The Traitor (1)

Aten quickly approached and checked Frondiers condition.

A moment of confusion is enough.

She calmed her mind in an instant.

Frondier seemed to have just fainted.

However.

Pulse.

She checked his pulse, but it was too faint.

If she didn't concentrate fully, she wouldn't be able to feel the beat.

His breathing was the same.

Ill check.

The royal knights healer approached.

The healer spread their hands to grasp Frondiers physical state.

They were infusing mana to check the inside of her body.

This is.

The healer opened their eyes wide in disbelief.

Their eyes were filled with despair and fear.

Whats the state?

All parts of her body are damaged.

Damaged, you say?

Not only the internal organs like the heart, lungs, liver, and stomach, but also the bones, nerves, and muscles are all deficient.

Deficient.

Aten recalled Renzos words.

-Indeed, indeed! Doping! Whatever you did, its unbelievable mana!

Doping.

Thats what Renzo said.

It was certainly an unbelievable amount of mana if it werent for that.

I dont know how he did it.

But if thats the price of his condition, its too cruel.

Then what should we do?

.

Is it possible to recover with healing magic?

.

Despite Atens question, the healer just shut their mouth as if troubled.

Why arent you saying anything?

Atens expression turned cold.

She never panicked.

Rather, she became more composed at times like this.

Aten nim. Healing is a way to recover from injury. But this persons only injury is a bruise on the side. Even so, its serious, but even if this injury is healed.

Even if its healed?

The damaged parts will not be recovered.

At the healers words, Aten tightly squeezed her eyes shut.

With her eyes open again, she saw her mother, Philly.

"Then we must take Frondier to the hospital immediately, Mother."

"...Aten."

"Hurry. The surgery might be delayed."

"Aten."

"Quickly-"

Philly grabbed Aten's shoulder.

"This child cannot be moved right now."

"..."

"You've heard, haven't you? Not only are the internal organs missing, but also muscles, bones, and nerves. We don't know what might happen during the transfer."

Frondier's body is weaker than a child's right now.

There are more deficiencies than in a baby, and given his significantly larger volume.

Even if we carefully move him on a stretcher and by car, we can't guarantee safety.

"Even if the surgery is performed, and even if it goes well, he'll have to live with severe disabilities."

Aten looked at Frondier's face upon hearing Philly's words.

It was the face she always saw.

The one she would always follow around at Constel.

That face, those shoulders, and that body.

"...Then what are you saying we should do?"

No one answered Aten's question.

"Aten, I'm sorry, but he..."

A knight approached Aten.

Aten scanned him with emotionless eyes.

"Aten, in trying to save you, he did his best. As he saved the princess of the empire, it's the greatest honor for him-"

Snap!

Aten, unable to bear the knight's poor attempt at consolation, slapped him without mercy.

A cold frost formed on the knight's cheek where he was struck.

"Shut your mouth. Frondier didn't save the empire's princess."

"Oh, Aten."

"It's not like that."

Honorable?

Because I'm the princess?

Because Frondier de Roach saved me since I am the princess?

No, that's not it.

If that were the case, Frondier wouldn't have been able to treat me so casually.

Like so many others, he would have groveled in front of me, addressing me with undue honorifics.

No, that's not it.

Frondier didn't save a princess.

In his eyes, Atena or anyone else would have been the same.

He simply saved an ordinary person.

That was Frondier's choice.

Atena knelt on both knees.

She looked at Frondier with her bright white eyes.

"Atena?"

...Royalty is above others to protect their people.

What were all those excessive fortunes and powers, the education based on them, for?

Save them.

That's your duty, Atena.

Atena's magic power surged.

Consequently, the temperature around her dropped.

Atena, originally skilled in ice magic.

But beyond that.

As if even the breath she exhaled could freeze, Atena gradually became colder.

"Ah, Lady Atena! It's dangerous!"

The voice of a knight trying to stop her.

It doesn't reach her.

It's as distant as words from across the water.

Atena has reached some sort of enlightenment.

'Think.'

Find a way.

How can you save Frondier?

I've never learned healing magic.

Healing won't work anyway.

You can't bring back what's lost.

'...Unless it's not lost.'

Frondier had amplified his mana.

As a backlash, much of his body had dissipated.

In other words, much of it had turned into mana.

The task wasn't to heal the wounds.

Just as his body had turned into mana, now it was about turning mana back into the body.

In other words, 'restoration'.

I've never tried such a thing, nor do I know if it's possible.

Yet, for some reason, Atena felt it was possible.

Atena's hands moved above Frondier.

With each movement of her hands, the air sparkled.

The particles in the air were freezing.

That cold mana seeped into Frondier's body.

'...I see.'

Through the process, Atena understood the condition of Frondier's body.

She had performed a technique that healers train for years to achieve, right at this moment.

Upon checking, it became evident just how perilous Frondier's condition was.

He wasn't dead.

Definitely alive.

However, his life force was gradually fading away.

Destroyed internal organs, muscles, blood, and bones.

To sustain Frondier's life, all these had become too 'diminished.'

"Alright, if I distribute mana evenly like this......"

Aten slowly channeled mana into Frondier's missing parts.

The precision of this mana manipulation was astonishing, almost thread-like in its application.

But.

"...It's impossible, Aten."

Philly, who had been watching, swallowed her grim expression.

Even if Aten could encapsulate his mana with incredible control.

Even if Aten could truly restore mana into the body.

Ultimately, knowledge becomes the barrier.

"......!"

Aten's fingertips trembled.

Philly was right.

She had managed to encapsulate the mana, but that was it.

Aten had an intuition that she could 'restore' with his abilities.

But what is unknown cannot be done.