Chapter 1 : Agnes Levadein (2)
Chapter 1 : Agnes Levadein (2)
To state the obvious, Deltain Hebron and Agnes Levadein didn't start out with this kind of relationship.
In a way, that's only natural.
Deltain first encountered her through a game.
In the game, she was the very picture of a pitiful, kind-hearted, tragic heroine, and that remained true on the day the two first met here.
-Thank you. For coming to see me.
Deltain had poured out deep sympathy at the faint smile she wore on her sickly face.
She was such a lovely woman back then that he had made up his mind to save her, even if it wasn't just for the sake of collecting materials.
-I will definitely cure you.
The relationship he had formed with such resolve began to creak when Deltain experienced his 7th failure.
-It's a failure. This time, too.
In truth, it was a remark he didn't need to pay much attention to.
It could have been dismissed as something said out of pity.
If not for the smile she wore at that moment.
Deltain remembered it clearly.
The way she had crookedly curled her lips while spitting out the word 'failure' was something anyone in the world would call a sneer.
It was like a provocation against Deltain's solid pride.
From that day on, Deltain became harsh toward her.
And so, a relationship where they spat sharp words at each other continued.
"To burst into the Young Lady's room like that... Goodness, what a rude person."
"Then answer. I clearly knocked."
"You opened it before I could even answer."
"You weren't going to answer anyway."
"How can you be so sure?"
"With your personality, it's obvious."
"Oh my, how vulgar."
Agnes chuckled.
Deltain frowned at that smile and sat in the chair next to her bed.
"How's your body?"
"I feel like I'm dying. Every night, I fall asleep fearing whether I'll be able to open my eyes tomorrow."
"Don't play the victim. I told you, you're safe for three months."
"An expert's opinion?"
"It's an absolute truth. The Demon Flower embedded in your heart won't bloom for another three months."
Deltain crossed his legs and tapped his toe as he continued.
"Even if I don't say it, you know better than anyone, right? Aside from the vitality draining from your body, you're not in any immediate pain."
"You're being harsh to a patient."
"If you hadn't spoken to me like that, I would have respected you."
"Blaming others is a bad habit."
Agnes's smile deepened.
It was as if she were coaxing a child.
Deltain didn't like her way of speaking, which always made him out to be the bad guy after she had started all the trouble.
"...Let's stop."
"You lost."
"Don't make me laugh. Humans don't get excited just because a dog barks."
"Are you trying to say I'm a dog?"
Agnes opened her eyes wide like a startled rabbit.
Her cherry-blossom-colored pupils were revealed within her widened eyes, shining.
Deltain clicked his tongue.
"...Stop twisting my words."
"I could do it if you want. Woof. Woof. How is it? Do I seem like a dog?"
"Yeah, you're fucking like a dog."
"Pfft... Then I'd be a bitch, right? Since I'm a woman."
Deltain's fist clenched tight.
It was anger at himself for letting his composure be shaken by such frivolous words.
"...The Young Lady of Levadein was a bitch—the evening papers will sell like hotcakes today."
"If an article like that appeared in the paper, you'd be pointed out as the source of the rumor, right? Since it's only the two of us here."
"So what if I'm a suspect? Is there anything you can actually do?"
"You don't seem to fear the Empire."
"They should be the ones fearing me."
It was an arrogant statement, but it was true.
Deltain Hebron is a living legend.
Not to mention his personal martial prowess, considering the knowledge he possessed and the influence he had exerted on the Empire's civilization thus far, he was someone the Empire dared not nitpick with a single word.
"Why do you think the bed you're lying on is so soft? Who do you think made the lamps and temperature control devices in your room? It was all me. You, lying in bed and wasting away, should be especially grateful to me."
Agnes burst into a giggle at his arrogant words.
Then, only after suppressing her laughter, she replied to him.
"Wow! As expected, there's no one like you, Hero. Thank you so much. I'll never forget this favor for the rest of my life!"
It was an artificial tone, like she was acting in a play.
She had her hands neatly clasped and placed next to her cheek, a gesture that clearly signaled, 'I am mocking you right now.'
Deltain clicked his tongue briefly.
Then he changed the subject.
He judged that if he fell for her pace like this, he wouldn't be able to start work until the whole day had passed.
"...Enough, let's start the examination."
"Preparing for the fifty-second failure, are we?"
"It's a mistake, not a failure."
"Words are truly fascinating. How the feeling changes just by swapping one word."
"Should I just leave?"
"I'll cry."
"...."
"I'll cry until my throat goes hoarse searching for you all night. Then I'll collapse from exhaustion, and when I wake up, I'll look for you again. Oh, and I won't eat. I won't drink water either. Then you'll be in trouble, won't you?"
Ridiculous nonsense.
...Or so Deltain couldn't say.
In reality, having watched her for the past few months, she was someone capable of doing just that.
Deltain quietly ignored her words and began to say what he needed to say.
"There's no treatment today."
"Then why did you come? Ah, perhaps because you missed me so much?"
"Don't make me laugh. I just came because there's something I need to observe."
The nature of the Demon Flower Extrias.
Deltain felt the need to dig into its roots.
It was because he had realized through these three months of 'mistakes' that ordinary dispelling methods no longer worked.
