Chapter 13
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‘Life Transference Conversion Formula.’
A forbidden technique used by sorcerers to extend their own lives by drawing on the lives of others.
This formula, which caused the sacrifice of countless lives, was eventually placed on the Empire's list of forbidden books and was defined as a 'forbidden art that abandons humanity.'
But Ludville used the formula in the opposite way.
Not to steal the lives of others, but to offer his own.
Odelia slowly approached and placed her hand on the floor.
She felt a strange flow beneath her skin.
'……Indeed, it was here.'
Her past life.
Odelia had spent five years in this detached villa on the outskirts of the estate.
Because Ludville had stipulated the residence and range of movement in the contract as clauses.
Suddenly, his voice echoed in her head.
"Why are you here?"
It was a particularly warm sunny day.
The northern spring was still harsh, but even that felt warm to Odelia.
The world that had never been allowed to her since she was a child. A place where the sunlight touched.
She thought that if she went for a short while, just a very short while, he wouldn't notice.
But only an hour.
Ludville did not miss that short gap.
He immediately noticed her absence and dragged her to the detached villa without a word.
He grabbed Odelia's shoulder tightly and snapped.
"I clearly told you never to leave the detached villa."
"That's a clear breach of contract. Do you want to terminate it?"
"Never cross this boundary again."
Always the same cold and aloof tone.
Until then, she had believed.
That she was confined to this prison of a detached villa because she was an eyesore to his lover.
That day, his fingertips were trembling slightly, and his face looked somehow pale and unstable.
She even mistook that for the feelings of a lover who was afraid of upsetting the person he loved.
But now she knows.
What he was afraid of until the end was nothing other than losing Odelia.
Odelia had to stay in the detached villa for exactly five years.
Only then could this formula work completely.
In other words, Ludville offering a five-year contract period and virtually imprisoning her in the detached villa was…….
'……It was only to save me.'
This formula for transferring life was not a simple spell that was activated immediately with a single incantation.
If someone was suddenly injected with the life force of another, it could cause side effects or shock.
Just like losing one's life due to a rejection reaction after recklessly receiving a blood transfusion.
That's why Odelia was kept near the magic circle.
Her biorhythms and mana circulation had to be slowly adjusted over a long period of time.
It was necessary to transform her entire body into a 'receptor' so that the external life force could permeate without a sense of foreignness.
Ludville had silently continued that preliminary work for as long as five years.
Because he believed that the last life was the last chance.
And when all the preparations were complete, he divorced Odelia as planned.
And…….
Ludville spent about a year giving his remaining lifespan to Odelia.
Completely, all of it.
The reason why her health gradually recovered.
The reason why she had a much stronger body than before.
It was all because she had received Ludville's life.
“…….”
So, the first thing Odelia had to do to protect him was…….
'To undo this formula.'
Ludville had already poured half of his life force into completing this formula.
He had to get back the price he paid, half of his life force.
'It hasn't been activated yet, so if I undo it now, I can get his life force back.'
But in order to do that, there was a necessary ingredient.
That was the key to unlocking the magic circle.
'According to his memory, it was kept in Ludville's personal vault.'
Odelia immediately turned around and left the secret space.
* * *
"……You said she would stay in the detached villa?"
The sword stopped in mid-air.
Ludville did not release his stance, but slowly turned his head.
He heard the knight who was sparring with him across from him swallow a sigh of relief.
"Yes, Your Highness. The Princess requested it herself."
"She's already doing something strange."
Ludville muttered indifferently.
The detached villa, a building isolated on the outskirts of the estate that had been neglected for a long time.
It was a place he had never been to since he became Grand Duke, or even before that.
"Wasn't that a warehouse in the first place?"
"As you said, it has recently been used as a supply warehouse."
Originally, it was a separate room for foreign envoys.
The head butler cleared his throat and explained with a somewhat embarrassed look.
However, Ludville did not show any particular reaction to the Princess entering the warehouse on her own.
It was because he had no interest in it.
Of course, it was absurd.
'I think she said she would marry me if I could pique her interest within fifteen days.'
To voluntarily hide in an isolated place immediately after that.
Has she already given up?
Or does she have some other motive?
He couldn't even guess whether it was an escape, a resistance, or some other calculation.
But…….
'It won't last long.'
Ludville had already lost interest.
He wasn't very curious as to why she made that choice.
He wondered if he had given her fifteen days of grace for nothing.
'I knew it was nothing special.'
The first time he saw her that day, he received a strange shock that made his chest feel tight.
The illusion that had been flickering before his eyes seemed to become clear for a moment, and he even reached out his hand without realizing it…….
……It must have all been a mistake.
As often happens when one is overly drunk, it must have been a madman's delusion.
It would be nothing more, nothing less.
"Leave her be."
He swung his sword once and casually hung it over his shoulder.
As if he was already bored with everything, weariness crept into his face.
As if there was no reason to fight or anything worth thinking about anymore.
Then, he turned around and was about to leave the training ground when…….
He stopped for a moment.
It was because he suddenly had a thought.
'Didn't they say that Princess is sickly?'
He heard that she had never left her family's estate because she was weak from the start.
Could a hothouse flower last fifteen days in such a warehouse?
'No, she was fine even after being missing for three months.'
She was a woman who didn't even look tired after crossing the Northern Territory.
'Being sickly must be a false rumor.'
Or Cardel family's overprotection.
It wasn't like someone had forced her in, and if she went in on her own, there was even less need to worry about it.
Nothing would happen in just fifteen days.
His thoughts stopped there.
He moved his feet indifferently, as if there was no reason to stop any longer.
* * *
Odelia walked without stopping to the place where the vault was located.
Finally, she arrived in front of the vault.
She paused for a moment to catch her breath and carefully reached out her hand.
It was the moment she reached out and grabbed the doorknob, according to her memory.
“……!”
She had clearly seen it being sealed with magic in Ludville's memory, but she felt no resistance at all.
There was no peculiar stinging repulsion either.
'The seal is broken?'
The seal that should have been protecting the vault from external intrusion…… had already disappeared.
Odelia hurriedly threw the door open.
Creak, the vault door opened as easily as if it were empty.
And…….
'……It's not here.'
The small storage box where the necklace should have been.
The inside was empty.
As if someone had ransacked it.
