Unedited
“What is this!”
“Uh, aren’t we getting a bit ahead of ourselves, Miss Dalton?”
“Cut the crap!”
I made Edgar sit on my bed and examine his wounds. As I suspected, he was not fully healed yet—no, not even partly healed; he was barely hanging on! I couldn’t even fathom how much effort it took him to keep casting teleportation spells while clutching his torn chest.
I unwrapped his blood-soaked bandages and took out new ones from the drawer. My first aid skills haven’t improved since I met Jaden Spencer in the infirmary. However, my relationship with my bookworm roommate, who read all the healing books in the library last semester, has improved greatly.
She had bought me a huge supply of bandages for when I had a hole in my side and even poured divine power into them. I remembered how Bree had confidently declared that they’d even reattach a severed neck.
The wound wasn’t deep, but it was wide. It was also torn open in a haphazard fashion. It also seemed like poison had been used. The area around the wound was black, and the blood vessels were swollen. When I completely lifted up his shirt, I frowned at the overwhelming smell of blood.
“Well, they used a monster.”
Edgar mumbled an answer to something I didn’t even ask.
“A manticore. It was definitely impossible to avoid all its teeth, claws, and tail. As you know, humans only have two pairs of arms and legs.”
The magic bandage imbued with divine power flew and stuck smoothly as if it were drawn to the wound. To silence his pointless chatter, I gave the bandaged spot a light smack so that it wouldn’t hurt. “Ouch!” Edgar yelped in exaggerated pain but failed to suppress a sly smile.
The wound, stretching from his left shoulder to his right ribs, disappeared under the pristine white bandage. As I was amazed at the power of the merciful and benevolent god Stia, I suddenly saw a line drawn from his uninjured right shoulder to the back of his neck.
At first, I thought it was traces of another battle. But when I looked closely, I noticed that there was some kind of symbol engraved on it. It’s been so long since I took a class on black magic and witchcraft that I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like an ancient script used in black magic.
As soon as I unconsciously placed my hand on the faintly glowing object, Edgar literally jumped a foot from his seat. ‘Hey, look where you’re touching!’ He snapped. His face turned red as if it were about to explode. His overreaction made me feel embarrassed, and I fired back defensively.
“I touched it to see if it needed medical attention too. Why!”
Then Edgar slightly twisted his waist and turned his back to me and said,
“It’s a spell. Don’t touch it. It’s okay during the day, but when the sun goes down, it gets a little sensitive.”
There were marks on his broad back that looked as if carved with something sharp. They were all ancient letters, like the one engraved on his right shoulder. Judging by the faint blue light, it seemed like mana was flowing along the dented flesh.
Indeed, mana grew more potent as night deepened, so his explanation about its sensitivity when the sun went down made sense. In conclusion, my guess that it was a spell was correct. However, casting such a violent form of magic, especially on a human body, was not a spell I knew of.
“It’s pretty cool, right?”
“Don’t think about brushing it off, Edgar Ramos. Because I really need to know how you ended up with a forbidden magic engraved on your back.”
“It looks like you took the black magic and witchcraft class diligently.”
When I spoke firmly, Edgar stuck out his tongue. Eventually, he responded with a dismissive shrug.
“It’s a spell that amplifies magical power by speeding up the flow of mana.”
There was no need to ask why. It was well understood that he had to be his brother’s sharpest sword. What I was curious about now was when on earth did this act of abuse begin?
As Edgar had guessed, I studied black magic and witchcraft more than other subjects, so I knew that his inscription had been repeatedly over and over again engraved for a very long period of time. Here, ‘a very long period of time’ means at least 10 years.
No matter how great Queen Rosemary’s story was and how strong of a motivation it was, I don’t think I could root for the twins any more if it came at the cost of young Eddie’s sacrifice, the same Eddie who applied medicine to his brother’s portrait.
When I said that, Edgar crossed his arms and raised one of his eyebrows. He didn’t seem to know that I would delve into it that far. Funnily enough, he then looked more like Bryce Nadon than he had at any other point in his life.
“It’s none of your business.”
He spat defensively. I was angry at Edgar’s attitude of suddenly drawing a line and pushing away a topic that we are already talking about.
“Oh, is that so? Then why are you in the room of someone who has no business about what’s going on with you?”
I retorted with a mocking tone, and Edgar stared at me before pulling something from his pocket and clutching it in his hand, hesitating.
It was at that moment, when I began to feel that the blinking red eyes under the wheat-colored eyelashes looked like those of a rabbit, that I heard the sound of footsteps of someone dragging the heels of their shoes getting closer.
“Hide!”
“What?”
“Quick, get in!”
