“Are you sure we’re heading the right way?” The beauty’s delicate eyebrows furrowed as she glanced at the silver-headed youth she picked up days ago.

“Yes Master! I’m very sure that there’s a town in this direction. It’s just that we were right in the middle of the desert when we met so the journey to reach even one of the towns takes quite a while” Servio enthusiastically replied as he held a retractable parasol over their heads to block the damning sun.

Hearing his response, Solia sighed and remained silent without any complaints since she couldn’t just take another gamble through teleporting as she’d simply end up appearing on top of Servio’s magical tools again. She had actually attempted doing so a few days back and failed quite miserably.

These past few days, Servio had not only been constantly circling around her while asking her about her previous mission but he had also been randomly asking her for head pats while being extremely clingy whenever they took a break from their journey.

She had gotten so used to it that she’s actually starting to doubt if her sense of personal space is still normal after being around this puppy-like youth.

After two more weeks had passed, they successfully got out of the desert and entered a forest situated by the borders of the town they were headed at.

“A forest…do you also know about this area?” Solia’s eye twitched as she stared at the spectacle filled with trees before her, thinking about the prolonged journey just to get out of those woods.

“Yes Master, this forest has been acting as the border between the town and the desert since centuries ago so passing through these woods is unavoidable” The silver-headed youth calmly replied as he surveyed the area before heading back to her side with his puppy-like smile.

“Now then Master, let’s head in that direction to reach the town faster. The ground is quite uneven since there are no clear paths left in this forest but that shouldn’t be too much of a hassle with me here” After pointing towards a direction, Servio immediately took hold of one of the girl’s delicate hands before linking their fingers together.

Meanwhile, Solia simply let him be and didn’t even bother warning him about personal space anymore as he frequently did this when they were in the desert. Moreover, since Solia had barely travelled away from the empire, she was completely clueless as to where they were and thus trusted Servio’s words unconditionally as she had thought that the silver-headed youth also wanted to reach town as soon as possible.

Hah…Master’s so easy to fool…but that’s what I like about her anyways as long as I’m the one doing the fooling…

As the thought crossed the young man’s mind, his smile turned cheeky and he merrily led away the beautiful young girl, definitely looking like the Big Bad Wolf who had successfully tricked Little Red Riding Hood.

“Hey Master, how did you end up in the desert by the way?” Servio had been thinking that it was weird for quite a while now that Solia, the prodigal magician, would get lost as she ventured out of the empire, and would especially end up stranded in the middle of a desert unknown to her.

“I wa-“ Just before Solia managed to reply, a sudden bout of pain burst throughout her body as the marks on the upper half of her body had suddenly shone into a deep crimson color, looking like blood that was embedding itself into her porcelain-like skin.

With the pain nearly causing her to black out, she gritted her teeth as she tightened her grasp of the silver-headed youth’s hand, to the point that his hand actually ached in pain from how much strength she was applying.

As he looked down in surprise at the girl’s sudden abnormality, he saw the girl’s face drained of all colors with cold sweat drenching her forehead. No sooner than later, the marks shone brighter till its color was dense enough to be seen through the girl’s clean apparel.

Following that horrendous scene came another bout of pain a thousand times worse than the first wave, successfully forcing out a groan out of the beautiful girl’s pale lips as blood dripped from her mouth which came from her biting herself to keep herself awake. With furrowed brows, Servio unhesitatingly knocked Solia out by swiftly applying pressure to her nape in an instant.

He then proceeded to take her into his arms as he rapidly leapt from tree to tree before arriving at a nearby lake. Taking another look at the girl’s awful state, he felt pained as his handsome features contorted in anxiety.

“Master…I’m sorry for this” Throwing all hesitations out of the window, he unbuttoned the girl’s top but didn’t remove it, successfully seeing a portion of the marks covering her upper half through the gap in the middle of her opened clothing.

With those all-too-familiar patterns entering his sights, the silver-headed youth’s gaze chilled to a terrifying degree as he took a deep breath while slowly rebuttoning the girl’s top.

He then took one of the girl’s hands into his as he closed his eyes. Seconds later, the youth’s eyes slowly opened, revealing a pair of lightly-shaded purple eyes, light enough that it was nearly white. However, this shade of purple very gradually grew denser as he chanted ancient lines that slowly repressed the blinding crimson coming from the girl’s seal.

No longer than a minute, the marks had turned back to their original onyx state and the girl’s complexion started to regain its colors. Sighing in relief, Servio suddenly turned his head away from the girl’s body as he coughed out blood himself.

“Damn…breaking my own seal to deal with this troublesome mark sure took its toll on me. As expected of my prowess, my seals are quite powerful even for me” Nodding to himself as he admired his own abilities amidst his murmurings, he wiped the blood dripping from the corner of his mouth off before turning his gaze back with a frown to the fragile figure of the girl he had been leading by the nose the past month.

Despite the girl’s breathing becoming stable though, she showed no signs of waking up even after being in a comatose state for the past three days.