The Flow of Aura
Regina felt a strange contradiction in that instant and lifted her head again.
But before she could finish the thought, Conrad’s gaze pinned her in place as he studied her.
His blue eyes, like a vast sea, rippled as though stirred by waves.
After looking at Regina in silence for a long while, Conrad finally reached for the teacup before him.
“Has Lady Madarin always remained in the Fredericks Empire?”
“My body was weak, so I rarely went out, but... I did once visit the Ferman Empire when I was very young.”
“I, too, went to the Ferman Empire as a child. We might have met there by chance.”
Regina answered with deliberate reluctance.
“I only wandered around the capital’s outskirts, so I don’t think that would have happened.”
“Hmm.”
The sound of fingers drumming steadily against the table rang out. As his long index finger moved gracefully across the tabletop, Regina found herself glancing away without meaning to.
There was something strangely attractive about the strong hand of a man who wielded a sword.
“That hair.”
“Pardon?”
Regina, who had been looking elsewhere, was startled by Conrad’s sudden approach. His finger, which had been resting on the table a moment ago, was now close to her hair.
“Was it always red?”
“...Yes.”
His hand drew nearer and nearer, but Regina could not even think to avoid it.
His blue eyes watched her, and her mouth went dry while a strange tingle crept up the back of her neck.
Just as her face began to warm at the unfamiliar closeness, a great crash sounded outside.
“We’re under attack!”
“Your Majesty! Monsters are surging in.”
He reacted instantly to the shout.
Before Limutan had even made it fully into the tent, Conrad seized the sword lying beside him.
Swish—
The blade slid free of its sheath, and sunlight spilling through the gap in the tent struck the edge, flashing cold and bright.
“Defend this place.”
“What? Your Majesty!”
Limutan called after him in haste, but Conrad had already gone out of the tent and did not return.
Startled by the sudden attack, Regina sprang to her feet as well.
Having served as the head of the mages’ order, she knew all too well how dangerous a monster wave could be, and she could not simply stand there.
But she realized something then. There was nothing she could do by going out there.
To be this powerless...
“You’ll be fine.”
Limutan gave her a quick, awkward pat on the shoulder, trying to soothe the frustration that twisted her expression.
“I suppose so.”
Regina answered evenly.
Unlike her, who could only wait and hope the monster assault passed safely, the knights outside had strength.
“They’re the finest knights. There’s no need to worry.”
Limutan’s tone remained blunt, but his eyes never stopped assessing her.
The suspicion that Regina might be a mage had quietly spread among those who had seen her. Limutan, however, believed it was false.
If she had been able to use magic, she would have healed her own injuries, and she would never have stayed obediently inside the tent.
“I’m not worried.”
“Then that is a relief.”
Limutan’s reply was short and stiff. Regina’s clenched hand tightened even more.
It was the first time she had ever felt so utterly useless. When monsters had come crashing in, the one who always stood at the front had been her—but now she had been pushed back and reduced to someone else’s protection.
How frustrating.
She was angry at herself for being unable to do anything. For a fleeting moment, memories surfaced of the days when she had been forced to kneel before Herace.
To keep the gloom from showing on her face, Regina sat down again and stared fixedly at the teacup in front of her.
Nothing had changed, but looking into the motionless tea inside the cup helped her gather herself a little.
“Oh?”
When the tea in the cup suddenly began to tremble, Regina had no choice but to get back up. The ground shook, and a harsh cracking sound followed.
She ducked on instinct just as a thunderous roar tore through the tent and made it vanish.
A black shadow covered her body, and Regina looked up in dazed shock.
A troll was holding the tent in its hand, smacking its lips as it stared down at her.
“Lady Madarin!”
At Limutan’s scream-like cry, Regina gritted her teeth. If that troll got its hands on her, her whole body would be crushed in an instant.
“Move!”
Conrad’s voice rang out from somewhere. The moment Regina reflexively tensed her legs and tried to run, Conrad threw his body over hers.
