Pasium’s hideout was accessed through an invisible magic circle at the end of the Recador river.
Following the invisible magic circle, I drew a pattern on the ground, and in the blink of an eye, Durion and I warped to Pasium’s hideout.
“So this is where Pasium’s hideout was.”
Durion looked around with amazement.
“Where is Pasium’s cage, Madam?”
“You must press the colors on the floor in sequence.”
I dredged up my memory and pressed each color on the floor one by one in order. As I pressed red, blue, green, white, and black in sequence, a magic circle rose from the floor, revealing the cage.
“C, cage! Madam, it’s the cage!”
Durion tried to enter upon discovering the cage but couldn’t due to the barrier created by the magic circle.
I was startled too, since I hadn’t known about this, but I quickly accepted it.
Durion was pounding the invisible barrier with his hands.
“Madam! Madam!”
It was my fault for coming to this world for no reason and putting Kian in danger. Tying the knot means untying it myself—if I caused the chaos, I must resolve it.
Aside from knowing that touching this cage would summon Pasium, I had no idea what would happen next. But one thing was certain: I absolutely had to smash this cage.
The moment I touched the cage, a blinding light filled my vision. Then, with a thunderous boom like a clap of thunder, something dropped right before my eyes.
Naturally, I thought Pasium had been summoned—but it wasn’t just Pasium.
How long had it been since I last saw him? It hadn’t even been half a day, yet his face felt so desperately missed, as if I hadn’t seen him in ages. It was Sikar.
The moment I saw Sikar, tears welled up in my eyes.
“Sikar?”
“Yura?”
Soon after, I saw Pasium regaining consciousness from his faint, and I realized again that now was not the time to exchange greetings.
I had to blow up the cage before Pasium could touch it, so I aimed my wand at the cage.
“Smash the cage!”
A lightning bolt shot from the wand, discharging electricity toward the cage.
Pasium, having just regained consciousness, rushed toward me to stop me, but was immediately intercepted by Sikar and tumbled backward.
It was then that I suddenly remembered—the one who destroys the cage absorbs the attack directly.
The lightning bolt rebounded from the cage and flew toward me. Sikar reflexively lunged at me and embraced me tightly.
At the same moment the cage shattered, I heard Sikar’s back breaking too.
“Crackle! Boom boom!”
“Zzzzt! Thud thud!”
Pasium and Sikar screamed simultaneously.
“S, Sikar, are you okay?!”
“Go?! My Lord!”
“Uaaaaaah!!!”
Even as he screamed in pain, Sikar was fully absorbing the magic pouring toward me.
Pasium’s house crackled with electricity everywhere.
After some time passed, everything slowly faded out. The cage was completely destroyed beyond repair, and Pasium’s eyes had rolled back.
His eyes were no longer those marked with red dots. Now, his pupils were gray, like those of a sick man.
He would no longer be able to see through magic—having eyes but unable to see, having a tongue but unable to speak.
I swung my wand toward him with all my strength, and he, squeezing out his last ounce of power, tried to cast magic back at me.
Then Sikar swung his sword and stabbed him. Pasium, who had seemed like a terrifying monster, collapsed limply.
It was truly an absurdly hollow death.
Sikar grimaced as if enduring burning pain.
“You… how did you get here… never mind. You’ll understand when you see the memories.”
“What about Kian? Is Kian alright?”
“Shouldn’t you ask if I’m okay first? Do you really think only of K… Kian? Cough…”
Blood poured from Sikar’s mouth as he spoke.
“Sikar, are you okay?!”
“Go, My Lord! Are you alright?!”
Durion rushed over in alarm, and Sikar, squeezing out his remaining strength, rummaged through Durion’s arms and found a healing potion.
“You fool. You should’ve given me this before asking if I’m okay.”
Even in this state, Sikar coolly and instinctively found exactly what he needed. He poured the healing potion into his mouth and lay back down as if he might survive a little longer.
“Haa… Getting electrocuted feels like dying. Or maybe I really am dying.”
“Durion! Quickly, take Sikar to the temple! Hurry!”
The moment I finished speaking, Sikar grabbed my hand.
“Looks like I worried you a bit by pretending to exaggerate. I’m not that bad yet.”
“R, really?”
Sikar shook his head as if feeling better now and sat back up.
“I would’ve fainted if I hadn’t taken the healing potion, but now I’m a bit better. My body feels stiff, maybe from muscle strain, but not enough to pass out.”
“But what happened? According to Dienne, they captured Kian—is he alright?”
Sikar let out a deep sigh.
“They must’ve confirmed Pasium is gone, and since Vika is alive, everyone will realize I’m not dead. So they won’t be taking things lying down.”
