The Host (1)

I couldn't believe all these ruins were created less than half an hour since we entered the basement. Luke pulled a book out from one of the shelves, making it turn to show the entrance to another staircase. Not wasting a single second, he grabbed my hand to pull me towards the stairs. My head was dripping with sweat since it was harder to run up the stairs than going down. Wheezing for more air, most of my energy seemed to be drained from the simple exercise. I needed to take a break.

"Rika, endure it, we can't take a break," Luke noticed my condition.

I nodded my head as I continued to push myself to climb the stairs. I never knew we were this deep underground. I was starting to waver if we would ever make the surface as I couldn't see the door on the other side. I was using my mana to help me keep up with Luke's pace, putting more strength into my pitiful legs. However, there was only so much it could do with all the muscle pain. Plus, spells that manipulated your body needed a certain amount of concentration to maintain it.

"Are we there yet?" I looked up.

"Almost," Luke panted.

I couldn't help but smile when I finally saw the door in front of us. Sprinting ahead of Luke, wanting to get out of this space, I opened the door with my own hands. However, I ended up stumbling a few steps backward, finding the magician right in front of me. How did he know we would come out of here? We could have come out from other doors in the same area. The map only showed the location of each target as a dot.

"Why are you here?" The magician seemed a bit surprised.

"I told you, I get confined often," I quickly made up an excuse.

When the whole area brightened, shining with light from a powerful explosion spell, the magician noticed our hair, glimmering like the rainbow in the strands of silver. Both Luke and I had the same feature of the boy who had ruined him. I hoped he would still be merciful towards me, who wasn't a descendent of the Roselia family. The magician took a closer look at Luke's features, closely resembling his grandfather.

"You're from the Roselia family," he looked at us in a new light.

"You mean he's from the Roselia family. You told me last time I don't come from the same bloodline as them," I pointed out.

"That means you're the fiancée of this boy," he instantly realized.

"Still not from the Roselia family," I felt like running down those stairs.

"I know you hold a grudge against them for that competition. I apologize for them. His grandfather is a jerk. I don't even like his grandfather, but you're not the only victim. At least you were free even with the lawsuits, have you thought about me who never had that chance?" I tried to make him pity me to think of not killing me.

"You don't like targeting innocent people!" I used his own words.

"It explains everything, including the amount of power you put into the spell last time," he murmured.

"You wouldn't target an innocent girl from a normal middle-class family, would you?" I pulled out the most pitiful eyes.

"If you're the fiancée, you're the same as them," he didn't fall for my acting.

Of course, he was reminded of Alison, who was the fiancée of Luke's grandfather back then. Luke, who noticed his hostility towards us, pulled me behind him. He carefully studied the magician, looking for another escape route. The staircase behind us was sadly unusable since it had been covered by the large debris. If Lucius didn't warn us, it was likely we could have died from the impact, not teleporting since it would be too late.

In the end, Luke's grandfather was right. I probably wouldn't be spared with my appearance. The amount of distrust in his eyes wasn't normal. While Luke continued to look where to run, I tried to stall for time, "you can't blame us for what he did. This would make you no different from him by accusing someone who didn't do anything."

"Instead, we can help you destroy the main perpetrator of the person who ruined you. I know where the descendants of the Lumiere family may be. Wouldn't it be enough to just torture them?" I would make it up to Charles later.

"Do you think I don't know who Alison ended up marrying? You are her direct descendants," the magician fixated us as his targets.

"Rika is right. I personally apologize for my grandfather's actions. So please let us go," Luke couldn't find another escape route with the magician blocking us.

Luke's acting was much better than mine, resembling the most pitiful child. Blatant fear was plastered over his innocent face, trembling with tears welling in his eyes while trying to protect the girl behind him. I quickly made the switch to follow him by clinging onto his sleeve with shivering hands, staring at the floor. Hiding behind his back to make me seem more helpless, I slowly looked up at the magician's face. He had to somehow feel guilty in trying to kill two innocent young children.

"Are you going to kill us?" My voice shook with fear.