"Fuxk! Who are you!"
Kayden quickly activated the magic circle, but it failed to manifest. The spell quickly dissipated.
The earring burned unbearably. The roaring mana was disrupted by the strange waves the earring emitted.
He coughed up blood as he was overwhelmed by the power churning within him.
-cough, cough.
Kayden slumped back in his seat, spat a glob of blood onto the floor, and took a deep breath.
A pair of immaculate white shoes that appeared to belong to an adult male towered in front of him.
"You've been through a lot."
At first, the voice sounded encouraging, but there was a hint of boredom in it.
Kayden struggled to steady his dizzying mind. He couldn't let himself go so pathetically.
Gritting his teeth, his eyes red and bloodshot, he lifted his head. Unable to remove the earring, he thought he might better rip off his ear entirely.
But even then, he couldn't use his hands as the mana bounced away.
"What kind of fuxking trick are you playing on me?"
"Hmm. You can withstand that power? You're even stronger than I thought. My descendant, you've grown up very well."
Kayden didn't even have the strength to respond to Jenas' admiration with profanity.
Kayden slumped to the floor.
Then, as if waiting for this, Jenas pushed his shoulder with his foot, pressed him to the floor, and grinned arrogantly.
"To create a body that could live without food for a thousand years and not age, I dabbled in black magic. But in return, my body is too weak to contain any more mana than it already does, so I needed a young, hot-blooded body like yours."
Jenas slowly ran his eyes over Kayden's body. From head to toe, as if appraising a product.
"No other child of House Rohade's blood was as compatible with me as you. The amount of mana, the ability to harness it, the solidity of your body... I can't think of a more perfect body for my use."
Jenas grabbed Kayden by the chin. He slowly bowed his head toward Kayden.
A series of intricate magic formulas flashed across his red eyes as he stared straight into Kayden's.
'Fuxk! Fuxk!!!'
Kayden felt his entire body paralyzed by Jenas' gaze, and though he fought to keep himself from being controlled by him, he was no match for the man who had spent so many years preparing for this moment.
Jenas' body was crumbling like a grain of sand, and soon it was blowing in the wind and being absorbed into Kayden's body.
As Jenas was absorbed into Kayden's body, Kayden's vision became increasingly blurry. It seemed as if his soul was being sliced up like grains of sand to take over his body.
'Dammit, who gave me this damn earring?'
Ah, yes. I remember. The earring had been given to me by my half-brother Herald, who had been persecuted by House Rohade for his dirty blood.
I thought Herald would have nothing to do with the Rohades.
'I've been negligent.'
Kayden gritted his teeth and swallowed his anger.
'I'm not dying until I've killed every last one of them.'
I'll definitely get my revenge. I couldn't let my life begin with a Rohade and end with a Rohade.
"They say you can walk into a tiger's den and survive if you keep your head on straight."
Margaret's voice rang in his ears.
Okay. You just need to calm down. Calm down and find a way.
Suddenly, the vitality disappeared from Kayden's red eyes.
***
The last thing I remember is the bullshit Jenas left behind.
"I was hoping to have a little chat with you in my true form, but the situation is not good. Should we go somewhere private?"
What an asshole.
Jenas must have kidnapped me. And now I'm in his cabin?
Maybe I was trapped in the room where Anata had been sealed.
I lay back on the floor and stared up at the dark ceiling. In fact, I'm not sure it was a ceiling at all; it was just a dark, dark abyss.
I couldn't move. I felt like I was being held down by magic.
But I lost the will to fight it, and I lay there helpless.
I am tired.
I just wanted to survive.
Ever since I woke up on this island in Margaret's body, I had acted as if 'survival' was my greatest goal in life.
But now, looking back, I realize that it was all for nothing.
'What am I going to do after I survive?'
It all seemed so pointless. A deep sense of helplessness came over me that was hard to resist, stealing my will to live.
Yuanna had the key, and Anata must have used it to unlock the sealed door and escape.
Whatever it was, I'm glad. This is one step closer to escape. I just hope she doesn't mess things up to save me.
-inhale, exhale.
Lying down, I glanced down. Eunji was asleep on my stomach, his eyes closed.
"That snake is so strange, a monster imprinted on a human."
Then I heard a muffled voice in the darkness.
"Ah, you startled me."
The voice was familiar, but it wasn't Jenas', it was Kayden's.
'What's going on?'
-stomp, stomp, stomp. I heard footsteps coming toward me.
Shit. Don't come. Don't come.
"Ah. You must be feeling unwell."
-snap.
There was the sound of someone snapping their fingers and suddenly a fire roared up from the floor. Candles had been placed all around me.
"Wake up, now you can."
As soon as I heard those words, I suddenly felt my body relax.
