The Villainess Is Shy In Receiving Affection

“Master.”

“I’m glad that you got home safely. Of course, I know that you must have eaten well and had a good sleep inside the Imperial Palace.”

At the tender welcome, Jeremiah smiled happily.

“Yes, I ate and slept very well. Just as Master ordered me to.”

“Very well then. You worked hard.”

The master nodded his head in satisfaction, but Jeremiah was surprised and asked, ‘Yes?’

“B, but I haven’t told you anything yet….”

Although Jeremiah was a trainee, he gave a quarterly report to the Imperial Family on behalf of the Magic Tower’s Master. It was a report about the progress of the magic research over the past season, and since the Magic Tower was built, it had always been the Magic Tower’s Master or the Chief Mage among the wizards who would do that task.

“Is there anything else other than contacting the Imperial Family?”

Owen’s question meant, ‘Is there anything you were unable to answer satisfactorily in front of the Imperial Family?’

The Imperial Family was always trying to suppress the power of the Magic Tower, so it is clear that they would try to find fault in the young Jeremiah’s report of the Magic Tower. The child was said to be smarter than a normal child, but he is still a child in the end. Even so, Jeremiah, a child apprentice, was entrusted with an important report so it may look like they are ignoring the Imperial Family.

“There is nothing, Master.”

But Jeremiah, who is called the Magic Tower’s apprentice, wasn’t just a child. The child was able to answer anything the experienced adults of the Imperial Family asked. It didn’t take long for them to realize that the Magic Tower sent Jeremiah with a very serious intention.

“I thought so.”

His answer overflowing with confidence made Jeremiah’s face blush happily.

“Thank you. But….” The boy placed the stack of papers in his arms on Owen’s desk, “I also made a report just in case. I hope that you can look at it and scold me if it is lacking.”

You are really a grown-up child now.

Owen repeated to himself the praise he had repeated several times. It used to be only admiration in the past, but it has now come to the point where he felt sorry for the child for some reason. He wondered if his teachings as his teacher were wrong and this had happened.

“Alright. Let me see if there’s anything that I can scold you with.”

“Thank you.”

After Jeremiah nodded his head, he began tidying Owen’s room. Not with his magic but with his own hands. His actions followed Owen’s philosophy that magic won’t solve what hands can do.

“Thank you for being my hand.”

“This is what I should do. More than that,” the boy looked at him as he cradled an old book that he could barely hold in his arms, “Is your… waist alright?”

The reason Jeremiah took the Magic Tower’s Master work in the first place was because he was suffering from severe back pain.

“It is alright now.”

“It would be better for you to receive treatment.”

Whether it be medicine or magic, his master refused any kind of treatment.

“My vessel is precious. I don’t want to leave it in someone else’s hands yet.”

Owen thought that many problems would arise if the vessel that made up his body was broken. It would be a big trouble if the power that lost its master flowed out and exploded into the air.

“But, I think I should be able to receive and absorb all of Master’s magic. So please get treatment as soon as….”

Saying that, Jeremiah lowered down his head with both his cheeks flushed red.

“I’m sorry. I am being arrogant.”

Able to absorb all of his Master’s magical power? That was equal to reassuring him that his vessel was bigger than the Magic Tower’s Master. This kind of arrogance may have been influenced by the praises he received from the Imperial Family. Jeremiah scolded himself for forgetting how to be humble for a moment.

But despite what might have sounded like an insult, there was only a smile on Owen’s mouth with wrinkles on its edges.

“Yes.” What more, he didn’t deny the boy’s statement, “I also think it’s possible.”

“Th, that can’t happen. Master is a very strong person and….”

The boy quickly put the books together and went to Owen’s side. He was looking up at him with respect in his eyes.

“You are the greatest wizard. I also want to be… like Master someday.”

Owen knew the boy admired him. So he couldn’t even say thank you for his respect, and only stroked his pretty sky-blue hair. In his heart, he added that he shouldn’t become a wizard who ‘throws his family away’ like him.

“Jeremiah.”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to receive the title of wizard?”

The boy’s eyes showed his honest greed at his question. That title was desired by anyone who was born with a vessel.

“I want that of course, but….” But according to what Jeremiah had been learning so far, he answered humbly, “I know that I should be a worthy person for it.”

“Is there anyone more worthy than you?”

Other wizards also acknowledged this fact. If it wasn’t that, then they wouldn’t have agreed to send him [to the Imperial Palace] instead of the Magic Tower’s Master in the first place.

“No, I am still lacking. There was also no… progress in my personal research.”

“You said you were studying about time, right?”

