Chapter : 04
“Ugh…”
Valley’s vision spun so badly that she could no longer tell the ground from the sky, and she lost her balance.
Just before she could collapse onto the marble floor, Wayne quickly reached out.
Careful not to let his burning hand touch her directly, he supported her waist from beneath her wrist and gently helped her lean against the terrace wall.
“T-thank you…”
Even sitting upright was difficult for Valley. Her body went limp as she struggled to breathe.
Wayne checked quickly to see whether she had been hurt by his heat, but fortunately, she seemed fine.
“What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”
“Because I’m Grade 5… whenever I use my ability once, I have to lie down for about two hours…”
“Two hours? And with a body like that, you want to work as a gardener?”
Valley’s face, which had turned red from using magic earlier, was now gradually becoming pale.
Wayne looked between her and the plumbago flower still in his hand before letting out a sigh and standing up.
Although Valley was too exhausted to even open her eyes properly, she suddenly grabbed Wayne’s retreating hand.
“I can really do well. Please trust me…”
Even while speaking through rough breaths, she forced herself to stand up to show her determination.
She wanted to show him that even if she collapsed because her magic was weak, she would stand up again.
Panting heavily, Valley straightened her back, lowered her chin slightly, and faced Wayne properly.
“I’ll become someone you truly need, Duke. Please hire me.”
In her previous life, Valley had never crossed paths with Wayne.
Rather, she started visiting the Biterad estate after his death.
Because it was known as a cursed place, nobody came there, so she could finally spend time completely alone.
For Valley, who had always desperately needed a place away from people’s judgment and pressure, it was perfect.
Unlike the rumors claiming ghosts appeared there, the estate felt peaceful and quiet.
It was the first time she had ever experienced such calmness, so Valley visited the estate almost every day.
As she did, she naturally saw how hard Wayne had tried to preserve the traces of the fire attribute people.
‘If I die, would there be anyone who would fight this hard to remember me too?’
Later, she went there just to feel Wayne’s desperate heart.
And when the imperial family eventually demolished the estate, Valley felt deep pain too.
If even the powerful fire attribute could disappear so meaninglessly, then someone weak like herself probably wouldn’t leave behind even a speck of dust.
When she returned to being twenty years old, the first place she visited was also the Biterad estate.
And when she saw the estate still standing proudly instead of being destroyed, she thought:
‘If I work at this estate, I can escape my family and prevent the estate from being demolished.’
Rather than being pushed by her family into another hellish marriage, she chose to abandon them first.
To do that, the most important things were naturally a place to stay and money outside the Priatin estate.
Her hands were too slow for maid work.
She was too timid for business.
While wondering what someone weak like her could possibly do, she remembered flower gardening.
Since childhood, she had always loved planting, growing, and decorating flowers alone.
Because it was the only time her weak magic could actually affect something.
That was how she connected her ability with the work possible at the Biterad estate and came up with becoming a gardener.
She didn’t want to lose the chance to live while caring for flowers she loved.
“I really want to work at the Biterad estate…”
Valley’s grip tightened as she poured all her desperation into her words.
“Right now… are you holding my hand?”
Wayne looked at the hand she was gripping and asked.
Her small white hand was tightly wrapped around his thumb.
“Ah, oh! I’m sorry…! I got carried away…”
While trying so hard to express her sincerity, she accidentally grabbed his hand instead of his sleeve.
Valley quickly let go, while secretly feeling grateful that Wayne had been careful not to burn her.
But even that small movement made the dizziness return, and she hurriedly grabbed her head.
“Ugh…!”
“With stamina like this, what are you planning to accomplish?”
“…I’m normally fine when I’m not using magic.”
“But weren’t you planning to use magic to manage the garden?”
“That’s true…”
Wayne still tightly held the revived plumbago.
No matter how many times he squeezed and released it, the flower stayed alive without burning.
“Your ability is useful to me.”
“Really?”
“That doesn’t mean I’m willing to let someone from another family into my estate.”
He was still extremely cautious about allowing outsiders inside.
After all, it wasn’t easy to trust someone he had only met today.
“What if I abandon my family?”
“What?”
“I don’t want to keep living while being treated like a count’s daughter either. I want to earn my place through my own ability as a gardener.”
“You mean you’d be fine being treated exactly like a servant?”
