Chapter 130: 129. Camilla
1.
Camilla watched Lionel collapse right in front of her.
Fortunately, maybe because this wasn’t his first or second time dropping from exhaustion, even while staggering he lowered himself and naturally lay down on the floor.
Back then, she had wondered what on earth this child did to work himself so hard that he collapsed from overwork...
Now she understood there had been a reason for it all.
One of the [Heirs of Fire].
The dark circles under his eyes, his swollen hands from being pricked by needles, even his dry, tangled hair as if he hadn’t had a moment to wash it.
"...Now I understand why the others were like that."
How could your heart not be moved by someone who put in this much effort and care for your sake?
And if that person had only just turned fourteen...
He didn’t cling to grown adults for help. Instead, he boldly declared that he would save that adult, and then collapsed from sheer exhaustion himself.
How could that not stir a woman’s protective instincts?
Slide.
Camilla moved toward the gloves the child had made so carefully for her.
Then she gently slipped them onto her hands.
"..."
Even with the gloves on, she couldn’t feel anything covering her fingertips at all.
She bent her fingers this way and that, but there wasn’t the slightest sense of pulling.
To begin with, Camilla wasn’t someone who particularly cared about aesthetics...
But she turned her hand over.
The thread ran seamlessly along her fingers, and at her wrist the pearl glimmered.
"...It’s beautiful."
That was the only thing she could say.
Even though it was the first time she had ever worn these gloves, they didn’t feel unfamiliar.
As if they had always been a part of her body...
Thump, thump...
Her heart beat faster.
Why was this happening?
Right now, she wanted to see what this equipment could do.
And there was no time to hesitate.
Camilla knelt beside Lionel.
The moment she brushed back his disheveled hair a couple of times and tried to examine his condition—
Pahng!
"Huh...?"
Something spread out before her eyes.
A spell... it was a spell, but one she had never seen before in her life.
The overlapping lines twisted among themselves, separated, and burst open before her eyes.
─────────────────
[Target: Lionel]
[Status: Overwork]
[Fatigue accumulation -> reduced recovery -> total bodily exhaustion]
[Complex damage confirmed due to sleep deprivation and repetitive work.]
[Delayed recovery of muscles and nerves.]
[Accumulated micro-damage in both hands.]
─────────────────
Overwork.
Originally, overwork was not something that could really be called a perfectly curable illness.
It wasn’t a disease caused by bacteria or germs, nor was it easy to classify as a specific sickness.
So usually she would prescribe a few strips of seaweed... ha, it wasn’t seaweed, but Yeomhwa kept calling it seaweed.
Its proper name was Nereia.
She would prescribe Nereia and have it laid across the patient’s forehead.
But...
Swoosh.
Without realizing it, Camilla reached out.
At her fingertips, one tangled line glowed.
And with it came a powerful sense that the knots where lines were intertwined were binding other lines and interfering with recovery.
"...Bond."
If she cut this away and reconnected the severed part, then surely...
Ssshhh...
The moment she thought that, something settled into her hand.
"Huh...?"
Something with a short blade attached to the end of a thin handle.
It resembled a carving knife, but the shape of the blade... and the lightness when she held it were on a completely different level.
In the modern world, this would be called a scalpel.
But for Camilla, it was a tool she had never seen before.
Still, it had the ideal form.
There was no room for hesitation.
Tap.
"So it was here."
Tap... tap.
She cut away only the necessary parts, erasing the very concept of overwork.
Tat-tatat...
How many lines had she cut like that?
"...Done."
Her voice trembled.
Once all the bonds were severed, the blocked flows of recovery connected again.
The dark circles under Lionel’s eyes slowly began to return to their original skin tone.
And little by little, even his breathing grew easier...
"..."
It made the unseen visible, and made treatment possible where it had once been impossible.
Camilla remained still for a long while, holding Lionel’s hand.
Maybe.
Just maybe...
Cordelia too.
Adeline too.
Could she heal them?
The path she hadn’t been able to find back then—this time...
"Thank you..."
Nothing had been confirmed yet.
But Camilla slowly lowered herself.
She gently pressed her forehead against Lionel’s.
The child’s forehead was warm.
A faint scent of vanilla brushed her nose, mixed with the smell of a boy.
"Thank you so much, Lionel..."
There were words she had thought she would never be able to say again.
I can heal you. Leave it to me.
She wanted to try saying those words again.
Camilla pressed her lips together tightly... then held back the tears that threatened to spill again.
"..."
She lowered her head a little more, closer to Lionel.
Dolores and Yeomhwa too—whenever they looked at this child, why did they always bring their faces so close?
Now she thought she finally understood.
...It should be fine, right?
Everyone else did this too.
Kiss.
