Chapter 20
Lusca didn’t answer. Instead, he turned his eyes back to his book.
Emil, unwilling to be ignored, shoved the book down to block him.
“Still, don’t you think it’s better if she endures?”
Lusca frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
“You’ll have more chances to interact with Uncle Silvan! If you get close to her, maybe he’ll look more favorably at your research, you know?”
“Considering Uncle’s personality, I doubt he’d change just because of his daughter.”
“But you don’t deny that you want him to look at your research, right?”
Lusca jerked his head away without replying.
Seeing that reaction, Emil only brightened and pressed on with cheerful energy.
“Let’s go watch, brother!”
“What?”
“Before she enters the main house, she’ll have to undergo the ‘Trial of Nergal’ at the regular assembly, right?”
Lusca remained silent.
“I want to see her skills before she gets beaten down by Intan.”
“Not interested.”
“Tch. Then I’ll just go by myself.”
“Cut it out. You don’t want to get scolded by Aunt either, do you?”
At the mention of his mother, Emil’s expression dimmed for just a moment.
But he quickly forced a grin and shrugged.
“Only amateurs do things that’ll get them scolded.”
Lusca sighed heavily.
Emil huffed, then declared proudly:
“Fine! But don’t expect me to tell you anything later!”
“Whatever.”
“Honestly, all the people around here are so boring. I just hope she’s at least fun!”
His eyes sparkled with anticipation at the thought of meeting his cousin for the very first time.
I opened my eyes with a sudden start.
‘Ah… I must have fainted.’
Suppressing the rampaging black magic had nearly killed me. To make matters worse, I had even forced out a high-tier spell. No wonder my body gave in.
Checking the state of my mana, I realized it was nothing more than fatigue and exhaustion.
No inner injuries. I exhaled in relief.
‘For now, I need to use magic carefully… only if absolutely necessary.’
Forcing white mana into black mana was already hard enough. I absolutely couldn’t afford to overdo it.
Once my body felt somewhat accounted for, I finally noticed my surroundings.
The room was dark. Night had already fallen.
‘Surely an entire day hasn’t passed… right?’
Father must be terribly worried.
As I thought this, the door opened.
“Mia!”
Father, holding a washbasin, rushed to my side the moment he saw me sitting up.
“Are you alright? Are you in pain?”
“Mm-hm, I’m fine. I feel refreshed after sleeping so much.”
“And your mana…?”
I nodded.
In this world, there wasn’t any precise way to measure the condition of one’s mana. At most, people could sense a strong presence through intuition.
‘Thanks to that, no one can tell I’m actually the Saint.’
Each person could only truly judge their own mana—and inner injuries, of course.
‘If you tried to summon magic while injured, the pain alone would be unbearable. That’s how you’d know.’
“Really, I’m fine! Don’t worry.”
“…Good.”
He finally relaxed and set the basin down.
From the damp towels, I guessed he had been wiping away my sweat whenever a fever rose.
“What time is it now?”
“I’m not sure… it’s night. Don’t worry about it—just sleep more…”
“You need sleep more than I do, Dad. I’m okay now, so please go rest.”
He said nothing, only wrung out another towel silently.
A clear refusal.
“I said I’m fine!”
“I’ll still stay here… Besides, I’m used to staying up nights for research. It’s nothing…”
That was the last straw.
I smacked his arm repeatedly.
“Stop! Pulling! All-nighters!”
“Mia… Researchers and sleepless nights… it’s a natural law…”
It sounded clever, but nonsense was nonsense.
I gave him another smack.
“Ow…”
“Then don’t do it if it hurts!”
“Mmm…”
“If you don’t sleep, I can’t sleep either!”
“…Really?”
“Really!”
I stressed it several times before he reluctantly gave in.
But instead of leaving the room, he settled on the sofa near my bed. Clearly, he didn’t want too much distance.
“Mia… are you hungry?”
“A little.”
“I’ll prepare something right away.”
“Wait, Dad.”
“Yes…?”
“Have you eaten today?”
He froze.
Naturally, round two began with me scolding him into eating.
Of course, I won again, and soon a simple meal was placed before both of us.
“Mia, should I feed you…?”
“Nice try. We’re taking turns. You eat a bite, then I eat a bite. If you stop eating, I’m going on strike.”
Defeated, he slowly began nibbling at his food—just so I’d eat mine. Good.
Because I had been sick, everything on my tray was soft and easy to swallow.
I blew gently on a spoonful of mashed corn soup, then took a sip.
Meanwhile, Father broke his bread with a face like he carried all the sorrows of the world.
To cheer him up, I changed the subject.
“I didn’t lose points with Grandfather, right? Because I collapsed?”
“No problems. And does that even matter? I only care about you being healthy.”
His expression darkened again.
“I’m sorry, Mia… I should never have let things get to a point where you had to use such reckless magic…”
“No! That wasn’t it!”
He was blaming himself, thinking my exhaustion was his fault.
But I had planned to use the Dark Core tier-2 spell anyway. It was the safest cover for hiding the fact I was a Saint without a Dark Core.
“So we’re clear of all charges now, right?”
“Yes. Not that we needed to prove anything in the first place…”
“Hmm?”
“Apparently, Lord Feidel had smuggled in Gelekcho himself… for his son.”
“Ah…”
“He worked together with the administrator.”
Under pressure, the administrator confessed his connection to Feidel.
Feidel tried to deny it, but the smuggling routes were exposed. No point in lying after that.
“Did Grandfather punish them?”
“Yes. Both had their Dark Cores stripped and were banished from the Hallrohren Territory.”
I clicked my tongue.
‘Tampering with the Grand Duke’s own drink… what madness.’
Had they only targeted children, they might’ve escaped with lighter punishment.
But in the Empire, losing one’s Dark Core was practically the same as losing one’s very rights.
Worse than being demoted to a commoner—it was like breaking every ladder they could’ve climbed back up.
No surprise, given Grandfather’s strict nature.
“…Was it not enough, Mia?”
“Huh?”
“Are you dissatisfied? Should I have ended them completely?”
Father’s voice was calm but chilling.
I shook my head quickly.
“No! That’s more than enough. For them, it’s basically a death sentence already.”
“Death has many forms. I could have made them die slowly, painfully… wishing for death itself.”
I fell silent.
The darkness of the Hallrohren family ran deep.
Wasn’t this bad for a child’s emotional development?
I hurried to change the topic before he started listing new torture methods.
“By the way, what about Burfior?”
“Burfior?”
“Lord Feidel’s son.”
“Ah… since the punishment applied to the whole family, he’ll share their fate.”
“I see.”
From an arrogant noble to a disgraced exile overnight.
Would his pride endure the fall? Hard to say. Not that I cared.
“Still not enough? Then maybe I should—”
“No! Really, it’s fine!”
I quickly stopped Father, who looked ready to march out and annihilate the entire Feidel household.
The future mattered more than that ruined family.
“Anyway, as long as nothing bad happens to you, I’m happy.”
“Nothing bad will happen… In fact, only good things.”
“Good things?”
✨ End of Chapter 20 ✨
