Chapter 4
Chapter 4
“Undervalued blue-chip?”
Camellia’s mana circuits had definitely been shattered two years ago, after that hellish incident.
A broken doll, castrated of mana, unable to use magic.
That was the brand placed upon Camellia Valentine, the surviving bloodline of a traitor family.
And yet, mana gathered.
At the end of her trembling gaze, silver particles were clearly forming.
Memories of everything since she came here flashed through her mind.
The money her master earned by breaking his body with manual labor and all kinds of dangerous work had all been turned into mana recovery potions and magic books for her.
“Alright, time to eat. How long are you going to stay shriveled up and lower your value? Eat up and grow quickly. My precious investment is going into you.”
At first, she thought he was a cruel and terrifying dark mage.
She firmly believed he was fattening her up to cut her open and turn her into a grotesque goose monster.
But…
“What kind of dark mage would spend his own blood to buy medicine so his sacrifice wouldn’t die, and push himself to the brink of death investing like that?”
The potions he brought while coughing blood
slowly repaired her torn mana circuits,
and the magic books he placed in her hands
rekindled a spark of life in her dried and frozen core.
It was a miracle.
Perhaps not a miracle granted by the heavens,
but one created by time patiently accumulated.
Nasus’s blind, foolish, stubborn care had revived the dying seed of a great mage.
“Ah…”
Hot tears streamed down Camellia’s pale cheeks.
A suppressed emotion surged up from deep within her chest.
She wanted to tell him.
She wanted to tell that foolish, incomprehensible man first.
That thanks to the medicine and books he gave her, she could use magic again.
That she could finally repay his kindness.
Just as she tried to stand, overwhelmed with joy—
Tap. Roll…
“…Ah!”
At that shining moment of joy, a nightmare she could never forget resurfaced.
Camellia’s pupils shrank violently.
Beyond her empty vision, in the darkness, her parents’ severed heads rolled, scattering blood.
Screams.
The smell of blood.
Torn flesh.
And the greedy eyes of soldiers and nobles who mocked her.
Her breath caught.
A freezing chill spread through her entire body, her teeth chattering uncontrollably.
If the world found out she could use magic again…
If even a single word reached those monsters that the eldest daughter of the traitor Valentine family had regained her power—
“No!”
They would come again.
And this time, to crush any possibility of resistance, they would send even more cruel assassins and torturers.
And their blades would inevitably turn toward the man who raised her.
He would be slaughtered without a trace, just like her parents.
“And…”
Camellia hugged herself tightly, her nails digging into her skin until it bled, yet she felt no pain.
Nasus.
That man always muttered strange, incomprehensible things.
If he found out she had regained her power…
“Would he truly be happy for me?”
The relatives who once gently stroked her head
had, in a single day, looked at her like she was filth.
Who could guarantee that his warmth
would not turn into a cold blade at her throat?
“I’m… scared.”
She had no confidence.
The fear that it might end again in betrayal and despair.
Her soul was too torn apart to trust anyone again.
Faint.
Clenching her lower lip, Camellia forcefully dispersed the silver mana gathered at her fingertips.
The only light in the darkness vanished into the cold air.
“I have to hide it.”
She had to remain a useless, sickly burden of a slave, draining her master’s resources.
So…
Show nothing.
Reveal nothing.
Only then could she survive.
Only then… would it hurt less.
“Cough! Cough! Urgh…!”
Recently, Nasus’s suppressed coughing echoed through the night.
Day by day, his face grew thinner and paler.
“When I was the one lying sick, he gave everything to save me…”
Camellia clenched her fists.
She had decided to live unnoticed.
But watching her benefactor cough up blood and die was not something she could accept.
After hesitating countless times, she quietly left a note, hiding her trembling hands.
She wrote that she would return soon, though she herself was not certain.
Taking a deep breath, she grasped the doorknob.
Creak.
It had been two years.
Since she stepped outside by her own will, without anyone forcing her.
At first, when she heard from the herbalist that there were herbs in the back mountain, she thought she could return quickly.
But the sun in the cold mountain set far faster and more mercilessly than the one seen from her room.
Rustle.
In the pitch-black mountain,
Camellia’s steps suddenly stopped.
Grrr…
A low, unsettling growl came from the dense bushes.
Her pupils shook violently.
Two glowing eyes appeared in the darkness.
A starving wolf stepped forward, drooling.
Pure killing intent.
Instinctively sensing death, Camellia raised her right hand.
“I need to use magic… attack magic!”
To protect herself.
To bring back the herbs and save the man who was coughing blood waiting for her.
She drew mana from her core.
Silver particles began to gather again at her fingertips.
But the moment she pointed her hand at the wolf,
her eyes met its cold, gleaming gaze.
“Kill them! Cut down those traitors at once!”
“…Ah.”
A hollow sound escaped her lips.
The wolf’s cruel, greedy eyes
were exactly like the ones that had sentenced her parents to death.
The hallucination screamed in her ears.
The smell of blood filled her nose.
Rolling heads.
Screams.
Whips.
“No… no…”
Faint—
Her overwhelming trauma struck her entire body.
The silver mana at her fingertips scattered.
Her mana circuits twisted violently, tearing pain through her chest.
Roar!
As the silver light faded, the beast leaped forward.
“Father… Mother… I will soon…”
Unable to move even a finger,
Camellia slowly closed her eyes in despair.
The foul breath of the beast reached her nose—
Boom!!
Instead of tearing pain,
a violent gust hit her,
and the beast let out a terrible scream.
“Grrk! Yelp!”
A blazing red flame roared before her eyes.
The wolf, its fur singed, fled in terror.
“…Huh?”
Camellia blinked slowly.
“Is this… an illusion?”
Beyond the fading flames,
someone stood there, holding a torch, breathing heavily.
A figure swaying as if about to collapse.
The smell of sweat and blood carried by the night wind.
“Cough… ha… ha…”
It was her foolish master.
Nasus.
In his trembling hand was a burnt piece of parchment, reduced to ash.
“That just now… what was…”
At her dazed question, Nasus turned his head.
Blood smeared around his mouth, he let out a hollow laugh.
“Hah… if you want to survive in a dump like the slums, you need at least one ‘insurance’ like this.”
He shook off the ashes of the scroll.
“Damn it… I was saving that for when it really mattered…”
His rough curse.
But Camellia heard none of it.
He had saved her.
With that broken body,
using a precious magic scroll,
to save a worthless burden worth only a single silver coin.
At that moment, Nasus planted the torch into the ground and staggered toward her.
Under the flickering firelight, he reached out his rough hand.
“Nasus…”
Calling his name, Camellia hesitantly reached out her trembling hand—
Before they could touch,
he suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace.
“…Huh?”
Her eyes widened.
Her face was buried in his chest.
An embrace.
For two years,
the man who bought her had never once touched her.
He never demanded anything, not even what was considered a master’s right.
He only observed her with complicated eyes.
Now, his strong arms wrapped around her shoulders, trembling as if about to collapse.
“Are you insane?! You came out here at night just to pick some useless weeds and get yourself killed?!”
“…I’m sorry.”
Curled up, she whispered.
Above her bowed head, his desperate voice poured out.
“You’re not someone who should die like this! One day, you’re supposed to shine brighter than even the stars in the sky… you’re the one I’ve bet everything on!!”
Slowly, Camellia raised her gaze.
“…What?”
At her confused look, Nasus’s expression froze.
“Huh…?!”
His vision distorted as if shaken by an earthquake.
His unfocused eyes chased something unseen.
“Nasus…? A-are you okay?”
But her voice did not reach him.
His lips trembled as he stared into empty space.
“What is this… the future… has changed?”