CH 22

Cedric was silent for a moment. Soon, he slowly reached out and squeezed Lilian’s wrist.

Cedric’s physique was not on the built side. On the contrary, his appearance alone made Shaw look more like a knight.

The young Lord was the type of knight who compensated for the weakness of his slender figure with his innate magical power and nimble movements.

Even in his hands, Lilian’s wrists looked thin enough to break.

Was it because she grew up without being properly cared for, or was it because she suffered from a serious illness a while ago?

‘So small.’

He always thought this, but everything about Lilian was too small and thin even for a child.

He still believed that she was just recovering. She was more active than before after getting out of her room.

‘She was overdoing it.’

She came to visit him every day with a body that barely survived.

Foolishly, he didn’t doubt that Lilian had completely recovered.

‘If only I had paid a little more attention…no, come to your senses.’

Now was not the time to sit back and regret.

Cedric carefully traced Lily’s faint pulse.

Holding his breath, he managed to catch a very slow phantom pulse.

Cedric carefully input his mana into Lilian’s wrist vein.

His magical power circulated throughout the body along the veins following the blood to the core formed in the heart.

But Lily’s veins were like empty coffins. She accepted Cedric’s mana without resistance, as if she were a corpse.

Cedric struggled to deny it.

‘No. It’s not like that.’

She’s probably the most insensitive among tier Nature, so it’s probably just that mana didn’t circulate all the way to the extremeties.

He desperately searched his sister’s veins. With the feeling of looking for gold in the river, he even searched in the hair-like capillaries.

But very little was left.

There was only a faint trace of magical power flowing through it.

From the records that Allen urgently searched, Lilian was a Tier Nature and possessed 3 terra. If she did, she belonged to the talented axis among the common people.

However, even if Lilian’s current magic power was searched to her heart, she barely had 1 tera left.

She felt transparent and fleeting enough that he was afraid she would disappear someday.

‘This can’t be…’

He couldn’t deny it.

“Shaw Winston.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Did you say there’s no cure?”

Allen and Mrs. Hayworth, who were pinning a ray of hope on Cedric’s test, held their breath for a moment.

Shaw answered as best he could.

“Time can be bought.”

“How?”

“I apologize. I can’t be sure. Depending on the speed at which the lady’s magical power decreases…”

“Why?”

Lilian, lying motionless, was still young.

She was young and small, and her life in this castle was more precious than anyone else.

But why does death keep choosing this child?

Cedric bit his lips until blood oozed out.

“Why, this child…”

A strong resentment welled up. Cedric took a deep breath to calm the fire burning inside him.

“My Lord.”

Shaw noticed that he had entered a phase of anger at the hopeless sentence.

The doctor, who had often witnessed death, was correct. Cedric was furious.

He was the Marquis of Turin. If it’s power, he had it, even money, he had it. He had less of what he didn’t have than what he had.

Anything could be solved as long as it’s not a problem of birth, old age and illness, so why was it an illness?

She’s only twelve.

Why!

“Answer that it can be cured.”

“…I am deeply ashamed of myself, Lord. As of now, it’s difficult to find an accurate treatment.”

The ancient magic era had long since withered away, leaving only traces.

There was no one in this era who could find out the way to know the cause.

It was fortunate that the attending physician, Shaw, was interested in the mechanics of magic and was knowledgeable in the related field.

Finally, Cedric buried his face contorted with despair in his hands.

After a while, he asked in a strained voice.

“…what do you mean you can buy time?”

“The Lord just have to share his mana with Lady Lily.”

The doctor added, trying not to offend the Lord as much as possible.

“If you replenish her mana periodically, you can delay the point of depletion. In this case, the compatibility of those who exchange magical power and the amount of magical power of the donor are very important…”

“…”

“Fortunately, the Lord possess strong magical power and the Lady is the closest blood relative excluding parents and children, so there’s no need to worry about compatibility. It’s probably easier than other cases, and it’ll buy more time.”

