Secrets of the Atelier: Nights of Magic and Command
In the town of Kieferly, Coco runs a magical atelier. She's a kind but clumsy witch who finally achieves her dream of becoming the apprentice of the master she's admired for so long, Kiefer.
But that very night, Coco learns the truth. The 'special magic' Kiefer teaches requires a deep, physical and mental bond through a ritual of dominance and submission. She's terrified, yet her body burns with an unfamiliar heat as she's ordered to reveal her adult self.
Kiefer has a hidden agenda: to collec
Secrets of the Atelier: Nights of Magic and Command - Mark of Awakening, my magic is my own.
Blood spread across the floor, drinking in the pale blue light of the mana lamps and gleaming a murky black.
Koko remained on her hands and knees, unable to move. The brand on her back burned as if seared by fire. Her limbs had turned to stone—she couldn't move a single finger by her own will.
Before her lay Riche. His pale violet hair clung to the pool of blood. Just moments ago, those gentle golden eyes had been smiling at her. Now he lay motionless, like a doll.
*(He's dead.)*
The center of her mind went cold. She couldn't breathe. Her heart ached as if being crushed in a vice.
No. No. Not yet—
That was when it happened.
The fingers of Riche's right hand twitched, ever so faintly.
His nails scraped against the stone floor, as if clawing at it. Just barely. But unmistakably.
"…!"
He's alive. He's still alive.
That single fact planted a small pillar at the very center of Koko's crumbling heart. She forced her tear-blurred eyes wide open and stared hard at those fingertips.
*(I want to protect him.)*
This time, for certain. I will protect Riche.
Her resolve grew hot, blazing up deep within her chest.
And that heat—began flowing into the brand on her back.
Normally, it was a conduit for Keefree's mana to enter. Now, the sensation of Koko's own mana racing backward through that passage surged through her. From the very depths of her body, golden light spilled forth, tracing the lines of the brand.
Hot. Painful. But more than that—the feeling of her mana moving by her own will was unbearably liberating.
Something burst open on her back.
The brand, until now saturated with Keefree's mana, shifted from gold to a gleaming silver-white. The binding spell-forms unraveled with an audible snap.
"Hahh…!"
Her limbs could move. Koko crawled on her knees to Riche's side. Even as she pressed her hands into the sea of blood, she no longer felt its coldness.
She laid both hands over Riche's right hand. She gripped his blood-slick, slippery fingers tightly.
"Please…"
She focused on the core of her chest. She wasn't borrowing Keefree's mana. This was her own mana. The light within her—the light she would never surrender to anyone.
Both hands shone silver-white. That light streamed from Riche's palm, up his arm, to his shoulder, and into the deep gash in his side. The torn flesh knit itself seamlessly together. The blood that had been gushing out slowed to a halt.
"Nn… ah…"
Strength drained from her entire body. The backlash of exhausting her mana wrenched at her organs. The taste of iron spread through her mouth. Blood. Blood was coming from her own mouth too. Her vision flickered white, and she couldn't see ahead.
The moment she nearly collapsed—
Someone's arms caught Koko's body, holding her up.
"…Koko… san."
A hoarse voice. But it was unmistakably Riche's.
Koko opened her tear-clouded eyes. Right there, close to her, were Riche's golden eyes. With his injured arm, he awkwardly held her shoulders.
"Riche… san… thank goodness…"
Riche's body warmth seeped gently into Koko's cheek. Hot. Completely different from Keefree's cold hands. That warmth melted Koko's heart.
Riche's hand touched Koko's back. He traced softly over the brand.
"To do something like this… you…"
His voice trembled. Whether from anger or sorrow—Koko couldn't tell.
The two of them huddled together on the floor, steadying their ragged breathing. For the first time, Koko had formed a mana connection with someone by her own will. And it had been with Riche.
"—Such a thing is impossible."
A cold voice echoed through the room.
Keefree. His tall, lean frame stood in the dimness. Even Koko could see his fingers trembling faintly as he gripped the spell-form tome in his left hand.
"Reversing the flow of your brand… such control should be beyond your capability."
His usual composure was gone. Unease seeped through the edges of his voice.
The brand he himself had designed. Meant to subjugate its bearer with the owner's mana—rewritten by his disciple's will. The very premise of his research had just crumbled before his eyes.
