HDBMTD 81

~Chapter 81~

While waiting in the drawing room, the Governor’s son entered.
He had the same black eyes as his father and a gentle face—he looked like a calm young man.

The moment I saw him, I knew right away. He wasn’t a Hwan-Gwi.

“Hello. I heard you came all the way here because you were worried about me. I feel so sorry for the trouble.”

No matter how smart a Hwan-Gwi becomes by eating human souls, they could never act with such natural shyness.

‘So he really was someone who miraculously came back to life…’

The Governor’s son, who had been revived after thirty minutes of cardiac arrest, truly was a miracle case.

I remembered the healers shouting happily:

“It’s a miracle!”
“Maybe it’s the Princess’s energy that saved him!”

But I thought if he had received my energy, it would be closer to a disaster than a miracle.
The fact that there was no twist almost felt like a twist itself, leaving me strangely deflated.

While I was talking with the Governor’s son, Nocturne whispered beside me.

“Lance used his sensitivity and confirmed he’s not a Hwan-Gwi.”

“I already knew that by looking.”

After finishing the short talk, I smiled at the Governor’s son.

“I’m relieved to see you’re fine. Then we’ll be going now…”

As I tried to stand up, the Governor quickly spoke.

“You came all this way, at least have a meal with us.”

“That’s alright. We’ve already troubled you enough.”

“Trouble? This is the greatest honor of our lives.”

The Governor and his son treated us so warmly that I felt bad we had only come to confirm he wasn’t a Hwan-Gwi. In the end, I couldn’t refuse and we joined them for dinner.

The meal was grand. The Governor’s whole family was gathered, and the table was filled with dishes.

The Governor’s son spoke with a bright expression.

“Princess, I truly thank you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. I nearly died from cardiac arrest, but a healer saved me. I wanted to thank that healer, but they said the reason I woke up was thanks to the presence of a precious person in the hospital.”

“Ah…”

My face turned red with embarrassment. They were even saying that outside. I tried to recall which healer might have spread such words.

“I kept wondering what that meant… but now I understand. That precious person was you, Princess.”

“Not at all. I think the healers just spoke kindly because they like me. In truth, it was their effort and your own strength to recover.”

“You’re even humble… thank you so much, Your Highness.”

The Governor and his wife also bowed their heads.

“Your visit here will never be reported to the Imperial Court. We’ll keep it secret with our lives.”

“You don’t need to go that far…”

I waved my hand with a smile. So this was why Nocturne had spoken with the Governor before dinner—he had already told them to keep it quiet.

In the middle of the meal, I suddenly remembered something and carefully asked.

“On the way here, I saw someone showing symptoms of Magi Poisoning.”

In the Empire, Magi Poisoned patients were usually placed in special facilities. Lords didn’t like having such people in their territories. In the north, it wasn’t uncommon for rulers to simply get rid of them.

So I studied the Governor’s face as I asked.

But he answered right away.

“Ah, you must have seen Bill.”

“You know him?”

I widened my eyes. This was surprising. Not only did he know of a Magi Poisoned person, he even called him by name.

“Yes. Did something happen?”

The Governor looked a little worried, so I quickly reassured him.

“We saw children throwing stones at him.”

“Oh no, again…”

“He’s a patient. I hope he wasn’t hurt. For a normal person, it’s a deadly disease.”

I spoke kindly, and the Governor’s face relaxed.

“Don’t worry. Bill is an Eshafe. Princess, you have such a warm heart.”

“You seem to know him well.”

“Yes, he works as a city manager directly under me.”

“A city manager?” I repeated automatically.

Hiring a Magi Poisoned person as a manager sounded dangerous.

As if understanding my doubt, the Governor explained slowly.

“Bill hasn’t been like this for long. He used to work as a Magi waste handler.”

My expression grew serious as I listened.

In Seribil flows the great and beautiful Seri River.
But about eight months ago, this river faced a grave crisis—because of the Cambiata Research Center that once stood where the Imperial hospital is now.

At that center, experiments using monsters were active. Near the end of the war, the researchers fled, leaving behind monster corpses that began to rot.

Then, on the day of a great storm, those rotting corpses poured into the river.
The Seri River was on the verge of becoming cursed forever.

But Seribil had one man with a special job—Bill, the Magi waste handler.

He disposed of anything tainted by Magi: from monster corpses, to buildings, to objects and nature. Few people could do such dangerous work.

The best candidates were high-rank Eshafe who could survive Magi—combat types, teleporters, or healers—but those people never wanted such dirty and thankless jobs.

Bill was a teleporter, and he chose this job.

The townspeople didn’t like him. His family lived on the outskirts because of prejudice. But he was perfect for the work—though he couldn’t teleport far, he could do it many times a day, which was ideal for waste disposal.

Even Cambiata left such workers alone. Dirty and dangerous, but necessary.

When Cambiata fell, Bill must have been happy.
But when he saw the river full of rotting monster corpses, he must have despaired.

If left alone, the river would spread poison to the land, and Seribil would be doomed. Its people would all become refugees.

So Bill jumped into the river.

“The work took about a week. Bill wore a heavy protective suit and worked day and night, removing the corpses. But near the end, exhausted, he made a mistake.”

I already knew what it must have been. My face hardened. The Governor’s voice grew sad.

“He was cut by something sharp on the riverbed, and the suit tore.”

“Ah…” I sighed.

“Couldn’t a healer be called immediately?”

“The situation was bad. He was deep in the contaminated river, and his suit was already soaked in Magi. By the time they removed his gear and cleaned him, the Magi had already poisoned him.”

The Governor looked pained at the memory.

“After the war, a large hospital was built in this city, and thanks to the clean river, Seribil will surely prosper. All of this is because of Bill.”

I remembered the sight of Bill running into the forest to escape the children’s stones and muttered with a heavy heart.

“…And yet, the man who saved this city can no longer live in it.”