To the Man Destined to Kill Me - Chapter 77

Julia was packing her things.
After returning to Wifland with Noah, she was letting go of her feelings one by one as she disposed of her belongings.

If Julia Ashford—no, Maya Ivanov—appeared in Natalia, there would be a lot of trouble.

In Natalia, the idea of reviving the class system was rising again under Victor Lebedev. If Noah returned with him, a royal restoration movement would start.

If it became known that the woman who gave birth to Noah—the one who would stand at the center of that movement—was none other than Maya Ivanov, who had killed the last emperor, Noah could lose his position.

Because of that, Noah would have to take action, such as imprisoning her himself, in order to claim his right as a descendant of the royal family.

And Maya Ivanov, once imprisoned, would either spend her life in a damp cell paying for her sins or be sentenced to death.
To avoid such a future, her existence had to remain hidden.

If she disappeared, Noah could fully claim the title of “the last emperor’s son hidden in Wifland.”
Even so, she had returned—for the sake of her son’s safety.

‘The Mage Union is not something to take lightly.’

Since she had once been part of the Mage Union, she knew their power well.
That’s why, even if the nobles of Natalia decided to protect Noah, she couldn’t fully trust them.

It was the Mage Union who had overthrown even the royal family.
She had to protect Noah herself.
And just like Victor Lebedev said, she would die during the war.

During this long civil war, when even one mage was precious, her existence as a first-class mage would be a big help.

Julia looked down at her hands.
After visiting Scarlett’s grave, Noah had decided to return to Natalia.

Once she decided to follow her son to Natalia, Julia hadn’t sealed her powers again.
Because of that, her hands would soon be stained with blood once more.

Knock, knock.

The knock snapped Julia out of her thoughts.

Lately, she had been very on edge, so she instinctively grabbed a self-defense weapon.
But then she realized it was no longer necessary and lowered it helplessly.
She was a mage now.
After breaking the seal, she no longer needed such items.

“Who is it?”

“I’m from City Hall.”

“What is it about?”

Julia frowned and opened the door. Standing there was someone she knew very well.

“…Martin…”

“Maya. You really are alive.”

Martin Armas.

He was once a first-class mage who led the Mage Union alongside her and succeeded in the revolution.
He was also a notorious fugitive.
And he had been one of her comrades during the Night of Massacre.

“How did you…”

“Even if your magic scent was faint, there’s no way I wouldn’t recognize an old comrade’s.”

It must have been the day her seal, which had been barely holding, broke due to a fever, and her eye color returned.

Martin forcefully pushed his way into the house.
Julia quickly scanned the area to check if he had brought anyone else.
Her body tensed, but she slowly hid her wariness.

“If you were in Natalia, you wouldn’t be living in such a shabby place.
This is worse than a prison.”

“If I had stayed, I’d be a fugitive like you.”

“Who knows how long I’ll be a fugitive? Once we get rid of the nobles, we’ll be called revolutionaries who opened a new era, not criminals.
Anyway, could I get a glass of water?
It’s been a long journey, and I’m very thirsty.”

While Julia poured water into a glass, Martin spoke casually, like he had just met an old friend, even though he clearly knew why Maya Ivanov had faked her death.

“It’s already been twenty years.
How have you been?”

Julia answered as calmly as she could, without letting down her guard.

“It’s been tough.
Living as a woman without magic wasn’t easy.”

“Then why did you seal your magic?
When I realized you had sealed your magic instead of dying, I was really disappointed.
Ah, thanks.
I was really thirsty.”

“Sorry. I had my reasons.”

“What reasons?”

Martin asked as if he didn’t already know.
Julia fiddled with the ends of her hair and answered.

“Just… I was tired of war.
No real reason.”

“Well, that’s a relief.
I thought you had done something foolish.”

Martin continued.

“Hey, by the way. Did you hear?
Turns out that dead emperor had a hidden child.
The emperor was crazy, but the woman who had his child must have been even crazier.
Right now, everyone’s desperately searching for that woman.”

“Really?”

Martin’s voice grew louder, spitting saliva, but his eyes stayed cold and his gestures exaggerated.

“Because of that, Andrea and Alice couldn’t come with me.
Oh, and Victoria died eight years ago.
She caught tuberculosis while in prison.”

“I see…”

Julia replied flatly.
She was focusing hard on Martin’s flashy hand movements.

“If it weren’t for my hidden information network, I would have lost everything.
Right now, they’re desperately hunting for the emperor’s woman.”

“That’s horrible.
To think the emperor had a child left behind.”

“That’s why we’ve been suffering, hiding from Natalia’s government forces.
Oh, by the way, I heard you had a child too?
Is that true?”

“Yes.
Your information is still sharp.”

“How old?”

“Just… recently turned twenty.”

Julia hesitated about lying but swallowed dryly.
Her thin eyelids trembled as she slowly looked up.
Martin already knew everything.
A fight was unavoidable.
The war had already begun.

“Boy or girl?”

“…A boy…”

Martin’s eyes narrowed.
He showed his teeth in a crooked smile.

A boy could be crowned emperor, and a girl could be destroyed by the wave of revolution.
Either way, the end would be the same.
Besides, Martin seemed to already know everything—there was no point in lying.

“Well, how perfect.
Same age and same gender as the one we’re looking for.
I heard from Victor’s side that the woman also had a son.”

“Is that so? That’s surprising.”

“And the child’s father? Where is he?”

