A middle-aged man in a sharp suit looked Sabina up and down. Judging by his attire, he was clearly the administrator responsible for transporting the supplies.
“Now, you really need to stop being so shameless. Do you have any idea how much those herbs and reagents cost, Miss Sabina?” The man scoffed with a sarcastic smile, lecturing my sister once more. “It’s not like you’ve actually produced any results, either. I heard you haven’t even come up with a proper solution for the monsters yet, have you?”
“That’s…!”
“Yet in spite of that, you keep demanding expensive materials every single time. Don’t you think you’re being far too brazen?”
I scrunched up my brows in sheer rage.
‘Hey, that is a complete and utter distortion of the truth!!’
Right now, it hadn’t even been half a year since my sister and I settled in the capital. At this point in time, neither the Grand Temple nor the Imperial Family had managed to find a way to curb the rapid surge of monsters. Shaming her like this when she was already strapped for both supplies and time—how could anyone be so completely devoid of a conscience?! Even ten years down the line, before my regression, this was a massive crisis that still lacked a proper answer!
“Since we keep pouring expensive herbs and reagents into this project with zero results, our Chief Physician has been constantly worrying as well.”
“Why on earth would the Chief Physician care about that?”
“Because the Chief Physician personally inspects the cargo heading this way every single time. He happens to be a man of profound knowledge regarding such matters, you see.”
The administrator held his head high, acting as if the supplies on the wagon belonged to him.
“The wealth of the Ducal House is continuously being wasted, so naturally he worries. Wouldn’t you agree?”
I cast a heartbroken look toward my sister.
‘She definitely kept all of this a secret from Adrian.’
Knowing her personality, she would rather swallow her pride and endure the humiliation in silence than let anyone know she was being mistreated. As a result, Adrian would go his entire life completely unaware of the insults she had to suffer. If even I, living right under the same roof, hadn’t noticed back then, she must have handled it with absolute secrecy. I just wished she would be honest with him about how difficult things were……
Right then.
The administrator let out a strange chuckle, scanning my sister from head to toe.
“Well, if Miss Sabina were to ask me ever so sweetly… it’s not entirely impossible for me to bring a few more supplies next time, but…”
What? While I stood there with my jaw practically hitting the floor in disbelief, my sister tightly gripped the fabric of her skirt. Her knuckles turned stark white against her skin, betraying just how volatile her emotions had become. At the same time, her mana began to fluctuate violently, reacting directly to her inner turmoil.
“So, if you just treat me with a bit more respect—huh?”
Rumble, rattle!
The mana, moving with a terrifying will of its own, began to compress the very air. The heavy supply wagon shook violently as if caught in the middle of a sudden tempest.
“W-What on earth is this…!”
The administrator tried to steady the wagon with a panicked expression, but eventually, consumed by sheer terror, he pointed a trembling finger at my sister.
“S-Stop this right now! You horrific witch!”
“…….”
“I—I must call the knights immediately…!”
Falling into a complete panic, the administrator roared at the top of his lungs. Only then did my sister speak in a bone-chilling voice.
“You are a mere deliveryman. So why don’t you just lower the cargo properly?” The corners of her lips curled upward into a fierce, mocking sneer. “Before you start needlessly barking orders regarding matters that are none of your business.”
Casting one final, razor-sharp glare at the administrator, she turned on her heel with a sharp swoosh. Her strides back toward the house were calm and unwavering, just as they always were. Her expression was perfectly composed, too. …She was likely doing that entirely for my sake. To smile at me as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
My heart ached with a heavy, suffocating pain.
But right then.
“Unbelievable! For a witch like that to treat our Second Young Master—does that even make any sense?!”
Perhaps his pride had been wounded by how terrified he had just been, because the administrator bellowed at the top of his lungs.
“She has no idea how much the Ducal House is suffering because of her! How utterly shameless!!” The man’s shouting grew even louder. “What is so grand about that damn Aura Heart treatment anyway?! Our Chief Physician is someone who received personal tutelage from the Grand Temple itself!!”
‘The Chief Physician?’
My ears perked up instantly. Come to think of it, hadn’t he been blabbering about this ‘Chief Physician’ since earlier? It was as if this doctor was acting as the administrator’s primary backer.
“Brushing such a grand figure aside, just how long are they going to keep listening to that wench. Tsk!!”
