Chapter 119
Arines gasped in surprise, her mouth falling slightly open as she exclaimed,
“You managed to obtain a Timm ore…? They said ordinary people could never get that, didn’t they? You really went on an incredible adventure.”
— Well, I nearly died. In the end, it wasn’t me who died, but CEO Jang. Cough, cough!
When Gianna suddenly broke into a fit of coughing as if she were losing her breath, Grand Duke Lupellen, who had briefly stepped out of the crystal ball’s field of view, hurriedly reappeared and supported her.
— I told you again and again not to overdo it…! I apologize, Princess Arines. Gianna is not yet in full condition.
It seemed that, in the duke’s eyes, Arines’s face—just as gaunt as Gianna’s—did not register at all.
— Please entrust us with the research on the Timm.
“Ah… yes. I’ll tell Rio.”
— Thank you. Then we’ll contact you again next time.
As if nothing else mattered to him, the duke focused all his attention solely on taking care of Gianna.
Through the still-connected crystal ball, his voice could be heard intermittently.
— Gianna, lie down quickly. You there, bring more warm water. The wind is cold, so close that window, and change the curtains to thicker ones so the light doesn’t hurt Gianna’s eyes. Is the kitchen still far off? I told them to prepare soft food. Chef Norman—he’s definitely gotten slower with age.
Arines furrowed her brow slightly.
She herself was also in a position of being cared for by Rio, but… did she really have to sit there and watch her best friend receive that kind of treatment? It was honestly painful to look at.
Arines covered the crystal ball with a cloth and cut off the connection.
As expected, not getting deeply involved in a best friend’s love life was better for one’s mental health.
“First of all, let me apologize.”
After laying me down on the bed and pulling the blanket up to my chin, Grand Duke Lupellen knelt before me with an apologetic expression.
At some point, the duke had become a man who knelt far too easily.
Of course, only in front of me.
His eyes wavered uneasily, mixed with guilt over having disobeyed my orders and the accompanying sense of remorse.
“To be honest… I never intended to listen to you from the start. I didn’t have the confidence to send you alone to such a dangerous place. But I also didn’t have the confidence to stop you… In the end, after sending you ahead to Kinsia, I decided to secretly follow after you.”
I stared straight into his eyes.
Now that I thought about it, he had appeared at the mine at an almost perfect moment to save me.
Maybe I was the foolish one for thinking he would obediently wait in the Lupellen territory.
“I’m truly sorry. Even though I know how much you hate it when I make decisions on my own without asking you first… it felt like I was sending you straight into death, and I simply couldn’t help but follow. I have no excuse, no matter how much I try to explain.”
With both hands pressed to the floor, he bowed his head deeply, to the point that his forehead was firmly pressed against the ground.
“I know this is just an excuse and a justification… but thanks to my disobeying you, I was able to save you in time. Please forgive me just this once. I promise I’ll never disobey you again.”
“You don’t have to apologize. I was careless this time too.”
I reached out from the bed and gently brushed his shoulder.
With him lowering himself this far, there was no reason not to forgive him.
In truth, if the duke hadn’t appeared at just the right moment, I probably would have died.
“My judgment was far too reckless. I should have realized that they were the kind of people who would willingly throw away their own lives if necessary.”
“Thank you for saying that. And please… never recklessly rush in alone again.”
“I won’t be able to anymore.”
I tried to sound calm, but it seemed the tremor in my voice gave me away.
The duke slowly lifted his head and asked, fixing me with a gaze that seemed to see straight through everything.
“You won’t be able to…? What do you mean by that?”
“I’ve… lost my power. My draconic energy. On top of CEO Jang’s magic circle.”
No matter how much I stretched my hand forward and tried to draw out my strength, not even a faint glow—let alone a beam of light—appeared at my fingertips.
“It seems the magic circle he deployed was stronger than I expected. He probably planned to first drain my draconic energy to neutralize me, then absorb my life at the end. Thanks to you arriving in time, I managed to save my life… but it looks like my draconic energy was completely absorbed.”
I forced a smile, trying to act composed, but the corners of my mouth only trembled uselessly.
The fact that I had lost my power was that shocking.
Ever since possessing Gianna, that power had been inseparable from my very identity.
“I’m just an ordinary person now, with no power at all. I couldn’t even catch a single goblin that prowls the beach day and night, and I won’t be able to save you if something dangerous happens, Your Grace. I’m completely powerless—”
“Don’t say that.”
Grand Duke Lupellen cut off my self-deprecating words decisively.
“So what if you can’t protect me, and so what if you can’t catch a goblin or two? Gianna, you’ve been carrying far too heavy a burden from the very beginning. A hero who hunted and tamed a dragon? The first human to wield a dragon’s power? Even without titles like that, you’re still Gianna Herten. Just standing there as you are, you shine brilliantly.”
There seemed to be a hint of anger mixed into his voice.
“If you have no power now, then I’ll protect you. Gianna, I care deeply for you, and I like you very much—but that’s not because you have special power. It’s not because you’re a hero. I like you simply because Gianna Herten is Gianna Herten.”
At his sudden confession, my face flushed bright red.
Yet the duke seemed completely unfazed, even as he said something so embarrassingly earnest.
“From now on, I will absolutely protect you. No matter how extraordinary your power might have been, I never once intended to rely on it and overwork you. That was true before, and it will remain true in the future.”
“P-Please stop. I understand how you feel, Your Grace…”
“Even without the power of a dragon, I still like you. So don’t burden yourself with unnecessary responsibility, and don’t feel anxious just because you’ve lost your power. All right?”
Unable to answer, I clutched the blanket tightly with both hands and pulled it up to just below my eyes.
Perhaps thinking I was cold, the duke placed another blanket over me and added,
“However, if you want to regain your power not out of a sense of responsibility, but purely because you want it back, then I’ll devote everything I have to helping you recover your draconic energy.”
“…Thank you, Your Grace.”
“If you’re grateful, may I ask one thing of you in return?”
“A request?”
Still gripping the blanket, I blinked and stared straight at him.
He hesitated slightly, then, as if making up his mind, opened his mouth.
“How long are you going to keep calling me ‘Your Grace’?”
“Huh?”
I looked utterly confused, not understanding his intention at all.
He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again and spoke in a small voice that was barely audible.
“P-Princess Arines calls the Master of the Mage Tower by his name. She sounded very affectionate.”
“His… name?”
“Think about it. ‘Your Grace’—doesn’t it sound distant? But now I’m no longer your employer, and we’re not bound by any contract. We’re on equal footing…”
He trailed off, hesitating for a long moment.
But the silence didn’t last long.
“…Nox. Call me Nox.”
Though he tried to maintain his composure, the tips of his ears were burning red.
No—he was perfectly fine boldly proclaiming how much he liked me, so why was he getting shy about this?
Feeling oddly tempted to tease him, I lowered the blanket slightly and looked straight into his eyes.
Then, in the sweetest voice I could manage, I called his name.
“Nox?”
Hearing his own name spoken directly from my lips, his entire face turned crimson this time.
“…It’s even better than I expected. Ah, this is bad. This is really bad.”
Fidgeting, he suddenly jumped to his feet, rubbed his face roughly with his palms, and ran a hand messily through his hair.
He strode over to the window, flung it wide open, leaned his head far outside, muttered something like, “Gianna mustn’t get cold,” and then slammed the window shut again.
Even after closing it, he lingered by the window, pacing restlessly for quite some time.
Watching his back, I called his name once more.
“Nox, don’t stand there by yourself. Come over here, to my side.”
