Chapter 34
Azaid clicked his tongue as Serena lifted her shirt without any caution in front of a man to check her side.
He hadn’t meant to look, but he had already seen.
The image of her side lingered like an afterimage, and he squeezed his eyes shut, internally scolding himself, Erase it. Erase it right now!
At that moment, Serena’s carefree voice broke through his thoughts.
“Wow, really. The mark looks clearer now!”
“You really are…”
Azaid clenched his teeth, turning his back to her, unsure of what state she was in.
In all his life, he had never met someone so utterly unaware of his presence. Being relatively popular himself, the situation felt oddly humiliating.
Serena, seemingly unbothered by his discomfort, fiddled with the mark on her side. The swirling pattern, resembling waves in a whirlpool, had grown darker than before.
Though still faint compared to Azaid’s mark, it was undoubtedly more defined now.
She checked her mana core’s state. The waves of energy were stronger than before, but she still couldn’t wield magic.
Normally, awakening a mana core came with an instinctive understanding of what magic one could use, but Serena had no such clarity.
Why did my mana core suddenly activate?
To her, the awakened mana core still felt incomplete.
The pain from last night had apparently been related to her mana.
She had thought it was an unusual chill she’d never experienced before. Serena raised her head to ask Azaid about the previous night.
“Your Majesty, could you tell me more about what happened last ni—huh?”
She trailed off, staring at Azaid, who stood stiffly with his back to her. She hadn’t noticed how long he had been like that.
“Why are you standing like that?”
“…”
“Your Majesty, please come here and explain what happened last night.”
Azaid hesitated, unsure of how to respond. Just moments ago, she had been warning him not to come near her, and now she was acting completely differently.
When he didn’t move, Serena approached him and grabbed his hand.
“Come on, please?”
Reluctantly, Azaid turned to face her, frowning as he muttered, “Just a little while ago, you were calling me a pervert and glaring at me like I’d committed some crime.”
“I’m sorry.”
Realizing she hadn’t apologized earlier, Serena quickly did so, even putting on a pitiful expression. Azaid let out a heavy sigh.
“Ha… Why are you so sincere about apologizing?”
He ruffled his hair in frustration before pulling a chair in front of the bed and sitting down, as if resigning himself to his fate.
“What do you want to know?”
“You helped me when I collapsed last night, right?”
“Yes. I was going to call for a physician, but when light started pouring out of your side, I realized it was related to your mana core.”
“Oh, so that’s why you kept glancing at my side. I thought…”
Serena chuckled softly, making Azaid gape wordlessly.
Could there be anything more unfair than this? His expression filled with unspoken complaints as he continued.
“As you said, it seems your mana and mine are highly compatible.”
“Wait… You didn’t inject your mana into me, did you?”
“Of course not. I infused pure mana, but your gluttonous mana core tried to absorb even the mana inside me.”
“Really? That’s strange.”
Serena tilted her head, touching her side. She, too, had felt something unusual from him.
Not something I can test on someone else.
Even if she wanted to confirm it, injecting mana into another person recklessly could be fatal, so it wasn’t an option.
Serena pondered the events of last night. Now that she thought about it, it was the first time she had experienced pain in her mana core.
Most people spent their lives unaware of its presence. Serena wanted to confirm her suspicions again.
“Your Majesty, would you try one more time?”
As she spoke, Serena started lifting her shirt again, but Azaid hurriedly grabbed her hand.
“Why do you keep trying to show it?”
“How else can you properly check? Anyone would think I’m dying to show you.”
“…”
“You did it last night too, didn’t you? It’s not like you’ve never seen my side before. What’s the big deal?”
“I didn’t see it. I did it over your clothes.”
Azaid jumped defensively, lying without realizing it. Serena pouted as if it didn’t matter.
“Fine, I won’t show it. Just do it over my clothes again.”
With a huff, Serena guided Azaid’s reluctant hand to her side. His hand awkwardly tapped the area, clearly uncomfortable.
“Hurry up.”
When she urged him, Azaid let out a long sigh before gathering pure mana with his internal energy.
Serena watched her side expectantly. A blue glow appeared, gradually warming the area.
As his mana transported the pure energy into her mana core, a violet light burst forth, swallowing it in an instant.
True to its fire attribute, her mana core radiated heat, leaving a lingering, stinging sensation. It absorbed his mana the moment it touched her, just as before.
