Chapter 11 (Take It Off)

“Ahhhhhh!”

The silence that subsided between Lariette and Asrazan was ended by the piercing screams of the Marquis Segreb. Marquis, whose wrists were severed, was rolling on the floor and screaming.

“You, how dare you, do you know who I am!!”

He wrapped his blood-flowing wrists and glared at Asrazan as if to kill him.

Asrazan met his gaze with cold eyes.

The Marquis, who was screaming loudly, as soon as he recognized Asrazan’s appearance, he closed his mouth involuntarily. It was because an evil dark aura overwhelms him.

“How dare…”

As if it were funny, Asrazan raised one corner of his mouth and murmured. It was so easy to hear such a word.

As he slowly approached the Marquis of Segreb, the Marquis groaned and hurriedly backed away. He forgot the pain of having his wrist cut off in front of the fear of death.

“No!”

Asrazan, who was about to cut the Marquis’s body in half at any moment, stopped moving at the touch of a hand that grabbed his clothes.

“He’s still a Marquis. If you kill him, it will be difficult.”

Unexpectedly, it was not an ideal sound, saying that all life is precious and that human beings should not be recklessly killed. Rather, Lariette was judging the situation very realistically.

But Asrazan gave a peek of what he had forgotten.

“I am Kandel. There’s nothing much to be troubled about, even if I kill a marquis, or another duke.”

“Does that make sense? No matter how historic the Kandel is!”

Lariette grabbed his hand and pulled him out, telling him not to be pretentious. It was difficult to draw people’s attention more.

Asrazan thought for a moment about talking about the right to summary punishment recognized by the emperor, but as soon as he felt the warmth of his gloves, he shut his mouth. It was because the appearance of the rabbit running away was pretty cute.

Of course, he didn’t mean to go on like this.

Her deep kindness could have saved his life, but only with his life. Soon, the name Segreb will not be found in the list of aristocrat.

Lariette, who grabbed Asrazan’s hand and ran away, stopped until she reached an isolated alley.

She leaned against the wall, exhaling harshly, while Asrazan’s breathing was calm.

“Are you okay.”

“Heh heh, I’m, heh, okay. Oh, my breath.”

It doesn’t make sense to say that you’re having such a hard time just running like that. Unable to remember that he was a monster, Asrazan thought while waiting for her to catch her breath.

Lariette only managed to properly breathe after about two minutes had passed. Then she lifted her head and looked at him.

“Asrazan!”

“Yes.”

Asrazan answered meekly, expecting that she would give him some advice. Or you could say she was disappointed with his cruelty.

Asrazan gently clenched his fists in the subtle sensation of pricking his skin. The name of the emotion was anxiety. Anxiety that might have disappointed her.

And Lariette blew up that expectation and continued.

“It was so cool!”

“… Yes?”

“It was much, much cooler than the male lead in the previous performance! Thanks for saving me, hehe.”

She rolled her eyes and smiled broadly. I thought about talking about reckless behavior, but I was more grateful.

“What do I do? I think I fell in love with you more? How are you going to take responsibility?”

“… Let’s go home.”

At the sight of flirting again, Asrazan hurriedly turned around.

Lariette followed after him, muttering that there was no other strong man like him.

However, neither Asrazan nor Lariette noticed that his ears had turned red as he walked hurriedly as if he were running away.

* * *

Knock, someone politely knocked on Lariette’s visit.

She replied with a cheerful voice to come in, and soon a bright silver-haired man opened the door and entered.

“It’s been a while, lady.”

“It’s only been two days? Sit here, Doha.”

Lariette said, tapping the chair next to the bed. As soon as they decided to become friends, they stopped talking, so they started talking comfortably to each other.

“Hmm, it looks worse.”

Doha put a hand on her forehead and muttered. Again, the fever was high.

“I wandered around a bit yesterday, haha.”

Lariette, who was embarrassed, laughed awkwardly and made excuses.

After yesterday’s performance, Lariette and Asrazan wandered around the city for a while. However, as he said, there was so much attention that he had to return shortly after.

It was only then that I understood why Asrazan was so reluctant to go out. At the same time, it was also sad.

“You really are a patient who doesn’t listen.”

Obviously he told her to take a break. Doha pointed out with a smile. Lariette just pretended not to know and looked away.

Soon, golden energy flowed out from his hand that touched her forehead.

