Chapter 4

I had a dream. It was a dream where I was caught by a magic beast inside a contaminated zone I had entered for my academy graduation exam, and was being chewed to pieces.

• You are going to become one body with me, hahaha!

Even the magic beast spoke. Revelin felt absurd even while being chewed on by it. Perhaps because it was a dream, it wasn’t scary or painful; it was just annoying to be gnawed on slowly like a snack.

So Revelin punched the magic beast diligently while being chewed.

• Hahaha! It’s useless! This is a contaminated zone, and the more demonic energy I consume, the stronger I become!

As soon as the magic beast uttered such foolish villain-like words, a sudden gust of wind blew. And the magic beast, which had been bragging and laughing just moments before, was split in half. Revelin, who had been getting chewed on, turned her head in surprise to look at the person who had saved her.

She made eye contact with Chedwin, who was holding a sword. “Gasp!”

And Revelin woke up from her dream.

“Ruby!” “Revelin!”

The moment she opened her eyes, her father’s and brother’s faces came into view. Their faces were filled with worry and anxiety. The place where Revelin was lying was a bedroom in the Eterion mansion.

“Are you coming to your senses? Is anything hurting? My sweet child.”

Her father stroked the back of Revelin’s hand over and over with a face that looked like he was about to burst into tears at any second. Did I faint at the end?

When Revelin remained silent, Arent let out a breath of relief and said, “Don’t you remember? You suddenly spat blood and collapsed at the banquet.”

“What? Blood? Me?!”

Come to think of it, it felt like she might have spat something from her mouth right before passing out.

“Revelin.”

Arent called out to a confused Revelin and met her eyes. “What on earth happened? It’s safe here, so you don’t need to worry—you can tell me.”

What happened, you ask? After fighting with Mila at the banquet hall, she had gone to the balcony to avoid people’s gazes, and there she met a contaminated Chedwin and—

“Gasp.”

As all her memories came flooding back vividly, Revelin hurriedly sucked in her breath. Back then, she hadn’t realized it because she was running high on the sense of duty that she had to save her brother, but now she fully realized what a crazy thing she had done. I almost died, didn’t I?

A Level 10 purifier had tried to purify someone contaminated with demonic energy under the pretext of saving her brother, so it was practically throwing herself into a pit of fire.

I should be grateful I woke up again.

What happened to Chedwin? How much time had passed now? “How long has it been since I collapsed?”

“Four days have passed.”

“What?!”

She had thought it would be just a day or two, but four days had passed? Revelin cried out in absurdity. Well, she had almost died and barely survived, so maybe that was only natural?

“Your fever rose high and your condition was very poor. If I could, I would have wished to be sick in your place instead, my precious Ruby.”

Soothing the startled Revelin, her father gestured to a servant to bring the doctor.

“I’m glad you woke up, Revelin. I heard you had a conversation with the Earl of Peil’s daughter at the banquet. By any chance, is Lady Peil the main culprit who made you like this?”

He tried to sound gentle so as not to startle Revelin, but Arent’s face was rigid. If she said yes, it looked like he would march straight to the Peil mansion right now and turn everything upside down.

The two of them didn’t know the exact details of what had happened between the two girls during the academy graduation exam. They only knew vaguely that Mila and Revelin didn’t get along.

The incident where Revelin was attacked by a magic beast had been swept under the rug as the supervising professors took full responsibility and resigned directly, leaving behind no evidence or testimonies. Above all, Revelin herself didn’t want this matter to become public knowledge, and she was so terrified of it that they couldn’t dig any deeper. Because only after the academy took responsibility and erased every single scar left on her body could Revelin finally sleep without nightmares.

“No. I won against Lady Mila. I’m just tired these days. There were too many people, so I felt pressured, too.”

Ever since she was judged to be a Level 10 purifier, Revelin had suffered all sorts of mockery. Having grown up loved since childhood and called the first love of many, Revelin had thought the world was kind, so it was a huge shock to her.

Experiencing the outpouring of scorn and ridicule for the first time, she had been startled and cried her eyes out for days. Still, things had been bearable until right before the academy graduation exam.

After groundless malice bared its fangs and choked her directly, however, Revelin grew overwhelmed and terrified by people’s gazes.

“And I had been feeling a bit achy and under the weather even before going to the banquet. That’s probably why I even spat blood and fainted.”

Knowing full well that Revelin sometimes shrank away from people’s attention, her family closed their mouths without asking any further. She had lied to the two of them, but she couldn’t tell the truth since she couldn’t possibly let them know about Chedwin’s condition.

Well, it’s not entirely a lie anyway.

Seeing the two people frozen with serious expressions, Revelin asked brightly to lighten the mood.

“Nobody saw or found out that I collapsed while bleeding, right?”

“Ruby, knowing how sensitive you are to rumors, you really think I would have just left it be? Arent and I sorted it all out nicely, so you don’t have to worry, my child.”

“I told you so many times to behave. This is why I can’t take my eyes off you, Revelin.”

Contrary to his blunt and casual words, the hand Arent used to stroke her head was gentle.

“From now on, I intend to ignore your opinions.”

“Brother, you could just say you’re worried about me and won’t leave me alone for a while.”

Arent, who had zero conversational skills, nodded with his ears dyed a bright red. It really made a sigh escape on its own.

“Then what about the banquet? Is it all over?”

“The victory banquet was originally scheduled to be held for three days, but due to an unexpected event, it ended after just one day.”

The banquet ended earlier than in the original story. Surely, nothing went wrong because I purified him, right?

