The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 177

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“You might wonder how holy power, which is sacred, could harm a person.”

The mage continued explaining while pointing to ancient documents and old books.

“What’s important here is that the patient is a ‘mana holder’ who was exposed to ‘high-purity holy power’ for a ‘long period.'”

Though uncommon, there are those in the world who are born with mana despite not being mages.

They usually stand out like an awl in a pocket, excelling in whatever field they pursue.

Instead of using magic, they unconsciously utilize that mana to acquire knowledge more smoothly or train in martial arts.

But when that mana disappears.

[…The greater the amount of mana possessed, the more severe mental and physical side effects one suffers when the mana is lost…]

Just like how the taller a tree grows, the more it sways helplessly in even a small wind and breaks when its support stake disappears.

The mage’s report stated that this tall tree was none other than Duke Rionet.

[…Symptoms of decreased cognitive ability and orientation, partial memory loss, headaches, seizures, etc., worsen along with narcolepsy-like conditions…]

Narcolepsy.

Tesagh gritted his teeth as he recalled Elisha’s words about how Grandfather would suddenly fall asleep.

“Then what about the disease called ‘Mendax’ that Elisha mentioned? What was that about?”

“It’s a rare disease that shows memory loss symptoms similar to holy power poisoning, but the detailed pathology is different.”

The mage looked around cautiously.

“Crucially, the last recorded case of ‘Mendax’ was hundreds of years ago, so it’s questionable whether it even exists.”

“In other words, they deceived Elisha with a rare disease from hundreds of years ago that only had similar symptoms.”

“That’s what I believe… It seems like they deliberately chose a disease to make it difficult to find cases or treatments. Even I had trouble finding information.”

It was clearly a prepared excuse of a disease name, researched in advance to deceive Elisha.

By the doctor, or… Elisha’s grandfather, the former Duke Rionet himself.

Tesagh, who had been rubbing his face wearily, asked the mage who was just rolling his eyes around.

“More importantly, how did you figure out it was holy power poisoning?”

They must have wasted time investigating the disease ‘Mendax,’ whose existence wasn’t even certain.

Even though the Duke’s Mage Tower supposedly contained all the magical texts in the world, suddenly changing research direction wouldn’t have been easy.

So how?

Tesagh, who had been thinking, lost his words when he saw what the mage hesitantly brought out.

“I cast preservation magic as Duke ordered.”

It was the cookie tin that Elisha had baked.

“But the magic kept breaking. So I wondered if she had baked it with holy water or something, and analyzed it.”

“…You detected an amount of holy power that couldn’t be explained by just holy water?”

“Yes, that’s correct. So I investigated using holy power as a keyword and got these results…”

The mage added cautiously.

“If it had been an ordinary object, I wouldn’t have known. Perhaps because it was a gift made with great care over a long time, with wishes for it to turn out well, it contained a lot of holy power.”

“…”

“Still, thanks to Duke ordering the preservation magic, we were able to find this clue.”

However, Tesagh wasn’t happy.

Shaking his head, he asked the question he had to ask.

“Holy power poisoning—is it a curable disease?”

“Probably ordinary hospitals wouldn’t even be able to detect it. It would be better to show it to mages like us, but…”

The mage lowered his eyes.

“Unless the cause is completely blocked, it would be difficult.”

Thump.

His heart sank.

Tesagh barely managed to ask.

“Blocking the cause means.”

“From what I’ve heard, he’s been in a poisoned state for a long time, so he’s likely to react sensitively to even very small amounts of holy power. So.”

“…”

“Elisha and the patient can never meet for the rest of their lives.”

The hesitating mage bowed his head deeply.

“I’m sorry.”

Tesagh, who had frozen, returned to his office clutching the report.

Even while giving orders to his aide, the words from the report kept swirling before his eyes.

Holy power poisoning, cause, long-term exposure, severe side effects…

Tesagh, who had been rubbing his face, looked up at the sound of the communicator.

Duke was right. I’ll go with Elisha too.

Tesagh had made one promise with Chloe.

That she would never use magic against Elisha’s will.

Tesagh had agreed to Chloe’s words about showing her past and giving Elisha a choice.

Along with the rather terrifying condition that if she broke the promise, the entire duchy would hunt her down.

Seeing this reply come, it seemed things had flowed as he expected, but.

‘This time… I’m not sure.’

When even he was shocked by the news, would Elisha really be able to accept the truth?

