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Lord Felix and I were now sitting across from each other in my detached house’s reception room.
After I treated his curse, he had been bedridden for three days with a fever. Now that he had finally recovered, he had come with Sir Kain to visit me. Naturally, he was here for the purpose of telling me about his curse as I’d requested.
“First, Lucille, I am truly sorry that you were wounded because of me,” he said. “Has everything been all right with your body since then?”
The first words out of his mouth were an expression of concern for me. I’d heard that when he’d finally awoken after three days, he’d immediately asked about my well-being, even though his condition had obviously been much worse than mine, what with the nearly dying and all.
He really was a kind man.
“I’m perfectly fine,” I said energetically to emphasize my point. “Thank you for your concern.”
Lord Felix breathed a sigh of relief. “You saved my life. I cannot thank you enough. Really, I am extremely grateful, and I am sorry I was unable to say so sooner.” He bowed to me.
“It was nothing! I’m just glad you’re okay!” I smiled, happy to be thanked and doubly happy that I’d been able to help.
Sir Kain, who was standing off to the side, bowed to me as well.
I’d intended to keep my mouth shut about my thoughts on his prognosis a few days ago, but having them both be so grateful to me was weighing on my conscience, so I decided to come clean.
“Your life wasn’t actually in danger, though! I mean, I thought it was at first, but you recovered much more quickly than expected. I think your condition was probably better than it initially seemed. A silver lining, indeed! Tee hee!”
As I tried to laugh it off, Sir Kain interjected, “Uh, no way!” He shook his head fervently. “He definitely almost died! It’s a miracle he’s alive right now!”
“I-Is that so?” I asked.
He leaned menacingly toward me, and I couldn’t help but recoil. Behind him, Lord Felix bowed deeply once more.
What should I do? I didn’t know that being thanked more than necessary could cause confusion! Hmm... I wonder if their perception of the gravity of the situation has been exaggerated by their gratitude?
Being the smart person that I was, I instantly surmised that continuing to deny their feelings would only make things worse.
Regaining my composure, I said, “Please tell me about the curse.”
Sir Kain stepped back to allow Lord Felix to begin his explanation.
“I imagine you’ve figured this out already, but my curse drains the mana out of anything I touch with my hands. It can also cause physical harm.”
“Right,” I said.
“I was only five years old when the power activated for the first time. I was chasing a small, weak, and harmless beast, and as soon as I caught it, it withered and died in my hands.”
“Oh my...”
“The poor thing died a horrible death because of my curiosity.” Lord Felix gave a weak, self-deprecating laugh.
“That’s so unfortunate,” I blurted out without thinking.
Lord Felix choked up.
Feeling his pain, I said, “It must’ve been traumatizing to experience such a thing at the tender age of five. If only I’d been there to give you a hug...”
“Um...what?”
“Oh, sorry! I shouldn’t have said that!”
I really hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but I knew it was a bit arrogant of me to even think that I could hug him. My previous owners would have been overjoyed, but Lord Felix would probably just be annoyed.
Not wanting to discuss that thought any further, I cleared my throat and urged him to continue his story.
“When I reached adulthood, I came up with the idea of using this power against monsters that had to be exterminated anyway. I was able to make use of the mana I absorbed, so it seemed to be an efficient plan. However, after doing so for a while, I noticed that the curse spreading through the land was getting stronger in proportion to the amount of mana I was absorbing.”
Come to think of it, the land was also said to be cursed. Apparently that rumor was true.
“Specifically, the soil was becoming barren, and monsters were appearing more frequently.”
Hmm? I understand the monster part, but barren soil means that crops can’t be grown in it, right? Grandpa Randy is growing flowers, though, and the vegetable garden we set up together is producing tomatoes just fine.
Well, maybe it’s just not as bad as it sounds. It could also be that Grandpa Randy has some kind of divine blessing.
I was curious, but asking about the details would probably lead us off track, so I decided against it for the time being.
“My hands harm others, and this land is difficult for people to live on,” Lord Felix said with an extremely pained look on his face.
He explained that he had trained himself to be able to suppress his curse to an extent. With intense focus, he could touch things without siphoning their mana. However, he obviously wasn’t able to maintain that focus all the time. That was why he wore custom-made mana-blocking gloves and took care not to accidentally touch living things with his bare hands.
There was still a question that his story hadn’t answered: “What negative effects does the curse have on you yourself?” I asked. The curse was on him, after all.
Lord Felix grimaced. “Nothing whatsoever. I only make the people around me suffer.”
He went on to say that he used magic as little as possible these days because his curse necessitated precise handling of it. It didn’t mean he couldn’t use it at all, though.
This was the first time he’d experienced mana exhaustion, and he suspected that the curse’s effect had been amplified because of his frantic state of mind at the time—his adrenaline had been running high from combat as he saved the knight in danger. In other words, so long as he only used magic in calm situations, it wouldn’t affect him.
“So this power will not hurt me,” he said.
In contrast to the remorseful tone of his voice, I felt sincerely relieved.
I’m sure his heart is aching, but it’s better than being in a constant state of torment. Now that’s a silver lining!
“So you aren’t in physical pain or anything, right? That’s great!” I replied, beaming.
Lord Felix and Sir Kain stared at me, their eyes wide in astonishment.