Chapter 8
Rubiana gripped his trousers even tighter and raised her voice, almost shouting.
“If you share your mana with me… I will do anything Your Highness wishes. Please… please share your mana with me! Yes? Your Grace! Your Highness!”
Perhaps his stiff limbs finally loosened, for Elion at last rose from his seat.
He took Rubiana by the shoulders and helped her stand.
“My lady, what on earth are you doing? Stand up at once!”
His tone was sharper than before.
“Kneeling is not something to be done lightly. For a proper lady to kneel before a knight… such a thing is unthinkable. What were you possibly thinking…?”
Unable to finish his sentence, Elion scrubbed his face with the palm of his hand.
It was the first time since they met that she had seen such a dramatic change in his expression.
‘He really does look shocked. So please, I beg you—grant my wish. Yes?’
With her heart pounding, Rubiana looked up at him and wiped away the false tears clinging to the tips of her lashes.
Thanks to having an actress older sister in her previous life, she could pull off certain performances without much difficulty—one of them being crying on cue.
Elion gently sat her down on the sofa.
Seeing her desperate gaze, he let out a long, troubled sigh.
“Fine. I’ll share my mana with you.”
“Ah…”
Rubiana’s mouth opened in awe.
She had done it! She had succeeded!
She had managed to stir the sympathy of the dark Grand Duke!
Now… she would live!
At last, she could truly become the heroine!
“Thank you, Your Highness! Thank you so much for saving my life… I am truly grateful!”
“…”
Elion let out another long sigh and collapsed into his seat as if ten years had been shaved off his life.
His pale face had yet to recover from the shock, and his shoulders slumped.
In a drained voice, he murmured,
“In truth, your proposal is one I need as well.”
“Ah…”
Rubiana’s eyes widened at his candid words.
She had never expected to hear something like that from the dark Grand Duke.
“For the past year, my mana has been unstable. I’ve lived with a constant low fever and headaches.”
“…”
“But just now, after a checkup with my personal physician, I was told that both my body temperature and mana were normal. For the first time in a year. I suspected it might be due to the refreshing sensation I’d felt on the ride back to the mansion…”
“…”
“After hearing your words, I wonder if perhaps I had too much mana—so much that it overflowed. And so…”
Elion suddenly stopped speaking.
He seemed to realize he had said too much and reined himself in.
After composing himself, he spoke in a businesslike tone.
“However, there is a condition.”
Rubiana swallowed dryly as she waited for his next words.
This was the final hurdle.
Please, let it be a condition she could handle.
“You said you suffer from a condition where your mana leaks away, correct? I want to meet the physician who diagnosed you.”
“…”
“That physician should be able to diagnose my condition as well.”
“I’ll ask him.”
Rubiana slowly nodded.
Omar would surely agree to her request.
And ideally, she hoped Omar would be able to diagnose the Grand Duke’s condition at a glance.
That way, she could spare herself the trouble of pretending not to know his secret.
“When?”
“…”
The sooner, the better.
Regaining full health was the top priority.
“Tomorrow. Will that work for you?”
“Very well. Tomorrow.”
His answer came readily.
Elion’s face looked noticeably more at ease.
Color had returned to his cheeks, and the crease between his brows had softened.
“Then, I’ll see you again tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
After Rubiana left, Elion had to endure a barrage of scolding from Hailey.
“Your Highness, have you lost your mind?”
“Did you just ask if I’ve lost my mind?”
Elion’s face darkened at the personal physician’s audacious question.
“If you haven’t, then why did you do that? The Grand Duke’s health condition is top secret! It’s a critical state secret!”
“…”
Elion kept his mouth shut, unable to find the right words.
He couldn’t exactly say, ‘I was so flustered when the lady suddenly knelt before me that I blurted out something unnecessary.’
A lady kneeling before a knight!
Never mind her dignity—this was a shameful incident for him as a knight as well.
He couldn’t tell Hailey, or anyone else, the real reason.
‘What on earth was that lady thinking, doing something like that…!’
The more he thought about it, the more absurd it seemed.
Elion stroked his chin in frustration, unable to contain his vexation.
If word of this leaked, both her honor and his would plummet to the ground.
‘Who else is there to blame but myself?’
His own curiosity to hear more of what Rubiana had to say had driven him to push her too far.
Exhaling a pained groan, Elion composed his expression and spoke with a feigned dignity.
“I simply thought it courteous to reveal my own vulnerability to a lady who had bared hers first. That way, things are fair.”
“…”
Hailey looked as though he had more to say, but he held his tongue, forcing himself to remain silent.
“In any case, tomorrow I will meet with her again and visit the physician who diagnosed her. Make preparations accordingly.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The thought of meeting the physician filled Hailey with a mixture of anticipation and tension.
Rubiana climbed into a carriage emblazoned with the soaring eagle crest of the Klitzman ducal house.
Once it left the estate, the carriage headed straight to Melville Street, where the healer Omar’s toy repair shop was located.
“Wow! You really did receive mana! There’s definitely more mana in your body now, and it’s stable!”
Omar’s excited voice rang out after he measured her mana with a crystal orb.
It really worked!
Rubiana was just as thrilled.
Her heart fluttered with joy.
Now it was certain.
The warm, intoxicating sensation she felt whenever her body touched the dark Grand Duke’s truly was mana.
“You found someone whose mana overflows! Incredible!”
“…”
“And not only that! Even if you found someone with excess mana, if the affinity between your manas wasn’t compatible, there would have been no effect—or worse, it could have harmed you.”
“So our manas… had to be compatible.”
“Yes, exactly.”
Hearing this for the first time made Rubiana’s heart drop.
For all his reputation as a reclusive healer boasting the best medical skill in the empire, Omar sometimes revealed an unsettlingly careless side.
“Then why are you telling me something so important only now?”
“Ah… I must have forgotten to mention it. My apologies.”
Omar scratched his thick, pink hair awkwardly.
Rubiana’s hair practically stood on end at the thought of how close she’d come to disaster.
It was unexpected news, but not difficult to understand.
‘Just like how blood types must match for a transfusion, there must be at least minimal compatibility when receiving mana.’
Still, the fact that her mana matched with Elion’s was a stroke of luck in her misfortune.
“Then… can I continue to receive mana from him?”
“Yes. But he also wishes to meet you, Omar.”
“Me?”
“It seems he’s suffered from unstable mana—plagued by fevers and headaches for the past year, without knowing the cause. He wants to be examined by you. Would that be possible?”
“Of course.”
Omar nodded readily.
“It’s rare to encounter such a unique case as yours. I’d like to help in every way I can.”
“…Thank you, Omar. I… have something I want to ask.”
“Yes, anything.”
After hesitating for a moment, Rubiana gathered her courage and spoke.
“I come from a family of spirit mages. So I must form a contract with a spirit as soon as possible to become one myself.”
“I see.”
“With my current condition… with this gap between my body and soul… will it be difficult to become a proper spirit mage?”
Omar hummed thoughtfully, unable to answer right away.
The unspoken reply felt loud and clear to Rubiana’s ears.
