WFBD 04

Chapter 04

“Ugh……”

Valley couldn’t tell earth from sky; her vision spun so badly that she lost her balance and staggered.

Just before she crashed onto the marble floor, Wayne hastily reached out. His burning hand avoided direct contact as much as possible, instead supporting her by the wrist and guiding her to lean gently against the terrace wall.

“Th… thank you…”

Struggling even to stay seated, Valley went limp and gasped for breath. Wayne checked to see if she had been harmed by his heat, but fortunately, she seemed fine.

“What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”

“Because I’m 5th grade… after using my ability once, I have to lie down for two hours…”

“Two hours? How do you expect to work as a gardener with a body like that?”

Her face, which had been flushed from using magic moments ago, now gradually turned pale. Wayne looked alternately at her and the Plumbago he was still holding, then sighed and stood up.

Valley was so exhausted she could barely open her eyes, but she grabbed Wayne’s receding hand.

“I can do it really well. Please believe me…”

Even as she spoke in ragged breaths, she forced her body up with difficulty to show her determination.

She wanted to prove that she was the kind of person who got back up even if her weak magic made her collapse.

Gasping, Valley straightened her back, tucked her chin, and faced Wayne with proper posture.

“I will become the person Your Grace needs. Please, hire me.”

In her previous life, she’d had no contact with Wayne.

Rather, it was after he died that Valley often visited the Viterad mansion.

It was known as a monstrosity, so people didn’t come, and she could spend time there completely alone. It was perfect for Valley, who desperately needed a space of her own away from the prying eyes and oppression of others. Contrary to the rumors of ghosts, she felt a quiet sense of stability in the mansion.

Enchanted by the peace she’d never experienced before, Valley went there every day. And naturally, she came to see the many efforts Wayne had made to leave traces of the fire attributes.

‘Would anyone ever try so fiercely to be remembered even after I die?’

Later, she visited the mansion to feel Wayne’s earnest longing. When the imperial family tore it down, her heart ached quite a bit.

If a fire attribute this strong could be erased so vainly, then she, weak as she was, would probably not leave even a speck of dust.

Even when she returned to the age of twenty, the first place she looked for was the Viterad mansion.

Seeing it still standing, not demolished, Valley thought:

‘If I work at this mansion, I can get away from my family and also prevent it from being torn down.’

Rather than being pushed by her family into another hellish marriage, she chose to abandon them first. For that, the most important things were a place to live outside the Priatin mansion and money.

She was too slow with her hands to work as a maid and too timid to run a business. Pondering what someone as weak as her could do, she thought of gardening.

Since she was young, she had loved planting, raising, and arranging flowers alone. Because it was the only time her weak magic had any effect.

And so, combining her ability with work that could be done at the Viterad mansion, she decided on being a gardener.

She didn’t want to miss the chance to live while tending to the flowers she loved.

“I really want to work at the Viterad mansion…”

Pouring her earnest feelings into her grip, Valley squeezed his hand tighter.

“Are you… holding my hand right now?”

Wayne asked, looking at the captured hand. A single small, white hand was firmly grasping his thumb.

“Oh, uh. I’m sorry…! I got carried away…”

Distracted by the thought of conveying her sincerity, she had meant to grab his sleeve but ended up seizing his hand instead. As she quickly let go, she silently thanked Wayne for being considerate enough not to burn her hand.

But even that small movement made her dizzy again, and she hurriedly held her head.

“Ugh…!”

“With this level of stamina, what do you expect to do?”

“…I’m fine when I’m not using magic.”

“Aren’t you planning to use magic to tend the garden?”

“Well, yes…”

Wayne was still tightly gripping the revived Plumbago. No matter how many times he squeezed and relaxed his hand, the flower didn’t burn and remained alive.

“Your ability might be useful to me.”

“Really?”

“That doesn’t mean I intend to let someone from another family into my mansion.”

He was still extremely wary of letting outsiders into the mansion. After all, it wasn’t an easy decision to immediately accept someone he’d met for the first time today.

“What if I abandon my family?”

“What?”

“I don’t want to work while being treated like a Count’s daughter. I want to do the gardening work solely with my own ability.”

