I AM A MAGE BUT WITH MILF SYSTEM

As a mother who loved her daughter more than anyone else in the world, Clara could already see the path unfolding. With Kraven’s support, Elara would not merely remain a prodigy. She would rise.

Peak Sovereign would become a stepping stone rather than a destination. Arch Mage would follow. And beyond that, the distant threshold of Grand Mage would no longer be a dream reserved for the most ancient monsters of the continent. It would become a realistic future.

The image was so vivid it made Clara’s chest flutter.

However...

A small, private part of her felt a quiet sadness that she herself would never fully experience that endless breakthrough. The brief taste she received today was enough to show her what was possible.

Yet the feeling lasted only a moment. If the choice stood between her own advancement and Elara’s future, there was no real choice at all.

If it is for my daughter, she thought, then I must make certain the betrothal moves forward.

She finalized the decision in the span of a few heartbeats. Protecting Elara no longer meant keeping her away from Kraven. It meant binding her to him under the best possible terms.

Clara lifted her chin.

”I accept the betrothal with Elara,” she said quickly, the words coming out faster than she intended, as if she feared he might change his mind if she hesitated.

Julian’s expression remained calm. He did not look surprised, nor did he look triumphant. He simply regarded her for a moment before answering.

”It depends on Elara,” he said. ”She has her own life. Let her decide on this.”

The reply caught Clara slightly off guard. She had expected negotiation or rather conditions. Instead he placed the final choice back into her daughter’s hands. The respect in the statement was unexpected, and for a brief second it complicated the clear line she had just drawn in her mind.

”You would leave the decision to her?” Clara asked.

”Yes,” Julian answered without hesitation. ”And besides, we have already spoken with one another.”

Clara clicked her tongue softly.

A sudden, sharp anxiety rose in her chest before she could fully name its source.

Was it because she knew her daughter was too ambitious to accept marriage so easily right now?

Elara had always placed cultivation and strength above every other consideration. The idea of binding herself to a betrothal before she had carved her own name deeper into the world might feel like a chain rather than an opportunity.

Or was the anxiety rooted in something more selfish?

If the formal engagement was delayed, then the dual cultivation sessions would be delayed as well. Elara would not begin rising at the accelerated pace Clara had just tasted.

The years of progress that could have been compressed into months would stretch out again. Clara was not certain which fear weighed heavier. She only knew that the calm way Julian spoke of leaving everything in Elara’s hands left her unsettled.

”So you mean you are not getting engaged now?” she asked.

Julian smiled.

”It seems so.”

He paused, then added in a milder tone, almost as an afterthought, ”It also means that I will not have anyone to practice my magical arts with.”

’Phew’

He sighed lightly.

Clara’s mind raced.

What should I do?

The question turned over and over without finding solid ground.

Could she convince her daughter?

The answer rose immediately. No.

She could not.

She knew how stubborn Elara was. Once her daughter set her mind on a course, she followed it with the same relentless focus she brought to magic training. If Elara had already decided to delay the betrothal, then no amount of persuasion would turn her around easily. Pressing too hard might even push her further away.

Then what about my husband?

That thought vanished even faster than the first. Count Azmed was one of the most upright men she had ever known. He lived by strict principles and expected the same from those around him.

For years Clara had been the one arguing against the marriage. If she suddenly reversed her position and began pushing for the betrothal, it would look strange. He would notice. He would ask why. And what answer could she possibly give?

That Kraven possessed a magical technique that accelerated cultivation through intimate dual practice? That she had already tasted a fraction of it and now wanted her daughter bound to him so the sessions could begin?

The explanation would make her sound lustful, selfish, and incredibly greedy. It would paint her as a woman who had allowed personal desire for power. She could already imagine the look in her husband’s eyes if those words ever left her mouth.

She stood at a crossroads with no clean path forward.

The residual memory of the pure current still lingered in her meridians.

The nearness of the middle stage of the Sovereign realm remained a constant ache.

The vision of Elara rising all the way to Grand Mage.

Yet every realistic route to securing that future seemed blocked by the very principles and personalities of the people she loved.

However,

Julian’s next words pulled her back to the present.

”Well, if you would like,” he said calmly, ”we could train together, Aunty. I know you love Elara, but you must have your own dreams too, right?”

Clara froze.

The offer landed with such directness that for a moment she could not even form a response. Shock played plainly across her face before she could mask it. He was suggesting that she herself become the partner.

The implication was clear and dangerous.

Her own advancement. Her own path to higher realms.

Heat rose in her cheeks again, heavier this time. The rational part of her mind recoiled at once. She was a married woman. A mother. A countess who had spent years protecting her family’s reputation.

Accepting such an arrangement would cross lines she had never imagined approaching.

She stared at him.

”You are suggesting…” Her voice came out lower than she intended. ”That I take the place of my own daughter in this technique?”