Chapter 101 : Chapter 101
Chapter 101. A Potent Poison
The Uresra bastards' invasion plan must have been detailed by now.
It seemed the date for its execution was also set.
“What more is there to hear? We've heard everything.”
“There is.”
I dragged Rosenberg into a corner. And whispered into his ear, ‘The Uresra army has probably started moving.’
Rosenberg furrowed his brow and looked at me.
“We have to find out. When and where they are moving. By any means necessary. Even if we have to peel off all that bastard’s skin.”
“……I will do that.”
“You must not kill him. If we fail to find out, the Duke will be in danger. No, the Rosenberg family will be in danger.”
“I know. I can at least make that distinction.”
Rosenberg went outside.
A short while later, the family's knights swarmed in and bound the head butler.
“Drag him to the underground prison.”
“Just kill me! Whatever you bastards do, it won't go as you wish! Just kill me!”
Rosenberg glared at the head butler being dragged away. He ground his teeth, as if forcibly swallowing his surging anger.
One down. Now for the next one.
“P-please save me. I was just doing as I was told.”
The maid knelt and begged, rubbing her hands raw.
“You were a bit too diligent in doing as you were told. Even this morning, you deliberately told us the Duke was here to make us leave.”
Crystal snorted as if she couldn't believe it.
Slap!
The maid's cheek swelled up, turning bright red.
Adellian exhaled a hot breath and glared at her.
“Eat it.”
The maid looked at the pill Adellian was holding out. She trembled, her face drenched in terror.
“What are you doing? Eat it.”
“M-Miss.”
“Why? You can't eat it? Should I feed it to you myself, just like you did to my brother?”
Adellian looked at the escort knights.
The knights moved immediately and forced the maid's mouth open.
“Mihss! Pwease! Pwease!”
With her mouth held open, the maid desperately cried out to save her life. But Adellian showed no reaction. She just waited for the pill she had given to pass down the maid's throat.
“Ugh, ugh.”
After swallowing the pill, the maid gagged, clutching her throat and rolling on the floor.
Seeing this, Adellian let out a hollow breath, as if in disbelief.
“My brother couldn't even move as he was dying. But that thing is… fighting to live.”
Tears streamed down Adellian's face.
The maid kept gagging, drooling saliva, tears, and snot. But she did not die.
“Drag her to the prison. From now on, that wench's meal will be a sip of water and one chickpea, just like the one she just ate.”
Under Adellian's command, the knights dragged the maid out.
In the room, only traces of agony and a chilling cold remained.
Adellian collapsed to the floor and began to cry.
I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and patted her slowly, very slowly.
The torn curtain fluttered. Through it, the bright moonlight illuminated the room.
It was a night where the root cause that had broken Isaac, that had broken the soul of the Rosenberg family, was cleanly erased.
***
One morning, white clouds drifted across the blue sky, and sunlight fell brilliantly.
Rosenberg fidgeted with his teacup, a look of anxiety on his face.
“Dad, please stay still.”
“Aren't you worried?”
“Worried about what?”
“What if he fails?”
“……It's okay.”
Rosenberg's eyes widened as he looked at Adellian.
“Why? What changes for us if Maxim fails?”
“Your brother won't wake up, will he?”
“It's been that way until now. It’s the same thing. No. Since the priestess is here, he'll get better someday. All the bad bastards are gone now.”
“……”
Rosenberg took Adellian's hand, who was acting calm. Though she spoke nonchalantly, she was trembling.
‘She was that kind of child.’
It pained him that she had a tender heart but pretended she didn't, pretended she was fine.
It pained him that she tried to act mature despite being at an age where she could still be childish.
And for that, he was sorry.
Rosenberg's eyes welled up as he pulled Adellian into an embrace.
“Hey, why are you suddenly like this?”
“A father hugging his daughter… what's there to dislike so much?”
“Because you're doing something you never do. It's creepy.”
Rosenberg withdrew his hands and glared at Adellian.
His feeling of apology vanished, replaced by disappointment.
‘My only daughter.’
He snorted forcefully and looked toward Isaac's room.
He even made a vow he didn't mean, that as soon as Isaac woke up, he would marry Adellian off immediately.
“Don't worry. Maxim will do well. Because he's Maxim.”
He also vowed he would never send her to the 5th Prince.
***
“Ha! Haak.”
Crystal's face was covered in sweat. Her breathing was also quite ragged.
“Endure it.”
It would be difficult, but she had to endure it. Only then could her Mana Heart grow.
Crystal now had both hands on Isaac's chest, circulating mana.
And I was behind her, drawing mana into myself.
“Do we really have to do it this way?”
“You call yourself a priestess.”
“You said I could do it better alone.”
“I will be leaving, but you will be staying. You have to.”
Once Isaac's Mana Circle was detoxified, he would be able to get up, but there was no guarantee he would be as healthy as before he collapsed. His Mana Circle was damaged.
So, his ability to expel the contaminated mana would be very weak.
‘The contaminated mana might even float around inside his body.’
It wasn't something that could be cleared up with Healing Magic.
That's why he needed someone's help until he could bloom his second Mana Circle.
“Keuk.”
A little blood trickled from Crystal's mouth.
It seemed trying to use her Mana Heart properly was straining her body.
