Chapter 169
After Jane gave a small cough, as if to signal my presence to Viscountess Bardo and Terin, the Viscountess Bardo quickly shut her mouth, and Terin pleaded,
“Your Highness the Grand Princess, please tell His Grace. Investing in the Mage Tower is far more worthwhile than that useless weed.”
“You ignorant magician, don’t speak if you don’t know! Your Highness, Spleesia is indeed a rare and precious herb. Right now, we’re only experimenting to make a perfect antidote. Of course, the price of mana stones is extremely high… but it seems the more expensive the mana stone, the better the quality of Spleesia…”
Worried that I might really think the mana stones were a waste and speak to the duke, Viscountess Bardo glanced at me nervously.
I nodded slightly to reassure her. And inwardly, I was surprised.
Because her hypothesis was quite close to the truth.
‘The Viscountess probably didn’t know how important the quality of mana infused into Spleesia was.’
Nine years ago, Raizel erased the memories about me from those in the Duke and Marquis households, and that included Viscountess Bardo.
That meant she didn’t remember me cultivating Spleesia by directly infusing mana to save the duchess, and as a result, all that remained for her was the antidote formula.
But when she failed to recreate the desired antidote using the same formula, the viscountess must have turned her attention back to researching the cultivation of the original Spleesia.
And just as she suspected, by infusing high-purity, advanced mana stones, she would be able to cultivate more potent Spleesia in the future.
‘But even so, she’ll never be able to make the same antidote I once did.’
“Here we are, Your Highness.”
It was then Viscountess Bardo informed me that we had arrived at the greenhouse set up behind the annex.
Suppressing my nervous heart, I slowly stepped inside—and froze at the sight before me.
Countless pink Spleesia petals were swaying all at once, as if to welcome me.
At the same time, a biting wind from the snowy mountains blew, making my cheeks feel frozen.
As I blinked and looked down, I saw a vast snow-covered land spreading endlessly.
At my feet, there was a single small herb sprouting through the snow.
As I quietly gazed at it, starting from that spot, the white snow melted, revealing a green field, and soon pink flowers bloomed all around.
The vivid, dreamlike scene unfolding before my eyes was an illusion—and yet, not an illusion.
“Ugh.”
I felt a pain like being struck in the chest with a hammer and took a step back.
“Your Highness!”
“Your Highness, what’s wrong!”
Jane and the viscountess hurriedly supported me from both sides in alarm, and I could feel Terin and the physicians in the greenhouse equally panicked.
But all I could do was bury my face in my hands to hide my distorted expression.
⟨There is one person who doesn’t appear in myth. One who earned the demon’s wrath and was killed. I believe that you are…⟩
Raizel’s voice echoed in my head, spinning around with the sharp ringing in my ears.
For a moment, my vision blurred, and I recalled a story unknown to the world—said to be known only by the highest priests in the temple.
And at the same time, I realized clearly.
‘So I really am…’
The one who stole the demon’s power.
The first human mage in history—Spleesia.
***
In the ancient era, before the Holy-Demon War.
The demon who guarded the demon realm possessed great power and dreamed of becoming a god.
He led monsters to the lands of humans, started a war, and ruled the world through disease, fear, blood, and tears.
Then one day, the demon realized that his power was gradually fading.
He quickly found the human who had stolen his power.
It was none other than the first human to hold the demon’s power, ‘mana,’ in her heart—Spleesia, the first mage.
Spleesia was a rare soul among humans, a girl with an exceptionally pure heart.
The demon believed that killing her would restore his power, and without hesitation, he did just that.
However… the power he lost never returned.
It was because of the detoxifying herb the girl left behind, Spleesia, named after her.
Though she was an ignorant and weak human who didn’t even realize she had gained power, she unknowingly infused mana into a sprout growing in the frozen land and granted it strong magic.
She wished for people to be freed from the poison of monsters… to be free from the pain of disease and wounds…
The desperate prayer of a girl who wished for no more suffering transformed an ordinary herb into a healing plant.
The demon burst into laughter when he realized that, with the great power that could have conquered the world, the girl had merely created a medicinal herb—not to oppose him or slay monsters.
However…
He did not expect that the herb he had mocked as trivial would carry seeds of mana into humans.
From that day on, beings with power beyond human limits began to appear everywhere.
The mana that had taken root within those who had been saved by Spleesia bloomed as ‘aura,’ and at times, as ‘magic.’
And that wasn’t all.
