My Disfigured Duke Husband Helps Me Plot My Revenge
Chapter 271: Magical Night

Chapter 271: Magical Night

Being in Castille made Eirenguard seem as if it was in the Stone Age.

Cian was enthralled with each magical artifact they walked past. The labs were full of things he had never seen before in his life.

To think that students were the ones responsible for the work in the building was incomprehensible. For someone with little knowledge about magic, they seemed like impressive feats that were beyond his worldly understanding.

Quinn appreciated Cian’s interest in magic despite the fact he had to hang onto shelves as he walked by. The alcohol was hitting him particularly hard.

When they made it to the end of the hallway, Quinn was the first to walk up the stairs and, as he turned around to see if Cian was making it up alright, the man had to turn sideways much like Desmond so that he would fit up the narrow stairway.

As Quinn unlocked the door with magic, he was lightly chuckling and shaking his head.

"All Eirenguardians are built the same, it seems," he muttered.

"Pardon me?" Cian said once he was at the top and overwhelming the very narrow strip of floor in front of the door.

Quinn realized quickly he shouldn’t talk about the duke’s business in front of the man. His mouth kept running since he had so much to drink.

"Ah," Quinn tried to brush it off. "Forget it."

As they passed through the threshold one after the other, Cian was immersed in a world beyond his comprehension yet again.

The sheer amount of items he couldn’t even begin to name were throughout the space. There was never a place his eyes settled.

Moving forward, he realized that one of the walls was nearly entirely made of windows and there were shelves of plants in front of it.

However, before he could get too far, Quinn grabbed his wrist. It was uncharacteristic of the antisocial mage.

"Sir Cian, there are poisonous plants over there," he warned him. "I would hate for something to happen to you." Quinn let go of the man’s arm. "Focus on me. You’ll be plenty interested," he joked.

The mage walked to his workbench where he performed most of his experiments or tinkered with inventions. There were also many nights spent with students fine-tuning their experiments to enter them into various contests or be sure they were ready for their graduation from the Academy.

It was strange to think he wasn’t much older than those he helped. He graduated only a short few years before but with such high honors the King and a few other professors thought he was worthy of the position he held.

"I don’t doubt that," Cian admitted and he went to the workbench Quinn had walked to, staying on the other side of it as he watched the mage.

"Your sword, please," Quinn requested.

The knight relented by placing the large weapon he normally wore at his side on the workbench. He was strong enough that it hardly made a noise when it was set down.

Quinn noticed that it was more polished than he had seen it earlier.

"You take good care of your sword," the mage commented as he turned away and went to various cabinets in search of what he was looking for.

"My sword is my lifeline," Cian admitted. "Most Eirenguardians hold the same sentiment."

"I understand," Quinn said. "Your sword is your lifeline while my mana is mine."

Cian quieted down as he watched Quinn going through cabinets until he found a particular box he was looking for. When he opened it, he let out a faint "ahh" and lifted a blue stone.

"What is your favorite color, Sir Cian?" he asked.

The knight’s eyebrows rose. It wasn’t a question he had posed to him since he was a child. For some reason, it gave him pause. There weren’t so many lighthearted moments in Eirenguard those days. The last thing on anyone’s mind was their likes or wants.

After much hesitation, he settled with saying "blue".

The mage pulled a round blue stone from the box full of stones he was shuffling through and he raised it above his head.

"Blue it is," the mage said.

However, he decided to bring the entire box of mana stones to the table. He thought that Cian might be interested in how the box looked.

As he struggled to lift such a heavy item, he quickly felt the load lessen in his arms and saw the knight effortlessly take the box to the bench. Instead of standing across the bench from him, he stood next to him.

"You’ve had plenty to drink and you aren’t all that strong," Cian observed. "What happened to her grace’s defense of mages saying they weren’t weak?"

Quinn felt hot-headed for a moment but when his silver eyes landed upon Cian’s ruby ones, he saw the man cracking a gentle smile that lit up his face. It took years off of his appearance. The burdens he had faced were obvious through the way he looked.

