Chapter 10
“……Residual mana?”
“Yes. As I mentioned earlier, the pain and numbness you’re experiencing are caused by an excess of mana in your body. However, if we can cure this condition, that abundant mana could actually help you improve your swordsmanship far beyond your current level.”
Adel quietly pushed the medicine bottle toward Heon.
“So you must take this medicine consistently. Of course, it won’t be cured overnight. Restoring the balance within your body will take quite some time.”
“How can you prove it works?”
“I told you—if you take it regularly, you’ll get better.”
“?”
“Just try it and you’ll see.”
Heon was momentarily speechless at her unfounded confidence.
Take this? So she wants me to test it on my own body? How am I supposed to trust the safety of that medicine? She’s already suspicious and strange enough as it is.
And yet, his hand was already moving toward the bottle.
‘……What am I even doing right now.’
But the next moment, he forced himself to come to his senses. He turned his head away and pushed the bottle back toward her.
‘I haven’t sunk that low yet, damn it.’
The bottle rolled across the table with a clatter before falling to the floor with a ching.
“Take your quack remedies to some drug addict.”
His voice came out cold, laced with contempt.
Yet Adel simply nodded, as if she had expected this all along.
“I figured you wouldn’t trust me right away. Well, no helping it. Good thing I used a sturdy container.”
The woman gazed at the unbroken bottle with satisfaction, then picked it up and placed it back on the table.
After that, she pulled a note from her pocket and held it out to him.
“What’s this?”
“My address.”
Adel narrowed her eyes and continued.
“As the condition progresses, you’ll experience pain so severe it will be unbearable—on a completely different level from what you’ve felt so far.”
“A curse?”
Ignoring his sharp glare, Adel calmly placed her hand over her chest.
“It’ll be right here.”
The tip of her finger pointed precisely at the area just above her solar plexus.
“After severe pain strikes this spot, you’ll suddenly find it difficult to even swallow your breath. You might try to speak but no sound will come out. It’ll last anywhere from a few minutes to ten at most.”
Heon’s expression stiffened slightly. He had never experienced such symptoms before.
No—there was no reason for him to believe her words in the first place.
“That’s absurd……”
“So use the medicine then.”
Adel nodded toward the bottle on the table. She then set the note down beside it.
“And if you change your mind by then, come find me at the address written here.”
She rose from her seat without even a farewell, as if further explanation would be a waste of time.
“I’ll see you again, then.”
Soon, the hem of her worn robe fluttered as she disappeared completely from the reception room.
“Hah.”
Just how did she plan to see him again, anyway?
Heon let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.
“Where does a con artist like that……”
Her tone was arrogant, and everything she said was ridiculous.
But strangely, he couldn’t bring himself to throw away the medicine bottle and note she had left behind. No—he simply couldn’t.
The spot above his solar plexus that she had pointed to was tingling for reasons he couldn’t explain.
Several days later.
‘See? Nothing’s happening.’
Heon turned a page and chuckled quietly.
A pile of books on mana sat stacked on his desk.
Since that day, he had looked at the note and the medicine bottle Adel had left behind several times.
But soon, feeling foolish for doing so, he tossed them into the back of a drawer.
Of course, that didn’t mean he’d completely let it go.
Though he acted indifferent on the surface, Adel’s words had been nagging at him the entire time, so he decided to look into the medicine on his own.
He instructed his servants:
“Bring me every book related to mana.”
This was to find out whether anyone else actually suffered from the same kind of trouble—mana not being discharged properly.
But while references to mana depletion appeared occasionally, there was no mention anywhere of excess mana or mana absorbers.
Gradually, her warnings began to feel like nothing more than nonsense.
‘What? Unimaginable pain will come? Suddenly I won’t be able to breathe?’
“Hah, breathing trouble? What……”
He let out a dry laugh and shoved the book aside.
Still, she sure had a silver tongue for a quack—enough to make him almost fall for it for a moment.
Thinking about the time wasted on these books, he slowly rose from his seat.
“Wasting time on useless……”
Just as he clicked his tongue quietly—that was the moment.
Suddenly, his breath caught in his throat.
Heon clutched his chest and tried to call out to his servants.
But his lips only moved silently—no words came from his throat.
‘Ah, damn it…… Damn it, DAMN IT!’
His heart pounded violently.
Heon’s mind went blank.
His rigid body wavered, and in an instant, he collapsed limply to the floor.
“Kh—! Huck—!”
Between his collarbone and solar plexus—exactly where Adel had pointed.
It felt like a chunk of iron was pressing down on that spot, suffocating him.
At the same time, the woman’s words—the ones he had mocked with “a curse?”—flashed through his mind.
“After severe pain strikes this spot, you’ll suddenly find it difficult to even swallow your breath. You might try to speak but no sound will come out. It’ll last anywhere from a few minutes to ten at most.”
Damn it—it was the exact same symptom.
He really couldn’t breathe.
Heon couldn’t believe it.
‘……What is this?’
That eccentric woman’s words had actually been true.
He realized that if this continued, he might actually die.
‘Then—if that’s the case……’
Just before his consciousness grew hazy, Heon mustered his last remaining strength and dragged himself toward his desk.
With all his might, he yanked open the drawer. Tossing aside whatever objects his hands bumped into, he frantically searched for it.
Damn it.
Damnation!
That very potion—the one the woman had called a cure.
“Haah—, hnngh……”
Heon finally found the bottle and grasped it in his hand. There was no time for doubt.
With trembling hands, he opened the lid and downed it in one go.
Gulp, gulp.
The potion slid smoothly down his throat—the same throat that moments ago couldn’t even draw a breath.
As if it had been made precisely for this very moment.
And then, astonishingly……
“Hah…… hah, haa……”
The stiffened muscles in his chest gradually began to relax.
The breathing that had felt like death only moments before returned to normal.
He opened and closed his numb, tingling hands, and warmth quickly spread through his body.
He had never experienced such pain in his life. And never had pain vanished so instantly, either.
Heon sat slumped on the floor, gasping for breath for a long while.
Then he stared at the empty bottle in his hand.
The medicine inside was gone—not a single drop left.
“……It was real.”
Only then did Heon have no choice but to admit it.
That he now had a reason to go find that woman.
I paused while putting on my dress and casually scratched my ear.
‘……Why are my ears so itchy?’
“Um, Adel? Are you dressed yet?”
“Oh my, it looks wonderful on you! Oh dear, shall I draw the curtain?”
Outside, Adolf was urging me along, while beside me, the tailor fussed excitedly.
‘Maybe it’s because I’ve got two little busybodies, one on each side?’
I dismissed it casually and nodded.
“Yes, please draw it.”
Today was the day for my dress fitting.
On the day I went to see Heon and delivered my proposal (disguised as a threat), I’d received another call from Adolf—whose poverty had been exposed that same day.
He said he had investors to introduce me to and asked me to accompany him to the Count’s banquet.
Hmm. Securing investment from Heon is my top priority, but……
Given the possibility of failure, preparing Plans A through Z is just common sense for a successful businesswoman, isn’t it?
‘Besides, I got the dress for free.’
Adolf had proudly declared that he’d buy me at least one dress to commemorate his retirement. Apparently, even as broke as he was, he still had that much money.
