The Lich Without a Soul Vessel

Robin, watching quietly from the side, gave a small bow once introduced. "Robin, at your service, honored mages. Wang, I'll admit I thought you were joking that day — I never expected you'd genuinely become a teacher at Hollingburton. A real pleasure to see you again."

His impeccable manners, handsome features, and clear breeding won over Emma and the others at once. Andrea, meanwhile, had cooled down enough to realize she'd wronged Evan, though pride kept her from admitting it, leaving her stiff and uncomfortable at Cecilia's side. Cecilia watched her sister's discomfort with a quiet sigh.

Evan introduced her simply. "Andrea. My swordsmanship teacher."

The words landed like a small shock. Jessica and the others hadn't expected someone this young to be Evan's teacher — they'd all seen his swordwork firsthand, knew it stood at genuine knight-level, and now looked at Andrea with new appreciation.

None of them knew Evan had only learned the fundamentals from her; his true swordsmanship had grown mostly from learning at nature's own hand, refined through real combat, and had long since surpassed hers entirely.

Hearing Evan openly claim her as his teacher in front of everyone, Andrea's face flushed, a small sweetness rising in her chest despite herself. She shot him a glance and gave a soft huff through her nose.

Cecilia watched this and sighed inwardly. My foolish little sister — do you really think this is a good sign? A man behaving like this only shows he has no intention of marrying you. What man wants a wife stronger than himself? No good. I'll need to step in.

"Mr. Wang, my sister hasn't been able to forget you," Cecilia said. "As it happens, the Norse Plowing Festival brought us out here — mostly because she wanted to see you. So here we are." Her real purpose was selling off a batch of magical materials and buying others they needed; their people were busy handling the transaction, leaving the three of them free to wander, which was how they'd run into Evan.

This was exactly what Evan feared most. He couldn't for the life of him understand it — he looked to be in his thirties or forties, and he was a lich besides. How had he ended up tangled in romantic debts of all things? Was heaven simply amusing itself at his expense? And not just one woman, either — he'd only just settled matters with Tina, and now here was Andrea.

He didn't fully grasp how this world worked. A man in his thirties or forties here was considered at the peak of his prime, radiating a particular charm of his own — and Evan, though not even twenty in truth, carried Nicholas's mature forty-something bearing layered with a genuine, unspoiled innocence beneath it, an irresistible combination for young women who hadn't seen much of the world. On top of that, his Earth upbringing made him considerably gentler toward women than most men of this world tended to be.

Evan had no idea why romantic entanglements kept finding him, of all people — a lich, no less, no longer properly human by any measure. He had no wish to hurt anyone, and kept trying every way he could think of to avoid it — which only seemed to make him more magnetic in the process.

Evan didn't stop to consider whether Cecilia's words held any truth. His mind wasn't on Robin or the rest of them at all. He forced a smile. "You flatter me too much. I'm getting on in years — probably not a good match for Andrea. She's still young. Perhaps you should reconsider."

Andrea flared up at once. "Evan! I've come all this way from the Angleson Forest, and this is how you treat me? Do you already have someone?" She stamped her foot and turned to Cecilia. "Sister, he's being cruel to me!"

"Little sister, you misunderstand. Mr. Wang only means he's older — age means nothing for us half-elf daughters. Mr. Wang, you needn't worry about that at all," Cecilia said, all but pushing her sister forward. Evan wanted to say outright that he was a lich, but with so many people around, he held his tongue with a private sigh.

Seeing Evan say nothing further, Cecilia's spirits lifted, and she pressed the advantage. "Since you have no objection, and your colleagues happen to be here too — Andrea, we have some business to attend to these next few days. Why don't you spend some time with Mr. Wang in the meantime. I'll leave her in your care, honored mages."

Jessica and the others exchanged glances. Andrea's face had gone bright red, all girlish protest now. "Sister!" she said, as though refusing the arrangement outright.

"We're not far from Hollingburton. We'll come collect you in a few days. No need to be shy — a half-elf daughter loves boldly and hates boldly too," Cecilia said, sparing Evan one last knowing glance.

Evan groaned inwardly, though on reflection, perhaps it wasn't the worst outcome — he could use the time to set matters straight once and for all. He raised no objection.

Stolen novel; please report.

Jessica and the others, seeing Evan stay silent, found themselves privately puzzled — it seemed he wasn't entirely indifferent to this woman after all. But what about Tina? Whatever freedoms nobility might allow in matters of the heart in this society, a man was still only meant to have one true wife.

Cecilia pulled Robin along, and he offered Evan a parting smile before the two of them left, Andrea naturally falling in step with Jessica and the others. Raymond arrived just then, and Becky took her leave of the group as well.

Evan's party wandered on through the market, though his mind had long since left it behind, turning over how best to talk things through with Andrea. Just then, a faint, familiar presence brushed at the edge of his senses — a lich's presence. Evan's head came up, his eyes fixing on one direction.

