I AM A MAGE BUT WITH MILF SYSTEM

He had only taken a few steps when he heard the quick crunch of gravel behind him. Cathy moved fast.

“Young lord, come on…” she pleaded, her voice now sweet and coaxing. She caught up in two strides and boldly grabbed his right hand with both of hers. Before he could react, she pulled it forward and pressed it firmly between her breasts.

“Don’t be in such a spoiled mood,” she purred, leaning more so her breasts squeezed even tighter around his hand. “Are you really going to leave a young woman like me all alone in these dark gardens? It’s dangerous out here. …”

Julian’s eyes narrowed.

In an instant, he flared his mana.

It didn’t erupt outward as flame or visible force. Instead, it spread through the space around them like a sudden change in pressure. The temperature spiked immediately, and the air around them grew scorching hot.

And beneath the heat, something else. The edge of killing intent, aimed directly at the hand holding his.

Cathy froze.

Her eyes widened in pure shock, the confident, seductive expression from before shattering completely. She felt it — the raw power behind that mana, the terrifying certainty that this man could erase her existence in a heartbeat if he wished. Her hands trembled as she quickly released his arm and stumbled back two steps.

“L-Lord… I’m sorry if I overstepped my boundaries,” she stammered.

She looked genuinely frightened now, her arms hugging her barely covered chest as if that could protect her.

Julian stared at her for a long second, letting the killing intent linger just long enough for her to truly feel it.

“As long as you are aware of it,” he said flatly.

He then turned away without another glance and continued walking deeper into the garden. The mana lamps cast long shadows behind him as he moved.

Cathy stood frozen on the path, her heart hammering violently in her chest. She didn’t dare follow. Her legs felt weak, and a cold sweat had broken across her exposed skin. The seductive soldier who had been sent to ensnare him had completely lost her nerve.

Julian didn’t look back even once.

Another one, he thought with mild irritation. How many of these “instruments” are they going to throw at me before they realize it’s not going to work?

Cathy remained where she was for several seconds after Julian disappeared deep into the gardens. She watched his silhouette until there was nothing left to watch, and then, slowly, she exhaled.

“Thank god… He did not kill me,” she whispered to herself, voice barely audible in the quiet garden.

She looked down at her legs. They were still wobbling. She pressed one hand against the nearest lamppost and waited for the trembling to pass. The metal was cold, and she focused on that, letting the sensation calm her down.

After a moment the weakness passed. But instead of pure terror, a strange, breathless smile slowly crept across her flushed face.

“I did not think he would have that much control,” she murmured, almost impressed. “Most men in his position would have taken the hand and kept it.”

She thought about the mana—the way it moved through the air without spectacle or display, arriving like a sudden shift in pressure that gave no time to react or adjust. She had been in enough dangerous situations to recognize the real thing when it was pointed at her.

She straightened up, rolled her shoulders back and looked in the direction he had gone one more time.

“Lady Louisa needs to hear about this,” she said.

Then she turned and walked in the opposite direction, disappearing quietly into the darker end of the garden.

**

Julian continued walking for another half hour.

He didn’t have any particular destination and just followed the garden paths. As he went farther out, the mana lamps became fewer, and the light slowly disappeared. By the end, there was almost no light left at all, only suffocating darkness.

He kept walking through it without slowing down.

His mind ran through everything quietly. The soul thread came to mind first, and he checked it carefully again in his head. It was still stable. The King’s arrival was next—now only one day away. Then the Crown Prince. Then the black flame that sat at the edge of Kraven’s consciousness.

He also thought about Louisa and how she would react once Cathy reported back. That would lead to recalculations.

He thought about Vanessa as well, sitting in her room in the western wing, listening to Sera explain everything in detail.

He then thought about Olivia.

He stopped that line of thought before it could develop any further and redirected his attention to the eastern wall. The last thing he wanted was to give Kraven’s patterns more excuse to keep interrupting him.

Eventually the cold and the late hours persuaded him back toward the castle. He climbed the stone steps, nodded to the guard who straightened immediately at his approach, and walked through the inner corridors to his room.

**

Next morning arrived differently in the Astran castle.

Julian noticed it before he was fully awake. For a moment, he lay still in bed, listening to the noise outside.

Tomorrow marked the King’s arrival.

Because of that, the duchy had clearly decided that today would not be a day of silence.

By the time he had washed, dressed, and opened his door, the corridor outside was already in motion. Two servants passed carrying folded linens. A steward he did not recognize was moving quickly in the opposite direction with a ledger open in one hand and a quill tucked behind his ear. Somewhere below, in what sounded like the main courtyard, someone was giving instructions in a high-pitched voice.

Julian stepped into the corridor and took it all in.

Even Liam’s men were working.

He watched two of them moving a long wooden bench toward the great hall under the direction of one of the duke’s stewards. There was no visible hostility in the exchange. For today at least, the castle had a single common purpose.

Julian found this interesting.

He began walking toward the main staircase.