Chapter 228
Isaac looked indifferent. Reno, supported by him, trampled over the corpses of the Nex and climbed up.
Soon, our gazes entwined, and his pale, grass-green eyes, holding my reflection, curved smoothly.
‘Is this really the time to be smiling……?’
I almost died. Even after going through that crisis, seeing him smile as if to reassure me, an unnecessary complaint escaped my lips.
Still.
“Thank goodness…….”
Thank goodness. That you’re alive. That you look unharmed.
My body, which had been tense and strained, felt like it suddenly deflated.
Staggering, I couldn’t control my body and eventually collapsed. For some reason, my whole body felt hot.
Was I too excited?
“Your Highness! Are you alright?”
Killis, who had rushed over at some point, worried about me. I lightly pushed away his hand, which was extended to help me up, and shook my head.
“I’m fine. I just want to rest a little. More importantly…… Killis, are you okay? You seemed to have used a lot of mana.”
“I’m fine. More importantly…….”
It was just as Killis was about to say something.
“Sister!”
Meliana had also come over to me. Perhaps because she had indiscriminately unleashed magic, her face was even paler than Killis’s.
“Sister, you……. What did you do?”
“Huh?”
“You were clearly in front of me. But when did you come down here?”
Faced with the barrage of questions, I couldn’t readily open my mouth. The situation was urgent, so I hadn’t thought about the aftermath.
I should have kept in mind that I’d be suspected like this.
“Since when?”
“Uh, huh?”
“Since when! Since when could you use magic? Don’t tell me your mana circuit has also returned to normal?”
“No, that’s not it…… It’s just, when I came to my senses…….”
I flinched at the sharp, continuous questioning.
“Calm down, Your Highness. Her Highness’s mana circuit is still abnormal.”
“But how did she use it? The Duke must have seen it too, right? Besides, she even pulled out a bow from subspace……!”
Meliana pointed a finger at me.
But is it just my imagination? I feel a bit dizzy and nauseous…….
“Ugh!”
Something sharply scraped inside me for an instant, then rapidly surged up to my throat. And before I could do anything, a stream of bright red liquid flowed from my mouth.
“O-Oh…….”
Blood? Is this, blood?
I was bewildered even after spitting it out. It continued to flow, so I covered my mouth with my hand, but blood ceaselessly overflowed through the gaps in my fingers.
“W-why is this happening?”
“Your Highness! Just spit it out.”
Killis had already taken out a handkerchief and held it to my hand. In the process, his hand also got stained with blood, which made me hesitate.
It’s dirty…
“Please spit it out quickly.”
At his repeated urging, I finally accepted his handkerchief. Of course, it wasn’t enough, so I used several more.
“Thank yo—”
It was when I was about to express my gratitude to Killis. My body tilted to the side, and my vision shifted.
“Your Highness!”
Huh? Why am I like this…….
I was clearly looking into Killis’s eyes just a moment ago, so why is he looking down at me now……?
I wanted to say I was fine and stand up, but somehow, there was no strength in my body. My vision also rapidly faded.
“Wake up!”
Leaving someone’s faint call behind, my consciousness instantly faded away.
* * *
My whole body was hot. It was a fever similar to, yet different from, the crisis of mana going wild due to excessive accumulation.
The former felt like I was truly going to die and I was tormented, wanting to somehow expel that heat.
But now, all the strength had just drained from my body. It felt like I wanted to sink down without a thought and just let everything go.
“Looks like you’re awake, why don’t you get up now?”
If it weren’t for the sharp voice that pierced my ears, I would have fallen asleep again.
Slowly opening my eyes, I saw a familiar figure in my blurry vision. There was no need to see her face.
“Meliana?”
“Looks like you’re a bit more coherent now.”
Meliana came into clear focus as my vision sharpened.
“Why are you here……?”
“You vomited blood and fainted from mana depletion. Don’t you remember?”
“Ah, this is…….”
So it was mana depletion. Thinking that it was the same phenomenon Killis had experienced before, I felt even more sorry for him.
I had expected it to be painful, but I never thought it would be this painful.
More than that, I was a little flustered. I had often been in danger of mana going wild due to excessive mana accumulation, but mana depletion……?
‘What on earth caused it?’
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