“Haa… Haa…”
“………”
Kania is lying on the bed, gasping for breath. I sat down gently next to her on the bed and asked.
“… How long have you been like this?”
“Si-Since this morning… my belly has become more sensitive… and in the end…”
“I see. So, that must have been the reason all along.”
“What…”
My heart aches when I look at her suffering.
Perhaps the reason she is in this much pain is because some amount of stellar mana might have blended in when I was infusing my life force into her.
Originally, I made fine adjustments to prevent the fatal stellar mana from fusing with the dark mana… but I guess I made a mistake because I was in a terrible state at that time.
In the end, I harmed Kania once again.
“I’m sorry, Kania.”
“…Eh?”
“…I think it’s probably my fault.”
I can finally treat Kania well, but instead of treating her well, I’m making her suffer… I really have no excuses.
It seems I’m fated to do evil deeds one way or other…
“Young Master.”
“Kania?”
I lowered my head and blamed myself a moment longer, before Kania, who had been trembling until then, lightly grabbed my hand and opened her mouth.
“It’s… not…Young… Master’s… fault… ugh…!”
She struggled to utter some words as she gazed at me with tearful eyes, then soon closed her eyes as she began to shiver again.
‘…Yes, this isn’t the time for this.’
This isn’t the time to wallow in guilt. Right now, my priority is to treat Kania, who is suffering from abdominal pain because of me.
Apologies can wait until the treatment is over.
“…Kania, I’m going to lift your top a little.”
As I spoke calmly after concentrating my senses, Kania nodded her head powerlessly. I glanced at her, then began to slowly lift her butler’s uniform.
“Eungh…!”
Then Kania let out a faint moan. It seems she feels tremendous pain just from having her clothes graze her stomach.
I therefore stopped lifting her uniform for a moment, then I began to ponder when I suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu from the moan that Kania just uttered.
‘…Don’t tell me this was the faint moan I heard back then?’
At dawn, while I was playing with the cat doll, I heard a woman’s moan in the room.
I thought I heard a ghost, or it was just a hallucination because I wasn’t feeling too well at the time, but now that I think about it, Kania’s moan sounded quite similar.
‘In truth, she must have been ill since the moment she received my life force…’
Even though Kania must have been in a lot of pain, I can see her struggling to hold back her moans and trying to fall asleep.
It seems that she lied to me in fear that I would feel guilty if she said she had been ill all night.
After all, I truly don’t deserve an aide like Kania.
“Kania…”
“Yes… Master…”
“…Can you bear with me for a moment?”
I pushed my piling guilt to a corner of my mind and whispered to Kania as I lifted her top and fully revealed her belly.
“What? What do you… Ha…!!”
And the next very moment, I poked Kania’s belly with my finger.
“Heuuungh…Haa..”
Thanks to this, Kania, who was about to ask me what I meant, was forced to close her eyes due to the excruciating pain that surged over her as I gently held her when she was convulsing while clutching my arm.
“…I apologize.”
“Ughhh…Ugh…”
When I apologized in a muffled voice, Kania, who had been writhing in pain for a long time, wiped the tears from her eyes and said.
“Please don’t…… apologize… rather, I’m the one who… hiik…!”
“…Well then, I’ll start in earnest.”
“Arghhh…”
I couldn’t see her suffering any longer, so I placed my left hand on her belly where the mana was distributed to some extent, then poked her with my finger, as I cradled her wrist in my right hand and stabilized her mana.
‘…This might be a bit tricky.’
As I stabilized Kania’s mana while listening to her groans, I frowned when I sensed that my stellar mana and her dark mana had already started to fuse deep inside her womb.
A fusion that deep could cause permanent side effects or even become a ticking bomb.
Of course, it’s too early to be certain that such a thing will happen as I have already stabilized a significant amount of stellar mana… That said, if the fusion is completed while I’m standing still, it can’t be reversed.
‘…I can’t let that happen. I’ve no choice but to absorb this completely.’
Now that it has come to this, it seems that I must absorb the stellar mana along with the dark mana deep inside Kania’s womb.
Of course, it would be perfect if only the stellar mana could be absorbed, but then the dark mana that had already been fused with my stellar mana could go berserk.
However, if I absorb the two fused manas at the same time, there wouldn’t be any problem.
Needless to say, it might be too much for my body, but I’m destined to perish alongside the Demon King anyway.
‘…And, since I gave her my word that I would treat her well.’
With that in mind, I took a deep breath and began to press her belly.
“…Heup!”
“…Huh?”
Then Kania groaned and tilted her head. It seems that she also noticed that her mana was draining, since it was the dark mana that always existed deep within her.
“…Ugh.”
“Y-Young Master…?”
As I continued to exert strength, my stellar mana and her dark mana, in a half blended state deep inside her womb, were slowly getting sucked into my hand. Seeing this phenomenon, Kania opened her eyes wide and spoke in an urgent tone.
“Young Master, the stellar and the dark manas are conflicting in nature! If you forcefully absorb them…”
“…I’m sorry, but this is the only way.”
So when Kania blankly stared at me, speechless for a moment, the dark mana slowly crept up my arm.
