Chapter 10. What on Earth Are You Raising?

* * *

David, Theo’s personal physician, was not from the Phaenyx Principality.

He was originally from the Bios Empire’s Magic Research Institute.

His specialty was creating weapons using magic stones that could be helpful in war.

As a result, he frequently met with knights who were drafted for the battlefield.

David realized one thing from these encounters.

What the knights heading to the frontlines of war needed wasn’t weapons to win battles.

It was treating their wounded hearts.

How many people in life make a profession of severing people’s limbs and lives?

Especially in war, countless lives are lost.

The knights’ blades charge towards the enemy, but it’s difficult to behead the endless stream of enemies in one stroke.

Fallen enemies and allies gasp for breath with severed limbs.

It was common for them to writhe in pain, begging to be saved, not knowing where their severed legs had gone.

Knights sent to the battlefield were inevitably exposed to these sights.

Knights who had been to war once suffered severe trauma.

So David quit the Magic Research Institute and devoted himself to researching psychology, treating the hearts of knights.

A doctor who treats the mental mind.

Most people scoffed when they heard David’s introduction.

Treating the mind? In this world?

The idea of treating something invisible like the mind seemed close to a lie.

But knights who had experienced the harsh battlefield frequently sought out David.

The recurring nightmares.

Sudden seizures.

They suffered from hallucinations that took them back to that time at just the sound of clashing blades.

The knights experiencing this trauma were most numerous in the Phaenyx Principality.

David naturally settled and opened his practice in the Phaenyx Principality.

It was Ulysse who came seeking treatment for his lord after hearing about David among the knights.

David too had heard plenty about Theo’s reputation.

The War Demon.

A terrifying and brutal murderer who beheads enemies without a hint of change in emotion, and carries those heads on his horse.

People often believed that Theo enjoyed killing people for its own sake.

Otherwise, how could he have led knights into war from the age of fifteen, before his voice had even fully changed?

However, David thought that Theo must be hiding symptoms similar to the knights who had experienced war.

If Theo had nightmares due to trauma, he would prescribe specially made sleeping pills, and if he suffered from hallucinations, he needed to be freed from guilt through counseling therapy.

But when David met Theo after being summoned by Ulysse, he was markedly different from other knights.

He was insensitive to everything.

He didn’t know what emotions he should feel.

When asked how it felt to behead an enemy, Theo said he looked for the next enemy’s neck.

He said he abandoned his allies when he saw them in dangerous situations during war.

He added that it was natural because that’s how to win wars.

Moreover, Theo freely uttered self-deprecating words.

A vicious being that people trembled before. People who prayed for his death. A firm belief that no one would ever like him.

For the first time, David felt at a loss.

Theo had lost the perspective to properly see his own state, and his sense to check his own feelings was broken.

The depression accompanied by lethargy was quite a serious symptom. Even intensive treatment would not be enough.

But Theo dismissed his condition as insignificant.

He wasn’t just a simple patient, but the lord of the principality. David couldn’t force him to receive treatment.

Thanks to this, all David could do was prescribe medication good for insomnia, folk remedies to help with his alcohol dependence.

And counseling about once every two months to check if the symptoms had worsened.

Although David was the doctor, it was always him who sought out Theo.

But today, for the first time, Theo had sought him out first.

David’s hands became sweaty and his shoulders tensed up.

Had Theo’s symptoms worsened?

Had he become aware that he was sick to the point of not being able to endure alone, to the point of seeking David out?

Whatever it was, he had to be of help to him.

He had to treat this pitiful lord whose heart had become numb from countless wars, who blamed only himself despite being steeped in loneliness.

David postponed all other treatments and passed through the castle gates towards the Black Mansion where Theo was.

Although he had said he’d leave early, it was already dusk with the sun setting.

As he got out of the carriage, Ulysse, who had been waiting in front of the Black Mansion, came running.

“Secretary, is His Highness, is he alright?”

“No. It’s serious.”

