Even though I had somewhat expected the result, I couldn’t hide my surprise.

The Crown Prince also grabbed my wrist with a shocked expression.

“What are you standing there for? Go get a physician!”

He shouted at the attendant. Then he turned to me with a bewildered face.

“Lou! What on earth is this…!”

I didn’t understand why he was making such a fuss over a small wound, especially when he had inflicted a much larger one on his own palm.

Thanks to his overreaction, I was able to regain my composure more quickly.

I feigned ignorance.

“Why are you so surprised? I’ve always been a healer.”

“What?”

“How little interest must you have in me to not know that by now?”

“That’s impossible.”

“What do you mean impossible? You saw it last time too, when you got pricked by the rose thorn. Don’t you remember?”

“You said it was from a piece of jewelry then.”

“I said that because I didn’t want you to feel guilty.”

Of course, the Crown Prince didn’t believe me at all.

I managed to come up with a more plausible excuse.

“As you can see, my ability is to transfer others’ wounds to my body. Even if it becomes known, I’ll just end up suffering for others. That’s why I didn’t tell anyone.”

“Then why did you change your mind now?”

“Recently, with the appearance of monsters and the situation on Mount Acheron, things have been tense, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to practice.”

“…”

“So I was looking for injured people, but I didn’t expect Your Highness to inflict a wound yourself.”

He still looked skeptical, but with the evidence right before him, he couldn’t argue further.

“There’s no need to practice such a useless ability.”

The Crown Prince spat out harshly.

“I’m not doing this for your benefit, Your Highness. I’m doing it because I’m worried my family might get hurt. Thanks to you, I had a good practice. Thank you.”

Soon after, the physician arrived.

The Crown Prince didn’t leave and kept looking at me with a confused expression until the treatment was finished.

I maintained a calm facade, and as soon as the treatment was over, I bowed to the Crown Prince and left his palace.

But as soon as I stepped outside, my legs trembled, making it hard to stay composed.

I sat down at the edge of a statue decorating the hallway to calm my pounding heart.

‘Why didn’t it work with Seren but did with the Crown Prince and Leon? Is there a specific condition?’

I tried to recall any commonalities between Pinion and Leon.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s any… No, wait.”

Upon reconsidering, there were quite a few.

They were young men, tall, and had good physiques…

‘Wait!’

I knew one more man who fit those criteria.

***

“Sir Roengreen!”

Gined had come to the imperial palace for the first time in a while.

Having just arrived, his long hair was slightly disheveled, and there was a bit of dust on his cloak.

But even that only added to his charm.

Seeing him from afar, I ran over to him.

“Hello, Lady Dronay.”

“Are you here to report to His Majesty the Emperor?”

“Yes.”

“How are things these days?”

I asked in a low voice, and Gined answered just as quietly.

“Fortunately, there’s no sign of any presence approaching Mount Acheron yet.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Even so, it’s not time to let our guard down.”

As we conversed, I carefully examined him to see if he had any injuries.

“Lady?”

Then I noticed a small scratch near his jaw.

“Sir, you have a wound on your chin.”

“Do I? I must have gotten scratched while rummaging through the mountains.”

Gined casually rubbed his chin, apparently unaware of the wound.

“Aren’t you going to heal it with holy power?”

“It’s embarrassing to admit as a priest, but the holy power of holy knights like us is more specialized for offense than healing. And for minor wounds like this, it’s more efficient to let them heal naturally rather than using holy power every time.”

“I see. By the way, thank you for what you did last time. You were falsely accused because of me…”

“It’s nothing. It’s natural for the Crown Prince to be angry. It was my fault for not following protocol. Please don’t worry about it, Lady.”

“…”

I wanted to continue the conversation somehow, but I ran out of things to say.

There weren’t many topics for casual conversation between him and me.

I fidgeted with my fingers, trying to stall for time.

Gined quickly noticed.

“It seems you have another matter to discuss.”

“Well, actually…”

“Feel free to say anything.”

Gined leaned toward me.

‘Now!’

“Well, that is…”

I cautiously reached for his chin.

‘Let’s act natural.’

But anyone could see I was being unnatural.