“Dead.”

“Dead? How?”

“An accident.
A carriage accident.”

“I see.
That must have made things hard for you.”

“There was a lot of inheritance, but I failed in business.
His name was Alex White… you’ve heard of him, right?
From one of Wifland’s prestigious families.”

“Alex White! Of course I know!
You found yourself quite a good man.”

“Something like that.”

“But, you know…
If I remember right, Alex White already had a family back then.”

His pretending to be clueless was disgusting.
Still, Julia gave a sheepish smile and didn’t answer.
Martin shrugged and moved on.

“But you know, that’s not what I’m really curious about.
What I want to know is why you pretended to die.”

“I’m really sorry about that.
But I thought I couldn’t escape from the Mage Union any other way.
You know there’s no way to leave the Union.”

“True.
I understand.”

Behind her skirt, Julia’s hand slowly opened.
She was curling her fingers, ready to attack with magic at any moment.

“But still, hiding for twenty years was cruel.”

“Maybe.”

“By the way.
Are you sure the boy’s father is really Alex White?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if you compare the boy’s age with Alex White’s activities twenty years ago, there’s no overlap with your life.
Could it be… the boy’s real father was the emperor?”

“What are you talking about?
How could I ever meet the emperor?”

“Right. That must be it.”

Martin nodded like he was convinced.
Julia swallowed hard.
Her throat was dry.
She tried to hide her rough breathing.

“You know what, Maya?
You’re very good at lying.
You don’t show a single sign.”

“…”

“So when dealing with you, I have to prepare two or three times more. I couldn’t see you up close because of Victor Lebedev, but from a distance, I could see the child looks a lot like you.”

Julia’s face turned pale. She caught her breath, watching for the right moment to tear her opponent apart.

“But the overall frame and the look in the eyes—anyone could tell he looks just like the dead emperor. It’s almost terrifying how much he resembles him. Oh, Maya. Calm down. I don’t want to kill you too. No matter how cruel we are, we’re not so heartless as to betray an old comrade.”

“Andrea must be with Noah.”

“Well, something like that.”

Martin shrugged and gave a friendly smile.

“Maya—no, you’re Julia now. Anyway, calm down. We’re just going to deal with the child and leave. I have no intention of—”

“Shut up!”

When Julia swung her wrist, sharp ice spears rained down from the air. Martin easily destroyed them.

With Martin’s magic, the wooden floorboards all rose up and pushed Julia against the wall. Julia crushed them into powder. The powdered wood gathered into a giant hand and tried to grab her.

Then a burst of fire burned the hand away. Martin looked at Julia, whose flesh was burned by the heat, with pity.

“You’ve gotten rusty. Tsk. That’s why real battle experience is so important. Maya, stay still. I swear, I don’t want to kill you.”

“If you want to kill Noah, you’ll have to kill me first.”

Breathing heavily, Julia stomped her foot. The floor turned into a sticky swamp. Martin calmly looked down at his body slowly sinking into it.

“Attacks using illusion magic are out of fashion these days. The attacks that work better now are…”

Martin tilted his head slightly. The clip attached to his collar separated and transformed into tiny needles. The needles flew at Julia before she could react, piercing her body in several places.

A terrible scream, enough to bring down the old house, erupted.

“It directly attacks the nerves to cause pain. Oh, and I recommend not moving. If you move the wrong way, the needles might sever your spinal nerves.”

Martin silenced Julia’s screams, clicked his tongue, and drank some more water. Looking into the cup, he clicked his tongue again.

“As expected, it’s not as good as Natalia’s tea. Those Wifland bastards…”

He whistled and slowly walked toward Julia, who was convulsing in pain. Short and with a strong jaw, Martin was the head of the magician army responsible for countless massacres.

“Tsk. If you keep resisting like that, I’ll have no choice but to kill you. Hmm. But…”

Just then, a voice came from the brooch pinned to his jacket.

—Martin, Martin! Can you hear me?

Hearing the voice, Martin lifted his collar and spoke.

“Andrea, I’m busy right now.”

—Martin, we have to give up on the kid! Victor is here himself!

“What? Victor Lebedev?”

—Yes! If we get caught by Victor, it’ll be even more dangerous!

“Oh… In that case, we’ll go with Plan B. Let’s meet safely in Natalia.”

Martin shook his head and lowered his collar.

Julia’s fingers, scratching at the floor, were bloodied, her nails torn. Martin stepped on her hands with his leather boots, crushing them so she couldn’t cast any more magic.

“Sorry, Maya. The plan just changed. Since we can’t kill the child, you’ll have to die instead. We need to frame the White family as suspects so they’ll tear each other apart and won’t return to Natalia.”

“…Ugh.”

“Of course, while they’re fighting, we’ll work to turn the people against the idea of restoring the empire. In short, we’re buying time for a public opinion war. So, Maya, you’ll have to die now. I’m sorry. I really am sorry.”

He pulled a gun from inside his coat and aimed it at Julia’s head without hesitation.

Julia struggled, using all kinds of magic. But having sealed her powers for so long, she was no match for Martin, who had fought on the front lines of war for years.

He neutralized every spell Julia cast to block the bullet.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out, and Julia’s struggling body fell limp. Martin clicked his tongue and spoke to her lifeless form.

“Goodbye, old friend.”

Then he threw a small brooch next to her body. It was an experimental communicator—one made by none other than Cravitz.

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