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After reading the webtoon in its entirety, some of the novel and watching all the episodes so far from the donghua, I decided to try my hand at writing an one-shot fic for this lovely piece of art.
It was a warm and sunny day of summer at Emerald Palace. The birds were chirping and the maids and servants were performing their duties outside.
Unfortunately, the future empress of the Obelian Empire, Athanasia, was stuck in her office doing paperwork while her husband, the great wizard Lucas, was sitting on a sofa near by her desk enjoying a book, quietly.
But the quietness from the office was disrupted by a knock at the door.
,,Come in!", responded Athanasia with a firm tone without raising her head from the papers she was currently reading.
After her acquiescence, a red-haired man with noticeable with grey streaks in his hair entered the room.
,,Your highness and imperial consort!", said the man as he bowed to the both of them.
Athanasia lifted her head from the papers and asked with a warm tone:
,,What is it, Felix?"
,,There is a man that requested an audience with the two of you", replied Felix with a weary tone.
,,Well then, show him inside", added Athanasia with apprehension in her voice.
,,As you wish, your highness”, answered Felix as he exited, leaving the door ajar while he spoke to someone.
Soon after, a man with a white coat with the hood pulled over his head entered the office.
The moment the mysterious man entered the office, Lucas all but leapt from the sofa, dropping the book in the process and then getting in front of the desk while putting an arm in front of Athanasia, protectively.
,,Lucas, what's wrong? Why are you acting like this?", asked Athanasia in barely a whisper.
,,Lucas, always so impulsive", spoke the man while pulling back the hood, revealing long wavy, unkempt white hair with bangs that fell over his eyes.
,,You...how are you still alive?", asked Lucas while clenching his teeth.
,,Well, you shouldn't believe everything that your eyes show you. They could very well deceive you", replied the man while arranging one of the sleeves of his coat.
,,Will someone tell me what's going on here?!", shouted Athanasia while getting up from her chair.
Both Lucas and the white-haired man looked at her like they both only then realized that she was still there.
,,Forgive me, your highness", added the man while bowing.
,,I'm Lucas's master. I was the one to teach him magic a long time ago."
,,And you were such a great teacher. Taking me as an unwilling apprentice when I was 15, starving me, tying my mana to the tower so I couldn't leave, using a spell on me so that I couldn't attack you and then blowing yourself up in front of me", muttered Lucas angrily.
,,What?", screeched Athansia while fuming.
,,Details, details...", responded the man while waving his hand uncaring.
But then a wave of mana zipped beside the white-haired man's right ear, hitting the wall behind him.
,,Details, you say?!", said Athanasia with an arm raised up in the man's direction with mana enveloped around her hand, while walking around her desk with stomped steps.
,,You did all that shit to my husband and you call them only details!", added Athanasia as Lucas grabbed her by her arm when he noticed that she was headed in the direction of his former master.
Unfortunately for Lucas, Athanasia zapped him, forcing him to let go of her arm.
Soon after she got in front of his master, but then she turned abruptly towards Lucas and spoke with barely contained anger.
,,Your master and I will have a private chat, so why don't you go eat some sweets or whatever you do while you're vanishing?".
Lucas understood the underlying message. He wouldn't want to be in Athanasia's crosshairs right now. He didn't want to be punched again.
So he exited the office and seated himself with his back against the wall with his arms crossed.
Then after some time of silence, the door of the office burst open, Athanasia coming out, the first, with a smirk on her face, followed soon after by his master with his head dropped down.
,,So what do we say?", asked Athanasia with a faking sweet voice.
,,I don't know what you taught her, but you unleashed the beast", muttered the white-haired man.
Athanasia looked at him with daggers in her eyes while her fist was again enveloped in mana.
,,I mean, I apologize for being a lousy teacher", replied the man while raising up his head.
Then Lucas noticed how badly his face looked. He did have a split lip, cuts on his cheeks, a black eye and dried blood on his forehead.
,,What did Athanasia do to him in her office?".
But then Lucas noticed something strange. Everything, including Athanasia, seemed to be frozen. Everything beside him and his former master.
Not even waving his hand in front of Athanasia's face was enough to draw out a reaction.
,,What did you do to her?!", yelled Lucas with clenched fists.
,,Nothing", replied the white-haired man calmly.
,,This is a dream and it's time for you to wake up", added the man as he snapped his fingers.
Lucas's eyes snapped open while cold sweat flowed down his forehead.
,,What was that?", asked himself Lucas.
Then he felt a cool touch on his forehead and when he turned his head to the right, he saw Athanasia looking at him with worried eyes.
He could lie to her saying that it was nothing or order her to go back to sleep, or making bad jokes, but...for whatever reason, he chose to be honest with her. To talk to her about his past.
,,I dreamed about my master. That he somehow came back to life and that you took care of him after you found out what he did to me at the beginning of my apprenticeship under him", spoke Lucas with a tired voice.
"He took me as an apprentice when I was 15 years old. I tried to attack him when he came to my parents's house. I failed. Then he teleported us to the tower, put a spell on me so I wouldn't attack him further, tied my mana to the tower so I couldn't leave, and starved me for two days because I refused to do the tasks that he gave me. And then he blow himself up after he called me his son".
"Hm, did I got him good?", asked Athanasia with a sleepy voice.
"Yes, you did", replied Lucas with a small smile.
,,Then can we go to sleep? Tomorrow it's gonna be another hectic day and I need a good night sleep", added Athanasia with a yawn.
Lucas nodded silently.
Then Athanasia put her head on Lucas's right shoulder, her hand that was on his forehead only moments ago, on his chest, grabbing his hand and pulling it across his chest.
,,I know you don't like to speak about your past. I can only suppose that it was painful, but I will always be there for you. If you ever felt that you didn't receive enough affection before, from your parents or your master, I will offer it in their stead. Because even if sometimes, you are annoying, insufferable and a moron, you are still mine. My moron”, finished Athanasia with a whisper.
"Good night, princess!", replied Lucas softly, while hugging her tighter.
Soon, he fell asleep once again, but this time no nightmares. Only good dreams.
In the quietness of their bedroom, soon, a transparent figure of man with long white hair appeared in front of the window, with the rays of the moon passing right through him, leaving no visible shadow anywhere.
"I'm proud of you, Lucas. No...my son. You were able to find happiness and to cling to it, unlike me. I wish you a long life, full of happiness", added the white haired man with a smile as his ghost vanished from view.
Author's notes: this is my first fic that I wrote since 2020 after a long time where I lacked motivation and due to real life issues. I don't know how good it is. But I gave it my best.
So what do you think about this one-shot ?
Feel free to leave a review and to check my other works.