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The mage shook his head and stood up.
“You’re no ordinary hero. Let me show you our princess”
He gathered mana and created a ball at the tip of his staff.
The silver ball began to inflate.
A useless trick.
Just as Kang Gyeol was about to stop him, a woman’s image appeared within the mana ball.
She was lying on a white, lace-trimmed bed, dressed in a white nightgown.
She was as white as snow.
“She has been lying in bed for a month, her eyes closed.”
The mage’s tone had changed to one of respect.
“There was a war. The princess, the kingdom’s only healer, tended to the people tirelessly. Over a hundred thousand soldiers and citizens received her healing. Her strength has been waning since then.”
Tears welled up in his eyes.
“She also saved my life. Everyone in the kingdom is indebted to her.”
He bowed his head again.
“Please, save our princess.”
A healer who healed a hundred thousand people? That kind of power couldn’t be achieved with Mana.
That was the efficiency you get from directly burning Ether.
“It’s not a simple fix.”
“Do you know a way?”
If the mage was right, the princess’s core definitely used Ether.
She must have overloaded it, burning it out.
An Ether core didn’t need healing, it needed repairs.
“It’s dangerous. I can’t do it with my current stamina.”
“Then what should we do?”
Healers were rare among the Awakened.
And she was a healer with an Ether core.
She couldn’t be compared to a Mana-using healer.
She might even be able to control Satin’s demonic energy.
Satin tugged at his wrist.
“Mister, I want to save the princess.”
Satin’s demonic energy has been growing stronger lately.
It would continue to do so.
He had connected an Ether thread to her wrist, but his senses were weaker when she was asleep. That’s why he had placed her bed in the same room.
If the princess was here, that problem would be solved.
It had been fine when she was younger, but now that she was ten, it was becoming uncomfortable to share a room.
“There’s a condition.”
The mage’s eyes widened.
“Just tell me! I’ll do anything.”
“I’ll consider it if she works while she’s being treated.”
“Work? What kind of…?”
“She has to take care of the child.”
“We can send a handmaiden for that.”
“The princess has to do it.”
A low groan escaped the mage’s lips.
He wrinkled his brow, searching for a reply, but found none.
“Excuse me, hero. We can’t ask the princess to do such a thing.”
“Then forget it.”
“Can’t I do it instead? How can we ask the princess to do such a thing…”
“Let it be so.”
A new voice was heard.
The mage bowed his head and stepped aside. The image of a king wearing a crown appeared in the mana ball.
“I will entrust my daughter to the hero.”
The king’s gaze was deep.
He looked at him with pleading eyes.
“I will accept your condition. Please save my daughter.”
“It’s a dangerous treatment. She could die or get injured.”
“Can you tell me what kind of treatment you’re planning?”
“An overhaul. A high-level healer would know what that is.”
Carving the inner core with powerful Ether.
A dangerous method that could stop the heart.
“We have no other choice. We will entrust everything to you.”
“You can’t cancel midway, so decide carefully.”
“I’ve already decided. Please save my daughter’s life.”
The king’s gaze turned to Satin.
“Is that the child she has to take care of?”
“Yes.”
“She looks intelligent. Alright. I will send my daughter immediately.”
The king signaled to the mage, and he waved his staff, opening a portal.
Maidens walked out slowly, carrying the princess on a bedsheet.
The king stood on the other side of the portal.
He slowly bowed his head to Kang Gyeol.
It was a gesture of respect.
The mage bowed to the king and extended his staff towards the portal.
“You’re not going?”
“I will stay and protect the princess.”
“Says who?”
“I can’t leave the sick princess alone.”
“Then take her and you can fix her, old man.”
The mage’s expression crumpled.
He glanced at the king.
The king shook his head.
The mage looked back at him with teary eyes.
“Alright. Please, take care of our princess.”
He stepped into the portal.
The maidens followed.
As they reached the other side, the curtain of light flickered, and the portal disappeared.
Satin ran to the princess lying on the floor.
“This unnie is so pale.”
The princess’s face was lifeless.
“Her breathing is weak.”
Her core was broken.
All her bodily functions must have been at their lowest. He approached the princess.
He reached out and sent a stream of Ether into her nose. The reaction was quick.
“She opened her eyes! Unnie, can you hear me? Do you know where you are?”
Some color had returned to her face, and she looked more at ease.
He lifted her onto his back.
