BMPEW 44

Chapter 44

And I had a wish just as desperate as saving my family.

It was something I came to long for as I watched Lady Calidora, who lived in hiding within the shadow cast by Ignitus’s brilliance.

I want to give Lady Calidora her life back.

I wanted to set everything right in the family, to return to her a life where she would no longer be alone. I didn’t care if it meant I would eventually return to my original body and die.

Because…

Up until now, I’ve only ever received from others, so this time, it’s enough for me just to give.

But first, I had to survive.

I felt like I could die any moment, yet I was still alive.

I could still sense the faint touch of water currents against my skin.

I don’t know how long I can hold out, but… let’s try.

I squeezed out every last drop of mana, as if wringing out my very life, and condensed it deep within my core.

The power of Ignitus was fire. My plan was to ignite the mana within me and use it to resist the freezing cold.

At last, a faint warmth began to flicker to life in my chest.

Good, just a little more…

But the mana failed to combust. It scattered into nothing in an instant.

At the same time, the backlash from forcing my power together tore through me like my body was about to split apart.

I couldn’t even scream. I swallowed the tears that welled up inside.

Again…

Was it the fourth time now? No, maybe the fifth.

At last, a tiny ember, no bigger than a fingernail, sparked to life within me.

And just as I felt the cold encasing my heart start to melt away—

A wave of unbearable nausea rose up.

“Uwehck!”

I vomited something up and my eyes snapped open.

Somehow, I was above the surface of the water. I could breathe easily.

My eyes rolled weakly in their sockets as I scanned my surroundings.

What I had spat out was a thick, black liquid, staining my clothes.

What is this? Blood?

It wasn’t ordinary blood. The dark droplets sliding down my chin pulsed with a heavy, foreign mana.

A cold, damp mana completely opposite to my own—something that should never have existed in me.

Struggling to understand, I lifted my gaze.

There he was. Lord Abellus, staring down at me with a stunned, disbelieving expression.

What…? Did he rescue me? Or is this a dream?

Maybe it was just a hallucination.

Perhaps I was conjuring up the face of the one I most wanted to see, in the moments before death.

…Wait. Is he crying?

Tears were streaming down Lord Abellus’s face.

Maybe it was because I remembered his crying so vividly—

For someone who looked nothing like it, he had always been such a crybaby.

Whether it was a dream or not, I couldn’t just lie there and watch him cry.

With trembling effort, I reached out and brushed away his tears.

“Don’t cry…”

But his skin beneath my fingertips was blazing hot.

Shock jolted me awake.

This… is real?

“You…!”

Lord Abellus reacted sharply.

He looked as if he was about to lash out at me in anger, but then swallowed his words with visible restraint. I didn’t know why.

Did I do something wrong? Just what on earth happened?

While I wondered, Lord Abellus steadied his breath and leaned toward me.

…?

He pressed his lips, ever so gently, to my forehead.

I froze in shock, eyes wide. After a long silence, he finally spoke.

“Thank you.”

I didn’t know what he was thanking me for. But somehow, it felt like he was speaking of everything—of countless things all at once.

When I regained consciousness again, a massive flame flickered before my eyes.

Where… is this? Fire? …Did I die, and arrive before the goddess Vesta?

But then, a familiar voice called from behind me.

“Lady Calidora.”

It was the voice of Priestess Sosia.

So… the temple.

The priestess sat before the central brazier, holding me in her arms. As she lowered her head slightly, her scarlet veil swayed into my vision.

“P–Priestess…”

“Yes, my lady.”

“I’m… cold.”

When I was in the lake, I hadn’t even realized I was freezing. But now, belatedly, my senses came rushing back.

My teeth chattered uncontrollably as I trembled. Even the blaze before my face couldn’t chase away the cold.

Warm hands began to rub my back.

“It’s all right. The goddess is watching over you.”

At her words, relief flooded through me.

“Y–yes…”

Some time passed before another approached.

“Um, Priestess.”

It was one of the temple’s attendants.

Still holding me, Sosia stood and faced him.

“Lord Erasinus requests an audience.”

The attendant’s face was uneasy.

The priestess was silent for a moment, then spoke with a firmness like iron.

“Tell him he is denied.”

The Temple of Vesta was able to keep Erasinus himself out. But they could not stop his young son, Paulus, who came claiming he only wished to pray.

On his father’s orders, Paulus pretended to head for the altar, but instead slipped into the temple’s inner sanctum to investigate.

…!

What he found there was a small child’s coffin. And in front of it, head bowed low in endless despair, sat Abellus.

When Paulus returned, nearly half out of his mind, Erasinus said coldly:

“So, her breath has ceased. What a relief. But Paulus, why are you crying?”

Only then did Paulus realize tears were streaming down his cheeks.

“I–I…”

Erasinus looked at his son with disdain, as though he already knew the reason, yet loathed the weakness all the more.

Meanwhile, once Paulus had left, Abellus rapped lightly on the coffin lid.

At once, Calidora, now with color returned to her cheeks, pushed it open and peeked out.

“Is… is he gone?”

“Even as a ruse, this is revolting,” Lord Abellus muttered, gazing down at the stone coffin.

“Come out, Calidora.”

“Yes, sir!”

I strained to lift the heavy lid but couldn’t. Lord Abellus pushed it open himself.

As I carefully climbed down from the altar, a temple attendant rushed to me and pressed a hand to my forehead.

“Your fever still hasn’t broken.”

It wasn’t as bad as before, when I couldn’t even move, but my head was still spinning.

Groaning, I let him carry me back to the warm brazier.

Bundled in a blanket, I sat before the fire, listening as the attendants and Lord Abellus spoke nearby.

“We must summon a physician immediately. A fever can be fatal for a child.”

Can this even be called a fever? I was practically frozen solid…

Priestess Sosia had explained the situation to me.

Erasinus had tried to kill me to conceal the fact that a child had been born unable to wield Ignitus’s power. And Lord Abellus had saved me and brought me here.

He saved me again.

Instead of protecting him, I had been protected once more.

Pathetic as that was… I couldn’t help feeling deeply grateful.

Despite their worry, I actually felt fairly well.

Yes, my body was hot with fever, but I had energy to spare.

I clasped my hands and invoked the power of fire.

Let’s see. My mana feels normal. Not bad at all. With some rest, I’ll be fine.

Smiling in relief as I watched the fire, I suddenly realized something strange.

“…!”

My power should have only lasted for twenty seconds at most. Yet the flame before me burned far, far longer.

Instead of dying down, the longer it burned, the stronger it seemed to grow, power bubbling up endlessly.

My mana… it’s overflowing?