IBTHM Chapter 34

Looking at Hades's angry face, I immediately intuited that something was very, very wrong with this medicine.

"...Why? What kind of medicine is it?"

At my question, Hades fell silent for a moment, then slowly took a deep breath while rubbing his face, which had grown even more haggard in the span of a day.

He appeared to be controlling his rage, which had risen all the way to the tips of his hair.

Soon he sat down facing me and revealed a truly shocking fact.

"It's a drug that forcibly suppresses your magic from manifesting."

At his words, I nearly stopped breathing for a moment.

Seeing my shocked face, Hades continued speaking.

"You said it was medicine for your chronic illness. So I looked into whether it actually helped at all, but..."

Hades's fist clenched tight on the table.

The angry veins rising blue on the back of his hand vividly revealed his current psychological state.

"...There was nothing of the sort. It's used solely to suppress magic."

"I-I didn't know. What does suppressing magic even mean...?"

"The reason you haven't been able to hide even a single core jewel until now."

Gesturing with his chin toward the medicine now rolling loose on the table, its cloth wrapping removed, Hades added:

"It was all because of this drug."

"That would make sense. To hide a core jewel, you need to possess at least a minimal amount of magic."

Now I understood.

I stared blankly at my left wrist where the core jewel was embedded.

It was truly shocking.

I had simply thought I couldn't use magic because my mind and soul weren't native to this novel's world...

But the truth was, it was all because I'd been taking this drug.

The medicine, which emitted a mysterious white light, looked utterly sacred and harmless, completely at odds with its terrifying effects.

I couldn't find any words to say.

I had finally learned why Aisha Esclife had been living precariously all this time, unable to hide even her core jewel.

Why on earth would the temple do this to a powerless noblewoman from a rural territory?

"Why did you take it?"

Hades asked again with sharp eyes, but I had nothing to say.

The one who had started taking this medicine from the beginning was Aisha Esclife—not me.

From what I'd heard, she'd been kind, timid, and obedient, so she would have naturally started taking the medicine her father personally obtained for his frail daughter without any suspicion.

So this medicine—it was the original Aisha, not me, who had started taking it and had been faithfully consuming it for over ten years.

And I, who had become Aisha, had experienced pain so severe I thought I would die when I didn't take the medicine, so I'd simply been taking it to avoid death.

I didn't want to believe that the temple and Father had deliberately made me take this medicine, so with the desperation of grasping at straws, I asked Hades:

"Are you certain this medicine provided absolutely no help in treating my chronic illness? I was in so much pain when I didn't take it. Here, around my heart..."

"No."

Hades shook his head very firmly.

"You couldn't have been in pain from the beginning."

"...What?"

"This is a magic suppressant. Of course your magic would leak out if you didn't take the medicine. When the magic that had been forcibly blocked all this time started flowing through your already weak body..."

He bit his lip firmly and looked straight at me as he asked:

"...Do you think there would be no pain at all?"

"Oh, then..."

The pain I'd felt around my heart when I didn't take the medicine—it wasn't because of a chronic illness.

"...Rather, I was in pain because I was taking the medicine."

"That's right."

All the strength drained from my body.

No...

But why?

"Aisha."

"Y-yes..."

When I responded to Hades calling my name in the midst of my confusion, I saw he was biting his lip like someone hesitating to say something.

Somehow I felt I knew what he wanted to say.

"The temple provided the medicine and had you take it, but you said it was the Baron who administered it."

Just as I thought.

At Hades's question, I nodded with a blank expression.

It wasn't just the temple's plan that I couldn't be certain about.

The temple had made the medicine, but it was Father who had made me take it.

If Father knew what the medicine was and still made me take it, then why?

I wished I could at least guess, but there was nothing to suggest a reason, which made it even more frustrating.

Clearly Hades suspected Father right now, and so did I.

But it was incredibly difficult to calmly accept that the person I'd trusted without a single doubt until now had actually been thoroughly deceiving me all along.

I smiled awkwardly and said:

"Yes. I understand what Your Grace is trying to say. But while I do have suspicions... I think we should confirm for certain. Whether Father knew what kind of medicine this was when he gave it to me, or whether he didn't know."

I tried to defend Father, but the doubts already filling my head continued to torment me.

Aisha had been taking the medicine since Abel was her age, which aligned precisely with when magic manifests in people of the Empire.

There was no way Father, who was closest to his daughter's condition, wouldn't have known.

