“So that’s why you keep……”

At Chamuka’s inadvertent murmur, Hallik was quick to guess what the unspoken words were.

‘So that’s why you keep following him around?’ probably.

With how the first young master constantly trailed after the prince, it wasn’t hard to figure out.

Hallik thought that family members don’t typically follow each other around like that, and moreover, he had been following him even before Astrid woke up, so why suddenly think it’s because “she’s my mother’s disciple, so we’re famil,y and that’s why I’m following him”?

There’s a limit to forcing connections.

But outwardly, Hallik maintained his proper butler’s smile while inwardly cursing his father, who had fled to the military to avoid becoming a butler.

He clicked his tongue internally as he observed the prince’s face growing increasingly, visibly red.

Whether Chamuka noticed the blush or not, he silently stared at the prince. Much like usual.

‘You’ll bore holes in the child’s face. Please stop staring, First Young Master.’

As far as Hallik knew, Chamuka was always staring intently at the prince. To the point where Hallik felt sorry for the prince being subjected to that gaze.

Who looks at their brother like that?

Talking about brothers… if that’s brotherly, then I don’t have brothers.

***

Once the luggage was mostly moved, Astrid immediately took Leticia and moved to the annex.

Of the two Basilinte men who had been following her like ducklings, one was dealt with by Yen’s tearful plea to please do some work, and the other was handled by Hilda after Astrid told him to go attend his lessons.

“They assigned him a tutor known for excellent teaching, so why does he skip lessons like that? Who did he take after?”

When Astrid grumbled, Leticia said.

“The tutor might have changed. It’s been 5 years since you knew about it.”

“Master.”

“Yes, Master is the one who knows.”

Leticia switched to Astrid’s preferred form of address and carefully asked her.

“Could it be that Lord Chamuka keeps following you because he feels left out… since you’re spending so much time with me after meeting again after so long?”

“I told you, that kid doesn’t feel left out.”

“Even if he doesn’t feel it, you said he still has emotions.”

“Who knows. If you can’t feel it, maybe it doesn’t exist. And originally, the one Chamuka keeps watching isn’t me but… no, never mind.”

Astrid entered the workshop on the third floor of the annex with Leticia.

It was similar to what she had seen in the tower, but larger, with more items, and crucially, more sparkle.

With her eyes now able to see magical power, Leticia could see the blue auras surrounding the objects in the workshop.

When Leticia’s eyes sparkled like those auras, Astrid smiled and patted her head.

“The pretty one likes looking at pretty things. Do you find them that beautiful?”

“Yes!”

“I’ll explain each one later, but for now, come over here.”

Astrid pulled back a curtain in one corner of the workshop. Behind it were a bed and a sofa.

Thinking it was a rest area, Leticia looked around and noticed the bedding forming a round hill as if someone was lying underneath.

“Tan. Let’s drink some water.”

Astrid, who had somehow brought water, pulled back the covers and supported Tan’s head to help him drink. His head nodded weakly like a sick chicken.

Leticia was somewhat shocked to see Tan in a state she had never witnessed before.

“Master…”

Tan was wearing a collar around his neck and a shackle on one arm. Both the collar and shackles were firmly fixed to the solid wall.

Tan weakly murmured.

“Hurts.”

“You’re not in pain. This is how normal people are.”

“Don’t like it.”

After shaking his head, Tan pulled the covers back over himself and lay face down on the bed.

Astrid clicked her tongue and reached out to Leticia, who quickly approached.

“Why is Lord Tan here like this?”

“For an experiment.”

“…But he doesn’t look well.”

Astrid smiled at Leticia’s indirect criticism and sat on the edge of the bed. Then she picked up Leticia and embraced her tightly.

While gently stroking the back of Leticia’s head and back, Astrid quietly began to speak.

“I love Ferik. I love Chamuka and Tan, too. Although I decided to divorce because I love myself more than Ferik, that doesn’t mean I hate them enough to deliberately hurt them.”

“….”

“The experiments I’m conducting are for the future of Basilinte. In other words, for Chamuka and Tan’s future. Because they can’t live forever by drawing on your magical power.”

Astrid began to explain methodically about her experiments.

About why she was keeping Tan isolated, why she was allowing Leticia to have limited contact with the Basilinte family members, and what kind of experiment this was.

“The blood of Basilinte. Or more precisely, the heart of Basilinte is the source of the curse. Currently, the source of the curse is held by four direct Basilinte descendants. Among them, Tan’s magical circuit is connected to mine, and I receive magical power from our Leti. Now, a question.”

Astrid asked while gently pinching Leticia’s cheeks.

“Of the four fragments of the curse’s source, would the curse be lifted if only Tan’s portion was resolved?”

“No. I don’t think so…”

“Correct. It’s meaningless unless all four are resolved simultaneously. But right now, too much magical power is flowing into Tan, creating an imbalance. To resolve this imbalance, I’m currently providing Tan with only the minimum magical power needed for survival. That’s why Tan is like this.”

Tan wasn’t a magician. Until now, he had been synchronized with Astrid, essentially in a state similar to a magician.

But from the moment Astrid adjusted her contact with Leticia to receive only enough magical power for her own survival, Astrid became like an ordinary person unable to use magic, and the same applied to Tan.

For Tan, who had felt magical power since before birth, having it all disappear would make his body feel severely weakened.

“Only after supplying the same amount of magical power to the other three sources of the curse as I’ve been giving to Tan will it be Tan’s turn again.”

“Does that mean Lord Tan has to remain in this painful state until then?”

“Strictly speaking, this isn’t a state of pain. He’s just not adapting to his now-normal body. He’ll be fine once he adapts. Oh, and you shouldn’t even hold his hand during this time.”

Since Tan had been taking all of Astrid’s magical power until now, she would need to give magical power exclusively to the other three Basilinte members for at least a few years.

After hesitating, Astrid finally spoke.

“…I was overwhelmed with just Tan. I couldn’t handle it. If I were to connect your magical circuit to three sources of the curse…”

She trailed off, then embraced Leticia fully. In that warmth, Astrid makes a promise.

“You likely won’t last long. If your body starts to break down… I’ll sever the connected magical circuits by any means necessary and take you back to the magic tower, Leti.”

If the magical power supply was suddenly cut off, the curse might actually become more violent.

But Astrid didn’t mention these side effects at all.

Astrid’s disciple had chosen to sacrifice herself to break the Basilinte curse, and if that failed, it would be Basilinte’s burden to bear.

Not this young magician’s.