Ch.91Rose (3)

Despite her rough resistance, the cool palm touched the soft skin.

Her abdomen retained a lukewarm body temperature.

Unlike her sharp, thorny demeanor, through the thin nightgown, I could feel delicate skin.

The texture of flower petals greeting spring.

I was absentmindedly stroking her pale white stomach.

“Ugh, you, you, you… I’ll kill you!”

The rose shouted with a sharp voice.

She stared at me with fierce eyes, wearing an expression of disbelief.

She seemed determined not to let go of her hostility.

But.

“How dare you do something like this…!”

Despite her efforts, she couldn’t hide the trembling reflected in her pupils.

Her green eyes shook violently.

Beyond them, clear agitation rippled.

Looking down at her fearful reaction, my previously calm lips twisted in an ominous direction.

It was a sinister smile that emerged unconsciously.

“Now, now… I won’t hurt you.”

With those words, I lifted her top.

The girl’s clothing was already raised to just below her chest, precariously covering the forbidden area.

Elise was tied to the bed, nearly half-naked.

Perhaps it was due to the exposed skin.

A distinctly sweet scent of flesh spread through the air.

“Ugh, mmm…!”

The scene intensified as if about to explode.

Her figure was thin, perhaps due to her frail health.

Yet her chest maintained a certain presence.

Her disheveled appearance clung to her body, creating endlessly alluring curves.

I stroked the girl’s stomach with mischievous fingers.

“Urk, y-you, you bastard…!”

Elise was terrified by my lingering touch.

Her shoulders trembled.

She tried to lift her head forcibly, but her red hair just sprawled out.

The rose moved her petals as if blown by the wind.

Squeeze-

Following my momentary pressure, the girl’s stomach yielded downward without resistance.

Only a soft sensation remained at my fingertips.

“Ugh, mmm…”

The girl’s lips finally closed.

She had been pretending to look fierce until just now, but in such a helpless moment, her true nature emerged.

Moisture had gathered on the surface of her green eyes.

Gradually crumbling, breaking, until only fragility showed in her pupils.

“Oh my.”

Perhaps my teasing had gone too far.

I had intended to tease her a bit because her treatment of Sharlotte bothered me, but now it seemed I should stop and begin the actual treatment.

I didn’t want to make someone cry at our first meeting.

I conveyed a few kind words, meaning to calm her.

“Don’t make such a frightened expression. This is just the beginning.”

=Don’t be afraid. I’m just starting the treatment now.

“Shut, up, you, I’ll, definitely, kill you…!”

“Hehe… You may say you dislike it now, but you’ll come to like it soon.”

=It may feel unpleasant now, but you’ll think it was good afterward.

“Stop, talking, bull…!”

“It will surely be a happiness you’ve never experienced before.”

=You’ll realize how happy it is to have a pain-free body.

“Cough… Is, is there, no one outside?”

Elise requested help with a dying voice.

She looked toward the closed door, but naturally, no answer came from beyond.

The noise inside was already perfectly blocked.

I had also informed Sharlotte, so no one would accidentally enter.

I spoke with a relaxed smile.

“It’s useless.”

A sealed room where only two people existed.

This situation was planned to last at least two hours.

“You should resign yourself and accept it. Just spend this time intimately.”

=Relax your body. I really want to spend time intimately.

“You, garbage, of a person…!”

“As I said earlier, it won’t hurt at all.”

=I really don’t intend to hurt you.

I soothed the rose with a calm tone, then concentrated some power at my fingertips.

A wavering shadow thinly coated my fingers.

The energy was so faint that the girl didn’t seem to notice.

My palm moved calmly, stroking her stomach.

Squeeze-

My hand gently pressed her lower abdomen.

Beyond the soft skin I touched, I lifted my eyelids.

I could sense clear mana beyond her white skin.

“Then… I’ll start gently.”

I concentrated my consciousness.

Abnormal flows were passing through the girl’s body.

Tangled mana lines, uneven connections, and hardened mana fragments that had backflowed.

These symptoms were occurring throughout her body.

‘The most serious condition is… indeed the abdomen.’

As the area where the body’s mana lines converge, the petrification was more severe than in other parts.

Glass-like broken fragments were stirring inside.

‘How.’

How could she endure such pain?

The sensation of internal organs being torn apart with each moment, yet the girl showed no sign of pain.

As if she had grown accustomed to enduring it.

“Enduring doesn’t… lessen the pain, you know.”

“Ugh, what do you know!”

“I know better than anyone.”

Mana Petrification Disease.

An incurable disease where each mana line in the body hardens like stone, eventually causing the entire body to crumble into pieces.

These symptoms continue until the subject’s life activities cease.

