The Sorcerer's Handbook

Chapter 153: The Girl Who Bewitches Hearts

Ashe paused for a moment, then smiled. ”Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”

Freya blinked. ”Huh?”

”You realized I was Ashe Heath before we even signed the contract, didn’t you? Yet you signed it anyway.”

Freya rubbed at the corner of her eye, deliberately avoiding his gaze. ”Well... that’s because you’re a fugitive, a notorious criminal. How could I dare disobey you? And, not to mention, there was the benefit of receiving a spirit.”

Ashe chuckled softly. ”Don’t forget, I was holding the Sympathy spirit back then. I could feel your curiosity... and also your pity.”

Freya’s mind drifted back to that night five days ago. Before signing the contract, she had hesitated briefly, catching the man beside her cycling through anxiety, hesitation, and fear. His gaze kept flicking toward the balcony, as if he were ready to leap into the dark night at any moment.

And then, an unrelated memory surfaced. She remembered wandering into a pet shop on a whim and spotting a folded-ear cat darting across the floor. After the staff caught it, the cat’s eyes kept flitting between the window and her.

So she bought Little String. So she signed the contract. And so...

Ashe said, his voice gentle, ”I was kind to you not out of pity, but out of genuine affection. You were the first person I met outside prison. You have habits I don’t always understand, and your values don’t always align with mine. Everything about you carries the bloody imprint of the Blood Moon Kingdom...

”But the kindness deep in your heart reminded me that the world can still be beautiful.”

”And because of you, I couldn’t just stand by. Even if it were only you, I hoped you could find a happiness strong enough to heal you for a lifetime.”

Freya felt heat rise to her cheeks. For a veela, that was surprisingly rare. ”You’re already leaving... so why say something like that now?”

Ashe replied, ”It’s not like we’ll never meet again. There’s a good chance I’ll leave the Blood Moon Kingdom, but I might still return someday. And even if I don’t, you’ll become a sorcerer sooner or later. We might meet in the Virtual World. Just... preferably not through my legacy projection.

”In any case, we’re sorcerers. We shouldn’t stop believing in miracles.”

”Then...”

Ashe stood up and gently patted both Freya and Little String on the head. ”Goodbye, Freya. I hope the next time we meet, you’ll already be a Mind Class sorcerer. Goodbye, Little String. I hope you make a full recovery.”

Freya bit her lip, gazing at him. ”Goodbye, Ashe. I hope... I hope you can be a good person.”

Ashe smiled wryly. ”That makes it sound like I’m a bad one right now...”

***

As the door closed, the cult leader vanished into the night.

Freya rubbed her eyes, put away the glowing orb and Little String, then returned to her desk. She picked up her pen and forced herself back to her homework.

She wrote for a while. Then large, burning tears splashed onto the page, blurring the words and soaking the paper.

Her shoulders began to shake. She slumped forward onto the desk and sobbed in silence.

The Swordswoman sat in the chair Ashe had occupied earlier, watching Freya with open interest. ”I’m surprised he didn’t take her with him. So much changed during the prison break, yet Ashe still ran into the Heart-Bewitching Girl. That feels less like a coincidence and more like fate, almost as if the Heart-Bewitching Girl is destined to follow the Watcher of Doomsday.”

Leaning against the balcony railing, the Watcher looked toward the place where Ashe had disappeared into the darkness. ”No. This has nothing to do with fate. It is the result of calculations. This apartment is the closest to Caimon General University. At the time, Freya’s room was the only one on the third floor without a light on. Ashe’s choice was inevitable.”

The Swordswoman lifted her chin. ”Inevitable? Then was the Heart-Bewitching Girl’s devotion merely accidental?”

The Watcher nodded. ”When I escaped from prison, I was not yet a sorcerer. With Freya’s help, I avoided many inconveniences. Using her was the most cost-effective option. Now that Ashe is a Two-Winged sorcerer, Freya would only slow him down. There was no reason to take her along.”

The Swordswoman said with a sharp laugh. ”This is the first time I’ve ever wanted to defend Ashe. And yet you insist on using that filthy way of thinking to smear his intentions?”

The Watcher replied indifferently. ”Perhaps his actions were rooted in goodwill, but he still weighed the benefits and costs. The outcome is the same.”

The Swordswoman said coldly, ”If everything were the same, then why are you and I here? We are here because we seek the miracle that things could be different.”

”Believe whatever you like.”

She glanced at him. ”Watcher, is it my imagination, or do you seem less lively today? Any other time, you would already be mocking me with shameless and tedious jokes.”

Her gaze shifted to Freya. “Did seeing an old subordinate stir something in you? It must have been a long time since you last saw her. Remind me. How did the Heart-Bewitching Girl die again? I only remember that it wasn’t by my hand.”

The Watcher shot her a sharp look. ”Swordswoman.”

Unbothered, she continued. ”I recall an old rumor. She followed you out of love, yet you never once returned it. Even in death, she never received your favor.”

She smiled faintly. ”Indulge my curiosity. Tell me what really happened between you and the Heart-Bewitching Girl.”

The Watcher stared at her in silence. She met his gaze without flinching.

Only when Freya hiccupped through her sobs did he finally speak, ”Are you trying to defend a former enemy?”

”I am defending a woman who ran into a scumbag,” the Swordswoman replied.

After a long pause, the Watcher said, ”Do you know why her Mind Class Miracle had such priority, such reach, and such depth?”

”Because she was a veela?”

”Because she was a celibate veela,” the Watcher said evenly. ”Through abstinence, a veela can greatly accelerate the learning of mind spells and even trigger a qualitative change in mind-based Miracles. This is not forbidden knowledge. The veela pass it down, but few can endure it. There must be an object of absolute devotion. Only then can a veela enter that state, which lasts until complete union with that person.”

”So you used her that way just to turn her into a weapon?”

”I did it for her sake.”

The Swordswoman’s voice turned icy. ”The Blood Moon Lord also claimed his paradise existed for the sake of those trapped inside it. You disgust me, Watcher.”

”Ashe may never become Freya’s regret, but you were once the Heart-Bewitching Girl’s disaster.”

Little String padded over and rubbed affectionately against the Watcher’s boots.

”I’ll tell the others when I return. At least now we finally have a reason to unite. With someone like you around, how could anything ever succeed—”

The Swordswoman broke off mid-sentence and turned around, only to find the Watcher gone.

The folded-ear cat leapt onto the desk and burrowed into Freya’s arms.

Freya lifted her head in a daze. The cat licked the tears from her cheeks. Her nose burned, and she hugged Little String tightly as her sobs broke free, loud and unrestrained.

The Swordswoman watched in silence. A faint, mocking smile touched her lips. ”To think you’d only try to make amends now. How utterly pitiful.”

She shook her head with a quiet, bitter laugh. ”In the end, we are all just as pitiful.”