It was the only possible explanation. If Lyn were still that woman"s pupil, he would have realized by now. Rhys did sense something similar about the two, the aura, and sometimes the way they spoke. But, that was not enough to make a link between the two of them. Besides, they use entirely different magic from one another.Usually a master and pupil share similar magic, but that is not the case.
Sumire smiles. "It was more like a silent agreement and not an official contract. When I was young, I"d often try to sneak out the castle, and it was during one of those escapes I met Lady Penelope. She was working hard then to restore her clan than to its former glory and to surpa.s.s her seniors. I admired her for that."
So that"s how it was, it was a coincidence that they met. Though it doesn"t explain why they have the same scent.
Perhaps if he asks a bit more, then he will get his answers. When a person has high-level magic, a scent covers their entire body.
Lyn and Lady Penelope have the same scent.
"How did you become her pupil?" Rhys asked, somewhat interested. After all, it isn"t every day one meets a pupil that has survived that women training.
Among the magic circle, there are not many high-level magicians because not many become mages. Those who have magic are often elite members. It is a privilege granted only for those who have power. Why would an elite lower themselves to become a mage? The rare number of magicians are those from third cla.s.s families. The only one in the first cla.s.s is Prince Ralph.
As for Lady Penelope, she is one of the rare ordinary civilians who have high-level magic. A normal one became one of the greatest magicians. Even now, many people refuse to believe it. How is it possible for a normal civilian to have such high-level magic? To this day, n.o.body knew. But Rhys suspected that Prince Ralph knew something.
Lyn suddenly sat back down and pointed to the seat beside her, "This might take a while to explain. Care to take a seat?"
Rhys nodded and took a seat beside her. It struck him as odd, being with Lyn like this. Does she not know what this current situation is? Right, he wanted to scold her for being here in the first place. After all, this place is the red light district.
These days it feels like he is getting ahead of himself. He may be royalty, but he should not forget his current position.
Even with his family name, he is technically ten levels below her in the hierarchy and considered middle cla.s.s at best in contrast to her, who is at the top, the ultimate elite. It would be off-putting to fall in love with someone like that.
Off-putting? Yet it is far too late. I am already in love with her. I have fallen so deeply that I will do something stupid like sacrifice my mission.
"It was a miss of mine. I didn"t know she would come at that time. Since we usually had an arrangement of when we met. That day the security was much loose earlier, and so I slipped away much earlier than the destined meeting time. I ended up practicing my magic, and she caught me. She did not seem surprised and immediately went all "coach" training mode." Lyn sweatdropped. "That person can be quite the demon when she wants to be, you know?"
He only caught a glance of that woman before, when she was training her students. But every past student of hers has died, at least those with the highest potential—the ones who remain only survived because they secretly have other teachers. One of the reasons why he did not want to link the two was this.
"Yet you went along with it regardless?"
A gentle smile appeared on her face. "I didn"t have anything to lose. Being cooped up in the castle for long was dull and even when I was there. I had to go through so many harsh and boring lessons."
He raised his eyebrows, amused. "You found Princess lessons boring?"
Lyn nodded. "It was dull for me! I mean, do you need to learn how to play the koto, dance, brewing tea, and all that? What use is all that stuff in the middle of the battlefield?"
Indeed, he had a similar thought when he investigated her before. She spent so much time and effort on pointless things. None of those lessons would help her become a ruler.
"But I supposed I ended up being grateful for being a princess. I mean, if I didn"t I wouldn"t have met Lady Penelope. For me, that meeting was once in a lifetime".
A lifetime huh? It is a good thing that the other party is a woman; otherwise, he would end up with bitter emotions.
She is really something, though, saying such lines easily. Only she would be capable of that. But if that woman went through all that trouble of training her, then he wondered why she didn"t ask the girl to join her group? It puzzled him.
Unless it was because of that incident? n.o.body should ask someone to join after experiencing something traumatizing like that. Penelope, too has had her fair share of bad experiences, with all that stuff that went on. However, those painful experiences helped shape who she is today. If that incident didn"t happen, then her talent would be buried forever.
If that happened then, he probably wouldn"t have got to know her.
If she joined that woman, then none of this would have happened.
None of these encounters would have occurred. He pauses in mid-thought, huh? Is that why she"s never tried to become famous herself?
Surely...it can"t be...? If it were like that, then that would mean that Lyn could see the future. If magic like that existed, then she would be used over and over again. How many people would crave to have that power? How many would try to kidnap her just to obtain it? It is even more dangerous than her healing power.
Should he ask her just to confirm?
"But anyway, did you come here to look at the flowers? They"ve stopped blooming here. It"s a real shame since I came here to look at them."
Rhys shook his head. "Not these ones. Right now, I know a spot where peach blossoms are blooming."
"Peach trees?"
Rhys nodded, and a sudden thought came to mind. This would be considered romantic, right? He debated in his head for a few minutes before he made his mind up. "Once we both came to look at flowers. Let"s look at them together, Lyn."
Judging from how clingy she was when she saw him and how she clung to him. Rhys did not expect anything other than a yes from her, so when she refused. His eyes twitched in annoyance. Is she messing with me again?