An unfamiliar middle-aged man stood haggling over something nearby. Then, abruptly, he too went still, turning to look back. A flash of green crossed his eyes, and he gave a cold laugh. From that presence alone, Evan recognized him at once — Boniface, though his presence now ran far stronger than the last time they'd crossed paths. Their eyes met. Those nearby sensed something was off, though neither man made a move.

No one else caught it, but the two of them were already speaking, mind to mind.

Boniface. So it's you. Managing to keep your appearance close to an ordinary person's — you've made real progress, it seems.

Nicholas. You've long since mastered that trick yourself. If it weren't for the blood debt between us, I might have considered making a friend of you — a lich, slipping into Hollingburton itself. Genuinely impressive.

The feeling's mutual. Since we're both liches now, what's the point in dredging up old grievances? Better to wipe the slate clean. What good does all this killing do either of us? Sit back, enjoy the long centuries ahead of us, watch the tides rise and fall. Isn't that far more comfortable? Evan wanted nothing more than to see Boniface destroyed, but there was little he could do about it — as a fellow lich, without finding his phylactery, there was no true way to kill him at all, at worst costing him a body he'd simply replace. Evan, lich though he was, stood a rung beneath that — no phylactery of his own, no way to know whether death would even bring him back the way it did an ordinary lich. Which was exactly why he'd offered peace.

Don't count on it. I swore an oath over my brothers' graves that I would see you destroyed, lich and all.

Why bother with this? You know as well as I do what a lich's nature means. Can you actually kill me? Even as he said it, Evan wasn't entirely sure himself — though he made a show of bravado regardless, projecting far more confidence than he felt.

Boniface had no way of knowing that, but he answered without a flicker of hesitation. Three nights from now, on the eastern peak. I'll be waiting for you.

With that, he turned and walked off without a backward glance. The whole exchange, playing out at length in their minds, had taken no more than a blink of an eye in the real world — all anyone else saw was the two men's eyes meeting, a cold snort, and one of them turning away.

Andrea asked, curious, "What was that about? Do you two know each other?"

"More than know each other. We're enemies," Evan said.

"Then why let him just walk away?" Andrea pressed, alarmed.

"He's no match for me, but if he wants to leave, I can't stop him either. Besides, it's the Plowing Festival — too many people around for a fight," Evan said mildly. He said nothing about Boniface's challenge.

Back at Hollingburton, Andrea eyed Evan's quarters with curiosity — a proper little villa of his own — and let out a delighted cry, darting inside. The moment she stepped through the door, a voice rang out. "Who are you?"

Hearing a woman's voice, Andrea's mind went blank, tears nearly welling up. No wonder Evan wouldn't discuss things properly with her — there was already another woman here.

Seeing Andrea freeze, eyes glistening, Evan found it strange for a moment before understanding dawned. "Xiaoshuang, it's me. This is my friend Andrea."

"Andrea? So you're Wang's friend. Welcome!" Xiaoshuang dropped down from above like an oversized dragonfly.

"You're a fairy?" Only now did Andrea understand, studying the fairy with open curiosity.

"You're a half-elf, aren't you. You smell a lot cleaner than Wang does," Xiaoshuang said, settling onto her shoulder and taking a deep, appreciative breath.

"Andrea, there's something I need to tell you. You don't know this yet — I'm a lich," Evan said, deciding to lay it out plainly. Whatever came of her reaction was hers to work through; Evan, at least, was seasoned enough not to worry over it.

"Are you joking with me?" Andrea's first instinct was flat disbelief.

"Wang's not lying. He's a lich — a good one," Xiaoshuang added.

"No, you're both lying. Why would a fairy stay with a lich? And besides — he doesn't only know necromancy. He can cast wind blades, fireballs, all sorts of things," Andrea said, flustered, blurting out two objections at once — though a third lay unspoken, that Evan's build didn't look anything like a lich's either.

"I only truly know necromancy. Everything else, I channel through a hidden array to disguise my nature — the same reason I use swordsmanship as cover. As for the fairy, the world holds more than anyone imagines possible," Evan said, pulling the bracer from his wrist and peeling back the layer beneath. Andrea went completely still, murmuring, "Why?"

Evan let out a breath. Xiaoshuang's body lit up with scattered points of color, drifting around Andrea's form. "Thank you, Xiaoshuang. I feel much better now," Andrea said.

"Now you understand why I couldn't accept your feelings," Evan said. "Because I'm a lich. We can still be friends, of course — if you're willing to have that."

"Still friends," Andrea repeated, turning the words over.

Just then, Leonardo's voice sounded at the door. "Hello there, old friend. Leonardo and Tina have come to see you." Leonardo and Tina stepped inside as he spoke, and Tina's eyes landed on Andrea at once, just as Andrea's found her — both girls sensing, on pure instinct, exactly the threat the other represented.