The Married Alpha Who Refuses to Be a Heartthrob (A/B/O · Alpha POV) - Chapter 33

The Disfigured Fiancée

They glanced toward the audience seats and caught a glimpse of someone sitting there. Cloaked in black, the figure’s face was obscured. They surmised it was likely Adam.

Adam watched the performance on stage, his head turning slightly as if he’s noticed their presence.

Kaes reached for the pistol at his waist. Though an opportunity existed, it wasn’t ideal.

The dancing skin-ghost on stage swayed, its shimmering form suddenly materializing before them. Keith gasped.

“Hahahaha!” The mouth beneath the skin-ghost mask opened exaggeratedly, expelling a wisp of black smoke-like substance.

The wisp slithered toward them like a snake. Instinctively, Kaes shoved Keith aside. The smoke grazed his arm, leaving only a shallow cut—not a serious injury.

After a long period of inactivity, the system suddenly flashed information in Keith’s mind.

[Human-Skin Ghost: Weak offensive power, but possesses a special skill.

Special Skill: ???????]

The skill wasn’t displayed yet. This system proved to be useless in this situation, only revealing little information to the host.

“You’re hurt.” Keith pulled Kaes back several paces as the Human Skin Ghost drifted behind them, keeping close.

Keith chanted an incantation, flames dancing in his palm. He hurled a fireball at the Human Skin Ghost.

“Aaaah!” The Skin Ghost screamed in agony as the fireball struck its upper body, setting it ablaze. It flailed its limbs, now nothing but flaps of skin.

“How could…” The instant Keith struck the Skin Ghost, he felt as if he himself had been burned. A searing heat washed over his face. Clutching his face in pain, he saw the Skin Ghost still alive. He quickly formed another fireball.

“Keith, stop!” Kaes frantically grabbed Keith’s spellcasting hand. He turned to look at Keith’s face and saw half of it was hideously twisted, as if scorched by fire. “Your face…”

【Human Skin Ghost Special Ability: Immune to magical damage. Reflects all magical damage, returning 10% of the damage back to the caster.】

【Immune to physical damage, but can be stunned for ten seconds.】

【Solution: Remove the enchanted mask from the Human Skin Ghost.】

Keith touched his pitted left cheek in horror.

The Human Skin Ghost, engulfed in raging flames, pursued them relentlessly. Keith fired a shot at it, causing the creature to freeze in place. Its body was completely consumed by fire, making it impossible to remove its mask. It now resembled a moving fireball.

Keith saw the ghost was still alive: “Is it undead?”

Ten seconds passed quickly. The ghost continued chasing them, constantly spewing black mist from its mouth.

Kaes dragged Keith down the corridor, explaining as they ran: “Removing its mask might stop it.”

Keith, too preoccupied to lament his own face, devised a plan: “I’ll use ice magic to extinguish the flames. Then we can get it.”

Kaes didn’t want Keith to risk himself again. Any type of magic spell will only reflect back at him.

…

The scenery before them twisted and shimmered. The corridor vanished, and they seemed to be plunged into utter darkness.

“Wake up!” Vansen’s voice echoed from above.

Kaes opened his eyes again, finding himself back in Keith’s room. The events he just experienced felt real than a dream.

“Did I fall asleep?” Kaes sat up. He’d been resting his head on Keith’s chest when he dozed off. Now, upon waking, Keith’s face looked exactly as it had in his dream, it was pitted and had burn marks.

Startled, Kaes shook Keith. “Keith, wake up! Your face…”

Keith jolted awake from his dream. Both Kaes and Vansen stared at him with concern. “What’s wrong with my face?”

Keith touched his face. The pitted, scarred texture felt exactly like in his dream. Horrified, he scrambled barefoot off the bed and rushed to the mirror.

His left cheek was disfigured as if burned. He broke down. “Everything in that dream was real!”

“What happened?” Bishop Vansen had come to check after the maid serving coffee reported she couldn’t wake them.

“After Keith woke up, his face immediately changed like this.” Kaes replied.

Kaes recounted the events as they unfolded, cupping Keith’s face as he examined it. “Bishop Vansen, what are we going to do?”

He feared Keith might do something desperate.

“Don’t look at me. I’m ruined. Disfigured.” Keith felt utterly defeated, desperate to cry out loud. He covered his face and turned away, his voice trembling.

