“…He’s already contracted…with someone else,” she mumbled. Yuki was indeed his Master, but her confidence in that truth waned when someone else had her ring.
“Oh. You are referring to the Witch, yes? That Witch was rightfully burned at the stake. I am now Lucat’s Master,” Shae stated as if she were speaking of nothing more important than the weather.
…What the heck?
The Witch was rightfully burned at the stake. Did that mean even her contract with Luca assumed she had been killed? Word of the Legendary Witch and Rvydom’s princess being executed by Maruk had undeniably been spread across the land. But Yuki hadn’t been killed and was standing right here. Terribly confused, she couldn’t make sense of anything.
Losing her patience, Shae snapped, “You are unrelated to this matter. Won’t you hurry and do your job and heal Lucat?”
“Eh, um—”
“What a relief the Witch died. Her actions are the reason Lucat was made to suffer in this way.”
“…What do you…mean?”
“Oh yes, someone such as yourself would be completely disconnected from the Knights. You needn’t be ashamed you have no knowledge of them with your standing,” she snickered mockingly. “What do you believe is necessary between a Knight and their Master?”
“Necessary?” Yuki repeated.
Yuki recalled the different Knight and Master pairings she knew about: herself and Luca, Vigo and Selena, Tita and Nasette. What did they have in common between them? Something Selena said to her a while ago came to mind.
“…The resolve to stay together for a lifetime?” she offered.
“It’s nothing so trivial.” Disgusted by the way Shae mocked everything she said, Yuki frowned. “When a Knight and Master bond together through the contract, the Knight’s physical strength is dramatically increased. The amount of strength they receive from their Master varies on an individual basis. What do you think is the foundation for it?”
Yuki couldn’t hide her surprise that she was still unaware of something critical to the Knight and Master relationship. She had been under the impression the Knight’s power amplification was the same for everyone when they bonded or based on their color rank.
“I don’t know,” she answered, shaking her head.
With a heavenly smile and dreamy eyes, Shae spoke, “Their feelings of affection.”
“…Are you kidding me?” The answer was so ridiculous Yuki wanted to write off the woman as mad right away. How could something immeasurable be the determining factor?
“A Knight without a splinter of affection from their Master is no different from an ordinary human. The more affection and feelings the Master has for their Knight, the stronger the Knight becomes,” Shae dreamily intoned as if she were drunk on the concept. Her drunken stupor broke and animosity turned her beautiful face ugly.
“And this is why it’s all that horrible Witch’s fault! I have no doubt the Witch forced a contract on Lucat to use and abuse him! This terrible situation happened because the Witch didn’t have an ounce of affection for Lucat! If only he had contracted with me before her, this would have never happened to him!”
Yuki’s heart dropped.
“…How does that work?”
Shae ignored Yuki’s question and prattled on, “…But I do have to be grateful to the Witch for one thing. Thanks to her trickery, Lucat became available to contract with again. Anyways, are you not finished healing Lucat yet? Is the power lauded by rumors to be a miracle nothing more than an exaggeration?”
“…et…out…”
“What did you just say?”
“I said to please get out!” Her heart hammered in her ears. The intense flow of blood stimulated her tear ducts. She grabbed Shae’s shoulder and pushed her out of the bedroom. “You are disrupting the treatment! Please leave!”
Thunderstruck someone dare lay a hand on her, Shae caught her balance and retreated. Yuki slammed the bedroom door and locked it. She leaned against the door and slid down to her butt.
“How dare you! Open this door this instant!” demanded Shae.
Yuki expected her to pound on the door, but her noble upbringing kept her from such brutish behavior. Instead, she settled on shouting demands and ladylike curses at the door. Her abusive language was muffled by the thick door and Yuki couldn’t make much out aside from the anger in the other woman’s voice.
“…The power level changes based on how much affection you have for the Knight? What the heck kind of fairytale power is this? The power of love? Is this some sick cliché?” Yuki grumbled.
“And this is why it’s all that horrible Witch’s fault!
Shae’s spiteful voice replayed in her mind, blaming her. Yuki’s heart squeezed and she pulled her knees to her chest. The degree of affection correlated one to one with the amount of power the Knight received. Luca contracted the Ten Day Fever despite being a Knight when Knights were supposed to be immune to all but a common cold. Not only did he not recover, but his health was on a one-way trip to self-destruction.
“This terrible situation happened because the Witch didn’t have an ounce of affection for Lucat!”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she asked the words replaying in her mind.
Sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed, she couldn’t see the man lying on top. She momentarily escaped from reality thinking it was a good thing she couldn’t see him. Were she to see him now, she’d want to disappear from him for good.
Yuki had been confident she could cure Luca. Now she was deeply ashamed of her confidence.
“The reason Luca caught the Ten Day Fever and didn’t get better…is all my fault…”
Rhad had said they could be reunited if Luca caught the Ten Day Fever. Although that wasn’t how she wanted to see him again, she was happy to lay eyes on his face once more. Yet now her heart ached.
“What is with this world?!”
Had Luca recovered from the Ten Day Fever on his own they could have reunited in a different way. But that day never came.
The cause for all his misery lay entirely with Yuki.