It was half instinct and half something else entirely.
Regina’s eyes flew wide open.
Why? For a suspicious captive, no less.
But there was no time to linger on the question.
Even if he was a knight wrapped in aura, one blow from a troll’s fist would leave him seriously injured.
Too late to dodge.
Conrad steeled himself, bracing for the impact and hardening his face.
Seeing that, Regina bit her lip. A line of blood traced down her chin.
Her fury surged at being helpless again, forced to suffer it all.
“No!”
Regina shouted at the top of her lungs and drew up mana with reckless force.
At that very moment, faint mana rose from the place where she touched Conrad’s body.
Whoosh—
From the tip of Regina’s fingers, a bright red pillar of fire erupted and trapped the troll within it.
“Kraaaah...!”
The troll, swallowed in an instant by the flames, let out a horrific scream.
Its massive limbs thrashed wildly in every direction. Along with a nauseating stench, ash scattered through the air.
But the struggle did not last long. Soon the beast’s breath was gone, and with a terrible crash, its enormous body collapsed to the ground.
Thud—
Dust surged up, then settled.
The surroundings fell silent.
Regina stared blankly at the hand that had unleashed the magic of fire.
Just now, my mana...?
The moment she realized it, a rush of exhilaration seized her entire body.
Her mana had clearly returned.
Feeling a powerful force filling her body, Regina reached out again as though entranced.
But only for a moment.
After overusing her mana, she was overcome by exhaustion and lost consciousness.
***
Conrad caught Regina as she collapsed. Just as everyone’s eyes were on her, he swept his cloak around and concealed her body.
Drawing in a deep breath, he forced himself to remain composed.
There was no doubt about it: the instant Regina manifested magic, his power had flowed into her. At the same time, a light had begun to glow at her chest.
Conrad had instinctively pulled her close to hide the strange phenomenon.
What was that?
Whatever had shone in a crescent-moon shape faded a little later, as time passed.
Once he confirmed the light had completely died away, Conrad lifted Regina into his arms.
“Take care of the injured and clean this up.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Conrad carried Regina into the temporary tent where the emperor was staying and summoned the military doctor, Alan.
Watching Alan treat Regina on the bed, Conrad glanced at Limutan, who had followed after them, and gave a small nod.
“...For now, prepare to return to the imperial palace.”
“At once, Your Majesty.”
Regina did not awaken until Limutan had already left. After a brief examination, Alan felt Conrad’s gaze on him and reported, “She seems to have fainted from the strain of suddenly using mana.”
“Anything else?”
“No other injuries.”
Exhaling slowly, Conrad dismissed Alan with a thoughtful expression.
“You may go.”
After Alan bowed politely and left, Conrad stepped closer to the bed where Regina lay.
He kept replaying the strange phenomenon that had just occurred in his mind.
It was the first time he had ever experienced anything like it, and yet the more he searched his memory, the less foreign it felt.
Like an old legend he had heard since childhood.
Back in the days when the imperial houses of Ferman and Fredericks had not yet turned away from each other with such sharp hostility. There had once been a time when the two bloodlines exchanged power and complemented one another.
“My aura flowed into her.”
She was not merely a mage.
As someone of Fredericks blood, he could only pass aura to a mage who carried the blood of Ferman.
Then the woman lying there now was not the daughter of the Madarin Barony at all, but a royal of Ferman.
“Looks like I’ve picked up something interesting after all.”
He had not been mistaken.
He had simply realized far too late that she was the same girl from his childhood memories.
A laugh slipped between his lips. For the first time in a long while, his heart was beating.
***
A soft, tender sensation brushed against her fingertips. She wanted to lift her eyelids, but she did not want to leave this peace behind.
If I wake up here, there’ll definitely be monsters everywhere...!
That thought reached only that far before Regina’s hand began to feel around her. The softness of the blanket was not an illusion.
Only then did the last memory before she lost consciousness come rushing back.
The instant she had used magic so suddenly and then collapsed in Conrad’s arms.