“Why is it not working?”
As if he had been harboring the exact same thought, Hayden questioned him.
His voice, which was just as youthful as his face, made Edrion a bit curious as to how such a person had earned the moniker of ‘The Mad War Maniac.’
“Ah, w-well…”
Edrion shook his head slowly as if he didn’t know either.
Previously, even when he hadn’t particularly intended to use the light attribute, the attribute within his body had naturally crossed over to the other person.
Therefore, he assumed it would naturally be the same this time around, but no matter how much he tried to funnel his light attribute into Hayden while holding his hand, he couldn’t feel the light attribute itself, leaving him in a tight spot.
In the first place, because he was someone who had acquired the light attribute artificially, he couldn’t feel the attribute wavelengths of the other person, which he had read about in ancient texts concerning the light attribute.
Since Raha had possessed the light attribute since birth, he would surely be able to feel the attribute wavelengths of the other attribute users.
Reading through the ancient texts, seeing that the fire attribute allowed one to feel fire wavelengths and the water attribute allowed water wavelengths, he had actually found himself quite envious of Raha.
At any rate, since he couldn’t accurately feel the attribute wavelengths, his father’s words dictated that he absolutely had to perform treatments by sharing bodies, so he had to put effort into that.
He had wanted to leave Hayden, who was the hardest to conquer, to Raha until the very end if possible.
Yet, for some reason, upon hearing that Teore had taken Raha to the Grand Ducal Castle, he had ended up taking over Hayden’s treatment, which led to this exact situation.
“If the healer does not know the reason, where must we verify this situation?”
“I-I shall go to the High Temple to check once more.”
There wasn’t anything particular to look into at the High Temple, but since he had to go meet his father, he uttered a lie.
Since this was the first time the light attribute couldn’t be felt within his body at all, he felt it would be best to hurry so he could uncover the cause.
At that, Hayden let out a long sigh and rose to his feet. Declaring that he had wasted precious time, Hayden headed toward the door without even telling Edrion that he was leaving.
The moment he opened the door, he spoke to his subordinate guarding the front, stating that he needed to seek out the original High Priest.
“Pardon? Do you mean High Priest Raha? He is surely at the Grand Ducal Castle…”
“Bring the warp stone heading to the Grand Ducal Castle.”
“What?!”
“Are you going to keep stupidly questioning me? We have no time, so hurry.”
“Ah, yes, yes sir!”
With the urgent reply of Hayden’s subordinate acting as the final sound, the door to the drawing room slammed shut with a thud.
Edrion, who had been staring blankly at the closed door, eventually turned his head and unfolded his palm, letting out a deep sigh.
Because he didn’t know what kind of words he would hear from his father regarding his sudden inability to use his power, his stomach was already churning.
‘At any rate, I can’t deceive him…’
Edrion slowly rose to his feet. N
ormally, he should have finished Hayden’s treatment and headed to the High Temple to contact his father, but since he hadn’t been able to perform the treatment itself, there seemed to be no need to go to the High Temple.
Opening the door and stepping outside, he headed toward the Viscount estate, worrying about whether he would still get scolded by his father even though the disappearance of the light attribute wasn’t his fault.
Raha sat at the edge of the bed with a blanket tightly wrapped around his body, sipping hot coffee while staring out the window.
Outside the window, where white snow was tumbling down in thick flakes, everything was entirely white wherever he looked.
‘They do say the North is a region where the snow never melts throughout all four seasons…’
Sipping the steaming coffee, Raha took in the stark white landscape.
Teore’s bedroom was located on the upper floors right in the dead center of the Grand Ducal Castle, offering a panoramic view of the Northern fiefdom through the window.
Of course, what was visible from here would only amount to a mere fraction of the Northern lands, but regardless, the sprawling Northern villages were a grand sight just to look at.
‘It really is a beautiful place, to the point where one could come for a vacation occasionally.’
If he could escape the Empire that served as the backdrop for the original story and live in a foreign nation—or even within the Empire, but in a place that exerted absolutely no influence on the original plot—he would likely be free from the main character and his suitors before too much time passed.
Therefore, much later, when the main character and his suitors brought the original story’s conclusion to an end and continued their peaceful lives, he figured it wouldn’t be a bad thing to occasionally come here for a vacation.
While sipping his coffee and looking out at the snowy window with those thoughts, a knock suddenly resounded, followed by a servant’s voice.
“High Priest, Border Earl Alister seeks you.”
In an instant, Raha nearly spilled the coffee he was holding.
“What?!”
The moment he jolted up in surprise, the door burst wide open.
“I shall apologize to the Grand Duke later for opening his bedroom door without permission. I am in a bit of a hurry right now—…”
The youth with deep brown hair who had burst through the door spoke with an apologetic expression, but upon catching sight of Raha, his face froze, and his words ground to a halt.
It was due to Raha’s current appearance, standing awkwardly with a coffee cup in one hand while roughly covering his body with a blanket, his neck and chest heavily littered with bruises and hickeys here and there.
The High Priest Raha he had witnessed up until now was a loud individual who babbled about completely uninteresting topics while clad in a pristine white priest uniform.
For such a Raha to be inside Teore’s bedroom in a disheveled state just waking up from sleep—and moreover, entirely naked with only a blanket thrown over him while holding a coffee cup—was a shocking sight to Hayden in more ways than one.
Of course, for Raha as well, seeing Hayden inside the Grand Ducal Castle was an incredibly shocking event, causing him to stare intently at the man with eyes that had bulged wide enough to pop out.
