The West Wind's Destination - Chapter 77
The body imbued with Vilkanos’s magic and the magic stone designed to release it created a strange hybrid. And because of that, Bea realized she had ultimately leaked Vilkanos’s secrets to someone who should never have known them.
Unless she was a fool, one fact was clear.
Bea could never return to Aseph Vilkanos.
She had betrayed him, who had entrusted her with research, stabbed someone of high standing, and with the magic stone he provided, she had ultimately created a new weapon that could bring down the entirety of Vilkanos itself.
Bea touched the bruised area where she had been hit. It throbbed terribly.
But what hurt more was her unusually heavy heart.
She had never felt such emotions before. It would have been better not to feel them at all.
Everything started when she turned her back and ran away as her master was being mauled to death by wolves. From that moment, she was sure she had been broken.
❖
Aseph Vilkanos, along with his vassal Ruslan, gazed at the building they had arrived at after a long time, immersed in old memories.
Within the dense forest and thick fog. A small villa that was easy to miss unless looked at closely.
This place was a villa used by the Guardians of Vilkanos for generations, a hidden spot used during the war to hide or for the butler to conduct secret tasks. The late hour and the bad weather made an already inconspicuous location even harder to notice.
The person they were supposed to meet had not yet arrived.
As Aseph and Ruslan waited for the visitor, Ruslan was the first to speak.
“Your Highness, what if Zephyr tried to sever ties for the sake of the Young Master?”
It seemed he wanted to fill the modest time talking about Bea. But the content was a bit absurd.
“What are you talking about?”
Indeed, Aseph himself knew he tended to make leaps in his reasoning, but compared to Ruslan’s recent erratic thoughts, it was nothing.
“Zephyr left just to leave him here. It’s best if he grows up as a successor. After all, she knows well what being an alchemist entails.”
Both the butler and Ruslan agreed on the issue.
In fact, when the alchemist brought the child, everyone in the mansion except Aseph had been wary, fearing the alchemist would claim excessive rights. Though not voiced aloud, everyone thought so.
“Not all alchemists are like Myron Devesis. You know that, don’t you?”
“The world doesn’t think so, you know. Plus, that Myron has come back to life this time.”
Ruslan scratched the back of his head.
“I, for one, would welcome Zephyr staying here more. She’s like an angel. But anyone who doesn’t know any better would think the same.”
Would Bea Westwind, the person in question, think the same?
“But that’s not something Vilkanos should be concerned about.”
Bea must have seen the atmosphere here. Vilkanos is not the empire beyond the mountains. Here, mages and alchemists were on the same footing. It’s not like how it was in the empire, where specific classes were sharply divided.
Of course, there was the incident in the mines, but those involved were at risk of losing their lives, which could lead to losing one’s rationality. Bea would understand that too.
Above all, in Vilkanos, nobody would dare point out such a thing to the person chosen by the master of Vilkanos.
That’s why, Aseph felt somewhat resentful of Bea. Was it that she felt so undeserving? Or did Vilkanos not seem worth it to her?
Most of all, he still couldn’t understand why the research that started with the intention of treating Homun led to the revival of Myron Devesis.
Rationally thinking, he knew there were reasons for that. Initially, Bea was conducting research to revive Myron Devesis, and that was also her intention when she came to Vilkanos; having completed her research, she turned her back without any attachment. The known nature of Bea Westwind was enough to come to such a conclusion.
But Aseph was an emotional human, and he kept feeling that it absolutely couldn’t be the truth. It was just a feeling without any basis.
“Your Highness. Let’s put that issue aside for now and think about it romantically.”
Ruslan brought up the complex issue as if to lighten the mood.
“Isn’t she the kind of person who would abide by the rule of equivalent exchange?”
“What?”
“I’m talking about Zephyr.”
“No, why are you bringing that up?”
At Aseph’s annoyance, Ruslan shrugged.
“That is, maybe that wasn’t a normal state for Zephyr. Maybe she felt resistance because you suddenly tried to change things.”
“Normal state?”
Was living under Myron Devesis in such a manner a normal state for Bea Westwind?
He knew that Bea spent her childhood in the barren desert and later lived with alchemists led by Myron Devesis. After Myron disappeared, she lived in seclusion for years. The period Aseph suddenly entered her life wasn’t long.
“Then, following Pavel’s advice might make it easier to achieve your goal, Your Highness.”