But that was all. Unlike Azade, whose mana reacted sensitively to hers, she felt nothing special this time either.
‘Hmm… Did anything really happen?’
At first glance, it seemed like it was absorbed, but there was no noticeable change in her body.
It was clear that Serena’s mana core was the key to this mysterious phenomenon. As Serena remained silent, Azade asked.
“Do you feel anything?”
“…Hmm. It feels warm.”
Serena awkwardly smiled as she removed Azaid’s hand. When Azade tilted his head in curiosity, Serena muttered seriously.
“Maybe it’s because my mana core is deformed, and that’s why there’s no rejection.”
“Deformed?”
“Actually, yesterday was the first time my mana core reacted to anything. I thought it might be a fluke, and as expected, there’s no reaction now… Is this some kind of numbness?”
As Serena frowned with a serious expression, her brows furrowed naturally.
“Maybe it’s because neither Your Majesty nor I have normal mana cores…”
“Enough.”
Azaid silenced Serena before she could bring up work again. Serena’s eyes widened as she looked at Azaid, who pressed her lips shut.
His blue eyes seemed deeper. He spoke in the tone of a teacher scolding a disobedient student.
“I told you to rest, but all you do is think about work.”
Azaid’s hand briefly touched her and then withdrew. However, the sensation was so vivid that Serena felt disoriented.
Azaid got up from his chair and slowly laid Serena back. Pulling the blanket up to her neck, he spoke.
“Stay in bed and don’t leave it today.”
“Is that something a person would say?”
“…”
“Oh! I didn’t mean to call Your Majesty inhuman; what I meant was…”
“Enough. You’re not someone who tiptoes around my feelings, and I’m too tired to react to every little thing you say.”
Despite his generous words, Azaid roughly tousled Serena’s hair—it was clearly out of spite.
Feeling guilty, Serena quietly accepted the punishment. Azade chuckled and said.
“We’ll be going out tomorrow, so get plenty of rest today.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll find out tomorrow.”
With that, Azaid left without looking back. Serena tidied her messy hair and rolled her eyes.
When the sound of footsteps completely faded, she quietly got up and moved to the desk.
“How am I supposed to stay in bed when I can’t sleep?”
Serena jotted down several hypotheses in her notebook related to the earlier phenomenon. It was typical of her to feel restless if she didn’t work for even a day. It was something Azaid would never understand.
***
The next day, Azaid took Serena to the Gordon Trading Company.
“We meet again.”
Jack greeted Serena with a sly smile. His injury seemed to have healed, as he was now wearing a fancy eyepatch over one eye. Serena looked at Azaid with a puzzled expression.
“This is where we’re going?”
“I had something delivered.”
At Azaid’s signal, Jack instructed a subordinate to bring the item.
“Are you going to keep standing there? Why don’t you both sit down?”
As Jack offered them seats on the sofa, Serena was about to sit next to him when—
“That’s my seat.”
Azaid squeezed himself between her and Jack. Serena gave him an incredulous look and asked.
“Since when do we have assigned seats?”
“Since now. And your seat is next to me, not next to him.”
“Sure. Sit wherever you want. Why make a fuss about it?”
Jack laughed and sided with Azaid. Serena pouted at Azaid’s unusually possessive behavior.
‘Is he acting like this because he’s afraid I’ll steal his friend? How childish.’
Brushing off her complaints, she checked on Jack’s condition and said.
“Judging by your healed wound, I see you followed my prescription well.”
“Yeah. I used the medicine you recommended, and it healed quickly. That combination was new to me—did you create it yourself?”
“As a physician, I can’t afford to neglect my training. This was nothing special.”
Serena shrugged as she answered. Thanks to her two regressions, she had already mastered the art of medicinal herbs long ago. She had always been deeply interested in the field.
Jack chuckled and said.
“Just call me Jack casually. We agreed to drop the formalities, so why the sudden politeness?”
“I’m showing respect because you’re His Majesty’s friend. Does it bother you? If it does, I’ll switch to informal speech.”
“Yeah, it bothers me. So, drop the formalities.”
“Alright, Jack.”
As Serena comfortably switched to casual speech, Jack smirked with interest.
Meanwhile, Azaid, who was watching the two, wore a deeply displeased expression. Noticing this belatedly, Jack asked.
“Got something to say?”
Azaid seized the opportunity and retorted sharply.
“Jack, stop hitting on my physician.”
• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •By Esraa• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •
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