Ratius approached Amon and took Selvia into his arms as if snatching her away.

“Are you alright?”

He took out a handkerchief to wipe her mouth and checked her body.

“I’m fine. This is a natural rejection reaction.”

Selvia blinked with an unbothered expression.

She hadn’t expected him to observe at such timing. She immediately stepped in front of the High Priest after getting out of Ratius’s arms.

Ratius’s blue eyes flashed as if he might kill the man before him at any moment.

“If you hadn’t proceeded so recklessly, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“I apologize, but I increased gradually by steps.”

Amon answered without backing down. He wore a somewhat wronged expression.

“So you’re saying you didn’t stop even while watching her suffer.”

“That too was part of the training.”

Nevertheless, Ratius didn’t back down and pressed him.

Amon finally narrowed his brows and spoke. He too didn’t expect Selvia to cough up blood.

“I’ll treat her.”

Amon immediately reached his hand toward Selvia.

Thwack.

A sharp pain shot through Amon’s hand from being hit quite hard.

Ratius’s eyes glowed eerily with the blue light of dawn as he stared at him.

“I’ll do it. Get your hand away.”

Ratius picked up Selvia and walked toward the door.

“We should end today’s training here. You should go to the office.”

“……Understood.”

Amon gulped dryly while watching Ratius’s back.

Selvia, being carried out of the training ground, lifted her head to look at Ratius.

“There’s no need to be this angry.”

“I am angry.”

“It’s not the High Priest’s fault. I pushed myself without saying anything.”

Ratius didn’t soften his expression. It didn’t seem like he was only angry at Amon.

He seemed to know that Selvia had continued pushing herself without stopping.

He kept looking straight ahead as he walked, even under her gaze.

When Ratius arrived at Selvia’s room, Mellin hurriedly opened the door.

“Wait outside.”

“Yes, understood.”

Mellin looked at Selvia with worried eyes.

She gave a gentle smile to reassure Mellin that she was fine.

Ratius set Selvia down on the bed and sighed.

He bent down to meet her eyes and held her hand.

“You’ll feel better soon.”

Selvia nodded as she felt the holy power flowing into her body.

Strangely, the turbulence inside her body began to subside.

“Do we really have to build up resistance?”

“We have to do whatever we can. We can’t just sit idle.”

“I’ll just stay by your side. Haven’t we clearly seen the difference already?”

But it was too early to give up on building resistance.

Selvia shook her head.

“While Your Majesty is indeed one who represents the power of god, we still haven’t figured anything out.”

“I’m not sure if this is the right way.”

“Your Majesty, we don’t have much time. The holy water is running low, but my blood coughing still hasn’t stopped.”

Before that, they needed to either build resistance to holy power or figure out what influence Ratius had on her.

“And what is there to worry about when Your Majesty is by my side?”

“I think it’s best not to train for a while. I’ll talk with the High Priest, so you should rest.”

“I really am fine.”

Selvia grabbed Ratius’s shoulders and met his eyes to reassure him.

Ratius’s anxious heart gradually calmed down.

“Please don’t overdo it.”

He held Selvia’s hand and spoke as if pleading.

Selvia nodded and gently stroked the back of his hand.

“I’ll have warm tea brought, so wait just a moment.”

He got up and left Selvia’s room with a short sigh.

Left alone, Selvia flopped down on the bed and looked at the ceiling.

“This isn’t easy.”

Nothing was going as planned. She had expected the training to be difficult, but at this rate, building resistance would take quite a while.

As Ratius said, she could feel her body being strained and it was overwhelming.

Whether or not because the dark power flowing through her body was strongly resisting, her energy was completely drained.

Selvia covered her eyes with the back of her hand and rested.

* * *

Ratius’s footsteps quickened.

Soon standing in front of the office, he took a deep breath.

When he burst through the door, Belrocan rose from his seat.

Sensing the unusual atmosphere, he looked back and forth between Amon and Ratius.

“I’ll step out for a moment.”

“Just stay. You should know about this too.”