“Ugh…”
“…What are you doing now?”
“Oh, it’s not a big deal. It’ll be over in a moment.”
“…Don’t tell me you’re absorbing the dark mana right now?”
When Kania asked with brows furrowed, I answered with a bitter smile as I felt touched by her kind heart once again.
“It’s really not a big deal.”
“……..”
Having said that painstakingly, I absorbed all the remaining dark mana deep inside her womb, and then collapsed on the bed drenched in cold sweat.
“Ha… first of all… first aid is done… your stomach will be sensitive for a while… but you’re past the crisis…”
“…Young Master.”
Exhausted from manipulating mana so precisely, I gasped and barely narrated the results of the treatment, but suddenly Kania interrupted me, so I shut my mouth and began to listen to her.
“…Young Master, take a look at your arm.”
“…Ah.”
She pointed to my left arm, which had turned black.
“… I’m glad it’s my left arm. If it had been my right arm, it would have been a disaster.”
“………”
I tried to laugh it off, since Kania looked too concerned, but she suddenly burst into tears.
“That’s… not the problem…”
Her reaction was more intense than I expected, so I panicked and began to make excuses while sweating profusely.
“Ka-Kania. I’m telling you I’m fine, all right? The blackening on my arm will disappear as long as I keep infusing stellar mana.”
“But… the curse… will continue…. to inflict pain…”
“You know I have a lot of money, right? I’m sure it won’t even itch If I buy expensive herbs and potions and apply them regularly, all right? So, don’t need to worry too much….”
“But… the scar will… remain forever…”
Kania struggled to speak as her throat tightened in unshed tears. Soon afterwards, she lowered her head and muttered.
“My black magic is… a cursed ability… In the end… this time as well… Young Master…”
“Kania, don’t worry. In the first place, everlasting scars are trivial.”
“…Huh?”
“There will come a day when not only such scars but also my abilities and the life force that I give you will no longer be relevant. So don’t worry…”
“Heungh…!”
“Kania…?”
I somehow tried to reassure Kania by giving her minor hints about the future…. but she didn’t listen to me and eventually broke down in tears.
“I’m sorry, Master…!”
“What’s wrong with you…? I told you I’m fine, didn’t I…?”
“But… But…”
“………”
In that way, I spent a long time caressing Kania’s back, who was weeping sadly as I held her in my arms.
After all, Kania is really kind.
.
.
.
.
.
“…I’m sorry.”
After crying for a long time, I forced myself to stop crying so as not to cause more trouble for Young Master who had been comforting me for so long.
“Kania, have you calmed down?”
Then, Young Master, who had been watching me for a while with a worried look on his face, gently put his hand on my shoulder and asked about my condition in a warm voice.
“Yes, Young Master. I apologize for showing you such a disheveled appearance.”
“…No, people should cry when they feel like it. On the contrary, whenever you hold back your tears, you’re just drowning your heart… So it’s better to let it all out when you want to cry.”
I apologized to the Young Master, and he gave me advice with a warm smile in return. I stared at him and asked, recalling how he hugged the cat doll and wept bitterly.
“Is that from your experience?”
“…Maybe.”
Then the Young Master gave me a brief answer and reached out his hand to pick up the bandages from his bedside table, as he carefully began to wrap it around his arm.
“…Argh.”
Even though Young Master looked composed while wrapping the bandages, his arm was trembling.
I glanced at Young Master and soon opened my mouth.
“…I’ll wrap it for you.”
“Huh? It’s fine…”
“…Please don’t say the word ‘fine’ nonchalantly. Young Master.”
“…Yes.”
I cut off Young Master’s attempt to say it was fine, and took the bandage from Young Master’s hands and carefully began to wrap it around Young Master’s left arm.
“…Young Master, but why was the bandage on the bedside?”
“Ah, that’s… because I think I’ll be using it a lot in the near future.”
“……..”
I watched Young Master speak in a muffled voice, then forced down the emotions that were about to erupt and continued wrapping the bandage around his arm again.
‘Seeing his arm trembling like this, it means that he is still in a lot of pain…’
Young Master claims to be fine, but there is no way he could be fine when his arm has corroded to this extent.
Perhaps even now, Young Master was feeling an agonizing pain just from the slightest breeze.
Nevertheless, even after knowing this would happen, Young Master still chose to absorb my cursed dark mana… and in the end, he still smiles at me.
How on earth can a person be able to do that?
Is it because of your valiance and resolve to save everyone that remains undimmed before the world’s hatred?
Is it because of your warmth that lets you smile so brightly, even though your arm is corroded by my accursed dark mana?
Is it because of your benevolence to erase your own memories, in fear of despising me for possessing the dark mana that was created at the expense of your mother’s life?
Or is it because of your virtues that even made your subconscious space, where all the vile and detestable things tend to gather, pure enough to take on a more radiant and serene appearance than any other space?
“…It’s done, Young Master.”
Engrossed in such thoughts, I bandaged him up, and then the Young Master smiled and said something unexpected.
“Thank you Kania. Then let’s begin your treatment again.”
“…What?”
“I still haven’t been able to treat your unstable dark mana? If I skip even one day, you’ll be in danger.”
