Chapter 212

 

* * *

 

After Claude left to bring Melody, the ducal residence was going through a time no different from hell.

Loretta spent most of the day unconscious. It seemed she had decided to lose consciousness altogether, unable to endure what was happening to her body.

At least, fortunately, when she was unconscious like this, mana explosions didn’t occur either.

“You have to choose before it’s too late, Father.”

Whenever Loretta, who had been awake for a while, was suppressed by the magic circle and fainted, Jeremiah asked the Duke and Ronny several times to hurry up and make a choice.

“…I know.”

The Duke nodded his head, but he couldn’t bring himself to reach a conclusion.

There were two options.

Either watch Loretta’s body deteriorate on the magic circle like this.

Or remove the magic circle and let the mana tormenting her explode out into the world.

If they chose the first method, Loretta would surely die. It would be very painful to just watch the child becoming weaker without any way to help.

But the second method didn’t bring any solution either. It could involve more people in an unfortunate situation.

“You probably know.”

When his contemplation was taking too long, Jeremiah brought it up first.

“It would be better to leave Loretta like this.”

Ronny opened his mouth as if to refute something. But Jeremiah’s words were a little faster.

“If it can’t end well anyway, it’s right to minimize the damage.”

“Minimize the damage?!”

Ronny immediately rushed in and grabbed Jeremiah’s collar.

“In the end, you’re telling us to let Loretta die!”

“Yes, if I express it directly, that would be the meaning.”

“Are you in your right mind?”

Jeremiah fixed his tilted glasses and answered.

“At least more than you, Brother. Unless you know of a better way.”

“You!”

As his voice rose higher, the Duke grabbed Ronny’s shoulder.

“Stop it.”

“But Father!”

“It would be best to go cool your head for a bit. Ronny Baldwin.”

The panting Ronny let go of the collar and left the room with stomping steps.

“Jeremiah. It would be good for you to rest for a while too. Since it seems Loretta won’t wake up for a while.”

Even at the Duke’s suggestion, Jeremiah shook his head.

“No, I can’t be at ease. The cycle of her waking up is irregular too.”

Jeremiah picked up Evan, who had fallen asleep on the floor, and moved him onto the sofa.

“Above all, while Evan is sleeping, I have to stay awake. I need to activate the magic circle as soon as Loretta’s consciousness returns and mana flows out.”

“And after that, Loretta will again…”

“Suffer, yes.”

Whenever the force trying to explode was forcibly suppressed, her body was gradually being destroyed.

To the point where Jeremiah thought that the magic circle he had created to help his sister was rather driving her to death.

“Loretta probably won’t be able to endure a few more times.”

The Duke looked at Loretta lying on the bed hugging a bloodstained doll.

‘…I had sworn.’

From the moment he heard that Loretta might be a physis, there was something he had been continuously thinking about.

That he wouldn’t let Loretta suffer the same pain as his wife.

‘But I ended up making her hurt more.’

He heard from Jeremiah about the cause of this situation.

He said the direct cause was because she always kept the mana stone Evan had given her close by.

But the Duke didn’t consider that to be the absolute cause.

‘It’s because I didn’t explain enough and just banned the Magic Tower. I should have considered that it might rather arouse curiosity.’

He clenched his fists.

Regret over his past actions kept rushing in.

‘If I had paid a little more attention to Loretta…’

The responsibility for this situation lay entirely with the Duke, Loretta’s guardian.

If he had hugged Loretta even once more, held her hand even once more… the situation would have been different.

“It’s not Father’s fault.”

As if he understood his heart, Jeremiah spoke as if to comfort him.

“This is all because of my inadequacy.”

“Jeremiah.”

“If I could have absorbed more of Loretta’s power, it wouldn’t have come to this. Also.”

Jeremiah glanced at the sleeping Evan.

Since his disciple had aggravated the situation, according to the rules of the Magic Tower, it was only right for the teacher to take all responsibility.

“…I apologize for Evan as well, Father.”

“No.”

The Duke shook his head. Evan had only tried to somehow be a support for her.

“But the choice will be Father’s role. Since you are this child’s guardian.”

The Duke bit his lip for a moment. But he soon reached a conclusion.

“Loretta said she would wait for Melody.”

“Those words mean.”

“It means to leave her like this. Even if Melody is late… arrives late and something happens to Loretta…”

“…”

“That child would want to wait for Melody in this place.”

Jeremiah nodded slightly.

“I’m also certain Loretta would prefer that.”

“But you’re worried.”

“Me…?”

When the Duke observed his complexion, Jeremiah fidgeted with the temple of his glasses and avoided his gaze.

“I, I’m not…”

“It seems like you feel guilty whenever you activate the magic circle.”

“…”

“I’ll say it again, it’s not your fault. Your magic has no sin.”

Jeremiah nodded, but in fact, he had already reached a conclusion about this situation.

If Loretta died here, it was all because of Jeremiah’s clumsy magic.

