Now You’re Mine
After Conrad laid Regina down on the bed, he untied the towel, making her as comfortable as he could. He even drew the soft blanket up over her, then sat beside her.
Opening and closing his hand as he checked the aura within his body, the corners of his mouth lifted.
It’s increased again.
Whenever Mana Exchange occurred, Regina’s mana recovered, of course—but Conrad’s aura grew as well. He still didn’t know the exact reason.
It seemed he would have to dig through those dusty old records again.
He clenched his fist, and blue light bloomed from his hand. The glow of his aura wasn’t large, but the power compressed within it was beyond imagination.
This is something else...
It was a contract that favored him far more than Regina.
If she hadn’t been in such desperate straits, she would never have agreed to something so unfair.
For a while he looked down at her sleeping face, then noticed a droplet falling from his own hair.
He reached out, caught it between his fingers, and let the heat of his aura evaporate it away.
“Hmm.”
More than he expected, he found the arrangement rather pleasing. Conrad left his aura unrestrained as he rose to his feet.
Aura and mana are drawn to each other.
That was why there were so many tragic tales between knights and mages, and why they were instinctively pulled toward one another.
Conrad thought of the magical tools Regina had mentioned from the Madarin Barony.
And of the Ferman spies who had visited today.
Here it is.
It was only natural that he would find the magical tool Regina had hidden.
Using the flow of his aura, he discovered the device concealed in her dress, and when he saw the ornate earring, he was genuinely surprised.
“This kind of thing...”
He hadn’t expected her to carry something like this.
Yet, imagining Regina wearing it, he had to admit it would suit her rather well.
“We’ll need to find a dress to match it.”
Looking at the earring, certain now that it was indeed a magical tool, Conrad roughly guessed its function.
One of two things, then.
Either it protected the body, or it allowed communication.
But the Madarin fools still didn’t know that Regina’s mana had been sealed, so they must have given her a magical tool for contacting others.
Once Conrad had identified the earring’s purpose, his eyes curved.
What are you planning?
Was she going to contact the subordinates outside?
Of course, that was what it had been given for, but the fact that they meant to scheme so openly left a bitter taste in his mouth.
So not having a mage really would be a problem.
Every time they tried to nurture mages, the Ferman Empire interfered.
They had an uncanny knack for finding those who had awakened mana and recruiting them into their mage corps.
“Come to think of it, all of this is your fault.”
Glancing at the sleeping Regina, Conrad murmured to himself. The faint smile on his lips reflected how much his mood had improved.
“And now you’ve become my empress.”
Would the Ferman Empire even realize what kind of gifted talent they had lost?
“Even if they do, it’s already too late.”
Conrad drew close to Regina, gathered a lock of her hair in his hand, and pressed his lips to the end of it.
“You’re mine now.”
The next day, after finishing her meal and finding herself alone in the bedroom, Regina opened the wardrobe where she had placed the dress.
Someone opened it.
The position of the magical tool had changed. She had set the jewel in the center of the dress, but now it had shifted slightly.
The difference was so tiny it would have been hard to notice at a glance, but Regina caught it immediately.
It was a habit she had developed back when she lived in the Ferman Empire, where palace servants would rummage through her things the moment she left the room.
“The emperor, then.”
If anyone else had opened the drawer, someone would surely have reported it.
Servants, maids, and knights alike could not enter the emperor’s bedroom alone. They always moved in pairs, so they kept one another under watch.
The only exception was Conrad, the owner of the room, which was why Regina could be certain who had touched the magical tool.
The moment Regina’s fingertips touched it, a tiny spark jumped. The tool reacted to her mana.
Her counterpart, who had not missed his chance, spoke first.
It was Shiren.
“Yes.”
They had long since abandoned any need for formalities like “Your Highness.” They were comrades who trusted one another with their backs, and all that pretense had been gone for years.
Regina trusted them with all her heart, and that trust had endured even now, years after the barrier had been erected.
If it hadn’t, they would never have remained in the Fredericks Empire all this time.
“This may take a while to explain.”
Regina hesitated.
Should she really tell them about the false accusation? About the fact that her mana had been sealed?
Would they still follow her then?
Countless thoughts flashed through her mind.
Should I tell them about the mana seal?
But anxiety closed her mouth. If Martin had been here, she might have found it easy to speak, but without him, she couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud.
So instead she only mentioned that she had been framed for murdering the Ferman empress and driven out.
She heard someone on the other end inhale sharply, but Regina didn’t stop.
“I was being chased by monsters when I ended up meeting the emperor of this empire.”
“By the time I met the emperor, I’d already nearly exhausted my mana.”
Mixing in a suitable lie with the truth, Regina explained the situation, then asked Shiren,
“Have you been able to reach Martin?”
There was an immense concentration of mana where the magic barrier had been built.
Because of that, magical tools didn’t function well there, and mages who were not skilled in mana control often couldn’t use their power at all.
The barrier was a monster that devoured mana. There had been no shortage of mages who died to raise it.
Because it had been built upon their deaths, its power was all the greater for it.
“Then we’ll have to wait longer.”
“Something else come up?”
Shiren added that he was due to return to the palace soon with the records of the magical tools, but that it might be delayed because so many eyes were on them, then called out to Theodore.
As if he had completely forgotten that he was channeling mana into the magical tool, Shiren’s chatter spilled through the connection. Regina let out a snort of laughter at his unchanging attitude.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Theodore was the only one in the mage corps who kept his distance from Regina.
She had no idea why, but mages were full of oddballs anyway, so she let it be.
“Has anything happened?”
Because Theodore was so taciturn and kept his thoughts hidden, Regina didn’t press further.
She could hear Shiren thumping his chest in frustration beside him, but she pretended not to notice.
“I’m glad to hear there hasn’t been anything major.”
“Me?”
“Ah...”
It was a contract marriage, but she had promised to fulfill the duties of an empress. So it would be best not to say anything that might damage the emperor’s honor.
As soon as that thought crossed her mind and she fell silent, Shiren shouted loudly.
“I’m not locked up!”
At Shiren’s overblown reaction, Regina could only open and close her mouth. She didn’t know what she was supposed to say, and in the midst of her hesitation, Theodore’s voice came through as well.
“N-no, it’s nothing like that, so don’t worry too much.”
“I said it isn’t.”
Regina hurriedly cut off the mana.
Once the small light that had flickered from the earring vanished completely, it returned to its ordinary appearance.
After confirming that Shiren and Theodore had also severed the connection, Regina lifted her fingers away from the earring.
Noticing that her once-full mana reserves were now only half remaining, she let out a soft sigh.
“Phew.”
Her face was flushed red, and her breathing had grown ragged. The familiar weariness that came from mana depletion washed over her.
Had her mana circulated normally, she would have recovered quickly from using only that much, but since it couldn’t, the sense of exhaustion was far worse.