Sean fled the scene in a panicked manner, and Mag carried the unconscious coach driver back onto the carriage before continuing to drive the barely functioning horse-drawn carriage toward the food street.Looks like I"ve already aroused Sean"s suspicions. I"ll have to prove to him tomorrow on the king"s birthday banquet that I"m not Alex, Mag thought to himself with a heavy heart.
Sean wasn"t as rough around the edges as his appearance suggested. If he had suspicions toward Mag, then he would continue to keep an eye on him. The a.s.sa.s.sin that had been following Louis verified the notion that he had never given on his search for Alex, and he wanted Alex dead just as much as Josh did.
If Alex wasn"t dead, then all of his efforts for the past three years would go to waste. All of the respect and admiration he received from the public would be transferred back to Alex. There could only be one war G.o.d, and it had to be the most powerful person in the entire empire.
"Big Sister Irina, you"re so cool! You beat up such a big beast so easily!" Amy looked up at Irina with admiration in her eyes.
Irina was thoroughly enjoying the admiration that she was receiving from Amy. It was a unique experience to be admired by one"s own daughter. A smug expression appeared on her face as she waved a nonchalant hand, and said, "It was nothing; don"t mention it."
Kra.s.su chuckled as he stroked his beard. "You don"t have to admire her, Little Amy. Little Irina learned melee magic from me for a while. She"s not officially a disciple of mine, but you can call her your senior apprentice sister if you like. It"s just that she didn"t manage to learn any of my truly powerful magic. Once you grow up, you"re going to be even more powerful than she is."
"I knew you were hiding things from me, Old Man Whitebeard! You told me that you"d taught me everything you knew, but I knew you had more powerful magic up your sleeve!" Irina turned to Kra.s.su with her brows furrowed in an accusatory expression.
Kra.s.su merely shrugged, and replied, "Of course I"d be saving my best magic for my disciple. Plus, you can"t blame me for this, Little Irina. I taught you everything I could despite the objections from the elven race. At the time, you simply weren"t powerful enough to learn my best magic."
Amy"s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "So Big Sister Irina is my senior apprentice sister as well? That"s awesome! I"d love to be as strong as Big Sister Irina someday."
"Don"t worry, you might not become more powerful than I am, but you"ll definitely be more powerful than the vast majority of people. After all, you"re my…" Irina paused momentarily before continuing, "…apprentice sister."
Mag wore a faint smile on his face as he listened to the conversation taking place within the horse-drawn carriage. For some reason, he was very pleased to hear the interaction between Amy and Irina.
The horse-drawn carriage emblazoned with the crest of the second prince"s manor was too ostentatious, so Mag decided to park it in an alleyway outside the Renhe Food Street.
"The food street is too crowded, so we"ll park the horse-drawn carriage and walk over there," Mag explained with a smile.
"I want Father to hug me and raise me up high!" Amy was the first one to run out of the carriage, and she pouted adorably as she raised her hands up into the air.
That"s my man! Irina raised her eyebrows as she turned to Mag before narrowing her eyes. You dare to hug other women?
"Alright, here we go!" Mag chuckled as he picked Amy up from the ground, raising her over his head before bringing her down again, repeating this process over and over again.
"Ah! It"s so high up!
"This is so fun!"
Amy squealed with delight as her face lit up with a joyful smile.
After raising her up about five or six times, Mag held Amy in his arms and planted a kiss on her forehead with a doting smile on his face.
Not only did he hug her, he even kissed her! Irina"s eyes widened with fury. However, all of her rage was dispelled as she turned her gaze toward Amy. Perhaps hugging and kissing their daughter wasn"t a crime punishable by death, after all.
But why are they so close with each other?! Irina looked at the joyful Mag and Amy, and a hint of jealousy welled up in her heart. She felt as if Mag hadn"t even taken a proper look at her this entire time, and that he only had eyes for Amy.
"Why do you look so sad, Big Sister Irina? Do you also want Father to hug you and raise you up high?" Amy turned to Irina with a concerned expression. She then patted Mag"s shoulder as she whispered into his ear, "Father, here"s your chance!"
"I…" Irina almost blurted out the words "I do", but Mag was appraising her with a calm expression as if he were looking at a stranger, and that was very disheartening as well as a little infuriating to her. As such, she gritted her teeth, and said, "I"ll pa.s.s."
She then disembarked from the carriage on her own.
Mag was rendered quite speechless by Amy"s latest attempt to bring him and Irina closer. She harbored good intentions, but her methods were lackl.u.s.ter to say the least.
"You can go have some food first. I"m going to see an old friend first, then come to find you later," Kra.s.su said with a smile before also disembarking from the carriage.
There was no one else in the alleyway, and Mag looked at Irina while she looked back at him.
The two of them stared at each other in silence, and the atmosphere became rather awkward.
After a short while, Amy quietly asked, "Are you two having a staring contest?"
Irina took Amy from Mag"s arms, then pointed at Ugly Duckling, which was crying out feebly from the edge of the carriage, and commanded, "I"ll hold Amy, you hold that cat."
"Alright." Mag could only do as he was told upon seeing Irina"s implacable expression.
How could he deny a mother who simply wanted to hold her child?
Besides, he couldn"t stop her even if he wanted to; the two of them weren"t even in the same weight cla.s.s!
He was like that Black Berserker Rhino from earlier—completely at Irina"s mercy.
As such, after a brief period of contemplation, Mag obediently picked up Ugly Duckling.
Regardless of when two of them actually learned each other"s ident.i.ties, it was clearly a good thing for Amy and Irina to form a stronger bond.
It was just that he didn"t want Alex"s relations.h.i.+p with Irina for now.
Marrying a beautiful and powerful woman and basking in the resentment, jealousy, and hatred of all men in this world sounded amazing in theory. However, the reality was that he would most likely have Ugly Duckling thrust into his arms while Irina and Amy rode off into the sunset, completely leaving him behind. That would be far too inhumane!
Even if he couldn"t set up a harem in this alternate world, he had to at least ensure that he wasn"t dominated by a single wife!
I have to return to my former power as quickly as possible! Mag vowed in his heart.
All of a sudden, Irina turned around, and said, "You seem to be quite displeased with me."
"How did you know?" Mag blurted out.