Saved By The Mad Duke
Chapter 82: A Man On A Horse

Chapter 82: A Man On A Horse

Having made the decision to catch Aideen red-handed, Ahspid quietly rose to his feet and sneakily approached the princess from behind, prepared to pounce on her like a hungry predator. Yet, his prey was not Aideen herself but the book that betrayed her cheating intentions.

However, the mage, too, was prone to occasional miscalculations.

As he moved his hand in an attempt to snatch the hidden book, Aideen curled her lips into a subtle smirk and snapped her fingers, trapping the mage’s wrist in an intricate and quite original frozen web. The icy trap made the man’s hand instantly turn blue.

Startled and hurt, Ahspid recoiled, shaking his hand frantically, trying to remove the icy web that seemed to have pierced his flesh to the bone.

With an arrogant smirk still gracing her lips, the princess turned around and said,

"You should not sneak up on people like that, Ahspid!"

The mage examined his bluish hand, still wincing from the painfully cold sensation that Aideen’s little trick had afflicted him with. Then he burst into laughter and joined his palms in a short session of heartfelt applause to express his sincere fascination.

"I am impressed! I definitely did not expect you to have such sharp reflexes, Your Highness."

"Due to my disability, my other senses seem to be much stronger. In addition, my mana helps me sense people and things around me. You taught me how to spread my mana over the things around me, so now not only can I see the outline of things, but I can also sense their movements! I tried to do that with you as well."

Taking a seat beside the lady, Ahspid arched his eyebrows.

"Only with me?"

The princess shrugged her shoulders and explained in a somewhat dismissive manner,

"Yes, only with you, for starters. I was afraid to use it on others since I wasn’t sure if it could harm them."

For a moment, the mage found himself completely frozen, and not because of Aideen’s little magic trick. He was genuinely impressed by her growing arrogance and audacity, which seemed to vaguely reflect someone he used to teach before her.

Once again, the man felt proud.

Ahspid stretched his lips into a wide grin and nodded.

"This is mighty impressive, Your Highness. All of it."

He then placed his hand on top of the lady’s head and gently patted her, which made Aideen smile as well, a light hint of blush covering her porcelain cheeks.

Taking advantage of the princess’s lack of attention, Ahspid quickly pulled the mysterious book out of her hands, examined it for a few seconds, and then read aloud,

"Trading Reports, Lord Valentine of The North."

A deep wrinkle settled between the mage’s eyebrows as he set the book aside and reprimanded his student.

"Just because you are making good progress in our magic lessons does not mean you are allowed to scatter your attention on things that are irrelevant to my teaching."

Aideen, however, did not agree with his statement.

"No, Ahspid, this is just as important! Anything related to this place is important!"

Ahspid furrowed his eyebrows once again.

"This is where you are wrong, My Lady. My agreement with His Grace was to teach you magic, and this, as far as I’m concerned, is not it. I have already gone out of my way by teaching you how to read and write, but this is too much. You are wasting my time this way."

The princess could only pout. The man was not wrong; she should not have brought an unrelated book to his class, but she just could not help it – the excitement of being exposed to so many new things was truly overwhelming.1

Disappointed with her silent response, Ahspid sighed and continued,

"If you truly wish to succeed, Your Highness, you need to focus on one thing at a time. Our lessons are for magic only; your spare time is for everything else, including practicing the things you’ve already learned. Understand?"

"Yes. I’m sorry, Ahspid."

"Speaking of practice," the magus leaned back in his seat and adjusted one of his rings, "So you have only tried to spread your mana over me and separate objects around you?"

"Yes, mostly just separate objects in the castle."

"Hmm... I think we should test your limits some more."

Aideen arched her thin, dark red eyebrows, unsure when they last attempted such a task.

"What do you mean?"

Ahspid rose from his chair and instructed,

"Go get your coat and meet me in front of the castle’s main gate once you’re ready. I will explain everything once we’re outside."

***

As the two of them stood at the main gate of the Duke’s castle, facing its tall and sturdy stone walls, Ahspid placed his hand on Aideen’s left shoulder and finally clarified his reason for bringing the lady outside.

"Your innate power, even while still being sealed, fascinates me, Your Highness. Therefore, I have this nagging feeling that when it comes to you, the limits of your mana have to be always tested and compromised."

"And what does it entail? Do I have to practice more?"

"No, don’t practice harder, Your Highness, practice smarter. I want you to try and release as much mana as you can and cover the entire castle with it. Can you try this for me?"

’The entire castle...’

Aideen silently repeated these words in her head, wondering if something of this degree was even possible for someone like her. Ahspid added,

"If you can do it while you are at this level of knowledge, then it means that your innate powers are virtually limitless, and that alone is a sign of something greater sleeping within you. If you can do this, then you can infuse your mana into the entire northern territory, which will allow you to see absolutely everything with your inner sight."

"Everything..."

Now, the princess was excited.

Stretching both arms in front of her body, she closed her eyes and tried to focus. The mage carefully observed her condition, noting every tiny change that appeared in the air around the lady.

It was working.

A light, almost invisible white, sparkling mana slowly flowed from Aideen’s fingertips, greedily sticking to everything in its path, seeping inside every object, and leaving its peculiar traces on every surface surrounding them.

The princess could feel it too – she could see it. Vague at first, the outline of every object touched by her mana slowly became thicker and more stable, painting a clear picture of the place around her in subtle hues of white and blue.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes and murmured,

"A man on a horse."

"A man on a horse?"

Ahspid repeated the same sentence in a stunned voice, and just a second later, another male voice offered him a response,

"A man on a horse indeed."