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Chapter 9 - The Magician
Ella walked into Evan’s drawing room with a huge smile. Evan, compared to moments ago, calmly welcomed her. After he ran away, he realized his sister was bluffing. At the same time, he felt sorry for pranking her in the first place. From the very beginning, he knew she wouldn’t be able to fend him off. With all that in mind, Evan decided to treat Ella like a real lady. He escorted her to the couch and brought out two boxes. The boxes were embroidered with silver linings and with a luxurious ribbon. These gifts were difficult for him to get. Because of that, he wanted her to see the amount of effort he used to get them for her.
“I went through so much to get these in my hands. It took materials from three different cities and ten master craftsmen from five different temples to create these gifts. I also had to go as far as the Tower of Magi, and you make fun of me like that? I almost didn’t want to give them to you. Be thankful that I’m giving them to you.”
Evan, as he finished complimenting himself, signaled to the butler from behind to open the boxes. Within the two luxurious boxes were a wristlet corsage and a boutonniere. There were seven small flowers made out of silver that flowed faintly of cleansing powers on the corsage. The leaves surrounding the flowers were made out of gold. On the leaves were droplets made out of pearls, which shined beautifully. Ella lifted her wrist. She then carefully placed the corsage on her wrist. The corsage on her frail wrist began to shine with a silvery glow. It was a mesmerizing sight.
Mesmerized by the corsage, Ella completely forgot where she was. Even as the light began to fade away and as the corsage was placed back into the box, she couldn’t take her eyes off her wrist. For the first time, Ella finally felt like the protagonist of this novel. ‘Magic! It’s real magic!’ Her eyes shined with excitement.
As Evan watched his sister’s reaction, he completely misunderstood the reason for her excitement. He thought that she couldn’t stop imagining the crown prince with the boutonniere pinned onto his chest. “I see that you like it.”
“I love it!” replied Ella.
Her excitement made Evan jealous. It was often said that in a relationship the person who loves the other much more was the weaker one. In this relationship with the crown prince, Ella was definitely the weaker person. This corsage and the boutonniere were proof of his sister’s love for the prince. Normally, the wristlet corsage was a gift from a man for his lover’s debut. It wasn’t something that a woman would go out of her way to purchase for herself. Luciella, however, didn’t care about tradition and instead prepared her own corsage while the crown prince was locked up in the academy. Not only that, but she also prepared a boutonniere for her partner.
In the past, Evan looked into the academy to see whether or not the prince had prepared anything for his sister’s debut. As expected, the prince hadn’t prepared anything. The prince wasn’t the type to prepare for anything. At the very least, he didn’t like his sister’s future husband, so he grumbled, “Can’t you stop staring at it?”
“But it’s so amazing.”
“What?” said Evan as he realized that something was a bit off.
He then realized that Ella’s excitement was directed towards Estinu, a magician. ‘Wait, it wasn’t because of the prince?’ The thought made Evan burst into laughter. The sound of his sudden laughter surprised Ella. She then gave him a strange look.
“It’s nothing. I was just laughing because I realized that I made the right decision in bringing him here. I guess this is your first time seeing a magician. Do you have any more tricks up your sleeve for my sister? I will pay you handsomely,” asked Evan as he turned towards Estinu.
Although Estinu was only a Second Circle magician, he was still one of the few magicians left on this continent. He was to be respected. Evan’s ultimate goal was to have him work with his family. The only way to keep in contact with Estinu was through money. This wasn’t a generation where magic bleeds blood, but a generation where magic makes money. A magician was a worthy investment.
“It’s quite alright, sir. It’s an honor to meet the famed lady myself. I’ll do my best to make her happy in any way that I can,” answered Estinu.