The Lady Awaits a Broken Engagement

Chapter 10

* * *

After all the banging and yelling died down, Savina asked Melissa for some tea, who immediately went downstairs to the kitchen and came back with a warm cup of it. After setting the cup down next to Savina, Melissa glanced at her curiously.

After a moment, the maid asked, “Did something happen with Master Fabian?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Savina said carelessly. “That’s the way he always is, as you probably know.”

Melissa nodded to herself, then glanced at the opened journal that Savina had in front of her. She had never seen that old journal among Savina’s belongings before.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before,” Melissa said curiously.

“I found it on the ground outside,” responded Savina. “I’ve been reading through it to find out who the owner is.”

“Well… do you know who the owner is?”

Silently, Savina raised the journal and put it up to her lips. The scent of old, musty paper engulfed her nostrils and settled warmly in her heart. Exhaling, Savina gave Melissa a bright smile—a rare occasion. “Yes, I do.”

* * *

The morning of Lady Annabelle’s arrival was an eventful one, thanks to the gardener starting to loudly rake away the fallen leaves before the sun even rose. On top of this, Savina was forced to listen to the employees’ yelling since her room was right on top of the kitchen. To make things worse, the yelling only grew louder over time.

With all of these things combined, she barely got a wink of sleep. Exhausted, she fell back asleep in the afternoon and only woke up right before Lady Annabelle’s arrival. Now Melissa was trying to help her get ready, worried that she would be late for dinner. However, Savina stayed in bed for a moment longer and simply stared at the drooping sun.

A nap… This would have been a luxury a few days ago. After all, she had only been able to take a nap thanks to the absence of her grueling lessons. She decided that she was quite pleased with the results of her rebellious actions.

“It’s time to get changed, Lady Savina,” nagged Melissa, snapping her out of her reverie.

Sighing, Savina sat up and pushed the soft covers away from her legs, which caused the already loose bandages to slip down once again. Annoyed, Savina began to tug the bandages back up… when her hands suddenly froze.

“Melissa,” she said sharply.

“Yes, my lady.”

“Did Dr. Eugenia come by while I was asleep?”

Melissa paused for a moment. “What do you mean?”

“She didn’t come? Then why…” Savina trailed off, realizing that Melissa was staring at her in total confusion. Suddenly, she felt wide awake. Forcing herself to remain calm, she told Melissa, “I wish to get changed alone. Leave me for a moment.”

“Alone? But… why?”

“It’s not like this dress is hard to put on. I can do it alone. Go on.”

After a moment of hesitation, Melissa backed down, perhaps realizing that she couldn’t disobey her lady’s orders. “Call for me if you need anything, my lady,” she said, then quickly left the room. The doors shut heavily behind her.

Immediately, Savina ripped away the bandages from her knees. Although this should have caused her some pain, she felt nothing.

In fact, the burns…

“It’s gone.”

…were completely gone.

With a trembling hand, she pressed on the spot where she had been injured. She could have sworn that she had blisters there before she went to bed, but the skin was now smooth. Realizing that she had not been mistaken, she gasped out loud in shock.

“What the… But how…”

According to what she had been told, Dr. Eugenia was not due back at the manor yet, and it did not seem like she had returned earlier than expected, judging by Melissa’s reaction. Then… who had healed her burns so perfectly?

A mage with healing powers is very rare, she reminded herself. The taking and giving of life was the domain of the gods, which meant that most mages did not have healing abilities. They were so rare that most people thought they didn’t exist at all.

Dr. Eugenia happened to be one of those rare mages, and House Charlot had only been able to hire her because of their immense money and power. However, most aristocrats usually went to a priest and made a sizable donation to be healed from an injury or sickness. With all of this considered, it was very unlikely that somebody had secretly healed her knees while she was sleeping. In fact, aside from Melissa, nobody else had been in this room since the morning.

Which means… Savina impulsively leaped off the bed. Somehow, she felt like she knew the answer. She grabbed a letter opener from her drawer and made a shallow cut on her index finger. The skin immediately split open, releasing a single drop of blood. Inhaling deeply, she used her other hand to wipe the blood away. Under the blood, there was nothing. Even the throbbing pain was gone. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the floor.

