Lord of Charm

3 days ago:

"I have some suspicions. If you want me to ensure your life and your kids' life, then cooperate with me. Don't tell anyone you've lost your magic yet."

Gale instructed Celty after their last session. He finished absorbing her connection and affinity completely, leaving her without any connection to mana anymore. The following day, when Lena led him to Celty's room again, he went in alone as always.

Instead of removing his clothes per usual, he sat down and started practicing his newly found darkness affinity. His darkness' traits were silence and stealth, which allowed him to mute noise and cover his body in the dark, making him less visible.

Celty instructed him on how to cast the silence spell and the darkness assimilation spell in the next two days. On the third day, he felt ready to strengthen his body, which would also make others recognize him as an Expert Magician.

It took him a total of 12 hours to complete the process. Unlike the other four elements, light and darkness would give a powerful boost to a single primary attribute while the rest were boosted mildly. The type of attribute strengthened depended on the specific affinity's trait. In Gale's case, it was flexibility, and in Lena's case, her light-mana empowered her speed.

Once the strengthening process was over, he left before Lena arrived to pick him up to investigate the places Lena has rented in the city.

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Back to the present:

"Gale, this is just a temporary residence. She can move wherever she wants when she's ready."

Lena thought quickly and decided to explain it that way.

"Take her to meet her kids in the other room, I will speak with Gale."

She gave her instructions to the man who guarded the kids and beckoned Gale to follow her outside. Gale followed and the two were soon a few hundred meters away in a secluded place.

"Tell me the truth, what were you planning to do to her?"

"Send her away with her kids, Gale. I rented this apartment for her for six months so she can reunite with the kids and buy necessities for their journey. That's all."

"Really? Then Mira must be still preparing for her journey, not much time has passed since she reunited with her son. How about I check up on her?"

"I… Mira has already left the city."

"When?"

"Right after she reunited with her son. I already bought her everything she needed for the journey and sent her off."

"YOU'RE LYING, TELL ME THE TRUTH!"

Gale was furious. He was angry with both himself and Lena. He closed his eyes in his pursuit of power and pretended not to know Lena's likely actions. She wasn't a soft hearted person and wouldn't take risks that could be solved by killing a person or two. He knew all this yet closed his eyes to the truth. He felt Mira's death was his fault.

"Fine. Since you already know it, why are you still asking? I've killed Mira, and I will kill Celty too."

Lena said stubbornly. She knew her brother's character and felt it was a waste of time to argue about it. She wanted to hide it from him and let him remain guilt-free, but he was too smart for his own good sometimes.

Gale felt his feelings overwhelm him when he heard of Mira's death. He should've known! He should've stopped it!

"I… I will not let you kill Celty too. We've already taken advantage of her situation; killing her is excessive and cruel."

He had to save Celty. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

"What if she tells others about your abilities to absorb others' magic and affinity by having sex with them? Since you're an Expert Magician now, it means you've already strengthened your body, which means she instructed you on using darkness magic. She knows too much about your secrets. We must kill her, Gale, for your safety."

Gale had to persuade Lena. If he couldn't persuade her, he won't be able to stop her from killing Celty as she was much stronger than him. He thought frantically in an attempt to find a solution to this predicament.

"How about that; I will take her as a maid to help Nina. If she is inside my mansion, it would be easy to keep an eye on her. We can hire teachers for her kids and the kids will come back to the mansion only in the evening."

It was slightly unscrupulous, but it was the best idea he could come up with that would solve the matter of his safety and let Celty remain alive. Basically, the plan meant he'd hold Celty's kids as hostages to ensure her loyalty. She agreed to lose her magic for her kids, so there was no way she'd risk their lives for money. He decided to make it up to them by providing them with good resources and education.

"That's reasonable. However, be careful. Don't give her too much freedom. I will instruct Nina to keep an eye on her. In 3 years, Nina's time as your bodyguard will be over, so if you can't find an alternative way to keep an eye on her by then, it will mark her death."

"Deal."

He didn't mind, he was confident to be strong enough to protect his secrets in 3 years. And anyhow, it was a very long time, and a lot of things would change by then. He still felt sad about Mira's death, but he couldn't change the past. However, he could change the future.

"I'd rather you didn't bring me any more women if you plan to kill them later."

"I won't bring you any."

She didn't want to create more and more variables like Celty and wanted to let Gale try his way. He was extremely young and he was already an Expert Magician, so it didn't matter if he wasted a few years. Even she got to that stage only when she was 21, and Gale was only 19.

"However, I want you to promise me something. Don't hesitate to kill others if they try to kill you, enslave you, or endanger your life."

"I know. I wouldn't hesitate. If someone decides to kill me, he needs to bear the risk of dying by my hands instead."

"Good. It seems you've grown in those past few weeks. By the way, how long have you been strengthened?"

"12 hours by the darkness mana."

Lena almost gaped at him. The fire mana only strengthened him for 4.5 hours, so she expected him to be strengthened for 9 hours in his third stage. However, it seems that because he climbed a rank much faster than the world expected, he gained an additional boost. Possibly, his darkness affinity was stronger than his fire's since he absorbed everything from Celty, unlike what he had done with Mira.

"That's awesome! My overall time being strengthened with light mana was 13 hours in the third rank, so it's almost equal. If you can get the same amount of hours in the rest of the elements, you'd become a monster!"

It was Gale's turn to gape at her. He was sure he could brag about his 12 hours long strengthening process, yet he was still behind her. She wasn't renowned as the best genius in the kingdom for no reason.

"You didn't strengthen yourself using fire mana yet, did you?"

"I didn't. I planned on getting your or Nina's instructions before trying."

"Good. Let's do it when we return. One more thing, if you get to the Mage Phase, don't do anything with your powers without being properly taught. Come to me, or mom if I'm not available."

"Mom? Is she powerful?"

"Obviously, she isn't the earl's wife because she's pretty."