The Rose's Respite
Despite her fierce resistance, my cool palm still found its way onto her soft skin. Her abdomen retained its lukewarm body heat. Unlike the sharp thorns she had raised, the thin nightgown revealed delicate, vulnerable flesh beneath—like flower petals kissed by spring. Without realizing it, I was gently stroking her pure white belly.
“Ugh, y-you… I’ll kill you!”
Elise’s sharp voice rang out. She wore an expression of utter disbelief, glaring at me with fierce eyes as though determined not to relinquish her venom. But despite her efforts—
“How dare you do something like this…!”
—the trembling visible in her pupils could not be hidden. Her green eyes shook violently, clear ripples of agitation swirling in their depths. As I watched her fearful reaction, my previously still lips twisted in an ominous direction. An eerie smile slipped out before I could stop it.
“Now, now… I won’t hurt you, you know?”
With those words, I lifted her top. The hem of the girl’s clothing had already risen to just below her breasts, now barely covering the forbidden territory. Elise lay bound to the bed in a state close to half-naked. Perhaps because of how blatantly exposed she was, her characteristic sweet body scent spread through the air.
“Ugh, ughh…!”
The atmosphere heightened as though it might snap at any moment. Her body was slender from her frail health, yet her chest still held a certain presence. The disheveled clothing clung to her form, tracing endlessly seductive curves.
I continued stroking the girl’s belly with mischievous fingers.
“Urk, y-you bastard…!”
Elise recoiled in horror at the sticky touch. Her shoulders trembled. She tried to lift her head, but her red hair only splayed out messily. Like a rose swaying in the wind, she moved her petals.
Press.
Following the hand that applied gentle pressure, her belly sank down without resistance. Only a soft, yielding sensation remained at my fingertips.
“Uh, ugh…”
Eventually the girl’s lips pressed tightly together. She had been acting fierce until just now, but in this moment of utter helplessness, her true nature finally emerged. Moisture had already gathered on the surface of her green eyes. They gradually crumbled and shattered until only fragility remained in her gaze.
“My, my.”
Perhaps the prank had gone a bit too far. It had bothered me how she treated Charlotte, so I had only meant to tease her a little. But now it was time to stop playing around and begin the real treatment. I had no desire to make her cry at our first meeting.
I spoke a few kind words meant to calm her.
“Don’t make such a frightened face. This is only the beginning, after all.”
It’s okay not to be scared. The treatment is starting now.
“I’ll kill you… I swear I’ll kill you…!”
“Hehe… Even if you say you dislike it now, you’ll come to like it before long.”
Even if it feels unpleasant now, you’ll look back and think it was good.
“Stop… bullshitting…!”
“It will surely be a happiness you’ve never experienced before.”
You’ll realize just how wonderful it is to have a body free from pain.
“Cough… Is, is no one outside?”
Elise called for help with a dying voice. She glanced toward the closed door, but as expected, no answer came. The noise inside was already perfectly blocked off. I had given instructions to Charlotte as well, so no one else would enter by chance.
“It’s no use,” I said with a relaxed smile.
This was a sealed room containing only the two of us. This state would last at least two hours.
“Give up and accept it. Just spend some quality time comfortably.”
I’m telling you to relax your body. I really do want to spend this time intimately.
“You… you piece of trash…!”
“As I said earlier, it won’t hurt at all.”
I have no intention of causing any real pain.
I soothed the rose with a calm tone, then concentrated a bit of power at my fingertips. A flickering shadow thinly coated my fingers. It was such a faint energy that the girl didn’t seem to notice. My palm moved casually, continuing to stroke her belly.
Press.
My hand gently pressed on her dantian. Beyond the softly touched skin, I lifted my eyelids. Through the white flesh, I could clearly sense the mana.
“Then… let’s begin lightly.”
I focused my consciousness. Inside the girl’s body flowed a foreign current—wildly tangled mana pathways, rough and uneven joints, and the mana fragments that had hardened from reflux. These symptoms were occurring throughout her entire body.
The most severe area is… indeed the abdomen.
As the convergence point of the body’s mana pathways, the petrification there was far worse than in other regions. Shards like broken glass rampaged inside her. How… How was she enduring such pain? The sensation of her organs being torn apart every moment—yet the girl showed no outward sign of suffering. As if she had grown accustomed to enduring it.
“Even if you endure it… the pain doesn’t lessen,” I said.
“Ugh, what would you know!”
“I know better than anyone.”
Mana Petrochemical Disease. An incurable illness where each mana pathway in the body hardens like stone, eventually causing the entire body to shatter into pieces. These symptoms continue until the subject’s life functions cease. No cure had been discovered. Not even the cause of onset was known. Since it occurred only once or twice every hundred years, it was so rare that on the continent people tended to perceive this condition not as a “disease” but as a “curse.” With nothing about it explained, it was interpreted as something like “divine wrath.”
