“My Lady, I’ve brought the esteemed guests who would like to have a word with you…” The guard addressed Madam Layla with a slight bow.
“Mmm, you may leave now…” Madam Layla nodded.
“As you wish, My Lady.” The guard nodded and promptly departed, returning to his post.
“Please have a seat, esteemed guests from the Magic Academy,” Madam Layla invited Rowena and Silas to sit, indicating an empty sofa near Lord Ivan and his companions.
“Thank you very much…” Both Rowena and Silas acknowledged with nods before taking their seats on the sofa.
“Oh my, Lord Ivan, Lady Eliza, Lady Diana, I didn’t expect to see you all here. What a coincidence,” Rowena remarked with a smile. Her gaze then fell on the unconscious Lord Joseph, her expression turning puzzled.
‘What happened to Lord Joseph here? The floor is slightly cracked. Did someone fight here?’ Rowena examined the floor and Lord Joseph with suspicion.
She turned to Lady Diana and inquired, “What happened to Lord Joseph? Why is he lying on the sofa unconscious? Did something happen here?”
“Well, it’s nothing serious, you don’t have to worry about it. It’s just that he was so arrogant that someone made him unconscious with a slap… Hehehe~” Lady Diana replied to Rowena with an awkward laugh, sneaking a quick glance at Yuan.
Rowena and Silas blinked blankly at Lady Diana a few times, unable to believe what they had just heard. How was it possible to make a peak master rank mage unconscious with just a slap?
They turned their eyes to Lord Ivan and Lady Eliza, seeking confirmation. It was quite challenging to accept that in this room, someone had the ability to render a peak master rank mage unconscious with a mere slap.
Lady Eliza and Lord Ivan nodded, affirming Lady Diana’s account. Lord Ivan let out a sigh. “I know it’s hard to believe, but it is as Lady Diana has said… Lord Joseph got what he deserved for his extremely arrogant behavior… And now he is in this state.”
Rowena and Silas stared at Lord Ivan and Lady Diana with incredulity written across their faces. It felt as though they had just swallowed a foul-tasting fly.
‘Even so, it’s still difficult to believe that there is someone within this room who can render a peak master rank mage unconscious with just a slap. Even a grandmaster rank mage can’t achieve this, unless they are a peak master with years of experience,’ Silas pondered, contemplating just how formidable one would need to be to accomplish such a feat.
Rowena’s curiosity was piqued. Who could possess the power to render Lord Joseph unconscious with a mere slap?
She scanned the room, seeking out the strongest mage present, and eventually her gaze settled on Yuan and his wives.
Perplexed, Rowena continued her scrutiny. ‘Why can’t I sense even a trace of mana in their bodies? There’s no magical fluctuation around them either. Who are these people?’
She couldn’t shake the feeling of unease as she observed Yuan and his wives. They seemed peculiar, their lack of magical presence standing out starkly.
Undeterred, Rowena persisted in her examination, attempting to ascertain if they were concealing their magical abilities through some kind of artifact. Yet, no matter how thoroughly she inspected them, no signs of any such devices emerged.
‘Even after utilizing my advanced detection spell, I can’t detect any trace of mana within them or find any artifacts on their person… Could it be that they truly possess no mana?’ The realization baffled Rowena.
While it was exceedingly rare for individuals to be born without the innate ability to manipulate mana, it did happen, though seldom.
Encountering so many of them together was astonishing. Rowena couldn’t help but be captivated not only by their unique circumstance but also by their extraordinary beauty. They seemed almost otherworldly.
Silas was stunned looking at the beauty possessed by Yuan’s wives as he couldn’t take his eyes off of them, as though his eyes were glued on them.
Noticing that Silas was staring at his wives, Yuan felt very annoyed, and staring at Silas, he spoke in a cold voice, “Stop staring at my women, haven’t you seen a beautiful woman before?”
Yuan’s sudden cold voice caused Silas to snap out of his daze and stop staring at Yuan’s wives. He felt quite embarrassed.
‘This bastard! He made me a fool in front of so many influential figures, not to mention he embarrassed me in front of Miss Rowena… I can’t let this slide so easily, I have to teach him a lesson!’ Silas screamed inwardly with anger, and gave Yuan a cold stare with visible killing intent.
A moment later, Madam Layla frowned upon Rowena and Silas and asked with a smile, “So, what have brought two distinguished teachers of the Magic Academy to my humble house? By the way, I’m Layla Monroe, and I’m the one currently handling the affairs of the village instead of my husband.”
“I’m Rowena and this is Silas, as you’ve already know we’re the teachers of the Magic Academy,” Rowena quickly introduced herself and Silas to Madam Layla.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Madam Layla,” Silas said with a smile.