“But we don’t know how long they can hold out! Let’s go quickly!”
“Right, we should.”
Sikar stood up shakily, and Durion supported him while saying,
“But, My Lord, there’s only one horse.”
“Really? If you and I ride together, we won’t get far before collapsing. Yura and I should take the horse.”
“There’s no horse at Pasium’s house—what about Durion?”
Pasium had transformed and flown, so naturally there were no horses at his house. But there was one other thing.
“There’s an ancient magic broom—take that, Durion.”
“A magic broom? May I really ride such a wondrous object, My Lord? Surely it’s meant for you and Madam?”
Durion seemed a bit excited at the idea of riding a magic broom.
But the reality of this so-called magic broom…
Durion soon discovered its true nature. The small broom did carry him, but it wasn’t the kind of magic broom that could freely soar high into the air.
Durion barely suppressed a curse as he watched his feet dragging along the ground.
“If it’s uncomfortable, lift your legs onto the broom.”
But doing so made balancing difficult, causing Durion to flip over several times. Though the broom itself was fast, his feet kept touching the ground, forcing him to stop and start repeatedly.
“We’ll go ahead—follow carefully, Durion!”
Though I regretted seeing Durion fall behind, I was desperate to confirm Kian’s safety.
If only Kian was safe, I could ask for nothing more.
“This can’t be…”
“Vika isn’t dead!”
As Gillian and Lape widened their eyes in shock, Vika swept his chilled gallbladder as if scooping back a dropped liver.
“See, Gillian? Clearly, the Duke isn’t dead.”
“If the Duke is alive, that means Pasium is alive too.”
Then, a strange voice came from afar.
“Hmm. Seems the advantage has shifted to us?”
Reidox’s group turned toward the voice and bowed their heads in surprise.
“Your Highness!”
Veronia, whom they thought had fled with the twins, rode toward them with an imposing expression.
“I came back because I couldn’t just run away while that young royal heir went off to fight. These little twins know the roads quite well.”
The twins peeked out from behind Veronia, giggling.
“Hehe.”
Kian felt relieved that Vika was alive and delighted that the twins had returned.
Gillian also smiled leisurely, pleased by Veronia’s arrival.
“Perfect. If only you two die, everything ends.”
“On our way here, I heard your side lost its mage—but we still have ours, Gillian.”
“But I still have the First Weapon. And of course, excellent spirit masters too.”
Veronia shouted toward the royal guards as she rode forward.
“Listen well, First Weapons! You are the First Royal Guard who have protected the royal house since the late king’s reign. Though you now serve Gillian as king, you know your true loyalty was pledged to late King Baikar. On his deathbed, while bedridden and witnessing the deposed king’s tyranny, he lamented not placing me on the throne and left the decree: ‘Place Veronia upon the throne!’ But the deposed king covered this up by eliminating three loyal retainers! You can all guess who they were—one of them was Hiram Nominate, Pasium’s father!”
Gillian gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
“Shut up, Veronia. You’ve turned into a scheming witch while I wasn’t looking! Make sure Veronia never wields that scheming tongue again!”
The First Weapon followed Gillian’s command without hesitation—even if the late king’s decree existed, they currently served the reigning king.
Veronia also knew they wouldn’t instantly switch sides to follow her. Her goal was simply to shake even a sliver of their faith—even one person out of a hundred.
Veronia, while wielding holy power, also knew how to skillfully swing a sword. She dismounted and calmly, methodically eliminated soldiers charging toward her, advancing steadily toward where Kian was.
“Protect Her Highness!”
As Reidox shouted, Jeremi reinforced her, launching fireballs at those swarming toward the princess.
Vika was countering Lape’s attacks, but Gillian kept healing the wounded soldiers, making it difficult to reduce the enemy’s numbers.
The battle continued until dawn. Both sides were exhausted, and Gillian no longer had holy power left to cast healing magic.
Just as everyone was weary and the fight slowed to a crawl, screams began echoing one by one from behind Gillian.
They were the sounds of soldiers collapsing one after another. When Gillian turned his head, he saw Sikar, drenched in blood and wearing a sly smile, walking forward while cutting down charging soldiers one by one.
Somehow, Gillian instinctively knew Pasium had been utterly defeated.
“You… you…!”
Sikar smiled slyly and pressed his bloodstained blade against Gillian’s throat.
“Pasium is dead. Everything is over, Gillian. I will take your life!”
Sikar raised his sword and plunged it into Gillian’s chest. Gillian collapsed to the floor without even a scream.
Sikar stood before the limp Gillian and raised his sword high.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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