The person who had come near me had been Cory.
As soon as I saw Cory, I couldn't help but relax. I could see that the protective barrier was in place, and now that I knew that Cory, the powerful genius magician had arrived, I wouldn't die because of assassins or magicians.
Knowing Cory's personality, he wouldn't just watch his friend get murdered by an assassin or a magician, so he'd protect me to the best of his abilities. I could rest now. I was done with my part of the work!
As soon as I checked who he was, my legs gave way and I fell to the floor, and Cory ran and caught me before I hit the ground. He laid me down once before settling me in his arms to carry.
"It's okay now. You can stop."
Cory's voice was shaking slightly, so I frowned as I wondered why. I could see a bit better when I squinted.
I wondered why Cory's voice was so hoarse, but he was crying. He was quietly watching me as tears dripped down his eyes. He was just quietly crying. Why are you crying? Don't cry. I muttered quietly, but my voice didn't come out.
With me still in his arms, he hurriedly drew a circle that would transport the Unhorse to a safe space and sent his family away. He then headed somewhere with me.
He used his white shirt to ceaselessly wipe away the blood that continued to flow out of me. He continued to wordlessly cry. Some of his tears landed on my cheeks, even if he wiped them off moments later.
Long, white fingers stroked my face. My body felt hot, so his cold hand felt nice and soothing.
"Is it midnight now?"
I said, staring at the moon shining above us all.
My voice sounded hoarse. It was so rugged that it was almost funny.
There was something that I wanted to tell him before I really lost consciousness. I coughed a few times because I wanted my voice to sound presentable for this.
"Thanks for being born today, friend."
Cory continued to cry with a surprised expression on his face, and I licked my lips a few times before passing out.
It was the first time in a long, long time that I didn't dream at all.
I could hear somebody muttering something next to me, so I unconsciously frowned.
A warm light was glaring into my eyes, so I could feel it poking through my eyelids. I wanted to sleep a bit more, so I shifted my body and pulled up my blanket above my head.
I was just trying to sleep a bit more with my blanket up on my head, but I heard someone smirk before my blanket was slightly pulled down. I was, once again, faced with the bright light, so I frowned again and wiggled under the blanket.
Then, I suddenly woke up.
The first thing I saw in front of me was an older to middle-aged man who was white from head to toe. He had long white hair and had a pure air around him.
He had silver hair that almost looked white, which had been braided neatly. His braid rested on one shoulder. He had a monocle on as he stared at me, who had just awoken. He had jewel-colored eyes that changed color based on the light. Currently, his hand was stretched towards me as he used white magic.
I knew this man.
He was Swanhaden's father, the Blanche duke, Yulinelle Blanche.
He had come over to our West family residence a few times for work occasionally.
I had talked to him once before.
I was practicing my sword in our training hall when he had come to watch in the middle of my practice.
He had said, "Oooh." and had immediately left. That was the only memory I had of him.
"Greaaat job, you did great."
He glanced at me once before yawning and bringing his hand back to himself. Duke Yulinelle had checked that I had woken up with sleepy eyes before taking out a small glass bottle and pouring a bit of water in it.
"You're incredible, you know? Every time I see you, you're messed up in a completely new manner."
As if taunting me, Duke Yulinelle finished pouring the water in the bottle before adding a bit of his magic in it. The clear water slowly turned white with his magic. The magic slowly imbued itself into the water like paint mixing with water, before it turned into something that resembled milk.
The duke tapped the glass bottle with his fingers a few times to check if it had mixed properly before he drew a magic circle above it.
But the duke was speaking to me as if he had treated me before.
I was a bit shocked, but my mind was completely blank and I didn't really know why I was being treated in front of the Blanche duke, so I just blankly nodded at his mutters.
"You had some weird magic mixed inside of you and you needed rest. Why would you run around like that? Your body couldn't handle the magic within you and was about to explode in a bang, you know? You were just lucky you had a store of white magic from way back."
The duke pouted as he created a potion that was suited for my body.
At his words, I slowly began to regain my senses.
I remembered. I had been attacked by black magic and had a long, long dream, and had passed out after trying to protect Cory's family from an attack.
I didn't really know why my body felt so bad back then, but after the duke Yulinelle had explained that it was because my magic was going haywire, I could accept it.
I didn't really get it either, but after I had been attacked by black magic, my magic stores had increased while the strange magic source had mixed itself with my own.
Currently, my magic was a mixture of orange and black. I had never seen anything like this before in my life. But what did he mean, I had a store of white magic from earlier?
"But what kind of misfortune is this. To be dragged out like this all of a sudden....."
