TPGV Ch# 8

The servant sent to call Ellice returned with a strange woman instead.

The woman, who had a gentle and innocent expression and neatly braided brown hair, flinched in fear as soon as she met Lexius and bowed deeply from the waist.

“I-I greet the Duke.”

“And who might you be?”

“I’m Lady Ellice’s maid, Cecil.”

“I clearly told you to bring the princess. Why did you come instead?”

As his sharp gaze swept over her, Cecil trembled with fear.

“M-My lady is unable to come at the moment. She’s very ill… and currently unconscious.”

“Ha. Unconscious? The woman who was shouting at the top of her lungs until dawn?”

Lexius scoffed in disbelief. If she didn’t want to meet him, she could’ve said so. Sending a maid with such a lie felt insulting.

“I swear it’s true! What reason would I have to lie? Her body is burning up—she’s like a ball of fire. Her fever is so high she can’t even open her eyes… I’m terribly worried…”

Cecil looked like she was on the verge of tears as she spoke.

“Lead the way. I’ll see for myself.”

Lexius rose from his seat immediately. He couldn’t believe it until he saw her with his own eyes. He had to look into the antidote for Chorfen anyway.

Calix shrugged and followed him out.

Ellice was lying in bed as if dead. Her eyes were tightly shut, and she didn’t even twitch a finger. It seemed she truly was unwell.

Lexius touched her forehead to confirm—and was surprised. She was burning up, to the point where it felt dangerous. Could a person even survive a fever like this?

Her pulse was faint, her face ghostly pale, and her lips completely drained of color. Cold sweat trickled down her forehead.

“Why didn’t you summon a physician sooner?”

Lexius frowned as he asked. Cecil flinched, clearly nervous, before answering.

“A-A physician would be no use. Even the royal doctors can’t treat her condition. They said it’s an illness caused by foreign blood and that no doctor can cure it.”

“An incurable illness? Then they sent a sick woman to me from the start?!”

Lexius exploded in anger. Yet another reason the emperor had forced this marriage on him.

An ex-lover who attempted to elope, a possibly aborted or concealed child, and now an incurable disease. This princess was damaged from the beginning.

Cecil, flustered, shook her head quickly.

“N-No! She’s usually fine. The illness only appears when she suffers severe emotional stress. Even when she falls this ill, she recovers after a few days if she continues drinking her herbal tea.”

“Herbal tea?”

“Yes. It’s made from herbs she grows herself in her greenhouse. I learned the recipe from her and brew it every time she gets sick like this…”

Lexius frowned suspiciously.

“You said no doctor can cure her, but tea can?”

“It’s not just any tea—it’s made with foreign herbs. The Empress, Lady Ellice’s mother, came from a distant land. Since the illness stems from foreign blood, the herbs from her homeland must help.”

A foreign land… Now that he thought of it, he remembered hearing something. Ellice’s mother, the Third Consort, was a woman the emperor had brought from another country in his youth.

They said he returned from one of his many travels to study dark magic with a mysterious woman by his side.

As his favored lover, she had a private estate outside the capital and was never shown to the public.

The Third Consort passed away shortly after the emperor seized the throne—before even moving into the new palace.

She never appeared at official events, so few even knew of her existence.

But what kind of country caused a person’s child to suffer an incurable illness?

Foreigners weren’t uncommon in the Empire. Yet no one had heard of their blood causing such strange, untreatable conditions.

“What kingdom was the Third Consort from?”

“I-I don’t really know. It might’ve been the southern continent… or maybe the western one. My lady doesn’t know either. She was very young when her mother died, and His Majesty would become furious whenever she mentioned her…”

“Hmm. Something’s off.”

That’s when Calix suddenly spoke. He had been checking Ellice’s arm and now wore a strange expression.

A glimmer of blue flickered in his gray eyes as if he’d discovered something.

“What do you mean, something’s off?”

“The princess. Her physical condition is a wreck. It’s a miracle she’s even alive.”

“It’s that bad?”

“No, the real issue is dark magic. It’s spread through her like poison, eating away at her body. Her blood vessels are completely twisted—whoever cast this spell did so viciously.”

