Healing the Unwilling
“What the hell is that doing above my head?”
[Isn’t it? I can feel that you want to kill him.]
Robenin’s chilling voice and Undain’s clear, bright tone contrasted sharply.
It was a small mercy that Undain’s voice reached only me.
My hostility toward Robenin was so intense that Undain had reacted to it instinctively. If she actually attacked, things would get ugly fast.
That would leave her in the same state Undine had once suffered.
With my current condition, another forced recall might have me lying quietly in a grave by tomorrow morning.
Even if I managed to summon a spirit, that didn’t mean I could just attack him.
“Hey! Put the sword away!”
“Cut it down.”
[There, there. Good girl, Undain. That’s not allowed. Come here, quickly!]
[But…… you want it, don’t you?]
[I do, but…… you’re right, now isn’t the time. It’s dangerous to stay near that brute! Get over here, fast!]
Spirits could suffer fatal wounds too.
And when a spirit was gravely injured, I felt the pain as well.
While our souls were linked, we were essentially one body.
That was why hiding a spirit’s true form with techniques like transparency was standard in battle, but this guy would probably find her instantly even if she hid.
A water spirit could temporarily turn into rain or clouds, but the cost was enormous, making it impractical in close combat.
I had chosen her, yet water spirits were clearly not meant for fighting.
Above all, they were far too kind.
[I’m sorry…… I thought you wanted it.]
Undain returned to my side, looking thoroughly dejected. What fault did she have?
The one whose mind was sick enough to want to smash the back of that bastard’s head was me.
Undain had simply heard my inner voice with pure intent and tried to fulfill it.
“What was that?”
Robenin remained on edge even after Undain left his head.
“Nothing?”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Your hair color must have caught her interest.”
“Do I look like an idiot to you?”
“Yeah. And since you clearly don’t know, let me explain—spirits are as pure as babies or animals. They’re curious and overflowing with affection. The fact that she even showed interest in trash like you proves it.”
Even after I answered so sweetly and kindly, Robenin silently drew his sword with a sharp shing, expressing his deep distrust and hostility toward me.
Ash stepped between us with the weary familiarity of someone performing a long-standing duty. He rubbed his brow and let out a small sigh, looking as though he were suffering from an inexplicable headache.
“Please! Can’t you two go even a moment without fighting?”
“If we were going to trade blows, we’d have done it already. This is just…… foreplay, maybe?”
“If it’s foreplay, that means it’ll start eventually!”
“That it will.”
I flashed a light smile and tugged Ash’s hand, which was taut with tension.
His left hand was sticky with blood. I held it with both of mine and looked down for a moment. If it were me, I’d probably be muttering in pain every second.
“Undain.”
[Yes, Master.]
“You know what to do, right?”
Holding hands wasn’t strictly necessary for healing, but I did it anyway, making a show of it.
As Undain poured her healing power into him, I gently stroked Ash’s hand as though washing away the wounds until they vanished.
The healing energy of a water spirit always brought an indescribable sense of comfort and fullness at the same time.
Even though it was filled with the same pure aura as when priests performed miracles, Robenin watched me sharply, as if expecting me to pull some trick.
Even after Ash’s wounds had completely disappeared, his eyes remained full of suspicion.
With that much distrust, taming him wouldn’t be easy.
“Try moving it. How does it feel?”
I laced my fingers through Ash’s and pulled gently, checking if the wounds had healed properly.
“It’s…… perfect. Thank you, Jeanie.”
“It’s nothing.”
“I’d heard you could do this sort of thing, but this is the first time I’ve seen it.”
“It tires me out a lot. I can’t do it often.”
There were many types of healing magic. The kind performed with divine power was executed purely through a god’s authority, had no side effects whatsoever, and boasted the greatest efficacy.
On the other hand, the healing magic used by mages accelerated the target’s life force to promote recovery—in short, overuse could shorten one’s lifespan.
Lastly, the healing magic used by water spirit masters like me relied entirely on the power of nature, drawing upon its boundless restorative force and applying it to a person.
There were no serious side effects, but it placed a slight burden on the caster.
Because we acted as intermediaries between nature and the injured—two things that should never normally connect—we ended up shouldering mental and physical fatigue.
