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Chapter 9
“E-Emma?”
The maid standing there with her mouth hanging open was Emma, who mainly worked in the kitchen.
She was also one of Aveline’s closest attendants, often making snacks for the young lady, who loved nibbling on treats.
Emma stood frozen, unable to do anything with the broken eggs, her lips trembling.
“M-My Lady, when on earth did this…?!”
“No! It’s not what you’re thinking, Emma!”
“I absolutely, absolutely won’t tell anyone. I’ll keep it a secret until you decide to tell people yourself, My Lady!”
Even though Aveline frantically waved both hands while trying to explain, Emma solemnly clasped her hands together in greeting, turned around, and disappeared without another word.
“Emma!”
Aveline cried out in despair, but Emma never came back.
“Haah.”
This was a disaster.
Aveline shot Theron a resentful look.
“When you say things like that, people misunderstand!”
“Everything I said was based entirely on facts.”
“Even so, anyone who hears it without knowing the situation is bound to misunderstand.”
As Aveline added her complaint, the corners of Theron’s lips curled ever so slightly.
“The ones at fault are those who jump to convenient conclusions without bothering to understand the full context.”
“…”
He wasn’t wrong.
Yet somehow, hearing him say it only made her feel even more frustrated.
Once Theron left, Aveline resolved to find Emma immediately and clear up the misunderstanding.
“Ahem. Anyway, isn’t there a chance there was some kind of misunderstanding? Maybe it really was jelly and not a jewel.”
“I do not keep jelly in my carriage.”
“Then maybe someone accidentally dropped it in your carriage…”
“No one rides in my carriage besides myself.”
He said he had no friends with such confidence.
Then Aveline realized she wasn’t much different herself, and her mood immediately turned solemn.
“T-Then maybe the jewel is somewhere else and you just haven’t realized it yet… No, wait. If you tell me exactly what kind of jewel it was, I’ll find one somehow and send it to you, Duke! What do you think?”
Why hadn’t she thought of this sooner?
If he had come all the way here looking for it, and considering it had the strange ability to be absorbed when touched, it had to be a very valuable jewel.
Still, if she begged her father desperately enough, perhaps she could somehow secure the money.
“You won’t be able to.”
But with those words, even that tiny hope vanished.
“Because it bears an imprint of a part of me.”
“A part of you… imprinted on it?”
Was that even possible?
To imprint a part of oneself onto a jewel?
Whether he noticed her confusion or not, Theron continued explaining.
“That’s why I can recognize it no matter where it is. I simply didn’t expect that instead of merely possessing it, you would absorb it.”
Theron’s gaze lingered regretfully over Aveline’s stomach.
It almost looked as though he wanted to split her open and take it back, making Aveline hurriedly cover her stomach with both hands.
“You’re not… serious, are you?”
“…”
The lack of any reply sent a chill down her spine.
“I-I’ll figure out a way to get it out somehow! I don’t know how long it’ll take for something that’s been absorbed to come back out… but I’ll do my best!”
With a determined expression, Aveline grabbed Theron’s hand tightly.
Losing a little dignity seemed far preferable to having her stomach sliced open without warning.
“If it were an ordinary jewel, that would indeed be the safest and most reasonable method. Unfortunately, however, the jewel you absorbed is a magic stone.”
“A… magic stone?”
Aveline had at least heard of magic stones before.
It was incredibly difficult to contain mana—an ever-changing form of energy—inside an object and make that object preserve it indefinitely.
To begin with, magic stones themselves were extremely rare.
That was why every single magic stone in the Empire was strictly recorded.
One needed the Empire’s permission just to possess one, and even then, the grade of magic stone a person could own was carefully regulated.
Moreover, the Imperial Family had recently collected every magic stone in existence.
Their reason was to prevent accidents caused by careless use of magic stones.
And now he was saying this was one?
“Aren’t magic stones currently prohibited from circulation throughout the Empire? I heard the Imperial Family confiscated them all.”
Instead of answering, Theron merely smiled in a way she couldn’t interpret.
“Could it be… the magic stone I absorbed was one of the ones the Imperial Family confiscated?”
If that were true, it would be a serious problem.
The Imperial Family managed magic stones with extraordinary strictness.
Only nine were known to exist.
If, by some terrible chance, Aveline had swallowed one of them, it would only be a matter of time before someone discovered it.
Then they really might cut open my stomach.
On top of that, she would have to explain exactly how she had ended up absorbing a magic stone.
I’d have to confess in front of everyone that I picked up what I thought was jelly from someone else’s carriage because I was hungry!
“Urgh.”
That would be far more humiliating.
A count’s daughter who tried to eat a jewel because she mistook it for jelly after getting hungry.
What would her father do if he heard such a thing?
He would probably clutch the back of his neck and collapse.
“It doesn’t belong to the Imperial Family.”
While Aveline was lost in thought, Theron spoke quietly.
“Because I made it.”
“…What?”
