WFMW 67

Chapter 67

“Let’s Kiss”

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(2024.04.26):

“You… really…”

Loving me?

Even seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn’t believe it. I just blankly stared at Seedar’s lips.

If it weren’t for the sound I heard, we would have endlessly gazed at each other.

But then, a very strange sound rang in my ears.

It was a rustling, like rain falling.

Seedar, who heard it before me, immediately pulled me into his arms.

“Come here, Nelly!”

I clung to his shoulder without hesitation. He lifted me as high as he could into a tree.

Then, biting his lips, he muttered curses.

“Damn it! Where the hell are these army ants from?!”

“Army ants?”

“Shh.”

Sensing the danger, I quietly closed my mouth.

Soon, the rustling footsteps grew so loud they echoed through the forest.

Rustle. Rustle. Rustle. Rustle.

And then appeared ants with hard black shells streaked with red.

Only, their size was far larger than ordinary ants.

‘So there really are ant monsters too.’

Perhaps because they were naturally ants, even at this size, they were only about as big as a small dog. Their way of crawling over the ground gave me chills.

But the army ants revealed their true nature when they walked over a dead Dark Wolf.

I instinctively covered my mouth to stifle the scream that wanted to escape.

‘In an instant, it’s reduced to bones!’

The ants climbed over the corpse and devoured the Dark Wolf completely. It all happened in less than a minute.

After finishing their meal, the ants began moving again, heading in the direction we had just run from, with me in Seedar’s arms.

I tugged at Seedar’s sleeve and whispered.

“Th-How do we defeat them? Do they have magic stones too?”

“They do. But when there are tens of thousands of them moving together, it’s impossible to fight them all at once. Even I would be reduced to bones in a second.”

“Then how do we get rid of them?”

“We burn them.”

As Seedar said, the army ants seemed endless. Tens of thousands, he said. I understood why he said it was impossible to fight them directly.

“Can we use an area-wide spell strong enough to burn the entire swarm?”

“I could have done it before… but now, I can’t guarantee it.”

Seedar nodded.

“In that case, the Azure Dragon Knights will face the army ants head-on. Burn at least the ants moving toward them. Changing their path is enough.”

“Understood.”

I looked at the point Seedar was indicating with his finger and began chanting the spell.

“Burn!”

Normally, my magic could only start a campfire, but now I had a magic stone with me.

As I cast the spell, the ants at that point burst into flames instantly.

At the same time, the magic stone I wore around my neck crumbled into dust.

Just as Seedar said, the burning of some ants confused the others, and their advance paused.

But after that, there was no telling where the rest would go.

‘It’d be nice if they change direction, but they might not stop.’

I couldn’t guarantee the path would be clear of people either.

It was a tense situation. My heart pounded with a nervous excitement I hadn’t felt in a long time.

‘The magic stone I have isn’t enough. I should have brought the whole box!’

If I had all the stones, I could have burned the entire swarm of army ants.

But the magic stones were at the knight order’s base.

‘Why am I so useless now…’

I bit my lip in frustration. Then Seedar’s finger pressed against my lower lip.

Startled, I looked up to see him speaking in his usual blunt tone.

“Don’t blame yourself. Even a wizard capable of burning them all at once doesn’t exist. Leave the army ants to us; we’ve dealt with them before.”

Even in that moment, he was watching over me.

Hearing him entrust me to the Azure Dragon Knights made my chest ache. I looked at him, eyes brimming with tears.

And when I saw his smooth, apricot-colored lips, a new idea came to me.

‘Wait a second.’

There was another way to supply me with magic besides the magic stone.

I grabbed Seedar’s cheeks firmly with both hands and spoke earnestly.

“Let’s kiss.”

“What?”

“You said you love me! Then there’s no problem at all!”

Before he could protest, I pressed my lips to his.

I didn’t know how to kiss properly, but once our lips met, everything seemed to fall into place.

The moment we touched, a cool wave of magic surged through me. Instinctively, I moved to enhance the flow of magic.

‘Magic!’

It felt like thousands of stars were pouring into me through a massive river.

The difference was night and day compared to merely holding his hand or sitting close.

‘Now I understand why Jack said that.’

Even if a vessel has cracks, pouring more water fills it. That was me now.

‘I can do it now!’

The moment I was confident I could burn the tens of thousands of army ants, I pulled away and shouted the spell.

“Blazing Flames!”

Immediately, a completely different, immense fire erupted.

Scarlet flames formed pentagrams as they spread, then burst outward in a massive circle, radiating heat.

“W-What is this…?”

Seedar’s silver-gray eyes reflected the flames, turning red.

He looked at me, bewildered. But I couldn’t look away.

It was the first time I had used a spell of this magnitude. Feeling all my magic transform into fire made my hands tingle and my heart race.

Most of all, the ability to unleash a spell I thought I could never use again thrilled me.

‘All from just kissing!’

The magical surge from him was unmistakable.

Flushed, I looked at Seedar.

“I think I’m going to fall in love with you too, Seedar.”

“What?”

I wanted to feel this sensation again.

A strong desire I hadn’t known existed inside me surged.

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After Seedar lifted Nelly and disappeared into the forest…

The knights weren’t surprised that he had gone off alone, as he often hunted or scouted alone during expeditions.

But never had he taken someone with him.

A large knight who found Nelly cute scratched his head and asked in confusion,

“What’s going on? Why is the captain taking that little mage with him?”

Had they still not realized who Nelly really was? The surrounding knights scoffed at the clueless question.

“She’s not little.”

“I’ll have to change your perspective. You can’t call a full-grown woman ‘little’.”

The knight tilted his head in confusion. A grown woman at his chest height was hard to imagine.

“She’s not little? She looked like a little girl before.”

Until now, I let the misunderstanding slide because Seedar hadn’t revealed anything, but now it was time to correct them.

“Watch your words. That’s her. I realized who she was the moment the captain mentioned bringing a mage.”

“The captain has been acting different lately. I’ve never seen him care for someone so warmly.”

“When I heard the rumors, I didn’t believe it, but it turns out he was serious.”

Once one knight spoke, others chimed in.

Yet, one still insisted Nelly was a child and asked again in confusion,

“What are you all talking about?”

Finally, a more impatient knight loudly revealed Nelly’s identity.

“She’s the captain’s wife! The one he hid at the mansion, never showing her to anyone!”

“What?!”

Seedar Grenite’s marriage had always been just a rumor. There had been no wedding ceremony, and no one had seen her.

All anyone knew was that she was the only archmage in the country and had fallen into a coma-like state due to an unexplained accident.

“Is that really her?”

“Then who else would the captain care about? Her private life was so clean that strange rumors even circulated about her.”

“So that’s why Lord Hail and the captain were often away—she must have recovered, and he was taking care of her.”

“Yeah… that explains it.”

Though the real situation was more complicated, to the knights, that was all that mattered.

They believed Seedar loved Nelly fervently, married her despite her state, and thus the story was romanticized.

“True love, huh.”

“It’s good she’s awake.”

While everyone relaxed and gossiped about the captain’s late romance, one person sank into thought.

It was Grisha.

“Nelly…”

Grisha clenched his fists, staring at where Seedar had vanished with her.

‘The nanny was right. Seedar Grenite was born to take everything from me.’

Before his mother passed, the nanny had warned young Grisha: if he gave his heart to Seedar, he would be betrayed, and Seedar would take everything.

As predicted, Seedar took his mother from him.

And now, he intended to take Nelly as well.

‘Even though she said Nelly was precious to her…’

He pretended to listen, but in the end, he was going to betray me.