Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

Early in the morning, the Rayes mansion was bustling with people preparing to leave.

Dad, Drehan, and Damon had all left for the succession ceremony, while Kesil, whose actions had been revealed, was almost dragged away.

Seeing his neck bobbing as he was dragged away through the window, I could tell that yesterday’s muttering was certainly not just idle talk.

Now that it had been revealed he was responsible for the Marquis’s death, the family would surely punish him appropriately.

Perhaps he might even go to the place of exile where the original Ria had gone.

“Laveria, was it?”

Just then, before boarding the carriage, Damon approached and spoke to me.

He stroked my head with his large hand and smiled with a face no longer indecisive.

“If you don’t mind, come visit the Einhasil Marquisate next time. You’re undoubtedly the family’s benefactor, no matter how you look at it.”

I nodded carefully.

For the first time in the family’s history, a leader of illegitimate birth might be born in the Einhasil Marquisate, the most influential branch of Rayes.

The changes from this would surely affect me positively as well.

“Yes, I’ll definitely visit. Marquis.”

I smiled brightly at him.

* * *

“Miss, I really couldn’t sleep at all.”

While I was habitually reading an ancient book after washing up and lying in bed, Jen came to visit.

I put a bookmark in the thick ancient book that I had just reached the middle of, and naturally approached Jen, who was sitting on the windowsill.

“It’s nothing much, but does it ever happen that mana gradually decreases?”

At my question, Jen made a deflated expression as if that was all I wanted to ask.

Nevertheless, he answered diligently.

“Mana decreasing… That would be going against the laws of nature. The rule that mana grows stronger the more it’s used is unchanging.”

“Then did the old Imperial mage measure it wrong after all…”

I muttered. Jen smiled brightly, seeming interested again at the mention of his rival, the Imperial Magic Department.

“What’s this about?”

“Senia is also a healing mage managed by the Magic Tower, right?”

“Of course. Larisha is her assigned mage.”

“Sister Larisha? Then does the Magic Tower also measure and record mana levels?”

“No, measurement is the Imperial Palace’s job, and the Magic Tower is responsible for teaching how to use magic. In that sense, it’s fortunate that I was assigned to you, Miss.”

Certainly… If it hadn’t been Jen, I would have had to explain in detail why I was adamant about not using magic, and in the process, my incurable illness that I wanted to hide would have been revealed.

“Thank you for the trick you taught me last time. Thanks to that, my mana level only showed as 15,000.”

At my words, Jen was astonished.

“Miss… 15,000 is the level of the Tower Master. And you said you used the trick well, so it must be even higher than that originally.”

At his expression of looking at me as if I were a monster, I shrugged.

Is that so? But because my attribute was healing, having a lot of mana didn’t bring about noticeable effects.

If I were a fire mage or water mage, I could launch tremendous attacks, but in my case, it was just tremendous healing…

‘Healers really are useless after all.’

“The Magic Department seemed to be in the process of choosing the next Imperial healing mage.”

“The Imperial Magic Department must be full of themselves. Now that there are two healing mages, they’re agonizing over who to choose.”

“Then Senia was mentioned, but strangely, they said her mana was decreasing slightly with each measurement. Not enough to be clearly noticeable, but…”

I spoke, remembering her slightly declining graph.

It wasn’t noticeable enough, so even the old mage was perplexed…

At my words, Jen seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

“Mana decreasing… The most plausible explanation would be a measurement error.”

I too didn’t have much faith in the measuring device used by the Imperial Magic Department.

It was a machine that even allowed tricks like slightly lifting your hand.

“If she’s using someone else’s mana, it could decrease with use since it’s not mana produced by her own body.”

“Using someone else’s…?”

“But this is impossible. There’s no way to take someone else’s mana. If that were possible, we could have solved the issue with your body long ago.”

“So you’re saying it’s absolutely impossible?”

“That’s right.”

I nodded in agreement. Senia was praised as a powerful healing mage in the novel. That was an unchanging fact until the work reached its conclusion.

“That’s all I wanted to ask. By the way, can I borrow that thing one more time?”

“That thing?”

“The amplifying artifact.”

I boldly requested the Magic Tower’s treasure.

Then Jen laughed heartily, tears almost forming in his eyes, as if something was so funny, and raised his hand to wave in the air.

He was searching through the Tower Master’s alternate space for the artifact.

“Did he hide it somewhere else this time… Ah, found it.”

Jen finally found the artifact and handed it to me.

“What do you plan to use it for this time?”

“An important person is sick. I’m going to use it for them.”

“You’ll need to pour in more mana than last time to heal an illness. Of course, it will be amplified even with a small amount, so it won’t greatly affect your body. But it’s not good to use it often, so for your own sake, no more after this.”

“I understand… Thank you!”

“I have to repay you since you agreed to take in the mages I mentioned last time.”

“Yes, there’s no one as passionate as him.”

