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Inside the ancient castle's dimly lit hall, candlelight flickered against the mottled walls, casting dancing shadows across Morgan and Ian's faces and making their expressions all the more vivid.
Morgan looked relaxed and teasing, while Ian, after a brief moment of stupefaction, widened his eyes in sheer disbelief, as if he could hardly accept such explosive news.
Indeed.
Morgan's mention of a "senior sister and apprentice" left Ian utterly dumbfounded. He froze in place, taking a long moment to collect himself. He understood that the senior sister and apprentice Morgan referred to were most likely the wicked queen and traitorous apprentice from the Snow Princess story.
Was the old witch actually his "adopted senior sister"?
The wicked queen from the Snow White story?
The thought felt utterly surreal. Who could have guessed? Who could have imagined such a scenario? His first encounter with his adopted senior sister occurred under such bizarre circumstances!
He wondered if she realized that the person she intended to "possess" was from the same magical lineage as her. But now, after Morgan's revelation, Ian understood why, during his battle with the old witch, she had used cognition to manipulate reality and even uttered words Morgan herself had once said.
It turned out...
They shared a magical lineage!
Yes!
Upon further thought, the old witch, his adopted senior sister, was indeed his apprentice, as Morgan had learned magic from Ian himself.
Of course!
As for Medivh, Ian certainly didn't dare act cocky in front of Morgan. He didn't even acknowledge the apprentice relationship Morgan had just mentioned.
The Morgan of his childhood and the Morgan before him now were two completely different people. That's why it's best to hit someone while they're young. The Morgan of today was not so easily placated.
Precisely because of this,
Ian knew it was wise to avoid that conversation. How did legendary Archmage Medivh relate to his identity as a young wizard in front of Morgan?
"Wait...let me process this for a moment."
Ian deliberately avoided responding, acting as though he needed time to process the overwhelming information. He quietly sidestepped the sensitive topic of teacher and apprentice.
He glanced around briefly.
Then he sat on a magical chair that could adjust its shape autonomously. However, the chair occasionally creaked in protest, as if objecting to his thin frame's light weight.
As he had initially witnessed, most things in Morgan's castle, tables, chairs, and benches, had been imbued with "life" through Cognition.
Don't be fooled by their stillness.
When they moved, they were even more agile than many hefty people.
"Foolish Pigwidgeon! You still haven't realized this? During your duel with that woman, didn't it feel familiar?"
Morgan lightly tapped the golden disc in front of her.
Her tone was playful.
She used that familiar term of address for Ian again. After his first encounter with the younger Morgan, Ian understood why she called him that.
When the young Morgan first met him and Riddle, it was in her sinister pig-rearing laboratory, where they were mistaken for successful experimental subjects. Perhaps those childhood experiments seemed absurd to the grown Morgan, yet this had been her, and Ian's, first meeting.
Yes.
Strictly speaking, that was the first time Morgan had ever laid eyes on Ian. Come to think of it, when Ian first met Morgan, she had already recognized him as the legendary wizard who had once infiltrated her pig pen.
It was precisely because of this:
that she had always teased Ian playfully. At the time, Ian thought it was just Morgan's twisted sense of humor. Now, however, it seems that many of Morgan's words and actions carry deeper significance.
As Ian had suspected, Morgan harbored far more secrets than Merlin, perhaps because she had interacted with him far more extensively.
"Why are you silent?"
Seeing that Ian remained quiet, Morgan raised an eyebrow and asked again. She remained seated on her long bench, her fingers tracing circles on the golden disc.
On it,
Not only had the events Ian had experienced vanished, but the ruins of the ancient Greek temple had also transformed into a pool of dark, inky water.
The disc showed no trace of water, yet as Morgan's fingers stirred it continuously, the water rotated in a precise, regular pattern.
It was unclear whether this scene actually existed or if Morgan could influence the pool from afar.
"No, I'm just thinking."
Ian quickly forced a smile. "To be honest, I did feel a sense of familiarity, but I wasn't thinking in that direction. I assumed that, even if my adopted older sister still lived in the Twilight Zone, she would be in a castle or something. The Black Forest seemed more like a place haunted by the obsessions of wild wizards."
That was precisely why Ian hadn't considered it further. Truthfully, calling this adopted senior sister wicked wasn't unfair.
Perhaps the Snow Princess story had slightly tarnished her reputation. But, judging by her actions, immediately trying to capture Ian as a "substitute" to use his body to return to reality, his adopted senior sister was undoubtedly ruthless. If she wasn't wicked, then who else could be?
After all, Ian was just an innocent bystander! Considering her magical lineage, it made sense that she wasn't benevolent.
Hmmm.
He had to make sure Morgan didn't hear this. Ian glanced secretly at his teacher while Morgan's gaze returned to the golden disc in front of her.
"One could only say that your senior sister is a seriously unlucky one," Morgan said. She was clearly aware of some behind-the-scenes details yet maintained her usual cryptic demeanor.
It was unclear whether she didn't want to tell Ian or simply couldn't yet. In any case, this explained why the adopted senior sister had been called the forest guardian.
Clearly, she had been pressed into service.
"I see…" Ian recalled how the old witch had first appeared aged, then transformed into a youthful, alluring form. Indeed, her face carried hints of the wicked queen's style, much like in the Snow Princess story, in which the wicked queen disguised herself as an old witch to give the Snow Princess a poisoned apple.
Although this was merely a story, not actual history, tales often had some basis in truth. This made it plausible that the wicked queen had truly been a Metamorphmagus.
A Metamorphmagus differs significantly from an Animagus. It was a rare type of magic that allowed one to change their own form, and most Metamorphmagi were born with this ability.
(To Be Continued…)