I had no problem touching the Crown Prince and Leon, but my hand kept trembling now.

It must have been because I was too conscious of the fact that he was a priest.

A look of confusion appeared on Gined’s face.

“Lady?”

“Just a moment… Please! I need to check something.”

But Gined didn’t comply with my request.

Just as my hand was about to touch him, he quickly stepped back.

Then he spoke sternly.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but I am a priest bound by the duty of chastity. Please be cautious when touching me.”

“I’m sorry, Sir Roengreen. Truly, sincerely, I apologize. Please forgive me.”

“There’s no need to apologize repeatedly. Just be more careful next time—.”

Though I genuinely felt sorry for Gined, my apology wasn’t for what had just happened. It was for what I was about to do.

Taking advantage of his momentary lapse in vigilance, I quickly and lightly poked his chin with my index finger. No, it was more like a brush than a poke.

The moment my finger touched his chin, Gined’s expression vanished from his face. His eyes were sharper than ever.

My heart sank. I had forgotten that despite his usual politeness and calm demeanor, he was one of the crazy male leads.

“What are you doing?”

Even in his anger, Gined didn’t shout or act violently.

In fact, that made it even scarier.

Frightened, I took a few steps back.

I thought it was a bit much for just a poke on the chin, but he was a strict adherent to principles. Since joining the temple, he had never violated any of his priestly duties.

Realizing this, I understood the gravity of what I had done.

‘What have I done!’

In the original story, when he first touched Lina, unable to resist his impulses, he was overwhelmed with ecstasy and deep despair.

When I read it, I thought it was just delicious, no, beautiful, but I didn’t try to understand Gined’s feelings.

And that was when his partner was Lina.

Now, because of me, a mere substitute heroine, his firmly held beliefs were shattered, and the only emotion he must be feeling was anger.

No excuse came to mind. I was too sorry to even lift my head.

“…”

After a short silence, Gined finally spoke coldly.

“I hope we don’t meet for a while. I will relay any updates through another knight.”

With that, he left without looking back.

Even after he left, I stood there for a long time, unable to lift my head.

‘It’s really over with Gined…’

It ended before it even started.

It wasn’t just because he was a male lead; I had also relied on him quite a bit as a person, so my disappointment was immense.

But now that I regret it, it was all my fault.

Slumping my shoulders, I returned home and sat in front of the dressing table. I still needed to check.

As expected, there was a very small wound on my chin.

It was even fainter than Gined’s, so I had to look closely to see it, but it was definitely there.

Just like with the Crown Prince, it seemed that the wounds on my body were weakened compared to the original ones.

It was a small relief, but I still didn’t like it.

“Is it because I’m a substitute? Even my abilities are shoddy.”

Moreover, thinking about how the Crown Prince had inflicted wounds on himself both times, and I had to suffer for it, made me furious.

“He’s useless in every way.”

Anyway, to figure out more exact conditions, I gathered some knights from our family who were fairly good-looking.

Since they were knights, they all had minor wounds, making them perfect for experiments.

But…

“Ha, another failure.”

Hearing my sigh, the knight flinched.

It was Michael, the knight who had been getting along well with Seren recently.

Among the knights in our family, he was the closest in condition to Pinion, Gined, and Leon. A young man, tall, and with a decent physique.

Although he fell short of my now higher standards due to the two male leads, his balanced features and healthy tan skin were quite acceptable.

‘I had high hopes…’

Maybe it was because of his rumored baldness, but once again, there was no change in my body.

“That’s enough. You can go now. Get proper treatment.”

“Already, my lady?”

“Huh? Did you think there was more?”

“Well, I heard rumors that you and the Crown Prince are not on good terms these days…”

I blinked, not fully understanding his words.

“What do you mean? What does it matter to you whether I’m on good terms with His Highness or not?”

“Yes! Of course, it must be a false rumor! Please, just pretend you didn’t hear that!”

I asked out of pure curiosity, but Michael’s face turned bright red, and he left in a hurry, almost as if he was fleeing.

“What’s with him?”

Well, it wasn’t something I needed to worry about.

The important thing was that not all tall, handsome men could be healed.

‘Gined and Pinion are male leads. Then what on earth is Leon?’