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Chapter 8
It seemed Noah had been whipped again after I left, because fresh lash marks were clearly visible across both of his thighs.
The sight made me grit my teeth unconsciously.
Noah was placed at the center of the massive stage. A glowing mana stone shone down on him like a spotlight. Squinting against the harsh brightness, Noah seemed unable to see the audience hidden beneath the darkness below.
But to the nobles concealed in the shadows, Noah beneath the light was clearer than anything else.
“Despite appearances, this is a highly sought-after item possessing a strong physique and the instinctive senses of a beast! A rare Omber, seldom seen within the Empire!”
Jeffrey described Noah’s uses freely, as though he were simply another product being sold at auction.
“He is still young and underdeveloped, but before long he will mature into an even stronger blade!”
“……”
While glaring at the auctioneer from behind the red curtain, one of Orlun’s mages cautiously approached me.
“Lady Isabella. Allow me to escort you to your seat now.”
I thought they’d completely forgotten about me amid the chaos of the auction, but now that the friendship auction was nearing its end, it seemed their tension had finally loosened.
Which meant it was time for me to move.
I recalled the thoughts I’d had last night.
There was no way for someone like me—someone who couldn’t even use magic properly—to save Noah from Duke Rosenberg.
Unless the Duke willingly abandoned Noah himself.
If the Duke learned Noah had a flaw, then he would gladly discard Noah with his own hands.
And if that happened, I wouldn’t need to directly interfere to keep Noah out of his grasp.
So the real question became:
How do I make a greed-driven man like the Duke abandon Noah?
As I searched for the answer, I remembered one crucial fact.
The reason Duke Rosenberg desired Noah so much was because of the Ombers’ racial traits.
The Rosenberg family was the only great house that had never once produced a mage.
Generation after generation, children were born unable to sense mana. Behind their backs, people whispered that theirs was a bloodline cursed by mana.
To overcome that disgrace, the Rosenbergs honed their physical abilities to the absolute limit through relentless training, building their power in an Empire dominated by mages without producing a single mage themselves.
The unpleasant look the Duke had given me yesterday—
It was proof of how deeply he despised mages.
But what if Noah became one?
At that thought, I smiled and uncrossed my arms.
“I see. So there’s a seat prepared for me.”
“Yes. We should have escorted you sooner, but the final inspections ran late. My apologies.”
As he spoke, the Orlun mage held out a black mask identical to those worn by the nobles in attendance.
I stared at it for a moment before reaching out.
Seeing that, the mage smiled brightly.
“It’s been an honor to assist the Great Mage. Please enjoy the rest of—”
Before he could finish speaking, I deliberately let the mask fall from his hand onto the floor.
Then I pushed aside the curtain and walked straight onto the stage.
The startled mage called after me.
“L-Lady Isabella?!”
But it was already too late to stop me.
Every eye in the hall turned toward me the moment I stepped into view.
Slowly, one step at a time, I walked toward Noah.
The sharp sound of my heels echoed across the raised stage.
Jeffrey, who had been staring blankly, finally stammered out,
“It appears the flower of tonight’s auction—the Great Mage Lady Isabella—has graced us with her presence.”
Ignoring him completely, I stopped directly in front of Noah beneath the spotlight.
In an instant, silence swallowed the hall.
Noah, kneeling in submission, lifted his gaze to look up at me.
His desperate eyes belonged to someone standing at the edge of a cliff.
A faint smile crossed my lips.
It was born from tension more than anything else, but combined with my naturally cold eyes, it only made me appear more mocking and oppressive.
Noah blinked anxiously, clearly unable to imagine what I was about to do.
After taking a deep breath, I finally spoke.
“How strange.”
My voice echoed through the silent hall.
Sweating nervously as he watched the situation spiral out of control, Jeffrey forced out a strained laugh.
“Haha… It seems Lady Isabella has prepared some sort of playful event.”
He was obviously trying to cut me off before I said something dangerous.
