Home / Take Me Away, Dark Lord! / Chapter 183: Playing Ball

Read free on Ficlyn

Take Me Away, Dark Lord!

Chapter 183: Playing Ball · Nov 04, 2026

Prev Chapter Novel Info Next Chapter

Chapter List (261)

Page number / 6

151 Chapter 151: No Feeling 2026-11-04
152 Chapter 152: It’s Over 2026-11-04
153 Chapter 153: I Don’t Care! 2026-11-04
154 Chapter 154: Steal a Pie 2026-11-04
155 Chapter 155: The Perfect Crime 2026-11-04
156 Chapter 156: Star Peach 2026-11-04
157 Chapter 157: People Don’t Lie 2026-11-04
158 Chapter 158: Wounded Bear 2026-11-04
159 Chapter 159: Stalking Shadow 2026-11-04
160 Chapter 160: Provocation 2026-11-04
161 Chapter 161: Making Up 2026-11-04
162 Chapter 162: Together 2026-11-04
163 Chapter 163: A Peer? 2026-11-04
164 Chapter 164: Little Squire 2026-11-04
165 Chapter 165: Sugar and Rebellion 2026-11-04
166 Chapter 166: Sir Quacks-a-lot! 2026-11-04
167 Chapter 167: Fruit Tarts! 2026-11-04
168 Chapter 168: His Pride 2026-11-04
169 Chapter 169: It’s a Flank 2026-11-04
170 Chapter 170: A Game of Chess 2026-11-04
171 Chapter 171: A Prodigy 2026-11-04
172 Chapter 172: Mama Bear! 2026-11-04
173 Chapter 173: Imperial Capital 2026-11-04
174 Chapter 174: Ghost Repellent 2026-11-04
175 Chapter 175: Giant in a Flower Crown 2026-11-04
176 Chapter 176: Shy? 2026-11-04
177 Chapter 177: Stuffed Rabbit 2026-11-04
178 Chapter 178: Shiny Bat! 2026-11-04
179 Chapter 179: Fake Lady 2026-11-04
180 Chapter 180: Old Lion 2026-11-04
181 Chapter 181: Exploration 2026-11-04
182 Chapter 182: Fake Lady! 2026-11-04
183 Chapter 183: Playing Ball 2026-11-04
184 Chapter 184: Weakness 2026-11-04
185 Chapter 185: Duck Assemble! 2026-11-04
186 Chapter 186: My Dignity! 2026-11-04
187 Chapter 187: Duck Service Squad! 2026-11-04
188 Chapter 188: Ghost Ducks 2026-11-04
189 Chapter 189: Checkmate 2026-11-04
190 Chapter 190: La Petite Rêverie 2026-11-04
191 Chapter 191: It’s the Reaper 2026-11-04
192 Chapter 192: Shopping 2026-11-04
193 Chapter 193: Soft 2026-11-04
194 Chapter 194: Princess? 2026-11-04
195 Chapter 195: Stress 2026-11-04
196 Chapter 196: Covert Operation! 2026-11-04
197 Chapter 197: Treason 2026-11-04
198 Chapter 198: Brooding 2026-11-04
199 Chapter 199: Not an Angel 2026-11-04
200 Chapter 200: Orion 2026-11-04

She snatched the tray from the table and stormed toward the doors.

Before leaving, she looked back at Seraphina.

The little girl waved back at her with enthusiasm.

”Bye-bye, fake lady.”

Genevieve left.

The doors slammed shut.

Seraphina looked up at Sebastian.

”She really is annoying.”

Sebastian looked down at her.

”Indeed.”

”And she smells bad.”

”Also true.”

Seraphina nodded.

”I think she needs a bath.”

”I believe that would be wise.”

She smiled.

”Mr. Sebastian?”

”Yes?”

”Can we go somewhere without spies?”

Sebastian considered.

”Yes.”

”Where?”

”The indoor training yard.”

Seraphina’s eyes lit up.

”Adventure!”

Sebastian sighed.

”Of course.”

***

The indoor training pavilion occupied the western wing of the estate.

It was enormous and filled wIth vaulted ceilings, high clerestory windows, padded floors, weapon racks, and practice dummies.

Enough open space for a small army to train without bumping into one another.

Seraphina immediately decided it was magnificent.

She ran.

She sprinted across the padded floor with her arms stretched out.

”I’m a bird!”

Then she changed direction.

”I’m a wolf!”

Then she ran faster.

”I’m a dragon!”

The spectral hunting hound raced beside her.

”You’re my puppy!”

The hound barked silently.

Seraphina laughed.

She threw herself onto a crash mat and rolled across it.

”Again!”

Sebastian stood near the entrance.

He watched.

At first, there was only amusement in his eye.

Then something changed.

He looked around the training hall.

The sound of Seraphina’s laughter echoed beneath the vaulted ceiling.

And suddenly—

He was no longer seeing her.

He was seeing the past.

Fifteen years ago.

A younger Kaelus stood in this very room.

His raven hair was messy with sweat. A wooden practice sword was clenched tightly in his hands.