"You’re teasing me," Quinn realized in disbelief. "Though I should thank you. I forget just how heavy mana stones can be. Now, if you’re finished giving me trouble, look inside."

He spoke quickly the more flustered he became and he sidestepped so he could pull the sword closer to him. The mage was careful to avoid the sharp edge of the sword and he brought a cloth out to place under the blade so it wouldn’t scratch his table if it became reactive.

Cian placed his hands on the countertop and, as he looked into the box, long, straight blonde hair fell into his face.

He watched in interest as the luster of the stones seemed to react with one another. It was like they were beings and not simply rocks. Some seemed to tremble while others were drawn toward or away from each other.

"They’re so... alive," he uttered.

Quinn placed the blue stone he held onto the table.

"Blue and red stones are opposite of one another considering they originate in aquatic or fiery environments," he explained. "Green is organic like animals or plants, while yellow is the result of lightning strikes and far more rare. The translucent is air. White is ice. I don’t have any black stones because I’m not willing to lose my job or accreditation because of black magic."

Cian noticed Quinn seemed very sober and very drunk at different times. Perhaps it was just his actions that were drunk while his mind still seemed sharp.

Regardless, he listened with interest and Quinn’s words supported what he was observing in the box.

"May I hold one of them?" he asked.

"Try white," Quinn uttered. "You might like how it feels since you seem to run so incredibly hot. I prefer red stones for the opposite reason."

It was the truth. While Cian had removed his outer layer of clothing upon going into such a warm building, being a foot within Quinn’s vicinity made it so he could still feel his warmth. If Quinn was more intoxicated, perhaps he would stand a bit closer...

The mage shook his head. Having such thoughts wouldn’t be healthy for him.

While Cian searched for a white stone, Quinn leaned into the bench.

When the knight returned his attention to the mage, he saw Quinn poring over a book he had brought out with his elbow leaned into the table and his eyes squinting. When Quinn felt eyes on him, he looked at the knight over his glasses.

Cian noticed his face was red.

"Have you perhaps had too much to drink to carry on a project like this?" Cian wondered.

While he spoke, he held a white stone in his hand and he was pleased to feel that it was as cold as promised. He wanted to put it down his shirt and feel it on his chest but he resisted the urge.

Quinn glared faintly at the knight.

"Mana is second nature to me," he defended himself. "I am drunk but I could do this sort of thing in my sleep."

As if to prove himself, he straightened up and shoved the book to the side, having memorized the formula enough to know the rest.

"If you insist," Cian responded, clearly amused at Quinn’s determination.

However, with Quinn’s apparent insistence that it would be extremely easy to help him fix the magic in his sword, Cian wasn’t expecting the mage to have to use his magic to enchant the mana stone and then enchant the blade with it.

He observed the mage move his fingers over the workbench in a circular pattern. When Quinn got to the middle, he placed the stone in the center and, the magical pattern that wasn’t visible before appeared in a silvery light and reacted with the mana stone that was engulfed in it for a few moments.

Since the sword had already been embedded with a mana stone, all that Quinn could do was create an opening in the hilt and press the blue stone into it. It would look decorated even though the stone would have an important purpose. He then sealed it in so that there would be no risk of it being removed.

"Until the mana in the stone expires in a century, I can almost guarantee that this stone will remain and will never give you issues," Quinn explained.

Cian was admiring the sword for a few moments and was surprised when Quinn grabbed the handle and put his palm under the blade to hand it off to the knight. As he did so, he stumbled forward and nearly dropped the heavy sword if it weren’t for Cian catching both Quinn and the blade. He had already anticipated that might happen and easily caught the handle.

His other arm was around Quinn’s midsection, stabilizing him.

There was a creak as mana was injected into the lock and the door swiftly opened.

"Why is it that whenever you’re not supposed to be someplace, I always find you with him?"