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“Boat, Count?! What on earth are you talking about?!”

Helga, tied up, looked up at me in confusion.

Avoiding her gaze, I asked Albert.

“So, can you do it?”

“Not impossible. I’ve handled and applied more magic formulas than most healers… But if that happens, the Count’s left eye…”

“This ointment is prepared for that.”

“This ointment?”

Albert looked puzzled.

I calmly explained to him.

“Transplant a part of my eye to Helga. Albert. If you have a magic formula you’ve created, it can be transplanted without rejection. Then, we can regenerate each other’s eyes.”

“Hmm… A part… If we regenerate each part…”

Albert, pondering my words, soon slapped his knee.

“Indeed! I get it. If that’s the case, it’s not entirely impossible.”

“What are you talking about, Grandpa?”

Vanessa tilted her head.

Albert explained for her, who didn’t understand our conversation.

“Simply put, it’s using a magic formula to transplant half an eye. Then, using a recovery formula and this ointment, we regenerate the eyes.”

“Ah…”

Helga’s eyes lost their sight long ago.

By transplanting half of my eye to hers and regenerating it, she could regain her sight.

And the remaining half of my eye could also be restored to normal with the ointment.

To put it in plant terms, it’s like splitting a seed in half and planting it. The ointment is the fertilizer that grows the seed.

But the key to this surgery lies in the magic formula that splits the seed in half.

Vanessa, realizing this, asked Albert.

“But Grandpa, is it okay for you to do this? Transplanting is no easy task, and now you’re saying to split it in half and transplant? Isn’t this something even professional healers find difficult?”

“Yes. Of course, it’s difficult. The magic formulas to activate are not just one or two, and if there’s a mistake, it could be disastrous… She might never regain her sight.”

Albert glanced at me with a serious expression.

He knew how dangerous what I proposed was, hence his reaction.

And the one most sensitive to that danger was, of course…

“That’s right! There’s no reason for the Count to take such a risk!”

Helga shouted as if she would break the chains and rise any moment.

Her tied-up figure on the bed looked pitiful.

I spoke to her calmly.

“Helga. Do you intend to refuse my will?”

“If the Count’s will is such, I will refuse it as many times as necessary!”

“Then I will command as many times as necessary.”

“No! I won’t listen to that command!”

Helga shouted as if spitting blood.

“Why, why must the Count do such a thing…! Why must the Count’s precious eye…! Why must you sacrifice for me…!”

The thick chains binding Helga clanked.

In fact, the reason she was tied up was because of this.

I thought she might disobey my command.

“These chains…!”

Crack!

Sparks flew from Helga’s eyes.

Her body, enhanced by magic power, could unleash explosive strength.

Forgotten was the injury to her left eye as her surging magic power tried to tear the chains apart.

“Stop it.”

“…!”

Instantly, Helga’s magic power ceased.

“Helga, you always try to handle your body recklessly.”

I approached Helga.

At my words, she reflexively hid her magic power and became a meek lamb, looking up at me.

“Count…”

I stroked Helga’s left eye.

Her eye, which had just been emitting magic power and was bloodshot, now had blood droplets forming.

“Does it hurt?”

“N-no. This kind of injury is nothing…”

“I am in pain.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve said it many times, you are mine. If you treat what’s mine recklessly and get hurt… I can’t help but feel pain.”

I sat on the bed and looked into Helga’s trembling eyes.

“Do you intend to hurt me?”

“…How could I? You know how much I cherish you… Brother… No, Count…”

Helga, my loyal subordinate who only looked at me, had Tristan’s reflection in her eyes.

With such loyalty, she would stay by my side until the end.

I commanded her.

“Then accept me. And cherish me as you would your own body.”

From now on, a part of me will become a part of her.

“I won’t allow you to get hurt anymore.”

By the time I noticed, the blood flowing from Helga’s eyes had turned to tears.

“Coward… When the Count says such things… How could I refuse…”

Helga spoke with a choked voice.

As if giving up resistance, she lay quietly on the bed, pressing her cheek against my hand.

I didn’t refuse her clinging like a spoiled child.

I just silently wiped her tears.

While we were like this, I heard the voices of Vanessa and Albert behind me.

“Watching this makes my heart race…”

“Ahem… I also made many women cry in my youth.”

“Wasn’t it that you were dumped by many women and cried?”

“Yonseok!”

I finally succeeded in persuading Helga.

I asked Albert.

“Can I entrust the transplant to you?”

“Hmm. It’s not a story I like… My magic formula being used on a person again… It feels like committing a sin again… But since I decided to work under you, I’m prepared.”

Albert thumped his chest and spoke.

“Leave it to me. I will restore the light to her eyes.”

“Hmm.”