No cure has been discovered.

Even the cause is unknown.

Since it occurs only once or twice every hundred years, the continent tends to recognize this condition more as a “curse” than a “disease.”

With nothing known about it, it’s interpreted as “divine wrath.”

‘Divine wrath… it’s terrible enough to be called that.’

Therefore, petrification disease has been a symbol of ill omen since ancient times.

This was no different for the imperial family.

That was also why Elise stayed in this lonely palace.

The diagnosis of the beloved Second Princess was ominous, and she was confined because it would be a bad omen for the empire.

Later, they completely prohibited her social activities under the pretext of illness.

‘The secret of the rose.’

It was classified information concealed by the imperial family, but having read the original setting book, I knew.

How lonely Elise’s battle with illness had been.

Why her once bright personality had become so arbitrarily broken.

I murmured with a moment of sympathy.

“Though brief… even this will be salvation for you.”

I consumed the output of my lie.

I very slowly eliminated the mana fragments embedded in her body with minute manipulation.

Following that, the blocked blood flow gradually regained its circulation.

‘This is a temporary measure.’

It would ease her pain for about a day.

I planned to gradually proceed step by step, healing her little by little.

Of course, there was a way to heal her at once, but considering the future, this approach was better.

Trust.

It originally requires sufficient time.

To save the little prince, I needed to open the heart of the rose she loved.

So I took the treatment as an opportunity.

“Cough, cough…!”

Blood kept spurting from between her bloodless lips.

I recited a faint incantation while transferring the lie I had held at my fingertips to the rose.

The thin shadow seeps into her stomach.

“Peace.”

Immediately after.

It dyed her entire body.

The world of the girl, which had been noisy with countless screams.

Became quiet.

“……”

The sudden arrival of peace.

Perhaps because she had been suffering until just now.

Elise was dazed, experiencing peace that had come after 10 years.

A rapturous sensation flashed before her eyes.

“Ah, aah…?”

A question that escaped involuntarily.

Her green eyes flickered, forgetting even their hostility.

I quietly smiled.

‘It worked.’

What engulfed the girl was.

A pleasure that hazily dyed her entire body.

Having lived in pain for many years, even a moment of tranquility returned to her as ecstasy.

The rose flinched at the unexpected bliss.

“H-how…?”

Her breath had become rough.

Despite her slurred pronunciation, Elise directed a question at me.

It was a question that had filled her entire life with despair.

“How… it, it doesn’t hurt, why, suddenly, I…?”

She seemed confused.

I raised my index finger and gently blocked her tired lips.

With my other hand, I covered her green eyes.

“Shh.”

What she needed first was rest.

For the past few years.

She probably hadn’t been able to sleep properly because of the pain, so I wanted her to close her eyes and rest well.

The conversation about today could be shared tomorrow.

“Ah…”

Slowly.

Her eyes closed obediently.

Her arms, which had been repeatedly resisting, soon lost strength and fell onto the bed.

I whispered to her fading consciousness.

“Sleep well.”

A single phrase conveying peace to the delicate rose.

In the arriving silence, I continued stroking Elise’s stomach for a while.

It still had a warm touch.

***

Several hours later.

The closed door opened, and two girls entered.

Sharlotte, who had been waiting outside, and the young maid she had taken with her.

They wore somewhat anxious expressions.

Were they worried about Elise?

They had come in after hearing that her condition had improved, but honestly, they didn’t seem to have high expectations.

It was probably something they had learned after being abandoned by numerous renowned doctors.

That expectations only make disappointment greater.

In other words, it felt like learned helplessness.

“Um… where is Elise?”

A terrible battle with illness.

They were the only two people who had stayed by her side, so they had shared in her suffering.

They had shed tears listening to her groaning every dawn.

‘But.’

Today was different.

Because I had stayed by their side.

“Over here.”

I pointed to the bed.

The rose, who had lost consciousness a while ago, was still asleep.

Red hair was spread across the blanket.

Breathing softly-

Hearing her peaceful breathing, surprise spread in the eyes of the two people who had been filled with anxiety.

Like people witnessing an unbelievable miracle.

“My goodness.”

“Elise…?”

“I’ve never seen the princess with such a peaceful expression. She doesn’t look pained at all, and she’s not even sweating!”

“I can’t believe… this was possible.”

“I’m so glad! Princess…!”

The maid rejoiced with tears.

Similarly overcome with emotion, Sharlotte couldn’t continue speaking for a while.

Finally, as if regaining her composure, she asked a question.

“How did you do it…?”

Only my figure was reflected in her transparent pupils.

I simply left a playful remark, as if answering the girl’s mirror.

“Hehe.”

My answer was.

“It’s a secret.”