37
* * *
“The brainwashing magic is too powerful for me to break with my abilities. I’m sorry.”
“Then who the hell is a mage capable of breaking it?!”
The former grand duke shouted in anger.
Whenever Marion tried to wake up, they gave her sedatives to put her back to sleep. In the meantime, five mages had come and gone, but none could undo the brainwashing magic on Marion.
Kaiden had expected this to some extent. For a swordmaster to fall under brainwashing, the magic had to be exceptionally strong.
Kaiden’s eyes darkened.
Everyone in the Gratie Empire’s nobility knew that the imperial mage leader was aligned with the crown prince.
And the crown prince was greedy. He would likely do anything to bring Marion back to his side.
“They don’t know what it means to cross Baltstein.”
At Kaiden’s muttering, Lady March, who was tending to Marion, flinched and trembled.
The former grand duke, glancing at Kaiden cautiously, asked quietly.
“How about calling a doctor again?”
“I’m sorry, Grandfather. Right now, we should only rely on mages.”
Kaiden rejected the former grand duke’s request.
A doctor wouldn’t do now. When Marion had first collapsed, the doctor was too busy to examine her as a pregnant woman.
That was a stroke of luck for Kaiden, if it could be called that. If a doctor examined Marion now, unable to use aura, they’d surely proclaim she had miscarried.
‘Get a grip, Marion.’
Kaiden looked down at Marion with sunken eyes.
Marion was breathing evenly, sleeping as if unaware of the world. Lady March had wiped her face, leaving it clear.
The thought of the tear stains that had been so vivid on her youthful face made anger boil up from Kaiden’s gut.
Marion didn’t cry. She might have teared up with glistening eyes, but she had never shed tears in front of others.
Not once in her ten years as a knight, not at the death of comrades, not from injuries caused by magical beasts, not even under the scorn of countless people.
“Your Grace, I’ve brought a mage.”
Vito arrived with a mage wearing a deeply hooded black robe. This was the sixth mage. It was already past midnight. Kaiden turned to him with a tired face.
“Good. If you can break Marion’s brainwashing magic, I’ll grant you a great reward.”
The mage nodded.
Lady March stepped away from Marion. Kaiden stood close to her, just in case the mage tried anything suspicious. The mage began examining Marion.
“…This is!”
The mage spoke. Kaiden urged him on at his reaction.
“What is it? Can you break the magic?”
“…It’s difficult to do completely, but I can try.”
“!”
Everyone gathered in Marion’s bedroom was shocked. The former grand duke and Lady March exchanged hopeful glances. Kaiden and Vito did the same.
The mage raised both hands above Marion’s body in the air. Soon, a red light and the aura of magic flowed from his hands.
The force caused the mage’s robe to slip back. When his face was revealed, everyone in the room was startled.
The mage’s face was human-like but not human. It was covered in mottled patterns, and his ears were pointed.
Vito moved to approach warily, but Kaiden raised a hand to stop him. The mage was sweating profusely. Several minutes passed.
“Ugh…!”
Marion showed a reaction. She grimaced heavily before slowly opening her eyes.
“Marion!”
“Your… Grace?”
Marion recognized Kaiden. Everyone rejoiced at her regained lucidity.
“Are you okay? Do you recognize me?!”
The former grand duke leaned in toward Marion and asked. Marion nodded and answered faintly.
“Former Grand Duke…”
“Yes, it’s me! Oh, thank the gods!”
The former grand duke wasn’t particularly devout, but he couldn’t help but call upon the gods in the face of this miracle. Kaiden, with an anxious expression, asked.
“Marion. What do you want to do with the crown prince right now?”
Marion’s eyes suddenly widened. Everyone tensed at her reaction. Her mouth slowly opened.
“The black dragon inside me is raging to kill the crown prince.”
“What?”
Kaiden, thinking he’d heard something strange, asked again.
“But I’m holding it back with superhuman willpower. Phew… I want to kill him. But I’m holding back. Because I’m human.”