“Seeing that you even prepared such ointment, it seems you’re fully prepared. Moreover, I never thought you’d ask me, the craftsman, for such a request.”

“I read and researched literature and books. This much is not even preparation.”

“Huh… It seems the Count knows more about magic formulas than I do.”

It was one of the numerous pieces of knowledge I had acquired through ‘Greed.’

There was not a single error in my theory.

Yet, Albert couldn’t help but voice his concerns to me.

“Then the remaining problem is the Count. Even if we use magic formulas, the fact remains that we’re carving out a healthy eye from a living person’s body.”

Albert warned me.

“It will undoubtedly be painful. You might faint from the unbearable pain. Does the Count still intend to do it?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Helga, dying in the arrow rain, must have been in more pain.

For her sake, I can endure anything.

I spoke with a voice full of ‘Pride.’

“There is no pain I cannot endure.”

“Huh… What kind of confidence is this… I clearly warned you.”

“Yes. I heard you clearly.”

“Is that so…”

Albert shook his head.

As if there was no other way, he spoke with a determined voice.

“Alright. I’ll stake my craftsman’s life and make sure it succeeds.”

*

“Isabella!”

“Go away.”

Isabella coldly brushed off Dmitri’s hand.

“Why are you acting like this? If I’ve done something wrong, tell me. Princess.”

“I don’t want to talk to a man like you. Dmitri.”

Dmitri finally knelt before Princess Isabella.

“I even lost weight for you, trying to become a better man. All to be a man worthy of you, Princess…! I thought you, of all people, would understand my efforts…”

“Well said. Who told you to lose weight?”

“What?!”

Isabella’s gaze was icy.

Dmitri couldn’t bear to look at her cold eyes and bowed his head.

“T-that is…”

“I’m disappointed. I don’t care if you gain or lose weight, Dmitri.”

Isabella grabbed Dmitri’s tie.

She whispered sweetly into his ear.

“But if you lose weight like that, unnecessary things will catch your eye, won’t they? Dmitri, be honest. You lost weight to make me jealous, didn’t you?”

“P-princess?! W-what misunderstanding…”

“Misunderstanding?”

Isabella pushed Dmitri away.

“Ever since you lost weight, the social scene has been all about you. Did you think I wouldn’t notice? Dmitri, your thoughts are obvious.”

Dmitri clung to Isabella with a blank expression.

“That’s…! There’s only you for me, Princess!”

“Lies. How can I trust you? You lost weight on your own.”

“Believe me…! Isabella, what must I do for you to believe me…?”

“Then kiss me.”

Isabella sat on the chair, looking at Dmitri with haughty eyes.

And Dmitri willingly approached to kiss her lips.

Slap!

“?!”

“Who said you could kiss my lips?”

Dmitri, suddenly slapped by Isabella, held his stinging cheek and asked.

“T-then…?”

Isabella stretched out her leg.

“Kiss my foot. I won’t allow a presumptuous man like you to kiss my lips.”

“Princess…!”

“Be quiet. Kiss my foot until my heart softens. Otherwise, I won’t speak to you ever again.”

“Ugh…!”

Dmitri tried to kiss Isabella’s white foot as he prostrated himself.

Isabella looked at him with satisfaction.

Knock knock.

“Miss.”

A calm voice came from outside the door. It was Blanshe.

Bella, not flustered, put the bear doll on the bed.

And she answered in an infinitely calm voice.

“…What is it?”

“Dinner is ready. I came up because you didn’t come down.”

“Ah…”

Looking at the time, it was indeed a bit past dinner time.

“I’ll be right there.”

“Yes. But…”

“?”

Blanshe hesitated outside the door.

“Never mind… Then I’ll wait downstairs.”

“Alright.”

What’s this? Blanshe retreated without a word.

Bella stretched.

Then, suddenly, the ring on her finger caught her eye.

The ring Tristan had given her, capable of holding magic power.

Bella puffed her cheeks as she looked at it.

“Tch… I liked him first…”

Recently, the way people looked at Tristan had changed a lot.

Being a member of the Seven Stars was one thing, but more importantly, his appearance had changed a lot as he lost weight.

The problem was that he had become too handsome.

“Ah… Why did he have to lose weight so unnecessarily…”

Because of this, Bella’s days were filled with anxiety.

Seeing women looking at Tristan made her inexplicably nervous.

Bella looked at the mirror beside her.

There stood a beautiful woman with no flaws.

Even Tristan had once proposed to her, so she had absolute confidence in her beauty.

Undoubtedly, she was the one who suited him best.

Thinking so, Bella slapped her cheeks to psych herself up.

“Hmph! Pull yourself together…!”

As she quickly tried to tidy up, grabbing the bear doll, Bella couldn’t help but pause.

“Dmitri…?”

The button eyes of her beloved bear doll had fallen off.

 

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