The physician spoke in a low voice.

“Her physical strength is indeed diminished, but it’s not serious. With proper nutrition and sufficient rest, she should recover quickly.”

In other words, she was just a bit tired and there wasn’t any particular problem.

Vanessa looked at Jurgen with an expression that seemed to say, ‘See?’ Jurgen let out a dry laugh as if he found it absurd and spoke to the physician.

“I understand. You may withdraw now.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

After the physician left, the room with only the two of them fell into silence again. Vanessa stared intently at Jurgen before suddenly speaking up.

“Duke, be honest.”

“……”

“You’re worried about me now, aren’t you?”

At that, Jurgen’s face instantly crumpled. His fierce gaze blazed like the sun, as if to say, ‘What nonsense are you talking about?’

Since it was clear that he was cursing her with his eyes, Vanessa turned her head slightly and pretended not to notice. It was best not to provoke him when he looked like he might explode at the slightest touch.

From the next day, the locks were removed and Vanessa was able to move freely around Rivadel Castle. Of course, Renee and Garcia were always with her.

The retainers in the castle were curious if it was true that Vanessa had gained healing powers. Even if they had heard vivid eyewitness accounts, it was human nature to want to see it with their own eyes.

Just then, a knight who had injured his leg during training limped into the dining hall, and Vanessa called him over, intending to use the divine word on him.

The knight seemed dazed throughout, as if he couldn’t believe such luck had befallen him. Vanessa healed his leg with a benevolent smile.

Soon, he was able to walk normally as if he had never been injured, and the people who witnessed this miraculous scene applauded Vanessa.

Amidst the shower of praise, Vanessa smiled happily and began her meal. Although eating in the dining hall used by the retainers was not befitting a noble lady, Vanessa didn’t care about such things.

It was much better to eat with Renee and Garcia than to eat alone.

The unfortunate news arrived late that afternoon.

“The frost monsters have begun moving south.”

Jurgen, who came to deliver the news personally, was already fully armored. Vanessa, who had frozen for a moment, soon asked in a trembling voice.

“What’s the scale? Is it a serious situation?”

“It’s serious. Those creatures seem to have intelligence, always checking our forces in advance and trying to push through with double our numbers.”

It was surprising that the frost monsters had intelligence, but it was truly shocking that they always had to face numbers twice that of the regular army.

“Is there… a chance of victory? There is, right?”

Her voice was filled with anxiety and worry. Jurgen snorted and confidently declared,

“Of course.”

Then he added in a nonchalant tone,

“Garcia is a main force of the Flügel Knights, so he’s decided to participate in this battle and lead the vanguard. Vincent will take over your guard duty.”

No wonder Garcia hadn’t been seen since morning. He was gone, and the puppy-like Vincent was standing guard at the women’s quarters with a shy look. Vanessa nodded, saying she understood.

Jurgen then warned her not to cause any unnecessary trouble while he was away from the castle.

With that, as if all his business was concluded, he turned his back without hesitation and left the room.

Although she had nothing more to say to him, Vanessa felt uneasy for some reason and followed closely behind him. Jurgen glanced back at her trailing after him with small steps and sighed with a displeased look.

His steps were so fast that Vanessa was a bit out of breath. When they reached their destination, she quietly caught her breath so he wouldn’t notice.

The destination was the outdoor training ground where his elite knights were gathered.

The knights who had been chattering among themselves instantly fell silent when Jurgen appeared. Jurgen looked them over carefully and spoke in a voice filled with irrefutable authority.

“You’ve probably already heard the explanation from the commander, but I’ll say it once more. The frost monster forces observed by the Northern Front’s defense troops exceed twice the previous numbers.”

‘Exceed?’

Vanessa opened her eyes wide in surprise. Does that mean there are even more than twice the number…?

“Unlike our previous strategy of pushing them back to the borders of the land of extreme cold, this time we’ll focus solely on defense. Conduct operations to minimize unnecessary expenditure of war supplies and reduce our casualties as much as possible.”

“Yes, Your Grace!”

“We receive your orders!”

As soon as Jurgen finished speaking, the knights saluted respectfully and responded loudly. All their usual frivolous demeanor was gone, replaced by perfect military discipline.

Soon after, Jurgen mounted his horse at the forefront, and the knights followed suit. As he led the way, urging Alexander forward, Jurgen suddenly turned to look at Vanessa.

