Do I no longer have any privacy? I stared at Kaichen. He had appeared here at the blink of an eye just because I was sick. I couldn’t even bring myself to confront him. This was too amusing.
“There is really nothing that teacher doesn’t know.”
Kaichen took a step forward with a frown. He was not as flustered by my actions like he used to be. The years we had spent time together had made us feel more comfortable with each other.
“You don’t look good.” Kaichen raised a hand and placed it on my forehead. His hands were so hot against my cold skin.
“Teacher, your hand is so hot,” I complained.
“It’s your body that is turning cold.” He pulled something out of thin air. It was a purple potion vial. “Drink this. It will help with motion sickness.”
“Didn’t you come to pick me up?”
“Drink this first anyway.” Kaichen looked at me with concern as I drank the purple potion in the vial.
Mimi approached us just then with eyes wide open. “Countess! Did you bother Mr. Kaichen again?”
“No! I didn’t. He came on his own.”
“I told you not to bother him for the smallest things! You are the Lord of Acrab. You are Countess Alshine. You can’t be childish every time!”
“I wasn’t. I didn’t call him!”
“You didn’t act childish either?”
I averted Mimi’s gaze as she glared at me.
“It’s alright. I came here to check on all of you.” Mimi stopped her nagging when Kaichen stepped up. He was not only my saviour but also the whole of Acrab’s.
The nickname of ‘Drunkard Dalia’ still stuck with me. So, it was sometimes difficult to gain the trust of some people to establish my authority and dignity. It would take time for her to establish herself after what happened.
Kaichen told Mimi to pack everything and prepare to leave. He picked up a stone from the ground.
I glanced at him. “Are you going to move everything together?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said simply, “Or, do you want to leave them here?”
“I… uh… it’s just that I am worried you might have difficulty moving everyone together…”
“Really?” Kaichen smirked as he drew the magic circle on the ground with a branch he had picked.
“Teacher, where is your wand?”
“I don’t have it anymore.”
“But how? What happened?”
“It broke so I threw it away.”
“What?!” I had read that when Kaichen was studying with Julius, they had created their own wands. Every magician did that. Julius made his into a sword, laying the groundwork for harmony between swordsmanship and magic.
Kaichen had chosen a huge stem of the yellow rose. He was teased a lot for it. Kaichen had never used his wand publicly because of that. At least that was what I had read.
But how did it break? What did he use it for? I frowned and looked at Kaichen who was still drawing the circle. Kaichen was so dazzling that the crooked, simple branch looked like a sacred magical wand in his hands.
“Will you tell me how it broke?”
“It was… weak. Couldn’t handle so much magic.”
“But you made it.”
“I made it when I was young.” He threw the branch away as he finished the drawing. I had really wanted to see him use his wand. But it was unbelievable that there was any power in the world that could break a magic wand; maybe he used too much force. Was Julius ever in such a crisis that Kaichen had to use too much force that it ended up breaking his magic wand?
Honestly, I don’t even know what is happening anymore. The story has changed too much. During the last two years, Acrab has flourished and I have regained my life. I should have died, going by the original story. So, it wasn’t surprising that things had changed for Kaichen too.
“Are you going to make a new wand?”
“I don’t need it.”
“You might need it! Even if you are the strongest, you never know when you might need a wand!” Kaichen was silent.
“Sorry. Did I overstep?”
“No. I don’t mind.”
“You don’t mind being the best and not needing a wand?”
