THVS 13

Chapter 13

“I wasn’t doubting you.”

At those words alone, Ciel’s expression visibly brightened. Then he started grinning foolishly, smiling from ear to ear.
What is he so happy about?

“I like you, Lady.”

I thought I’d almost forgotten, but the moment I saw him, the memories of that day came rushing back.
For some reason, my face suddenly felt hot.
With an instinctive thought that I shouldn’t let him see my face right now, I quickly turned away.

“We’ve delayed long enough. Let’s go.”

The battlefield was a short distance away from the city walls.
It wasn’t completely out of sight, but to grasp the details of the situation, it was better to get closer.
That didn’t mean we needed to go straight into the center. I could summon magical weapons and deal with enemies one by one, but that would be inefficient.

What a mage should do on the battlefield was large-scale attacks.
If done carelessly, even allies could be caught in it, so the air—where the entire situation could be seen at a glance—was the optimal position.

Rising above the battlefield with Ciel, I slowly surveyed the scene below.
Because allies and enemies were tangled together, it was necessary to finely control my mana.

“Is this… your first time on a battlefield?”

At my question, he nodded with a stiff expression.
That was understandable. Since I was twelve, I had participated in every war that broke out within the empire.

“Aaaah!”
“My arm! Aaaah! S-save me! Don’t kill me!”

The battlefield was filled with screams and battle cries. Floating in the air made the sounds even more raw and vivid.

“It’s not exactly… something you’d want to see.”

Of course.
There was no way anyone could enjoy watching people kill and be killed.
Well—excluding crazy male leads, of course.

I turned my head to look at him.
I thought he might be frightened, given how easily he cried, but his expression was strangely cold.

“So you can make that kind of face too.”

At my low murmur, his eyes widened in surprise. He fidgeted awkwardly, as if unsure what to do.

“I thought you were only pretty when you cried, but that expression isn’t bad either.”

“…Pardon?”

What the hell. What did I just say?

Realizing what I’d blurted out without thinking, I bit down hard on my lip.

“Now then, watch carefully.”

Changing the subject, I fixed my gaze below.
Using levitation magic while simultaneously casting large-scale spells required intense concentration.

The flow of mana shimmering around us began to change.
The mana spreading out from my body slowly flowed across the battlefield, then dispersed like mist.

Clang—

The sharp sound of metal colliding rang out. It was the sound of moisture in the air freezing as it came into contact with mana.

‘Did it work?’

I slowly scanned the battlefield.
Only the knights of the Kingdom of Citra were frozen in place, as if time itself had stopped.

The frontline knights, freed in an instant from the brink of death, erupted in joy. Their awe-filled gazes were an added bonus.
When the victory horn signaling retreat sounded, cheers mixed together and echoed across the field.

“W-we lived…!”
“It’s Lady Elophez!”

Ciel, standing beside me, turned to me with a bright smile.

“As expected, Lady— La—dy…?”

I hated to ruin the mood, but this was the perfect opportunity.

“Ugh…”

I twisted my face in pain, my trembling hand flying to my forehead. Then, little by little, I disrupted the mana remaining in my body.

‘Now, Bael.’

At my silent command, the mana filling my body gradually faded. My body, which had been floating thanks to mana, began to fall.

I relaxed completely and let myself drop.

“Lady!”

I heard Ciel shout, almost screaming.

‘At least it was fortunate that the Second Prince was here. I thought I might smash straight into the ground.’

Just before hitting the ground, I felt him catch me in his arms—and only then could I relax.

“Lady! Please, open your eyes…!”

His voice grew increasingly frantic, as if his heart were burning.

“Damn it…”

Perhaps because he had seen me fall, the cheers around us fell silent.
Though I couldn’t see with my eyes closed, I could feel not only Ciel but even the knights around us sinking into shock.

“Please, come to your senses… please…!”

He shook me as he begged.
Because I was cradled in Ciel’s arms, I could clearly feel his trembling where our bodies touched.

‘Why is he shaking so much…?’

I almost opened my eyes wide and said I was fine.
Clenching my lips with all my might, I let my entire body go limp and pretended to be unconscious.

The surrounding silence suggested that my acting had worked properly.

Just as I felt satisfied, something cold landed on my cheek.
I thought I heard faint sobbing.

‘Is he… crying?’

I wondered if I’d done something unnecessary in front of someone who cried so easily, but it couldn’t be helped.
This was absolutely necessary.

“Please, open your eyes… please…”

Why are you worrying about me this much?
Why are you wishing so desperately?

For a moment, a question surfaced in my mind.

“I like you, Lady.”

Ah, right.
This person likes me, doesn’t he…?

He kept popping into my head at random times, tormenting me like this—and now, when the doubt finally arose, the timing was a bit late.

‘I should just sleep.’

That seemed better.
Because of the heart-wrenching sound of his crying, a part of my heart kept throbbing.

But still…

‘Why does this situation feel so familiar…?’

A strange sense of déjà vu washed over me, but no matter how much I thought about it, there was no similar situation.

‘Ah. That dream from back then?’

It felt a little like the dream I had in the theater.
A prophetic dream? Or what?

Lying in bed, I blinked my eyes and turned over. It had already been a week since I pretended to collapse on the battlefield.

Since I’d rolled my eyes back so dramatically in front of so many witnesses, rumors must have spread across the empire by now.
The rumor that Tien Elophez had lost all her mana.

It was fortunate that Prince Ciel, who possessed mana himself, had been there with me.
Being more sensitive to mana than anyone else, he would have helped the rumor spread even faster.

‘He does seem pretty shaken.’

But this was an issue of life and death if pushed to the extreme—there was no helping it.
And the plan was proceeding smoothly.

Rushing in recklessly only ruined things, so there was only one thing I needed to do in this situation.

“Ahh, this is nice.”

Not leaving my bed.

I was a prodigy rumored to become the master of the Mage Tower, praised as the greatest mage in history.
Losing all the mana I’d accumulated over years overnight—and remaining perfectly fine mentally—would be far stranger.

To inflate rumors, staying shut indoors was perfect. Things always grew bigger when the subject couldn’t be seen.

The only concern was—

“Tien.”

That I hadn’t been able to tell my family anything.
Not my mother, not my father, not my two older brothers.

It wasn’t because I didn’t trust them. Rather, it was the opposite. I was afraid that, in a crisis, they would try to protect me and get hurt in my place.

…That was what scared me.

I knew better than anyone how strong my parents and brothers were.
If they were wronged, they would pay it back—and if they couldn’t, they would cling on until they could.

That was exactly why I couldn’t tell them.
Because I knew how much they would crumble because of me alone.

Especially—

“Tien, it’s Mom. Please open the door…”

My mother, Sylvia Elophez.

To be precise, saying I felt an excessive sense of rejection toward it would be more accurate.
I remembered word for word the original story’s depiction of the duchess, who lost her daughter and became a shell of a person, shedding endless tears.

I didn’t know why only that description remained so vividly in my mind, but ever since I possessed this world—ever since the very beginning—whenever I heard my mother cry, it felt as though my heart were being tightly squeezed.

“Hey, open the door. Mother’s worried.”

The tone was as curt as ever, but I knew concern lay beneath it.
Kallian, my second older brother, hadn’t cried openly even when I died.

Perhaps because Leila had been out of her mind with grief over my death, he had pretended to be strong instead, trying to hold things together.

“Get a grip, Leila. Now’s not the time to cry. After we avenge Tien—then you can cry.”

I knew the answer to that. Kallian never cried in the end.
And the same was true for my father and my eldest brother.

People who believed that shedding tears before finishing what had to be done was nothing but a luxury.

That was the Elophez family.