The Villainess Will Not Bring Dishonor To Her Family

115 - One of Us - Part 1

Lionel's Point Of View

No matter how you look at it, it is probably a trap. They spent so much energy trying to capture Lily yesterday that I cannot imagine it to be anything else. By all means, it sounds too good to be true, but if Lily wants to go then I can't hold her back... even in the pitiful state she is in after everything that happened yesterday. I don't want to deliver the message for her.

"Augustus!" I call out as I knock on the door to Lily's room. She's probably still sleeping, but when we got inside with her yesterday the commoner girl that Lily brought along rushed to her side and said she'd do everything else with a desperate look in her eyes, being as pushy as usual, but looked as though her life depended on it... I agreed because Lily had already healed the worst of her injuries, and spreading the secret any further would do more damage than good. The castration story might work for a little while longer, but it's a matter of time before it slips out by accident as someone tries to use first aid on her injuries after she comes back passed out.

If some of her own knights hadn't appeared at my side yesterday to take care of her then things could have turned out horribly. Our own knights and men-at-arms would simply have ripped her armor off to get to her injuries as fast as possible. Honestly, yesterday I almost passed out as well after her healing rain. I did overhear Claire talking about Lily having transferred mana to her when they were small... but I didn't think we would ever get in a situation where she'd do it to me too.

I listen closely and knock on the door again. The commoner is probably sleeping heavily after all... but against my expectations a high pitched scream comes from the room. It's the commoner's. My stomach sinks immediately and the worst thoughts always come first. I barge in and look directly to the bed, fearing she died in her sleep or that an assassin had snuck in... however... thankfully both of my fears were proven wrong.

The commoner pats the bed in a panic and looks around trying to find Lily... but judging by the lack of the extra set of my old clothes, she has just headed out of the room when she woke up. Other proofs is how the bed is made and the windows are locked. I look to the commoner that's running to the windows, definitely considering the kidnapping.

"You need not worry. I will go find Augustus, go get some sleep."

She looks back at me with a fierce gaze, which speaks volumes of her opinion of my words, and also an incoming demand from her.

"I will not bring you along." I turn and leave, glancing to Rover on the way out to make sure that she will not end up following us instead.

—-*—-

Back on the subject of mana transfer. A same element mana transfer is painless. The faeries complain about it loudly, but it is doable. You are protected by a faeries mainly in return for your mana, so of course they get sour about you giving your mana away. If you stop using mana and only transfer it, the fairy might actually leave you too. Thankfully, Lily doesn't need to worry about this. There are however many more problems in different mana transfers. First of all, the receiving fairy gets pissed, because they have to get rid of that mana to be able to get their own kind. Kerag, my fairy, is an especially stubborn one, so he was not happy with this but thankfully decided to comply anyway... almost without punishment... He sent a curse through the connection between Lily and I, which caused a rather high fever. On top of that, she transferred all of her mana, which left her exhausted. Her healing magic doesn't have the ability to prevent sickness, so she's probably walking around with a fever without a care for it.

Now, usually you don't have to lock up your patients. Their injuries keep them in bed... except for this idiot. Now, when she was put here yesterday she was coughing up blood in her sleep, she was sweating heavily, with a breath so shallow I could hardly tell she was breathing. On top of her shock she was running a fever from Kerag's curse... and that very same person is now wandering around camp trying to look tough... As usual, she has no care of what harm she brings to herself. I understand that she simply intends to heal herself as if her injuries doesn't really matter... but it still makes my stomach burn with frustration.