Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools Volume 3 [Complete] by Hisaya Amagishi

Author:Hisaya Amagishi
Language: eng
Format: epub

Interlude: The Atonement of a Coward

With the hour growing late, Guido let Volf take the carriage first to be dropped off at the barracks while he remained at the restaurant. Keeping up with his brother’s pace of drinking had left him ever so slightly woozy. Still, it wasn’t a bad feeling—quite pleasant, in fact.

As his younger brother had waved him goodbye with a cheerful smile, he couldn’t help noticing how tall he’d grown, far taller now than himself. He tried to recall just when it was that Volf had overtaken him, only to find, with a tight twinge deep in his chest, that he had no such memory.

Guido, the eldest son of Earl Scalfarotto, had three younger brothers. The closest to him in age was Fabio, the son of the earl’s second wife. After him was Eraldo, a full brother to Guido. Finally, there was Volfred, the only son of the earl’s third wife. Despite their gaps in age and different mothers, Guido had always thought they’d gotten along remarkably well. Their mothers, too, were always amiable. They were much closer to the four boys than to their husband, whose duties kept him largely absent throughout his sons’ childhoods.

Guido had been in elementary school when he’d heard that his father, Renato, intended to take a third wife. The news hadn’t come as a shock. Around that time, talk had first begun to circulate of the next Earl Scalfarotto—namely, Guido—being made a marquis. In his mind, it made sense for his father to establish further connections with the high-ranking nobility. However, the day he was introduced to Vanessa saw all of his expectations defied. This woman was no noble, but a commoner, the daughter of a baron conferred with a non-hereditary title. She was young, and a knight, to boot.

With her lustrous ebony hair, snow-white skin, dark and mysterious eyes, and exquisite, doll-like features, her beauty was arresting. However, socially speaking, she was no proper match for an earl. She hadn’t so much as been adopted by a noble. As he watched the care and tenderness with which his father attended to Vanessa, a suspicion came over him. Could his father, at his age, have fallen in love? It was difficult to believe. It was only after that, when he learned that Vanessa had been the personal bodyguard of Altea Gastoni and was proficient in ice magic—even able to produce an ice sword—that Guido became somewhat more convinced of her merits.

Unfortunately, his younger brother Fabio appeared not to share that conviction. Fabio harbored a wish to become a knight instead of a mage. He’d been clearly unimpressed with his father’s choice of wife.

Soon after Vanessa came to live on the estate, he said to her, “If you truly are a knight, I should like to spar with you.”

Guido had joined in, half-jokingly. “As would I. To spar with a mystic knight is a rare opportunity.”

Eraldo sensibly kept silent, but simply due to his being there, he was roped in as well.

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