TLSD 24

Chapter 24

Elio twitched her fingers and averted her gaze from Carlos’s burning stare.

“Hmm… You’re a fraud.”

“I-It’s not a fraud! Potions genuinely have purification properties.”

“To what extent?”

“……”

Carlos extended his large, imposing hand toward her.

“Purify me, then. Right now.”

“……”

Fidgeting nervously, Elio stretched out her hand and coaxed forth a faint, fragile wisp of white light, thrusting it toward Carlos as if trying to pass off a hot potato.

“Ha?”

Carlos burst out laughing, the sound ringing clearer and more refreshing than the heavy patter of the raindrops. He always carried the chilling aura of a predator, so hearing him laugh so openly was an absolute first.

Her face burning as though set ablaze, Elio glared at the laughing man.

Abruptly biting back his laughter, Carlos pulled his lips into a sly smirk and leaned in close to her.

“My Lady, you really have no conscience, do you?”

Clutched in his palm was a single stem of white lilac. It was a rain-battered blossom that she had just hastily attempted to purify.

Elio dropped her head low, instantly absorbed in counting the tiny pebbles scattered across the muddy ground.

“…I told you my magical power is tiny. It’s simply not enough to purify a person. But potions do have purification properties, that’s a fact!”

Well, if something contains even 0.00000001%, doesn’t that technically mean it contains it?

“Hmph… What on earth are you using purified flowers for, anyway?”

His low, teasing chuckles brushed against the sensitive shell of her ear. She didn’t even need a mirror to feel the intense heat radiating across her cheeks.

“Flowers catch blights, you know. If I purify them, they don’t have to die.”

Elio stubbornly kept her face turned away as she pressed on. Speaking only made her feel hotter. Even to her own ears, it was a ridiculous excuse.

What on earth was she planning to do by saving flowers from a blight? Good grief.

“I mean, I can heal or purify people if I, h-had to, but…”

Chewing anxiously on her lower lip, she shredded a stray leaf until the green sap stained her fingers.

“And?”

“I can do it, but…”

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re healthier than you look.”

The memory of the man’s earlier words flashed through Elio’s mind. She wrestled with a thorny dilemma: should she confess the terrifying truth—that whenever she used magic on living people, her heart kept threatening to stop—or should she keep it hidden?

“…I collapse, you see.”

Carlos stopped the lazy motion of twirling the white flower between his fingers. Elio’s eyes darted frantically.

“J-Just for a tiny moment, and only sometimes.”

“……”

“I-It’s just that I’m still not used to mana channeling yet. Aren’t beginners always like this? But I’m practicing hard, so next time I’ll be able to do it without passing out! Besides, as you know, I have incredible stamina, so I can practice dozens of times a day.”

Carlos chuckled softly at her clumsy, desperate justifications.

He hadn’t expected anything to begin with. After all, this woman’s mother, Valentine, hadn’t shown the slightest interest in magic either. Even though her father was the Tower Master, Valentine was a woman who found pure happiness in nothing more than a simple sword.

Perhaps Elio took after her mother; she showed no discernible talent for magic whatsoever—a fact made glaringly obvious by the sheer inadequacy of her meager mana reserves, which fell far short of even a low-ranking trainee.

As Carlos stroked the white lilac petals, his smile slowly faded.

…Come to think of it, does the stubborn old Tower Master still have no idea that his granddaughter is even alive?

Would a self-isolated, obstinate old man who severed ties with his own daughter care about his granddaughter in the least?

“My Lord…? Um.”

“Just having mana at all is impressive. You did well.”

Elio bit the tip of her tongue and curled her lips inward.

Watching Carlos stroke the white lilac petals, she rubbed her burning fingertips together. Fortunately, he seemed to dismiss her fainting spells as a mere beginner’s blunder in mana control rather than anything serious.

“I’m actually really good at tending gardens! I can grow hundreds of blossoms. When I take care of them, not a single one dies.”

Tap, tap, tap. Raindrops fell like notes played upon the surface of puddles.

Carlos lifted the corners of his mouth in a wry smirk.

“The ducal estate doesn’t have a flower garden. If I want to witness your purification firsthand, I suppose we’ll have to plant one.”

“There’s no garden?”

“Nobody here cares about flowers. They’re all completely obsessed with the sword.”

“Even so, not a single garden? Surely the Duchess…”

“My mother prefers building training grounds instead.”

Elio’s jaw dropped. Even if they were the continent’s foremost swordmasters and a legendary dragon-slaying bloodline, she never imagined they’d be this unhinged about swordplay. No wonder the interior of the castle felt so stark and desolate.

True to their reputation, they were a millennium-old martial lineage that knew nothing beyond the blade.

“…The Duchess must be incredibly strong, too.”

“She was.”

At Carlos’s use of the past tense, Elio blinked in surprise.

“Though she’s unwell these days.”

“Where? Is she very sick?”

At her startled, worried voice, Carlos smiled without answering.

Silenced by the invisible boundary drawn by his quiet demeanor, Elio bit her fingernail and said nothing more.

…Is the family member who’s sick her mother?

Is that why he carries her pendant so close to his heart? The thought weighed heavily on her chest.

“Come here.”

Having risen without her noticing, Carlos called out to her from a few paces away, gently twirling the white lilac flower between his fingers.

…Does this man seriously think I’m a stray puppy?

Pouting, Elio brushed the clinging weeds from her hands and forced herself to stand up. She deliberately brightened her tone.

“So, when are you going to find me a place to stay? Starting today, I’m genuinely sleeping at an inn.”

“……”

“You are going to find me one, right? I’m heading right down to the village now. I need to buy new books on healing and purification magic, and I have a million things to do.”