Their gazes collided in mid-air.

The two pairs of eyes, golden and deep blue, intertwined for a moment that felt like an eternity.

Even after Jurgen turned his head with his usual indifferent expression, Vanessa couldn’t take her eyes off his retreating figure.

✦ ✦ ✦

Three days had passed since Jurgen and the Flügel Knights departed for the Northern Front.

According to the news, it seemed that the defense line Jurgen had established was very effective.

Although the frost monsters’ forces were so fierce that it was unclear how long the battle would drag on, the situation appeared to be better than expected.

The situation in the territory and the castle town was not bad either. Jenelly was immersed in research to create a perfect cure and to find the vector of the plague, while Vanessa occasionally helped her or healed newly infected patients.

Fortunately, there were no cases of reinfection, but Jenelly insisted that they couldn’t let their guard down.

Also, Jenelly argued that no matter how great Vanessa’s power was, it wasn’t right to place all the burden on her alone.

Her reasoning was as follows:
“When difficult or troublesome situations arise, a community should work together to solve them. It’s not right to try to solve problems through inhumane methods that sacrifice one person, even if the Duchess possesses divine power that far surpasses human abilities.”

Vanessa was inwardly surprised to hear such serious words from Jenelly, whom she had thought was just like a child. It seemed that Jenelly Rubein was a deeper thinker than she appeared.

‘Indeed, one shouldn’t judge a person by their appearance.’

For the next two days, uneventful days continued without any particular incidents. There were no troublemakers among the patients, and the number of infected people was gradually decreasing.

Vanessa hoped that all problems would be resolved smoothly like this. Both the plague and the war… Without anyone dying or getting hurt…

However, as always, unexpected situations tended to occur. Contrary to people’s wishes.

“How many new infections did you say?”

“As of today, a total of 116 people, Your Highness…”

The physician who answered Vanessa’s question lowered his head with a troubled expression.

Despite hoping that things would continue smoothly until the cure was completed, the plague had eventually spread throughout the city.

The situation was serious, with not only ordinary citizens but also soldiers guarding the city becoming infected, and infections were even occurring in farms outside the city.

To make matters worse, since this afternoon, there were even cases of reinfection.

Without a perfect cure yet, people had only Vanessa to rely on.

So, wasn’t the answer already decided? Vanessa let out a heavy sigh, resigning herself to accept her fate.

‘Perhaps the God Vinea bestowed Her blessing on me for this very moment…’

After taking a deep breath and slowly closing and opening her eyes, Vanessa spoke in a voice of determination.

“Please guide me to the isolation ward where the new infected are.”

Vanessa poured out all her strength to heal people. She reached her limit several times, but each time she endured with sheer willpower. If she collapsed here, the territory plagued by the epidemic would fall into chaos.

One day, two days, three days… On the fourth day, Vanessa succeeded in healing all the patients except for about twenty reinfected individuals.

As if a blocked problem had been solved all at once, good news arrived that Jurgen had won a victory, along with the joyous news that Jenelly had finally created a perfect cure.

“Duchess, you don’t have to overexert yourself anymore! I…!”

“Yes, that’s really fortunate…”

As Vanessa tried to answer Jenelly, who came running with tears in her eyes, she suddenly felt her vision turn white and her consciousness snap.

And with that, she collapsed and fainted.

✦ ✦ ✦

“Her Highness is in her bedroom.”

What awaited Jurgen upon his return from driving out the frost monster forces at the Northern Front was the utterly astounding news about Vanessa.

She had apparently collapsed after trying to heal all the infected people who had started appearing like mushrooms after rain.

It was an incredibly foolish thing to do. He had warned her that there were limits to wielding divine power. The fact that this disaster had occurred clearly showed that she hadn’t even listened to his words.

‘Foolish woman.’

Jurgen looked down at Vanessa, lying neatly on the bed, with sharp eyes. She was groaning in pain, sweating profusely. She must have finally fallen ill.

Her pale complexion showed no trace of the strong vitality she usually possessed. The woman before him looked like a drought-stricken flower, withering and dying.

Seeing her in this state, something like boiling lava surged up inside him. Jurgen clenched his fists tightly and exhaled deeply. It felt as if a black lump of coal was roughly scraping his throat.