CH 90

It was the mana training method that Radis nicknamed ‘meditation’. She would circulate mana to every corner of her body, but instead of using external mana, she would use the mana from within her.

Since she named this practice ‘meditation’, it was also a good time for her to organize her thoughts while her body was recovering.

Meditating was enough to heal her of things like mild fevers or muscle pain. It also aided with the recovery of even large injuries.

While she was in this state, her body’s senses would be heightened, and through this, she’d be able to objectively assess her condition. Besides that, meditation also seemed to have some effect on miasma purification.

‘My head becomes clearer, too.’

When she opened her eyes again, Radis had recovered quite a bit.

There was now a cold look in her eyes as she brought over the sword and set it down on the table in front of her.

“Oy.”

[ …… ]

“Hey.”

[ …… ]

“I’m gonna hit you.”

[ …… ]

Radis wanted to hit the sword, but she had to push down the urge. Yves was sleeping just a short distance away.

‘Let’s try to sort it out. What did Arachne say? She said something about leaving the egg there. But that spot, that’s the same place where I remember taking the magic stone back then.’

And yet, there was no magic stone in that spot.

‘Is that egg meant to turn into the magic stone I saw before? Well, that’s possible… No matter how much I think about it, I can’t figure it out. What else did Arachne say?’

Radis unconsciously spoke out loud.

“Something about the providence that wishes for balance…?”

But the moment she heard herself, she flinched and looked at Yves.

Fortunately, he was still asleep.

Radis glanced at him and said to herself.

‘Sorry, Marquis. I can never ever tell you about how I somehow heard a monster’s voice, and how I died once before and returned to live a second life. I’m sure you’ll just look at me like I’m a weirdo.’

Radis pulled the blanket over him and tucked him more snuggly. Then, she stared at the sword that was on the table.

‘What did that guy say? Hestia? Kronos? Throne? Everything it said was weird. It’s a haunted sword, after all. For a contract or whatever, it wouldn’t shut up and kept bugging me to name it, but then it’s just keeping its mouth shut now…’

She soon felt herself grow drowsy.

‘Didn’t it say something about… me turning back time? But I didn’t mean to do anything. It’s just that… I…’

* * *

“The balance of each and every boundary is according to the will of providence.”

As he took off his sleeping mask, Yves murmured to himself.

“While it is providence that wishes for balance, it is the throne that now achieves this. My descendants shall bear this in mind while guarding this secret.”

These were the final words that Verad Russell left behind for his descendants, and it’s been passed down from generation to generation in House Russell.

Yves slowly got up from bed and walked closer to the sleeping Radis.

He carried her up from the chair, but as Radis was in deep slumber, she didn’t wake up at all.

Yves tucked the sleeping Radis in the same bed that she tucked him into earlier.

She looked pale. Perhaps because she lost a lot of blood.

Sitting down next to her, Yves brushed Radis’ hair aside.

“Radis, I don’t know what you did at the forbidden region, but it would be better if you can forget about it.”

In her sleep, Radis scrunched her nose a little.

“It’s just some story that’s no better than a boring, archaic legend. And a place like the forbidden region, it’s not meant for a girl who has her head up in the clouds while dreaming of a fantasy novel’s adventure. That place is hell.”

Yves rose to his feet with a melancholy expression.

He knew that place.

He had also walked through the very same passageway that Radis passed through.

It happened more than a decade ago, but the events that transpired then were still vivid in his mind.

Even the malic that’s so palpable in that place, which would drive any human insane…

‘You. Stay here.’

The ugly, distorted expression on his aunt’s face. The back of his uncle as he walked away and left him.

And the tragedy that followed.

“Huu.”

Yves ruffled his bangs with trembling hands.

So that no one could see his eyes.

If all he had left with him were memories to prove what happened that day, then he was sure that he would have gone mad long before.

However, he had a ‘dark angel’.

‘Look into my eyes.’

She had black eyes.

‘I’ll protect you.’

The dark angel who covered him with her black wings, protecting him.

If not for her kindness… Then he wouldn’t have been able to come back from the hell that was Monsterwood.

Yves glanced at his own shoulder.

At the black velvet of the robe that was wrapped around him.

It was only after he confirmed this that he felt at ease once more.

* * *

The next morning, the entirety of the Russell residence was submerged in a sea of tears.

The maids were camped in front of Radis’ room, waiting for her to wake up. They were determined.

Up until now, they had overlooked Radis’ nightly strolls, but this time, they were so firmly determined not to let her go out again…

After losing a lot of blood, Radis’ face was as white as a sheet, and she also couldn’t eat anything porridge for the last three days. So, it was inevitable that she staggered out of her bedroom door like that, and seeing this, the maids’ resolve soon collapsed.

“Lady Radis…!”

Berry waited for Radis for three days with hardly any sleep. All throughout that time, she was thinking about scolding Radis.

However, the moment she saw Radis’ arm wrapped in bandages, Berry immediately burst into tears.