True to his word, I was able to move my limbs properly. As I slowly lifted myself up, I realized that I was lying on a magic circle.
There were candles surrounding the magic circle, just like the sanctuary chamber Kayden had described to me.
No way......
"This is a place called the Sanctuary Chamber. Isn't it cozy?"
It's not cozy. It's creepy.
I snapped my head up and stared at the man in front of me.
I'd assumed it was Jenas imitating Kayden's voice, but there he was, standing in front of me.
"Kayden?"
I questioned in surprise, and he pulled up a chair in front of the magic circle, sat down cross-legged, crossed his arms, and looked down at me arrogantly.
"Ah, let me formally reintroduce myself. I am Jenas Igran Rohade. The founder of House Rohade and the archmage who created this island a thousand years ago."
That's not what I'm curious about.
"What did you do with Kayden?"
"I ate him."
"What?!"
"He's technically asleep here, and he's probably not going to wake up, ever."
Kayden, no, Jenas, making Kayden's face, pressed his fingers firmly against his chest.
My hands shook like a broken machine, and then I shouted, "What the hell are you talking about!"
Impatient, I rushed out of the magic circle to grab him by the collar, but the magic circle seemed to be blocked by an invisible wall.
-thud.
I pounded on the transparent wall in anger. Jenas stared at me in silence, as if watching a monkey in a zoo.
His face shimmered in the light, and I had no idea what he was thinking.
I know he is a great wizard, able to create and build such an unimaginable island. But I can't believe Kayden was so easily defeated.
"You must have regained your mana, and in fact, I was going to end the experiment right away, but something about the way it is seems a bit, well, disappointing. Why don't we talk? I have a lot of questions for you."
"Stop your bullshit and bring Kayden back!"
"Your mouth is the problem, unbecoming of a noble. In my day, if a noble spat profanity, he was punished."
"Shut up. Don't talk about a thousand years ago!"
"I'm kidding. Kids nowadays really have no manners."
A crooked smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he saw my outraged face.
"Ah, yes. Is it because you're not a real noble?"
Jenas seemed to have figured out that I'd been to another dimension.
"What is it you want to say?"
"I've been very curious about the test subject who used the magic, even though the mana was locked. I wish I'd known earlier it was you."
He peered at me curiously.
His every move and gesture kept me on edge.
"Anata, and you. How can you all be so deceitful? It makes me sad."
Sad? Ha. The criminal is angry with the victim.
Jenas asked, "You've been to the other dimension, haven't you?"
I don't think he doesn't know. But I still wasn't ready to answer the question, so I kept my mouth shut.
"There's been a lot of 'things' that's come through the dimensional door, but never a 'living being', and I've been right in front of the person who did it, and I'm just now finding out about it, ha...... I'm going crazy."
He rubbed his face and looked at me calmly, as if he was going to dig up everything about me. I really felt like a lab rat.
It gave me goosebumps.
The sight of Kayden's face, so familiar to me and my favorite, made me feel like I was on the verge of tears.
What the hell am I supposed to do in this situation?
"I'm going to open the dimensional door, destroy the world, and then I'm going to take power."
Jenas dug into his pocket and pulled out the pendant of the Magic Tower. A teardrop-shaped amethyst was embedded in the center of the sun-carved pendant.
I bit my nails and racked my brains, suddenly noticing the shape of the pendant.
Come to think of it, why did Jenas make a pendant with the sun as an object?
The sun has long been a symbol of monarchy.
The sun, which symbolizes monarchy, surrounds the teardrop, the symbol of the Magic Tower. What does this mean? Could this mean that there was imperial family involvement in this experiment?
Or perhaps Jenas is challenging the imperial authority. He has the power to do so.
When the Kingdom of Ingram fell, House Rohade was not the only one to survive. They could have founded a new Rohade-centered dynasty, but instead, they were reduced to the status of marquis.
The idea of opening a dimensional door, destroying a world, and then rising to power, might have something to do with his past.
"So, Margaret, I'd like you to tell me a little bit about that world you saw. Looking at the things from there, it seems like a highly magical and developed world, so why did they not think to open a dimension and attack our world?"
"......if you want to hear the answer, bring Kayden back."
"Hmm. Is that how kids negotiate these days? The lack of tension is almost making me yawn."
"Negotiation? I don't know. If you've seen the stuff from the other world, you know it's dangerous. You open a dimensional door without me, and a millennium of time turns to toilet paper in an instant."
Jenas rubbed his jaw and stared into my face for a long moment before he stood up.
"You have a point."
He stroked his chin in a lazy motion, then looked down at me.
"I don't need an answer from you, I could just open your head and read your past, but I'm wasting my time."