Marion was acting a bit strange.
* * *
Rewinding time a bit to the afternoon of the incident.
Crown Prince Marius was pacing restlessly in his room, eagerly awaiting good news.
He had heard that the ‘gift’ had been delivered to Marion through several intermediaries.
Now, all that remained was to hear a detailed report on how Marion had changed after receiving the item.
*Knock knock.*
“Who is it?!”
“Your Highness, a report regarding Sir Marion.”
“Come in!”
A servant entered, bowing deeply. The crown prince strode over and urged him.
“Well, what’s she doing? Did the item reach Marion’s hands?”
The crown prince hoped the servant would quickly spill the words he wanted to hear. He was ready to rejoice.
Tell me Marion whispered her love for me.
“Yes, it reached her hands.”
The crown prince’s face lit up with joy. Finally. Marion would be his again.
“But, well…”
The servant hesitated. The crown prince exploded in anger.
“What is it? Speak!”
The servant bowed deeply and reported honestly.
“Sir Marion… caused a commotion, saying she’d kill Your Highness.”
A crack appeared in the crown prince’s joyful expression.
* * *
“What happened?”
As I regained my senses, Kaiden explained the situation in detail. I sighed, holding my forehead.
“I’m sorry. I thoughtlessly picked it up because it was called a wedding gift, but to think it was a brainwashing mana stone. I should’ve been more careful.”
Kaiden shook his head.
“It’s not your fault. The culprit who mocked you with the name of a wedding gift is to blame.”
The former grand duke vehemently agreed.
“Exactly! I’ll find that bastard and tear him limb from limb!”
Lady March was greatly relieved that I had regained my senses, and I was grateful to them.
Kaiden pointed to the man in the robe and said.
“This mage broke the brainwashing magic on you.”
I looked up at him.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I could come to my senses.”
“No, I only did what I had to.”
The mage bowed. I tried my best not to stare curiously at his face.
While you couldn’t call the mage’s face human, if you ignored the mottled patterns, you could tell he had fairly refined features.
Kaiden asked the mage.
“Is the brainwashing magic on Marion completely undone?”
The mage shook his head.
“The caster seems to be a much stronger mage than me, so it’s not perfect.”
I couldn’t help but agree with his words. Because…
“Marion. How do you feel when you think of the crown prince?”
When Kaiden mentioned the ‘crown prince,’ just the first syllable made rage boil within me. A murderous intent surged, and I wanted to storm out of the grand ducal residence and charge into the palace.
Glaring and grinding my teeth, I said.
“I want to sew shut the mouth of that bastard who insulted me and crush the fingers that pointed at me to pick up food dropped on the ground.”
“Gasp!”
Lady March covered her mouth with both hands in shock. The others groaned, “Ugh…”
For a knight sworn to the emperor to feel murderous intent just thinking of the crown prince was undoubtedly a big problem.
What ruler would want a knight by their side who harbored disloyal thoughts toward their heir?
At that moment, Bled flapped his wings beside me and shouted.
[I know you want to kill the crown prince, but hold back!]
With my mind’s eye, I glared at Bled and thought.
‘You’re the one who said he deserves to die.’
[That wasn’t telling you to kill him.]
True enough.
I couldn’t understand why I felt this way.
When I was first hit by the brainwashing mana stone, I fiercely resisted the command to ‘love the crown prince.’ I didn’t want to say I loved him, but the torment in my mind made me briefly give in.
But Bled’s shout of [He deserves to die] gave me a choice.
The choice between ‘love’ and ‘kill.’
‘Kill’ made my mind feel more at ease, so I embraced that choice and went wild.
Kaiden looked at me with a pitying expression.
“You must’ve had a lot of resentment built up against the crown prince.”
At the mention of ‘crown prince,’ rage surged again. I clenched my fist without realizing it and said.
“I want to smash that guy’s face into a pulp!”
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
By Anna 💓
