Chapter 123
“My waist hurts. My legs hurt. No, my whole body hurts.”
I swallowed a painful breath, each joint in my body screaming in agony.
No matter how much I considered myself healthy, I had been a patient who had lain in bed for days after the decisive battle with Director Jang.
And now, after holding onto me and staying up all night, how could I not be this way?
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Nox, who was feeding me soup, asked with a pure expression, clearly puzzled.
“Ugh, if only I could speak…!”
“Didn’t I tell you yesterday? I’m good at everything.”
His smiling face was annoyingly charming.
“Here, eat this and quickly get your strength back so we can do it again.”
“Do what again?!”
“Well, whatever it is that involves you.”
He smiled and brought the spoon closer again.
I glared alternately at his face and the spoon, then opened my mouth wide as if to bite the spoon itself and accepted the soup.
Somehow, I felt wronged.
‘I clearly set him up as a virgin obsessed only with revenge and uninterested in women…!’
He said it was his first time. Why is he so skilled? And why doesn’t he get tired at all?
I was helplessly sprawled on the bed, being fed!
“Ah, ahhh. Creator! What on earth happened that I’m stuck in bed again?”
Hearing the news, Gari rushed into my bedroom with eyes full of worry and began to wail.
“So that Director Jang guy really did something bad to our Creator!”
“It wasn’t Director Jang who did something bad, but Duke Luphelen…”
“The Duke? What on earth did he do?”
Gari immediately narrowed her eyes sharply, bared her teeth, and glared fiercely at Nox.
Then Nox raised his hands with a playful expression and replied,
“Nothing much. Just in bed…”
“Stop! What are you even trying to say to a kid who’s only five years old!”
I tied up both Nox and Gari and kicked them out of the bedroom.
But no matter what, when it was mealtime, Nox inevitably brought the food into my bedroom.
“Come on, Jiana. You have to eat dinner.”
Nox sat down kindly beside me and gently kissed my forehead.
“Will you call my name too?”
“…Nox.”
He looked so adorable that he kissed my cheek this time.
“Say it again.”
“That’s enough now. If you keep bothering me, I’ll kick you out of my room.”
He had no manners toward a patient!
I pouted and grumbled, and he softly stroked my hair and called my name.
“Jiana. Jiana Hertin. How can a name be so pretty.”
He grabbed a lock of my hair and kissed it once, held my hand and kissed the back of it once, looked at my face with love, then kissed my ear once more…
At this rate, I won’t be eating but getting devoured by Nox.
“…Sorry, Jiana. I’ll be gentle.”
He looked like he couldn’t hold back anymore and pushed the meal tray away from in front of me.
I never understood why bad premonitions always came true.
This time, I was completely drained of strength to even lift a finger.
Nox said helplessly,
“Jiana, I’m really sorry. But you’re just too adorable…”
“…Okay, then feed me some of that potato salad.”
I had no strength to resist and collapsed on the spot, barely pointing at the food with my eyes.
Though I said that, I was actually happy.
I felt foolish for having misunderstood Nox’s feelings and been so anxious all this time.
I regretted the years I had firmly believed, trapped by my mother’s brainwashing words, that Nox would never love me.
That said, I didn’t want to undo the past.
“Could you open the curtains wide?”
At my single request, Nox jumped up and pulled the curtains.
Outside the window, the beautiful sea glittered like jewels under the sunlight.
I truly loved this ducal mansion I had designed and built myself. Especially this bedroom was my favorite spot in the mansion.
‘Being the mistress of an old mansion hundreds of years old isn’t bad…’
But I preferred being the mistress of this newly built mansion where everything was new.
Moreover, in the original story, the mistress of the old ducal mansion was Arines Tian.
‘No matter how much it’s just a novel, I don’t want to be the owner of the bedroom Arines used. It’s much better to be the owner of this new bedroom I made myself.’
Nox burning down his own mansion had turned out to be to my advantage.
If we had arrived at the old mansion and finished the contract then, I wouldn’t be feeling this happiness now.
I slowly recovered health by eating the meals Nox fed me and enduring his teasing.
When I was finally able to walk around the mansion on my own without strain, we decided to hold a video conference.
It was a four-way video meeting with Nox, Arines, and the Mage Tower Lord Rio Blair.
“It’s been a while, both of you. You look healthier.”
“Long time no see, Jiana.”
The Mage Tower Lord and Arines greeted in turn on the big screen.
Thanks to the Mage Tower Lord’s magic added to the video call’s correction area, it was possible. Arines had suggested the idea by referring to a beam projector, and the Mage Tower Lord realized that idea.
Indeed, the two were truly soul-developing partners.
“You both look well too. When are you planning to get married?”
“It’s probably best to wait until this is all settled and then do it with a light heart, don’t you think?”
The Mage Tower Lord smiled, putting his arm around Arines’ shoulder.
Arines responded in kind, gently placing her hand on the Mage Tower Lord’s and said,
“At least the two of you should be able to attend our wedding. Right now, we’re stuck in Luphelen’s territory because of Snaud, unable to go anywhere.”
“Mm, you’re right.”
Nox was stuck in Luphelen’s territory due to the Emperor’s orders.
I had no intention of attending the wedding alone, leaving Nox’s side, so I was very glad about their decision.
“Now, shall we talk about creation magic?”
Until then, I hadn’t told Nox anything about creation magic.
To explain creation magic, I first had to reveal that this world was inside the novel Arines and I wrote.
Only after confessing everything was I finally able to tell Nox that our life force was involved in creating this world.
‘Every time I contacted Princess Arines, she kicked me out, hiding this secret.’
Nox looked slightly shocked.
Just being told that Arines and I were beings from another world was already hard to believe.
How could someone accept all at once that someone cast creation magic and the novel we wrote was used as material for that magic?
But Nox believed me unconditionally, and we agreed to openly discuss everything and devise a plan.
“So, Mage Tower Lord, you think the price for creation magic has not yet been fully paid?”
I asked, and the Mage Tower Lord on the clear screen adjusted his glasses and replied,
“Yes. It seems the caster used a method called ‘debt of time,’ which only high-level mages can use. It’s a way to postpone the price and pay it gradually, up to a year.”
He paused for a moment, then declared with a serious expression,
“Princess Arines and Ms. Jiana are beings from another world, the ‘Otherworld,’ and were used as materials for creation magic. However, to create such a vast world, the two of you alone are terribly insufficient.”
After taking a breath, he continued,
“I estimate that about ten thousand life forces from the Otherworld are required to pay off this debt of time. The caster likely postponed payment and went ahead with the creation magic.”
“Does that mean that ten thousand beings from the Otherworld could be possessed into this world, like Arines and me?”
“It’s dizzying to imagine… but yes, that’s my judgment.”
There was a brief silence beyond the screen.
The caster of creation magic was plotting something beyond imagination.
“What happens if the caster ultimately cannot pay the price?”
I swallowed nervously and asked the Mage Tower Lord.
“Surely… the created world won’t just be dismantled and return to nothingness, right?”
