MTMD 5

Chapter 5

Duke Edgart sat down in the chair placed at Eloise’s bedside.

It was a distance close enough that she could meet his eyes with just a slight upward glance.

“However, it seems you are still not in a state where proper conversation is possible.”

He rose from his seat almost immediately. Then he brought his face close to Eloise’s.

With his head slightly tilted.

Close enough that it didn’t seem to matter if her hot breath touched him.

In his eyes, clear emotions were rising.

Curiosity and puzzlement.

And a faint trace of chill.

Then he spoke.

“Your body has clearly never learned martial arts.”

His voice mingled with the breaths Eloise exhaled. That was how close the two of them were.

His red eyes examined her deeply.

Then Duke Edgart reached his hand behind Eloise’s neck.

At his fingertips touching her neck, he could feel the muscles tense from her having moved beyond her limits. Soon his hand traveled down her shoulder and slid to the back of her hand.

If she had trained, this would be the first place to show it.

But there could be no trace of training.

He narrowed his eyes once more.

Tap.

Then he abruptly pulled out a handkerchief and placed it on Eloise’s hand.

“Ah—!”

Only then did Eloise realize with a groan.

That even with him slightly lifting it with his hand, blood was seeping through the bandage wrapped around her hand once again.

It seemed to be a wound gouged here and there from swinging the handle-less iron rod so recklessly for that short time.

Her hand, clenched tight to endure the pain and unable to relax, gripped the handkerchief.

The sharp pain seemed to bring her mind back into focus.

Through it, the Duke’s voice cut in.

“The knights of the Eden Marquessate are no fools. The way they immediately formed ranks, and their skill as well. And yet…….”

He, saying this, looked not so much as scratched.

Even though he must have faced them alone after Eloise collapsed.

“A person skilled enough to shake off such men,”

His voice, having drawn a little closer to her, whispered right by her ear.

It’s hot.

Even as her whole body burned with fever, Eloise felt as though she could sense his heat.

As Eloise let out a shallow breath in the strange atmosphere.

“To display such skill in a brief blazing moment, then collapse and become unable to move like this.”

He said, returning to his seat.

“At least within my knowledge, there are no words that can explain such a phenomenon. That was the same for my subordinates who treated you while you were collapsed.”

His eyes glinted dangerously.

“I am very interested in interesting things, but,”

His lips twisted as he muttered that.

“I have never kept a variable-ridden existence like this within my domain. So.”

He held out his hand.

“Try to persuade me. Enough that I want to keep you alive.”

His eyes, a deeper red now, examined her as if peering into her.

Duke Edgart’s voice fell clearly.

“And enough that, following that letter of yours, I want to hear your story.”

“Haa…….”

In the meantime, the burning pain had subsided a little, and Eloise barely managed to let out a breath.

Since waking, her condition had been improving, if only little by little.

The Duke persistently followed her gaze.

“I am a twisted man who cannot endure curiosity.”

It meant: answer quickly.

The man, even pressing her, looked outwardly relaxed.

But his interior would be different.

The man before her was far sharper, more honed than depicted in the novel—and somehow twisted.

To the point where she couldn’t know what kind of unwanted outcome might come if she didn’t answer.

That was why she had to answer now.

“Yes, I,”

Before his interest cooled—to give him the assurance that she would not be a burden.

“I came to become your ally, Duke.”

……She had to say it in a firm and clear voice.

“An ally—a word like sweet poison.”

Castian let out a low laugh.

But soon the laugh stopped.

“It makes the desperate taste it even knowing it’s poison…… but to me, this is not such an urgent matter.”

Especially not while harboring a great variable like you—even less so.

At his words, Eloise turned her gaze. She could now move her head a little.

Even as stiffness and pain devoured her whole body.

“Is that truly so?”

Even as she said it, her mouth was parched.

This man is testing me.

That thought, even amid the pain, rather cleared her head.

If I cannot prove my usefulness here, I will fall into a deeper abyss than in the original work.

Instinct told her so.

That was why Eloise opened her mouth.

“I know that Edgart has fallen into difficulty because of the strong vital energy you were born with.”

It was a statement filled with certainty.

In the original work, Duke Edgart cannot control the vital energy trapped in his body and eventually goes berserk. He becomes a calamity that will bring the world to ruin.

There was no way she could not know such important content.

Though it was surely the right answer, the Duke smiled leisurely.

“The history of Edgart possessing vital energy is long. If Edgart had fallen into difficulty over something like that—”

He seemed intent on denying it. But this side had certainty.

So it was time to bring out another card.

“Dofran, master of the eastern Magic Tower.”

At Eloise’s words, his brow furrowed slightly.

“Isn’t he targeting Edgart?”

The Duke and Dofran are cousins.

From the outside, they appeared friendly since they shared blood, but in truth……

“Not to mention that he intends to find the Key of the Covenant first and prevent you from controlling your vital energy.”

That could not merely be because a magician who uses magic and a swordsman of Edgart who uses vital energy instinctively reject one another.

At her words, he closed and opened his eyes.

His gaze, now completely chilled, stared straight at her.

“—That is not merely conjecture, but conviction.”

Having looked into her eyes for a moment, he spoke.

“Since you are so convinced, I would like to ask how you know—”

A voice, turned cold in an instant, resounded.

But Eloise concealed her trembling.

Since pain had already forced strength into her whole body, hiding it was not difficult.

“I was able to learn it through the ability I possess.”

“An ability…….”

An ability that, on top of granting physical power, also made her intelligence outstanding.

He muttered, then asked.

“Then you mean to say that with that ability, you could even suppress my vital energy?”

“Yes, at the very least.”

Eloise answered in a straight voice.

“With my power, I can find the Key of the Covenant even a day sooner, so I am confident it will be of great help in stabilizing your vital energy.”

Since one of the reasons for the rampage was in fact the Key, it was as good as saying she would provide the solution.

Castian raised an eyebrow.

“If it is a power strong enough for that to be possible, that would be very interesting, but,”

Castian, having let out a breath, swept back his hair.

“I like interesting things—I do not like bombs that might go off at any moment, young lady. Above all—”

His words continued immediately.

“Unless you find the Key within the next few days, you will not be able to solve my vital energy problem.”

What showed through his twisted smile was, surprisingly, an impatience that had not been visible until just a moment ago.

The moment she noticed it, Eloise realized.

It was because she had seen it—a look that lasted only an instant.

The expression of someone enduring pain without revealing it—the very expression her past self, ill and waiting for death, had no choice but to see every time she looked in the mirror.

Her eyes flew wide open.

“Surely…….”

From the very start of the original work…… no, you mean his vital energy is already at its limit right now?

And later, some trigger caused it to explode?

Feeling she might have chosen the wrong place to come, Eloise’s vision momentarily went dark.