The Runaway Maid is Loved by the Archmage - Chapter 80
Roina was dreaming. Even though she was aware that it was a dream, there wasn’t much she could do. But she knew—she was conscious of it.
She was inside a half-collapsed white stone structure. Judging by the shattered ornaments, it seemed to have once been a temple. The ceiling had caved in, leaving a gaping hole, making it feel more like the outdoors than the indoors. It was as if she were standing at the center of Stonehenge.
Above, the sky was filled with countless stars on the verge of pouring down, with a bright moon shining amidst them. All around, flowers emitting a dreamlike glow in shades of violet and blue were in bloom.
And at the very center of it all—
A massive, breathtakingly beautiful creature lay dead.
Before the fallen golden dragon, Roina wept bitterly, tears streaming down her face. That dragon was the being she loved most in the world. Her companion, her friend—her lover.
Roina watched the scene as though she were an outsider. Yes, this is how it was. A faint thought surfaced in her mind.
“Do you see? Now, there is no one left to stand between us. Come to me.”
A man stood not far from her and spoke.
Roina let out a sharp cry, her voice trembling with fury.
“How could you do this! How could you kill a friend?”
“I have never once considered that monster a friend.”
He smiled—a smile eerily similar to that of Crown Prince Roberto.
Roina instinctively realized it. So this is the first emperor.
There had been doubts about Roberto’s bloodline, but now she was certain. He was indeed a descendant of the founding emperor.
“What nonsense…!”
“The only reason I ever tolerated that creature was because of you. Isn’t it better to stay with someone of your own kind rather than grafting yourself onto another species? Stop being so stubborn and come to me.”
He spoke as though he hadn’t even heard a word of what she said.
In the dream, Roina sat trembling, her shoulders quaking—not with fear, but with rage.
“Hendrix, haven’t I rejected you long ago?”
“With your overwhelming power and dazzling beauty, you shine the brightest by my side. Look at how the people revere me. If you simply stand next to me, the entire continent will be ours. Why refuse? A woman acting shy is only charming the first couple of times.”
Grit.
In the dream, Roina clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white, veins bulging from the force.
As if her sorrowful weeping before the golden dragon had been a lie, she slowly rose to her feet.
Then, with eyes as sharp as a blade, she stared straight at him and spoke.
“Never will things go as you wish.”
“And what can you do? The scales of the gods have already tipped. I stand on the side of justice.”
“The one you made a pact with is no god.”
The first emperor twisted his lips into a crooked smirk, as if displeased. That sly expression bore an uncanny resemblance to the crown prince.
“A sinister and wicked being—you will be undone by your own greed. The curse of madness will flow through your bloodline.”
“Wait, what are you doing?”
By the time he spoke, it was already too late.
The wind surged around the dream’s Roina, swirling in a protective barrier around her. The first emperor instinctively stepped back, his lips pressed into a firm line. He gritted his teeth and tried to force his way through, but the moment he did, he was flung backward. The very sword he wielded to cut through the wind was instead torn from his grasp, flung into the air.
“You broke your oath and struck down your comrade with the blade given to you to pierce evil. So I shall take your sword and use it to seal the empire’s bridge.”
“You dare alter a pact that has already been sealed?!”
She met his gaze, detached yet burning with intensity.
The wind swelled from her feet, spiraling upward, making her robes and long hair billow in the air.
“The contract’s duration is one thousand years. You will do as you please in that time. But as the master of magic, I have the right to forge an additional pact. On the very day those thousand years end, everything you have built will crumble. Even if not by my hand, it will come to pass. The one you made a contract with is insatiable—it will seek to devour you whole.”
“You wretched…!!!”
“I will give myself as the price to stop it.”
With that, she stepped forward, one slow, deliberate step after another, until she reached the majestic golden dragon and wrapped her arms around it.
“And I will protect you.”
That was the moment she awoke.
Blink.
She opened her eyes once, then again.
The ancient ruin-like scenery had vanished, replaced by the warmth of her chamber in the Mage Tower, carrying the lingering traces of a gentle breeze.
“I will protect you.”
She murmured the last words she had spoken in the dream, letting them roll on her tongue like a weighty promise.
He had once vowed never to lose her again.
But she—she had thought of it first.
She had not yet fully accepted that the woman from a thousand years ago was herself. Though the emotions resonated within her, they still felt like another person’s story. But this one thought remained etched into Roina’s mind.
In her memory, in the novel’s story— The fate of the sub-male lead and villain, the Great Archmage Lutan, had ended in death. He had given her life again. So she would protect him in turn. That alone was her own, undeniable will.
She would ensure that the Great Archmage’s fate would not be death. Never again would he vanish into oblivion. That was why she had come here. And now, she was certain of it.
