Chapter 20

Even Elena found it miserable to have a fever when she caught a cold. She couldn’t imagine how unbearable it must be for such a small child.  

“I’m so sorry, Little One. I’m sorry.”  

“It’s not your fault.”  

Felix, who had quietly approached her, rolled up his shirt sleeves and took the wet towel from her hands.  

He began wiping Little One’s stomach and, unlike when he had angrily confronted the physician earlier, spoke in a calm voice.  

However, contrary to his composed tone, his trembling hands holding the wet towel betrayed how shaken he truly was.  

“Children this age often get fevers for no particular reason. Lindsey and Tony were the same. The fever will go down quickly once he takes the antipyretic.”  

Was Felix right? Thinking back to how he had scolded the physician earlier for not knowing the cause, his words didn’t seem all that reliable.  

Elena asked anxiously, 

“But what if it gets worse? You were pressing the physician earlier, too.”  

“Do you think I’m the same as the physician? Even if I don’t know the exact cause, he should. And stop saying such ominous things.”  

“But still…”  

Humans are more fragile than one might think.  

Even the Emperor who had unified the Western Continent had succumbed to sudden illness, and during epidemics, countless robust men perished.  

How could such a delicate kid endure this?  

“Don’t worry. I won’t let that happen.”  

Dunking the towel into the basin, Felix muttered as if making a vow.  

“No matter what it takes, I’ll make sure he recovers. So you should get some rest.”  

“No, it’s fine. And I want to do this.”  

“Just go rest. I’ll take care of Little One.”  

“I want to do it. You should rest instead.”  

Elena felt more at ease staying by Little One’s side than resting.  

She realized that words alone wouldn’t sway Felix, so she reached out to grab his hand, which was wringing out the wet towel.  

“Why are you like this?” 

She exclaimed, her voice filled with alarm.  

Even though he had been handling a cold towel, his hand was as hot as Little One’s. Felix quickly pulled his hand away.  

“It’s nothing.”  

“It’s not nothing!”  

She hadn’t noticed earlier because she had been so preoccupied with Little One, but Felix’s complexion was off.  

Although he was a mage, Felix often practiced swordsmanship in the sunlit training grounds, giving his skin a slightly tanned appearance compared to other mage students.  

Girls often whispered that he looked healthier and more attractive because of it. But now, his face was unusually pale.  

Elena grabbed his arm as he tried to step back and placed her other hand on his forehead.  

‘It’s not my imagination.’  

Both his arm and forehead, where her hands touched, were burning with fever, just like Little One.  

“Why didn’t you say anything?”  

Her voice involuntarily rose. Even though she had been too distracted by Little One to notice, Felix must have been aware of his own condition.  

It wasn’t just a slight fever—his whole body was burning up. There was no way he hadn’t realized it.  

“I told you, it’s nothing.”  

He stubbornly pushed her hand away. His expression clearly showed that he didn’t want to talk about it anymore as he gently pushed her arm aside.  

“If you have the energy to worry about me, focus on Little One instead. I’ll take care of myself.”  

“How can you say it’s nothing? Both you and Little One are burning up with fever!”  

The symptoms appeared around the same time. Could this really be a coincidence? Elena didn’t think so.  

Perhaps Felix and Little One had both contracted the same cold or fever-inducing illness.  

‘Or maybe it’s food poisoning.’  

She wanted to check Felix’s body for rashes, like Little One had, to confirm if they shared the same symptoms.  

But no matter how close they were as friends, she couldn’t just undress him, an adult man, on her own.  

Instead, she snatched the wet towel from his hand.  

“I’ll take care of Little One. You need to go see the physician immediately.”  

However, no matter how much she tried to push him away, Felix didn’t budge and remained seated by the bed.  

“I already have my hands full worrying about Little One! I need to take care of him, so hurry up and go!”  

Once again, he ignored her words. Eventually, he took the towel back from her and skillfully wiped the sweat from Little One’s forehead.  

Although she was worried about Felix’s condition, his nonchalant attitude made her inexplicably angry.  

“Felix!”  

Only after she shouted did his eyes meet hers again. He hesitated for a moment, his lips twitching as if deciding whether to speak, before finally breaking the silence.  

“Teleportation magic isn’t something even I can perform easily.”  

Why was he bringing up magic now?  

Even someone as arrogant as Felix wouldn’t be bragging about his achievements in this situation.  

Sensing her confusion, he dipped the towel back into the basin and continued speaking.  

“No matter how good the artifact is, using such magic inevitably takes a toll on the body.”  

He muttered this as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, then refocused on wiping Little One’s body.  

Elena frowned, not immediately understanding his words, and lowered her gaze to the ring on her finger.  

Artifacts. Essential tools for mages.  

People who didn’t know much about magic often thought of artifacts as all-powerful tools, believing that anyone could use magic if they had one.  

But in reality, they were merely “assistive” tools.  

To use magic, one needed a certain level of innate mana, mana affinity, and the intelligence to understand magical formulas.  

Simple magic could be performed using only the mana within one’s body.  

However, for higher-level magic that required more mana than the body could provide, mages needed to draw mana from nature and combine it with their own.  

This was where mana affinity came into play.  

The higher one’s mana affinity, the more natural mana they could draw in, reducing physical strain.  

‘Rebound phenomenon.’  

As magic became more advanced, the amount of mana required increased, and so did the strain on the mage’s body.  

When a mage used more mana than their body could handle, it caused adverse effects known as the rebound phenomenon.  

Mild cases resulted in headaches, fever, and vomiting, while severe cases could lead to death.  

To address this, mana stabilizing artifacts were developed.  

These artifacts, made from mana-absorbing gemstones, were crafted into wearable accessories. Felix’s artifact was a necklace, while Elena’s was a ring.  

Despite using such a high-quality artifact, Felix’s condition suggested that multi-person teleportation magic was far beyond the capabilities of most mages.  

‘So there’s no point in showing him to the physician.’  

Now Elena understood Felix’s calm demeanor.  

If his fever was truly caused by the rebound phenomenon, there was nothing the physician could do.  

The only remedy was to wait for the mana within his body to stabilize.  

No one knew how long that would take—not even Felix. The only certainty was that time was the sole cure.  

Elena could no longer press him. Instead, she sat beside him and tightly held Little One’s hand.  

Feeling her touch, Little One opened his eyes slightly.  

“Mm.”  

“Are you okay, Little One?”  

“Ma…”  

“Yes, I’m here.”  

Little One barely opened his eyes and looked at her.  

“Hee.”  

He weakly lifted the corners of his lips.  

Though barely noticeable compared to his usual smile, he was undoubtedly trying to smile.  

Was it just my imagination, or did it feel like he was telling me not to worry?  

“Don’t smile. How can you smile in this situation? If you have the energy to smile, get better quickly, Little One.”  

Her throat tightened as she spoke. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand, her sleeve quickly becoming damp.