Chapter 51
Back in my room, I washed myself as though rinsing away the fatigue of the day.
Then, under Garnet’s gentle hands drying my hair, my eyelids slowly grew heavy.
It had been an intense day, right from the morning.
If I had to sum it up, today was a “mission complete” kind of day.
“You must be sleepy, milady. I’m almost done drying your hair.”
“Mmh….”
Even Garnet’s voice, sounding amused as if I were cute, faded into the distance, and before I knew it, I had drifted off to sleep.
“Thank you for being by my side.”
The words Luca had left me before he went away echoed faintly in my half-dreaming mind.
And maybe, just maybe, I had thought the same thing in return, without realizing it.
“This dress feels too tight.”
“It seems you’ve grown again, milady. It fit you perfectly not too long ago.”
Smiling with delight, Garnet said she would have to measure me again soon and send new sizes to the dressmaker. I turned my head toward the mirror.
Time had flown by in the blink of an eye.
It had already been two months since the Grand Nobles’ Assembly.
The long summer was drawing to an end.
It’s partly because I’ve gotten taller, but also because I never skipped morning training, so my body has become healthier too.
The frail, scrawny country girl was nowhere to be seen now.
My hair had grown even longer.
Wherever I went, the sight of my silvery hair alone seemed enough to declare that I was Laberia of House Reyes.
Staring into the mirror, I thought I looked a little taller again.
Of course…
“Ria, I came to get you.”
When I opened the door, ready to head out, Luca was waiting—now a full head taller than me.
“Are you growing by half a centimeter every day or what…?”
No matter how much I grew, Luca’s growth spurt was still leaving me in the dust.
In the hallway, Ben and Terry were playing with Taro, looking every bit like children raised under a duke’s patronage.
Terry, who used to be just a little maid, had shown an interest in herbs and was studying hard these days. I’d even heard she quickly finished reading the book I bought her last time. My girl might just be a genius.
And Ben, apprentice to the shrimp—no, to the Shrimp Chef—was showing real talent in cooking. After all, he was the great man who once kept the orphanage children fed with nothing but potatoes.
The other children from Troy Orphanage sometimes sent me letters too, telling me how they were freely pursuing the dreams they’d always wanted. Their words often moved me deeply.
For that, I was always grateful to Father, who had taken my orphanage siblings under his wing.
Spotting Luca and me, Terry ran up, calling my name.
“Ria!”
With Taro and Ben following right behind, they all threw themselves into my arms.
“Big sis, that corn soup we had this morning? I made it!”
“Really? That was my favorite thing today!”
He might just become the master chef to succeed Shrimp someday.
“But to do that, you’ll need a new name. From what I know, all the great chefs have unusual names. Ordinary ones won’t do.”
Ben tilted his head in confusion at my words.
Anchovy? Too common.
Chameleon? Now that sounded interesting.
“How about renaming yourself Chameleon?”
Ben blinked, baffled by what I was saying, when Taro suddenly popped up behind him.
[Master! You left the kids with me just to go on another date?!]
What date! I’m going to the palace.
[Same thing! For me, Tarogriken Drezhula the Third, to be reduced to a mere babysitter of brats…!]
For all that, you sure seemed to be enjoying playing with them earlier.
[T-That was…!]
“Wow, Taro, are you having a staring contest with sis? Do it with me too!”
Grabbing Taro’s cheeks, Terry forced him to face her, eyes wide and unblinking.
“Terry, I’m on your side. Be sure to win, okay? I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay! I’ll win for sure!”
[Kyaaargh! Master—! Hey, this brat just blinked, I saw it!]
“Let’s go, Luca.”
I tugged at Luca’s arm.
“See you later, big bro,” Ben said politely.
Luca nodded and patted his head before heading downstairs with me.
“The hunting festival is already next week.”
And I knew—that was the true beginning of the original story.
“I’ll present you with the biggest prey, Ria.”
Coming from Luca, those words didn’t sound like a joke.
In fact, in the original, he had hunted the largest white lion and won the year’s championship.
Today’s palace visit was for my routine magic checkup.
Since I was under both the palace and the Mage Tower’s supervision, sometimes Jen would sneak over to kill time in secret, and sometimes I’d even receive desperate letters from the old court mage asking me to come.
There was no way to tell them that I could never really become the “Saintess” of history, so I just let them keep visiting.
Shouldn’t they be focusing on Senia instead of me?
Still, the summons to the court mages grew more frequent.
Each time, all they did was measure my magic and affinity, yet the numbers they recorded seemed to give them great satisfaction and hope.
As if it matters… I’m living on borrowed time anyway.
Yes, the overflowing mana within me would one day cut my lifespan short.
