I narrowed my eyes at Lord Miles, before taking a look at his companions. There was Lord Dominic Thorne, his younger brother, and Lady Teresa.

Lord Dominic looked like a younger, and somewhat less handsome, version of Lord Miles; blonde, blue-eyed, fair-skinned. He was at the second thread of the First Circle. Since he looked to be about Kaylee’s age, that made him above average when it came to wizardry. This made sense. The Houses often produced geniuses. There was a reason why they cared so much about lineage and pedigree, and why they were so selective in who they married.

Lady Teresa was a tall and thin woman, who dressed like a librarian. She wore severe looking clothing in somber colors. She had light brown skin and dark curly hair, which made her stand out in this part of the world. Almost everyone in the Icefall Region tended towards pale skin. She wore large spectacles with circular lenses, which gave her eye an owlish appearance.

When it came to wizardry, Lady Teresa was the weakest of the bunch. She was only at the third thread of the First Circle. However, she was by no means the least dangerous. Her true talent was in magic circles. Wizards like that were nicknamed scribes. Back on Spirit Earth, she would be called a formations master.

In her hand, she carried a Mana Grease pencil. It was a thick, waxy substance that was similar to Mana Ink, in that it was used for creating magic circles. Unlike Mana Ink, Mana Grease was used to write on all kinds of surfaces.

Lady Teresa’s Mana Grease pencil looked used. I searched around with my divine sense, and saw a magic circle that she had drawn not too far away. It was inert now, but it would only take a moment for her to activate it. From what I could tell, it was designed to imprison those caught within it.

A neat little trap. Too bad Lord Oliver ruined it with his antics. Not that it would have worked anyway. I would have noticed the magic circle long before stepping foot in it.

Lord Dominic and Lady Teresa flanked Lord Miles, both of them giving me hateful glares. Considering that they apparently thought that I had kidnapped Annabelle, this didn’t surprise me.

I didn’t see Avianna anywhere. Not with my eyes at least. She hid herself using concealment spells, like she had back in Rosewood City. However, they were useless against my divine sense. Avianna crouched atop the rooftop of a nearby wooden building, her short sword drawn. I could feel the killing intent radiating off of her

Other than Lord Miles, Avianna was the biggest threat to my life here. She was more powerful than Leroy, and much faster due to her Air internal magic. While I could hold her off for a bit, she would eventually kill me.

And that was assuming Lord Miles didn’t help. He was at the Second Circle, fourth thread, which made him as powerful as Leroy when it came to wizardry. Like Annabelle, he had an affinity for Fire and Wood, though he didn’t share her affinity for Lightning.

The other three I could deal with, but Lord Miles and Avianna were serious thorns in my side, pun intended. It didn’t help that I didn’t have Sky’s Dream on hand. I brought it with me, but left it in the House Sturm carriage, since I didn’t want to carry around a sword while on a date with Annabelle.

Lesson learned. Never leave Sky’s Dream behind again, no matter what.

At least I had my pair of magic daggers on me, so I was armed.

All these thoughts passed through my mind in the span of less than a second.

‘Aurora,’ I said to my familiar. ‘Take control of Sky’s Dream and send it to Sturm Hill Hall. Once it arrives, carve out a message in the dirt. Go with something simple, like “House Thorne”. That will let the others know that we’re in trouble.’

On it, Aurora said.

She took control of Sky’s Dream and sent it flying towards Sturm Hill Hall. Unfortunately, she had to break a hole through the House Sturm carriage in the process, which terrified my personal driver, Jeffrey.

The range at which I could control Sky’s Dream was limited to my divine sense. Thankfully, that included Sturm Hill Hall from here. Help would soon arrive. I just needed to buy some time.

While Leroy, Annabelle, and I could take on this group, it was better to avoid a violence altogether. I didn’t want Annabelle to have to fight her family, and I wanted to avoid escalating things with House Thorne. If we could get them to back down, that was all the better. Ideally, we would talk them down from doing something stupid, but I doubted that would happen.

With that dealt with, I turned my attention to Lord Miles. He gave me a hard look, his hands clenched into fists.

“Lord Miles,” I said. “This is an unfortunate beginning to what I hope to be a long and fruitful relationship. I had hoped for a more positive first meaning.”

“Quiet,” Lord Miles snapped out. “Release Lord Oliver and step away from my sister. I won’t ask you again.”

I folded my arms over my chest and returned his hard look with one of my own.

“And why should I?” I asked. “Lady Annabelle and I were having a wonderful time together, before your four showed up and ruined it all.”

I wasn’t going to let them know that I could sense Avianna. Why give myself away like that?