Like her friends had done,
Camilla carefully pressed a kiss to the child’s forehead.
But then—
Creak.
"?!"
"..."
The door behind her opened.
Startled, Camilla turned her head...
And met Yeomhwa’s eyes at the doorway.
Yeomhwa looked back and forth between Lionel and Camilla...
"Hehe."
With a meaningful smile, she said nothing and simply raised a thumbs-up.
"See?"
She left the rest unsaid, but—
"........."
Camilla could do nothing except blush.
2.
A bright and vigorous morning.
"..."
WTF.
Why does my body feel this refreshed?
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a truly bright and vigorous morning...?
...
Even when I shook my head around and stretched, nothing cracked or popped.
The fingers that had swollen from needle pricks were perfectly fine too.
I had gotten poked a few times since it had been a while.
Yeah, this is what a fourteen-year-old body should feel like...
I immediately sprang out of bed and tried Kim Yuna’s full-body stretching routine, but...
"Wow."
This is legendary.
And somehow, I feel like I got a little taller too?
Come to think of it, Camilla had come in before I collapsed... so she must have treated me.
It was strange that there wasn’t any seaweed on my forehead, but I was sure she had taken the gloves too.
"Man."
Still, I was glad the sudden equipment crafting had worked out well.
Maybe she had already gone to treat Cordelia.
I left the room.
But what is this weird uneasy feeling...?
It was when I had taken a few steps down the hallway.
"Ah."
Ruby.
Isn’t today the finals??
"Shit."
Tap-tap-tap-tap...!
The time on the Tower system I hurriedly pulled up was 6 a.m.
If that was the case, then if I grabbed Mom’s leg right now and got a carriage arranged, I could still make it.
Knock knock knock knock!
"Dolores!"
"Lionel?!"
The door flew open, and Dolores, still in her nightclothes, looked at me in surprise from the office window.
Judging by the dampness at the nape of her neck and in her hair, she must have just washed up.
"Let’s go!"
"W-where do you mean?"
"Ruby’s finals! I promised I’d watch!!"
"Ah."
Only then did Dolores smile.
"The carriage is already prepared."
"...Ah."
Only then did I feel a little relieved.
"Then I just need to wash up real quick. I’ll go do that!"
"Shall I wash you?"
"No no no."
Jesus, that startled me.
Without thinking, I pulled my neck back and waved both hands.
"All right, take your time. There’s plenty of—"
"Yep."
Just as I was about to leave—
"But Lionel."
"Yes?"
"...Doesn’t it seem like you’ve gotten a little taller...?"
"Huh?"
I had been thinking the same thing.
Click, click.
Swoosh.
Mom placed her hand on top of my head and compared the height.
"Oh my, it’s true?"
What the fuck.
Has Lionel finally started growing???
What on earth had my doctor, Lady Camilla, done for me overnight?
Did she give me a growth hormone shot or something?
I wanted to ask right away, but now wasn’t the time for that.
"Should we talk about it after I get back first?"
"Very well. Hehe."
I ran straight for the bathroom.
And in the bathroom—
"Huh?!?!"
[Gasp!!]
I realized that something had definitely... grown.
WOW.
It was when I came back out after washing up in a hurry.
"Hm?"
In the center hall of the mansion stood a woman with water-colored hair.
A white gown... a familiar back.
And the gloves, worn properly on both hands.
She still hadn’t left?
And then—
'They suit her well.'
I headed over that way with the corners of my mouth lifting.
"Camilla?"
She had been looking toward the front entrance, but turned her head.
"...Lionel, you’re awake."
"Yes, you treated me, right? My body feels incredibly light."
Camilla studied my face, then smiled faintly.
"Yes, I 'treated' you. Thanks to you, I lived long enough to see the day I treated overwork."
As she said that, Camilla fidgeted with her hands.
Ah, right.
I never wrote her an equipment manual, did I?
I wrote one for Seren, but with Camilla, I passed out the moment I showed her the equipment.
"Lionel."
"Yes?"
"I’m thinking of going to Cordelia."
"..."
"...Do you think I can do it?"
Camilla asked me carefully.
She was asking the creator of the equipment whether that function was truly possible.
And with her saying she wanted to go right away, it felt like even my heart started beating faster.
She was saying she would challenge it again...
If that was the case, then I had to see this through to the end too.
"...First, let me write out the equipment manual for you. Come with me."
Since there was still about an hour before the carriage left anyway.
I held out my hand to her.
"..."
Clasp.
Camilla’s water-colored hair fluttered as she gripped my hand tightly.
And just like that, we crossed the garden together.
The place where I had first met her, soaked to the bone in the rain, came into view.
"There’s a lot to explain."
"...I like that."
"...?"
That’s kind of an unusual preference.
I don’t really like listening to explanations.
