Novel Full Chapter 274: Illusion
Chapter 274: Illusion
Mira was no pregnancy expert.
She had never seen a woman go through a full cycle after all, and she didn’t have any siblings to compare with, but still… two months was a long time.
Surely, there should be something. Some kind of physical change, no matter how small. And yet, no matter how closely she looked at Esme…
She seemed completely normal.
“Wait… are you not pregnant?” Mira asked, her brows knitting together slightly. “Maybe Elion’s ability didn’t work the way he thought it did…”
Esme let out a soft laugh, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth.
Her blue eyes glowed faintly.
Mira could immediately feel that she was casting a spell.
The air before her shimmered a bit and distorted. Then, right before her eyes, Esme’s flat stomach… vanished.
Or rather, it changed form. A small, subtle bump appeared in its place, just barely noticeable, but undeniably there.
Mira’s jaw dropped
“Hahaha…” Esme laughed out loud when she saw the expression on Mira’s face.
“I used an illusion to make it look flat, as it always has been,” she said, her tone light. “And it’s not just visual either.”
She let her hand rest lightly over her stomach.
“Though I don’t always keep it active… I like to feel the little bump from time to time when I’m alone.”
Mira didn’t respond. She simply stared, completely at a loss for words.
Of course, Esme noticed.
“Do you want to touch it?” she asked.
Mira blinked, her lips parting slightly, “P–please… can I?” she stammered.
“Of course,” Esme replied with a gentle smile.
Mira nodded quickly and stood, walking around the tea table before sitting down beside her.
Esme reached out, took Mira’s hand, and guided it gently toward her stomach.
The moment her palm made contact, Mira flinched slightly.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think you’ll be able to feel much of anything yet,” Esme said softly. “The foetus has barely developed.”
Mira nodded slightly.
“Don’t worry, though,” Esme continued with a small smile. “You can keep visiting to see how much it has grown from time to time.”
“Un,” Mira nodded again, gently pulling her hand back.
She shifted a little, trying to create some distance between them, worried she might be sitting too close, but Esme only laughed softly before sliding an arm around her waist and pulling her right back in.
She leaned in slightly, closing her eyes as she took in a quiet breath.
“You say it’s been about a week since he disappeared… and yet, I can still smell his scent on you.”
Mira’s face flushed instantly at those words.
“He really must take you to bed quite often then… how lucky,” Esme added casually.
Mira gave a wry smile.
“You also know how monstrous Husband Elion’s appetite is… he could go on for days if he wasn’t worried about our wellbeing.”
Esme laughed.
“That is indeed true.”
But as the laughter faded, she noticed something.
Mira had gone quiet.
Her expression distant.
“Did I give you the desire to have your own child?” Esme asked gently.
“Huh?” Mira blinked, snapping out of her thoughts. “Uhm… no, it’s not that.”
She shook her head.
“It’s just…”
Her voice trailed off as she hummed softly, clearly hesitating, weighing whether or not to voice her thoughts.
Esme didn’t rush her.
She simply waited in quiet patience.
After a moment, Mira seemed to come to a decision.
She looked up and looked Esme in the eye, “You’re so strong, Esme…”
There was a brief pause.
Then—
“If you don’t mind… can you teach me how to become a better mage?”
Esme gave Mira a long, searching look. It wasn’t hard for her to understand where this was coming from.
Mira wasn’t weak, far from it.
For her age, she was already quite strong, more than most could hope to be, but… she was measuring herself against Elion.
And that was simply unfair.
’That man is a monster…’
He wasn’t someone you used as a standard. Not for anything related to being a mage. Even Esme herself had never been anywhere near that level at his age.
But still…
She understood.
Mira didn’t want to feel that same helplessness again, the kind she had felt while watching him struggle in the arena, surrounded, wounded, yet still standing alone.
She didn’t want to fall behind him.
Not like that.
And it wasn’t jealousy.
Esme could tell it quite clearly. There was no bitterness in her gaze, and not a trace of resentment whatsoever.
