"It's me, Nidia! I've come to bring you water!" The bell-like voice of a young girl came from outside.
She rapped on the door until the hinges creaked, and Shawn quickly jumped out of bed, smoothed out the folds of his robe, and hastily straightened his hair in the mirror before rushing over to the door. In the fifteen years since he had become a mage, he had heard a lot of gossip about famous mages "getting to know" some of the noblewomen so that they could extract research funds from them, and it was not considered scandalous to do so. They were simply consenting adults getting what they wanted.
Shawn had never realized that his face could become an asset to him. After years of experimenting, his health and beauty were gradually destroyed by a shoddy diet and all-nighters. Shawn hoped