“Madam Layla, I will be straight with you as I don’t want to waste your precious time for keeping you out of your work,” Rowena said, “We’ve heard that currently there is a group of genius mages in your village, who are very young with a very promising future as mages, and we would like to recruit them into our Magic Academy and train them properly to lead them to a bright future.”
Madam Layla and Lord Ivan, along with the others, had already seen this coming and they weren’t surprised in the least.
“So they are also here for the same reason as us, but sadly they will also be disappointed by Yuan and his wives’ response just as we were,” Lord Ivan thought as he shook his head and sighed.
“Is that so? It seems that both Lord Ivan here and you have the same goal for coming to my humble house, but unfortunately, I can’t give you any help regarding this,” Madam Layla replied with a smile as she glanced toward Yuan and his wives.
“Is that so?” Rowena exclaimed in disappointment.
She then followed Madam Layla’s gaze and looked at Yuan and his wives with a confused look on her face, not knowing why Madam Layla looked at them while replying to her.
Silas also followed Madam Layla’s gaze and looked at Yuan and his wives again with a confused look on his face, as he couldn’t detect any mana from them.
Suddenly, Rowena frowned as she looked at Yuan and his wives, her gaze particularly fixed on Lily as she found her face quite familiar.
‘How come this girl’s face looks very familiar, as if I’ve seen her many times back in the academy?’ Looking at Lily’s face, she had a feeling that she’d met this girl before, not just once, but many times.
‘Hmm? Isn’t that Lily? One of my best students and a very genius young mage? What happened to her? She looks totally different now, I couldn’t even recognize her at first glance… And what happened to her mana circuit?’ Rowena suddenly realized that the girl sitting on the sofa opposite her was none other than one of her students, Lily.
She was shocked to find that Lily, one of her genius students, had lost the ability to wield mana as she had lost her mana circuit.
‘Why is Teacher Rowena staring at me like that? Did she recognize me?’ Lily thought as she looked at Rowena with an awkward expression, thinking that Rowena had recognized her.
Rowena looked at Lily with a surprised expression on her face and said, “Is that you, Lily? I didn’t even recognize you until now. Why didn’t you return to the academy, and what happened to you actually? I can’t sense any mana from you now.”
‘She really did recognize me…’ Lily thought inwardly with a sigh.
Madam Layla, including her children except for Rose, and Lord Ivan along with the two ladies with him, stared at Lily with dumbfounded expressions.
They hadn’t expected one of Yuan’s wives to turn out to be a student from the Magic Academy. It was totally unexpected. 𝒆𝙣𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝙚𝙩
“Miss Rowena, are you saying that this girl is none other than the genius mage with Ice attribute? How come she doesn’t have any mana in her body?” Silas quickly asked Rowena with a surprised look on his face.
“Indeed, the same one rumored as the Ice Princess…” Rowena nodded excitedly.
‘Ice Princess? How interesting…’ Yuan frowned at the term ‘Ice Princess’ from Rowena and looked at Lily. Lily blushed, feeling Yuan’s gaze on her and noticing the grin on his face.
“Well, long time no see, Teacher Rowena,” Lily said to Rowena with a smile.
Rowena looked at Lily with a surprised expression and spoke, “So, it really is you, Lily. So why didn’t you return to the academy? You took leave for a week and never came back. Do you know how many students were worried about you and often asked about your news? And what happened to your mana circuit and mana circles?”
“Well, I didn’t return to the academy simply because I didn’t want to, it’s that simple,” Lily said.
Rowena looked at Lily with a strange look. “Is that so? Then what happened to your mana circles and mana circuit? Not only can’t I sense any mana from you, I can’t even sense your mana circuit… I have never seen anything like this!”
“About the mana circles and the mana circuit, I deliberately destroyed them,” Lily replied to Rowena with a proud smile on her face, a hint of faint blush apparent.
“What?!” Hearing this, Rowena was stunned. She looked at Lily with a blank expression after hearing Lily’s words. Who would be foolish enough to deliberately destroy their own mana circles and mana circuits?
Not only Rowena, but Lord Ivan, Lady Eliza, Lady Diana, and Silas were equally stunned by Lily’s statement, which almost gave them a heart attack.
However, Madam Layla, Ava, Julie, and James were not as surprised as Rowena and the others, since they knew that Yuan and his wives possessed unique prowess and didn’t use mana.
Nevertheless, they couldn’t help but stare at Lily with surprised expressions.
“H-H-How could you destroy your own mana circles and mana circuit? You’re a very genius mage and had a very bright future, how could you make such a foolish decision and destroy your own future?” Rowena immediately stood up from the sofa and shouted at Lily with an angry expression on her face.