He was stubborn.

Serious.

Determined.

And too young.

Sebastian remembered another boy.

Caspian.

He had been sitting on one of the training mats, laughing as he threw a padded training ball at his brother’s head.

Kaelus had shouted at him. Caspian had laughed harder. And then there was Elara.

A little girl with bright eyes and a laugh that could fill an entire room.

She had chased the family’s hunting hound around the pavilion.

Three siblings.

A family.

Happy.

Alive.

Then came the Glacial Abyss.

The former Duke fell when Kaelus was barely seventeen, and the weight of an entire duchy crashed onto his shoulders.

The laughter disappeared.

The siblings fractured.

Caspian left.

Elara also left.

And Kaelus remained.

Fifteen years.

Fifteen years of silence.

Every visit to the Capital Estate had been the same.

Kaelus would retreat into his study.

The halls would remain empty, the training pavilion would gather dust.

The mansion became a tomb.

Sebastian had watched it happen.

He had watched the boy he had sworn to protect become colder.

Harder.

Lonelier.

He had watched Kaelus turn himself into a weapon because being a person hurt too much.

And now—

”Mr. Sebastian!”

Sebastian blinked.

The past disappeared.

Seraphina was standing on top of a training block.

Her little hands were planted proudly on her hips.

”I am the Queen of the Mats!”

Sebastian stared at her.

A tiny smile touched his face.

The training hall was no longer silent.

A child’s laughter echoed beneath the vaulted ceiling. The darkness that had clung to the mansion for fifteen years was beginning to loosen.

Not because someone had fought it or someone had conquered it. Simply because a little girl had walked into the house and started being a child.

Sebastian’s throat tightened.

He’s healing.

The realization struck him with unexpected force.

The Archduke is healing.

Kaelus had found something.

Someone.

A tiny, stubborn, warm-hearted little creature who had somehow crawled into the coldest corner of his soul and started lighting fires there.

Seraphina jumped off the training block.

She landed badly.

Sebastian immediately moved forward.

But she regained her balance.

”I’m okay!”

She looked proud.

Then she spotted something in a nearby equipment bin.

A soft padded training ball.

Her eyes lit up.

She picked it up and ran toward him.

”Mr. Sebastian!”

”Yes, My Lady?”

She held up the ball.

”Do you want to play catch?”

Sebastian stared at it.

Then at her.

”Papa Duke is always busy reading papers.”

She frowned.

”And Sir Boris throws too hard.”

She rubbed her shoulder dramatically.

”He made me fall over.”

Sebastian’s expression softened.

”You look like you’d be good at catch.”

The veteran knight looked at the tiny ball.

His hands were enormous.

Scarred.

Calloused.

Hands that had wielded swords.

Hands that had killed.

Hands that had protected.

Slowly, carefully, Sebastian reached out.

He took the ball from her.

Then he crouched until they were closer to the same height.

”I would be honored.”

Seraphina beamed.

”Really?”

”Really.”

He tossed the ball gently.

Seraphina caught it against her chest.

”I caught it!”

”You did.”

She threw it back.

Sebastian caught it effortlessly.

”Again!”

He tossed it.

She caught it.

Again.

Soon, Seraphina’s laughter filled the pavilion.

And Sebastian laughed too.

Not loudly.

Not dramatically.

Just a warm, quiet laugh that had perhaps not been heard inside these walls in many years.

The ghosts watched from the corners.

The old maid smiled.

The headless knight finally found his helmet.

The spectral hound curled up happily beside the wall.

And for the first time in fifteen years, the Capital Estate did not feel like a tomb.

It felt like a home.

Somewhere far across the city, Kaelus was probably sitting in the Imperial Palace, arguing over budgets and threatening bureaucrats with perfectly polite words.

He had no idea that, in his absence, his daughter had already conquered another part of his estate.

Not with magic, power, or any political influence.

She had conquered it with a padded ball, a loud laugh, and absolutely no understanding whatsoever of personal space.

And Sebastian?

The old lion had already surrendered.

Completely and utterly, without a fight.

As they stood in the sunlit training pavilion, tossing the soft ball back and forth, the ghosts of the past quietly faded away.

Prev Chapter Novel Info Next Chapter

Recommended Novels

Soul Harvester: I Can Evolve My Traits Endlessly CoffeePrincess

Reincarnation Of The Strongest Sword God Lucky Old Cat

Reborn As Super Heiress Mushuang

Supreme Star Card Master Cloud Camellia

Journey To Become A True God Darkforces

Shadow Slave Guiltythree

Chaotic Sword God Xin Xing Xiao Yao

My Vampire System JKSManga

Inheriting A Divine Cultivation Clan At The Start, All My Juniors Are Empresses Monkey Bread

Gravity Mage with Level-Up System Aravind_S

Versatile Mage Chaos

Shadow Slave Guiltythree

Martial God Asura Kindhearted Bee

Supreme Emptiness Heavenly Overlord

Ancient Godly Monarch Jing Wu Hen