Amelia deliberately spoke in a light tone so that the Master would take it as a joke. She hoped that after the recent incident, he would take this matter as nothing serious. But that was her misconception. The Master was not an easygoing opponent.

“This time it’s for real.”

“Let me know after you contact the emperor.”

Amelia finished checking her dress and walked toward the door. In fact, she could have clung to the Master who could solve anything. She might be sick, but she didn’t know what illness she had.

“Don’t think about it too seriously.”

Since she hadn’t been fully diagnosed yet… everything could have been an overreaction. As soon as she came out, Ann and Jane, who had been harshly educated by Raphael, offered her soup. They didn’t care at all about her grimacing face.

“If it’s hard to eat, you can leave some.”

“At least you have some conscience.”

Seeing the maids awkwardly smile at her comment, Amelia finished the soup. It was called soup, but it was practically a tonic.

“Report that I finished it.”

“Yes.”

When she left the room, the Master did not come out. He must be doing it to avoid his identity being revealed… But even until the moment she walked out the door, she couldn’t forget those brown eyes that piercingly stared at her. He must have realized that she didn’t have much time left…

“What is… this?”

As soon as she returned to the Grand Duke’s castle, the sight that greeted Amelia left her at a loss for words. Raphael was not someone who would just roll over, but she had let her guard down.

“Welcome back, wife.”

Now the title ‘wife’ sounded very natural. To anyone unaware of the grand ducal couple’s relationship, they might seem like a very affectionate couple.

“I prepared it for you, wife.”

***

She was now too tired to correct the way he called her. At some point, Raphael had started calling her ‘wife.’ When had he stopped calling her so coldly as the Grand Duchess?

“Are these people here for me?”

The people he had brought seemed to number about ten. Among them were familiar faces. The family doctor of the Siegfried household. He was the person she had met on her first day here.

“Surely not…”

“That’s right.”

Before she could even speak, Raphael’s confident affirmation left her feeling overwhelmed. And for good reason, given the scene before her eyes.

“Mages, doctors, priests…”

It was hard to pretend not to notice since they all wore clothes that revealed their professional identities. She wondered what on earth was going on.

“First, lie down here.”

He gently put his hand around her waist and personally helped her lie down on the bed. It all happened so quickly that she didn’t have a chance to resist. She could only stand by dazedly as he proceeded.

As soon as she lay down, they came one by one to examine her. They looked over her body and discussed amongst themselves in their own ways, while Amelia stayed still. She was sure she had said just last night that she didn’t want a doctor’s examination.

“Your Grace?”

“If my wife seems tired from the examination, all of you go to the drawing room once you’re done.”

The main reason for her fatigue was because of you. Such a waste of money like this was unprecedented. Did he not even listen to a word she said? Or did he bring everyone else because she said she didn’t want to see a doctor?

“What is all this?”

“Just checking to make sure you’re not sick.”

“Weren’t you already aware of this?”

Before she became Amelia, Raphael must have already completed all the examinations. He must have already done everything secretly without Amelia’s knowledge. But now, she didn’t understand what was happening. She just lay there, dumbfounded by the sight of people openly examining her.

“Didn’t I tell you yesterday? I said I don’t want to be examined.”

She thought he understood since he didn’t say anything at the time. But the other person was Raphael. She should have realized something was off from the strange soup he pushed on her first thing in the morning.

“Looking after my wife’s health is a husband’s duty.”

Her brow furrowed at the absurd sophistry. Amelia scoffed at his lies, as he had been waiting for her death.

“Haven’t you been waiting for the day I die?”

“Amelia.”

“Now you want to save me? Because I became an obedient wife?”

If that was the case, she would refuse. Regardless of her health condition, she intended to leave the Grand Duke’s house.

“An obedient wife… no one would think that looking at me now.”

How could someone be so annoyingly unbeatable in every argument? She wanted to take him down a peg when he least expected it. When he was off guard, she would bring up divorce.

“You know that’s not what I mean.”

“I just don’t want you to die.”

A huge shadow was cast over her as she lay there. Her body, trapped in his strong arms, was completely hidden by him. It couldn’t be helped because of the size difference between them; he was twice her size. Amelia shivered as his breath tickled her neck. If she didn’t, a strange noise might escape her.

“And I won’t let it happen.”

That seemed more like a promise to himself than to her. Amelia couldn’t say anything in response to the pain that appeared on his cool face. Even if she wanted to speak, seeing his expression made her voice catch in her throat as if it were blocked.

“So you should cooperate, wife.”

“……Move aside first. You’re heavy.”

“I’m not even touching you?”

Does he think if he’s not touching me, it’s okay? When he looks down on me with that body, the pressure makes it hard to breathe. He doesn’t realize how suffocating it is because he’s not the one experiencing it.

“I said it’s suffocating.”

“Alright… I understand.”

Why does he sound so dejected now? She hadn’t said much, but his tone carried a hint of feeling hurt. Amelia held her head in her hands. He was a man who never acted as she predicted.

“Still, today’s incident is your fault, Your Grace.”

Amelia let out a heavy sigh that she had been holding back, confronted with his seemingly clueless gaze. That man would probably never understand what he had done wrong.

“You knew I was sick, and you kept that all to yourself, didn’t you?”

“……”

“And now you’ve ordered all these tests because you want to save me?”

Since no one opposed Raphael, it must have been a natural course of action for him. Through the family doctor, he would have heard about her health condition and predicted Amelia’s death date on his own. And then, he must have been shaken by her recent changes.

Putting it all together, it really could be considered the worst.

“What was my original illness?”

Even in response to her question, Raphael seemed determined to keep his lips sealed. Of course, he wasn’t someone who would tell everything all at once.

“So you’re going to hide it this time too?”

“Haah… Alright, I understand.”

She just watched as Raphael repeatedly ran his hand down his face. She was curious about what kind of illness it was that he couldn’t talk about it directly.

“Amelia… So…”

“It’s okay. I can accept whatever it is.”

She was prepared for the worst-case scenario. As long as it wasn’t that she was going to die right this moment…

“You are currently… in a state with no vitality.”

No vitality? She didn’t quite understand what he was saying. No vitality meant… wasn’t it strange if she wasn’t about to die? But she felt too healthy for that.

“What does that mean…?”

“It means that it wouldn’t be strange for you to  die at any moment.”

If she hadn’t been sitting on the bed at that moment, she might have collapsed from shock or fallen backwards.

“Does that make sense? That such a thing…”

“Human vitality is mana. But you…”

“I have no mana at all?”

Compared to the people around her who used magic well, she knew she had no mana.

“Because I can’t use magic…”

No, that didn’t make sense. Magicians were a minority. If only magicians had vitality, many people would be dying.

“Humans all possess the minimum amount of mana necessary to sustain life. But wife, you have absolutely no mana in your body.”

“Can that even happen?”

Seeing his non-response, she realized. She was a special case.

“Then… how am I alive right now?”

If what Raphael said was true, the fact that she was breathing right now was a miracle.

“Exactly, it’s because the core in your body that accumulates mana is damaged.”

“The place that gathers mana is broken…?”

“Once a core is damaged… it doesn’t return.”

That it wouldn’t return meant there was no remedy, unlike with an illness. Amelia kept bursting into laughter because she couldn’t grasp the reality of the situation.

“The reason you’ve been able to hold on until now… is because of Leonel. The child became your mana core.”

“Is that possible? I’ve only been with Leonel for… less than a year.”

She held on for five years with that?

“Because he’s not an ordinary child.”

“What happens to me now then…? If it doesn’t return.”

“I only predicted until next year. That’s when the core would completely stop working.”

Amelia had not committed suicide.