He had been disfigured by his own magic backfiring. It was something so shameful it would disgrace any mage.

“…Let me see if there’s any hope of repair.” Vansen was equally shocked. He stepped closer and gently turned Keith’s shoulders.

“Vansen, what should I do?” Keith tremblingly released his hands from his face. His disfigured left cheek looked as if several centipedes were crawling across it.

Vansen studied him intently, his expression grave. He saw traces of fire elemental energy still shifting across Keith’s face.

He loathed Adam’s witchcraft. Any healing spell is forbidden, any type of magic was also forbidden and it even came with a rebound effect.

He hoped this time it wouldn’t carry the healing prohibition.

Convinced he was beyond saving, Keith slumped onto the bedside, covering his face and weeping. He was so ugly, it was better not to hold Kaes back: “Kaes, let’s call off the engagement!”

“What? Why?” Kaes couldn’t accept it. He didn’t want to endure another tumultuous marriage. He sat beside Keith and wrapped his arms around him. “I won’t agree.”

Keith still covered his face, refusing to look up. Kaes could only turn to Vansen for help. If Vansen didn’t find a solution soon, he’d lose his fiancee.

“It should be salvageable. Give me a moment,” Vansen said.

After a while, Vansen returned with two butlers, who brought several bottles of holy water.

“Since this is your fire element, it should be possible to remove it. First, we’ll repeatedly wash your face with holy water.” Vansen instructed one butler to pour the holy water over Keith’s face.

Another butler caught the pouring water in a basin.

Blessed by the church’s magic, holy water was effective against various external injuries and could also erase magical traces.

Keith frowned, feeling a stinging sensation on his face. After using all five bottles, he felt much lighter. Touching his face, he noticed the gruesome burns had faded, though a small trace remained.

Kaes’s worried brow relaxed considerably as he stared at Keith’s face. ” Much better. But what’s that faint glowing red on your face?“

Vansen wiped Keith’s face and damp temples with a cloth. ”That’s fire element. It won’t disappear as long as he uses magic. It might even spread the burns… So Keith, you’re forbidden from using any magic whatsoever for the time being. Otherwise, your face will stay like this… Best to pretend you’re just an ordinary person who doesn’t know magic.”

Wouldn’t that make him useless? Keith thought but didn’t voice it.

For an SSS-rank wizard, crippling a mage was no difficult feat. Most top-tier wizards mastered magic and possessed techniques to suppress healing or magic itself.

The breakthrough lies in defeating him with physical attacks. Something most wizards don’t understand as they rely on their magic and not on their physical strength.

After the butlers packed his things, Vansen helped Keith lie down. “Dawn is approaching. You should rest. Until the next note arrives, you won’t dream of that opera house.”

Vansen noticed a wound on Keith’s arm, blood staining his sleeve. He chanted an incantation, and a beam of light enveloped Keith’s arm, healing it rapidly.

“Thank you, Bishop Vansen,” Keith said. “That dream suddenly flung us out. Thinking back, it really felt like a dream.”

Vansen: “Dreams are unstable. Feeling pain from an injury sends you back. To deal with Adam, we still need to find another portal to that space and enter the theater from there.”

After seeing Vansen off, Kaes returned to check on the recumbent Keith, tucking the blanket around him. “Rest well.”

As Kaes turned to leave, Keith rolled over and grabbed his hand. “Don’t take what I said earlier to heart…”

Kaes’s tone remained calm. “Oh, weren’t you trying to become my ex-fiancée? You wanted to abandon me after disfiguring yourself.”

“Then I’ll propose to you again?” Keith’s facial injuries had healed considerably, and he felt confident once more.

Kaes turned back to see his pleading expression. Curious how an Omega would propose to an Alpha, he teased, “Alright then, show me how it’s done.”

Keith smiled, sitting up to kiss the knuckles of the large hand he was holding. He wrapped his arms around that arm and nuzzled it. “Governor, marry me. I want to be the Governor’s Lady. Please—”

“Never knew you were so good at being sweet.” Kaes’s hand still held the warmth of his lips. He cradled the head and kissed the crown of his hair. “Want to be the Governor’s wife? We’ll see how you behave… Go to sleep now.”

He finally understood why all Alphas craved sweet, delicious Omegas. He was just as susceptible as the rest.

Kees lay on his side in bed, watching Keith leave, a smile never leaving his face.