“You mean you’d be fine with the same treatment as the other servants?”

“If it means I can work at the mansion.”

Valley’s eyes sparkled as if she would be grateful even for that. Wayne stared down at her, who seemed not just earnest but desperate.

5th grade. The weakest noble in the Astell Empire, a hair’s breadth away from a commoner.

In particular, water attributes had weaker magic than other attributes, and she was the weakest of them all.

The fact that she collapsed after reviving just one flower showed how feeble she was.

But she had revived a flower that didn’t burn even when he held it.

Moreover, at a time when he wasn’t taking on any new servants, the mansion’s gardener was old and could barely work. She was the perfect candidate in a difficult situation.

Wayne let out a heavy, troubled sigh and ran a hand through his hair.

“Right now, I don’t have the leisure to wait for someone who revives one flower and then lies down for two hours. Do you know it took you five minutes earlier?”

Valley cautiously nodded.

“First, a test. Exactly three days.”

Wayne held up three long, straight fingers.

“Within three days, revive a flower in under two minutes, and reduce your recovery time to one hour.”

Even explaining to the dizzy Valley, he marked 3, 2, 1 with his fingers.

“If you do it, will you hire me?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Really? You’ll really think about it? Thank you!”

Overjoyed just to get the test, Valley clasped her own hands tightly. Wayne silently watched those hands.

His hands burned everything they touched. Yet Valley not only held those hands tightly, but even after letting go, she was perfectly fine.

‘Was it a coincidence… or is this also her ability, and she’s just not telling me?’

A faint hope flickered in Wayne that perhaps Valley’s hands, which revived flowers, might also extend his own life a little. He didn’t need a year or two.

Once the memorial space for the fire attributes was completed, he didn’t care if he died right away.

Wayne put on the blouse and jacket he had draped over the railing.

“Then come to the Viterad mansion three days from now.”

With those words, he went inside alone.

“Oh my…!”

At that moment, Lina, who had clearly been spying on the terrace, flinched and stepped back.

“Ahem, I didn’t do anything. I mean, I didn’t see anything.”

Wayne silently looked down at Lina, who was making excuses before he even asked. Just the touch of his red eyes brought a suffocating pressure that made Lina slyly avert her gaze.

“You’ll be responsible for those words.”

“Excuse me? What do you—”

“If any useless rumors spread, your tongue will be the first to get burned.”

In a world where a man and a woman merely being together in broad daylight sparked gossip, if word got out about what happened on the terrace, both he and Valley would be in an awkward position.

Wayne, who detested getting involved in noisy affairs, warned her, and Lina froze on the spot.

“I-I’ll be careful.”

Wayne passed by the thoroughly frightened Lina indifferently. Left alone, she watched his receding back and Valley, still sitting on the terrace, and muttered,

“What? How does that weakling know the leader of Zero?”

Lina muttered to herself, then headed toward her mother without any intention of helping Valley. Her steps were swift, her mind full of the need to report this immediately.

“Wayne? I didn’t see you, I thought you’d gone back to the mansion. Where were you?”

Vice-captain David spotted Wayne and approached. Without answering, Wayne only stared at the hand Valley had held.

Had his magic control improved?

Still silent, Wayne reached out that same hand and grabbed David’s shoulder.

“Ah, hot! What are you doing?”

Startled by the heat, David twisted his shoulder and shook off the hand.

Even through a thick jacket, it was hot enough to redden the skin down to his neck.

Right. There was no way this cursed body of mine would change.

Pip-pip—

Just then, a sound came from inside Wayne’s jacket. It was from his magic regulation gauge.

He reached into the inner pocket and pulled out a gauge that looked like a pocket watch.

Numbers from 1 to 100 were printed on it, and a needle pointed to a number.

The needle, which had been pointing at 98, slid smoothly at the sound and settled at 96.

“Impossible…”

It was the first time. The number had only ever gone up, never down—not just for him, but for all the fire attributes who had already died.

He had instinctively known that when the needle hit 100, he would die. But just now, it had gone down.

Wayne gripped the gauge tightly and looked back toward the terrace where Valley still sat.