“Jeremiah.”

When the Duke called his name again.

Loretta’s consciousness, who had been lying in the center of the magic circle, began to gradually awaken, and the furniture around them vibrated faintly.

Jeremiah immediately placed both hands on the magic circle, his robe fluttering.

The green light enveloped Loretta’s body, and before long, Loretta vomited a painful groan while pressing her hand near her chest.

 

* * *

 

And three more days passed.

Loretta, who had been crying and suffering yesterday, had barely fallen asleep and didn’t wake up for over a day.

The Duke and Ronny, who had been watching and comforting her painful appearance the whole time, were now asleep as if they had fainted.

Only Jeremiah and Evan were awake.

“…Master.”

Sitting crouched at one side of the magic circle, Evan cautiously opened his mouth, breaking the long silence.

Jeremiah, lying on the floor and scribbling in a journal recording Loretta’s condition, answered.

“Get some sleep, Loretta will probably stay like this for a while too.”

“That’s not it, why…”

Evan knelt down and bowed his head deeply. The hood of his robe completely covered his head.

“…aren’t you scolding me?”

“I will scold you, after this is over.”

Evan, who remembered the meaning of the words “after this is over,” glanced at Loretta with a very scared face.

“No… you can’t.”

“If you didn’t want that.”

Evan put down the pen and took off his glasses for a moment. Pressing his brow with both hands, he showed a quite tired look.

“You should have cherished your test subject. I thought I taught you that part.”

“T-test subject?! I didn’t experiment on Miss…”

“Evan.”

When Jeremiah put his glasses back on and looked at him with a sharp gaze, Evan’s shoulders shrank pitifully.

“…I’m sorry.”

Although his intention wasn’t an experiment, when he thought about what he had done, there was actually no difference.

Stubbornly injecting mana into her body for no reason and even giving her an unverified mana stone.

No, if he had thoroughly treated Loretta as an experiment, this situation wouldn’t have happened.

At least with an experiment, he could have closely observed her condition after receiving mana and noticed if something was wrong.

‘When the mana I sent to Miss disappeared so quickly, I could have thought of the possibility…’

At that time, he was just so happy to have his mana circulating in Loretta’s body that he couldn’t think of anything else.

“The instinct to fill someone with one’s mana and completely possess them is something any magician has. That’s why magicians in love sometimes do terrifying things.”

“I didn’t… think that far.”

“I know. But it wasn’t a completely different feeling either.”

“In the end, I made Miss suffer more. It’s all my fault.”

“No.”

Jeremiah organized the documents, approached Evan, and removed the hood covering his face.

“It’s not your fault.”

When Evan shook his head wildly, Jeremiah grabbed both his cheeks firmly.

“You have the right to follow your curiosity and emotions, and the responsibility for everything that happens as a result lies entirely with me. From the day your mother allowed me to do that.”

“If you can’t expel me because of your promise with my mother…”

“That’s not it, absolutely not. Evan. I’ll say it again, when this is over, I intend to scold you very harshly.”

“Please do that, please make me suffer!”

“I don’t mean to torment you. I just mean I will teach you how to pay attention to your test subjects. You will gradually improve.”

Gradually improve…

Evan couldn’t even forgive his future self for becoming like that.

Didn’t he completely blow away Loretta’s future? Now, even the hopeful word “gradually” couldn’t be used for her.

“Master, why… aren’t you abandoning me?”

Just as Jeremiah was about to answer his question.

“…Melo… dy.”

Loretta’s small voice was heard. There was not even a shred of strength left in the thin voice.

Jeremiah and Evan turned their heads towards her.

At that moment, the two magicians realized something instinctively.

If they activated the magic circle this time, Loretta wouldn’t be able to endure it any longer either.

The Duke and Ronny, who had woken up at some point, started running to Loretta’s side.

At the same time, his room was shaking.

No, not only the room but the sound of something shaking and breaking could be heard from the corridor as well. The startled scream of Higgins, who had been waiting outside the door, was heard.

The mana explosion that started from Loretta’s limp body was now beginning to spread throughout this entire mansion.

Jeremiah thought he had to quickly activate the magic circle and stop Loretta.

Just as he himself had said a moment ago, minimizing the damage would be the best choice.

‘But.’

…His magic would kill Loretta.

This time for sure.

He bit his lip.

The green mana that had already started from his hand was overflowing from his wrist to his shoulder. It was more than enough to activate the magic circle.

But he still couldn’t put his hand on the magic circle.

‘Melody Higgins!’

Jeremiah called out the name he thought of like salvation in his mind, but in fact… it was.

Something completely useless.

‘Bang!’

A terrible explosion erupted while he hesitated. At the same time, all the window glass in this room shattered into pieces and slowly floated in the air.

Jeremiah knew he couldn’t stall for time any longer now.

He had to follow the choice his reason had made. His trembling fingertips finally touched the magic circle.

‘I’m sorry, Loretta.’