Keefree's cold gray eyes looked down at Koko. What dwelled in those eyes—was it anger? Or bewilderment at seeing Koko as a "person" for the first time?
"Then I shall complete the permanent brand at once. Everything—before this night is over."
From the sleeve of his coat, a slender spell-form dagger emerged. As Keefree murmured, the ancient script spell-forms carved across the walls of the underground workshop began to glow pale blue, one after another.
*Rumble, rumble, rumble—*
The entire building began to groan, low and deep.
Outside, in the alley.
Alisa stood frozen, her back pressed against the atelier wall. She had been here all night. Beneath her clothes, she still hid the excerpts from Keefree's research notes.
*(This is my fault.)*
The words she had spoken to Riche in the library spun endlessly in her head. Words she had said out of jealousy, just to divert Riche's attention from Koko—those words had sent Riche straight to the atelier.
That was when it happened.
A silver-white light burst through the first-floor window. Then, the entire building lurched and swayed.
"Eep…!"
A small shriek escaped Alisa's lips.
Through the wall, she heard a voice.
"…Koko… san."
It was Riche's voice.
Alisa's chest ached sharply. Riche was still alive. But Koko was doing something unthinkable.
*(I can't do this anymore.)*
Alisa muttered. Her stomach hurt. For hours now, she had been scared, in pain, desperate to run away. But—
"I'm sorry, senpai…!"
Clutching the bundle of parchment from beneath her clothes, Alisa pushed open the atelier door.
The moment Alisa burst onto the first floor, what met her eyes was the pale blue light of spell-forms racing across every wall. At the center stood Keefree, still deploying his spell-forms. And beyond him—Koko, collapsed on the floor, with Riche huddled close beside her.
The floor was covered in blood. She couldn't even tell whose it was.
"No way… this is bad…"
Her legs froze. Even so, trembling, Alisa ran up to Koko.
"Here… I've been holding onto this. I'm sorry, senpai."
Koko accepted it with shaking hands as Alisa pulled it from inside her clothes. A bundle of parchment. Excerpts from Keefree's research notes.
Having said that, Alisa crouched down in a corner. She hugged her knees, her eyebrows twitching faintly. Terrified as she was, she looked just a little bit ridiculous—and for the briefest moment, the tension in the room seemed to ease.
Koko spread the parchment open.
Her eyes traced the written words.
*What the completion of the permanent blessing-arts aims to achieve—to house the soul of the betrothed who perished in the era of the Great Collapse within a blessing-art vessel, and to resurrect them.*
*The collection of pure mana serves as the ritual fuel for this purpose.*
*The test subject "Koko" is the most ideal vessel of all.*
Her hands trembled.
*(The reason he chose me…)*
The root of Keefree's possessiveness and obsession toward Koko. It was a desperate love for someone he had lost. Koko was nothing more than a substitute. A vessel. A test subject.
Beside her, Riche, who had been reading the same page, showed a flicker of something in his eyes. An expression that said he had known. Koko noticed it, but she asked nothing for now.
Tears spilled over and fell onto the parchment.
Even so, Koko clutched the papers to her chest and stood up. Her legs were shaking. Her whole body ached. Her mouth was filled with the taste of blood.
But—she refused to lose.
She turned to face Keefree. Amid the light of the spell-forms, she couldn't see his face.
"Sensei."
Her voice trembled. Even so, Koko did not look away.
"I am not your tool."
She spoke each word as if biting down on it.
"My mana is meant to protect someone. Not for the person you lost. Not for your research. It's for the person I choose."
It was the first time. The first time she had ever fought back against Keefree with her own words.
Until now, she had been too afraid. Afraid of being abandoned. But—now was different.
Keefree did not stop deploying his spell-forms. Yet the hand gripping the dagger trembled faintly. Deep within those cold gray eyes, she saw something stirring—not just anger.
Riche pressed a hand against the wall and stood. His wound was not yet fully closed. His steps faltered. Even so, one step, then another, he walked over to stand beside Koko.
The spell-form for the permanent brand was still nearing completion. The walls of the workshop continued to shudder and groan.
Koko and Riche, together, faced Keefree.
The end was still to come.
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