My Disfigured Duke Husband Helps Me Plot My Revenge
Chapter 83: Mage in Plain Sight

Chapter 83: Mage in Plain Sight

Leonor was met with watery brown eyes staring up at her and the small boy’s chin quivered as a quiet cry escaped his lips.

"I’ve fallen and hurt my knee," he whined. "The others are too fast for me. I can’t keep up with them."

The others he was referring to were the children at the edge of the circular town center playing with a leather ball that they kicked back and forth.

To the maid and Gideon’s surprise, Leonor said, "Would that be alright if I lift you and take you back with the others? It isn’t safe to sit down on a busy street. Someone much heavier than I am may trip over you next time."

The boy seemed uncertain at first but nodded slowly.

Leonor found an issue with him trusting a stranger, but she decided it was a future issue she would bring up once the child was safe and where his parents likely left him.

Without hesitation, she scooped him up behind his back and underneath his knees. Unlike years before, she was no longer weak. Sparring with a magic partner had helped her strengthen herself a lot.

From a distance, Desmond saw Leonor crouch down and he was tempted to walk out of hiding to see what it was but when he saw her stand with a child in her arms, he was surprised. For the time being, he would continue keeping watch from afar.

Leonor walked towards the children even though it was an area near grass particularly chaotic because of the children playing.

"Is this place alright?" she asked, placing him down on a short brick wall that divided a few trees from the rest of the area.

The boy nodded.

"Could I see what happened to your leg?" she asked. "I have a little bit of experience as a healer."

She silently hoped there wasn’t too much to fix so she wouldn’t spend what little healing mana she had on the child. Deep down she felt selfish prioritizing a flower over someone’s discomfort. She swallowed the feeling down, realizing she would have to take the blows while they were dealt.

The boy pulled up his worn brown pants and Leonor saw that he had scraped his knee in the street. While it wasn’t huge or life-threatening, it was uncomfortable to be scraped in a place that moved while he was trying to play.

"If I heal it will you be able to play with your friends again?" she asked.

The boy didn’t speak much but he nodded once more.

"Please count to three to get my magic working," Leonor requested.

The boy seemed embarrassed, but his knee hurt worse than his embarrassment.

"One... two..." Before he could make it to three, he gasped as light blue mana covered Leonor’s hands.

She placed a hand over his scrape and, in seconds, he was healed. While she would never be able to heal anything significant the way her mother had her entire life, Leonor was happy to be able to heal a scrape. Something dripping blood she would be no match against.

The boy leaped from the brick wall he was sitting on in front of the lady. He jumped around as if to test that his leg was healed.

"A mage! A mage!" he cried. "I was healed by a mage!"

"Oh no..." Gideon was the first to utter as a swarm of children forgot what fun they were having and decided to see who the mage was who healed their friend.

"You can do magic!?"

"Show me! Show me!"

"I thought mages were men and witches were women!?"

Leonor realized she had bitten off more than she could chew as a barrage of questions was sent her way. She told Desmond that she would try to keep herself hidden, but had failed miraculously.

"Now, now!" Leonor chided the children. "Anyone with mana can be a mage."

"Show us a trick!" one shouted.

"Bombs away!" another cried.

However, the "bombs away" was a warning Leonor didn’t take heed of until almost too late when the leather ball they had been playing with was sent in her direction.

At the last second possible, Leonor raised a triangular barrier in front of herself, Gideon, the boy, and the maid so they wouldn’t get hit by the flying object.

From the alleyway, Desmond gripped the handle of his sword just so he would have something to hang onto. He had no urge to pull out his sword but he needed to hold onto something so he wouldn’t overreact.

"Jensen!" someone cried as they ran up to the town center.

Leonor had pulled out her mana shield out of knee-jerk reaction but it only served to draw more unwanted attention to her. She stood there with her hands behind her back and her eyes wide as she watched people gather around.

However, a taller teenager pushed through the crowd to yell at the boy who had thrown a ball in the first place and caused her to pull out her shield.

The kid referred to as Jensen immediately bowed and dropped the ball in shame.

"My lady, please accept my apologies," the teenager said. "He doesn’t think before he does things."

Leonor looked from the younger boy to the teenager.

"Is this your brother?" she asked the oldest one.

"Ah..." the teenager muttered awkwardly and scratched his brown hair. "I’m just another orphan from the orphanage. My name is William, miss. We tend to stick together and this is where the kids play while sword practice runs. Up the hill is where his grace put the new orphanage."

Leonor’s sapphire eyes shot towards the hill and she wondered if she could see anything but there were too many buildings in her way to see anything significant.

"The duke put up an orphanage, you said?" she asked, suddenly curious.

"Yes, miss," the teenager said. "Once we get to a certain age, we have the option of training with a sword and chivalry in case we want to join the military. The duke has said an investment in us is an investment in Montclair. Most of us feel honored to follow in the footsteps of Duke Desmond. Some have said he was an orphan as well."

Leonor felt a tremor in her heart and felt unstable for a moment. It caused her to place a hand on Gideon’s arm who wasn’t standing far from her.

He noticed her change in demeanor and stabilized her by putting his hand over hers.

It sounded so close to Valerio’s dream, it nearly knocked the wind out of her. While it wasn’t unusual for someone to be an orphan or a war hero to want a strong military force in his duchy, it hit so close to home in a way she hadn’t felt in quite a while.

Trying to save face, Leonor smiled weakly at the boy.

"That’s wonderful," she said. "He is a wonderful man. I would like to see the orphanage."

"Miss?" the teenager questioned, wondering why any young lady would want to spend their time in an orphanage. He thought for a moment that perhaps she was looking for a child to adopt.

"Shouldn’t a wife support her husband’s activities?" she asked with a small smirk, but she put a finger to her lips so he wouldn’t overreact.

She had another idea of how to get to know the commoners of Piedmont.

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