Among the humans who mourned Spleesia’s death and prayed to the god, those who had not been poisoned by monsters began to awaken divine power.
And among them, a saintess emerged—one who possessed the strongest divine force and eyes that could see the purity of souls—who finally declared war against the demon.
Thus began the Holy-Demon War.
***
Spleesia.
The name of the one who was both the medium that delivered mana to humanity and the person who stole the demon’s power.
‘And my past life.’
I let out a hollow laugh and sat up in bed.
It seemed I had briefly lost consciousness due to the aftermath of the divine spell Raizel cast, saying it might help revive the memories of my past life.
When I came to, I was in the bedroom of the marquisate, not the greenhouse of the ducal house.
“Haa…”
Feeling a bit of a headache, I let out a deep sigh and pressed my forehead.
Raizel had watched the power sealed within the demon’s soul stone I was wearing—more precisely, the demon’s mana—being absorbed into me, and said,
⟨I believe… you are the reincarnation of the human ‘Spleesia,’ the one who doesn’t appear in mythology—no, the one who was erased from it.⟩
At first, I wondered why the name of the legendary detoxifying herb came up.
It felt too unsettling to be a coincidence, but after hearing all of Raizel’s explanation, I could only laugh.
At the same time, I realized why Spleesia had no choice but to become such a rare antidotal herb. There could be no one else capable of infusing high-purity mana with healing magic as powerful as mine.
And that still holds true today.
No matter how high-grade the mana stones used, if the mana isn’t mine, the herb can never be the same as the one from the legend.
As soon as the thought ended, my hand trembled without me realizing it.
Even though I had long suspected my true identity through Raizel’s words, it still came as a fresh shock.
Because of the scenes I saw before I lost consciousness, I could no longer deny that I was the reincarnation of Spleesia, the one who had been killed by the demon.
“…So that’s why. Was it really because you hated me?”
Was killing me once not enough—that you had to keep me close and torment me?
At that moment, an emotion too complex to name welled up, and my eyes grew hot.
At that moment.
“Adriana?”
“Sweetheart, are you awake?”
Mom and Dad, who quietly opened the door and came in, saw me sitting up and cried out in surprise.
“How do you feel? Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. You must have been really worried.”
“Of course we were. You have no idea how shocked we were when we heard you suddenly lost consciousness!”
“My heart nearly dropped,” Dad said.
“I’m sorry.”
I lowered my head with a gloomy face.
I felt sorry for worrying my family, and I felt like I had caused trouble for the Duchy of Elard as well.
“Oh dear. Our daughter is making Daddy sad again.”
At that, Dad, who had sat beside the bed, gently stroked my head and spoke in a melancholy voice.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. So don’t make that face. It breaks my heart.”
“…Yes.”
For some reason, Dad’s words felt like they even comforted the me from my past life.
But a part of my heart still felt a little sad.
That expression Dad mentioned…
‘It must remind him of how I used to look as a child.’
After we were finally reunited.
Mom, Dad, my brother, and Grandpa all hoped I would grow up to be a child overflowing with happiness—so much that I didn’t know what to do with it.
And whenever I seemed even slightly timid or depressed, they were more upset and pained by it than I was. After meeting a family that loved me like that, there had never been a single day I wasn’t happy.
I only hoped my presence would make my family happy too.
So I always tried to show them a brighter, more cheerful version of myself.
I would purposely whine like a pampered child and act like I had no sorrow or emptiness left in me.
‘But still…’
I couldn’t erase the memories of the pain and loneliness.
I wanted to forget all my past as if it had never happened, but that wasn’t something I could do.
Because the demon’s soul stone was still hanging around my neck.
‘That’s why I felt relieved by Raizel’s request.’
I couldn’t even imagine how heartbroken my family would be if they found out I was living a second life.
I felt sorry and guilty for hiding such a secret, but it was still better than seeing my family suffer.
As I forced myself to smile, trying to push down the emotion welling up, only then did Dad’s expression soften, and he smiled back at me.
Then Mom spoke.
“Fortunately, the physicians said there’s nothing physically wrong with you. But they think your energy is low and your stress levels are high.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I wonder… was it because of the 2nd prince yesterday? Even though you were clearly uncomfortable, he kept clinging to you, pretending not to notice.”
Before I knew it, Mom was grinding her teeth and muttering darkly.
Her expression was so fierce, it looked like she’d send a formal protest to the imperial family at any moment, so I quickly spoke up.