“It is embarrassing to call it research when I fail every time.”

“It is every wizard’s dream to have the past and future on their fingers. Stop saying that researching it is embarrassing.”

“I will… devote myself to it – continuously.”

“You really would?”

Jeremiah quickly nodded his head at his Master’s question, and then closed the window to his office after enough ventilation had cleared the stagnant air.

Owen moved his fingertips to conjure more fire in the fireplace, so that the cold air in the room would quickly warm up.

“Then I guess I should give you another bit of homework.”

At the word ‘homework,’ the boy quickly took a piece of paper from his pocket and held it up. His Master’s order would be something he could accomplish, but writing it down would make him feel more reassured.

“Please tell me! Anything – I will do my best!”

In response to Jeremiah’s spirited reply, Owen took out a letter and gave it to him.

“This is?”

“A letter of request.”

Since wizards are a group of people with special powers, letters of requests from people in trouble arrive frequently. This time, it also seemed like someone was waiting for their help.

“I will give you the title wizard if you go and solve that.”

“R, really?!”

“Yes, though I can’t send you alone because you’re still young.”

“No! I can do it myself! All the other wizards had proven themselves that way…!”

Jeremiah couldn’t hide his obvious excitement at the word ‘title.’

“Please, give me a chance to do it alone.”

Jeremiah was ready to do anything as long as he could get his title. Only the title of wizard would allow him to abandon the name of Valdwin and live a life only as ‘Wizard Jeremiah’. Just as Owen, who was a member of the Imperial Family, was able to live the life of a wizard after receiving that title.

Owen wordlessly handed him the letter. Jeremiah bowed his head and took his first letter of request with both hands.

Raising his head and calming his pounding heart, the familiar seal caught his eyes. His eyes instinctively widened. He even forgot that he was in front of his Master. It was a request from the Duchy of Valdwin.

“…”

Jeremiah just stared at it for a while and didn’t answer. He was wondering if his Master was asking him: Are you really ready to get rid of the name ‘Valdwin’?

“Jeremiah.”

“… I….” The boy barely managed to open his mouth and respond with a friendly tone, “I won’t be shaken by anything, and I will follow the same path as Master.”

With that wounded stubbornness, Owen couldn’t do anything but stroke his young pupil’s head.

(T/N: They say that you should be ready to abandon something if you decide to follow a path. But it was just sad that Jeremiah would abandon his family name for the title of wizard.)

* * *

Loretta’s condition didn’t change the least bit as time passed. She occasionally had a slight fever, but she still wasn’t waking up. All the doctors in the capital had already come and gone, but she just wouldn’t wake up.

With the situation like this, the Duke bowed his head again to the temple after a long time even though he was hesitant. Of course, it came with a large amount of donations. The Duke thought that as long as they could make Loretta’s condition better, then he would be able to live as the temple’s dog for the rest of his life.

Unfortunately, however, the temple didn’t give the Duke a chance to become their dog. Even with the blessing of the highest priest, Loretta’s condition didn’t change in any particular way.

“This is really strange. Could it be that this child is lacking in faith?”

Maybe it was because the divine power they believed to be omnipotent didn’t work that they were being grumpy. The priest started to blame Loretta and hurriedly ran away from the mansion.

Some of the servants who heard about this said at the back of the priest’s carriage, ‘She [Loretta] may lose her faith at this rate.’ After the priest left, Higgins quietly visited the Duke.

“I know that you are reluctant to borrow power from the Magic Tower.”

“…”

“But there is no sign of the Madam anywhere in the mansion anymore, so I think it won’t be that big a deal.”

The Duke remembered Beatrice Valdwin’s words, his one and only partner, at Higgins’ words he said with a low voice.

「Can you promise me, Wayne? 」

Her voice wasn’t even trembling when she asked that, even though there were countless shards of glass stuck in her back. Wayne, the Duke Valdwin, was forced to listen to her words as he removed the shards of glass in her back one by one.

「You should never be caught because of me. It is, of course, for your name and the future of our children. Especially with Jeremiah….」

Don’t talk nonsense. You are my pride.

He wanted to tell her that. If only she hadn’t let out a groan in pain as he pulled out a large shard of glass from her back.

「Ugh, uhh…. Send Jeremiah there, and don’t let the people of the Magic Tower come here. If they trace us… heugh… they will find out. 」

At that moment, Wayne could only whisper, ‘I’m sorry.’ He was devastated by the fact that his skills in talking were very miserable at that moment. He could have said something decent. If he did….

“Duke, sir.”

The Duke stopped his train of thoughts and nodded his head when he heard the butler calling him.