“Stones beneath your feet. Water ahead.”

Glancing down at a puddle, Elio hopped across it and hurried over to the man who was playfully waving the flower. A breeze laden with the crisp scent of wet grass swept past them.

“A single room is totally fine! Though I suppose I won’t be able to invite My Lord over for a housewarming party!”

Splashes of water kicked up against her flushed cheeks, and his low, rumbling chuckle dissolved into the humid air.

❖ ❖ ❖

“Here. Drink up.”

Toby wiped the sweat from his brow and dropped heavily onto the bench next to Elio. Even though the northern rainy season was somewhat more bearable than the south, the air remained stiflingly humid even when the rain briefly paused.

“Thank you.”

Elio took a refreshing sip of the grape juice Toby had handed her. It was still early morning, and the air was filled only with the rushing sound of the swollen stream.

Having escorted her to the village on behalf of an exceptionally busy Carlos after their morning training session, Toby still wore a deeply dissatisfied scowl, looking as though he had swallowed a lemon.

“You really didn’t have to escort me all the way here…”

“See that mountain peak over there? That’s the ducal family’s vineyard.”

Startled out of her murmuring, Elio lifted her head and gazed up at the towering mountain piercing the sky.

“The wine made from those grapes is the absolute finest in Lübeck. They say the wine our Schüpenhardt produces was the Archangel’s absolute favorite! At the ducal castle, we drink it like water! The Cyprian royal family buys it all up in one go, so you can’t even get a bottle in the village!”

At the sudden, random outburst, Elio blinked blankly.

“I don’t even like alcohol, though…?”

“…Damn it. Who says they don’t like it?”

Elio met Toby’s fierce, intimidating gaze and offered a soft, gentle smile.

“I’m not running away anywhere. If you need me for something, just call, and I’ll come right back to the ducal castle.”

“Who said anything about you running away? How is a noble young lady supposed to survive in a village without even a single maid? Tch.”

…A noble young lady.

Offering a bitter smile, she stayed silent, and the air between them grew increasingly heavy. Elio forced the corners of her mouth upward.

“Hey, we’re splitting ways in two months anyway.”

Toby stared at her with blinking, uncomprehending eyes.

“You said you all know about it. Sir Toby and Sir Leon, too. Since I’ll have to live outside the ducal castle eventually, I should get used to it early on. Even without a maid, I’m quite good at cleaning.”

She puffed out her chest, raised her voice cheerfully, and tilted her head back.

“I need to figure out which territory I’ll live in next, and look into how I’ll earn a living. I have a ton of things to do and I’m very busy.”

The ducal castle sat nestled between the mountain slopes like an impregnable fortress. Standing so grand and tall—as if acting as the gatekeeper of the Dragon Mountains—looking up at it made Elio feel like a stray blade of grass sprouting on the pavement.

As she absentmindedly gauged the sheer height of the castle, the word “gatekeeper” echoed in her mind. Once upon a time… did the ducal family forge a friendship with dragons as their sworn allies? Did they desperately try to save a corrupted black dragon?

A bitter chuckle slipped past her lips at how absurd such romantic notions sounded when applied to a bloodline famous for slaying dragons.

“…I genuinely prefer the village.”

A faint smile laced Elio’s voice.

“You saw it yourself, Sir. Aside from the fact that my old home was quite large, it wasn’t really any better than a commoner’s house, was it? And now, I am a real commoner.”

As Elio giggled brightly, she leaned slightly closer toward the scowling, even gloomier Toby and shook her juice cup.

“Besides, I’ve always preferred cheap, sweet flavors over overly fancy, high-end stuff anyway!”

“Cheap? That was bought from the most famous shop in the village! It cost a whole nine hundred shillings!”

Elio burst into sparkling laughter.

“Whoa, that’s genuinely expensive! You’ll have to buy it for me again next time, then!”

Toby stared at her with a look of absolute disbelief.

“Such bizarre, fearless guts you’ve got… What’s so terrifying about staying at the ducal castle, anyway? The Duke isn’t even residing in the main castle right now.”

Muttering loudly enough for her to hear, Toby scowled down at the unblinking Elio.

“What about the sword? What about sword practice? You said you wanted help learning! You have to come down to the training grounds like today if you want me to teach you!”

“Ah, the sword…”

“Every other day at six in the morning, show up at the castle’s training grounds. Though you can take this whole week off to rest.”

❖ ❖ ❖

…I hope I don’t run into the Duke.

Elio blinked, recalling the offhand conversation she’d had with Toby that morning.

Even though they said the Duke was staying at the annex, her heart fluttered with a jittery, anxious unease.

Though she suppose learning a bit more self-defense wouldn’t hurt…

Elio lowered the polished dagger and looked around the room.

The spacious inn room, large enough to easily accommodate a group, lacked nothing. Judging by the intricate gold leaf engravings on the furniture, it was undoubtedly the most luxurious inn in the entire village.

He actually followed through and took responsibility.

Elio giggled softly and flopped backward onto the bed. Her legs, exhausted from wandering around the territory all day, throbbed with aches that wrung a soft groan from her lips as she rolled around in the plush blankets.

True to a high-end inn, the mattress was cloud-soft and the linens crisp and silky.

The damp night breeze drifted through the gaps in the window.

The sheer chiffon curtains swayed softly.

From outside the window came the murmur of lively conversations and hearty, booming laughter.

Everything felt so peaceful that she stopped rolling around and blinked her eyes slowly.

I really left Aquitaine behind.

The moon shone brightly outside the window, reminding her of that night by the lake.

That man had been so terribly mean back then. And yet, more than she expected, he was actually quite…

Resting her cheek against her arm, she rolled over onto her side.