The fever subsided in an instant and my head was refreshed. It was the divine power of a dazzling effect.

“I, Doha.”

“Why, lady?”

“Uh…”

Lariette licked her lips and hesitated for a while. But she continued speaking as if she had made a decision.

“Is it impossible to cure an incurable disease even with divine power?”

It was a question that had been running through her mind ever since I saw him cure a bad cold in one shot. The desperate anticipation just kept rising.

Doha narrowed his eyes and looked at her, wondering why she was asking such a question. And secretly, he answered, exhaling more divine power into his body.

“Usually incurable… It is a disease that neither healing magic nor divine power can cure. If there is any possibility to cure it in any way, we wouldn’t call it incurable.”

“Oh, I see….”

“Well, if you are healed by a person with the divine power of the Holy Father, things might be different.”

Doha smirked and added, bending his eyes. At his answer, Lariette only smiled bitterly.

He was the Pope because he had the greatest divine power. Even the king of any country had a hard time meeting him.

It was impossible for her to meet him, so that was the word after all.

‘Being hopeful for nothing.’

Lariette was pathetic for herself as she had hopelessly expected and then despaired.

And then, Doha sensed something strange through the divine power that spread within her body.

‘The mana circuit is twisted.’

Doha kept a witty smile and muttered in his heart.

It was a rare case for people who were born with a lot of mana. If left unattended, the body exploded and even died.

‘So that’s why you talk about an incurable disease? It’s cute.’

According to what he looked at with his divine power, the mana circuit was twisted in Lariette’s body, but it wasn’t enough to explode and die.

To put it bluntly, she suffered from bone disease for the rest of her life. If you do it very wrong, you can die.

She seemed to be worried when she heard the diagnosis that she might develop into a deadly disease. The twist of the mana circuit was a problem that even the high priest could not touch.

Although she was not a good person who healed someone with a noble heart without paying anything for it, she was a very useful person to him, so he decided to be kind after a long time.

“I don’t think my body is messy here and there. Do you want me to heal you a little bit? periodically.”

“Oh, really?”

Yes thank you! Lariette nodded her head in thanks.

Still, I thought that if I was treated regularly, I might be able to live a little longer.

“Then, excuse me.”

Doha smiled like a fox and reached out and pulled her body towards him.

Suddenly, their bodies rubbed against each other, and their foreheads touched each other.

“What…?!”

“Shh… I have to focus.”

Doha grabbed Lariette by the back of the head with his right hand, fixed it, and whispered.

Then he closed his eyes and began to memorize the prayer slowly. It looked like they were going to be kissed at any moment.

Lariette’s face immediately heated up in the embarrassing situation. For some reason, I felt as if I had sinned against Asrazan.

However, as the holy energy spread throughout her body, she immediately realized that it was working. It was because my body, which had been throbbing, began to feel refreshed quickly.

‘I don’t know if this posture is necessary.’

Lariette thought with a grunt and pain.

Of course, there was no need to shift the divine power in this position. It was only that the playfulness of Doha rose.

It also happened quite similarly. On the outside, Doha pretended to be a neat priest, but on the inside, he had sloppy thoughts.

After a while, he memorized all the prayers and slowly pulled himself. Still, Lariette’s face was as red as a blush.

“Today ends here. I’ll have to do it a few more times to get better.”

Getting the twisted mana circuit back to normal wasn’t easy for him either.

But it didn’t even take days. It was just procrastinating to create an excuse to see her often.

“Uh, that-thank you.”

“Thank you, can you help me too, Lady?”

Lariette looked at him puzzledly, making an unfamiliar sound. But as soon as he rolled up the sleeves of his uniform, she understood the situation.

A large cut was clearly visible on his white arm. The wound, which was still bleeding as if it had not been long, looked terribly painful just to look at it.

“How did this happen!”

“Somehow.”

Doha smiled naturally as if it was an insignificant wound.

Lariette thought it was either sincere or crazy to heal himself first even in such an injured state.

She frowned and placed her hand over his wound.

I was worried that there might not be enough mana to purify Asrazan tomorrow, but from what I’ve figured out so far, it doesn’t seem to be the case.

A white light wrapped around his arm, and the cut from the knife gradually healed.

Doha looked at the scene and smiled bitterly.

‘After all, I was not mistaken.’

He was worried that the wound on his forehead might have healed because of Lariette’s power. So, he wanted to make it clear again.

