Monstrous Stamina
“Monstrous stamina. You'd never guess it from the way she looks.”
Norbert clicked his tongue as he brought up the subject of Freya.
The physician had said she wouldn't regain consciousness until tomorrow morning at the earliest.
‘The Grand Duke's personal physician has no reason to lie.’
So despite her frail appearance, she was built solid on the inside. None of it made any sense to him. Not that absurd stamina, and certainly not the aura supposedly already awakened within her body.
‘One thing is certain—she is a deeply suspicious individual.’
And yet, when he turned her background inside out and examined every corner of it, there was nothing suspicious enough to justify taking her life.
‘I can hardly treat her as some monster on the grounds that she lost her memory.’
He couldn't very well kill her for the sole reason that she'd been found on Teridana Beach, either.
Norbert let out a sigh and spoke.
“From tomorrow, I intend to teach her the work myself and keep an eye on her.”
“I'll leave her training to you, Count. Handle it as you see fit.”
“I already gave her quite the scare on my way out, so if she has a functioning brain at all, she'll lie there quietly and recover her strength.”
Then, quite suddenly, Norbert recalled the conversation he'd had with Freya earlier.
“Ah. Her name is Freya, ...or so she says.”
At that, a hitch.
Kadrian, who had been signing documents one after another, stopped mid-stroke.
It was a markedly different reaction from the bored indifference with which he'd received the report just moments before. He lifted his head and looked at Norbert.
“What did you just say?”
“Her name, my lord. She hasn't lost all of her memories, it seems—she remembered a single name.”
“...”
Kadrian's expression stiffened for an instant before smoothing over again. Norbert did not miss that fleeting flicker.
‘A name he knows, then.’
Norbert pressed further.
“Your Highness, if you happen to recognize that name—”
That was when it happened. Kadrian shot up from his seat.
“Your Highness?”
Kadrian's gaze swung toward the office door.
“...the annex.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Norbert tilted his head.
The annex? Did he mean the west wing?
Following Kadrian's line of sight, Norbert's head turned toward the west wing as well.
“You mean the servants' quarters? But why there—”
Instead of answering, Kadrian rounded the desk and strode straight out of the office.
“Y-Your Highness?!”
Norbert hurried after him.
***
The west wing of the Grand Ducal residence.
By the time Kadrian arrived, other knights were already gathering one by one in front of the annex.
“Your Highness.”
“Your Highness!”
Jayden, commander of the Mars Knights, Vice-Commander Allen, and several other knights rushed over at the sight of him.
“Your Highness, just now in the annex—”
Kadrian raised a hand, cutting off Jayden's report.
“I know. Everyone, hold position here.”
At that, Allen stepped forward.
“Allow me to go up first, Your Highness.”
But Kadrian shook his head.
“I go in alone.”
“But, Your Highness!”
“Norbert.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Kadrian called his butler and gave the order.
“Ensure that no one approaches the second floor, and evacuate all the servants from the building.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
And with that, he entered the annex alone.
***
“Whew. I came back from the dead.”
I barely managed to push the door open and collapse into the hallway.
Hah... hah...
It felt as though my choked-off airway had finally cracked open a little.
‘That was genuinely close this time.’
Even after I'd vomited up a mouthful of blood, the runaway aura had raged on for a while. Every drop of blood and every organ in my body froze over cold, then blazed hot, over and over again.
Just as the thought this really is how I die settled in, a wispy gray mist finally began to rise from my skin.
I lay there in the corridor, staring at the steam still filling my room from wall to wall.
‘So all of that came out of me.’
It looked like a bathroom brimming with vapor.
‘Talk about making a scene.’
I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand and steadied my breathing again. Regardless of the mess, I had succeeded.
I stretched my arm toward the ceiling and spread my palm open.
Vmmm—. Within my outstretched palm, an azure aura shimmered, calm and quiet.
I could feel the aura circulating through my entire body, vivid and clear. And more than that—it was seeking out the impure energy on its own and purifying it.
‘I'd have counted it a blessing just to open the pathway and get the circulation going.’
I never dreamed I'd leap straight to the stage of purifying my own body.
‘I thought it would take longer...’
Sure enough. Whoever owned this body had been no ordinary person.
‘I did keep thinking something was off about it.’
Now it was certain.
An aura manifesting in an untrained body. That aura awakening on its own, circulating, and cleansing the flesh from within. No ordinary body could have withstood any of it.
However immense my willpower might be, the body itself had limits it could bear. There was no getting around that.
‘There's a hidden story behind this body... I know it.’
