Luo Lan closed the door, and the candlelight in the hallway flickered slightly as the gap narrowed. He exhaled a long breath, and a white mist billowed in the cold air before vanishing instantly.
Telling stories was a mentally taxing task, and this was especially true since Luo Lan's own stockpile of stories was starting to run low.
As he thought about this, a shadow emerged soundlessly from the darkness at the end of the corridor, and it gave Luo Lan a start.
'Elia always does this. She pops up like a castle ghost every time Clove and I are alone.' The head maid, who was also a mage, stood in a corner where the moonlight could not reach. Her black skirt and slender legs in black stockings blended into the night, but her eyes glinted with a questioning light in the gloom.
"Mr. Luo Lan," she said in a calm and elegant voice. "I assume you didn't do anything... unbecoming of your status?"
The youth shrugged and replied, "Of course not. Her Highness is sleeping soundly, so it's best not to disturb her."
Seeing Elia hesitate, he added another comment.
"If she doesn't sleep well, it will affect her [Mana] recovery and training."
"I understand."
After saying that, Luo Lan bid Elia farewell and walked toward his own room.
Once his back disappeared around the corner, Elia still walked toward the closed door and placed her hand on the handle.
She remembered when Luo Lan first arrived at the castle on a snowy night much like this one. The youth, who was not much older than Clove, had been wearing an ill-fitting travel cloak and knocked on the castle gate. He claimed to be a mage from the East who could provide assistance to the Duke and help Princess Clove suppress her increasingly dangerous [Mana Rampage]. As for his later role in guiding Clove to control her [Mana], that was a secondary matter.
The boy and girl grew up together, and Luo Lan's identity gradually became as complex as her own. He was a guard, a bodyguard, the Princess's playmate, a magic consultant... and a childhood friend.
In fact, the Duke had considered having Luo Lan marry into the family back then, and he even bestowed a surname upon him, but Luo Lan had skillfully bypassed the offer in various ways.
Time passed, and Clove grew more beautiful and radiant, which Elia saw as only natural. However, as Luo Lan grew older and his features took on the air of a refined young master, her sense of crisis suddenly arrived.
When Clove asked Luo Lan to tell her a story tonight, Elia had actually been standing outside the door while silently listening to the girl's bell-like laughter.
The grip on the door handle slowly loosened.
Elia felt that Luo Lan held many secrets, but she also knew that the current Clove could no longer live without him.
In this increasingly empty castle, that youth was the only person who could make the Princess smile.
She gave a soft sigh and stepped back to merge into the shadows again. After the death of Duke Lufinias, they were the only ones left to protect the Princess and this castle, and to guard Princess Clove's purity and dignity.
...
Luo Lan's sleepiness had been scattered by Clove's antics. After returning to his room, he lit a candle and sat back at the table. He pulled over a piece of parchment, but his thoughts were like the falling snow outside the window and could not find a place to land.
After a moment, he took his pen and wrote a few words on the paper.
[Royal Capital Scripture].
First, there were two things to do before heading to the Royal Capital to participate in the [Scripture].
The first was that he had to know exactly what level Clove's current strength had reached. Even though he had helped her get a head start, there was no telling if that Saintess Ophelia would come up with some even more incredible fortuitous encounter.
Therefore, he had to test Clove's abilities before the [Scripture]. Of course, if there was an opportunity, it would be best to probe Ophelia's bottom line as well.
The second thing was to find a way to earn some money.
Luo Lan couldn't help but give a bitter smile at the thought. When he returned, he had indeed brought a valuable sum of gold coins. The problem was that his gold coins were the default design of that crappy [System], and they were completely different from the currency used in the Kingdom of Lordran. If he hadn't relied on his wits to join Duke Lufinias, he probably would have been starving on the first day of his second playthrough.
Unfortunately, while Elia the housekeeper perfectly fulfilled her duties as head maid, head chef, and magic consultant, she knew nothing about financial management. Or rather, the Lufinias family had declined to the point where there was nothing left to manage.
Over the years, they had relied on the meager taxes from the fief and occasional income from [Magic Beast] materials. While they could maintain their lifestyle, the numbers on the ledger were decreasing at a visible rate.
The way Elia looked at him was becoming colder, as she likely felt he was just a parasite who did nothing but teach magic.
If he could earn a sum of money before the [Scripture], perhaps it would improve the attitude of this elder twin sister—at least so she would stop looking at him like he was a pig trying to steal the prize cabbage.
That was the basic situation. Luo Lan put down his pen and took a long stretch.
He blew out the candle and tucked himself into his small blanket, quickly entering a sweet dreamland.
...
Later that night.
A series of knocks shattered the silence.
Luo Lan frowned and sat up while looking at his door.
Elia's knocks were usually polite and orderly, but this sound was irregular and heavy, as if someone was scratching at the wood with their fingertips.
"Who is it?"
He asked in a low voice while getting out of bed.
The door opened a crack.
Clove stood in the partial shadow of the corridor. She was wearing a white nightgown and was barefoot. Her head was lowered, and her silver hair hung down to cover her face, so Luo Lan could not see her expression.