Annabelle stepped forward until she stood next to me.

“Miles, what’s going on?” she asked. “Why are you acting like this?”

Annabelle and I had expected some hostility towards me from her family when they showed up to bring her back to Thorne Manor. It was something we had discussed previously. We had even brought up the possibility that they would think I had kidnapped her, though we put the odds of that happening at the lower end of things.

“What do you mean ‘Why are you acting like this?’” Lord Miles asked. “Do you know how worried we all were when you suddenly disappeared like you did? If we hadn’t heard reports of you traveling with Lord and Lady Sturm, we wouldn’t have found you as fast as we have.” He pointed a finger. “It's clear that this scumbag and his family have taken you against your will, and we’re here to rescue you.”

Ah, so that’s how they knew where she was. Still, why would they think that my family had kidnapped Annabelle? She was the one who asked to travel with them.

Ugh.

I resisted the urge to facepalm. Annabelle didn’t bother, and just pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I left a note explaining things,” she said.

Lady Teresa stepped forward.

“All your note said was that you were going to find Lord Gabriel,” she said. “And resolve things between the two of you.” She shook her head. “Honey, why didn’t you ask for help? I know you were angry with Lord Gabriel, but you didn’t have to go after him alone. That was reckless, even for you.”

Annabelle stared at her, stunned.

“Wait, you think I went to find Lord Gabriel to…What? Finish him off?” she asked.

“Yes,” all of her friends and family said, excluding Lord Oliver. He was too busy trying to break free from Leroy’s hold.

This time, I didn’t bother resisting and just facepalmed. Wow. Okay. I had not seen that one coming.

“Lord Miles,” I said, looking up at him again. “I think there has been a huge misunderstanding. If you would let us expla-…”

“Why are we just standing around and talking?” Lord Dominic snapped out while glaring at me. “Let’s kill the bastard, grab Sis, and get out of here.”

I gave him a sharp smile.

“You can try,” I said. “You’ll find that I’m not an easy target to kill.”

At this point, Sky’s Dream reached Sturm Hill Hall. It would have arrived earlier, if I had been the one controlling it, but this was Aurora’s first time using a flying sword and she was still getting used to it. Unfortunately, there was no one outside for her to deliver the message to.

Aurora solved this by crashing Sky’s Dream through one of the library’s windows, surprising Kaylee who had been in there reading. My little sister reacted like anyone would in this situation and screamed her lungs out.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ I asked her.

Shut up, Aurora said. This is harder than it looks. Unlike some people, I’ve never done this before.

“Don’t threaten my brother,” Lord Miles said, pulling me back to the present.

“That wasn’t a threat, that was a warning,” I said. “I don’t want to fight any of you, but neither am I going to stand idly by while you threaten to murder me.”

The temperature around us grew hotter as Lord Miles unleashed his aura.

“Leave, and I will let you live, Lord Gabriel,” he snarled. “Ignore me at your own peril. Be quick about it. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being impolite.”

I started to respond, when I noticed reinforcements coming from an unexpected direction. Well, now. This was interesting. Maybe we would avoid a fight after all.

“Enough!” Annabelle said. “Everybody just calm down, and let us talk about this like reasonable adults.” She pointed a finger at Lord Miles. “Miles, stop threatening my boyfriend.” She pointed a finger at me. “Gabe, shut up. Every time you open your mouth, you just make things worse.”

“Now that’s just unfair,” I protested. “They’re the ones threatening to kill me.”

Annabelle glared at me. I rolled my eyes and mimed locking my mouth and throwing away the key.

Meanwhile, back at Sturm Hill Hall, my disciples, my parents, and Grandfather Gabe had arrived at the library in response to Kaylee’s screaming. Sky’s Dream was flailing about. I assumed Aurora was trying to carve a message into the floor. Unfortunately, due to her poor control, she just ended up chopping up the wooden table to bits.

‘Give me that,’ I said.

No, I’ve got this, Aurora replied.

As I struggled with her to take control of Sky’s Dream, which just made the flying sword flail more, I almost didn’t notice everyone staring at Annabelle in stunned silence.

“Boyfriend?” Lord Miles asked in disbelief.

Everyone else was too shocked to say anything. Lady Teresa’s jaw hung open, while Lord Dominic blinked several times in rapid succession. Lord Oliver was the only one who didn’t stare at Annabelle. This entire time he had been yelling at Leroy, and trying to break free from my disciple’s hold.

Avianna was the only one who took action. She leapt down from her perch, aiming her short sword right for me. I didn’t react, since help had already arrived.

