Harley

As the only son of Duke Vance, Harley lost his mother soon after he was born; and in that political battle, Lesley's father, the leader of the Duke's Guards, also gave his life protecting the Duke.

In order to repay his kindness, Duke Vance adopted Lesley as his own daughter and trained her to become the best sniper in the Moniyan Empire.

Harley on the other hand, as the only heir to the Vance family who people held high hopes for, possessed neither the talent for magic nor combat. Duke Vance was extremely disappointed in him. He rarely paid any attention to Harley. Instead, he turned to marrying allies to consolidate his power and cultivate new heirs, a series of actions that was tantamount to giving up on Harley completely.

But the innocent Harley did not understand the complex ways of adults, and he enjoyed a carefree childhood to the fullest.

Harley's personality was a bit eccentric. He preferred to do things on his own that he was interested in rather than play with others, but Lesley was an exception. Harley saw that almost everyone was avoiding Lesley, and she appeared worried all day long. Harley always stayed by Lesley's side, trying his hardest to make her happy.

Being together day after day, the relationship between the two deepened. Harley also noticed that although Lesley had a serious disposition and rarely smiled, she was actually a very gentle person, especially toward him. She was always extremely tolerant and forgiving.

But even so, Harley was still desperate for his father's love. He would always ask Lesley about how he could get his father to like him, but Lesley never had the heart to tell him that the cold-blooded Duke Vance had long since cast him aside.

One day the excited little Harley found Lesley and said to her, "Lesley! I can do magic!"

Lesley was very surprised. If this was true, then Duke Vance might have a change of heart. She said to Harley, "Really? Show me now!"

Harley straightened his bow tie proudly and stood in front of Lesley. He took out a hat, tapped the hat gently with a "magic wand", and dozens of small birds flew out of it. Harley then searched down into the hat with his hand, and incredibly, pulled out a cute little white rabbit. Then he put down the hat, walked over to Lesley, and took out a dazzling red rose from behind her ear. Lesley smiled, accepted Harley's rose, and said: "This is incredible!"

Despite all this, the sharp-eyed Lesley had realized that these were just tricks Harley was doing. It wasn't real magic.

"What do you think? If my dad found out I can do magic, would he start to like me?" Harley asked Lesley with excitement. He was very satisfied with his performance.

"Definitely, but your magic is still not fully developed. You should practice some more." Lesley couldn't bear to hurt Harley, and didn't want him to be reprimanded by Duke Vance, so this was all she could say.

Harley also felt that what Lesley said made sense, and he happily went back holding the rabbit.

After that, Harley often dragged other people over to watch his "magic" performances together. Everyone saw that his magic was just tricks, but they didn't say anything. They were just humoring little Harley to make him feel happy.

But the news that little Harley could do "magic" was spread around by some malicious people. One rainy and windy night, Duke Vance's political opponents sent someone to take Harley away.

Little Harley's tricks were of no use in a real fight. He cried, wanting to escape, but was gagged with a piece of cotton cloth. He was blindfolded, his hands and feet were tied up, and he was locked in a dark dungeon.

Harley's kidnappers made Harley a hostage and wanted to negotiate terms with Duke Vance. What they didn't expect was for Duke Vance to refuse them right away. To him, Harley was nothing more than a pawn that could be sacrificed at any time. But Lesley was not willing to give up on Harley. For the first time, she violated the Duke's orders and broke into the dungeon where Harley was being held by herself.

In the darkness, Harley heard the sound of a sniper rifle and Lesley's cry: "Don't worry! Harley! I'll save you no matter what!"

Harley struggled to pull his blindfold down, and saw Lesley standing firmly in front of the cell door, accurately shooting every enemy who tried to approach. But even so, the enemies still managed to wound Lesley one after the other. Harley deeply regretted pretending to know magic and causing all this trouble. He was even more afraid of being the one who could cause the death of the only relative who cared about him.

At this moment, a dark arrow struck from nowhere, blinding Lesley's left eye. Seeing this, Harley cried and wanted to come to Lesley's side, but his bound hands and feet rendered him powerless.

In the darkness, Harley felt a force gushing out of his body. At this moment, a raging fire burned off the ropes on his body. Harley got up and ran towards Lesley's side. With just a swing of the hand, he managed to burn all the approaching enemies to ashes. So contrary to expectations, Harley really did have a gift for magic. This ability awakened at a moment of crisis, and the power was huge.

Eventually, the two siblings worked together to break out of the encirclement.

Lesley took Harley all the way north to the northern port of Castle Grandrock and boarded a big ship to the Magic Academy.

"Lesley, aren't we going home?" Harley was surprised by Lesley's action.

"Do you like that home?" Lesley did not answer his question.

Harley lowered his head, thought for a long time, and said, "I like my sister more."

Lesley smiled and rubbed Harley's head, "Then we won't go home. The Magic Academy is a sacred place for all magicians in the world. You will live a very happy life there."

"Will you come with me?"

"We will always be together."

Harley, having arrived at the Magic Academy, woke up and found that Lesley was missing, and only a note was left behind:

Live well and wait for me to come and pick you up.

Lesley returned to Castle Grandrock and reported the whole incident to Duke Vance. She tried to bear the blame as best she could, but to her surprise, Duke Vance didn't punish her.

He told Lesley to step down, and then he hired some other aides.

"The plan has changed. Our next plan will revolve around Harley..."

Open in the Stories library →