Spirit magic itself worked that way, so it wasn’t anything new.
After confirming that Ash’s hand was fully healed, I extended my hand toward Robenin as well.
“Your turn. Hand.”
Yeah, I said it like I was telling a dog to give its paw. I did it on purpose, but still—he immediately coated his sword with sword aura.
Every little thing set him off like this.
“What are you trying to do?”
“What do you think? I’m offering to heal you too. Can’t you save the sword aura for later?”
“I refuse.”
What a socially inept bastard.
To ignore someone’s pure goodwill like that.
Of course, my real goal had been to hold his hand under the pretext of healing and read his thoughts. If I got lucky, I might learn one of his weaknesses…… so maybe not entirely pure.
“You sure you won’t regret turning this down? This kind of special service doesn’t come around often.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“How picky. Fine. I’ll even give a discount to someone I dislike—call it an extra loaf of bread.”
“……You were planning to charge money?”
“Nothing in this world is free.”
Truthfully, the one who looked like they needed treatment more urgently wasn’t Ash—it was Robenin.
He might have won against the count, but he hadn’t escaped unscathed. Even my dull nose could pick up the scent of blood coming off him.
If I stripped off those pitch-black clothes, I was sure there would be several serious wounds underneath.
“Jeanie……!”
“Ah, fine. I won’t do it.”
There was no way I could extort money from an injured person right in front of Ash.
Ash, looking as startled as when Robenin had attacked me, quickly placed a hand on my forehead.
Wondering what he was doing, I grabbed his wrist to pull it away—and his thoughts flowed into me.
—Are you hurt somewhere?
He was so genuinely worried that I almost felt annoyed. Pretending not to know his inner thoughts, I asked anyway.
“What are you doing?”
“You’re really all right, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“……No, it’s just…… you’re doing something unlike you……”
“I clearly made an effort to get along. As you saw, he’s the one who rejected it.”
Robenin’s wariness toward me was growing more extreme by the second.
Even now, when Ash tried to persuade him, it was as effective as talking to a wall.
It seemed the best Ash could do was prevent Robenin from outright killing me.
“Young master, when someone shows goodwill, you should at least know how to accept it. Please receive treatment.”
“I don’t want to.”
“You once said you didn’t understand why people disliked you. If you won’t even allow others close, how could anyone open their heart to you? Aside from me, have you ever tried to let anyone else……”
“You misunderstand. I simply don’t know the reason—I have never once wished for anyone to like me. Nor have I ever wanted anyone other than Your Highness.”
His lack of friends probably had something to do with that bizarre tone of his.
At this rate, rumors that the two of them had that kind of relationship would spread through the imperial palace in no time.
“……Anyway, Lady Crowell has already yielded, so you should show some sincerity as well.”
“Why should I?”
“Because I want the two of you to get along.”
It was an absurd reason, yet it was the only one that could possibly work on either me or Robenin.
Ironically, my natural enemy and I seemed to share one common weakness—and that was the beautiful, kind-hearted prince standing before us.
If anyone laid a hand on our prince, we would kill them all.
“I’m asking you like this. For my sake, please accept the treatment. It’s not such a difficult thing.”
“I can’t trust this woman.”
“Young master.”
“Whether we get along or not isn’t something I care to consider, but that’s only if this woman returns my sword. That’s when I’ll think about it.”
Anyone watching would think I was desperate to heal him.
I had no desire to get along with this guy either. Since a frontal assault seemed impossible, trying to flank or attack from behind wasn’t exactly enjoyable for me either.
“Hey.”
“Hey……?”
“I’ve been listening to you go on and on, blaming everything on me. Let’s get one thing straight. The one who brought a precious family heirloom outside and then ran away from home with it was you. So why the hell are you throwing a fit at me? If we’re pointing fingers, this whole mess started because of you.”
“Have you lost your mind?”
Now, even when he pointed his sword at me, I just shrugged and snorted.
Because I had realized that if he had truly decided to kill me, he would have done it ten times over by now.
The fact that I was still alive even so gave me a certain conviction.
The conviction that, at the very least, he wouldn’t kill me in front of Ash.