Only the resolution that came from making a firm decision. A quiet, burning determination.
She wanted to stand beside Elion, to support him, and to be someone he could rely on in his times of need and his weakest moments.
All of that… Esme could see it clearly in her emerald green eyes.
That steady, unwavering look.
And beneath it, a faint trace of fear. Fear that she might be rejected.
“I understand.” Esme smiled softly. “Do not expect it to be easy, though,” Esme warned, her tone calm but firm. “It will be a steep mountain climb.”
“As it should be,” Mira nodded without hesitation.
“You know Lord Husband is a unique case,” Esme continued. “So I would advise you not to compare yourself to him. That will only leave you feeling inadequate… and in the worst case, insecure.”
Mira shook her head.
“I know that. I won’t waste my time trying to catch up to him or anything like that. I only want to do my absolute best.”
Esme smiled softly and nodded in approval, “You know, I envy your resolve.”
“Huh?” Mira blinked in surprise.
Esme laughed lightly.
“Don’t get me wrong. You might think I have no reason to envy you since I’m much stronger, but that’s not it.”
She leaned back slightly, her expression turning more thoughtful.
“I pledged my allegiance to Lord Husband for my own reasons, and while I do love him deeply, and want to see him in his most glorious form… I lack the same ambition and drive that you have to stand by his side.”
Mira remained quiet, listening.
“I want to stay with him, to be with him, to stand by his side as well… or at least, I thought I did,” Esme continued. “But now, I see that all of that pales in comparison to what you feel for him.”
She gave a small shrug.
“Perhaps it is simply my own lacking… or maybe it just means your love for him is greater than mine.”
Mira smiled at that, “As you said before, there’s no reason for any of us to compete or compare. We should just work together and do our best to support him.”
Esme’s smile deepened. “Well said, dear sister… well said.”
They both paused for a bit as they let their thoughts and words settle.
“I am curious, though,” Esme added, tilting her head slightly as her gaze drifted off for a brief moment.
“Where do you think our husband vanished off to?”
Mira paused.
Her expression shifted, her brows knitting ever so slightly as she thought back to everything that had happened, the way he disappeared, the circumstances surrounding it, the state he had been in.
She let out a small breath.
“I’m not entirely sure…”
Her fingers curled slightly in her lap.
“But I don’t think he’s anywhere nearby.”
There was a brief pause before she continued.
“The way he left… it didn’t feel like a normal escape, and we should be able to communicate through the seal.” Her gaze lowered slightly.
“The only reason I think of now, why he is not able to speak with us, is that either he is too far, and there is a distance limit on the harem seal. Either that, or the seal has no distance limit at all; that would mean the link has been cut off somehow, meaning he might be in a separate space…”
Her voice trailed off.
Esme leaned back slightly, her expression turning thoughtful.
“So he has been taken to some sort of separate space…”
“Most likely,” Mira replied.
Silence settled between them for a moment.
Then Esme smiled faintly. “Well… wherever he is…”
Her eyes gleamed softly.
“I pity whatever is on the other side.”
…
Meanwhile, outside the gates of the Manor…
A fuming Gale arrived in his carriage, accompanied by an entourage of five or six people, two of whom were the very same shady figures who had been following Mira.
“This is the damned place!?” he practically hissed as he stepped out of the carriage, his cane tapping against the ground as he leaned on it slightly.
“Yes, Master,” one of them replied.
He had brought with him a pair of women and several men.
Though his daughter had been extremely disobedient lately, it wasn’t to the point where he would use men to restrain her if it came to that, hence the women.
As for the men…
They were there to deal with anyone who might try to get in their way.
Gale walked forward, his gaze sweeping over the estate before he reached out and placed a hand against one of the cold metal bars of the gate.
“How do we open this damn thing!?” he snapped.
Clang!
He struck the gate with his cane, the metal ringing dully as his belly jiggled slightly from the effort.
At once, the four men stepped forward, moving to the gates as they began trying to force them open, gripping the bars and testing their strength as they looked for a way inside.