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“What in the world… Ah!”
Suddenly, it felt like all the strength in my body was draining away.
Because of the weight, my frail body—devoid of even the tiniest bit of muscle—collapsed straight to the floor.
I snapped my head up to glare at the Grand Duke.
“What is the meaning of this? Is this how you treat a helpless guest, Your Grace?”
I shouted through clenched teeth, indignant. An elderly man standing nearby immediately scolded me harshly.
“How rude! Do you dare speak to His Grace like that?!”
Dare speak? Excuse me, he was the one who kept talking to me first!
I snapped back, just as angry.
“Stay out of this, old man!”
“What?!”
“O–Old man?!”
“Old maaan?!”
The gray-haired elder looked utterly shocked, clutching the back of his neck as he staggered backward.
Fortunately, the knights were quick to catch him before he fell.
Not that I cared.
My vision was half glazed over by now as I glared at the Grand Duke again.
“The maids who washed me already confirmed that I don’t have any weapons. And if I had the ability to escape from your knights, I would’ve fled long before reaching this place.”
Anyone could tell I had a fragile, delicate body—so weak I looked like I’d topple over with a light push.
And no, I wasn’t saying that because it was my body. I was saying it precisely because it wasn’t.
If I were still Sia, my former self, I wouldn’t have had any right to complain about this treatment. Shackles like these? I could’ve snapped them easily.
But this body was different.
Its physical strength barely allowed for walking and breathing. There were no calluses, no traces of ever having held a sword.
If even I could tell, the Grand Duke surely could too.
So the rumors were true.
The ruthless butcher with neither blood nor tears. A bloodthirsty madman.
I glared at the devilish Grand Duke as if I could rip him apart with my eyes.
“And yet you put shackles on someone like me without explanation. I’d at least like to hear a reason.”
The Grand Duke, who’d been silent all this time, slowly opened his mouth.
“Those shackles are no ordinary shackles.”
“Oh? What, are they divine relics or something?”
I sneered, but his expression didn’t change. His low, heavy voice filled the air.
“You’re right. They are divine relics—created to forcibly suppress supernatural powers.”
“……”
Oh. I actually guessed right.
I hesitated for a moment before speaking again.
“…And what exactly does that have to do with me? Why use those on—”
“The fact that you collapsed the moment those shackles touched you,”
The Grand Duke’s low voice resonated quietly,
“Means that the power inside your body reacted to them.”
Supernatural powers—meaning magic, aura, divine power, dark magic, and the like.
The Grand Duke’s sharp gaze cut into me like the edge of a blade.
“For example… dark magic.”
Huh? What magic now?
I stared up at the nonsense-spouting Grand Duke with wide, round eyes.
In the end, I was thrown into the Grand Duke’s dungeon.
Until the power within my body could be identified as something other than dark magic, I was to live shackled in a cell.
One week into my imprisonment.
Old man Norbert often came to interrogate me during that time.
“How many times must I tell you? I don’t remember anything.”
“So you’re saying… you don’t even know your name, or why you woke up on Teridana Beach?”
“That’s correct.”
“You don’t remember how you ended up on that beach, either?”
“No.”
“Then where you were born?”
“That too.”
“You’re saying… you don’t remember a single thing?”
“Not a single thing.”
“Ha…”
He clearly didn’t believe me, but I had no other choice.
I couldn’t exactly reveal that I’d once been a knight from an enemy nation.
My shameless lies should’ve worn his patience thin, yet the old man still visited every day.
Thankfully, beyond his questions, he didn’t use any torture or harsh interrogation methods.
Honestly, calling it an interrogation was generous—he just asked a few questions and left.
Soft. Way too soft.
Is everyone in the Kadea Empire this soft? Or has the Grand Duke gone soft, so his subordinates have too?
…No.
That cruel, infamous Grand Duke? Soft? No way.
It’s just this old man who’s soft.
Tsk tsk. Good luck prying out any “truth” that way.
I shook my head.
Clatter.
I lifted the soup bowl off the floor. I’d been lying there thinking for so long that the soup had already gone cold.
Watery soup again…
The palace chef clearly lacked creativity when it came to planning meals.
And annoyingly enough, the bland-looking soup was actually tasty.
I licked the bowl clean, and sometimes the passing guard would take pity and toss me a piece of bread.
Even the guards were soft.
I lay down on the creaky bed, dragging my heavy shackles behind me.
I can’t waste time like this…
I needed to regain my strength, train in swordsmanship, and awaken my aura.
Only then could I return to the Tenassis Empire.