Not happening.
Deliberately raising my voice for the audience to hear, I continued.
“The Ombers are said to possess bodies blessed with extraordinary strength. Creatures entirely different from us.”
My gaze shifted directly toward the Duke, who stood out clearly despite the mask hiding his face.
“But they also possess another title, don’t they? They are said to suffer from the ‘Curse of Mana.’”
At my words, the Duke’s arm twitched against the armrest of his chair.
Tapping my chin thoughtfully, I tilted my head.
“But that’s odd. Because from what I can see… this child possesses mana within him.”
At my declaration, not only the nobles in the audience but Jeffrey and even Noah himself widened their eyes.
As murmurs exploded throughout the hall, Jeffrey hurriedly spoke in a trembling voice.
“W-What do you mean by that? This child is a descendant of the Ombers—”
“Are you questioning my eyes?”
A chill swept through the audience.
I looked at him steadily.
Jeffrey still wore a smile, but his face had gone deathly pale.
Turning my attention back to Noah, I spoke calmly.
“Then I suppose we can confirm it together.”
Though I spoke softly, almost like a whisper to myself, no one dared break the silence.
I bent down until I was level with Noah again.
His eyes trembled.
With my back to the audience, I silently mouthed words only he could see.
Trust me.
It was the signal I had promised him backstage.
If he didn’t move exactly as I intended here, everything would fall apart.
Despite the tension, I waited with as blank an expression as possible.
The reason I turned my back to the audience wasn’t only to hide my lips—it was also to ensure Noah focused solely on me.
Thankfully, he understood.
After a brief hesitation, Noah pulled the dagger from his clothes.
Jeffrey saw it from the side and immediately turned pale.
“The product has a weapon! Stop him immediately!”
At his shout, guards poured out from behind the curtains.
Without the slightest hesitation, I grabbed the blade Noah pointed toward me with my bare hand.
Blood spread across the edge instantly as the flesh of my right palm split open.
“What are you doing…?!”
Noah stared at me in horror.
Without giving him time to react, I dragged my bloodied fingertips across his parted lips.
His throat bobbed.
The lower lip that had accidentally swallowed my blood trembled faintly.
At that exact moment, the guards rushed forward to separate us.
Even as they dragged me backward, I kept my eyes fixed on Noah.
Perhaps from shock, he couldn’t even lift his lowered head.
I bit my lip.
Did it fail?
The thought had barely crossed my mind—
When suddenly a fierce crimson blaze erupted around Noah.
Red mana, burning with the same intense desire as Isabella herself, coiled around him.
To turn someone incapable of sensing mana into a mage required years upon years of training.
The advancement of one’s abilities could be supported with resources later, but sensing mana itself was entirely dependent on the individual.
That was what the introduction to Basic Mana Theory in the public library had said.
Which meant that for people like the Rosenbergs or the Ombers—those mocked as cursed by mana—it was nearly impossible to awaken mana on their own.
And strangely enough, that fact had sparked an idea in my mind.
The very highlight of the novel—
The worst atrocity Isabella committed in order to control Yurie—
That was the key to this entire plan.
The Gwell family, blessed by mana, possessed a high-level magic passed down through generations.
A contract formed by splashing one’s own blood onto someone the moment they attacked you, binding them as your subordinate.
That spell was called the Oath of Dawn.
In the original story, Isabella trapped Yurie and successfully bound her as her subordinate through this very magic.
And because of that, Noah eventually killed her.
It had been a tragic ending.
But thanks to it, I’d discovered a way to share my mana with Noah.
I had no idea how much magic Noah would actually be able to wield through this method.
But at the moment, it was the best option I had.
And if even that failed, I planned to use Miller to confirm the presence of mana inside Noah’s body.
Because mana was never something easily controlled in an instant.
At least, theoretically, that was supposed to be true.
“……”
Wrapped in swirling crimson mist, Noah shattered the handcuffs binding his wrists in a single motion—
