Hello, Readers! I am celebrating my birthday with extra chapter updates, so please enjoy this special chapter release of 4 bonus chapters! 🥳

(Lurelia’s Birthday Bonus – Update 3/4 🎉)

♡ To all readers who purchased these chapters before my Birthday: I can’t express this enough – Thank you for your support. (*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

***

“I thought that if the child in my womb was a mage, they might not be affected by the curse. But the people of Basilinte were never capable of becoming mages in the first place. I should have given up there, but…”

Astrid wiped the blood-drawn symbols off Leticia’s cheek.

Magic of the same nature could be transferred with mutual consent to some extent, just as Astrid had used Leticia’s magic to cast spells.

“At that time, Tan was in my womb, and we were connected. I thought maybe I could transfer my magic to Tan. I believed transferring magic would be fine.”

“….”

“At first, he accepted my magic well, so I thought everything was fine. But at some point, he started taking my magic even without me giving it to him. By the time my belly began to grow, I realized I was running out of magic.”

For a mage, the depletion of magic was akin to death.

Astrid, with a bright tone, added an explanation for the young mage who was too inexperienced to know this yet.

“It meant I was starting to die.”

***

Wretch. Wretch.

Astrid pushed aside the jar she had vomited blood into and wiped her mouth with a handkerchief.

Her vision went white momentarily before returning. Her anemia was severe.

The child in her womb was absorbing all of her magic. With no more magic left to give, the child had begun to draw even the magic infused in Astrid’s blood.

Her organs were being scraped raw, and her blood vessels were bursting.

It had been days since Astrid last saw Ferik, hiding herself away in the workshop.

Hearing the loud banging on the door from outside, Astrid barely straightened her back.

Something was clearly wrong.

Despite absorbing so much magic, the child in her womb seemed to have taken in nothing at all—there was no trace of magic within them. Yet, even now, they continued to drain her magic endlessly.

With a crack, the doorknob broke, and the door swung open.

“Astrid, if you have complaints…”

Ferik froze the moment he saw her.

A face drained of all color, sunken cheeks, and the overwhelming stench of blood.

Astrid removed the handkerchief from her mouth and spoke.

“Leave.”

Ignoring her command, Ferik stepped forward.

“What illness is this?”

“It’s not an illness. Leave. I have too much to do. I don’t have the time to deal with you too.”

Ferik grabbed Astrid’s waist as she turned away. His firm grip made it clear he wouldn’t let go until he got an answer.

“Tell me. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.”

“Astrid.”

“I really don’t know. It’s not an illness. It’s just…”

Astrid rested her forehead against Ferik’s shoulder.

Her condition was worsening. She could no longer do anything on her own.

In the end, the only person she could turn to for help was this man.

“The child in my womb is absorbing my magic. Far more than I can handle.”

“….”

“I need a mage. A mage with magic similar in nature to mine.”

“I’ll request help from the Magic Tower immediately…”

“No.”

Astrid stopped Ferik, who was about to contact the Magic Tower. Her icy blue eyes grew cold.

“Keep this a secret from the Magic Tower. You need to find one yourself.”

“Why?”

“Because that mage will have to serve as a sacrifice for our child in my place.”

The saying that all mages were lunatics might not have been entirely wrong.

At least Astrid was the kind of person who could kill another for the sake of herself and her child.

“If I can’t handle it, no other mage will be able to either. They’ll die in the end, drained of all their magic. That’s why you have to find one in secret.”

Astrid knew very well how far her husband, who never claimed to love her, would go for her sake.

And she also knew how to exploit the affection Ferik himself didn’t realize he felt for her.

“Or else I’ll die.”

“That won’t happen.”

“I’m counting on you.”

From that point on, Ferik scoured the continent in search of a mage with magic similar to Astrid’s—magic akin to water.

To avoid drawing the attention of the Magic Tower, he sought mages whose disappearances wouldn’t raise suspicion. It took some time, but Ferik eventually succeeded in secretly abducting a mage and brought them to Astrid.

By then, Astrid’s condition had deteriorated to the point where she couldn’t even move on her own. She spent her days hooked up to transfusion packs and downing magic supplements nonstop.

When Astrid attempted to absorb the magic of the kidnapped mage, believing she would be fine now, she collapsed, coughing up blood.

“Ugh!”

The absorption wasn’t easy. Forcing it might have been possible, but the side effects would destroy her body faster than the benefits could help.

At that moment, Astrid recalled her teacher’s lessons.

About the side effects of transferring magic.

Having the same elemental affinity wasn’t enough. Only magic that had been awakened recently, and thus hadn’t yet solidified in nature, could be absorbed by Astrid without side effects.

“Let that mage go.”

“Does it not suit you? I’ll find another mage…”

“No. No other mage will work either.”

In that moment, Astrid resigned herself to her fate.

A mage with vast magic reserves, who had just awakened their powers and whose magic was still fresh?

Such a mage didn’t exist. And even if they did, what were the chances Ferik could find them before the Magic Tower did?

None.

As Astrid prepared for the death she knew was inevitable, Ferik asked her, “If the child is gone, then you’ll survive, won’t you?”

“Our magic is connected. Right now, if the child dies, I die too. And if I die, the child dies.”

Her attempt to free at least one Basilinte bloodline from the curse had come to this.

Astrid muttered bitterly.

“I shouldn’t have started this in the first place. What’s so important about emotions anyway?”

“….”

She spoke to the man who still showed no expression.

“Maybe it’s for the best. Ferik, at least you won’t even know how to feel sad.”

“There must be another way…”

“There’s no way for me to survive. Well, maybe the child can be saved.”

Astrid didn’t bother hiding the truth out of fear that Ferik might worry. After all, her husband didn’t know how to worry.

But he never stopped denying Astrid’s impending death.

Astrid didn’t try to reassure Ferik by saying she’d be fine. Instead, she told him the truth, trying to make him accept her inevitable death.

She couldn’t imagine Ferik crying at her grave, but she could imagine him clinging to her corpse, insisting she was still alive.

“I’m going to die, Ferik. You need to accept that.”

“You won’t die, Astrid.”

“Even if you deny it, the result won’t change.”

“No. You’re going to tell me how you won’t die. Before I go out and find the solution myself.”

Ferik’s warning was polite on the surface, but Astrid quickly grasped its true meaning.

She had learned from past, shocking experiences. That was his way of saying, “Fix it before I lose control.”

So Astrid gave him an impossible condition.

“Purple eyes.”

Purple eyes were a color no human could naturally possess.

While the Herta Imperial Family was known for having them, their eyes were closer to a bluish hue than a true purple. At most, they resembled pale lavender.

“I need someone with purple eyes who hasn’t yet awakened their magic.”