Chapter 89
The next day, I visited the Ainluk mansion for the first time in far too long.
“It’s been so long, Lady Rodellia.”
“We’ve been waiting for you every single day, yearning for nothing but your return.”
Sophia and Isaac greeted me with such fervor that I hardly knew where to put myself.
“I’ll come more often from now on.”
“Truly?”
“Of course.”
I smiled awkwardly as they sought reassurance again and again.
It seemed they believed Alferen and I had simply had a brief lovers’ quarrel.
Alferen and I headed straight for the annex. He had dismissed every servant just in case, and the place was wrapped in profound silence.
“Tell me when you’re ready.”
His voice was gentle, meant to steady me.
I took a deep breath, then gave him the signal.
As if he’d been waiting for it, he deactivated the magical device, and I summoned Ordel.
“[Ordel.]”
The moment I spoke the name with power behind it, petals swirled around me in a perfect circle.
From their midst appeared the familiar fairy.
Alferen watched the entire spectacle with grave attention.
Ordel looked at me and spoke.
—You summoned me.
“Hello, Lord Ordel. I’d like to ask for the favor we discussed last time.”
I gestured toward Davin, and Ordel fixed his gaze on him.
—Hmm.
Ordel circled Davin slowly, drawing out the moment.
I waited anxiously, afraid he might refuse.
—Here it is.
As though he’d been waiting for the right instant, he extended his hand. Clear water rose around Davin.
Through the transparent currents, black water seeped in.
It was a thick, dark, viscous energy, yet it had no power against Ordel’s aura.
The instant every trace of the black water inside Davin was purified,
—Strange. Didn’t you say this man was struck down by the ice dragon?
“Why? Is something wrong?”
—The purification succeeded. But it seems he was not, in fact, felled by the ice dragon.
Not by the ice dragon?
My face must have shown my confusion, because Alferen stepped in.
“I was told he was injured while subjugating an ice dragon corrupted by demonic energy.”
—Hmph. He was indeed wounded by the ice dragon, but that was not the decisive cause of his collapse.
“Then you mean he fell into a trap?”
The air grew heavier.
At Alferen’s repeated questions, Ordel stared at him openly.
—There are traces of sorcery. The mana core frozen into glacial ice was merely a diversion. It seems you had already suspected as much.
Caught off guard, Alferen admitted it readily.
“I did think something was off. It struck me as suspicious that my father would fall to such shallow tactics.”
—There will certainly be traces of sorcery left on the ice dragon itself. Where is the carcass?
“I have it. Could you examine it for us?”
—Well… if my contractor wishes it.
Ordel glanced at me, and I answered immediately.
“I’m fine with it. If it helps Alferen.”
—Very well. I don’t know in what wretched state that poor ice dragon lies, but I may as well recite a requiem while I’m at it.
As the conversation between Alferen and Ordel continued, my mind grew increasingly tangled.
So—the ice dragon had already been tampered with by a sorcerer before Davin attacked it. When Davin killed the dragon, the sorcery transferred to him, keeping him alive yet trapped in sleep all this time?
My head began to ache, and I frowned.
Ordel lightly tapped my forehead.
—Stop worrying about this one.
He must have thought I was anxious for Davin.
—I purified him personally, so he’ll wake soon enough.
The former duke, bedridden for six long years. In the original story he had never opened his eyes again.
That he would recover—and that the key to this miracle had been in my hands all along—was almost impossible to believe.
“Thank you so much, great Lord Ordel!”
—Only when it suits you.
Ordel gave a soft snort of laughter and ruffled my hair.
His voice was noticeably gentler than when he spoke to Alferen.
Then he turned to Alferen.
—You look like you could use a purification yourself.
“Ah.”
Alferen offered an awkward smile. Startled, I jumped in.
“What do you mean? Is something wrong with Ren-oppa?”
—He maintained magic incompatible with his affinity for far too long. Facing a corrupted ice dragon so recklessly, demonic energy was bound to accumulate in his body.
“What?”
I whirled on Alferen, glaring. He lowered his eyes and muttered,
“I’m fine, Delly.”
—Fine, he says. A little longer and it would have threatened his life.
At Ordel’s blunt words, Alferen bit his lower lip.
My face crumpled.
“Then what do we do now?”
—Well, with you beside him, he’ll be all right.
“Me?”
When I looked utterly lost, Ordel clicked his tongue.
—To be summoned by a contractor who doesn’t even know that purification is a beast tamer’s basic ability… I can hardly show my face for the shame.
“Oh!”
Right. Purification was the fundamental ability of a beast tamer.
“So I just have to stay close?”
—That would work, but the fastest way would be direct contact.
Contact.
At the word, a strange light flickered in Alferen’s eyes.
“I see.”
His voice sounded oddly pleased.
I cleared my throat to hide my sudden embarrassment and pretended not to notice.
“Ahem. Right, of course!”
After that, Alferen and Ordel discussed when to examine the ice dragon.
—I’ll be waiting.
With those final words, Ordel vanished.
Alferen remained silent for a long while. I waited quietly for him to speak.
Eventually,
“Thank you, Delly.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“It’s all because of you.”
His voice was dry, but he was unmistakably happy.
“I wonder what he’ll say when he wakes.”
“He should start with an apology. Do you have any idea how much you’ve suffered alone all this time?”
“I don’t know. He’ll probably criticize me for not doing more.”
“Hey, no way. I’ll stand right beside you and argue back. Does he even know how much heartache our Ren-oppa has endured because of him?”
The moment I raised my voice on purpose,
Alferen pulled me into his arms. The sudden closeness made me press my lips together.
I rubbed his back gently, offering comfort more certain than words.
“You’ve been through so much.”
“…”
“I’ll stay with you until Lord Davin wakes.”
“…Yeah. Please.”
Alferen smiled faintly and stroked my hair.
I knew exactly what expression he was wearing.
We sat side by side in front of the bed, waiting for Davin to awaken.
This was already the second time. The second time I had changed the fate written in the original story with my own hands.
First the broken engagement between Alferen and Nanael, and now Davin’s recovery.
Through sheer effort I had even awakened a power that never appeared in the original.
None of this would have been possible if I had simply accepted the story and done nothing.
“If he wakes, I suppose I should call him Father?”
The thought suddenly struck me—this would be my first meeting with my future father-in-law.
Nerves began to creep in.
“What was he like in the original story again?’
He had only appeared briefly in Alferen’s memories, so I didn’t know much.
Mostly scolding Alferen, reproaching him, never offering even empty praise. A classic stern, emotionally reserved father.
Still, from what the servants said, he hadn’t been entirely cold or harsh.
This very annex had been a sanctuary built for his wife, hadn’t it?
And after her death he never took another wife—a sign of deep affection.
Most nobles filled an empty lady’s seat immediately.
Even if the marriage had been political, he must have loved her.
A man like that couldn’t have been completely cold to his son.
Since things had turned out this way, I wanted to help mend the bond between Alferen and Davin.
‘I’ll be their interpreter!’
No matter how harshly he spoke, if I could understand perfectly and explain it to Alferen, maybe some of the misunderstandings would ease.
I was lost in those thoughts when it happened.
Davin’s fingers twitched, and then his firmly closed eyes began to tremble.
