The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 181

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

17. A Person Loved by God

I opened my eyes to the pale dawn light.

As I rubbed my swollen eyes and tried to sit up, I paused.

“….”

It was because Tesagh was holding my hand.

“Duke should sleep too.”

“I’ll just watch you fall asleep.”

He who had put me to sleep with those words yesterday was sitting on the floor, leaning against the head of the bed with his eyes closed.

Just like how I had watched over Chloe, or like how he hadn’t left my side for two whole days when I had lost consciousness.

I leaned back against the cushion and looked at Tesagh.

I’m an appraiser. My aesthetic eye and keen perception are unfailingly applied to people’s appearances as well.

But I usually consciously restrained myself. Should I say I tried to forget even if I caught something.

‘It’s not proper etiquette. Though it might be different if I had to appraise a person.’

But looking at Tesagh.

‘He’s really handsome.’

I found myself thinking that anew.

With his bright red eyes closed, his usual fierce atmosphere had dissipated, leaving only his refined contours and lines.

‘But why is he frowning even while sleeping…? Oh.’

As I stared at Tesagh’s face and stopped at one spot, I smiled inwardly.

Then I slightly raised my finger and poked his cheek.

“What, what is it.”

Tesagh flinched and opened his eyes to look at me.

I said innocently.

“Your cheek is softer than I thought?”

“…Did you think I would have muscles in my cheeks too?”

“Somehow I thought Duke might be like that.”

“Good grief.”

Tesagh, who seemed to be wondering whether this was a compliment or an insult, appeared flustered that my finger was still resting on his cheek.

Tesagh, who rarely acted awkwardly and avoided my gaze, muttered.

“This is the first time I’ve been woken up like this.”

“Hmm, didn’t you wake up when I got up?”

“…What?”

“I thought that’s what happened.”

How are you going to explain staying here after saying you’d just watch me sleep and leave? That’s the expression you had.

Those words lingered in my mouth, but I decided not to add them and smiled softly.

“Your ears were a little red.”

Now not only his ears but his cheeks had turned red, and Tesagh’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.

That sight was somehow, a little.

‘Cute.’

He looked cute.

Especially with my finger poking his cheek.

But if I said that out loud, this man as big as a door would seriously doubt my mental state, so I should stop.

‘Actually, I was being more brazen because I was worried he might be concerned.’

“Well, someone with Duke’s level of martial arts couldn’t have failed to notice me waking up, I thought? So now….”

That’s when I was about to withdraw my hand.

Tesagh grabbed my hand and brought his face closer.

“Do more.”

“Pardon?”

“I don’t know what you were trying to do. …But do more.”

He muttered with his lips half-buried in my palm.

The breath mixed in his deeply sunken voice warmed my hand.

Having inadvertently grasped Tesagh’s cheek, I realized his fiery eyes were now filled entirely with me.

I gulped and asked in bewilderment.

“Do you know what I want to do to Duke?”

“It doesn’t matter. Anything. …You’re allowed to.”

I hesitated.

“Um, then….”

I slowly leaned toward him.

And then.

“….”

“….”

“So right now this is.”

“Yes. It’s something I really wanted to try at least once.”

I pinched his cheeks without hurting him.

With both hands, no less.

“Actually, I wanted to knead them like bread dough, but I held back. I did well, right?”

Tesagh, whose cheeks had been suddenly pinched, had an expression I knew very well. The ‘what kind of thing is this’ look.

After looking at me quietly like that for a while.

“You really….”

He laughed.

Refreshingly, with his eyes slightly narrowed.

It was indeed a laugh I knew well.

‘Actually, what I really wanted to do.’

Was to make Tesagh laugh.

Since he must have been troubled about whether it was right to tell me this after learning the truth first, or whether it would be better to bury it.

Having seen me sobbing, I hoped Tesagh’s heart, which must have grown heavier last night, would lighten even a little.

‘He was probably holding my hand because he was anxious.’

Worried I might have impulsive thoughts, and that I might give up on everything.

Even knowing I wasn’t that kind of person, even after hearing my resolution, Tesagh must have worried that it might be momentary.

Then I just needed to show him.

“Still the same.”

That I’m still the same.

“Even the Border Guard never did this to me.”

“Oh oh, so I’m the first?”

“…Probably the last too.”

I decided to keep my intention secret from Tesagh.