“What? Dark magic?”

Lexius’s face darkened in confusion. It made no sense. How could the daughter of the emperor—a master of dark magic—fall victim to it?

Surely, the emperor must have known.

Even after the wedding, the princess had met with the emperor regularly. If Calix noticed the curse right away, the emperor surely would have, too.

Then… he knowingly left her like this?

“Yeah. Worse still is her blood. Whether it’s the curse or not, the amount of blood flowing through her veins is less than half that of a normal person.”

“W-What do you mean by that? And dark magic—how…”

Cecil, who had been listening in shock, stared at Calix with wide, tearful eyes.

Calix turned to her and asked seriously:

“Does she fall ill like this often?”

“A few times each year… Always after seeing His Majesty. I thought it was just the emotional stress, but… I had no idea it was due to blood loss. And dark magic… oh no…”

Tears streamed down Cecil’s face in despair.

“So she relied on herbal tea every time?”

Calix asked, still in disbelief.

“Yes. hic My lady’s tea… it’s very effective…”

“What herbs does it use?”

“Kamallantis flower, Mugeol grass, Harabor berries, Centima root, Obogel, Saurka… hic There are two more, but I can’t remember the names. I’d know them if I saw them in the greenhouse…”

Calix’s eyes widened the more she spoke, struggling to believe what he was hearing.

“Kamallantis? In a greenhouse? And Mugeol?”

“Yes. All the other herbs too…”

Frightened, Cecil burst into tears again.

“What’s wrong? Are those herbs dangerous?”

Lexius raised an eyebrow. Calix ran a hand down his face, stunned.

“Dangerous? They’re legendary. Kamallantis only grows in the holy shrines of Sercha. It’s called the miracle flower—it can even make the paralyzed walk.”

“What?”

“Mugeol only grows in the southern continent’s deserts. It’s so rare that even professional herbalists might see it once in a lifetime. It’s worth dozens of times more than gold due to its detoxifying properties.”

“hic…”

Cecil forgot her tears in shock. It was clear she hadn’t known the herbs’ value.

“Saurka is said to revive the heart. Even one that’s nearly stopped. I’ve only heard of it—never seen it. As for the rest… I don’t even know what they are. And they’re all in that greenhouse?”

“Yes. I tend to them with my lady every day.”

Cecil wiped her tears and spoke with resolve, as if she wouldn’t allow anyone to doubt her mistress.

“We’ll see for ourselves. If she’s surrounded by such herbs, it makes a bit more sense how she’s even surviving.”

“You believe me? But who exactly are you to know all this?”

“Calix Fortensia. I’m a magician.”

Calix casually introduced himself. Cecil responded just as expected—eyes wide in recognition.

“You’re that Calix? The great mage said to rival even His Majesty?! Is it really you?”

Calix proudly tossed his hair and smiled smugly.

“Pfft. I’m far superior. Don’t compare me to that lowlife.”

“T-Then… can you cure my lady’s curse?”

She looked up at him with pure hope, convinced he could fix everything.

“We’ll see. If I act recklessly, it could destroy her body. The curse has been with her too long—if I break it suddenly, the shock might kill her.”

“Then… then you mean nothing can be done?!”

“We can ease the effects gradually. Over time. But if there’s another layer of dark magic hiding beneath this one… even I might not be able to break it.”

“Please… anything… I beg you. At least bring her back to consciousness.”

Cecil pleaded, but Calix responded coolly:

“Nothing comes free. It depends on what your lady can offer me.”

“M-My lady doesn’t have much money. She sold everything valuable to build the greenhouse…”

“I didn’t say it had to be money. There are many things more valuable than that.”

As Calix hinted, Cecil suddenly clapped her hands.

“Oh! We can offer you the herbs. The greenhouse has so many rare ones. I’ll tell my lady as soon as she wakes.”

“That might do. Still—your mistress carries something… dangerous.”

“Huh?”

Calix’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Ellice’s arm.

He snapped his fingers, summoning a blue flame, and sent it to her wrist.

The flame wrapped around a jeweled bracelet, which began to slide off her wrist.