His crush being none the wiser, the family having lost interest because he showed no remarkable talent, and his young age of twenty-three made it obvious he would break the moment someone hammered hard enough, which I just did.

“Illic, you haven’t answered yet.” I saw as he pulls his head from my shoulder, seemingly calmer, yet his eyes were a bit redder and had a much softer tone than before.

“I- yes, if you really want it, then I want to marry you.” He stuttered, trying to gain some composure, while his ears redden in excitement.

Seeing him like this, I can’t stop myself as I put my hands behind his head and pull him closer, laying my lips on his, softly touching them as they open without resistance. I slip my tongue into his mouth, gently moving about as I look him deep into the eyes.

He doesn’t seem to have yet comprehended the situation, but with just as much vigour as me, putting his hands behind my head, with some force, he returns my kiss and we stay close to each other, minutes passing, till we need to take a breather. I sit down, heaving a bit, and smile at his satisfied face, enthusiasm spreading abound.

To make it a bit sweeter, I add “I’m not good with kisses… you were my first.” With this, he will not get any weird ideas about past Alaric having done crazy things. Although it’s embarrassing, I didn’t do anything romantical either, I guess Illic will be my first in many things.

Illic didn’t understand why he had the urge to smile even harder, even as he was crushing on Alaric, he had seen him drunk and hang around those that clearly wanted more than just hang out. He knew that it was very possible his crush was more experienced than him, who had done nothing in this regard, but now it seemed they would live it all together.

“I like your smile, Illic. I know you usually don’t want to show that, and always have a stern look on your face, and I don’t want that to change. I want your smile to be only seen by me, ‘kaay? Now that you agreed to marry me, you can’t even think of leaving!”

Illic, though nervously and a bit shaking, stretches his hand across the table and takes mine into his, softly and gently he presses our hands together as he says “Yes, I’ll be yours.”

My smile widens just as much, but it’s not the time to be overly romantic, so I take a slice of bread and eat it with honey and yoghurt. I eat a bit with him till we finish, calling Keen, he cleans up everything. As he is about to leave, I tell him to call his father.

Kendrick, Keen’s father and the head butler of the estate soon arrives. “My lord, how may I help you?” He asks as he bows respectfully.

“Kendrick, tell me, what is the mistress doing?” I tone the word mistress specially, making it clear I don’t see them as a mother, which comes a bit as a surprise to Kendrick, because the previous Alaric would never dare defy her too much.

“The mistress is making preparations for the ceremony.”

Nodding, I ask him “Tell me, how many of our servants are under her? How many serve you?”

Twitching, the butler seems to be full of rage but controls it well, showing just minimal hints “All servants, besides me and my son, are under her command, my lord. They still follow what we ask them to do, but they are becoming more and more unruly.”

Yeah, that’s how those shitty people behave. Thinking that just because the bitch controls a bit of the marquisate, she is suddenly the lord of the house. In truth, I have already inherited the title years ago, why does none of them even think of calling me marquis?

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Say, Kendrick, you are at the third circle, right?” I ask. The butler wasn’t a normal one by all means, he was the strongest mage in the estate. In the kingdom, the strongest person is the King who is a sixth circle mage, then come the dukes at the fifth circle, and marquises at the fourth. After them come the earls, counts and viscounts.

Barons don’t have to have a single circle and are often merchants with some skill, while knight isn’t an inheritable noble title at all. Obviously, that’s only for the Laya Kingdom. Others have their kings at the seventh, eight or even ninth circle.

Kendrick would be an Earl of the Kingdom, but he was the right hand of the marquis in his younger years and became his butler later on. No one knew of his abilities, because he has a talent for restriction magic, a path of magic that manifests physical and ethereal restrictions on people, it is more of a crown-controlling path and not too useful in fights, but for the late marquis, this was one of his hidden cards.

“My father told me when he was dying, telling me to consult you if I need something. You’re more aligned to mental restrictions, right? Is that why you train Keen in physical ones, so you balance each other out? I have to say, I am truly grateful for the loyalty your family has shown.”

Kendrick was shocked beyond measure, he had never expected the late marquis to say that, neither did he expect for the young one to actually see through what he is doing. Somewhat shy, he replied with some admiration “Yes, I was trained by my late father in the art of mental restrictions, because I had more talent in that. My son is more aligned with physical ones, so I decided that it was a good balance. How may we help you, my lord?”

Although he admired what his lord said, he still wasn’t sure why his friend, Illic, was present. As far as he knew, they weren’t close enough to tell each other the family secrets. Although he knew how Illic looked at Alaric, it wasn’t his position to talk about it.

“Illic will join House Violet, becoming my Husband of sorts. We will announce the engagement at the celebration today. Now that he joins us, there is no need to have secrets in front of him, he will be the second in command of the house.

It’s good that you planned it out with Keen. There is no servant that is even a real 0-Circle, right? Go and take them all, as well as the mistress, and lock them up in the ritual chamber. You still know where it is, right?”

A glint of fear could be seen in the butlers’ eyes. He nodded and left to do the task quickly. Looking at the confused Illic, I explain “Our House Violet is a practitioner of ritualistic magic. My late father had kept it a secret, not even the king knows. Why do you think we rose to power so quickly? But my father had taken some risks on his path, so he had many hidden injuries that brought him to his fall. When he realised that, he looked for a woman that would serve as my guardian, in case he died earlier than expected.

The mistress is that woman, even with her bad temper, while my father was still alive, he kept her. Do you know why?”

Illic shook his head, so I answered, “Because ritualistic magic often includes sacrifices of many kinds, living beings normally being the best.” I stop to look at Illic, who has a strained face “This is one of my expertise… is it okay for you that I do such things?”

Illic takes a breath as he answers “I had learned of how this world works… Alaric, I am not much better. I have shadow-affinity, I…” he tried to form words, but it was hard as he had never told anyone that, and only said it because he felt a surge of trust coming from me.

“It’s fine, if you can accept me doing ritualistic magic, and other things, then I won’t ever complain about your shadow magic. Yours is actually much better than mine, I will be called a devil the moment people know about me, but it’s one of the few schools of magic I know and have talent in. If I deny that, then what should I do?”

Illic nodded at that and relaxed his facial muscles, he didn’t know how gruesome ritual magic was and just assumed it was a quick death, that is good. He will stop to care about such things over time… yep, I’m just pure evil corrupting a cute guy.

“Anyways, the mistress has a special body, no physique or anything like that, but her affinity seems to be pretty high. She never tested it and it’s a special affinity that isn’t widely known in this part of the world, but it’s a very good one. I am not sure how it was called in the past, but with time, because of ritual mages such as me, it became known as vessel-affinity. Pretty cruel, right? Their only purpose is to serve as a vessel to strengthen my magic.

The marquis always prepared to flee the moment it was needed, as our family has always been chased on the continent. Hiding under the Laya Kingdom which has the image of a hateful bunch, we were able to survive and rebuild a bit, but I have no relatives alive.”

It’s kinda meh how I drop this bombshell right after asking him to join my family, but what can I do? At least he knows it now and isn’t surprised later on. Thankfully he isn’t complaining…