This wasn't the first time this had happened. Whenever she couldn't sleep, she would sneak past Elia's patrol and find her way to him. Luo Lan had tried to correct this behavior many times, but he was always helpless when he saw her pitiful appearance.
But tonight seemed different.
Luo Lan couldn't say what was wrong, so he lowered his voice and asked softly.
"Your Highness?"
The girl did not respond. She simply took a step forward into the moonlight in his room and lifted her head.
Luo Lan's pupils shrank instantly.
Under the moonlight, the girl's slender, pale arms were covered in dark purple patterns that spread from her fingertips to her shoulders. Her eyes, which were usually like rubies, were also stained with an eerie purple tint.
It was a [Mana Rampage].
It had been seven years. Logically, after seven years of guidance and suppression, the frequency of Clove's [Mana Rampages] should have become more regular and the intensity more stable. Not to mention, it had only been a week since the last episode, so this was irrational.
However, reality did not allow Luo Lan to think much. Clove reached out to him while trembling. Her lips moved, and then her body went soft as she fell straight into Luo Lan's arms.
Luo Lan instinctively reached out. The moment his fingertips touched the girl's arm, he felt that long-lost, violent fluctuation of [Mana].
He picked Clove up and placed her on his bed before closing the door.
The girl's mouth opened slightly as she let out a suppressed whimper, and her voice sounded especially painful. Luo Lan leaned down and saw those dark purple patterns crawling on her arms like living things, moving beneath her skin.
He was silent for a few seconds, and then his fingertips gently untied the drawstring of the girl's nightgown.
"My heart and my actions are as clear as a mirror, and everything I do is for justice," Luo Lan said to himself. 'Emergency measures for an emergency situation. Saving her is what matters.'
The moment the nightgown slipped down, the moonlight happened to leak through the gap in the window frame and illuminated Clove's porcelain skin. Luo Lan closed his eyes and pulled that burning body into his embrace. The moment their skin touched, the violent [Mana] hit him like a bursting dam.
One of the talents of a [Secret Artist] was a high level of elemental affinity. They could even directly control the flow of [Mana] in another person's body, but the prerequisite was... large-scale physical contact.
The [Mana] that should have been flowing gently in Clove's body was now like a wild horse galloping through the circuits. Luo Lan used his own body as a container and carefully guided those out-of-control floods into himself.
This was how they had gotten through the first few years. Whenever Clove's loss of control was severe, he would hold her like this to pull her back from the brink of collapse.
Finally, the last strand of violent [Mana] was tamed. Clove's body temperature dropped, and the patterns on her arms receded like a tide to reveal her original smooth skin. Luo Lan exhaled a long breath. He opened his eyes and saw the girl's long eyelashes trembling slightly as her breathing grew steady.
Luo Lan wanted to tie her nightgown back up, but his fingertips were shaking from exhaustion, so he had to use his palm to press against her waist to steady himself. When their skin touched, the youth pulled his fingers back as if he had been burned, but a moment later, he had to calm his heart to fix her collar.
When the first ray of dawn broke through the night, Luo Lan felt as if his entire being had been hollowed out.
Elia, who had received a message from Luo Lan, hurried into the room. She saw Clove sleeping peacefully on Luo Lan's bed while he leaned against the wall with a pale face, his hair damp with cold sweat and sticking to his forehead.
"Her Highness..."
"A [Mana Rampage]. I've already handled it. Take her back to rest."
Elia looked at Luo Lan, and a rare flicker of worry flashed in her eyes. When she picked up Clove and walked to the door, she suddenly stopped.
"Mr. Luo Lan, you..."
"I'm fine," Luo Lan interrupted her. "I just need to catch a bit more sleep."
Once the two left, Luo Lan collapsed onto the bed and sank into darkness almost instantly.
...
Elia carried Clove back to her room and covered her with a blanket. Once the girl's breathing became regular, she tiptoed out of the room.
After the sound of her footsteps disappeared at the end of the hallway, Clove suddenly opened her eyes.
She walked to the edge of the carpet on her small, bare feet and leaned over to pull a blood-red crystal from underneath. Then, she embedded it back into a hidden compartment in the wall.
The girl's fingertips gently brushed the cold surface, and a faint, triumphant smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
The [Mana Rampage] was a matter of course, and the degree of the rampage had been controlled perfectly... after all, that was exactly what Luo Lan had taught her. To achieve one's goals, one naturally had to use every means available.
"This way... you can set aside those trivial matters and training to take care of me for several days in a row."
Clove's voice echoed in the room. She returned to the bed, grabbed her collar, and took a deep breath to smell the lingering warmth on it.
It began to snow again outside, and the snowflakes pitter-pattered against the glass.
The girl closed her eyes and imagined Luo Lan sleeping exhaustedly in his room right now. His breathing, his heartbeat, the temperature of his body, and the concern he only showed when she lost control.
"But... what reason should I use next time?"
Clove murmured to herself, her fingers unconsciously stroking the skin on her arm where the patterns had completely faded.
Luo Lan had told her that haste makes waste.
So she couldn't be in a hurry. She had to take it slow, bit by bit, until he could never escape from her palm again.