“…..!”
And when I heard those words, I realized.
‘You’re… valiant, warm, benevolent and virtuous, Young Master.’
All of my assumptions were indeed correct.
“…Young Master, let’s take a day off for today.”
“No. I must never skip it. If I do so… your dark mana might go out of control. I don’t know what will happen then.”
“…I see.”
To be considerate of Young Master, I requested him to take a rest for tonight, but he shook his head in denial with a resolute expression on his face.
I’m afraid he still remembers the incident when I went through mana outburst in the previous timeline.
Of course, it was agonizing back then…
‘…But that’s nothing compared to the pain Young Master must have been through.’
“Um, Kania. Could… you please listen to me without getting angry?”
At that moment, when the guilt was again surging over me, the Young Master looked at me and stuttered.
“…Yes?”
I was puzzled as to why he was looking at me, but then he blushed and spoke in a muffled voice.
“That… because of the treatment I just did, the condition of your belly is still delicate… I think I should refrain from putting my hands on your belly while treating you?”
“Yes, I agree.”
“So, I have to put my hand on another part of your body… that part…”
“…that part?”
“…is your heart, the most embarrassing place.”
“…ah.”
Having said that, Young Master lowered his face with a guilt-ridden expression and muttered.
“I’m sorry, I’m well aware you loathe such contacts, yet…”
“……..”
Meanwhile, I kept staring at Young Master…
“Or should I just infuse it through your hand? It’s a bit tricky, but if you’re uncomfortable, I can handle it…”
“…Is this fine?”
“……..!!!”
I carefully placed Young Master’s hand which I had been holding until then on my bosom.
“Kania…!”
“…Please begin, Young Master.”
Of course, if my clothes were in the way, it would hinder Young Master’s transfusion of life force, so I slightly lifted my top to expose my bare skin.
“Then… let’s begin…”
After momentarily hesitating, Young Master soon began to infuse life force into me.
‘…It feels so warm.’
Was it because I got too used to receiving life force through my belly every day, or was it the barrier of the clothes that I couldn’t feel it well?
The area around my chest, where the Young Master’s hand was placed, began to heat up
‘I never knew that receiving life force was such a warm and cozy experience…’
‘It’s me who feels comfortable while receiving life force… but the Young Master…’
Even now, Young Master is sacrificing himself for me. After all, he is a selfless and noble man.
As I was carefully observing Young Master’s complexion, I prepared myself to take his hands off the moment he showed any signs of struggle, but I suddenly began to feel an abnormal phenomenon in my chest region.
‘…Why do I feel a rising heat in my chest?’
Obviously, it was just warm a moment ago, but before I knew it, my chest region where Young Master placed his hand began to heat up.
Panicked, I quickly stretched out the fingers of my palm that was holding the back of Young Master’s hand and touched my chest, but I didn’t feel any heat at all.
‘…What? Is there something wrong with the life force transmission process?’
Just as I was wondering if I had to let go of Young Master’s hand with a worried expression on my face, I began to hear a periodic thump coming from somewhere.
– Thump, Thump, Thump
I quickly lowered my head, contemplating its meaning.
“…Eungh.”
“Kania? What’s wrong!? Maybe it’s the stellar mana again…”
“N-No. That’s not it…”
“…Huh?”
“…It’s nothing.”
As I desperately avoided Young Master’s concerned eyes with my head down, I muttered inwardly while listening to the clear sound of my heartbeat that was piercing my ears.
‘…After all, I don’t think I’m worthy to be Young Master’s aide.’
With such thoughts, my face seemed to have turned beet red.
.
.
.
.
.
“Hum Umm Hum ~ ? Hum Umm Hum ~ ?”
While Kania was blushing with her head down, Ferloche was humming while writing something eagerly.
“So… if you don’t want your secret to be revealed… as soon as the academy ends today… come to the Cathedral of the Sun God… Ferloche Astellade.”
Ferloche, who had been writing diligently, even reading the contents of the letter aloud, put down her pen with a satisfied look and muttered.
“Fufu… Great. In that case, no matter what, wouldn’t Frey… come to the cathedral with eyes that blazed in anger…?”
Having said that, Ferloche nodded to herself and picked up the envelope, then suddenly she opened her eyes wide and exclaimed.
“Oh, that’s right! This is a blackmail letter!”
Ferloche, recognizing the fact that she had written her name proudly on an anonymous blackmail letter, briefly opened her eyes wide, then quickly picked up the pen again with a contented smile on her face.
“…Done!”
Eventually, Ferloche, who had drawn a large ‘X’ on top of her name, smiled, then placed the letter inside the envelope and mumbled.
“Frey… till the day I ruin you… you shall live as my puppet… Heuaam… I’m sleepy…”
Having her head overheated from eagerly writing the letter, Ferloche yawned aloud in the middle of her monologue, and then dragged her haggard body off to the bed.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow… Phew…”
Lying on the bed, Ferloche immediately fell asleep after muttering with a delighted smile, as she imagined her enormous success that would unfold tomorrow.
It was Ferloche who, until the very end, remained completely clueless about the error in the letter folded inside the envelope.
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