'Its nature is different from any other curse.'
In the first month, he had used all the dispelling methods he had already tested in the game.
In the second month, he used dispelling methods he hadn't tested in the game.
And in the final third month, up until just yesterday, he had used dispelling methods he had created since coming here.
None of them worked.
He had invested all his time, excluding about 7 days when he went to find materials for another contract whose location he was tracking, into that task, but the Demon Flower was stubbornly resilient to a miserable degree.
Thus, Deltain had thought.
That he had to use a different method.
"Observation, huh? Good. Then should I undress?"
Flinch-.
Deltain looked up, startled.
His earlobes were slightly red.
"Wh...."
"The Demon Flower is in my heart, right? So shouldn't I take my clothes off?"
Playfulness was added to Agnes's smile.
"Ah, did you perhaps have some lewd thoughts when I said 'undress'?"
She leaned forward.
Her dazzling blonde hair flowed down like a curtain, and as she propped herself up with her arms, a deeper hollow formed at her collarbone.
Deltain tried hard to look away from the cleavage slightly revealed beneath her clothes.
In an instant, Agnes whispered.
"Pervert."
Clench-.
Deltain's fist clenched.
"...You're the pervert. I didn't say anything."
"Do you need me to say it? If you're confident, look me in the eye."
"You're just hollow-eyed, so there's nothing to look at."
"Liar. Your face turns red whenever you look into my eyes."
"...."
It was an undeniable fact.
For Deltain was indeed a man who felt his heart drop whenever he met her cherry-blossom-colored pupils.
"I am beautiful. This is an undeniable fact."
Agnes reached out.
And after gently grabbing Deltain's chin, she slowly lifted his head.
Deltain's gaze naturally turned toward Agnes.
His face was tense, as if he were trying to endure something.
Agnes burst into laughter at that expression.
"Puhahaha! You're ugly!"
Deltain's body trembled.
He didn't want to endure this humiliation any longer.
<1st-rank magic: Silent activated.>
A blue light appeared in the space for a moment and then vanished.
Immediately after, Agnes slumped, pouting her lips as if deflated because her voice wouldn't come out no matter how hard she tried.
"...Stay still. I want to finish quickly and go home."
Agnes kicked her legs.
'Honestly...!'
She was a woman who wouldn't listen to a word anyone said, even if it killed her.
Deltain continued his observation, repeating to himself over and over, 'You must not hit the patient.'
*
Having finished the examination, Deltain left Agnes's room.
In front of the door, as always, Agnes's personal maid Anya was bowing her head deeply.
"The Young Lady is...."
"She's asleep. Don't wake her. I put her to sleep with magic."
"Yes, yes...."
"She'll wake up in two hours. Give her porridge for dinner and don't use any ingredients containing mana beasts. You must not inject mana into her body."
"I will inform the chef."
"Right, good work."
Deltain tapped her shoulder and walked past her down the hallway.
Anya blinked her eyes, watching his retreating figure, then soon hurried off to do her work.
<96 days remaining until the Demon Flower Extrias blooms.>
It was on the day when failure was 96 days away.
*
Returning home, Deltain headed to his study without even changing his clothes.
His butler, Gerhart, who had followed him late and driven the sedan all day, asked.
"How would you like your meal?"
"A sandwich."
"Count, you clearly had that in the morning...."
"A sandwich. I don't have time to eat."
Gerhart let out a deep sigh and nodded.
Because he knew that once his master was fixated on something, he rarely paid attention to anything else.
"...I will prepare it."
"Ah, right. The pickles...."
"I won't include them."
As Deltain nodded, Gerhart left the study.
As soon as he left, Deltain manifested mana and wove a spell.
Blue threads emerging from his fingertips began to gather in the air.
The shape formed by the gathering threads clearly resembled a beating heart.
<2nd-rank magic: Imagination activated.>
A simulation magic corresponding to the 2nd rank.
This was a magic Deltain had devised to perform surgery on Agnes's heart.
It was a magic he had discarded the moment he realized the Demon Flower could not be extracted through surgical procedures, but today, Deltain was using it for a different purpose.
'The Demon Flower has no form. It only exists in the form of condensed mana.'
In fact, this was the biggest hurdle.
If it's in the form of mana, it can only be extracted through magical procedures, but since the Demon Flower just uses any mana shoved into it as nourishment, there was absolutely no way to dispel it with magic.
'...The condensed mana is in the form of a seed with roots.'
He added lines over Deltain's [Imagination].
A dot on the left atrium, and roots extending crookedly from that point, the shape of it digging into the heart.
'What should I do....'
There wasn't much time.
He didn't know about the materials for other contracts, but the Demon Flower embedded in Agnes's heart was a material that, if not resolved within 96 days, he couldn't guarantee when he would be able to obtain again.
That was why Deltain's insides were burning up.
Deltain furrowed his brow and steeled his resolve once again.
'...There is no failure.'
As always, he would never fail.
There might be happenings in the process, but there would surely be a sweet victory at the end.
The pride that had brought the man named Deltain Hebron to this point was blazing and showing itself off even at this moment.
<95 days remaining until the Demon Flower Extrias blooms.>
Deltain's night only deepened.