The duke spoke casually, just like Swanhaden. 'Like father, like son,' they even spoke similarly.
He focused on the potion before frowning, possibly because the ratios were off. He poured a bit more of his magic as he frowned.
"Ah.... How exhausting….."
He fixed the magic circle, and, without hiding the annoyed expression on his face, languidly poured more magic in the medicine.
"There's probably going to be a mountain of work when I go back, huh."
Duke Yulinelle looked exhausted as he focused on the liquid medicine.
When the magic circle closed in on the white liquid, it began shining like a jewel. The duke stopped pouring in his magic and then used another circle to combine the the previous circle with the liquid together.
The duke whined as me looked at me. He sounded like he was blaming me.
"Aren't you always behind on work because you're always pushing it to the last minute? I know that you just sit at the desk without doing a single bit of work."
When he pushed the blame towards me and muttered angrily to himself, I suddenly heard another voice from behind the duke.
When I turned my head to look at the owner of the voice, I saw a handsome middle-aged man with short blond hair and sharp green eyes.
This was Cory's father, Marquis Lantiya. I had seen him when I had visited Cory's house earlier.
Marquis Lantiya crossed his arms on his chest and told the duke off as he continued to treat me.
The duke scowled at the marquis' words.
"Oh, that's because I can't concentrate these days. At all."
"Isn't it always the same for dukes?"
"Hush."
The duke shifted his tone slightly. It looked like he held the marquis in pretty high regard.
The marquis seemed to have hit the mark. The duke scrunched his eyebrows and began pouring the liquid medicine he had just made into smaller glass bottles.
The duke handed me one of the small glass bottles that contained the shiny liquid.
"Here, drink this."
I assumed that this medicine had been created for treatment purposes and found myself entranced at the beautiful color of the medicine. The liquid shone with different colors, as if glitter powder floated within it.
I first thanked him and dumped the medicine in my mouth at once. The duke was just about to tell me to wait and tried to stop me with a frown on his face. The frown deepened as soon as I downed the whole thing.
"...…the taste."
Despite how beautiful the medicine looked, the taste of it was revolting.
If I had to compare it to something, it tasted as if someone had fermented vomit. It was disgusting.
My eyes grew round. When I stared at the duke next to me, he seemed to avoid my gaze.
"How greedy of you. You're expecting it to taste good too?"
The duke grumbled. He checked that I had drank the whole thing before collecting his belongings.
The medicine that the duke had given me was incredible. Even if it felt like I had only drank a bit of it, the effects were immediate. I could feel the magic in my body calming down immediately as it flowed in my body.
"You're banned from using magic until the magic within you calms down and becomes a part of you. Drink the medicine that I gave you daily, too. That's going to help manage your magic."
The duke grabbed his suit jacket from the back of a chair and put it back on. He grabbed his bag and held it between his arm and his side as he spoke.
He sat back up and checked my state once again before seemingly nodding in approval.
"Baron West's offspring, you need absolute, complete rest, got it? Complete rest."
He handed me the small glass bottles full of potions from earlier as he spoke.
"If you pass out, our resident hellion is going to make my life hell. …..ugh, just imagining it gives me the creeps."
The duke spoke with all his heart. If he was talking about the Blanche family's hellion, it seemed he was talking about Swanhaden. I was a bit surprised at the relationship between the two of them. They seemed like they were surprisingly close.
I thought they didn't even talk to each other.
I worried for a moment before I wondered how I knew about the relationship between the two of them.
Duke Yulinelle finished checking me over and turned around to leave the room. Before he left, Yulinelle asked the marquis DuBois to call him a carriage or an Unhorse to take him back home and the marquis nodded.
And with that, the duke Yulinelle left the room. Only the marquis and I were left in the room.
"Hello, marquis DuBois."
I greeted the marquis a bit late.
Thinking back, I did see the marquis earlier. I didn't mind my manners earlier. I was completely out of it when I woke up, and the duke didn't even give me time to speak. He'd also left immediately after treating me, so I'd missed my timing to greet him. Duke Blanche didn't seem to mind it all that much, but I did make a mistake. I frowned.
But I was meeting two of some of the most influential family leaders in the empire as soon as I woke up. I was bit taken aback. I was wondering what kind of situation this was.
I assumed that I would be moved back to my house or the school sick bay, but I was in the DuBois residence as soon as I woke up, and the duke of all people came over to treat a mere baron's child. What kind of luxury was this?
"Lady Shuraina."
I smiled blankly. Cory's father, the marquis DuBois, called my name.