Mana surged as wood sprouted from the building Avianna just jumped down from and grabbed the bodyguard. She struggled to break free, but to no avail. Soon, she hung from the side of the building, her arms and legs pinned to her sides.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Everyone looked towards Avianna. While she remained concealed, the wood keeping her in place was visible to mundane senses.

“It looks like I arrived just in time,” Guildmaster Sinclair’s voice called out.

The woman herself leapt down from the roof of a nearby building, landing in between me and Lord Miles. The stones beneath her feet cracked on impact. While she kept her aura in check, it was obvious that she was more than ready to inflict violence if necessary.

Lord Miles, Lord Dominic, and Lady Teresa took several steps back. The arrival of Guildmaster Sinclair changed things. Now instead of facing me and Leroy, Annabelle’s friends and family were facing a Third Circle wizard. Maybe now they wouldn’t be so quick to resort to violence.

Well, to be fair, only one of them resorted to violence.

I glanced at Avianna, who was still trapped in Guildmaster Sinclair’s spell. She glared at me with murderous eyes.

Back at Sturm Hill Hall, Grandfather Gabe grabbed the flailing Sky’s Dream. Aurora and I stopped fighting over it, and the flying sword stopped moving. He stared at it for a moment, before looking in my direction. At his cultivation level, we were well within range of his spirit sense. I gave him a pleading look, before focusing on the situation in front of me.

“Let me make some introductions,” I said, peeking around the guildmaster’s bulk. “Lord Miles, this is Guildmaster Sinclair of the Icefall Adventurers Guild.” I looked at the guildmaster. “Guildmaster Sinclair, this is Lord Miles Thorne of House Thorne.”

“Charmed,” Guildmaster Sinclair said in a sardonic voice.

Lord Miles and the others eyed her with a mix of disdain and wariness. House society in general looked down upon adventurers, and that prejudice was coming in loud and clear.

“Oh, and the brute pinned to the ground behind us is Lord Oliver Holmwood of House Holmwood,” I said, jerking a thumb in Lord Oliver’s direction.

Guildmaster Sinclair stiffened at this and looked back at Lord Oliver, her one eye wide open. That was an…odd reaction.

“I see that you’ve revealed your true colors, Lord Gabriel,” Lord Miles sneered. “Consorting with ruffians and thugs. I see that the rumors are true. You have become an adventurer. House Sturm has truly fallen into disgrace.”

I grinned at him, unashamed.

“Okay, now that we’ve got that out of the way,” Annabelle said, sounding more and more annoyed with each passing second. “Can we stop with the insults?” She looked at her brother. “Miles, this has been a huge misunderstanding. House Sturm didn’t kidnap me. When I said I came here to resolve things with Lord Gabriel, I didn’t mean that I was going to fight him.”

Before anyone could respond, Lord Oliver spoke up.

“Charity the Crusher?” he called out, his voice a mix of awe and disbelief.

What?

As one, all of us turned towards him. Lord Oliver stared at Guildmaster Sinclair with a worshipful expression on his face.

“It is you!” he exclaimed. “So this is where you’ve been. My father always wondered what happened to you. Can I get your autograph? Ever since I saw a recording of your fight with Baldric the Boulder when I was a child, I’ve always been a huge fan of yours.”

I stared at him for several seconds, unable to comprehend the words that just came out of his mouth. Individually, I understood what they meant. However, when put together in that specific order, it almost sounded like Lord Oliver was speaking in a different language.

“Ollie, what are you talking about?” Annabelle asked in a mystified voice.

I looked at Guildmaster Sinclair, who wore a look of intense regret on her face.

“Oh, Charity the Crusher used to be the best fighter in House Griffin’s underground arena,” Lord Oliver gushed.

He had completely forgotten that he was pinned to the ground right now. I gestured for Leroy to let him go. My intuition told me that he wasn’t a problem anymore. My disciple nodded and stepped away from him.

“She was the undefeated champion of the arena for several years in a row, before she mysteriously disappeared,” Lord Oliver continued, standing up. “Everyone thought she was killed by a rival looking to steal her spot. House Griffin never confirmed any of the rumors, however, so no one knew for sure what happened.”

Huh. Okay, that was interesting. One of House Griffin’s enterprises, their most popular one in fact, was an underground gladiatorial arena. Wizards who specialized in internal magic, fought in the arena for gold, glory, and fame. They battled each other and magic beasts captured by House Griffin.

It was considered a vulgar spectacle by most of House society, except for the Houses who specialized in internal magic. However, no one said anything ill about it within hearing of any members of House Griffin. They were a Great House after all, and pissing them off was a poor life choice.

On the other hand, the masses loved it.

