All trace of her previous defensiveness had vanished, replaced by an expression of absolute, terrifying serenity.
Sabina closed her eyes, and a steady stream of radiant mana began to flow from her fingertips. This time, the execution was infinitely more meticulous, tracing a precise path toward Adrian’s severely damaged aura heart.
Steady now… take it slow…
Guiding her energy to mend the fractured core was a task as delicate as walking a tightrope over a chasm; she essentially held his life in the palm of her hand. It was precisely because of this terrifying vulnerability that she had been so intensely guarded when she first offered to treat him.
Back then, she had practically expected him to recoil. Instead, Adrian had simply blinked and asked with a completely straight face: “Why would I ever refuse?”
“Because…”
“You’re an exceptionally talented mage. Opportunities to be treated by someone of your caliber don’t just drop from the sky.”
That single reply had set everything in motion. Before she even realized what was happening, she had allowed herself to be dragged all the way to the imperial capital, tethered to a man who entrusted his very existence to her care.
Such unconditional trust was a foreign, almost blinding concept to Sabina.
Of all the people in this empire, he is the only one who looks at me this way.
Her crimson eyes darkened with a complex wave of emotion. While the thought warmed her chest, it also left a lingering, bitter taste on her tongue. Caring for him this way inevitably invited dangerous, forbidden hopes she had no right entertaining.
No. Stop wasting energy on useless thoughts.
With a sharp blink, Sabina snapped her mental shields back into place. Her face reverted to its default, expressionless mask as she withdrew her hand.
“We are finished,” she announced flatly.
Adrian exhaled slowly, watching her pull away. “Try shifting your aura through your channels now. How does it feel?”
At her cue, a soft, golden radiance rippled across his frame. Adrian’s eyes lit up with genuine amazement. “Oh—that’s incredible. The flow is smoother than it’s ever been.”
“Don’t let it go to your head. Your aura heart isn’t fully healed yet, so no reckless stunts,” Sabina warned, maintaining her aloof exterior even as a quiet satisfaction bloomed inside her. The treatment had yielded far better results than anticipated.
Though having to press my hands directly against his bare chest is still mortifying…
She quickly shoved the stray thought away. It was strictly medical, nothing more.
“Since you’re recovering well, I’ll leave you to rest,” Sabina said, briskly standing up to escape the suffocating tension in the room. “I need to go inspect the reagent storehouse for a moment.”
The universe, however, decided to intervene right at that exact second.
As Sabina pivoted on her heel, the heel of her boot caught squarely on a rogue yarn ball rolling across the floorboards—one of Maybel’s forgotten toys.
May, I swear I told you to clean up your things!!
Naturally, the culprit wasn’t anywhere in sight to take the blame. Sabina pitched forward with a startled gasp, losing her footing entirely.
“Kyaah!”
Instead of catching herself, she crashed straight downward—landing squarely on top of Adrian’s bare chest.
Adrian instantly stiffened like a petrified statue beneath her weight.
W-Wait a minute. Isn’t this posture a bit entirely too intimate?!
Sabina whipped her head up in a panic, her crimson eyes widening into dinner plates as she realized the horrifying reality of her position: she was essentially straddling Adrian’s lap, hovering inches away from his face.
‘Kyaaaaah!’
Internally screaming bloody murder, Sabina scrambled to push herself up, her face burning hotter than a forge.
And right at the absolute worst possible microsecond, an innocent, high-pitched voice drifted from the doorway.
“Sister? What are you guys doing?”
“…”
Sabina froze mid-motion, every muscle in her body turning to ice.
Slowly turning her head, she found Maybel standing in the doorway, staring at the two of them with wide, sparkling, intensely knowing eyes.
Sabina forced a smile so rigid it practically cracked her jaw. “T-Treatment! I was administering medical treatment!”
“Ah-ha~”
Maybel nodded slowly, though a deeply suspicious, utterly mischievous grin quickly spread across her face.
“Then why do you look like a boiled lobster?”
“…”
The little girl’s gaze flicked back and forth between them with far too much adult comprehension for a six-year-old. It was the look of someone who understood the subtle, tangled dynamics between a man and a woman entirely too well.
No way. There’s no possible way she gets it.
Sabina frantically brushed off her clothes, desperate to erase the humiliating memory as fast as humanly possible.
With Adrian’s treatment successfully wrapped up and Sabina temporarily occupied in the storehouse, I knew I had a golden window of opportunity.
All right. It’s showtime.
I crept stealthily over to the sofa where Adrian was sitting. Pulling down the corners of my mouth into a pitiful, exaggerated pout, I tugged gently on his sleeve.
“Hey, Adrian! I’m starving.”
Adrian looked down, his expression instantly softening. True to his nature, he was constitutionally incapable of ignoring a supposedly hungry child.
With a serious, caring nod, he scooped me up into his arms. “Starving, are we? Let’s go see what we can find for a snack, then.”
“Yay!”
As he carried me toward the kitchen, my shoulders suddenly tensed up. My eyes drifted past the gleaming countertops toward the built-in stove.
A sudden, phantom flash of billowing gray smoke and searing, suffocating heat flickered behind my eyelids—
“May?” Adrian paused, tilting his head down in concern. “Is something wrong?”
“…N-No, nothing at all!” I stammered, frantically tearing my gaze away from the burners.
Deep down, I knew it was irrational. I couldn’t spend the rest of my life paralyzed by a fear of fire just because of what happened in the past timeline. I had prepared myself mentally; I knew I had to stay calm.
Yet my instincts still scream every time I look at a flame.
Swallowing hard, I wrapped my arms tightly around Adrian’s neck, burying my face against his shoulder to block out the kitchen.
It’s fine. That tragedy belongs to yesterday. I changed the future.
Taking a deep, shaky breath, I pointed toward the food cupboard mounted directly above the dreaded counter.
“Can you open that for me?”
“The cupboard?” Adrian raised an eyebrow, though he walked over without a hint of suspicion.
The closer we got to the counter, the stiffer my limbs became. I squeezed my eyes shut, forced them open, and reached up toward the wooden handle. I managed to get my fingers around it, but—
“Nghh…”
Why on earth was this cabinet door suddenly weighed down like a fortress gate?!
I strained and pulled with all my might, my face turning bright red as I tried to yank it open. Meanwhile, what was Adrian doing while I was struggling for my life? He was leaning against the counter watching me flounder, a massive grin threatening to split his face.
Honestly, this guy!
“My goodness, our little May. What are we ever going to do with you?” Adrian chuckled warmly, unable to hold back his amusement any longer. “You really need to eat more hearty meals so you can grow big and strong.”
With a casual flick of his wrist, he reached over me and flung the heavy cupboard door wide open.
Right at that exact second, the playful smile vanished from Adrian’s face, leaving him completely frozen in place.
“…What in the world is this?”