I AM A MAGE BUT WITH MILF SYSTEM

Chapter 859: The Duke opens a little

Almost everyone had left the great hall.

Only the soft echoes of distant footsteps remained when the Duke finally turned his full attention to Julian.

“Kraven.”

Julian stepped forward and offered a slight bow. “Yes, Father.”

The Duke’s voice softened. “I have something to tell you.”

Julian remained silent, simply watching him. For a moment the Duke said nothing. His fingers rested on the arm of his chair, and his gaze drifted toward the tall windows as if he were still thinking whether the words should be spoken at all.

The hesitation was unusual.

The Duke of Astran was not a man who often second-guessed himself.

At last he looked at his son again and sighed.

“We might have a war against the royal family.”

Julian, of course, already knew about this. He had pieced together enough from the envoy, the delayed visit, the talk of Valthor, and the black aura clinging to Captain Voss.

Still, he could not afford to appear unsurprised.

He let his eyes widen a fraction and opened his mouth as if the words had struck him cleanly.

“What are you speaking of, Father?”

His voice carried a carefully measured note of shock.

Then he stepped closer and lowered his tone to a whisper.

“If those words leave this room, our entire family could be hanged for treason.”

The reaction was convincing enough. The Duke’s expression tightened, and he immediately matched Julian’s quieter volume.

“Then make certain no one knows of it,” he said. “As the son of Astran, you have the right to know. That is the only reason I am telling you now.”

He paused and glanced once toward the empty hall to confirm they were truly alone.

“The sins of the past have begun to surface,” the Duke continued with a heavy tone.

“Things that should have remained buried are being dragged into the light again. And the kingdom… the kingdom has grown greedy. There are those who believe old debts can be rewritten by force, and others who would rather burn the board than lose the game. What is coming will not be a simple border conflict or a dispute between houses. If it breaks open fully, it will be a war that sets the royal family against those who still remember the truth.”

Julian kept his expression carefully controlled, though his mind moved quickly. The vague reference to past sins and greed aligned too cleanly with everything he had already uncovered about Valthor, the Fragment of Eternity, and the Servant of Death’s influence.

He leaned in slightly.

“Father, if the situation is truly that severe, then I need to understand more. What exactly is being dragged into the light? Who is pushing for this conflict?”

The Duke raised a hand, stopping him.

“I cannot tell you everything now,” he said firmly. “There are still pieces I am confirming, and there are names I will not speak until I am certain of the ground beneath us. One day I will explain it all. When the time is right, and when you are strong enough that the knowledge itself will not become a noose around your neck.”

His eyes locked onto Julian’s with unusual intensity.

“For now, you have only one task. Train diligently. Push your magic realm without rest. Reach Grand Mage as soon as you are able. We do not have the luxury of years. What is approaching will not wait for us to be ready. If you are still only an Arch Mage when the storm arrives, you will be swept aside with the rest.”

The hall fell quiet again. Outside, the distant sounds of the castle preparing for the royal visit continued, completely unaware of the conversation taking place within.

Julian held his father’s gaze and gave a slow, serious nod.

“I understand, Father. I will not waste the time we have left.”

The Duke studied him for another moment.

Then he gave a short nod of his own and finally leaned back in his chair.

“Go,” he said. “There is much to prepare before tomorrow. And Kraven… do not speak of this to anyone. Not even your mother.”

Julian bowed once more, deeper this time.

“Yes, Father.”

**

As he walked out of the great hall and into the corridor, Julian finally stopped.

So the Duke finally mentioned the war.

Honestly, he was growing tired of waiting for the man to confess everything.

Duke Astran was far more cunning and careful than most of the people around him. Even now, after everything that had happened, he still did not fully trust Kraven.

The information he just shared was only the surface, a carefully measured fragment offered as if he were still testing how his son would react.

Typical.

The Duke never handed anyone a complete blade unless he was certain they would not turn it against him.

Julian took a deep breath and leaned against the cool stone wall of the corridor.

His thoughts drifted, almost inevitably, toward Louisa.

It had been days since he last saw either Liam or her. Liam was almost certainly occupied, calculating how to ride the wave of the King’s sudden visit and twist it to his own advantage.

The man was dangerous precisely because he rarely wasted an opportunity.

Louisa, on the other hand, was a different kind of problem. The two of them still had their private arrangement. She had agreed to sleep with him in exchange for his promise to protect her and her son if things collapsed.

It was a clean enough bargain on the surface.

But Julian did not trust her. Louisa was the type who measured every relationship by its current usefulness. If Liam suddenly found a stronger path, or if the political winds shifted even slightly in their favor, she would cancel their deal without hesitation and never look back.

He pushed off the wall, a faint smile touching his lips.

Should I visit them?

The answer formed almost at once.

Yes.

With the royal visit arriving tomorrow, everyone was moving their pieces into place. Leaving Louisa and Liam unobserved for too long would be careless.