What moved Tesagh, who had been staring down at the report for a while, was the sound of knocking.

“Duke, as you ordered, we’ve brought ‘that person.’ We’ll have him wait in the Magic Tower.”

“Good.”

“And… there was contact from Sir Milton. Elisha will arrive soon with her friend.”

Tesagh got up and headed toward the room with the magic circle.

Soon light leaked out, and familiar voices could be heard.

“Ugh…”

“E-Elisha. Are you okay?”

“Cough, I’m motion sick. It happened last time too, but I’ll be fine after walking a bit.”

“You look pale, you should rest for a moment…”

“Hey, I can’t keep Duke waiting just because of motion sickness. I have news to deliver anyway, so let’s hurry.”

Elisha’s voice, a tone higher than usual, gave the impression of somewhat exaggerated cheerfulness.

The door opened. His eyes met with Elisha’s as she was wiping her reddened eyes.

“Oh, were you waiting? Hello…”

Elisha, who had been greeting him with a tired smile, paused when she saw Tesagh’s expression.

What ended the silence of Elisha, who hadn’t finished her greeting, were Tesagh’s words.

“Elisha. Let’s go to the Magic Tower first.”

Silence hung in the air as they walked to the Magic Tower.

Elisha’s large eyes rolled around restlessly.

She cleared her throat and carefully opened her mouth.

“Oh, Chloe came along too. I have news to deliver, and I thought Chloe could explain it better than me.”

Glancing back, Chloe, who stood a step behind, shook her head slightly.

Elisha was making up reasons for Chloe, who had insisted on coming along without any real reason. Without knowing why herself.

…Or perhaps, while vaguely sensing that something serious was waiting.

“It’s about the analysis results that Emma sent regarding the mana stones…”

Because she wanted to delay that moment, even just a little.

Tesagh, who had been unable to continue speaking for a moment, gently wrapped his arm around Elisha’s slightly trembling shoulders.

“Right. We’ll hear about it in a bit.”

When they arrived at the Magic Tower, Elisha looked a bit confused at the sight of an out-of-place soft chair and table.

“What’s this?”

“Sit down.”

“Uh, um, just me?”

Elisha, who had sat down without thinking, looked around her surroundings.

She seemed to feel something was off about all the mages who should have been in the Magic Tower being absent from their posts.

“With Duke and Chloe standing while I’m the only one sitting, I feel like I’ve become some important person. But if this is what a taste of power feels like, it’s kind of unpleasant.”

Elisha, who had been making awkward jokes, took out some documents.

“First, shall we check the analysis results I mentioned earlier? If you look here…”

“Wait, Elisha. There’s something we need to discuss before that.”

“Huh, but this could be a clue about the pearl sword. That’s why you called me here, because it was urgent.”

“No. There’s nothing more urgent than this right now.”

Tesagh answered firmly and slowly pushed forward a report that had been crumpled from being gripped so tightly.

“Read it.”

Elisha hesitantly picked up the report and gradually turned her eyes to the text.

Her eyes, which had been quietly reading down the page, suddenly stopped.

And stopped again. Soon they began to tremble.

After the initial shock and confusion faded, what filled her completely was…

“This is… what on earth…”

Confusion.

Elisha, whose face had turned pale, looked up and saw a figure emerging from the door, then quickly stood up.

“Doctor.”

It was Stefan, a doctor from Ashen Street.

He had been brought to the Duke’s Residence under the pretense of an invitation without knowing why, but as soon as he saw Elisha, he seemed to grasp the entire situation and rushed over.

Even after rushing over, he couldn’t say anything and just clenched and unclenched his fists.

Seeing this, Elisha became more certain of her thoughts.

She asked in a voice that barely came out.

“Is this true?”

“Miss Elisha…”

“Grandfather’s illness… it wasn’t Mendax, but holy power poisoning?”

“…”

“Did Grandfather know about this too?”

Stefan covered his face.

“…I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

That apology served as an answer to everything.

Elisha’s body collapsed forward.

Everyone was startled and rushed to support her.

“…Hah.”

Elisha, who had been gasping for breath, muttered blankly.

“I need to… go see Grandfather.”

The mage who had brought Stefan here shook his head vigorously.

But Tesagh didn’t stop her.

“Yes. Do that.”

There was no way he could make her truly understand that fact again in front of those empty eyes.

*

And so I arrived in front of Belcato Nursing Home.

“I’d like to visit a VVIP patient.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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