TPCFE 11

Chapter 11

“The toxins inside his body… actually, that’s something Aila has been saying all along.”

Cain spoke slowly.

“At first, we suspected poisoning. Then we thought perhaps Bael’s body was having some kind of hypersensitive reaction to something. But we couldn’t find the cause.”

Aila nodded with a dark expression.

“We replaced everything Bael uses—his bedding, tableware, books, even his servants. We wondered if the location itself was the problem, so we even sent him to Cain’s villa… Later, I began suspecting myself, as his attending physician, so I didn’t even see him personally for several months.”

There was someone here even more thorough than Mom.

Even though Luciela already knew the answer, she asked again.

“Didn’t that help?”

“We couldn’t find the source of the problem. All we’ve been able to do is keep him going with herbs that have general detoxifying effects… As a doctor, I suppose that makes me a failure.”

She bit her lip tightly and lowered her head.

Cain’s eyebrow twitched.

“Don’t say such useless things. If you hadn’t been here, that boy would already be dead.”

“…Even if I’m here, if I can’t protect Lord Bael, then I really am a failure.”

A deep sigh escaped her lips.

Luciela said nothing as she stared at Aila.

For some reason, the image of her mother overlapped with Aila’s figure.

The image of her mother before Luciela was possessed—the woman who had tried dozens of times to save Bael in the game, yet had never managed to keep him alive.

Even her mother had never been able to discover where Bael’s poison came from.

Bael Bellaon.

The first time Luciela heard his name, she was three years old.

In the stories her mother told her before bed, he would appear in all sorts of forms.

He was her mother’s favorite character from the “original,” as well as a character who might have saved the Empire if he had survived.

Her mother had never been able to give up hope until the very end, desperately trying every possible way to save him.

But in the end, she had failed.

He was a tragic genius who lost both parents as a child, was praised as the most promising boy in the Empire until the age of twelve, then contracted an illness of unknown origin and died before reaching adulthood.

That was the unchanging scenario assigned to him.

“Why didn’t you just play a different character? Why did you like Baeri so much?”

When Luciela asked, her mother answered with an excited expression.

“Mom just wanted to pick the strongest character and finish the game as quickly as possible. I had to work so many part-time jobs because my parents wouldn’t give me an allowance…”

“You told me that last time. You said you had finished telling me all about your jobs.”

“That was because I kept meeting terrible bosses. Surprisingly, things went pretty well after I graduated from university and got a job as a food engineering researcher at a major corporation.”

“Lucy knows that. Mommy’s smart.”

She had replied with a sulky expression.

Having grown up hearing stories about South Korea from her mother, her mother’s workplace stories were hardly unfamiliar to her.

“Did I tell you about Manager Park, who was my senior at work, having an affair with Assistant Manager Lee and the new employee at the same time?”

“Huh? Didn’t that guy also make a move on someone from one of the client companies? Tell me that one first!”

“I’ll tell you all the juicy stuff later. Anyway, Bael Bellaon had absolutely ridiculous potential.”

“…”

“His combat ability, intelligence, magic, and even physical abilities were perfect. And his appearance score was a whopping two million points! Every player who tried to clear the game using Bael eventually failed.”

Naturally, Luciela was familiar with the rules of both worlds.

Words like “points” and “users” coming from her mother’s mouth never felt strange to her.

“But you know what’s strange? Bael’s stats kept increasing right up until the moment he died. It was simply how he was designed… I mean, I think that’s just how he was born.”

After meeting him in person, Luciela realized her mother’s words had been slightly different from the truth.

More precisely, Luciela could now see the truth hidden behind the “setting.”

He hadn’t simply been born with incredible potential.

He had simply refused to stop getting back on his feet through his own strength, all the way until the moment he died.

If he couldn’t use his legs, he used his arms.

If even his arms weren’t enough, he squeezed every last bit of mana out of himself to make up for his lack of strength.

It was because of that determination that he had displayed such power in the room.

“I shouldn’t have said all that. Not in front of a child.”

Aila forced a smile as she looked at Luciela.

“As you can see, I haven’t been able to find a solution to Lord Bael’s illness. Since he seemed to react to your cooking, and since you seemed capable of identifying the toxins, I thought perhaps you might know something else…”

Her voice trailed off.

There was a faint tremor in her voice.

Cain said nothing, but his expression was no different from Aila’s.

It was obvious that both of them were struggling to swallow their pain.

Luciela couldn’t bring herself to tell them that Bael was going to die.

It felt completely different from simply hearing about the story of the original game from her mother.

Luciela had seen the boy’s desperation and wounds with her own eyes.

She had felt the warmth he experienced when he ate her food.

She had seen the panic on his face when she collapsed.

He was just a child.

A child who wanted to live.

“…Does Bael not eat?”

After a long silence, Luciela asked.

Cain shook his head.

“No matter how delicious the food is, he won’t even put it in his mouth. Going without food for several days at a time is normal for him.”

“…”

That meant the toxins in his body were probably affecting his appetite as well.

And if his symptoms continued even after fasting for days, then the poison probably wasn’t entering his body through his food.

Luciela summoned the status window in her mind.

Status Window, what are the toxins inside Bael’s body?

[Unable to answer: Insufficient analysis authority.]

Is the source of the poison somewhere inside his room?

[Unable to answer: Information outside the search range.]

A surge of frustration rose inside her.

Mom’s status window was practically omnipotent, but this stupid mini status window is unbelievably picky.

Luciela pouted and asked one last question.

If I find and remove the source, can you tell me when it has actually been eliminated?

[Notice: This request can be fulfilled. A message will be displayed immediately when a change in condition is detected.]

What a cheap trick.

Still, it was better than having no way forward at all.

Luciela took a small breath and her eyes gleamed.

There was nothing she could do but investigate the matter herself.

“Please let me watch Bael for the next few days.”

“What?”

Cain and Aila simultaneously raised their heads and looked at Luciela.

Their eyes seemed to contain both disbelief and an unavoidable flicker of hope.

“If you’re thinking of making another dangerous dish…”

At Cain’s words, Luciela shook her head.

“I won’t. I’ll make ordinary food to preserve my stamina, but aside from that, I’ll just observe him.”

She had to try.

Bael Bellaon was the child her mother had desperately tried to protect.

And he was a child who might one day save the Empire.

Luciela loved the Esereld Empire.

Her mother had told her that if the Crown Prince eventually ascended the throne, they would probably have to flee the country.

But that wasn’t what Luciela wanted.

If Bael could save this country—Luciela’s homeland—then she had to do everything she could to keep him alive.

More than anything, Luciela had seen a possibility in Bael.

Because I saw him desperately struggling to stay alive with my own eyes.

Even if his life was empty, even if he hadn’t yet found a reason to live, he had no intention of giving up.

A powerful determination toward something could actually go a long way toward obtaining it.

That was something her mother had emphasized to Luciela again and again.

That was why her mother had never given up.

Even knowing that the Empire was heading toward destruction, she refused to surrender and struggled until the very end to change the ending.

She endlessly searched for Luciela’s father, who was trapped in the rift between dimensions.

That was the way of life her mother had taught her.

“I’ll give you an answer about whether I know anything more later.”

And hadn’t her mother once said this?

“My daughter! You managed to summon a mini status window! I actually wanted one too before I was possessed.”

“Mom was a food engineer, but I couldn’t actually cook very well. I never imagined I’d have a daughter like our Lucy.”

Her mother had always said that Luciela could sometimes accomplish the things she herself couldn’t.

So there was no choice but to try.

I’ll save that boy.

And perhaps, if everything went well, he really could save the Empire, too.