Chapter 12 Part 5

If medicine wasn’t the answer, there was only one solution left.

If a lack of spiritual power was consuming his life force, wouldn’t providing him with spiritual power help?

This was surely the simplest and clearest method.

Hearing my somewhat dangerous-sounding mumble, Hyle, who was sitting against the bed, looked at me with anxious eyes.

He seemed worried about what I might say next. But this time, what I had in mind wasn’t words, but actions.

“I’m here, you know.”

Just as Hyle was an irreplaceable healer to me, I was the same to him.

After briefly finishing my words, I approached Hyle and pressed my lips to his.

Soon after, I felt the subtle power inside me flowing back out.

In truth, a kiss wasn’t the only means to return the spiritual power I had received from him.

I simply remembered, as Hyle had once said, that when the other person’s condition is severe, there’s no better option than a kiss.

Since this was the maximum level of skinship we could engage in, its effect was correspondingly extraordinary.

As I slowly pulled my lips away, in front of me wasn’t Hyle, but a red radish.

As if this were his first time experiencing such a thing, he was looking at me with a completely flustered face.

“What are you…”

“Saving you, just as you did for me.”

At my utterly calm words, Hyle’s previously pale complexion gradually returned.

“Why would you do such a thing? Returning spiritual power… what about you?”

“Unlike someone, I won’t be coughing up blood.”

Fortunately, returning some spiritual power seemed to be having an effect.

While Hyle’s concern for me was quite pleasing to hear, I deliberately acted indifferent and simply smiled.

“About earlier, there seemed to be easily over a hundred people… how many people’s memories can you manipulate?”

Seeing his condition somewhat improve, I casually asked the question I had been curious about.

If Hyle could exert such power while his energy was depleted, his limit must be even higher.

I had heard that even skilled magicians could manipulate the minds or memories of at most a hundred people, but could Hyle perhaps handle up to 200?

“Well, I’ve never thought about it. …If I had to say, I could probably manage up to a thousand.”

After pondering for a moment, Hyle answered lightly as if it were nothing significant.

“What…? A thousand? That’s the level of a grand magician!”

I had been thinking at most 300, but suddenly hearing a thousand made me realize once again how much I had been underestimating Hyle.

“Can’t you do about the same?”

Hyle tilted his head, seemingly finding my surprised reaction unexpected.

Of course, I could also do it, but… comparing my magical power with Hyle’s was no easy task to begin with.

The sources of our power were different, and moreover, I commanded demon beasts summoned through my magic.

On the other hand, Hyle…

“In my case, I borrow demonic power, so that’s one thing, but you don’t even have a contracted demon beast, right? It’s purely your power.”

“Is that so.”

He rolled his eyes indifferently, as if he didn’t quite understand.

He does something incredible and just says “Is that so” so nonchalantly…!

I knew Hyle was strong, but being essentially a secondary male lead, his abilities weren’t described in great detail in the original work.

In other words, it was an unknown territory.

The parts not depicted in the original story were entirely dependent on Hyle’s own talents.

“Well, never mind. You seem to be better than before, so I’m relieved. Now get some sleep.”

I forcibly laid Hyle down on the bed where he had been sitting and even covered him with a blanket.

Hyle, who rarely had to yield to others’ actions, had no choice but to helplessly comply with my behavior.

“I never thought you’d actually make me sleep here.”

“You can’t go home in that condition. With the head of House Feros already on your case, you wouldn’t be safe returning with all your spiritual power drained.”

Izel Feros, the head of House Feros and Hyle’s father, wasn’t someone even I would be eager to deal with.

In a word, he was the type of person I’d rather not encounter.

Izel was terribly diligent and infuriatingly inflexible, a rigid individual.

He was the complete opposite of Mattio, the head of House Laté.

The two men were like black and white.

Just like Hyle and me.

Of course, because of that, the durability of the Feros Knights and the Grand Temple under his leadership was exceptionally solid.

But these days, with Abel’s tyranny, Izel’s nerves must be incredibly on edge.

Add to that if Hyle’s depleted spiritual power were discovered… especially if it became known that I was the reason…

…Hyle needs to recover quickly.

“‘Wouldn’t be safe,’ huh… Your reason for consideration is quite brutal.”

“From now on, things will only be more brutal. Tell me if you’re scared.”

Hyle’s soft laughter, which erupted with a hint of embarrassment, pleasantly reached my ears.

His drowsy, deep voice was quite languid and calm.

It was soft enough to evoke the evening breeze.

Hyle kept making me experience strange emotions.

They were clearly unfamiliar, but not unpleasant.

In this room filled with warmth, I was the only cold thing.

When I placed my palm on Hyle’s cheek, he willingly tilted his face into my hand.

My coolness was melting in his warmth that filled my hand.

How long had we been like that? I gently got up from the bed where I had been sitting to let Hyle sleep comfortably.

But then, Hyle’s lips showed a small gap again.

“Rosiel, I know it’s crazy… but stay by my side. Until I fall asleep.”

It could have been dismissed as sleep-talking. After all, Hyle had his eyes closed, breathing evenly.

That’s why I didn’t answer. I simply stayed by his side to ensure his dawn would arrive safely.

When I felt his small breathing sounds gradually fade and become so steady they were almost inaudible, I carefully moved away from him.

“We’re both crazy.”

My soliloquy, with no one to hear it, scattered silently over the waning moon that illuminated the dawn night.

We had, at some point, become the kind of relationship where this was enough.

* * *

A few days later, it was an exceptionally bright day.

My eyes opened naturally early in the morning, so I got up before Lynn even came to wake me.

Quite some time had passed since I began living my third life.

Honestly, I was looking forward to my future, as the purification of my heart by Hyle was showing good progress.

In truth, I never thought I’d build such a friendship with Hyle. I hadn’t planned on it either.

There was supposed to be no one in any of my plans.

There was only me. My happiness and freedom, nothing more.

But these days…

“Sigh…”

Breaking off my engagement with Abel was still difficult, and Hyle, whom I had trusted as a lifeline for purifying my heart, had coughed up blood.

I wouldn’t be able to receive spiritual power for a while.

“Why does nothing work out?”

If things continued like this, I would surely be recorded as just another common villainess who met a futile end after excessively using black magic.

Meanwhile, Hertiana, the actual female protagonist, seemed to be living quite happily in her own way, despite not ending up with Abel.

Was I in a position where happiness was impossible from the start?

Was this the universe’s way of telling me that a villain like me, who had committed so many evil deeds, couldn’t simply quit being a villainess overnight?

“That would be too cruel.”

Since my possession, I had truly tried not to live as I did before.

I apologized to Celi, didn’t bully Hertiana, and avoided causing trouble to others in attempts to attract Abel’s or Hyle’s attention.

I never threatened people with demon beasts.

Yet my life—and my plans—remained uncertain.

“…miss!”