He could feel her heart beating against his back. The beat was weak.
Her breathing pattern was also unstable.
The damage to her core was more severe than he had thought. He went out to the dungeon entrance.
Dozens of hunters parted, their mouths agape.
Their eyes were on the princess.
“The hunter with the baby is carrying a woman?”
“She’s gorgeous.”
“What’s going on? The woman is in her pajamas.”
Even reporters were gathered.
There were more than a dozen media cameras.
A Management Agency staff member approached hesitantly.
“Someone must have tipped off the press. That the hunter with the baby entered an irregular dungeon.”
The staff member pointed at the control line.
“Let’s go. We’ve secured a path to your car. We’ve made sure they can’t film. We’ll take care of the rest.”
As soon as he started the car, he sped away from the dungeon.
He pressed the autopilot button and looked back.
The princess, leaning to the side, was breathing shallowly in the back seat.
Her eyes were heavily closed.
A blonde woman with a pale face. Was she even twenty?
He took the wheel again and drove.
“Mister?”
“What.”
“Are you going to carry this unnie now instead of me?”
He looked back at Satin.
Her lips were pouted. What’s wrong with her now?
“I was just carrying her for a moment. She’s in pain and can’t walk.”
“Are you going to take her to the dungeon too?”
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t want that.”
Satin kicked the floor with her feet.
She hadn’t done that before.
“You just said you wanted to save her.”
“I said save her, not bring her here.”
“Saving her is bringing her here.”
“You could have just healed her there.”
That wouldn’t work. I need to use her on you.
“Mister, are you worried about that unnie?”
“Yeah. It would be a hassle if she died after I brought her all the way here.”
“Is it because it’s a hassle? Not because she’s pretty?”
She was definitely saying things she hadn’t said before.
Satin’s behavior had changed subtly.
He had thought she was just a child, but she was hard to handle.
That damn Devil King.
He should have had a son instead of a daughter.
So troublesome.
He arrived home.
The first floor was the restaurant, and the second floor was the house.
He parked the car and carried the princess.
Carrying her on his back would have been more convenient, but he was strangely conscious of Satin.
He had carried her everywhere since she was a baby.
He had taken her to dungeons to look for traces of the demon world.
He had washed her himself, slept in the same room, and always ate with her.
The two of them had spent the past ten years together, never apart for a moment.
This was the first time someone had come between them.
“Mister, is this unnie really pretty?”
Even a cat would become anxious and wary if a new cat came into the house.
It was understandable.
But this was a bit much.
“Are you going to marry this unnie?”
“No.”
He went into the room and laid the princess on the bed.
“Can’t you put her there?”
Satin pointed at her own bed on the opposite side.
“That’s too small.”
“This unnie is small too.”
“She’s bigger than you.”
Satin pouted and ran to a corner of the room, sitting down.
Should I get some parenting lessons?
She used to be so well-behaved and obedient, but she was getting stranger.
He left her for now and checked on the princess.
Her breathing was very unstable.
Her eyelids were also trembling.
She had briefly regained consciousness due to the Ether, but her condition was still serious.
She needed an overhaul.
Then he had to pierce her core.
He didn’t have the stamina for that now.
The princess’s body was as frail as a thread.
First, he had to feed her.
Satin’s food was infused with demonic energy.
It was a chance discovery.
A few days after opening the restaurant, he had overslept and found that Satin had made rice.
It was the first time she had cooked.
He opened the restaurant and took in customers.
That day, the twenty hunters who had eaten Satin’s rice had all passed out.
‘Mister, the customers are smiling in their sleep.’
To be precise, they hadn’t passed out or fallen asleep.
When he checked, they were breathing heavily.
Their faces were all flushed.
And they were smiling in that state.
He opened the rice cooker and scooped a spoonful of rice.
He put it in his mouth and chewed slowly. It was an amazing taste.
The savory and sweet flavors seemed to cheer each other on, reaching their peak.
The moment he swallowed, a festival began.
A thrill ran up his neck and electrified his brain.
The impact was shockingly strong.
Then, a gentle, comforting breeze swept through his body and mind.
It felt like an intense pleasure and stimulation had heightened his peripheral nerves, followed by a caress of a peaceful breeze.
All these sensations came at once.
And it was just from one spoonful of rice.
The memory was still vivid.
A hunter had opened his eyes slightly and reached out his hand.
‘Just one more spoonful of rice, please.’