A skilled fighter could become rich and famous by fighting in House Griffin’s arena, but it came with significant risk. While most matches weren’t to the death, accidents and “accidents” could and did occur.

I never had much to do with it, since I was part of the crowd that considered it crude and vulgar, but I had heard about it.

“Wait, there’s an underground fighting arena?” Annabelle asked. “Why didn’t anyone tell me about this? That sounds like fun.”

“That’s probably why your friends and family didn’t tell you about it,” I said. “They knew that you would want to participate. You’re a lady now, and it’s considered a vulgar spectacle.”

“Who cares about that?” she demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I shrugged.

“It never crossed my mind. To be honest, until Lord Oliver brought it up, I had forgotten about it.”

“Can we stop talking about this?” Guildmaster Sinclair demanded. “We have more important things to worry about.”

Lord Oliver did a little dance in place. For a big brute of a man, he was surprisingly endearing and adorable. I never saw this side of him before. Back in the Solarian Imperial Academy, our interactions were often full of anger and tension.

“I can’t believe Charity the Crusher is still alive,” he said. “I can’t wait to tell everyone back home.”

Guildmaster Sinclair rushed towards him and clamped a hand over his mouth.

“If you know what’s good for you,” she said in a menacing voice. Her oppressive aura flared out. “You won’t breathe a word about me to anyone. Understand?”

Lord Oliver stared at her, his eyes wide with fear. Guildmaster Sinclair removed her hand from his mouth.

“I said, do you understand?” she asked.

Lord Oliver swallowed.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Honestly, the revelation about Guildmaster Sinclair’s past was so interesting, to me at least, that I had almost forgotten about Lord Miles and the rest. Almost, but not quite.

“Now then,” I said, turning to the House Thorne heir. “Shall we stop making a public spectacle of ourselves and find somewhere private to finish this discussion?”

“We’re not going anywhere with you,” Lord Miles said in a heated voice. “We’re taking our sister back and leaving this place. Whether or not you’re still alive by the end of it is up to you.”

“Miles, will you just shut up and listen?” Annabelle asked. “I already told you that House Sturm didn’t kidnap me.”

“How do we know that you aren’t being forced to say that?” Lord Miles gestured to Guildmaster Sinclair. “It’s clear from Lord Gabriel’s associates that he isn’t afraid to resort to brute force to get his way. And it seems that the rest of his House is the same.”

“Says the man who keeps threatening to kill me,” I protested. “I’m surprised that you have the gall to do that, despite being outnumbered and surrounded.” I looked behind him. “Isn’t that right, Father?”

Lord Miles and the others looked behind them to find my parents standing there. Grandfather Gabe hovered in the air above us, keeping an eye on things, with Sky’s Dream in his hands.

While we had been talking, my parents had flown here using Father’s feathered fan, with Grandfather Gabe following behind them on his flying sword.

When Lord Miles saw my family, my father in particular, he blanched. After a brief moment, he straightened up and gave Father a defiant look. It was a front. I could see his hands trembling. Lord Dominic tried to put up a front as well, but couldn’t pull it off.

Of the three, only Lady Teresa remained calm and collected. She kept glancing at Annabelle and me, a speculative gleam in her eyes.

Lord Oliver was too busy mooning over Guildmaster Sinclair to pay much attention to anything else, to the guildmaster’s annoyance.

Avianna stared at me with murderous hate in her eyes.

“Kill us or take us prisoner if you dare,” Lord Miles said to Father, his voice steady despite the trembling of his hands. “But when my parents learn of this, House Sturm will regret starting a war with House Thorne.”

I wanted to scream in frustration. Was I cursed or something? Was that why people kept assuming the worst of me?

In response to Lord Miles’ words, Father just raised an eyebrow. He seemed amused more than anything else.

“Why would we do either of those things?” he asked. “And whatever gave you the impression that House Sturm wanted to start a war with House Thorne?”

“You kidnapped my sister!” Lord Miles said, gesturing to Annabelle.

“I swear to god, Miles,” Annabelle ground out. “For the last fucking time, they didn’t kidnap me. I asked them to bring me along so I could meet with Lord Gabriel.” She gestured to everyone. “I wanted to mend things with House Sturm to prevent something like this from happening. It’s also one of the reasons why I befriended Lady Kaylee.” She took a step forward. “Miles, you knew that I wanted to patch things up with House Sturm. Why would you assume that they kidnapped me?”

Lord Miles ignored her and continued to glare at Father.

Wait, if he knew that Annabelle intended to mend things with House Sturm, then why…? I glanced at Avianna, and suspicion bloomed in my mind.

“Lord Dominic,” I called out. “Did you know that Lady Annabelle and I met in Rosewood City not too long ago?”