David swallowed dryly.

Ulysse, who always spoke objectively and calmly about his lord, was slightly out of breath.

It’s serious.

Perhaps… It shouldn’t be an urgent situation where he tried to take his own life or something.

He hurriedly followed Ulysse to the fourth-floor office where Theo was.

When he entered the office, Theo was sitting on a single-seat sofa, staring at David with a hardened expression.

“You’re late.”

“I apologize.”

David sat diagonally across from Theo, then opened his examination bag and took out the notebook where he had been recording Theo’s condition.

For the sake of treatment, he had to write down everything Theo said about his condition without missing a single detail this time too.

David picked up his pen with an expression of evident tension.

“Your Highness, how are your symptoms? Are they much worse? Should we change your medication?”

“No, it’s fine.”

“I see. You’re fine… Huh? Then why did you call for me?”

Ignoring David’s dumbfounded face, Theo continued speaking.

“I think I’ve been put under a spell.”

“What?!”

David unknowingly dropped his pen. His palms were drenched in sweat.

A spell?

As far as he knew, there were no witches or mages who could cast spells in the principality or the empire.

No, not in other countries either.

There were no mages in this world. Only people who processed and used magic stones containing magical power.

Weren’t witches and mages just stories from fairy tales and legends?

“A spell… by whom?”

Could it be that a corrupt priest had used some trick?

The priests of Daphne knew how to use magic stone powder to create simple healing spells or potions.

It was a matter of using minute holy power, but it was so expensive that it was hard to even see.

Perhaps nobles from defeated countries who held a grudge against Theo had pooled money to bribe a priest.

“If it’s a priest’s holy power… There is a potion that can extract holy power.”

“No. I said it’s a spell?”

Theo glared at David as if frustrated.

His blue and cold gaze touched David’s face. It was so piercing that it gave him goosebumps.

“But Your Highness. Someone who can cast spells? Who on earth can cast spells?”

At David’s question, Theo closed his mouth.

He couldn’t honestly confess that the new Grand Duchess had cast a spell on him.

If David were to go around talking about the Grand Duchess being a witch or a mage, it would be troublesome.

After pondering, Theo opened his mouth.

“I’m… raising something.”

“Raising? Did you buy a new horse?”

“A chick.”

“Pardon?”

“No, let’s make it a rabbit.”

“A rabbit?”

“No. It’s a crow-tit. A crow-tit.”

“…What exactly are you raising?”

“A crow-tit. I’m raising one crow-tit.”

David’s eyes widened.

After chick, rabbit, and then…

Suddenly a crow-tit?

And aren’t they all small and weak animals?

Theo is raising animals that would collapse with just a little pressure if he put them on his palm?

David was dumbfounded.

But Theo continued with a serious expression.

“It’s not just any crow-tit. It’s a special crow-tit that’s white and smells like fluffy flowers.”

“…I see. Crow-t*ts are usually white, but smelling like flowers is unusual.”

“No, I’m saying it’s not just any crow-tit. Its feathers are white, and it looks very dainty. It’s definitely different from other crow-t*ts.”

David tried to recall the crow-tit he knew based on Theo’s words.

A crow-tit moving its head this way and that with its round body. Even the feathers that should be black are white, so it must be mixed with something else.

Right. Well, crow-t*ts can be cute anyway.

“I think that crow-tit is casting spells.”

But there’s no way a crow-tit could cast spells.

A crow-tit busy pecking at food casting spells on Theo? For what purpose?

David furrowed his brow.

“Hmm. You say the crow-tit is casting spells?”

“Yes. Otherwise, how could I be like this?”

Theo shrugged with a confident face.

He seemed to firmly believe that the crow-tit was casting spells.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke. What exactly are your symptoms? You think you’re under a spell because symptoms have appeared, right?”

“I keep wanting to see it.”

“……”

“If possible, I want to put it in my pocket and keep taking it out to look at.”

David tried hard to ignore the cold sweat running down his back.