Divine wrath… It is a horrible enough disease to be called that.
For that reason, petrochemical disease had long been a symbol of ill omen. This was no different even for the imperial family. The reason Elise stayed in this lonely detached palace was the same. The name of the disease afflicting the beloved second princess was ominous, and she had been confined on the grounds that she would bring misfortune to the empire. Later, she simply used the excuse of being ill to completely abstain from social activities.
The secret regarding the rose.
It was a secret covered up by the imperial family, but as someone who had read the original work’s setting book, I knew. How lonely her battle with illness had been. Why her once bright personality had become so twisted and broken.
I murmured with a fleeting sense of pity.
“For a moment… even this would be salvation for you.”
I consumed the output of Lie. The mana fragments embedded in her body were extinguished very slowly, through minute manipulation. Following that, the blocked blood flow gradually began to recover.
This is only a temporary measure.
It would alleviate the pain for about a day. I planned to proceed step by step in the future, treating her little by little. Of course there was a way to cure it all at once, but considering the future, this approach was better. Trust, after all, required spending sufficient time to build.
To save the young prince, I needed to open the heart of the rose she loved. That was why I had turned the treatment into an opportunity.
“Cough, cough…!”
Blood kept spilling from between her pale lips. I recited a faint incantation and transmitted the Lie held at my fingertips to the rose. The thin shade seeped into her abdomen.
Rest
A gentle lie that soothes the body and grants peaceful slumber.
Immediately after, it dyed her entire being. The girl’s world—which had been noisy with countless screams—grew quiet.
“…….”
The sudden peace that arrived. Perhaps because she had been suffering until just moments ago, Elise was dazed, lost in a trance at the respite that had come after ten years. An ecstatic sensation flashed before her eyes.
“Ah, aah…?”
A question flowed out involuntarily. Her green eyes flickered, even forgetting their venom.
I smiled quietly.
It worked.
What had swallowed the girl was pleasure that faintly dyed her entire body. Having lived in pain for so many years, even the brief peace given to her returned as ecstasy. At the unexpected delight, the rose’s shoulders twitched.
“H-how…?”
Her breathing had grown rough at some point. Despite her slurred pronunciation, Elise threw a question toward me. It was a question that had filled her entire life with despair.
“How… is it that it d-doesn’t hurt… why, suddenly, I…?”
She seemed confused. I raised my index finger and lightly covered her exhausted lips. With my other hand, I covered her green eyes.
“Shh.”
What she needed first was rest. For the past few years she probably hadn’t been able to sleep properly because of the pain. I hoped she would close her eyes and rest deeply. The story about today could be shared tomorrow.
“Ah…”
Slowly, her eyes closed obediently. Her arms, which had been resisting repeatedly, soon lost strength and fell onto the bed. I whispered toward her fading consciousness.
“Sleep well.”
A single phrase conveying rest to the delicate rose.
In the ensuing silence, I continued stroking Elise’s belly for a while. The touch still held warmth.
Several hours later.
The closed door opened and two girls entered. It was Charlotte, who had been waiting outside, and the young maid she had taken with her. They both wore somewhat anxious expressions. Were they worried about Elise? Though they had come in after hearing that her condition had improved, they didn’t seem to hold much expectation. They must have learned from being abandoned by numerous renowned doctors over the years. That expectation only makes the disappointment greater. In other words, it was like learned helplessness.
“Um… where is Elise?”
The terrible battle with illness. These were the only two who had stayed by her side, so they had essentially shared in the suffering. They had shed tears every dawn while listening to her groans of agony.
But.
Today was different. Because I had stayed by their side.
“Over here.”
I pointed to the bed. The rose who had lost consciousness quite some time ago was still asleep. Red hair spread across the bedding. Soft, even breathing could be heard. Seeing her face with eyes closed without the slightest distortion, surprise spread across the two pairs of eyes that had been filled with anxiety. As if witnessing an unbelievable miracle.
“My goodness.”
“Elise…?”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen Her Highness with such a peaceful expression. There’s no sign of suffering, and she’s not breaking out in cold sweat at all!”
“To think something like this was really possible…”
“I’m so glad! Your Highness…!”
The maid shed tears of joy. Similarly overwhelmed with emotion, Charlotte couldn’t speak for a while. Finally, as if regaining her senses, she asked.
“How… did you do it…?”
Beyond her transparent pupils, only my figure was reflected. Toward the girl’s mirror, I left only a playful remark.
“Hehe.”
The answer was what it always was.
“It’s a secret.”