Belrocan, who was about to leave, sat on the sofa. Then he waited for Ratius’s words with a tense expression.

‘Wasn’t Selvia’s training today?’

Glancing at Amon, his expression was hardened.

Something had clearly happened. Ratius slumped down on the sofa. His expression wasn’t good as he ran his hand through his hair.

“From now on, I’ll attend every training session without fail, so keep that in mind.”

“I don’t mind. Rather, I’ll feel more at ease if Your Majesty joins us.”

Amon shrugged his shoulders. Since she didn’t show rejection to Ratius’s power, he could just treat her if needed.

Though it bothered him, having the emperor present was better.

Ratius, who looked ready to grab his neck at any moment, seemed to be suppressing his anger.

“Is Lady Selvia alright?”

“She should rest for a while, so it would be good to resume after all the etiquette lessons are finished.”

“I agree.”

Selvia’s condition was important for training.

She was already straining her body, and she might not be able to handle both etiquette lessons and training together.

“Belrocan, how many lessons are left?”

“About five days remain. Since it’s an intensive course lasting two weeks, it will end soon.”

“After the lessons end, I’ll check personally before setting a date for her social debut.”

“Understood.”

Belrocan immediately noted down the schedule.

“What do you think about fully infusing my power into her?”

“……Are you planning to remove the restriction?”

“It’s not completely impossible. There just hasn’t been a need for it until now.”

“Isn’t it too early? If her body can’t handle it……”

Ratius sighed at Amon’s words.

“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”

“Let’s observe a bit more for now. Lady Selvia must be looking for a solution too.”

Because dark power was overflowing in her body, it could cause a clash if they weren’t careful.

Unless they waited for when her power was weakened.

Since she was also taking holy water, too much might actually be harmful.

Belrocan supported Amon’s words.

“Your Majesty, let’s observe for now. Lady Selvia is a strong person.”

“Being strong doesn’t mean pain doesn’t hurt.”

A heavy silence fell over the office at Ratius’s words.

* * *

Selvia looked out the window while drinking tea.

She quietly gazed at the darkness that had grown deeper than before.

She blinked slowly while fiddling with her necklace.

“There’s clearly a difference…… What am I missing?”

She had already confirmed the difference between one who represents the power of god and other holy power.

However, she needed to observe more to understand what kind of influence it had on her.

“……The holy water will barely last a month.”

Selvia rolled the clear glass bottle. What would happen if she stopped taking the holy water?

It had been quite a while since she hadn’t coughed up blood. Today was an exception due to training side effects.

There must be something else about Ratius.

The darkness that had covered up to her arm hadn’t grown any larger. This too seemed related to Ratius’s power.

With training suspended after today’s incident, she needed to focus on the remaining etiquette lessons first.

She had to handle the immediate tasks perfectly to move forward.

Selvia shook her nearly empty teacup a couple times while looking at it.

She was suddenly reminded of the tea leaf reading Ratius had done for her.

“Should we try it again next time?”

Though the interpretation seemed completely wrong, it was fun.

She grew to like being with him more and more.

Taking out Ratius’s handkerchief stained with her blood, Selvia thought for a moment before asking Mellin.

“Mellin, can we clean the bloodstains completely from the handkerchief?”

“It’s possible.”

“Could you teach me how? I want to buy a new handkerchief but I can’t go out.”

“Are you planning to do it yourself? Let me do it. How about you embroider the cleaned handkerchief, Lady Selvia?”

At Mellin’s suggestion, Selvia thought for a moment before nodding.

That way the handkerchief would become much cleaner.

He would be happy if she embroidered it for him.

Selvia fell into thought as she looked at the handkerchief with no embroidery on it.

Giving handkerchiefs as gifts was often used as a token of affection between men and women.

But this wasn’t a gift—it was originally Ratius’s.

‘He won’t misunderstand, right?’

That thought made her feel strange. Could it be that I want him to misunderstand?

Selvia gulped dryly as she thought of Ratius.