“Let’s go. Lunch should be ready.”

“By the way, is it okay for us to leave the room together? Isn’t this Duke’s bedroom? If the attendants or maids see….”

“I don’t care what they think. …If it bothers you though.”

“If it bothers me?”

“I’ll tell them to turn around and keep their mouths shut.”

“This direct problem-solving approach was hereditary….”

“What?”

“…You’re allowed to.”

I decided to keep it secret that his words made my heart race too.

*

After finishing an early lunch, Tesagh and I headed straight to the Magic Tower.

The first person to spot me was Chloe.

“E, Elisha!”

Chloe, who had abandoned her research on dark magic and rushed over, hesitated for a long moment before asking.

“…D, did you eat breakfast?”

She couldn’t have slept well, and her condition couldn’t be fine either, so she chose to ask about meals.

That clumsy and awkward greeting paradoxically felt incredibly warm.

Thinking about how much she must have worried to act normally, I smiled and nodded.

“Of course. What about you, Chloe? Did you eat breakfast?”

“Yes, I, I ate. The cooks at the Duke’s residence, prepared it for me.”

As we exchanged pleasantries, the mages visible behind us quietly cleared away.

It seemed less like they were wary of my holy power and more like they were uncomfortable with someone important coming so early in the morning.

‘I wonder if this is fortunate or unfortunate.’

Only one mage remained.

It was the person who had overseen the Root of Blindness investigation and explained the situation to me yesterday.

Pushing up his glasses as he approached, he glanced at me cautiously.

“Well, um, first… I think it would be better to explain about the patient first…”

At his gaze that seemed to be measuring whether I could handle it, I answered immediately.

“Yes. Please tell me. You don’t need to embellish or speak indirectly, just give me the exact facts.”

“Oh…”

The mage let out what might have been a weak exclamation or sigh and gestured.

“I will do so. Then, Lady Chloe…”

“Yes.”

Chloe took a deep breath and conjured a screen with magic.

What appeared on the screen was Grandfather.

The moment I saw Grandfather lying motionless in bed with his eyes closed, my heart sank, but I didn’t look away.

“First, the patient has been unable to wake up since yesterday.”

The mage was faithfully following my request to speak directly.

“Based on his medical records so far, this is not a normal level. We thought that meeting Lady Elisha yesterday might be the cause…”

“Thought?”

Tesagh questioned.

“But what’s puzzling is that while test results show the patient’s current mana level is virtually nonexistent, his innate mana capacity appears to be quite substantial. He also had the capacity to endure that ‘divine-level holy power’ for nearly 20 years.”

The mage, explaining that this level far exceeded that of most mages, furrowed his brow.

“If that’s the case, there should be some naturally recovered mana from his time at the nursing home, and moreover, since he was taking Root of Blindness, a few minutes of meeting shouldn’t leave major aftereffects. But…”

“Grandfather hasn’t been able to wake up.”

“Yes. There seem to be two factors for this. First, the first one is.”

Thud.

The mage placed the familiar black liquid on the table and continued.

“The possibility that the patient intentionally did not consume the Root of Blindness extract.”

The scene I had witnessed of Grandfather pouring out his medicine flashed before my eyes.

“You mean he deliberately threw away his medicine…? Why?”

Chloe, who seemed to be hearing this speculation for the first time, stammered as she asked.

“More precisely, it appears he didn’t drink it consistently but controlled the intervals, though I’m not sure about the reason.”

The person who could provide an answer wasn’t the mage.

All eyes turned to me.

I stared at Grandfather on the screen and spoke.

“The Grandfather I know isn’t someone who would choose to throw away medicine out of despair about his illness or giving up on life.”

“Then…?”

“It’s the opposite. …Because he had to, he didn’t drink it.”

I had been thinking about it constantly.

Why did Grandfather, who seemed to have been taking his medicine all along, suddenly decide to throw it away at that moment?

Recalling that not a single number in those enormously thick ledgers was wrong, I clenched my fist.

“Grandfather calculated the amount of mana he needed.”

Holy power erases mana.

This proposition naturally works in reverse as well.

“Until a certain point. That is, to hide my holy power as much as possible until I became an adult.”

Grandfather had been suppressing my holy power with his own mana.

By using his mana to suppress my holy power, and in exchange, gradually consuming his own life force.

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