Aveline had never once heard of an individual creating a magic stone.
Even if every royal mage in the Empire worked together, it was uncertain whether they could produce even one.
Yet he had created one entirely on his own?
“Watch carefully.”
Theron raised a hand and pointed toward the basket and broken eggs Emma had dropped earlier.
“Huh…?”
A faint light gathered at his fingertips.
The basket and broken eggs vanished in an instant.
“…Did you do that, Duke?”
“As you saw.”
Very few people in the Empire possessed mana.
Even those with only the slightest amount were recruited as royal mages and treated with the utmost respect.
Yet Theron, the Emperor’s own nephew, possessed mana.
That was something the Empire knew absolutely nothing about.
Unless he’d been hiding it all this time.
She had no idea why he would hide it, but if it became known that Theron—whom the Imperial Family regarded with the greatest caution—possessed mana, the consequences would undoubtedly be enormous.
“Is it really okay… to tell me something like this?”
Aveline’s family unquestionably stood on the Emperor’s side.
There wasn’t a single advantage for Theron in revealing his secret to her.
“Of course, it’s a secret.”
“And if I don’t keep it?”
“It would be in your best interest to keep it.”
Theron answered her question as casually as ever.
It was an astonishing secret, yet he remained completely composed.
“Why?”
“If the Imperial Family learns that I created a magic stone, they’ll immediately seize you and cut open your stomach. They’ll undoubtedly value my magic stone over your safety, and the operation certainly won’t be performed with your well-being in mind. Naturally, there’s no guarantee you’ll survive.”
“…”
Everything he said was true.
If the Imperial Family discovered the truth, there was no way they would simply let it go.
They were constantly scheming behind the scenes in search of Theron’s weakness.
That’s why Father told Ares to retrieve those documents.
For some reason, the Emperor was obsessed with Theron’s documents.
No one knew what they contained, but everyone obediently stole document after document in hopes of finding whatever the Emperor sought.
Yet no one had ever succeeded.
Despite knowing the Emperor had repeatedly tried to steal his documents, Theron always pretended not to notice.
As though he knew with absolute certainty that no matter what the Emperor desired, he would never obtain it.
While Aveline stood there in a daze, Theron gently enclosed her hand within his own.
“But I swear that I will place your safety above all else. If I may say so myself, I’m rather skilled.”
Though he phrased it politely, what he truly meant was simple.
So, would you allow me to cut open your stomach?
“By now, the magic stone has most likely settled at your core. From there, it will gradually be absorbed into you.”
“Is there… no way that doesn’t involve cutting open my stomach?”
“The only other method is…”
For the first time, Theron hesitated.
As the silence stretched on, Aveline swallowed nervously.
“There isn’t one.”
“There isn’t?”
“Yes.”
After all that suspense, the answer was unexpectedly simple.
“At present, that’s the only option.”
“What if I refuse?”
She truly wanted to avoid it.
It was terrifying.
Besides, she’d never heard of anyone in the Empire successfully opening and closing a person’s abdomen.
If something goes wrong, I’ll become the girl who had her stomach cut open because she tried to eat food she found in someone else’s carriage.
Her reputation was practically nonexistent already.
She certainly didn’t want that to be how people remembered her after she died.
Theron studied her face carefully, as though trying to read her thoughts, before speaking quietly.
“The longer we delay, the more my mana will influence you in one way or another. It may already have begun. Did anything feel unusual last night?”
Last night…
Would my dream count?
She had dreamed she became the heroine of the romance novel she’d been reading before bed.
That certainly wasn’t normal.
But she had no confidence in how Theron would react if she brought it up.
What if he simply looked at her as though she were ridiculous?
Besides, she had no desire to reveal to someone she barely knew that she was obsessed with romance novels.
I’ll watch a little longer. If I’m sure, then I’ll tell him.
After a brief moment of consideration, Aveline shook her head.
“I don’t think so… not yet.”
“I see.”
Theron nodded quietly before rising to his feet.
Then he extended a hand toward her.
Despite his refined appearance making him seem frail, Theron effortlessly pulled Aveline to her feet using only one hand.
“Then I’ll be going for today. After all, it was partly my own fault for failing to keep such an important item properly secured.”
The words were accompanied by a quiet sigh.
Aveline’s face brightened instantly.
“However, if even the slightest problem arises, I will retrieve it immediately.”
“Yes, yes.”
Aveline quickly slipped her hand free and nodded eagerly.
She wanted Theron gone as soon as possible.
“I shall be watching over you at all times, Lady.”
“Pardon?”
What was that supposed to mean?
Ignoring Aveline’s bewilderment, Theron calmly continued.
“For the time being, since you’ve swallowed my jewel… that makes you my jewel.”
Aveline immediately reached out to cover his mouth before anyone else could hear.
“If you say things like that, people are going to misunderstand!”
Crash!
“What are you two doing!?”
At that moment, with a tremendous crash, Ares came tumbling through the first-floor window, glaring furiously.