* * *

Before Jen came to visit, I had received a communication through the crystal I got from Troisen.

[First of all, I’ve found out about the treatment for Bruelle.]

“Really? What kind of medicine do I need to obtain?”

[It’s not like that. It’s an unofficial record, but I found a record of a Baron who had Bruelle hundreds of years ago being cured by a healing mage’s magic.]

“But I heard even healing mages couldn’t cure this disease?”

[That’s the general belief. That’s why it started being called incurable. The spread of that belief probably started 90 years ago when a healing mage declared they couldn’t treat a Margrave who had Bruelle. But from my investigation, that healing mage was bribed and deliberately declared it untreatable according to a request.]

I felt my heart beating faster.

I was glad I hadn’t given up, thinking it was just an incurable disease.

[According to another unofficial record of a healing mage, there’s a case where they cured a relative who had Bruelle with healing magic.]

The crystal seemed to be running out of time as it flickered.

[It’s fortunate that the Empire has two healing mages. You could either ask Lady Kablos, or heal directly yourself. Oh, since Lady Kablos declared she couldn’t heal the Empress’s illness, perhaps only you are left?]

“Why did Lady Kablos say it was impossible to treat?”

[I don’t know. It could be lack of ability, or it could be intentional.]

Neither was a reliable hypothesis.

It was unlikely that she lacked ability, nor that Senia, who was equal to all before patients despite being from the Kablos family, head of the Noble faction, would do so intentionally.

“Thank you for now. Is the other request going well?”

[We’re still investigating. I assume the promised ring is secured?]

“That’s right. I’ll come visit soon and hand it over personally. If you succeed with the other request too, I’ll pay a price fitting for that.”

[We at Troisen are glad you found the truth you were seeking.]

I could hear the dolls busily dancing in the background.

The crystal that had been glowing green darkened as the time ran out.

* * *

A few hours later, Jen happened to visit, and I borrowed the amplifying artifact from him.

Jen returned to the Magic Tower at the Tower Master’s summons.

‘Surely he hasn’t been caught stealing this…?’

I infused mana into the amplifying artifact placed on the nightstand.

More than last time.

And finally, when I thought I had reached the limit Jen had allowed, I stopped infusing mana.

Now I just need to wait for the mana to amplify in this state.

By tomorrow, when I’m supposed to meet Luka and the Empress, it should be amplified 100 times.

Jen said not to infuse mana for more than 10 seconds.

Within 10 seconds was the time just before magic fully activated, so it didn’t count as actual use.

I faithfully followed those words, but why do I feel dizzy?

Suddenly feeling a salty taste rising in my throat, I quickly grabbed the handkerchief placed next to the nightstand.

Cough-

At that moment, I coughed into the handkerchief I was holding. But…

Blood?

Seeing the vivid bloodstain soaked into the pure white handkerchief, I opened my eyes wide.

“What is this…”

[Luka, I even coughed up blood this time! Where are you trying to go, leaving me like this! It must be an aftereffect from the day I saved you… This never happened at Troy Orphanage…!]

The Laveria in the original story often showed Luka handkerchiefs with blood when she was feigning illness.

That time was coincidentally similar to now.

If it wasn’t feigned illness, it would be a precursor symptom of a disease unrelated to whether I use magic or not.

As my head was spinning with confusion and speculation, there was a knock at the door.

I quickly hid the handkerchief and said:

“Come in.”

“Miss, a mage has come to visit.”

Before leaving the mansion, Dad had asked me to take care of the dropout mage arriving at the mansion today.

Did he think there was some connection between fellow mages?

‘No, I was the one who originally pointed him out.’

Putting aside my confused feelings, I left the room and went to find the mage waiting in the reception room.

When the door opened, a familiar face appeared.

“Hello, Miss! Nice to meet you, I’m Rizen. I don’t have a separate surname!”

The mage greeting me energetically was the club president I had seen at the Magic Tower last time.

He might think this was our first meeting, but I remembered him.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Laveria Jenne Rayes.”

“Ah, I know! You’re one of only two healing mages in the Empire.”

To him looking at me with admiring eyes, I smiled and said:

“I know you’re very interested in developing magic devices.”

“That’s right! I’m so interested that I even created a separate magic devices club. Though the club was disbanded.”

To him smiling awkwardly, I said:

“Rayes will spare no expense on magic ore and funding. I hope you’ll do your best.”

“Of course! I’ll pour out all the data I’ve collected so far and create a masterpiece, as much as you’ve provided a separate laboratory.”

His passion was palpable. It was truly a successful interview.

I calmed my rapidly beating heart with an awkward smile.

* * *

That night, I woke up once more with a churning stomach and coughed up blood.

There was no doubt. The symptoms were starting.

Things I had thought were just faking illness were all actually happening.

Looking down at the handkerchief stained bright red, I spent a sleepless night.