Chapter 21: Healing

“Haa... Haa...”

“.........”

Kania is lying on the bed, gasping for breath. I sat down gently next to her on the bed and asked.

“... How long have you been like this?”

“Si-Since this morning... my belly has become more sensitive... and in the end...”

“I see. So, that must have been the reason all along.”

“What...”

My heart aches when I look at her suffering.

Perhaps the reason she is in this much pain is because some amount of stellar mana might have blended in when I was infusing my life force into her.

Originally, I made fine adjustments to prevent the fatal stellar mana from fusing with the dark mana... but I guess I made a mistake because I was in a terrible state at that time.

In the end, I harmed Kania once again.

“I’m sorry, Kania.”

“...Eh?”

“...I think it’s probably my fault.”

I can finally treat Kania well, but instead of treating her well, I’m making her suffer... I really have no excuses.

It seems I’m fated to do evil deeds one way or other...

“Young Master.”

“Kania?”

I lowered my head and blamed myself a moment longer, before Kania, who had been trembling until then, lightly grabbed my hand and opened her mouth.

“It’s... not...Young... Master’s... fault... ugh...!”

She struggled to utter some words as she gazed at me with tearful eyes, then soon closed her eyes as she began to shiver again.

‘...Yes, this isn’t the time for this.’

This isn’t the time to wallow in guilt. Right now, my priority is to treat Kania, who is suffering from abdominal pain because of me.

Apologies can wait until the treatment is over.

“...Kania, I’m going to lift your top a little.”

As I spoke calmly after concentrating my senses, Kania nodded her head powerlessly. I glanced at her, then began to slowly lift her butler’s uniform.

“Eungh...!”

Then Kania let out a faint moan. It seems she feels tremendous pain just from having her clothes graze her stomach.

I therefore stopped lifting her uniform for a moment, then I began to ponder when I suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu from the moan that Kania just uttered.

‘...Don’t tell me this was the faint moan I heard back then?’

At dawn, while I was playing with the cat doll, I heard a woman’s moan in the room.

I thought I heard a ghost, or it was just a hallucination because I wasn’t feeling too well at the time, but now that I think about it, Kania’s moan sounded quite similar.

‘In truth, she must have been ill since the moment she received my life force...’

Even though Kania must have been in a lot of pain, I can see her struggling to hold back her moans and trying to fall asleep.

It seems that she lied to me in fear that I would feel guilty if she said she had been ill all night.

After all, I truly don’t deserve an aide like Kania.

“Kania...”

“Yes... Master...”

“...Can you bear with me for a moment?”

I pushed my piling guilt to a corner of my mind and whispered to Kania as I lifted her top and fully revealed her belly.

“What? What do you... Ha...!!”

And the next very moment, I poked Kania’s belly with my finger.

“Heuuungh...Haa..”

Thanks to this, Kania, who was about to ask me what I meant, was forced to close her eyes due to the excruciating pain that surged over her as I gently held her when she was convulsing while clutching my arm.

“...I apologize.”

“Ughhh...Ugh...”

When I apologized in a muffled voice, Kania, who had been writhing in pain for a long time, wiped the tears from her eyes and said.

“Please don’t...... apologize... rather, I’m the one who... hiik...!”

“...Well then, I’ll start in earnest.”

“Arghhh...”

I couldn’t see her suffering any longer, so I placed my left hand on her belly where the mana was distributed to some extent, then poked her with my finger, as I cradled her wrist in my right hand and stabilized her mana.

‘...This might be a bit tricky.’

As I stabilized Kania’s mana while listening to her groans, I frowned when I sensed that my stellar mana and her dark mana had already started to fuse deep inside her womb.

A fusion that deep could cause permanent side effects or even become a ticking bomb.

Of course, it’s too early to be certain that such a thing will happen as I have already stabilized a significant amount of stellar mana... That said, if the fusion is completed while I’m standing still, it can’t be reversed.

‘...I can’t let that happen. I’ve no choice but to absorb this completely.’

Now that it has come to this, it seems that I must absorb the stellar mana along with the dark mana deep inside Kania’s womb.

Of course, it would be perfect if only the stellar mana could be absorbed, but then the dark mana that had already been fused with my stellar mana could go berserk.

However, if I absorb the two fused manas at the same time, there wouldn’t be any problem.

Needless to say, it might be too much for my body, but I’m destined to perish alongside the Demon King anyway.

‘...And, since I gave her my word that I would treat her well.’

With that in mind, I took a deep breath and began to press her belly.

“...Heup!”

“...Huh?”

Then Kania groaned and tilted her head. It seems that she also noticed that her mana was draining, since it was the dark mana that always existed deep within her.

“...Ugh.”

“Y-Young Master...?”

As I continued to exert strength, my stellar mana and her dark mana, in a half blended state deep inside her womb, were slowly getting sucked into my hand. Seeing this phenomenon, Kania opened her eyes wide and spoke in an urgent tone.

“Young Master, the stellar and the dark manas are conflicting in nature! If you forcefully absorb them...”

“...I’m sorry, but this is the only way.”

So when Kania blankly stared at me, speechless for a moment, the dark mana slowly crept up my arm.

“Ugh...”

“...What are you doing now?”