I lifted the blanket, covered it up to my chest, and leaned my back against the head of the bed. Then I shoved Edgar under the covers. It was almost at the same time that he pressed his forehead against my side that Brianna opened the door.
“Hewwoooooo!”
My roommate was unusually excited as she kicked the open door behind her shut.
“The pastry department handed out cookies to be sold during the Harvest Month banquet, and they were really delicious! I brought it here because I wanted you to try it. They’re totally addictive!”
“Wow, thank you so much.”
“Loving your roommate is loving your country!”
Leaving the three cookies wrapped in a handkerchief by the bed, Brianna Mosley disappeared as cheerfully as she had appeared. The fact that our nationalities are different didn’t seem to be much of a problem for her ‘Loving your roommate is loving your country.’
While I was covering my ears to the sound of the old door slamming against the frame, Edgar burst out of the blanket as if he had been burned and went to the corner of the room. He took an incredibly long breath and said.
“Don’t eat that.”
“uh?”
“It smells like ylang grass. Didn’t you notice how Mosley is all over the place? pastry department? They’re a crazy bunch.”
Ylang grass was classified as a drug in some areas, including the Academy, and was a staple food that could barely be consumed legally under continental law. Its addictive properties were only slightly stronger than those of cigarettes, but it was not enough to be overlooked. Without hesitation, I threw the drug cookies—I don’t know if Bree knew they were drugged, but that was an accurate description—out the window.
“Anyway, why are you staring at the wall?”
“Can you leave me like this for a moment… .”
It was hard for me to comprehend, but Edgar suddenly seemed very sad. His voice trembled at the end.
“I-I-I’m going now.”
“You’re just going to leave? Didn’t you come here for a reason?”
“Next time.”
Edgar’s hurried, fumbling steps were comical. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, but since it was unlikely for the Duke Ramos to hear what a mere Viscount’s daughter was talking about, I just waved at him with his legs already dangling outside the window just like twenty minutes ago.
“Hey!”
The white shirt clinging to his back faintly revealed the blue hue of the forbidden spell. As I was looking at it, something suddenly occurred to me. Placing a hand over my mouth and speaking in a whisper that barely escaped as air, I called out to him.
“I won’t tell you not to get hurt!”
“… … .”
“Just don’t die. That’s my wish.”
I had a record of winning a wish to be granted by him after a fierce competition in a very prestigious unicorn spinning top contest. When I spoke solemnly, he stiffened for a moment as if he had been hit, but in the end he laughed like a crazy person. Since my words weren’t meant to be funny, I quickly became sulky.
“Why are you laughing?”
“I wasn’t laughing… But, if that is your wish, of course I must grant it, Miss Dalton.”
“You laughed.”
“I did not. I’m someone who is courting you, remember?”
“Oh, sure, I guess so. According to the Fitzsimmons Times, that is.”
Trying not to be conscious of my heated cheeks, I tried to remove Edgar’s fingers that were clutching the window frame. Then, out of nowhere, he said,
“No, it’s not.”
It was Edgar Ramos’ signature lighthearted and casual tone of speech.
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it carefully. What do you think it mean?”
Leaving behind ambiguous words, Edgar jumped down the fourth floor. Then, without a single trace of hesitation, he disappeared into the swriling, twisted vortex of mana.
I went back to bed, consumed by an extremely strange feeling. As I gathered up the thick autumn blanket and hugged myself, I noticed Edgar’s scent lingering on it.
Suddenly, I felt something resembling a needle pricking my calf. I searched through the pile of blankets and found only one piece of earring, about half the length of my finger. I looked in the mirror while holding it against my earlobe. The earrings, which were extremely flashy and decorated with large rubies, did not suit me at all. I thought something like this would only suit a girl like Rosemary Blossom.
***
No matter how horrible the events unfolding might be, there were still things I had to do. The goal was to prevent Blossom from getting close to the targets during the second semester. Fortunately, I had become quite accustomed to what was necessary to achieve my goal: sneaking out of the dormitory every night and wandering around Fitzsimmons.
Kyle didn’t tell me exactly what I needed, or who or what ‘event’ these seemingly meaningless tasks had to do with. In the second semester, the difficulty of the ‘game’ became more difficult, and there wasn’t much information Kyle could convey without alerting the system, that is, without destroying his body.
It was comforting to know that Blossom was given the same information. However, unlike me, she had many experiences with the conquering targets. Although the exact conditions for the occurrence of the ‘event’ were unknown, Blossom’s amount of knowledge in all other areas far surpassed mine.
As it has always been, Ariel Dalton’s starting line this time was far behind Rosemary Blossom’s. To reach the finish line first, I would have to pick up the pace.
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