Track Side Story (Part 2)

“…….”

Flustered, she couldn’t speak and just moved her lips silently. Kanin, after glancing around, pulled her into an embrace. His firm lips touched her forehead briefly and then parted.

A familiar yet unfamiliar ticklish voice echoed in her ear.

“Were you thinking about me?”

A sweet voice from Kanin was awkward no matter how many times she heard it. She fiddled with her fingers, feeling as if a transparent hand was tickling her heart.

She mumbled a response.

“Oh, no…”

At her answer, Kanin’s eyes widened, then narrowed like a crescent moon.

“Our Vivi has grown up. Thinking about other things too.”

“No, that’s not it. Uhm.”

Misinterpreting her words completely, Kanin pressed his lips against hers. It wasn’t a deep kiss due to the location, but it was enough to make her face flush red.

“If someone comes, what if…?”

“No one’s coming. I don’t sense anyone.”

“Still.”

Even though Kanin assured her, she was just anxious. If they were seen together and gossip arose, it would be another burden on Kanin.

Unlike her nervousness, Kanin nonchalantly pulled her closer. Feeling Kanin’s physique so blatantly through her clothes made her heart thump again.

Kanin rubbed his cheek against hers and murmured.

“Even if we’re always together, it’s never enough.”

“We were together all day yesterday.”

It was the first time Kanin seemed childlike to her. She couldn’t help but chuckle. Kanin pouted his lips in response.

“Honestly. If it weren’t for your grandfather, we could stay together all night and go to work together in the morning.”

“……Then I might die.”

She was already dying from muscle pain; if they stayed together all night, she wouldn’t be able to walk.

Everyone welcomed their relationship, but one person opposed it. Her grandfather!

‘Even the Albrecht Ducal couple agrees, so why is Grandfather like this?’

From her perspective, it was also a matter of Kanin being at a disadvantage. Their marriage was clearly more beneficial for Kanin.

Thinking of her grandfather, Kanin pulled her hand gently.

“It’s late, let’s go in.”

“Together?”

“Do you want me to get scolded alone?”

She meant if they went in together, they’d both face scrutiny, but Kanin brushed off her question playfully. She couldn’t help but smile along.

“That’s true.”

It was better to be late together and get scolded.

Holding Kanin’s hand and heading to work together, the issue she had momentarily forgotten resurfaced in her mind like bubbles.

‘An heir…’

Kanin was the only son of the Albrecht family. He had the duty to continue the Albrecht Ducal family.

‘So we must have a child.’

The issue was the attribute. No one knew if the child would be a strong mage or just an average one.

‘Ice would be better than fire.’

Kanin might have his own struggles, but she thought a fire mage would have a harder time.

If she couldn’t control the fire, it could harm others.

‘But how can I ensure the baby isn’t a fire attribute? Should I take magic suppressants?’

There were medicines for mages like her in the world, specifically magic suppressants.

Even though suppressing magic was unnatural and had side effects, they were rarely used.

And they were made for ‘ordinary’ mages, so they were ineffective for someone like her with excessive magic.

‘But just in case.’

If there was any hope, she wanted to grasp it.

She didn’t want her child to suffer in the same hellish heat.

‘I should get magic suppressants.’

As she thought that, they encountered the Commander and were scolded together for being late.

While being scolded, Kanin held her hand tightly. She held his hand in return.

Feeling his cool body temperature, her resolve strengthened.

* * *

Her plan was simple. Take the magic suppressant during ovulation when they were intimate.

‘Wouldn’t that reduce the chances of a fire attribute?’

Research on mages was ongoing, but due to the vast individual differences, nothing was definitive. 

Especially regarding pregnancy and childbirth of female mages.

She had no choice but to experiment on her own body.

‘But I’m lucky. Working at the Imperial Palace means I can easily access magic suppressants.’

Most people wanted to amplify their magic, not suppress it, so even the vault where the medicine was stored didn’t have a small lock.

‘Here it is.’

Since she had taken it a few times in her childhood, she could easily find it even without a label.