Creak.
I opened the workshop door and offered Camilla a chair.
I took out paper and a pen first.
Scribble, scribble.
Since this equipment was exclusive gear, the explanation needed to be written specifically for Camilla too.
"How much of it have you used so far?"
"I looked at your body, Lionel."
"...Aha."
Something about that sounded a little weird.
"I could see things I couldn’t see before."
Camilla looked down at the gloved hand.
"And... it even placed tools in my hand."
"Then you’ve already used two functions."
I wrote down the names of those functions one by one.
"..."
I definitely put a chair across from me.
I had no idea why she was sitting pressed right up beside me instead.
For now, I wrote down the functions Camilla had personally used.
Tap tap.
[Declaration]
I tapped the explanation written beneath it with my pen.
"Actually."
The Company’s cryogenic technique?
That had already been solved.
"We’re already halfway there."
I explained the ability of [Declaration].
That it could stop a patient’s condition in place.
And even the twenty-four-hour cooldown.
"...Is that really true?"
"Yes."
That meant there was no longer any reason to bow our heads to the Company and beg them to maintain the cryogenic spell.
Of course, I didn’t know exactly how it worked.
It was only that since it literally said "stop," I could assume it had the same effect.
And seeing Beelzebub—that demon—get angry, it seemed that assumption was right.
Maybe he had been afraid of anyone challenging his authority...
Get the fuck out, bastard.
"..."
Camilla carefully covered her mouth with her gloved hand.
I continued by explaining the other functions as well.
While I kept writing everything down so I wouldn’t miss anything, I didn’t think Camilla said a single word.
My legs were trembling a little since it was a 4.5-star item, but...
That happened to everyone.
"You understand up to here, right?"
It really was convenient having her right beside me.
I could explain it directly too.
When I turned my head, Camilla was looking at her gloved hand spread open.
"...Yes."
Her fingertips trembled slightly.
"Please continue."
After copying down even the various [Origin Script]s, I paused my pen for a moment.
"And... in the end, at the very end."
Even if the path became visible, even if tools appeared,
in the end, the last part belonged to the doctor.
I wrote down something I normally would never write...
Even a sentence that would have remained a secret forever if I hadn’t used the emotion reader.
Scribble, scribble.
─────────────────
"You have to believe in yourself, right?"
- [Skilled Blacksmith L] -
─────────────────
"...Believe."
I slid the paper toward her.
"..."
Camilla stared at that final sentence for a long time.
She opened her mouth... then closed it again...
"Yes."
This time, she nodded.
"I can heal her."
Camilla folded the written manual and tucked it inside her gown.
"I’ll be back."
I smiled and nodded.
"Please do."
I could only hope that when she returned, she wouldn’t be alone.
3.
"I didn’t expect you to contact us so soon, White Robe of Dawn."
Instead of responding to the greeting, Camilla looked past the man.
A tightly shut door.
Cordelia would be beyond it.
Camilla didn’t bother answering.
Instead...
"Call the cryomancer."
"..."
"I’m going to treat her."
The man studied Camilla’s face for a moment.
"Have you found a treatment?"
"Hey."
"..."
"If I tell you to call them, then call them."
You’re not at the level to be talking back to me, are you?
The force Camilla gave off shoved the man back about two steps.
Instead of asking more questions, he hurriedly made contact and stepped aside from the door.
"Gorgonew will arrive in thirty minutes, they sa—"
Creeeak...
Camilla opened the door without waiting to hear the rest.
As the door opened, cold air flowed out into the hallway.
In the middle of a cavern covered in ice,
Cordelia was embedded in a coffin made of ice, exactly as she had been the last time Camilla saw her...
Completely frozen in place.
A blood-soaked body, split-open wounds.
"..."
When Camilla reached her hand over the coffin, the pearl set at her wrist shone.
─────────────────
[Target: Cordelia Rosenfeld]
[Status: Critical / cryogenic preservation maintained]
[Fatigue accumulation -> reduced recovery -> total bodily exhaustion]
[Chest penetration, rupture of the heart and left lung.]
[Abdominal laceration, multiple organ damage, and massive blood loss.]
[Spinal damage, multiple comminuted fractures of the pelvis and limbs.]
[Ruptures and severance throughout the mana circuits.]
[Residual curse in the damaged areas impairs regeneration.]
[Life cannot be sustained upon release from cryogenic preservation.]
─────────────────
Saaaaah...
Blue lines spread out before her eyes.
Her chest had been pierced through, and her abdomen torn open.
Of course, these were not illnesses...
"...Yes."
But now she could see everything.
She could see exactly what the problem was.
'Believe.'
Camilla bit her lip.
"I will."
This time, it felt like she could do it.
Now, she believed in herself.
===========
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