Drehan had been searching for a cure through all possible means, but it was pointless.
As far as I knew, there was only one method—and it required a foreign treasure.
Since awakening as a healing mage, the fevers that used to plague me had stopped.
But somehow, being this healthy felt even more terrifying.
Whether he knew my inner fears or not, Luca carefully took my hand, as though I were something fragile that might shatter or fly away, and escorted me to the carriage. I swallowed a heavy sigh.
Climbing aboard the palace carriage, I felt oddly indifferent.
Once, I had said to Luca that I wanted to travel by warp circle, like he had when he came to the duke’s estate.
But apparently, the Mage Tower had inscribed a “lovely little spell” on the royal palace’s warp circle that made it unusable for anyone but royalty.
They never miss a chance to curry favor with their patrons.
When I had once toured the Mage Tower, I’d found most of the mages to be eccentrics obsessed with money.
And so, not being royalty, I had no choice but to sit in this unshakably comfortable carriage and watch the scenery pass.
“After the checkup today, let’s walk through the garden in front of the palace. They just finished tending it, and it looks beautiful.”
“Yes, the weather’s perfect for a stroll.”
Indeed, the sky was a brilliant blue, dotted with fluffy white clouds like a painting.
Unlike the rainy day before, today felt like a day when even a rainbow might appear.
Floating magical instruments, the scent of herbs tickling my nose, familiars darting about everywhere.
The Royal Magic Department’s atmosphere was now familiar to me.
If shapeshifting into small animals was the trend among Tower familiars, then in the Royal Magic Department, it seemed the fashion was to take on the forms of magnificent beasts.
Coming here often had made me realize that Taro keeping the form of a wolf pup was actually his way of being considerate toward the duke’s household.
Amidst the chilling roars of beasts, the old mage before me scribbled down my latest numbers with trembling hands, adjusting his glasses in disbelief.
“These values… there is nothing like them in the records of any healing mage in history.”
Even his quivering voice carried astonishment.
And I couldn’t exactly blame him.
The number appearing on the mana-measuring crystal orb under my hand was exactly 15,000.
And glancing at the historical records he held, I saw that most never surpassed 10,000.
The most recent record belonged to Senia, and even she had peaked at 11,000.
“Surpassing 10,000 is extremely difficult, both physically and mentally.”
Of course, he had no idea that the number recorded here was only half of my true mana.
Before my first palace test, Jen had secretly taught me a trick to avoid revealing my full capacity: never place my palm fully flat on the crystal.
Everyone else always sought ways to score higher, never lower, so the old mage had no reason to suspect anything.
And still, even under that restraint, I measured 15,000.
If the crystal ever revealed my true 30,000, tomorrow’s headlines would cover the entire front page:
“Duke Reyes’s Daughter, the Sealed Witch?! Unbelievable Mana Levels!”
Experts would then claim I was surely the Witch of the Dark Forest.
“Yet your affinity remains low.”
He sighed deeply, as though lamenting fate.
To think that the girl who could have been the most powerful healing mage in history—perhaps even the savior of the Greffin Empire’s strength—was shackled by her affinity, unable to wield magic beyond a certain level.
He recorded my stagnant affinity numbers on his graph.
In truth, I was simply suppressing it.
The real problem wasn’t affinity—it was the incurable disease that worsened the more magic I used, caused by my overflowing mana.
I shrugged.
“I heard that Lady Senia Cablos has remarkable affinity. If you want a court healer, wouldn’t it be better to focus on her?”
The position of Royal Healing Mage was a singular honor, granted to only one person.
Since the previous healer had passed away years ago, the spot had remained empty.
And as I knew, in the original story, Senia eventually claimed it.
As the empire’s sole healer, it was only natural.
But now it seemed I had become the second option.
Honestly, I wished they’d realize I was a gilded fruit with no core and stop summoning me already.
“Hmm… Lady Senia’s affinity is certainly outstanding. But there is one troubling matter.”
The old mage, frowning, flipped through what appeared to be her records.
“Her first measurement, when she was very young, was her highest. Since then, her mana has steadily declined. Slowly, but noticeably. This is… unprecedented.”
Senia’s mana was decreasing over time?
That defied all common sense.
Magic was supposed to grow stronger with use.
And Senia had been healing patients at charity facilities and nobles alike for years.
So why was her mana draining away, like water from a cracked jar?
I asked him for the reason, but he only looked troubled and admitted he didn’t know.
“We are investigating, but Duke Cablos rarely permits Lady Senia to be tested.”
I nodded. True enough, a duke would hardly hand over his precious daughter so easily.
I’d have to ask Jen about this later.
If it was about magic, there was nothing he didn’t know.