She had never even heard of a Level 10 purifier purifying a human. Could there be some kind of side effect? No. What kind of purification could a Level 10 purifier like me possibly accomplish anyway? Since he was in so much pain, Chedwin must have realized he was severely contaminated and went to find a proper purifier!

Let’s not worry in advance about things that haven’t even happened.

But why wasn’t there any mention in the original story about Chedwin suffering until the middle parts? If he was in this much agony, he should have known he was contaminated by demonic energy.

Since the original story revolved strictly around the female protagonist’s perspective, she couldn’t know anything outside of it. Still, with a level of demonic energy like the one she felt yesterday, it should have been noticeable to others or at least recognizable to Chedwin himself, so it was strange that there wasn’t even a single line of mention about it in the work.

“What on earth happened for the banquet to end in just a single day?”

“It’s top-secret, but His Grace the Grand Duke Velhark, the protagonist of the banquet, was found collapsed on the balcony.”

“What?!”

Come to think of it, she had intended to call someone! Since Revelin had also fainted the moment she left the balcony, she had essentially left Chedwin unattended.

“No external injuries were visible, but the Grand Duke’s uniform was disheveled, as if there had been a violent physical struggle.”

“……Physical…… struggle?”

It wasn’t because of a violent struggle, it was because he suddenly hugged me tight!

Though she reacted outwardly with calm, Revelin’s heart wasn’t just racing—it was preparing to do the long jump right out of her body.

“He was completely unconscious. If it had been an assassin, it would have been the ultimate opportunity, but since they just left him, the culprit probably had some other scheme in mind.”

The culprit is your younger sister.

“The knights of the Grand Duke Velhark’s household are also searching with fire in their eyes, so whoever the culprit is, if they get caught, they’ll surely undergo intense interrogation.”

Arent’s words drilled straight into her ears. She must never let them find out, and she must never get caught. Revelin resolved herself.

Nobody seems to have seen me on the balcony. If someone had seen me, word would have gotten out already. Thank goodness.

Just as Revelin was breathing a sigh of relief, the family doctor came in.

Checking her condition, he prescribed a sedative and delivered a diagnosis that, thankfully, there were no problems at all.

“Ruby, would you like Daddy to stay with you tonight? I can even read you fairy tales from right beside you.”

“I’d prefer to rest alone.”

Revelin cut him off decisively.

Her father was a mess from not washing properly for four days, and the dark circles under Arent’s eyes were heavy.

“Father, go get some rest. Brother, too.”

Her father tried to persuade her by saying he had brought fairy tales of various genres to read to her, but in the face of Revelin’s repeated refusals, he couldn’t even open them.

I am a daughter who inherited my father’s stubborn personality to the letter!

Lying in bed, Revelin stared at the two men as if telling them to get out. In the end, the two of them were chased out of the bedroom.

Only a long time after the two had left did Revelin push herself up. Did everyone leave?

She deliberately moved her hands and feet loudly, but no one came in. They really left.

“Good.”

Actually, there was a reason why she had shooed her father and brother away so quickly. She hadn’t mentioned it because she didn’t want her family to worry, but ever since she opened her eyes, she could feel that the power inside her body had changed from before.

“What on earth is this?”

Purifiers know the limits of their own power. The power that Revelin, a Level 10 purifier, could use was truly minuscule. It had definitely been like that.

Why has the power of purification increased?

Power overflowing to the brim was circulating throughout her entire body. It had always been difficult and overwhelming; never once had she felt this overflowing with power.

It’s different from before I purified Chedwin.

Getting down from the bed, Revelin unlocked her personal drawer, which was fitted with a double-lock mechanism.

“There should still be a grade-checking magical artifact somewhere that I bought and hid away in the past.”

When she first saw the test result declaring her a Level 10 purifier, she simply couldn’t accept it. To appease a disappointed Revelin, her father and brother had her retake grade tests at various institutions, but the results were always the same.

Still refusing to accept it, Revelin had purchased a large quantity of grade-checking magical artifacts. They weren’t for official verification so there was a margin of error, but she used to measure with them every single day.

She had shoved them away in a corner in despair after every single try yielded a Level 10 result. “Here it is.”

Revelin pulled out the grade-checking magical artifact. Fortunately, it was still intact and seemed usable.

“I thought I had thrown away all my lingering attachments.”

Thinking she was fine now, that it didn’t matter anymore, the fact that her first thought upon waking was to check her grade suggested perhaps she hadn’t.

A bitter smile crossed her lips as she recalled the past days when she fell into despair looking at the results displayed on dozens of grade-checking magical artifacts.

After hesitating for a moment, Revelin familiarly grasped the grade-checking magical artifact in her hand. When she channeled her energy into it, the magical artifact glowed red.

Beep—a small notification sound echoed. Narrowing her eyes, Revelin checked the result.

“……?”

And the moment she saw the result, she rubbed her eyes. “Huh? Did it break because I left it buried away for too long?”

She rubbed the result with her hand, but it didn’t rub off.

“……Level 5?”

Something was strange. Revelin tossed the magical artifact she was holding backward, tore open a brand-new magical artifact, and gripped it in her hand. Then she checked it the exact same way.

Beep—the result notification sound rang out. “Level 5?”

Level 5 this time, too. Revelin shook the magical artifact.

“Can magical artifacts… break? No, was there an expiration date on using magical artifacts?”

A purifier’s grade is innate, meaning it never changes from the result of their very first measurement. So how on earth did hers change?

Revelin pulled out magical artifacts, checked them, and checked them again. Morning broke. And she had no choice but to accept it.

“……I’m Level 5?”

Her grade had gone up. After collapsing and waking back up, she had become a Level 5 purifier.