, the princess gradually began to imitate Viktor's construction of the formation.
But this time, it was much slower than before.
She tried very hard to construct it, and finally, she built the same magic as Viktor had cast in her hand.
The moment the purple meteor came out, the experienced Vega narrowed its eyes.
'A first-tier mage can use second-tier magic? There's something wrong with her mana quantity.'
'There's nothing strange about it,' Viktor responded to Vega in his heart.
The talent of the Eternal Witch had already taken shape at this moment.
In the game, she would perfectly copy magic used by others, and because of her own strong mana, the magic would become even more powerful.
Moreover, the reason she was called the Eternal Witch,
Was because Aurelian had an incredibly overpowered innate passive ability.
Eternal Furnace.
The mana she consumed when casting spells would recover 80% of her health. If her health was full, the excess would turn back into mana recovery.
Similarly, after being injured, 80% of her lost health would recover mana. If her mana was full, the excess would turn into health recovery.
This was a passive ability that could be seen as Aurelian only needing to consume 20% of the mana other mages would use to cast spells when she was at full health.
This overpowered talent made Aurelian extremely tough and terrifyingly regenerative in battle.
Not only that, but the power of her magic was also frightening.
In gaming terms, she was tanky while also dealing high damage.
Although her mana was still scarce now, being able to cast second-tier magic with a first-tier body was already quite outrageous.
But it wasn't hard to see that the emperor's words were correct.
Aurelian was indeed a terrifying genius, and the reason those mages couldn't teach her after three days was also obvious.
It was too outrageous; they couldn't teach anymore.
Learning magic after just one look, if they continued teaching, even their most secret spells would be learned.
Viktor applauded, and unlike other mages who would be afraid to continue teaching due to Aurelian's terrifying talent, Viktor quite liked such an effortless student.
He didn't even need to have Vega explain the principles of magic and then relay it to her.
Viktor asked:
"Aurelian, how many spells do you know?"
Aurelian thought carefully, and quickly gave Viktor an answer:
"Um... probably? Countless."
Over the years, there had been quite a few mages who became Aurelian's teachers, and basically all the spells they taught had been copied by Aurelian.
Viktor nodded:
"Then, in terms of magic, I have nothing more to teach you."
Aurelian was somewhat surprised. She looked up at Viktor, unable to believe it.
"But, Father said you were the youngest genius mage in the empire. If even you can't teach me..."
Aurelian didn't continue the rest of her words.
Whenever she thought of those mages looking at her,
That incredulous look, as if saying she was a monster.
Aurelian would feel very sad.
And now, Viktor also didn't plan to teach her?
She felt a slight tightness in her chest.
But then, Viktor's voice sounded:
"Next, we'll switch directly to practical combat."
Aurelian looked up in confusion, seemingly not yet understanding Viktor's meaning.
But before she could think too much, a blue magic formation had already formed under her feet without her noticing.
The terrifying magical power shook the surrounding air, making it tremble frantically. Gusts of wind filled the entire palace.
Pendants and curtains were blown about wildly, as if in a frenzied dance.
The strong wind pressure naturally also blew Aurelian's beautiful hair, and the guard beside Aurelian was blown out of the magic formation by a gust of wind, slamming heavily against the golden wall.
"Princess!"
Just as she shouted these words, the magic formation instantly lit up, enveloping everything.
The next second—
Whoosh!
After the light dissipated, the guards and servants stood up and looked around, but there was no trace of the two within the palace.
What the hell!?
Where's the princess?
"The princess! She's been kidnapped by Viktor!"