I did not actually need the bracelet to control him. The Contract Making skill would do that work cleanly, and even if he found a way to remove the bracelet later, the contract would act as a safety net beneath it.
I slid the bracelet onto his wrist. He did not protest or pull away. Which told me he already knew how to remove it and was confident he could deal with it later.
Activate CONTRACT MAKING.
[SET THE TERMS, REWARDS, AND PENALTIES TO FINALIZE THE CONTRACT.]
"Valthor. Despite everything, you are still a son of nobility and a man of means. So here are the terms. You provide me with money and information whenever I ask. You do not harm the princess, anyone connected to her, or any woman, directly or indirectly. In exchange, I release you and you walk away from here. She may come after you eventually. That is her business, not mine. But the contract holds as long as you keep to your side of it."
I held out my hand.
"I am royalty. She cannot touch me regardless. Why would I accept this?"
"She may not kill you. But she can keep you here long enough to make you wish she had." I let that settle. "Veyra. Bring Joseph."
She carried him through the door like he weighed nothing and dropped him beside the prince.
Joseph's eyes landed on the taser and his composure collapsed immediately. "I told you everything I know. Everything. Please—"
I tased him anyway.
Valthor went pale. He turned to me and said, quietly, "I accept your terms."
I held out my hand again.
He took it.
[SET THE PENALTY TO FINALIZE THE CONTRACT.]
I set the penalty and locked it in.
–-_—
I explained the plan for Valthor to the princess in full. After some back and forth she agreed, though I could sense the skepticism underneath it. She was trusting the result more than she was trusting the method.
We returned to the mansion. Veyra took charge of transporting the henchmen. The pastor, Joseph, the hooded man, and Valthor traveled with us.
I told Valthor I would release him the following day. Before that, he asked me to carry a message to his mother, the current queen, informing her of his situation. In exchange, he gave me what I needed to break Maren's slave bracelet. The system could neutralize psychological threats directed at me, but it had no reach over enchantments cast on other people. I had already tested that and confirmed it.
I was exhausted. Whatever remained could wait until morning.
–-_—
[STILL WATER METHOD GRIMOIRE NOW AVAILABLE AT 100 BOND POINTS]
[CORE HEALING GRIMOIRE AVAILABLE AT 300 COINS]
Two new unlocks. I had enough coins for the Core Healing Grimoire and bought it immediately. The knowledge settled into my mind the way learned things do, like it had always been there.
My Anatomical Insight sharpened noticeably. I could now read mana with clarity whenever I used the skill. It had a color to it. When I turned it on the princess, her mana looked like clear blue water moving steadily through her body. And there, sitting at the center of her chest near her heart, was a small dense sphere of the same blue. Her core.
Several things that had been unclear started making sense.
"Princess. Cast something small for me."
She paused her sword training and looked over. Then she raised a hand and released a minor spell without much effort.
"Explain the basics of how magic works."
"What are you getting at?"
"I will tell you after. Just explain it."
She lowered her sword. "Casting pulls mana from the core, moves it through the body's channels, and you feel warmth traveling through you as it goes. You shape it using intent and then release it. If you rush it the spell collapses. If you do it carelessly it damages the channels."
"Do you feel that warmth when you cast?"
"No. After my core was damaged I was told I would never cast again. I tried anyway and it worked. But the warmth never came back."
The grimoire had also referenced something called spirit magic.
"Have you heard of spirit magic?"
"No."
"From what I can observe, the mana in your body is not responding to your casting at all. It is not moving through your channels the way it should. The mana you are using when you cast is not coming from inside you. It is coming from the environment around you."
"If that were true I would feel it."
"One simple question. When I treat you, do I use mana?"
She thought for a moment. "No. You just use your equipment."
I pressed my palm against my forehead.
She had been casting magic without realizing her own core was not involved. She had been pulling from the world around her without knowing it. And she had walked into a dungeon like that, for years, with no understanding of what she was actually doing. If I had not been there last night, she would have been turned into a slave and never known why her defenses had failed.
"Why are you asking all of this now?"
"Because you cannot feel mana, and I used magic in nearly every treatment session we have had. The fact that you did not notice tells me how much your confidence has been working against you."
She did not answer. Either she had no response or she was choosing not to give me one. Either way I let it go.
"It has nothing to do with your treatment regardless. Speaking of which, Veyra has asked me to treat her as well."
Her expression settled into something neutral and unreadable. "Why are you telling me?"
"Because I will be away from the mansion. I am technically your servant, so it seemed right to inform you in advance."
"Did she tell you anything else?"
"Most of what she told me I had to pull out of her. I pushed a little harder than I probably should have."
"Will you release Valthor today?"
"Yes. And then the next phase begins."
The plan she had built around his release was solid. More than solid. It was good to see her taking the initiative rather than waiting for the situation to come to her. This had opened something in her, the understanding that staying passive in a political fight was the same as losing it slowly.
My larger concern remained the system itself. It clearly had a specific motive, and that motive was centered on the princess. I had assumed it was a standard female-conquering setup like the ones common in web novels. But even after spending time with other women, including intimate time, the system had not reacted the way that kind of system would. The missions, the bond points, the forced proximity, all of it pointed in one direction. Keep the princess alive. Make her queen.
And then the question I had been avoiding: had the system been influencing her trust in me from the beginning?
[THE SYSTEM CANNOT INTERFERE WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S MENTAL STATE. THE ANSWER LIES WITH KIERRA.]
Could it interfere with mine? Because my emotions had not been functioning the way I remembered them functioning. Things that should have hit harder were not hitting at all.