The Ancient Magus' Bride: Shadow Bride, Moonlit Promise
She has no magic. No family. No place to belong. But when the "beloved child of night" arrives at Glendower College, Lucy Webster's cursed gift—her strange, unwanted perception—may be the only thing standing between Chise and the darkness closing in around her.
Lucy Webster has spent eight years surviving. Surviving the massacre that took her family. Surviving the whispers that call her cursed. Surviving as an auditor at a college of magic where she's tolerated at best—and hated at worst. With
The Ancient Magus' Bride: Shadow Bride, Moonlit Promise - The Cold-Hearted Brother and the Lost Lamb — A Lonely Warning
The end of spring was drawing near.
In the lecture students' dormitory of Glendower Academy of Magic—Slate House—the old wood smell grew stronger in the corridors come evening. Lucy Webster stood before the door of Chise's room.
(I have to say it.)
Her heart pounded against the inside of her chest. Her fingertips were cold. She raised her hand to knock, and hesitated twice.
Since that night in the archive room, when Finn had threatened her, Lucy had barely slept. When she closed her eyes, those jade-green eyes surfaced. The man who had told her, in that calm voice, not to make Chise unhappy.
(That wasn't a threat.)
It was a declaration.
With trembling fingers, Lucy knocked on the door.
Knock, knock.
"Coming!"
The reply came at once. Light footsteps approached, and the door opened.
The red-haired girl peeked out.
"Lucy! What's wrong? I was just reading a book I borrowed from Finn."
Chise was beaming. In her hands was an old leather-bound volume. Lucy couldn't read the title. But her sensing ability picked up a faint residue of magic from the book.
(That man's magic.)
A sharp ache pierced the depths of her chest.
"...Chise, I need to talk to you."
Lucy's voice came out lower than she'd expected—low enough to surprise even herself.
Chise tilted her head.
"Sure, come in."
Chise's room, as always, had pots of moonlight grass lined up along the windowsill. The setting sun streamed in, and the silver veins of the leaves glowed faintly.
Lucy sat down on the edge of the bed. Chise took the chair at the desk.
Silence.
(How should I say this?)
Her mind went blank. She'd practiced so many times. She'd rehearsed it over and over in front of the mirror.
"Chise."
Lucy clenched her fist.
"Stay away from Finn Earnsworth."
Her voice trembled.
Chise blinked.
"Huh? Why?"
"He's dangerous. He's not the person you think he is."
"Lucy, what are you talking about? Finn's been researching how to help me handle my power properly. He's a really kind person."
Chise smiled.
As if soothing an overly anxious little sister.
"That's not it. He's trying to use you... to use your power."
Lucy started to speak, then swallowed her words.
(Trying to make you into a vessel.)
If she said those words to Chise—
What would Chise think?
"Lucy, you can be such a worrywart sometimes."
Chise's voice was soft.
But that softness stabbed deep into Lucy's chest.
"It's okay. Finn really sees me for who I am. He takes my power seriously, too. Lucy, are you misunderstanding something?"
Misunderstanding.
(It's not a misunderstanding.)
Lucy remembered the smell of death she'd sensed with her ability. The description of soul resurrection she'd read in the archive room. Finn's frozen eyes.
"Chise, please. Believe me. I'm worried about you."
Her voice shook and grew small.
Chise's face took on a slightly troubled look.
"Yeah, thank you. I'm happy you're worried about me, Lucy. But Finn isn't a bad person. I know that for sure."
Chise's smile melted into the sunset.
Lucy couldn't say anything anymore.
There was so much she wanted to say.
The words caught in the back of her throat.
"...Sorry. I just said something strange, out of nowhere."
Lucy stood up.
"No, I'm glad you came, Lucy. Want to eat together in the dining hall again tomorrow?"
Chise waved.
Lucy gave a small nod and left the room.
The moment she closed the door, all the strength drained from her body.
She leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor.
(It didn't reach her.)
The warning hadn't reached her.
Chise trusted Finn.