“Bear it.”
A Mana Heart grants more power only when the user overcomes pain and pushes past their limits.
That's what a Mana Heart was.
“I-It feels like my veins are going to burst.”
“It’s because the paths where mana flows are dirty. I'll clean them all for you. So bear it.”
I opened the talisman and pushed its power into Crystal's body.
Her Mana Heart gathered the turbidity and sent it to me.
The rotten mana passed through the talisman, through my Mana Heart, and then flowed to Crystal.
The mana pathways in Crystal began to clear up.
“It's too fast.”
“Pray to the god. For strength.”
Mana rushed madly through the cleansed passages.
A speed of mana movement she had never experienced before.
It was a difficult situation for Crystal. But she had to overcome this.
“Going in.”
Clean mana entered Isaac's body.
The contaminants burned away upon meeting the mana.
The clean mana emitted a bright light, continuously burning away the filth.
And it reached the Mana Circle.
The mana settled upon the tattered circle, ravaged by poison.
The poison, as if waiting, began to tear at the pure mana.
But what the poison met was not weak mana. It was a being that erased filth with its clear energy.
“Cough.”
Crystal vomited a large amount of blood.
It was because the poison had avoided the clean mana and fled into Crystal's body.
“Get a grip and breathe.”
Crystal nodded. But I could see her pupils dilating.
I had to draw out the poison accumulating in Crystal's body. If left alone, she could collapse.
I gathered the purest mana and pushed it into Crystal's Mana Heart.
“Keuheup!”
Crystal let out a choked breath.
The poison that had filled her Mana Heart balled up into a sphere. It seemed they were trying their best not to lose their power to the clean mana.
I sent in even more mana. The more I did, the faster the poison from Isaac's body moved into Crystal's.
“Just a little more!”
Crystal bled and convulsed violently.
The poison gathered in Crystal's Mana Heart turned pitch black.
Come, to me. This is where you will flee.
The poison showed a wicked smile and ran along the path I had opened.
“Good.”
I confirmed that the poison had left Crystal's body.
“Your Highness!”
Crystal, wiping her blood-stained lips, looked at me with surprised eyes.
“Take Isaac to Adellian. Tell her the Mana Circle is cleared, so she should use Healing Magic to raise his vitality. And don't let anyone enter this room. Absolutely no one.”
“Your Highness's condition is…”
“Cough! Quickly!”
I want to see the bastard who made this poison.
A poison that clumps together when in danger and emits an even stronger aura than before.
Of all the poisons I had ever seen, this ranked among the most dangerous.
Thud.
Crystal carried Isaac on her back and left the room.
Now, let's make this damn poison mine.
-A potent poison is dangerous. But if you can withstand it, there is no better medicine.
Alfred had once said that if I could melt the poison with my Mana Heart and completely digest it, I could even achieve complete immunity to all poisons.
If I was lucky, I could even achieve something greater than complete immunity.
I had tried it several times during Leonhardt's time, but I had to give up because the purity of my Mana Heart was lacking.
But this time was different.
“Go on and rampage.”
I sat cross-legged and focused my mind.
The poison that entered my Mana Heart began to rampage fiercely.
My Mana Heart was slowly being poisoned, consumed by the poison's energy.
“Keub.”
I coughed up a pitch-black clot of blood.
The skin I could see had also turned black.
My mind was hazy.
But I couldn't collapse like this. The Mana Heart I created was unprecedentedly pure in history.
Paaak!
The poison's energy burst out of my body.
Objects began to melt in what had become a mist.
Blood streamed down from my nose, mouth, eyes, and ears.
My consciousness faded.
***
Isaac opened his eyes.
Adellian let out the breath she had been holding and sank into a chair.
“Ah, Isaac. My son. Son!”
Rosenberg was overcome with emotion and burst into tears.
“Young Master. Young Master.”
Crystal also held Isaac's hand and wept openly.
“How did I…”
Unable to believe his mind was clear, Isaac looked around in bewilderment.
Adellian watched Isaac, wiping her tears. Then she smiled and sat facing him.
“You met a miracle. A miracle for you, brother.”
“A miracle… When someone told me to stop acting foolish and get up quickly… it was real.”
“Hmm?”
“I had collapsed in a pitch-black fog, and someone slapped my cheek. They asked if I was going to stay like this.”
Adellian burst out laughing. It was obvious to anyone that Maxim had done it.
“Where is the person who saved me? I must thank them.”
Crystal stopped Isaac as he tried to get up.
“Young Master. Not yet. You have just woken up, and your energy is not fully restored.”
Isaac looked at Crystal quietly. He carefully savored her gaze, her voice.
“It was you. The one who gave me light so I wouldn't disappear all this time. The one who told me you would be by my side, not to go anywhere.”
“Young Master.”
Isaac held Crystal's hand tightly.
Adellian didn't like the sight, but she didn't say anything. According to Maxim, it was thanks to Crystal that Isaac had been able to hold on.
“Father.”
Isaac patted Rosenberg, who was hugging him.
Rosenberg couldn't say anything and just shed endless tears.
“I'm sorry for only waking up now.”
Rosenberg sobbed even louder, saying, ‘It's alright. It's okay.’
The room was filled with tears and joy.
Kwaang!
That was, until the explosion.