"How's the situation with the assassin?"
Inside the throne hall, the Archduke addressed Eden, who knelt before the throne.
"Nothing unusual, Archduke. He still won't talk."
"And the methods?"
"Everything from peace talks to torture."
For a moment, Archduke Elias appeared lost in thought. After a while, he stood and began pacing back and forth across the throne hall.
Eden didn't follow him with her gaze. She kept her head bowed, her eyes fixed on the floor.
Step.
Finally, the Archduke stopped and turned his sharp gaze to her.
"What about your situation, Eden Hart?"
Eden flinched.
For a lineage of swordsmen, magic was considered heresy. The punishment for any involvement with it was instant banishment.
"I will accept any punishment, Archduke."
But that law had its own irony.
The first Hart, founder of the household, was the continent's first magic-swordsman.
It was his legacy that elevated this humble town, used-to-be-town, into a dukedom, which explains the size.
But reality was strange. None of the founder's descendants, including the current Archduke, Elias, awakened any kind of magic affinity.
"I don't see that as a bad thing, however…"
Under normal circumstances, this would be seen as an achievement, preserving the purity of swordsmanship.
But now, with the world having nearly forgotten the existence of magic-swordsmen, "achievement" was no longer the right word.
"...I'll leave the decision to your younger siblings."
The archduke returned to being seated.
"Understood."
Eden bowed her head, before meeting the Archduke's gaze.
"Father."
She stood up.
But before she could take a step and leave, the entrance creaked open and a knight stepped inside.
"Archduke…"
The knight, panting, struggled to catch his breath.
"The Young Lord Seven's fiancée… she's been… kidnapped…"
***
Seven paced the room in a hurry, back and forth.
Too many things were fighting inside his mind as unexpected events kept on happening all at once.
"Aeloria Havin."
It was a supporting character in the novel. The fourth and youngest child of the Havin household.
It was a lineage of talented mages, and they were practically untouchable.
Within the Kingdom, Havins are treated as nobles, enjoying privileges wherever they went.
"Yet… kidnapped?"
The story seemed absurd.
There's no way the Archmage of Havin household would send her daughter without high-ranking mages as guards.
Even if there was, a large-scale ambush would've been impossible to go unnoticed.
Seven let out a dry laugh.
"Aeloria can't protect herself?"
Aeloria was one of the most outstanding students at the academy. With the rare ability to wield three magic affinities, defending herself was not supposed to be a hard task.
His gaze drifted to the mirror, where his reflection stared back.
Seven frowned.
'This is what someone who can't protect himself looks like.'
He recalled the events from earlier. After hearing the man's request in the mercenary hall, Seven immediately rushed back to the mansion to report the situation.
But as he reached the entrance, he heard a knight's familiar voice through the slightly ajar door of the throne room.
"Archduke, the Young Lord Seven's fiancée… she's been… kidnapped."
So he just began to head back to his room, where he began pacing back and forth.
'But there was no knight present back in the hall…'
The puzzles didn't seem to fit.
And as if it wasn't enough, system windows were also hovering before his eyes.
Ding!
[Anomaly Detected.]
[Eden Hart's magic has been accepted by the Archduke. Warning: This is a stain on the household's reputation. A revision is needed.]
[Revising…]
[Replacing the original storyline…]
[Revision complete.]
[Magic is no longer a stain, but an achievement.]
[You have obtained 7,777 Narrative Points.]
Then another system window popped out.
Ding!
[You have obtained .3% Protagonist Progression.]
Seven frowned. The system kept popping up and going silent whenever it pleased.
Taking a minute, he organized his thoughts and pushed the 'kidnapping' issue for the Archduke to solve.
He shoved his hands into his pockets.
The small jar.
Vitalis Pills.
Forced to him by that kind old lady. It was a medicine widely known for detoxifying the body.
In the novel's early chapters, it was relatively common, but as the story progressed, its ingredients became rarer. This scarcity turned the pills into a highly valuable commodity.
'Seventy-seven pills.'
That's what he got right now. It seemed like a lot, but it was only enough to last a season or two at most.
He opened the jar and took out a pill.
'Fudge. It stinks.'
The pungent smell hit him immediately. Typical of strong herbal remedies.
With a frown, he closed the lid.
Step.
He took a step forward, opened the drawer of his desk, placed the jar inside, and walked back to the bed.
Sitting cross-legged on the mattress, he sighed.
'Do I really… need to…?'
Seven was second-guessing himself.
Sure, it was a medicine.
But Seven wasn't sure the process would go smoothly, given how frail and pale his body was, and the amount of toxins that accumulated over the years.
'As if I have a choice.'
Without another thought, he swallowed the pill in one go.
Nothing.
There was no sensation.
'Hah… I got nervous for nothing—'
Thump.
But as his heart thumped, his vision blurred and he could see nothing but red.
'Ughh… It hurts.'
It started with a groan, as his head throbbed, like someone was carving the word 'Seven' into his skull.
He raised his hands to massage his head. But…
"Arghhhh!!"
The groan turned into a yell when he saw his blood-tainted hands. Looking ahead, he saw his reflection in the mirror.
Blood.
Blood poured out from his eyes, dripping down his cheeks, staining his skin.
Trembling, his hands moved to his nose, and the blood followed, oozing from there too.
His mouth felt wet, and he wiped it away only to see more blood seep from the corners.
Even his ears, too.
'Fudge. I shouldn't have taken… it…'
In this moment, the world changed.
The walls.
The bed.
And even Seven himself.
Everything turned red.