She didn't know what was hidden behind that gentle smile.
(What do I do?)
Lucy bit her lip.
The taste of iron spread through her mouth.
She was alone.
No one understood.
Not Chise.
Not her brother.
(...Brother.)
Lucy raised her head.
Seth.
Her real brother, well-versed in the underworld of magical society.
(I'll talk to him.)
Lucy pulled her smartphone from her pocket.
The screen glowed white in the twilight corridor.
She typed a message.
"I need to talk. Can we meet today?"
Send.
Seconds later, the read receipt appeared.
The reply was short.
"The Goat and Moon, back entrance. Six o'clock."
Lucy gripped her phone tight.
(Brother.)
It had been a long time since she'd seen him.
Dusk in Earnsworth village dyed the stone houses orange.
Lucy walked quickly along the road from the academy to the village.
The inn called The Goat and Moon stood a little ways from the village center. The owner, Margaret Hope, was a sighted human, and the place was known as a gathering spot for those connected to magic.
Lucy avoided the front of the inn and circled around to the back.
Behind it stood a single old oak tree. Beneath it was a wooden bench.
Seth was there.
He sat with his long legs crossed. His black hair was cropped short, with a single shaved line running through the left side of his head. His gray-blue eyes caught sight of Lucy.
A half-chewed matchstick hung from the corner of his mouth.
"You're late."
Seth spoke bluntly.
"...Sorry."
Lucy sat on the edge of the bench, keeping a little distance.
Silence.
The oak leaves stirred in the wind.
"So. What's this about? I'm not lending you money."
Seth spoke while chewing on the matchstick.
"It's not about money. ...It's about Chise."
"Chise? Ah, the Japanese girl."
Seth looked up at the sky, uninterested.
"Do you know Finn Earnsworth? A distant relative of the Earnsworth family, lives in the annex. The goat-horned mage."
Seth's eyes narrowed, just for an instant.
"Yeah. I know him. An eccentric collector, right?"
"He's after Chise. He's trying to use her power to resurrect his dead lover."
Lucy said it all in one breath.
Seth was silent.
"Soul resurrection. A forbidden art. It requires an enormous amount of magic to serve as a vessel. Chise is a night's beloved—he's trying to make her into that vessel."
"And what do you want me to do about it?"
Seth's voice was cold.
"You handle auction brokerage. You know the underside of magical society, right? I want you to find out if Finn has been buying anything suspicious."
Seth spat the matchstick onto the ground.
"No."
One word.
"Why not?!"
"It's none of my business."
Seth pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
"If you care about that Chise girl so much, do it yourself. Don't drag me into it."
He lit a cigarette.
The orange flame flickered small in the dusk.
"You always do this, brother..."
Lucy's voice caught.
"Always do what?"
Seth looked at Lucy as he exhaled smoke.
"No matter how desperate I am, you always push me away, saying it's not your problem."
Tears threatened to spill over.
Lucy bit her lip and held them back.
"Of course I do. Your problems are your own. I'm not your guardian, and I'm not your spokesperson."
"...That's cruel."
"Cruel suits me fine. That's how the world works."
Seth dropped the cigarette to the ground.
He crushed the ember under his shoe.
"If you want to protect that girl, then you move. That's all there is to it."
Seth stood up.
"I'm going. I've still got work left."
"...Wait."
Lucy grabbed Seth's sleeve.
Seth stopped.
"Please. Just once is enough. I want you to look into Finn's transaction records. That's all I'm asking."
Seth didn't turn around.
"Like hell I will."
Seth shook off her hand.
Lucy's fingers grasped at empty air.
Seth disappeared through the back door of the inn without looking back.
Lucy was left alone beneath the oak tree.
The wind was cold.
(Brother, you idiot.)
Lucy clenched her fist.
(I'll do it myself.)
Determination began to burn quietly in the depths of her chest.
Once inside the inn, Seth took a seat at the corner of the counter.
Margaret, the owner, set down an ale without a word.
