I will not die a Villainess's death

"Lucas, you cannot be serious about leaving the empire and conspiring with the Akatsuki kingdom. Your sister is not worth all this and have you lost your mind? What do you think will happen to the Dirac fortune if you give it to the Akatsuki kingdom? You will be ruined."

Lucas did not even acknowledge Victor's comments. He had no desire to associate with the other male any more than necessary.

If possible, Lucas would have killed him off and then gone on his merry way. But it would be a bad move since this man was related to Hector, his head butler. That was the only reason Victor had survived this long.

"I made my decision. I don't care what happens to my fortune and you should not care about it as well."

Lucas made his stand known. He did not need to be on guard with Victor since that man was not going to get anything from Lucas.

"You might not care about it but I, I-I mean, others do. They will rip you apart once you decide to come back to the empire and you will also lose your stand. And what if you died? Who will be in charge of all the Dirac fortune and lands? You didn't marry or have an heir and-"

"So this was your plan? Since you could not get Elysia to marry you, you are coming on to me now to make sure I name you as my heir. It is a foolish plan."

"N-No. don't be foolish."

Victor flinched but he was quick to deny it. But Lucas was not fooled by his facade. He had seen through Victor's mask a long time ago and he even knew that Victor was aiming to die.

Lucas would have celebrated it hard had Elysia killed off this filthy man.

"Anyway, you do not need to be worried about the Dirac family. We don't have any immediate members but we do have relatives. The Akatsuki family line is related to my mother so they will inherit the Dirac fortune anyway."

"Y-You can't be serious about it. It belongs to the empire and the next successor-"

"I've heard it all from those old fools who call themselves the noble council before and I don't intend to hear it again. You should leave before something unfortunate happens."

Victor looked pissed off but he did leave in the end. Lucas's harsh eyes and his angry aura left Victor no other choice but to turn tail and leave.

Lucas's blue eyes looked at that retreating back before he turned toward his side and gestured for his aid to come out.

"You know what to do. Make his death seem like an incident so that we don't have to clean up after him. Victor had far outlived his purpose ."

The aid nodded before disappearing into shadows. As soon as the aid was gone, Lucas broke off into a bloody cough.

He knew that he should not be using his magic like this but he could not help himself. Victor had made Lucas feel nauseated and he wanted to rid the Dirac estate of any threats before Elysia came back.

"Time is ticking out for me now. Elysia, will you be able to return before I die? Or will I never see you again?"

Lucas questioned out loud but there was no answer to his words.

He was worried about Elysia because she was in a realm where things were different. And Lucas had no idea where or in what condition Elysia was currently.

Even Sorias could not connect with Elysia, much less Adam or Eve. And both the royal family and the temple were treating this thing as a joke.

"My lord, all the preparations have been made. Lord Chrome is waiting for you to join him downstairs. He says he is ready to head back now."

It was Head Butler Hector who entered the room. His face was impassive to reflect his master's worry but Lucas could see that he was satisfied with Elysia being gone.

In fact, most of the staff seemed to see it as a peaceful sign that Elysia was gone and Lucas was so irritated that he had fired most of them on-spot.

The only one who had been spared was Head Butler Hector and that was because of his loyalty to the house.

"Master, is it necessary for you to try so hard for someone like Lady Elysia? Maybe she went away because she wanted to and-"

"Silence. If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all. And tell this to all the servants, they better keep their mouths quiet if they want to live. I am not in a good mood lately."

Lucas's words caused Head Butler to flinch as he schooled his expression. He quickly realized that his master was also counting him in that number.

Lucas released a frustrated sigh as this was dealt with.

"Elysia, hurry up and come back. This world is not the same without you in it."

Lucas spoke softly before he walked out of the room. Chrome was waiting for Lucas with good news and that was all that mattered. Lucas would see and steal anything he was asked to if it meant that Elysia would get to come back soon.

___________________________

"Concentrate. You need to release your power from the core, not from your surroundings. You are doing it wrong again."

Elysia stopped in her half-finished position as she was called out again. It was the tenth time in the same session that she had been asked to stop.

"You know, it would help me out a lot if you explained to me what a 'core' was. You keep on saying to release energy from my core but you never explained what it meant."

Elysia pointed out the obvious as she relaxed back into a neutral pose. She needed to start again now that she had stopped once. It was such a pain but something that had been told to her as 'necessary'.

It had not taken long before Elysia had started moving around as a recovery. Her body was still hurt but the doctors had said that it would be good for her to move around now.

And since a message had been passed on to Lexus as well, he had taken it as a 'go ahead' to start on her training.

Any instructors that were found decent had been recruited and Elysia had been given a short course before being thrown into the practice aspect of her training.

"You don't even know what a core is? A core is a core so I don't know what to tell you. No one had to explain what a core is since everyone instinctively knows of its presence like breathing."

Lexus's explanation did not help Elysia in any way, shape, or form. In fact, it ended up complicating what she already knew and caused her to mess up again. She did not even wait for Lexus to tell her to start over.

Lexus made it sound so easy but he was forgetting one critical fact - Elysia was from a different world. Things that might seem like facts to him were foreign concepts to Elysia.

"Ugh, how do I explain what a core is to you? I know that you did use it before when you were under the influence of my brother's shadow. Ah, I know. How about I show you how it feels again? Maybe that will help?"

Now, this was something that could end up helping Elysia. She was much better at the practical aspect of magic and familiarizing herself with the sensations of casting something did help her out.

"Take in a deep breath and clear out your mind. Good. Now, can you feel my energy through your body and circulating through a center point? That is your core."

Elysia did feel that energy move and expand inside her body. It was such a powerful sensation to feel that it took Elysia's breath away.

But Lexus's words brought her concentration back and Elysia tried to move her energy on her own.

Lexus pulled back immediately and the connection was cut off abruptly. The energy that had been abundant before was difficult to control now and it fizzled out soon enough.

Elysia tried to chase after that feeling but it was futile in the end. She had lost concentration and it had caused her to flinch.

"Don't do that or you will hurt yourself. Forcing your flow is not something you should do at your level or it could end up damaging your core. But you did get to feel it, right? Your core?"

Elysia nodded in agreement. She had gotten to feel her core and it had reminded her of a familiar feeling.

She was sure that she would be able to feel it again if she tried to. It meant that she would be able to use her energy in the future.

"Good. That takes care of one thing. Now for the next, you need to control it slowly. Hurry up and start now."