Chapter 92
Chapter 92
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Healing (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Today, as always, Amelia's day began with a visit to Siwoo's bedside.
A month had passed since Yebin started his intensive treatment, and all his organs except the brain had fully recovered.
As a result, the sprawling magic circles that had draped around him like heavy curtains were finally cleared away.
Yebin Smirna's skills were beyond doubt.
She had brought Siwoo's body, which would have died within days if left alone, back to a normal state.
Just as she had boldly claimed, no other witch could have restored a shattered human body to this extent.
Now, even without any time-delay spells, Siwoo could breathe and make his heart beat on his own power.
All his metabolic functions, including cardiopulmonary activity, had resumed.
Only then did Amelia truly feel the hope that he might survive.
The first time she saw color return to his face, Amelia held his hand for a long while, feeling his pulse.
Yebin's speculation that he might be different from before weighed on her heart like a heavy stone.
Still.
He's alive. That's what matters. He's alive... she murmured to herself every day, counting the calluses on each of his knuckles for a good while.
"Ah, sorry... I didn't know you were here."
"No, come in."
The door opened, and Yebin entered.
Compared to her early days when she wore baffling, bizarre clothes, she now looked every bit the proper witch.
Amelia quietly let go of Siwoo's hand.
Yebin's dedication was so admirable that even Amelia, watching from the side, couldn't nag her about it.
Not only did she devote twelve hours a day to healing, but the remaining eight went to researching self-generating magic for his brain recovery.
Excluding four hours of rest, she was dedicating her entire day to Siwoo's recovery.
Knowing this, Amelia never summoned Yebin just to pester her with trivial updates.
But now that they had run into each other, she couldn't hold back.
"How's it going?"
"Ah, everything's normalized except for the left eye socket we left empty to make space for the brain procedure."
To improve him from a half-corpse, near-brain-dead vegetative state to this point.
It was something even modern medicine couldn't achieve alone.
"Now that preparations are complete, in three days we'll start reconstructing the mana circuits and regenerating the brain."
Amelia stood and faced Yebin.
Then she pulled her into a tight embrace.
"Thank you... so much..."
"N-no need for this, Baroness. The viscount's support is... ngh...!"
"Thank you, thank you..."
Yebin barely managed to pry her off, struggling to breathe from the fierce hug.
It would be a lie to say she felt no pride, but there was still something she hadn't told her.
"You can spend more time with Siwoo now. I was just checking on him briefly anyway... I'll be going."
"Yes..."
Yebin sighed and closed the door, returning to her room.
A massive table brought from the dining hall was covered in brain models and thousands of sheets of paper fluttering about.
If Shin Siwoo were merely an animal, this level of preparation wouldn't be necessary.
Survival functions were already restored, and neural plasticity induction had succeeded.
Waking him from his induced slumber would be enough.
But Yebin's duty was to restore him as close to his original state as possible.
Preserving his thoughts, memories, ideology, and behavioral patterns.
And Yebin's smoothly sailing plan hit a wall right there.
After reviewing her mentor's treatise and the knowledge transmitted via stigma...
Only one conclusion emerged.
She had allowed three days precisely to search for alternatives...
But honestly, she concluded there was almost no hope for any other method.
"But how do I even tell the baroness...?"
Yebin flopped face-first onto the table.
The procedure itself was far from simple, and it was something that made even Yebin's face burn just thinking about broaching it.
Above all, she had no idea how to even start the conversation with the baroness—that was her biggest worry.
If she hadn't seen how the baroness treated Siwoo at all, it might be different.
Yebin recalled Amelia, who spent hours every day holding Siwoo's hand by his side.
"Someone she treasures that much..."
Whether she could brush off that surgical method as unavoidable would only become clear by watching.
"But seriously, how do I say it...?"
Yebin's worries only deepened.
2.
It was a dark, pitch-black space.
His floating consciousness, with no ground beneath, drifted slowly.
Below stretched two vast structures—or rather, now just one.
Everything Siwoo had built, now a tangled mess, collapsed as if bombed.
Even the halted ruins gleamed brilliantly, exuding beauty. Why was that?
"........."
Siwoo gazed at it.
He clearly saw and recognized it, but his flowing thoughts were severed.
Raw, pure reason—or instinct—bridged the gaps in his broken thoughts.
His unclouded eyes stared straight at the wreckage of the magic circle.
Siwoo raised his arm.
He intended nothing specific.
He hadn't pondered deeply.
Yet the faithful servant, always obeying his will, the magic circle, stirred all at once.
-Rumble rumble rumble!
The world's transformation.
The black world quaked.
Gears, lines, points, characters, shadows—all in gold—sprang up in unison.
Like stars in a galaxy tracing beautiful orbits without decree, they followed natural law, instinct, settling into their rightful places and glowing softly.
Creation always births from destruction.
The legacy of tens of thousands of fragments forged an entirely new form of "rule."
In Siwoo's eyes appeared a beautifully shining golden sphere.