‘Is there any dosage instruction? I want to know how to take it.’

As she was looking around the pharmacy room, the mage in charge returned from lunch and widened her eyes at the sight of her.

“Oh, Vivi?”

“Hello.”

She waved naturally with a smile. The mage adjusted her glasses and tilted her head.

“What’s up? Why are you here?”

“I was curious about the pharmacy and came to take a look.”

“Suddenly? You don’t have much to do with herbs.”

“That’s true.”

She smiled awkwardly. There was a decisive incident that distanced her from the pharmacy.

She had been asked to dry herbs with a gentle flame and ended up burning them completely.

The mage in charge at the time, who had asked her despite her poor control over flames, had been reassigned far away due to the incident, and the current mage had taken over.

“V-Vivi! Get out! Did you have lunch?!”

Fortunately, the current mage seemed to have just recalled the incident and hurriedly told her to leave.

Thanks to that, she was able to leave the pharmacy with the magic suppressant in hand, almost as if she had been chased out.

* * *

A day passed with her mind elsewhere, not doing what she was supposed to.

Rushing home, she locked herself in her room.

There was no other reason. She was solely focused on the magic suppressant she had brought home.

‘Will there be any side effects if I take this?’

She had taken it before, but she couldn’t say anything for sure based on that experience. At that time, the burning power was so painful she wanted to burn everything around her.

Until Kanin came, she couldn’t find peace anywhere.

So she couldn’t definitively say what the side effects of the magic suppressant were.

Back then, whether she took it or not, it was all the same pain.

‘I should first check if it works.’

* * *

She thought it would be troublesome if the suppressant had no effect when taken during ovulation, or if any side effects suddenly appeared.

‘Kanin said he wouldn’t be coming home today.’

She steeled herself and slowly swallowed the round pill.

Nothing unusual happened to her body, making her tension seem unnecessary.

‘Is it because the medicine needs time to be absorbed?’

Of course, medicine doesn’t show effects immediately after ingestion. If something feels different right away, it’s likely a narcotic or a placebo.

‘But it’s still disappointing.’

Even though she knew this in her head, that’s how people are. She thought that if she took something, it would feel like her magic was cut off with a knife.

“Let’s just lie down and think about it.”

If she lay down, the effects would appear or something would happen.

With that thought, when she slowly got up from the chair…

• Whoosh

“Oh my!!”

The bed curtains, which she hadn’t burned since she was young, suddenly went up in flames and turned to ashes. Her eyes widened.

“What’s this?”

She didn’t even feel like she was using power. She just thought about lying down on the bed.

“What, what is this…”

Flames she had never experienced before flickered like waves. It felt like the magic filled inside her was gradually flowing out.

Like a shadow.

“No!

The moment she realized that, she turned pale. It was an extremely dangerous situation.

“Everyone, run away!”

A situation where she couldn’t control herself at all.

‘I need to think of something else. I must not think of anything.’

Her magic stretched out like elongated hands or feet to wherever she thought. So it was important not to think of anything.

But things never go as planned.

“What’s going on, Young Lady!”

“What’s this burning smell…”

The servants, puzzled, opened her door. Then they screamed at the sight of the bed curtains, which had vanished without a trace.

“Kyah!”

That was the worst. Seeing them, she couldn’t help but think.

‘They shouldn’t come into my room.’

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, fires ignited everywhere.

“Kyah!”

“Oh my, the young lady’s room!”

Some weaker servants retreated, stepping back, while those with a stronger heart went down to call for help.

“Fire! Please help!”

She wanted to cover their mouths. The more people came, the harder it would be for her not to think of anything.

‘Are they bringing water from downstairs?’

Even if they brought water, it wouldn’t extinguish it. This was a fire created by magic.

And just as she thought of the downstairs, screams erupted from below.

“Ahh! Fire! It’s an unextinguishable fire!”

Having become a mage who could sleep without any major accidents since becoming an adult, her room, which was once made entirely of stone, had transformed into a more livable space.

So now that the magic was rampaging again, she was helpless.