And then—
Every last servant had vacated the building, leaving it silent, when I sensed movement coming from the staircase that connected to the corridor. Perhaps because I had awakened my aura, I could pick up another person's presence with sharp clarity despite the considerable distance between us.
I turned only my head toward the source of that presence at the far end of the hallway.
And there, across the corridor where a faint gray mist still lingered—a silhouette filled the passage from wall to wall.
‘Huh?’
Startled, I pushed myself up off the floor. My arms and legs were trembling so violently that standing was no easy feat—but stand I had to.
Because the owner of that rough, crushing aura slowly approaching me was the Grand Duke himself.
My heart plummeted.
Even instinct flared a warning at the Grand Duke's presence, which carried an unmistakable edge of killing intent. It was like that moment on the battlefield, the instant we'd first come face to face.
‘Why is the Grand Duke here of all places...?’
Ah.
I'd been far too loud about it, hadn't I.
My eyes swept briefly over the mist still hanging in my room and the corridor outside.
‘I was sure none of it had leaked out...’
No—even if it had, I never imagined the Grand Duke himself would come running.
Thud. Thud.
By then, the Grand Duke had begun to walk.
Judging by his gaze and the shrinking distance between us, there was no question he was coming straight for me.
‘At this point... he knows I've awakened my aura, doesn't he?’
I hadn't particularly intended to hide it. It wasn't the sort of thing that could be hidden anyway.
‘Concealing an aura's presence is a genuinely advanced technique to begin with.’
Especially for someone who had awakened hers mere moments ago—well beyond anything I could manage.
The Grand Duke's footsteps carried their full, crushing weight. Slow, but heavy. Unhurried, yet suffocating.
I couldn't tear my eyes from him until he stopped in front of me. Those violet eyes—composed to the point of arrogance—stole even my control over my own breathing.
“You begged for your life.”
“...”
That low, frost-cold voice pressed down on my shoulders like a physical weight. Only then did I realize I'd forgotten to breathe.
Haaah.
“You've... returned, Your Grace.”
The Grand Duke looked down at me, then let his gaze drift slowly around my ruined room.
“Decided you didn't want to die after all, did you?”
It was a murmur, almost as if spoken to himself, but something in me felt compelled to answer.
“No.”
“After pulling a reckless stunt like this.”
“I did it to live.”
“...”
“I wanted to live. I did it to survive.”
His gaze swung back to me.
I couldn't tell whether my answer pleased him or displeased him. But one thing was certain: the pressure of his aura, which had been crushing me moments before, had softened considerably.
The Grand Duke crossed his arms as if daring me to say more, and looked down at me with a languid gaze. I drew a deep breath and pressed on.
“A woman with no memory and nothing to her name—what else could I possibly do right now but this?”
“...”
“I decided I needed to grow strong enough to protect this body of mine, even if only barely, as soon as possible. Everyone around me is positively desperate to kill me, you see. So I thought, even if I overdid it, if I could just awaken my aura—”
The Grand Duke cut me off.
“Who.”
“I'm sorry?”
“Who is trying to kill you?”
“...”
You, for one, right this instant.
The words surged up to the base of my throat, and I barely swallowed them down.
“Could you mean... the Count?”
“...”
I pinned it on old Norbert. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie, anyway.
At my answer, the Grand Duke rolled his eyes and sank into thought. Then, quite suddenly, as if a certain someone had come to mind, he spoke again.
“If you mean Count Norbert, there's no need to worry. He will be your instructor from now on.”
“My instructor...?”
Ahh. At his words, the contract I'd conveniently forgotten resurfaced in my mind, and my brow furrowed all on its own.
Then the Grand Duke tilted his head slightly and said,
“By the way.”
“Yes?”
“You remember your name.”
Ah. The old man must have gone running to report to him.
I answered quickly.
“That's correct.”
“Freya.”
“...Yes. That's right.”
“Freya...”
“...Yes?”
He called my name again in a voice terribly low and heavy.
Somehow, my chest grew tight again. This time my head throbbed a little too.
‘Why does he say it so naturally?’
Even I felt awkward about my own name, so hearing it flow from someone else's lips made my throat prickle strangely.
‘Anyone watching would think we were the closest of intimates.’
The Grand Duke studied me in silence for a moment before speaking.
“Forget the name. What else do you remember?”
“Nothing els—”
“Why? Planning to lie again? A woman who supposedly lost her memory has awakened her aura. Don't tell me you intend to call that a coincidence?”
Gulp. I swallowed dryly without meaning to.
“Now that your aura is awake, I suppose you've decided you could purify even the World Tree sap from the temple with ease, so there's nothing left for you to fear. Surely you're not thinking something so foolish.”
“...”
This absolute demon of a man.