The youngest Thorne sibling started at this.

“You did?” he asked, before clamping his mouth shut.

The boy was still too inexperienced. He had a poor poker face.

“What about you, Lady Teresa?” I asked.

The lady in question studied me through narrowed eyes. She glanced at Annabelle for a brief moment, before turning her attention back to me. I wondered if she came to the same conclusion as I had.

“I heard the rumors, but I didn’t give them any credence,” she said. “They said that you joined the Adventurers Guild and killed a Second Circle wizard in a duel, despite only being…”

She trailed off as she realized that I was in the First Circle. She had watched my duel with Annabelle, so she knew that Annabelle had shattered my Circles. Yet, here I was, my First Circle restored. Lady Teresa stared at me with an intense look on her face.

“Gabe, where are you going with this?” Annabelle asked.

“Avianna would have reported what happened between us in Rosewood City,” I told her. “While she’s your bodyguard, she’s a retainer for House Thorne first and foremost. Since your parents weren’t available, she would have reported to Lord Miles, since he was the heir. He should have already known that we have feelings for each other.”

Annabelle’s eyes darkened when she realized what I was getting at. She turned to look at Lord Miles, who continued to glare at my father. However, the trembling in his hands grew worse.

“Tessa,” Annabelle said. “Was Miles the one who said House Sturm kidnapped me?”

“Yes,” Lady Teresa said, taking a step away from Lord Miles. “He contacted me and Lord Oliver, saying that House Sturm had kidnapped you and that we needed to rescue you.”

Annabelle’s expression hardened.

“You lied, Miles,” she said. “You lied to my friends and claimed that House Sturm had kidnapped me, even though you knew the truth. Did you put on this act to justify starting a fight with House Sturm?”

“I didn’t lie!” Lord Miles snapped out, whirling around to face her. “And I’m not putting on an act. Can’t you see what’s going on? Think about it, Annabelle. You hated Lord Gabriel. Everyone knows it. You even told us that you tried to kill him during your duel.”

He pointed a finger at me.

“Now, all of a sudden, you two are courting,” Lord Miles continued. “Don’t you see? He did something to you when you saw each other in Rosewood City, Annabelle. He twisted your mind, made you think that you were in love with him.”

My expression darkened when I realized what he was getting at.

“Are you accusing me of resorting to Dark magic?” I snarled.

Accusing someone of using Dark magic was not something to take lightly. Even the barest rumor of it could ruin reputations and destroy lives. The Inquisition took things like this seriously. However, they also didn’t tolerate spurious accusations. Making a false or wrong accusation could get Lord Miles in serious trouble. He wasn’t that stupid, was he?

“Yes,” Lord Miles said, glaring at me. “You used Dark magic to control my sister, and you used Dark magic to restore your Circles. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.” He looked around. “Maybe your House knew about it, maybe they didn’t. Regardless, you are going to pay for your crimes.”

Father’s expression darkened, while Mother glared at Lord Miles.

“You little rat,” she snarled. “How dare you accuse my son of using Dark magic?”

If looks could kill, he would be dead several times over. I was surprised that she didn’t roast him here and now.

Grandfather Gabe, sitting on his flying sword above us all, just shook his head.

Lord Dominic looked at his brother as if he had lost his mind, while Lady Teresa backed even further away from him. Avianna glared at me, her eyes burrowing holes into my skull.

Lord Oliver, on the other hand, continued to stare at Guildmaster Sinclair with star-filled eyes. I wasn’t sure if he was even paying attention to the conversation anymore. Guildmaster Sinclair was doing her very best to ignore him.

“Miles, why would you say that?” she asked. “Lord Gabriel is innocent.”

“I’m doing this to save you, Annabelle,” he said in a pleading tone. “You’re not yourself. You haven’t been since your duel with Lord Gabriel. He did something to you. I know it.” He turned to me, his eyes full of anger and hate. “And once I kill him, you will be free.”

What a fucking mess. This went far beyond a simple misunderstanding. Either Lord Miles was plotting something, or he was delusional and genuinely thought that I was a Dark wizard.

Not the best way to meet your future brother in law.

“Gabe,” Annabelle said in English. “Something is wrong with Miles. This isn’t like him. He’s usually calmer and more collected than this.” She touched my arm. “I don’t think he’s in his right mind.”

Given Lord Miles’ behavior thus far, I agreed. While I had never met the man before, he didn’t have a reputation for flying off the handle like this.

When Annabelle touched my arm, Lord Miles’ expression turned savage. Madness filled his eyes.

“Don’t touch her with your filthy hands!” he shouted, before attacking me.