This can’t be happening. She felt like she was in a dream. For a long moment, she silently stared at the finger that she had cut open. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t figure out why her body had suddenly undergone this change. Nothing like this had ever happened before. When Madam Clarissa had whipped her calves as a punishment, the bruises had stayed for over two weeks.

So why… Her heart was pounding in her ears.

Dazed, Savina muttered, “Did my powers finally manifest?”

As far as she knew, special abilities usually manifested around ten years of age. Until then, children were unable to control their powers due to the unstable structure of their bodies. At the most, they might instinctively use their powers to protect themselves when faced with danger. However, there were some rare exceptions where one’s abilities might not manifest even after turning ten, choosing to lie dormant instead. In these cases, the child had to either keep a very powerful magic stone with them or have a skilled mage channel their mana through the child’s body periodically.

The latter process was commonly referred to as “unblocking one’s mana stream”. Simply put, a mage could create an artificial mana stream for the child to help the child’s mana flow better instead of simply lying dormant. This was the reason there were more mages among aristocrats compared to commoners: There were very few commoners who could afford to receive such assistance from a mage.

Mages were rare, and magic stones were extremely pricey. While it was true that commoners could climb the social hierarchy by becoming a mage, most could not afford to spend so much money on a mere possibility. After all, risking all of your money for an incredibly unlikely event was not an investment; it was a gamble.

Of course, Savina had naturally received enormous financial support as a member of a high aristocratic family, which was an incredible stroke of luck for her. You see, conducting the lessons hadn’t been Madam Clarissa’s only duty. She had also channeled her mana through Savina’s body on a regular basis. Savina had expected Madam Clarissa to be annoyed with her additional duty, but her former teacher had never skipped this ritual. After all, she was never one to turn down a perfect opportunity to mock Savina.

Every single time Madam Clarissa made it clear that Savina did not have any special abilities, she gave an evil smile and said, “I don’t know why Duke Charlot and your grandfather haven’t given up on you yet. You see, you can’t hide your talent… but you can’t fake it, either. Wouldn’t you agree, Miss Savina?”

After saying this, she would show off her “talent” by conjuring some water out of thin air and washing the hand that she had touched Savina with. The water always evaporated before touching the carpet. It was an incredibly elegant, yet despicable, way of mocking a child.

Sitting on her bed, Savina recalled her former teacher’s taunting laughter. A question then popped into her mind…

Did Madam Clarissa lie to all of us? The unblocking ritual used to take place at least once or twice every week. However, Savina had not gone through it for ten days now. For the past week, Madam Clarissa had opted to skip the ritual due to her less-than-optimal health, since it required a great deal of concentration and energy. Now that she was fired, the unexpected break had become longer than ever before.

And all of a sudden… I get my ability? Savina couldn’t help but suspect that Madam Clarissa had done something nefarious to her. However, Savina shook her head after a short moment. She had felt Madam Clarissa’s mana flow into her body. The energy that had turned her body inside out and made her sick with dizziness. It couldn’t have been fake.

On top of this, Simon and Benjamin had witnessed the ritual on several occasions. If Madam Clarissa had played some evil trick, they would have noticed.

Or… maybe I’m finally starting to feel the effects of the ritual. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t get any answers on her own. Even though she knew that something unusual had happened to her body, she didn’t know why or how it had taken place. After all, she only knew the most basic theories regarding magic. Otherwise, she was totally clueless since she hadn’t received any proper education on the topic.

She had no choice but to wait for Dr. Eugenia’s return. Since Dr. Eugenia was a mage with healing powers herself, perhaps she could give her the answers she was looking for. Until then, she would have to hide this from everyone.

She didn’t want anybody else in the manor to know about the situation, especially when she didn’t even know what was happening. She would only make this public once she knew exactly what had changed within her, and once she could fully control her powers.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll never have to tell any of them. Even though everybody in this manor despised Renata, she was the only link between House Charlot and Savina. This meant that Savina had no reason to stay in this miserable place once she confirmed that she could use this power to heal other people, such as Renata.

Savina curled her hands into fists with newfound determination.