Spitting as he spewed his venomous gossip, the administrator straightened up with a look of utter disgust. He slammed the remaining few boxes onto the ground as if throwing a childish tantrum, then immediately whipped the carriage around and drove away from the estate.
And as for me?
‘I am so incredibly ticked off!!’
I dug my front paws deep into the grass and gnashed my teeth furiously. Good grief, for mere employees to gossip about her so openly—just how rampant was the culture of disrespect toward my sister within the Ducal House?!
‘I absolutely cannot let them get away with this.’
I made up my mind right then and there. The very first order of business on my list: ensuring the Ducal House properly fulfills their supply obligations!
‘Alright. If that’s how they want to play, the first thing I need to do is……’
Formulating all sorts of schemes inside my head, a wicked grin spread across my face. There were exactly two days left until Adrian’s scheduled visit.
In the dead of night.
The supply administrator wore a heavily aggrieved expression as he poured out his complaints.
“That witch threatened us with magic, I tell you!”
“Oh dear, you certainly went through a lot of trouble.”
The Chief Physician of the Ducal House, Gary Torres, comforted the administrator with a thoroughly benevolent expression. Behind his clear spectacles, his wrinkled eyes crinkled into a sympathetic frown.
Meanwhile, the administrator raised his voice once more.
“Honestly, when we have you here, Chief Physician, why must the Second Young Master insist on receiving treatment from that wench Sabina! Could it be that he’s been bewitched by her looks? Or perhaps—”
“Uh-huh, that’s quite enough.” The Chief Physician shook his head gently. “How dare you speak of the Second Young Master in such an ungrateful manner?”
“Oh dear, I’ve spoken out of turn.” Realizing his blunder, the administrator looked anxiously at the physician.
The Chief Physician offered a forgiving smile. “No matter. It is only the two of us here anyway.”
“Chief Physician…” The administrator stared at him with eyes brimming with deep, misplaced gratitude.
The physician lightly patted the man’s shoulder. “You’ve had quite an ordeal today, so run along and get some rest. I shall send someone else on the next run.”
“Understood!”
After sending the pacified administrator away, the room fell silent.
“Hmm, Sabina,” the Chief Physician muttered under his breath, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “As I thought, those who wield magic simply cannot be trusted.”
Leech-like existences that dared to encroach upon the domain of the gods. Behind his glasses, his serpent-like eyes flashed with a cold, calculating gleam.
Two days later.
Having returned to the capital after a long absence, Adrian approached Sabina’s house with a slightly tense expression.
‘Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I last saw Sabina.’
Monsters had been surging in numbers again recently, leaving him busy rushing around outside the capital to deal with them. Perhaps he had pushed himself a bit too hard during the campaign, because…
Throb.
Adrian clamped his teeth together tightly. A sharp, throbbing ache flared up from deep within his chest. It wasn’t his physical heart, but rather something much deeper. To put it into words, it felt like a painful cracking of his very soul.
It was the persistent agony stemming from an injury to his Aura Heart. That was the sole reason he had come to find Sabina today. As an exceptional mage, she was uniquely capable of soothing his Aura Heart with her mana.
However.
“Ah……” Adrian frustratedly ran a hand through his hair. Beneath his disheveled blond locks, his deep green eyes swirled with anxiety. “If she finds out I pushed myself again, she’s going to give me an absolute earful.”
The violet-haired mage he had met by a stroke of fate on the outskirts of the capital. Although Adrian was entirely clueless when it came to magic, his instincts had practically screamed at him from the very first moment: “Never let her go.”
Thus, coveting her abilities, he had managed to bring her all the way to the capital, but…
‘Getting close to her is proving to be incredibly difficult.’
The moment she encountered ordinary people, she would build up sharp walls of defense, acting even more cautious than the cat she cradled in her arms every day. It was enough to make even Adrian, who prided himself on his social grace, find her nearly impossible to handle.
‘Well, even so.’
Judging by how her expression darkened every time he showed up severely injured, she probably wasn’t a bad person at heart.
‘…Though I am definitely going to get scolded a bit—no, a lot—this time.’
The mere thought of Sabina’s piercing glare sent a shiver straight down his spine. Swallowing hard, Adrian stepped up to the front door and knocked.
Knock, knock.
“Sabina, it’s me.”