In other words, this was the wound he made yesterday himself, just for confirmation.

The priest working right below him shook his head as he saw him shovel a knife into his arm.

“Whew… I’m sorry, but I think I’ll have to stop here.”

Strangely, it costs too much mana. Lariette muttered with her droopy shoulders. It seemed to bother her that she could not completely remove even the scars.

However, if she tried more than this, the mana required to purify Asrazan might not be enough. So, she lifted her hand with a sad expression.

“No, that’s enough.”

Doha smiled and rolled up his sleeves again.

It must have cost a lot of mana. It’s the price of healing the body of the next pope.

He rummaged through his pocket as if looking for something, then pulled out a shiny thing and handed it to Lariette.

“Come on, lady. It is the price of healing.”

“Hiccup!”

“Do you hiccup when you are surprised?”

Doha asked the question without knowing Lariette’s heart.

As he said, she was very surprised. It was because what he had brought out was a large jewel.

“Hiccup! No, jewels, hiccups!”

“Ah. I found a mine in the house.”

He lied naturally. At that startling answer, Lariette only continued to hiccup.

She only heals this and he gives her a jewel! She wanted to give her soul to him right away.

“I will treat you as a lifetime customer.”

Lariette bowed her head. Doha burst into laughter at the ridiculous look.

“There is no other way to find a healing wizard other than me!”

She hurriedly offered an exclusive contract as someone would steal the hen that lays the golden eggs. She looked very different from the past when she said she was busy and couldn’t heal him now.

“… Of course, Lady.”

Don’t ever think about running away. Doha responded leisurely.

* * *

After returning from Doha, Asrazan returned home late at night.

Because of that, Lariette, who had already fallen asleep, was unable to meet him. He met her a few times before, but his heart was empty for some reason because she wasn’t there.

Asrazan desperately denied the situation and went to sleep.

And the morning was bright. He fell asleep only at dawn and, unlike usual, could not open his eyes even when the sun rose and the birds were chirping.

Lariette, who still woke up in dawn, was surprised to see that there was no Asrazan in the office and wandered around the Duke’s residence. And soon she met Halstein in the hallway.

“Good morning, Halstein.”

“Good morning, miss. Are you looking for master?”

Halstein asked the question with a happy smile as if he was looking at a late granddaughter. She nodded again and answered.

“Yes. Do you by any chance know where he is?”

“Master came in late yesterday morning and is still sleeping.”

“Oh, I see…”

Lariette’s face, who wanted to see that handsome face as soon as possible, was noticeably faded.

Halstein looked at it satisfactorily and continued.

“Would you mind waking him up? It was time to get up.”

“Me? Can I…?”

“Okay, it can’t be.”

She just has to wake him up. It would have been good for her to break through the Duke of Kandel’s mansion.

To be honest, I wanted her to live with Asrazan for the rest of her life, even if I was in debt. If he even got married, had sons and daughters, and lived happily ever after, he had no regrets even if he died right away.

Halstein led her into Asrazan’s room, envisioning a happy future in his mind.

Asrazan’s room was decorated in shades as dark as his attire from the moment she visited. But rather than gloomy, it was luxurious and quaint.

Lariette gluped down and gently opened the large door and entered.

Inside the antique decorated room, there was a huge bed with black duvets.

And in the bed was a sculptural handsome man sleeping. It looked as if he had died without a single breath.

‘You’re wearing a bandage even when you’re sleeping.’

Lariette thought blankly and walked towards the bed. Contemplations about how to wake up ran through her head non-stop.

But she soon realized that she didn’t have to. It was because Asrazan’s eyes were gently opened before she could even approach him completely and say anything.

“Good morning, Asrazan.”

“… Wizard?”

“When the hell are you going to call me by my name?”

Even after waking up, Lariette grunted briefly at the sight of him maintaining a consistent title.

Meanwhile, Asrazan could not hide his embarrassment and raised his upper body.

“Why are you here….”

She didn’t speak and kept her mouth shut.

No matter how daring she was, she wouldn’t be able to enter his room recklessly. It was very clear who was behind it.

“Hah, Halstein.”

Asrazan sighed and put a finger on his forehead. He felt like his head was pounding.

“Don’t say anything to Halstein. By the way, today’s purification is more suitable in this place than your office.”

“This place? …What does it mean?”