Like an egg cradling truth, a new rule nestled in the shadow's cradle.
"........."
As if it all meant nothing, he casually waved his hand again, and it collapsed once more.
A newly built "rule," unbound by any prior ones.
That contradiction crumbled.
The fallen debris scattered at the bottom once more, awaiting its master's command.
In the vast ocean-like space drowned in pitch black.
With a single gesture from Siwoo, rules were created and destroyed.
Me, free.
What am I.
What is freedom.
Suddenly, two words caught in his consciousness, furrowing Siwoo's brow.
He mulled over their meaning for a long time, but nothing surfaced.
Siwoo waved his hand again.
Like a god rolling dice until the desired result appeared.
Time was plentiful, after all.
This world was his.
3.
Amelia lay blankly on the bed.
She had long abandoned her research for Siwoo.
With Yebin hired, it meant nothing.
Nor could she focus on her regular magic studies, so her days consisted solely of tending to Siwoo and then lying blankly in bed.
"Amelia, may I come in?"
"Come in."
At that moment, a knock came with Sophia's voice.
She had always pestered Amelia whenever she had free time, but lately, her visits had increased sharply.
Amelia knew it was to comfort her distraught friend and was grateful.
Sophia entered the room and sighed inwardly at Amelia's usual listless sprawl.
She had known Amelia would suffer when tragedy struck Siwoo.
But not to this extent.
Her tear stains were always visible, no matter the time.
Still, Sophia didn't think she was overreacting.
Amelia had once lost her mentor and shut herself away in shock.
A fragile child immersed in her own world, giving her heart to no one.
For such an Amelia to finally open up, only for past trauma to resurface—Sophia's worry was immense.
"Want to talk for a bit?"
"Sorry, I'm not up for it right now."
"It's important."
At Sophia's unusual tone, Amelia sat up in bed.
Her lush golden hair swayed, releasing a pleasant fragrance.
"Is it about Siwoo?"
"Yeah."
Sophia naturally sat on the bed's edge and gripped Amelia's hand tightly.
"First, I want you to know that what I'm about to say might feel really unpleasant and confusing to you."
"Wh-what is it? Don't tell me something's wrong...!"
"Calm down. I misspoke a little. This is about you. Siwoo's involved too, of course."
Sophia soothed Amelia, who had paled at the thought of some new problem with Siwoo's body.
She gently stroked her disheveled hair.
"What do you think of Shin Siwoo?"
Amelia's eyes wavered, unable to grasp Sophia's intent.
A question of why ask now flickered, but she couldn't easily respond.
"I... like him."
Sophia gripped her hand even tighter as Amelia finally spoke.
Sophia asked again.
"What about me?"
"I like you too."
"Why?"
"...Do I have to say?"
Amelia averted her gaze awkwardly.
Sophia sighed deeply and nodded.
Amelia, puzzled by her reaction, soon spoke honestly.
"Because you're always helping me, giving me strength... as a friend."
"Right? Then what about Siwoo? Do you like him as a friend? Or romantically?"
"........."
Amelia couldn't answer.
In truth, Sophia had a major concern.
It was good that Amelia was opening up and becoming aware of her feelings.
Sophia had even pushed her toward Siwoo partly to aid her emotional growth.
But she hadn't accounted for how innocent Amelia still was.
Was what Amelia felt for Siwoo mere fondness, budding love for some reason, or just a misconception?
Sophia didn't know.
She had no objection to Siwoo as Amelia's partner.
He was handsome, kind—a rare find.
And while she cherished Amelia, Sophia wasn't the type to meddle in her love life like an overbearing sister-in-law.
"Will you answer?"
After long hesitation, Amelia spoke.
"I think... it's love."
"What if that love is a mistake?"
"Sophia!"
Her voice snapped back sharp as breaking glass.
A fierce reaction without a hint of doubt.
Amelia's blazing eyes glared at Sophia.
No matter their friendship, she wouldn't forgive denial of this feeling.
Fury flickered in her gaze.
"I'm really sorry, but I had to tell you this. You didn't know anything before."
"I can judge for myself."
"Amelia, calm down first..."
"This feeling...! Just looking at him lying there, fearing he might leave, my heart aches like this...! If this isn't love, then what is?"
Sophia was convinced once more by Amelia's desperate outburst.
No.
Guilt isn't love.
Fear of loss is a separate emotion from love.
What is love?
What is guilt?
What is duty?
What are human relationships?
What is affection?
What is goodwill?
What is friendship?
Amelia knows nothing.
She's only just opened her eyes.
Like a duckling imprinting on the first living thing it sees as its mother.
What if she's misinterpreting emotions that aren't truly hers?
What if Sophia's excessive meddling created unnatural emotional flow?
What if "fondness"-level karma had magic interfering?
Is it really love?
"Sorry for upsetting you, but please hear this much."
Sophia gestured, and the door opened.
There stood the twins, eyes brimming with tears.
"Professor Amelia..."
"We have something to tell you."
They stood with heads bowed, like sinners confessing grave sins.