Ah, right. Aura.
“The fact that you collapsed means the power inside you reacted.”
The Grand Duke’s words came back to me.
So there really is something inside me.
I stared at the shackles around my wrists.
Clang.
I lifted my arms with difficulty; the shackles clanked together.
Because of these shackles…
They suppressed supernatural powers, apparently.
That must be why I couldn’t sense whatever power was inside me.
It has to be aura.
If aura was truly present, strengthening it wouldn’t be difficult. I’d done it before. My mind remembered how.
The real problem was…
If it’s dark magic, I’m doomed.
I couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that this body’s former owner had practiced dark magic.
If it was dark magic, there’d be no way to return to Tenassis, no way to reclaim my place or meet Serhin again.
So it absolutely has to be aura.
If not aura, then at least magic.
Actually, judging by this body’s delicate looks, divine power would suit it too.
As long as it’s not dark magic.
Just then, the dungeon door opened, and footsteps approached. They stopped in front of my cell.
“My lady.”
“…?”
I looked through the bars.
A familiar face.
One of the knights who had escorted me from the beach to the Grand Duke’s mansion.
Right, his name was Allen.
He’d politely introduced himself during our brief time in the carriage.
As always, Allen was polite. With a pleasant voice, too.
I’ll remember him.
I was someone who repaid kindness.
While I repeated his name in my head, the iron gate opened.
“Priests from the temple have arrived.”
“Oh.”
They’d said priests were needed to determine the nature of my power.
Normally, it took one to four weeks for the temple to dispatch priests…
They must be in a hurry. It’s only been a week.
Good. I was sick of dungeon life anyway. One way or another, we’d settle this.
I hugged the chains and shackles to my chest, struggling to my feet.
“Let’s go.”
Allen nodded and led the way.
The power identification ritual turned out to be simpler than I expected.
They floated a round crystal ball above holy water, and I placed my hand on it.
After some time, the holy water would react differently depending on the power.
“If it’s magic, flowers will bloom. If it’s divine power, golden light will burst forth. If it’s dark magic…”
Before the priest could finish—
The holy water rippled, and thick red smoke began to billow out.
The Grand Duke’s brows furrowed.
“As expected… dark magic?”
I glared at him, my hand still on the crystal.
As expected? What’s that supposed to mean?!
Did he want it to be dark magic or something?
Thankfully, the priest shook his head.
He gently removed my hand from the crystal and declared,
“It’s not dark magic. …It’s aura.”
Phew. I let out a massive sigh of relief inside.
That’s one crisis averted.
If it wasn’t dark magic, I’d live—at least for now.
I could even glimpse a faint hope of returning to Tenassis.
And I’ve confirmed this body has aura.
But wait… how did this weak body manage to awaken aura?
Is that even possible without training?
No. Of course it is. Because it’s me.
My iron will must’ve awakened aura in this pretty shell of a body.
But unlike my smug thoughts, the Grand Duke turned to the priest with a doubtful tone.
“Do you know the conditions required to awaken aura, Priest?”
“Yes, Your Grace. Aura manifests only when one has trained both body and mind to their utmost limits—and even then, only a rare few awaken it. Correct?”
“Correct.”
I nodded vigorously.
Exactly. My mind, sharpened to its limits.
Smart priest.
But despite the explanation, the Grand Duke’s skeptical gaze remained fixed on me.
He folded his arms and pointed at me with his chin.
“Do you see someone here who has trained their body and mind to such extremes?”
The priest examined me closely.
Hmm. He tilted his head, scanning my face and body, then spoke.
“This is indeed puzzling. There are no signs of sword training, no trace of physical conditioning.”
Mental training aside.
His eyes gleamed as he turned to the Grand Duke.
“If disposing of her is troublesome, Your Grace, I could take her to the temple for… research.”
What? Research?
I whipped my head toward the Grand Duke in alarm.
No way…
The Grand Duke watched me with a bored expression.
Oh no. There’s nothing stopping him from handing me over.
From his perspective, getting rid of me would be much simpler.
But…
I was a knight. I lived and died by honor.
To die in an honorable duel was one thing.
That was a noble death—one I could face with a smile.
But to die as some lab rat? That was pure humiliation.
Being tied down, injected with weird drugs, dissected… No way.
No. Absolutely not.
I refuse to end my life as an experimental subject in some temple.
No.
My clenched jaw ached, my fists trembled.
I stared at the Grand Duke and spoke from the heart.
“Please… spare me?”
“……”
“……”
Everyone’s eyes turned to me.
