Chapter 37
====
"After confirming the biological reactions, Princess, what you said was true."
The physician added.
Ludville's eyebrows twitched minutely.
But he said nothing.
"To be precise, it was a state beyond the level of autoimmune response, and it seems that Demonic Energy accumulated in the internal organs due to repeated exposure to Monster blood."
"So?"
The physician glanced at Odelia and continued.
"If the Princess had found the Grand Duke even a little later… we wouldn't even be able to face each other and have this conversation."
Wait a minute.
Ludville heard something unbelievable in the physician's words and asked again.
"The Princess found me?"
Wasn't he rescued by the royal guard?
Come to think of it.
"Didn't I say that you would need me?"
He seemed to recall a pale face muttering in a trembling voice.
Ludville looked back at Odelia with a surprised expression.
"How did you do it?"
"Purification ability."
This time, Odelia opened her mouth.
Her ears, which had been red, had already regained their color, and her voice was utterly calm.
Ludville felt strangely disappointed.
"I mentioned it briefly once before. It's my unique ability."
It was merely a tone of conveying information.
However, Ludville could sense the subtle intention hidden behind her calm tone.
A hint of trying to appeal to his need for her.
It was a cold persuasion that she needed to be by his side.
But…
If the Princess's words were true, it was an ability that she didn't even need to step forward and persuade him with.
If she had such an ability, anyone in the world would spend a fortune to bring her in, and even the Emperor would not hesitate to visit her three times.
It was that absurd of a talent.
Even more so if it was a unique ability.
'She purified Demonic Energy from a state where he was driven to the brink of Demonization?'
That wasn't simply relieving his headache or temporarily diluting the effects of the drug.
It was on a completely different level.
It was a miracle on the level of purifying water that had been filled with poison so that it could be drunk again.
What she had done was no different from making a stagnant, rotten river flow again.
'What on earth is this woman?'
Just what kind of being is she?
This was a first.
'...No, it's definitely not the first time.'
The 'ancient magic' caused by Cardel's barrier had brought about this very effect.
But Cardel's method was different.
When they used ancient magic, it was always elaborate and ostentatious, as if performing a 'ritual.'
They brought in mages, drew complex magic circles all over the floor, chanted grandiose spells, and made everyone watch the process.
Under the guise of sacred ancient magic, they always gathered crowds to pray and revere them.
But the daughter of that family, the youngest daughter who had never shown her face to the outside world due to a chronic illness, uses Purification magic alone?
Does that make sense?
With just her bare hands, without bringing in mages, without prayers or spells, without magical backlash…
This was not ancient magic.
Ludville felt it instinctively.
The power she called 'Purification ability' might be the real method of Purification that Cardel had been hiding.
'Why has she been hiding until now?'
That was what he was going to ask.
Why was only the eldest son, Gawain, stepping forward in all official positions?
"And more than anything, it's not completely purified."
She added in a firm voice, right before that thought even finished.
"You're so steeped in Demonic Energy that it won't disappear with just one or two treatments. Because the expression was delayed due to emotional detachment, I only realized it now. The physician too…"
Odelia was speaking calmly, but suddenly she narrowed her eyes sharply.
As if she was getting angry as she thought about it.
"...Just what do you have to do to make a person like this in just three months?"
"Princess, are you angry with me right now?"
Ludville was dumbfounded by those words, but he felt a strange pleasure rising within him.
The feeling of her always calm and composed face momentarily crumbling, revealing the true nature within.
As if he was curious about her raised eyes, he tried to reach out like a child, but Odelia slapped his hand away.
"You have bad manners."
"I think I should be the one saying that. And the Princess touched me first earlier…"
"Anyway."
Odelia cut off his words and continued.
"You need to continue Purification. If you repeat strenuous activities like this, the Demonic Energy may become active again. And if you happen to meet the conditions for Demonization at that time…"
"You could become a Monster, then."
"That's right."
"A Monster… I've spent my whole life hunting Monsters, I never thought I'd become one."
He's always been called a monster, but to become a 'real' monster.
Isn't that interesting?
Ludville smiled with a face that showed no sense of crisis.
"Don't even say that. As long as I'm here, there's absolutely no way His Highness will become a Monster."
She was full of confidence.
Like an experienced professional who had repeated such treatment countless times.
'I wondered what she was so confident about before.'
It was just natural confidence.
Because she had the skills to back it up.
No, rather, judging from the fact that she had been downplaying her abilities without revealing them accurately, she was on the excessively modest side.
As if she was used to hiding things.
'Odelia Cardel.'
The beloved youngest daughter of the Cardel family.
But if she was truly loved, they would never have concealed the existence of a Purification ability that far surpassed ancient magic…
With this level of ability, they would usually pass on the position of successor to Odelia, put her at the forefront, showcase her abilities, and elevate the family's status.
But they 'hid' it.
The reason for that is, in all likelihood…
Ludville was lost in thought, then asked.
"Is treatment possible?"
Then Odelia nodded.
Before her, the physician spoke hastily, as if nervous.
Lest the crazy Ludville utter some nonsense and try to dismiss this valuable talent.
"I'm hearing the concept of 'Purification ability' for the first time as well, but based on the soldiers' testimonies, it seems to be a rare power specialized in removing Demonic Energy."
His tone was filled with a sense of duty and compulsion as a physician, that he could never let go of such a talent.
Odelia added in agreement.
"If you steadily repeat Purification at regular intervals, recovery will be possible within a few years. From three years… or up to five years in the long run."
"…"
Coincidentally, it coincided with the contract period that Odelia had proposed.
Ludville stared at her with a strangely sullen expression.
