Thierry opened his eyes wide. Elisha, lying in bed and writhing in agony, didn't seem real.
"Far from going down, the fever keeps rising. We tried fever reducers and various other measures to bring the temperature down, but to no avail... However, the maid says the patient collapsed after touching a jewel, so just in case, I think we should summon a sorcerer as well."
"Jewelry? You aren't talking about this necklace, are you?"
"Yes, yes... It looks like a type of gem I've never seen before, so the sorting station set this aside for me. But as soon as she touched it, the Princess suddenly..."
The voices of Marie and Wagen coming from behind buzzed as if from a distant place. Although Thierry had rushed here in an instant, seeing Elisha lying right in front of him, he couldn't move his body.
Thierry stood a step away, staring at Elisha without even thinking of approaching her. It felt as though some unknown emotion was gripping his leg.
It was heavy, chilling, and scary. Yes, this was horror.
It was a day when he strangely felt unwell, even though it wasn't a situation where an assassin would sneak in and put Elisha in danger like back then. Lari, who had suddenly left his side, overlapped in his mind. Soon, his feet shook, and the world crumbled.
"Your Majesty, would you mind taking a look at this for a moment?"
"..."
"Your Majesty?"
Wagen's mouth closed involuntarily at the sight of Thierry's retreating figure, barely managing to take one step after another.
"Ah..."
Thierry knelt down near the bed as if collapsing.
"Lari."
"..."
"Open your eyes. Why are you like this? Huh? Wake up."
He whispered very softly in a cracked voice, like someone denying reality. He had expected him to cause a scene and torment the people at any moment, but instead, he remained listless and stared endlessly at Elisha.
It felt as if the chilly air of the villa, which had always been short of firewood, was brushing against his cheek. Thierry's red eyes, trapped in vivid afterimages of the past, gradually blurred. A suffocating silence, where it felt difficult to even let out a breath, stifled everyone.
"Your Majesty."
Wagen, who had been quietly watching him from behind, stepped closer as if he couldn't stand it anymore.
"Snap out of it. You need to figure out the cause of what's going on first!"
Wagen tightly grabbed Thierry's arm, who was looking down at Elisha with empty eyes like someone who had lost everything. The court physician, who was glancing nervously from the corner, was utterly shocked by the force of Wagen's low, commanding tone, as if to tell him to snap out of it.
"...The cause, ah. Right, I have to find out the cause."
Unlike the court physician, who wanted to run away, fearing he might face serious consequences, Thierry simply closed and opened his eyes slowly.
"The situation is too strange to be just a simple cold. Look at this."
Thierry pressed his hand firmly against his eye, where the pressure was rising, and slowly opened it. He glanced once at Wagen's face as he approached him and held something out, then lowered his gaze. A necklace adorned with a translucent gem caught his eye.
"I will dismiss those around for a moment. It seems this is not a matter that a court physician can resolve."
Thierry waved one hand haphazardly as he received the necklace. Unlike the court physician, who rushed out so as not to miss the opportunity, Wagen signaled Marie, who was cautiously observing the situation, to leave, saying it would only take a moment.
...Bam.
Wagen checked that the door was closed and turned around.
"This necklace must not touch the Princess."
"What is that?"
Thierry gestured toward the floor, then carefully took one of Elisha's hands as if handling a glass artifact that might shatter at any moment, while wiping the cold sweat from her forehead with the other. The stifling heat, intense even just by being close, left a burning sensation on Thierry's palm.
It was a tremendous fever. It was always him who was hot, but now Elisha was much hotter than him. Hot enough to make him wonder if she might burn up right then and there.
"Please..."
He wanted to snatch this heat away right then and there. Thierry rubbed his forehead impatiently, as if the hand he was holding were a lifeline.
"This is a magic stone."
Wagen spat out the words in a suppressed voice, as if chewing them out.
"It's mined only in the Elf village."
At those words, Thierry's broad back trembled slightly. As he slowly lifted his head, which had been buried, blood rose in his eyes.
"Again..."
Thierry's chin began to tremble. Even his voice trembled, like someone unable to control their anger.
“An elf?”
"I heard there is a tradition in Ashtad for awakening as a Spirit Summoner... but I wonder if that involves using this Magic Stone."
Wagen, who was more sensitive to magical energy waves than others, was puzzled after detecting a subtle flow of magic the moment he entered the room. However, the moment Marie held out the necklace, a magic stone he had seen by chance long ago in his childhood came to mind, and he began to get a sense of the true nature of this subtle atmosphere.
Wagen slowly turned the magic stone and observed it.
The presence of the magic stone was so insignificant that if one had not known of its existence—also known as a spirit stone containing hidden pure magical power—one might not have even noticed the faint energy emanating from the small gem.
