055: Godmother, Li Cha Is a Pervert!

Susan was considering enrolling in a school of magic.

As the saying went, a noble who did not aspire to become a mage was no true noble.

And any noble blessed with the title of mage—even an illegitimate child—would see their value multiply.

For that reason, Richard suddenly began to think rather highly of Susan.

So the girl, too, knew how to deceive people under the guise of doing what was best for them.

Once again, Richard thought of his instructor, Freya, who was also the daughter of a noble family.

The woman was not only formidable in combat, but also a rare-class runesmith. And thanks to her noble birth, she even commanded a private army.

To overcome such a towering obstacle through ordinary means would take who knew how long.

By comparison, fighting magic with magic seemed far more reliable.

Thus, Richard used Susan’s Time.

The girl claimed she possessed a talent for magic, but that was merely her own assertion.

Whether she truly had talent, and to what extent, was something Richard needed to determine for himself.

“One minute.”

Susan, sitting on the sofa, had no idea what that minute signified, but she inexplicably grew nervous.

Perhaps, deep down, she was still more afraid of making Richard angry.

During that minute, Richard paced around the sofa, his expression unchanged.

When the minute was over, Richard suddenly reached out, ruffled the girl’s hair, and smiled.

“Your proposal has merit. I’ll try to obtain an admission letter for you. Although I’m a little reluctant to let you go, I believe your future is more important.”

Susan stared at him. “You… you mean…?”

Richard nodded and gave her a definite answer.

“You may take it that way. I intend to cultivate you. Don’t set your sights on the very best institutions, but I’ll do my best to get you an offer from a first- or second-rate school of magic.”

The girl threw herself into his arms, overflowing with excitement.

Her mind was a complete muddle, but she could not possibly fail to understand what studying at a school of magic would mean for her.

Susan loved adventure.

That alone was enough to show that she was no obedient little lady.

The Kevin family had taught her how a noblewoman was expected to live.

In return, Susan was required to surrender her life to the arrangements of her family.

Two years earlier in particular, she had watched helplessly as one of her older sisters was married off to the Western Province. Her sister’s husband was even older than their father.

That was when Susan’s rebellious spirit first took root.

If she was going to be married off sooner or later, with every detail decided by her parents, then why should she spend the years before that behaving like a perfect little angel?

Reality had proved that as long as she did not go too far, the worst she would suffer was a few harmless scoldings. Even her allowance would remain untouched.

But that was all.

Her future had long since been carved into the name Susan Kevin.

As for attending a school of magic—

Susan had thought about it.

Unfortunately, she was too old, and the very first hurdle—the registration—had already stopped her.

But today, Richard had said he would get her an admission letter to a school of magic.

Susan was more excited than she had ever been in her life.

The man was handsome to begin with, and in that instant, Susan immediately felt the urge to have him pin her beneath him once more.

The girl had already eaten her fill.

That hardly mattered.

Even if he was deceiving her again, Susan was willing to offer him her utmost loyalty for the sake of this beautiful dream.

…

Sunday night.

The Old Shock Tavern was packed to the rafters.

The proprietress, Mary, stood behind the bar collecting money.

Wendy, who had just come down from the stage, was busy serving the entire establishment.

“Ah…”

A silent sigh came from one of the tavern girls.

The reason was simple: their adoptive mother had begun to lose herself in thought again.

Sometimes Wendy felt sorry for her.

Their old man was certainly a good person, but every day he either shut himself in his room to conduct research or went out to negotiate business deals. His neglect of their adoptive mother was obvious to anyone.

For that reason, Wendy did not object when her adoptive mother occasionally indulged herself.

But indulgence was one thing. Wendy absolutely did not want her adoptive mother to develop genuine feelings for some man outside.

And yes, she meant Richard.

For the sake of family harmony, Wendy had already gone all out.

Yet it seemed that, apart from working several days for that bastard without pay, she had accomplished absolutely nothing.

After delivering the customers’ orders, Wendy stepped behind the bar and said to Mary, “Mother, I think we need to have a serious talk.”

A question mark seemed to appear above Mary’s head. Seeing the solemn, earnest expression on her daughter’s face, she retreated a few steps toward the liquor shelves and waited for Wendy to speak.

“Mother, Richard is a complete and utter bastard!”

Mary nodded.

“He—”

Wendy had prepared an entire stomachful of reasons. She had expected her adoptive mother to defend the man, but since Mary agreed with her, Wendy had no choice but to continue.

“You know about the clinic he runs, right? The Charlie Psychological Clinic? He’s nothing but a fraud, selling dog meat under a sheep’s head!”

Wendy went on, “He’s known outside as the ‘Master of Men’s Health’ and the ‘Married-Woman Killer.’ He specifically targets beautiful married women like you!”

At that, Mary’s interest rose a little higher than it had been at the beginning.

The Charlie Psychological Clinic was an enterprise of Military Intelligence Six, much like the Old Shock Tavern. It was one of the agency’s secret bases.

Richard’s ability to uncover information about the Black Mist Church’s holy relics could not be attributed entirely to the psychological clinic, but his identity as Doctor Richard had certainly played a major part.

Mary had heard about the clinic’s booming business.

It was said that Doctor Richard could restore a man’s confidence.

On that point, Mary believed the fellow probably did have his ways.

But a married-woman killer…

“Mother, you’ve met her—the Lisa who came to our place with her husband last time. Before she went for treatment, she was a shameless woman who flirted with countless men in the city and kept them all dangling. But just look at how she was that day. She was like a completely different person.

“I don’t believe any treatment can change someone’s personality, so I suspect she must have suffered some kind of utterly inhuman torture!”

“Oh, is that so?”

Mary could not help laughing.

Wendy grew anxious. “You’re still laughing? That man is a pervert! You’re so close to him that sooner or later you’ll suffer for it!”

The tavern girl pointed toward the door.

“Anyway, I’ve said my piece. Today I’m telling you everything. I didn’t want to watch you sink deeper and deeper into him, so I went to see him.

“I understand men too. They just want a woman to sleep with them, right? So I told him I could take your place!”

Mary asked, “And then?”

“Then I worked for him without pay for an entire week. We had a deal: I would work for him, and he would stop harassing you. But he didn’t keep his word!”

“And there’s more, Mother. I knew he was lazy, so I planned to go to his shop and negotiate with him a second time. Guess what happened?”

She answered her own question.

“On the second day of my strike, another nurse appeared at his clinic. She was a blonde with a huge backside, swaying her hips back and forth. She was so provocative!”

“Oh, I see. So that’s how it was.”

This time, Mary burst out laughing.

Then, directly behind the girl, a familiar voice slowly rang out.

“Wendy, you know it’s very immoral to speak ill of people behind their backs, don’t you?”

With that, Richard brought his palm down on the girl’s small backside.

Wendy leapt straight into the air from the smack and hurriedly ran away.