“Oh, it’s not a big deal. It’ll be over in a moment.”

“...Don’t tell me you’re absorbing the dark mana right now?”

And when I heard those words, I realized.

‘You’re... valiant, warm, benevolent and virtuous, Young Master.’

All of my assumptions were indeed correct.

“...Young Master, let’s take a day off for today.”

“No. I must never skip it. If I do so... your dark mana might go out of control. I don’t know what will happen then.”

“...I see.”

To be considerate of Young Master, I requested him to take a rest for tonight, but he shook his head in denial with a resolute expression on his face.

I’m afraid he still remembers the incident when I went through mana outburst in the previous timeline.

Of course, it was agonizing back then...

‘...But that’s nothing compared to the pain Young Master must have been through.’

“Um, Kania. Could... you please listen to me without getting angry?”

At that moment, when the guilt was again surging over me, the Young Master looked at me and stuttered.

“...Yes?”

I was puzzled as to why he was looking at me, but then he blushed and spoke in a muffled voice.

“That... because of the treatment I just did, the condition of your belly is still delicate... I think I should refrain from putting my hands on your belly while treating you?”

“Yes, I agree.”

“So, I have to put my hand on another part of your body... that part...”

“...that part?”

“...is your heart, the most embarrassing place.”

“...ah.”

Having said that, Young Master lowered his face with a guilt-ridden expression and muttered.

“I’m sorry, I’m well aware you loathe such contacts, yet...”

“........”

Meanwhile, I kept staring at Young Master...

“Or should I just infuse it through your hand? It’s a bit tricky, but if you’re uncomfortable, I can handle it...”

“...Is this fine?”

“........!!!”

I carefully placed Young Master’s hand which I had been holding until then on my bosom.

“Kania...!”

“...Please begin, Young Master.”

Of course, if my clothes were in the way, it would hinder Young Master’s transfusion of life force, so I slightly lifted my top to expose my bare skin.

“Then... let’s begin...”

After momentarily hesitating, Young Master soon began to infuse life force into me.

‘...It feels so warm.’

Was it because I got too used to receiving life force through my belly every day, or was it the barrier of the clothes that I couldn’t feel it well?

The area around my chest, where the Young Master’s hand was placed, began to heat up

‘I never knew that receiving life force was such a warm and cozy experience...’

‘It’s me who feels comfortable while receiving life force... but the Young Master...’

Even now, Young Master is sacrificing himself for me. After all, he is a selfless and noble man.

As I was carefully observing Young Master’s complexion, I prepared myself to take his hands off the moment he showed any signs of struggle, but I suddenly began to feel an abnormal phenomenon in my chest region.

‘...Why do I feel a rising heat in my chest?’

Obviously, it was just warm a moment ago, but before I knew it, my chest region where Young Master placed his hand began to heat up.

Panicked, I quickly stretched out the fingers of my palm that was holding the back of Young Master’s hand and touched my chest, but I didn’t feel any heat at all.

‘...What? Is there something wrong with the life force transmission process?’

Just as I was wondering if I had to let go of Young Master’s hand with a worried expression on my face, I began to hear a periodic thump coming from somewhere.

– Thump, Thump, Thump

I quickly lowered my head, contemplating its meaning.

“...Eungh.”

“Kania? What’s wrong!? Maybe it’s the stellar mana again...”

“N-No. That’s not it...”

“...Huh?”

“...It’s nothing.”

As I desperately avoided Young Master’s concerned eyes with my head down, I muttered inwardly while listening to the clear sound of my heartbeat that was piercing my ears.

‘...After all, I don’t think I’m worthy to be Young Master’s aide.’

With such thoughts, my face seemed to have turned beet red.

.

.

.

.

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“Hum Umm Hum ~ ♪ Hum Umm Hum ~ ♪”

While Kania was blushing with her head down, Ferloche was humming while writing something eagerly.

“So... if you don’t want your secret to be revealed... as soon as the academy ends today... come to the Cathedral of the Sun God... Ferloche Astellade.”

Ferloche, who had been writing diligently, even reading the contents of the letter aloud, put down her pen with a satisfied look and muttered.

“Fufu... Great. In that case, no matter what, wouldn’t Frey... come to the cathedral with eyes that blazed in anger...?”

Having said that, Ferloche nodded to herself and picked up the envelope, then suddenly she opened her eyes wide and exclaimed.

“Oh, that’s right! This is a blackmail letter!”

Ferloche, recognizing the fact that she had written her name proudly on an anonymous blackmail letter, briefly opened her eyes wide, then quickly picked up the pen again with a contented smile on her face.

“...Done!”

Eventually, Ferloche, who had drawn a large ‘X’ on top of her name, smiled, then placed the letter inside the envelope and mumbled.

“Frey... till the day I ruin you... you shall live as my puppet... Heuaam... I’m sleepy...”

Having her head overheated from eagerly writing the letter, Ferloche yawned aloud in the middle of her monologue, and then dragged her haggard body off to the bed.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow... Phew...”

Lying on the bed, Ferloche immediately fell asleep after muttering with a delighted smile, as she imagined her enormous success that would unfold tomorrow.

It was Ferloche who, until the very end, remained completely clueless about the error in the letter folded inside the envelope.