However, as Wagen was piecing together the fragments one by one, he belatedly realized that his oversight was too great.
"I should have checked it myself. I took it too lightly."
In the end, Wagen covered his forehead and sighed.
A size this small is indeed no different from an ordinary gem to most people. However, according to his theory, the moment a person with high affinity for nature touches this gem, the inherent power of the magic stone will awaken and become a medium that maximizes the target's power.
Even though bd is only a half-breed, he shouldn't be that it lacks affinity for nature, but seeing the magic stone that shows no reaction to it, he wonders if it might have been bound to Elisha.
"Will she awaken as a Spirit Summoner, or stay like this..."
Before anyone realized it, the end of Wagen's words, as he had been muttering to himself while engrossed in thought, made Thierry's ears perk up.
Since it was such a closed group, Thierry had no way of knowing about the magic stones that the elves were mining. All Thierry knew at the moment was that the elves were targeting Lari again. As his reason, which had been clouded by fear, returned, his red eyes burned.
It was already the second time. At this point, it was ambiguous whether they were targeting Thierry or Lari. If they wanted to provoke Thierry, there was no need to go through the trouble of sending the magic stone. There were many more ways to target Elisha. However, the fact that they sent the magic stone—carrying the risk of exposing the elves' existence—rather than taking an easy and safe route, meant that they did not simply intend to provoke Thierry.
'There's something.'
Are you seriously hoping Elisha awakens as a Spirit Summoner?
However, if that had been the goal from the start, the Kingdom of Ashtad would have attempted it long ago. Even he could immediately guess that they could not take a risk on Elisha, who was in the stage of recovering her health, regardless of her affinity, so there was no way the elves would not know.
'Why on earth are they targeting Lari? Why on earth?'
He felt like he was backed into a dead end. He clearly wanted to think, but whenever he looked at Elisha lying collapsed in front of him, his mind kept going blank, and his thoughts stopped.
"...Contact Ashtad immediately."
Thierry squeezed out his last shred of reason to make a decision. Under normal circumstances, he would have drawn his sword and gone berserk, but looking at Elisha, he had no such thoughts. His thoughts simply flowed instinctively toward what was best for her.
It was to the point where he felt he couldn't just sit by and watch the situation unfold, even if a situation arose where he might have to send Alicia away.
"Come up with a solution."
Conviction was needed. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, magic stones were mixed in with the gift sent from Ashtad, so they, too, would have to come up with a solution somehow.
Actually, if you think about it, Elisha wouldn't have needed to go through this if she hadn't gotten involved with him in the first place.
Thierry was simply sick and tired of seeing himself pass his taste on to others. And he felt incredibly sorry for Elisha.
Eventually, he lowered his head weakly and took in Elisha. He wished he could suffer in her place, or even die in hers, yet his helplessness made his situation utterly miserable.
His emotions surged just as his confused mind did. It felt like a stormy sea at times, and a parched sea at others.
"...I'm sorry. Please don't get sick."
The whispering voice was so heart-wrenching. The look of anger from moments ago vanished without a trace, and in an instant, sorrow drenched his face.
To think that he could do nothing but stand by her side, unable to offer a single word of help. His helplessness hit him with agonizing intensity once again. He only wanted to protect Lari, but he was overwhelmed with sorrow at the thought of why that single thing was shattering his heart to such an extent.
His red eyes, a mixture of desperation and resentment, gradually clouded over. Thierry squeezed his stinging eyes shut, his expression looking as if he were about to cry at any moment. One hand clutched the bedsheets as if to tear them apart, while the other carefully wrapped around Elisha's hand.
If she doesn't wake up like this, if she were to leave my side just like this, would I really be able to endure it without going insane?
A single tear rolled down the corner of Thierry's eye and fell onto the back of Elisha's hand.
***
I'm pretty sure I collapsed; what is going on now?
I stared blankly at the strangers spread out before my eyes. Until I opened my eyes, it felt as though the intense heat was going to consume me, but upon opening them, I felt perfectly fine, and instead of the Imperial Palace, a forest stretched out before my eyes.
“Is it a dream...?”
A red-haired woman and a black-haired man were standing in front of a huge tree, staring at each other. Seeing them lost in their own world, as if I were invisible to them despite being so close, I became increasingly convinced that this was a dream.
To anyone watching, the two looked like lovers. Their affection for each other was practically nonexistent; they were embracing one another with a look of pity, as if something sad had happened. Then, as the man's head tilted slightly, he approached the woman…
"Gasp! No, even if it's a dream, what is this!"
I was flustered and couldn't continue speaking properly.
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