“As long as I can work at the estate.”
Valley’s eyes sparkled as though even that would make her grateful.
Wayne stared silently at her, who had gone beyond desperate and now looked almost pitiful.
Grade 5.
The weakest kind of noble in the Astel Empire, barely different from a commoner.
And among all attributes, water attribute users were already weaker than the others.
Meaning Valley was the weakest among the weak.
She had collapsed just from reviving a single flower.
That alone showed how fragile she was.
But despite that, she had revived a flower that didn’t burn even in his hand.
And while he wasn’t hiring any new servants, the estate’s old gardener had become too old to properly work anymore.
She had appeared at the perfect time.
Wayne let out a troubled sigh and ran a hand through his hair.
“I don’t have the luxury to wait for someone who collapses for two hours after reviving one flower. Do you realize it already took you five minutes just now?”
Valley carefully nodded.
“Then let’s start with a test. Exactly three days.”
Wayne raised three long fingers.
“Within three days, revive a flower in under two minutes and reduce your recovery time to one hour.”
He even showed her the numbers with his fingers — three, two, one — so the dizzy Valley could understand clearly.
“If I succeed, will you hire me?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Really? You really will consider it? Thank you!”
Just receiving a chance at a test made Valley so happy that she clasped both hands together tightly.
Wayne silently stared at those hands.
His own hands burned everything they touched.
But Valley had grabbed his hand tightly earlier and remained completely unharmed even after letting go.
‘Was it coincidence… or is that part of her ability too, and she simply didn’t tell me?’
For a brief moment, Wayne wondered whether the hands that revived flowers could perhaps extend his life a little too.
He didn’t need one or two more years.
As long as the memorial space for the fire attribute could be completed, he wouldn’t mind dying immediately afterward.
Wayne put on the blouse and jacket hanging over the railing.
“Then come to the Biterad estate in three days.”
With those words, he entered the hall alone first.
“Oh my…!”
At that moment, Rina, who had clearly been secretly spying on the terrace, jumped in shock and stepped back.
“Ahem, I-I didn’t do anything. No, I didn’t see anything.”
Wayne silently looked down at Rina, who immediately started making excuses even though he hadn’t asked anything.
Just his red eyes landing on her made it difficult to breathe from the pressure, and Rina slowly avoided his gaze.
“You’d better take responsibility for those words.”
“E-excuse me? What do you mean…?”
“If useless rumors spread, your mouth will be burned first.”
In a world where even a brief meeting between a man and woman during the day caused rumors, if people found out he and Valley had been alone together on the terrace, both of them would end up in trouble.
Wayne hated getting involved in noisy situations more than anything, so his warning completely froze Rina in place.
“I-I’ll be careful.”
Wayne indifferently walked past the frightened Rina.
Left alone, she stared at his retreating back and then at Valley, who was still sitting on the terrace.
“What the heck? How does someone weak like her know the captain of Zero?”
Muttering to herself, Rina immediately headed toward their mother instead of helping Valley.
Her steps were quick because she desperately wanted to tell her about this.
“Wayne? I thought you already went back to the estate since I couldn’t find you. Where were you?”
Vice-captain David approached after spotting Wayne.
Without answering, Wayne only stared at the hand Valley had held earlier.
Did my magic control improve?
Wayne suddenly reached out and grabbed David’s shoulder with that hand.
“Ah! Hot! What are you doing?”
Startled by the heat, David twisted his shoulder and quickly shook Wayne’s hand off.
Even though Wayne had touched him through a thick jacket, the heat was strong enough to make the skin below his neck turn red.
Yeah… there’s no way this cursed body suddenly recovered.
Beep—.
At that moment, a sound came from inside Wayne’s jacket.
It was the magic control measurement device.
He reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a device shaped like a pocket watch.
Numbers from 1 to 100 were written on it, with a single needle pointing at one of them.
The needle, which had been pointing at 98, slowly moved with the sound and stopped at 96.
“That’s impossible…”
It was the first time.
Until now, the number had only ever increased.
Not once had it gone down.
That was true not only for him, but for every fire attribute user who had already died.
They all instinctively knew that once the needle reached 100, death would come.
But just now, it had decreased.
Wayne tightly gripped the measurement device while staring back toward the terrace where Valley still remained.