To anyone looking, he had deliberately made her take medicine to prevent her from using magic.

"Ah..."

I covered my face with both hands and could only let out a frustrated groan.

Familial affection was a terrifying thing, and it meant even more to me, someone who had never received parental love even in my previous life.

I simply couldn't coldly cut Father off.

So I decided to start by investigating the temple, which I could suspect more dispassionately.

"Your Grace, why would the temple make this kind of medicine and give it to me?"

"That's what we need to find out from now on, but thinking simply, they must have some reason for needing to control your magic."

"But why? As Your Grace knows, people in our family have embarrassingly minimal magic. What would they gain by preventing that speck of magic from being used?"

"A speck."

Hades's eyes gleamed.

"Because it might not be just a speck of magic?"

Goosebumps rose all over my body again in that instant.

Seeing me just blinking in surprise, Hades, who had been staring at me intently, added:

"If you possessed minimal magic like other Esclife family members, I don't think you would have felt such intense pain when you didn't take this medicine."

"Then... that means..."

"Because the moment the suppressant's effects wore off, an enormous amount of magic was released all at once..."

"...That's why it hurt enough to kill me?"

When I finished his sentence, Hades nodded.

"That's right."

"If, if I really possess such tremendous magic, does that somehow threaten the temple?"

"I don't know. I'm curious about that too. I plan to find out starting now."

All the strength drained from my body again.

I'd discovered three things.

The identity of the medicine.

The state of my body, which might possess magic at a usable level.

And...

The temple, which had some reason for secretly making me take a magic suppressant.

The fact that I had to suspect the temple—which had been a major power group even in the novel and which I'd thought was an unconditional gathering of good people—left me feeling helpless.

Perhaps my worry showed on my face, because Hades began consoling me in a gentler tone than before.

"I plan to investigate the temple thoroughly, so don't worry. Whatever the reason, it's unforgivable, but if there was a corrupt intent."

Hades's eyes gleamed terrifyingly.

"I'll use every bit of power I have to crush the temple."

His expression and tone were directed at the temple with bared teeth, yet somehow I felt chilled.

I'd been forgetting because he kept acting so different from his original character, but Hades truly was a frightening man.

He'd already done many frightening things for Abel's sake until now, and he would continue to do so.

Perhaps that's why, even in the midst of confusion, I felt somewhat relieved.

After his eyes had been flashing for a while, Hades called to me carefully for some reason.

"Aisha."

"Yes."

"I know this will shock you, but I think we need to address this."

"What?"

"The reason the Baron opposes our marriage."

The reason...

"There's a high probability it's to prevent us from investigating the temple's actions."

"...Father?"

"Yes. In this Empire, there are only two places with the power to openly investigate the temple. The Imperial family, and House Ruvermonte."

Indeed, Hades's suspicion was realistic.

"If you become a member of the ducal house, I'll naturally learn that you can't hide your core jewel, or that you've been taking medicine. It's only natural I'd suspect and investigate the temple."

"..."

"You said the Baron told you he didn't care who you married. That probably wasn't a lie. He truly wouldn't have cared—if it hadn't been me."

"I suppose he never imagined I'd say I wanted to marry Your Grace."

Hades nodded and said:

"For now, we need to hide both the fact that you suspect the medicine and the fact that I've already discovered what this medicine is. The temple might try to cut their losses and run."

"Yes. I'll pretend not to know."

"And you... this might sound frightening, but you're not safe anywhere. Especially if you return to Esclife with the Baron..."

"Yes, I think so too."

Seeing me calmly nodding to everything, Hades let out a long sigh.

"The Baron wants to take you back home immediately, and you absolutely cannot follow him. You need to stop taking the medicine, and until your body returns to normal, the only place I can keep you completely safe is here."

"Yes."

"However, you can't keep staying here when the Baron has no intention of approving the marriage. So."

"..."

"Until we finish investigating the temple, the best situation would be for it to appear that I'm forcibly keeping you here."

I was startled by Hades's words.

Certainly, if Father continued to oppose the marriage, I couldn't stay here.

But I also couldn't just declare I'd renounce my family when I hadn't even fully figured out Father's intentions yet.

I'd told Hades I'd even consider abandoning my family name to marry him, but I wasn't actually brave or ruthless enough to make such a decision without hesitation.

Hades was saying all this because he'd foreseen that entire situation.

In other words, he was volunteering to become an unreasonable tyrant who would confine a powerless noblewoman and refuse to release her until permission for marriage was granted.