Cedric laughed.

Even if he could increase it with all his might, how much would it be?

How many years, how many months?

…if not, how many days?

His blood went terribly cold. Cedric gritted his teeth.

“Find a way. This child cannot die.”

He wasn’t asking if he could do it.

Shaw just hung his head without objection.

“…I understand, my lord.”

“And Allen.”

“Yes.”

Cedric asked in a voice like an ice blade.

“Did you say that the girl who insulted Lilian was the daughter of Lord Blanchett?”

***

Blanchett was one step above Cedric in terms of rank.

However, Cedric was one of the only seven Electors in the Empire, and he had the qualifications to challenge the Emperor’s sovereignty.

In terms of protocol and imperial law, Cedric was far superior to Blanchett.

Even if Lily had done something rude, they should have quietly covered it up, but instead, Blanchett’s daughter caused a problem.

Besides, she was not just the younger sister of the Marquis of Turin.

As soon as she came to her senses, Lilian instinctively knew that Marianne’s situation would take a turn for the worse, so she stopped it.

“Brother, I don’t think you need to be this harsh.”

Cedric silently stroked the head of his sister, who was being overly virtuous even under these circumstances.

Lilian continued to persuade.

“Strictly speaking, Lady Marianne didn’t hurt me. The other side is also unlucky…”

“Lily.”

As if sighing, Cedric called out to his younger sister and kissed her on the forehead.

“Don’t do that. I am now…because I’m holding back the desire to start a war.”

It was a low voice that didn’t have a trace of anger, but rather, more like Cedric’s sincerity.

“Stop and focus on your recovery. Keep your heart alive even for a little bit.”

“…yes.”

Because of the guilt of worrying her brother so much, Lily couldn’t stop him.

Only then did Cedric smile faintly and pat Lilian.

“Good girl.”

Suppressing his anger, Cedric wrote a letter of protest in one stroke.

He pointed out Lady Marianne and demanded punishment, asking Duke Blanchett for compensation. The Marquis of Lannister decided to become a witness to the letter of protest in good faith.

“In fact, I don’t even want to look at them coming to bow down to send money.”

The Great Feudal lord Hemenlinna shook his head with a voice full of disgust.

“There should at least be a record of receiving an official apology and compensation. That way, they won’t be able to talk nonsense later on.”

“Yes. That’s exactly what I wrote.”

Cedric sealed the letter with a clenched fist. Then he asked.

“How are you going to handle the marriage?”

“What are you going to do?”

The Great Feudal Lord had just heard from Cedric about Lily’s incurable disease.

“Marquis Turin, the blood pledge cannot be broken with just this much.”

Cedric sighed and clicked his tongue. Because he thought it wouldn’t be bad to end his sister’s marriage like this.

“Ahem.”

The Great Feudal Lord was the first to clear his throat.

“Ahem, I apologize for being negligent in controlling my family members.”

“…family member?”

Cedric laughed coldly.

“Since when has there been a custom in this Empire of counting the wife’s family as one family?”

The Great Feudal Lord’s eyes narrowed.

Cedric’s words now didn’t simply mean that the Empire was a patrilineal society. It was even less a generous statement of immunity that the Great Feudal Lord didn’t have to take responsibility.

‘Don’t go out and cover it, that’s what it means.’

Not bad.

‘Isn’t that what happened already?’

If he had to choose between Turin and Blanchett, he had to choose Turin.

Of course, he had no intention of taking the side of Marianne, who insulted his granddaughter-in-law, even if he ruled out such political calculations.

‘Ever since she was very young, she was greedy and arrogant so she wasn’t cute.’

In fact, Duke Blanchett, his brother-in-law, had been very erratoc since childhood. It was no surprise that he raised his children the wrong way.

‘Well, if he’s sane, he’ll apologize.’

Exactly three days later, the Great Feudal Lord’s expectation was greatly missed.