Seth took a sip, then pulled out his smartphone.
He opened the screen.
His fingers moved quickly.
He typed a name into the search bar.
"Finn Earnsworth."
Past auction transaction records. An unofficial, underground database.
Seth scrolled through the screen.
Seconds later, his fingers stopped.
"Soul resurrection catalysts—moonlight grass root, dragon's tears, spectral bone powder."
"Winning bidder: F. Earnsworth."
Seth clicked his tongue.
"...That idiot's gotten himself mixed up in one hell of a mess."
His voice was low and irritated.
But his fingers didn't stop.
He opened another record.
Then another.
Seth kept glaring at the screen, chewing on his cigarette.
Night fell.
Lucy stood at the entrance to the forest behind the academy.
The Earnsworth forest.
Oaks over three hundred years old blotted out the sky. Moonlight filtered thin through gaps in the leaves.
(The forest at night is dangerous.)
Academy rules forbade entry after dark. A labyrinth barrier was woven into it—once you wandered in, you couldn't get out for hours.
But Lucy had her sensing ability.
When she was twelve, in the night garden, she had seen the flow of magic running through the veins of the moonlight grass leaves. Since that day, Lucy could read magic like a map.
(I can follow Finn's magical traces.)
Lucy closed her eyes.
Her sensing ability read the magic within the forest like a map.
A faint residue of magic.
Finn's.
A thick, viscous magic tinged with the smell of death.
Lucy opened her eyes.
(That way.)
She stepped forward.
Dead leaves crunched underfoot.
The forest at night was a different creature from the daytime one. The shadows of the trees seemed to writhe. The wind whispered at her ear.
Lucy focused her sensing ability.
Finn's magical traces continued deeper and deeper into the forest.
She must have walked about fifteen minutes.
Lucy stopped.
Before her stood an old stone building.
Moss-covered walls. A half-collapsed roof. At the entrance, an iron door, rusted, stood half-open.
(Here...)
Lucy examined the entire building with her sensing ability.
(A ritual site.)
An old ritual site.
A forgotten place, absent even from the academy's records.
Finn's magical traces grew dense here.
Lucy approached the iron door.
And reached out her hand.
—Snap.
A sharp pain shot from her fingertips through her entire arm.
"Ah—!"
Lucy pulled her hand back.
Her fingertips were numb.
(A barrier.)
A barrier formed from Finn's magic.
A transparent membrane covered the entire entrance.
She read the barrier's structure with her sensing ability.
(...Strong. I can't break it.)
Lucy bit her lip.
(But something is going to happen here.)
She was certain.
Finn was going to do something here.
Prepare the soul resurrection ritual.
Lucy crouched before the barrier.
(Find the gaps.)
She focused her sensing ability.
She read the flow of the barrier's magic like a map.
(Here, the flow is disturbed. Here too.)
Lucy traced the flow of magic on the ground with her fingertip.
The weak points in the barrier.
(But it's not enough yet.)
Time passed.
Wind blew from deep in the forest.
A sweet scent, like moonlight grass.
But somehow, raw and fishy.
(This smell...)
Lucy raised her head.
Deep in the forest.
Beyond the ritual site.
Something was there.
Lucy stood up.
(I have to investigate.)
But her feet wouldn't move.
(I'm scared.)
Fear bound her whole body.
(But to protect Chise.)
Lucy took one step forward.
That was when it happened.
Her smartphone vibrated in her pocket.
Lucy startled and looked at the screen.
One message.
From Seth.
"Don't do anything on your own. Come to The Goat and Moon again tomorrow."
Lucy stared at the screen.
(Brother.)
Warmth spread slowly through her chest.
(He didn't abandon me after all.)
Lucy held the smartphone to her chest.
Wind blew again from deep in the forest.
The raw, fishy smell grew stronger.
Lucy left the forest without looking back.
But in her heart, she had already decided.
(Tomorrow, I'll talk to my brother, and then—)
(I will protect Chise. No matter what.)
In the night sky, the moon floated white.
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