"Ice Ball, Mana Wall."
A magic circle instantly drawn from Ashella's staff manifested mystery into reality.
Mana, which had been no more than a flowing current, turned into ice and shot toward the target, and beca a shield to protect the caster.
—Pababak!
Ashella's offensive spell struck the training scarecrow in rapid succession.
Watching the scene, Seymour stroked his beard and nodded.
"You're getting quite used to rapid casting. As I thought, the freezing-type spells suit your nature better than fire or lightning. Focus on improving the precision of this school of magic."
"Yes, Master."
Ashella wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
"Would you like to rest? Your attending physician advised taking a break once every hour."
"I’ll go just a little longer."
—Kwa-kwang!
Ashella continued her practice. Right now, she needed to refine her skills even a little more.
She absolutely could not lose to Georg.
From the beginning, whether it was that side or this one, the duel was one where losing ant losing everything.
No matter that it was a clash between heirs—there was no way the Emperor would favor a rciless killer.
Georg might not go so far as to actually take her life unless cornered to the extre, but her attending physician was a different story.
He was filled with the intent to kill Ras.
In this duel, she had to completely overpower him.
Fortunately, Seymour was on her side—as a mage.
"You called it a duel trial, didn’t you. I won’t watch my disciple lose to so sword-swinging thug."
Seymour raised his left hand and cast a spell.
The sword and shield held by the scarecrow popped off and clattered to the ground.
"A disarming spell. Second tier. Essential when you have to fight on the frontlines alone. Now that I think about it, Ashella, I haven’t taught you many practical combat spells, have I?"
"I can create an opening. But there’s not enough ti to only cast attack and defense. Even if I buy ti, if I can’t get the next spell out first, I’ll be the one hit."
"‘I’ll be the one hit,’ huh. Are you actually worried that your partner will be the one hit?"
Ashella hesitated at Seymour’s sharp-eyed question.
"Well, I an... If the Young Lord gets hit, then it’s my turn next."
"Haha, back in the day, you’d have thrown him in as bait and spent that ti preparing a large-scale spell instead, wouldn’t you?"
"That’s one strategy. But the risk is high. If it fails, there's no fallback."
Just the fact that she was even considering the possibility of her spell missing or failing—that alone was an uncharacteristic mindset for Ashella.
Seymour, entertained by her recent changes, approached her and quietly said,
"Shall I tell you a secret? This is a trick I’ve never shared with anyone."
"Really?"
"Indeed. Aren’t you curious how I cast spells so quickly?"
"I’m dying to know. Master, you just twitch your fingers and the formation’s already omitted and the spell’s cast."
"I store my spells."
"Store... them?"
Hearing the unfamiliar term, Ashella tilted her head.
"More precisely, I morize the spells perfectly. No matter how familiar a spell is, the form of the circle, the scale, the mana quantity—it changes slightly each ti, doesn’t it?"
"Yes, it does."
"When a spell becos perfectly consistent, you can input it through physical reflex. You don’t think when you dodge a ball flying at your face, do you?"
"You’re saying if I train a specific action, my body will automatically cast the spell?"
"Exactly. In my experience, the best thod was to curl the second joint of a specific finger."
Seymour held out his left hand. With a small cough, he bent his ring finger slightly.
Then—whoosh! Without warning, the sky opened, and a flock of doves burst out, scattering and flying off in different directions.
"Hmm, I ant to summon a storm spirit... Must be the nest’s shifted location."
"You stored a summon?"
"Not just that. By combining which fingers I curl, I can store hundreds of spells."
"What if you accidentally cast one in daily life?"
"You can prepare a preliminary action. In my case, I always cough once first."
"I see."
Ashella crisply crossed her arms beneath her chest, curling her left ring finger as she practiced the disarming spell.
"It looks cool, but if I lose an arm, I won’t be able to use it."
"That is a drawback, yes."
Ashella continued training the spells she intended to use in the duel.
Even after Seymour’s lesson ended, she didn’t stop.
She reviewed what she had learned today and repeated the drills.
She tried applying the spell-storing technique Seymour had taught her, but it wasn’t easy. Of course, no one could expect a human's reflexes to form overnight.
“Hoo.”
Tired from repetition, Ashella decided to take a break, just as Ras had advised.
Her idea of rest was practicing magic she liked.
While other princes and princesses might take to riding or hunting as hobbies, Ashella found her greatest joy in using magic.
Especially lately—there was a spell she couldn’t wait to cast.
"Clairvoyance."
A fifth-tier spell—one that ordinary humans couldn’t even hope to reach.
Aside from basic utility spells, the branches of magic were vast and varied.
The most fundantal was elental magic, but even within elents, there were countless sub-branches. Most mages, at best, mastered three branches in their entire lives.
Clairvoyance was part of the ti-based branch. Even Seymour hadn’t mastered it, so he had only been able to guide her through books.
It was still too difficult for Ashella, so she was stuck in the practice phase.
"Maybe if I try installing the base circle in a higher dinsion..."
She tried interpreting and reconstructing the spell circle her own way.
Five layers was too difficult. Her circle only reached 128 sides instead of a perfect circle.
Ashella had always loved how spell circles spun wildly once mana was infused.
—Fwaaaah!
"Huh?"
Usually, this was where the clairvoyance spell would fail to connect—but today, the initial activation succeeded.
Ashella’s vision, hearing, and all senses abruptly shifted.
She was briefly flustered, but soon realized—
She had successfully cast Clairvoyance.
Her body remained where it was. But she couldn’t move at will. Even her breath was being taken by so other will.
‘This is...’
It was a place she recognized.
She’d been here before—before the cold of winter ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) had completely faded.
The Marquisate of Gotberg.
"Ashella, get a hold of yourself."
A voice warning her from the side. It was Empress Camilla.
Ashella quietly let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
Clairvoyance showed one among many possible outcos.
A future that might have been. A mont that could co.
"We're deeply grateful for all you’ve done. Please remain in good health."
Her attending physician bowed deeply and left for the Marquisate.
Ashella was montarily surprised—but quickly tilted her head in confusion.
The physician wasn’t wearing a doctor’s robe, but formal dress.
It was a face she recognized from the finalist list of the royal selection.
Gis. That had been his na.
This ant the physician had been dismissed from duty.
Like any other healer, he had been of no use to Ashella.
"I apologize, Your Highness."
The Marquis of Gotberg bowed his head in apology.
Now that the top talent of his territory’s training center had been exposed as incompetent, he owed Camilla a debt.
"My Lord Marquis. Regrettably, that physician was such an inept failure he was even expelled from the Imperial Clinic. He couldn’t even asure Ashella’s mana circuit."
"Hmm..."
"This incident is a grave loss to the Moonlight Palace. So form of compensation will be necessary."
"...If it's within my ans."
"Still no sign of the Lady’s Saintess Revelation?"
"That is..."
"In that case, I’d prefer she be housed at the Moonlight Palace going forward."
Camilla used the physician matter as leverage to take the upper hand over the Marquisate.
It may not have been her original plan, but she’d been waiting for an opportunity like this all along.
Ashella, who had seen Camilla exploit her for all kinds of gain, could easily read her intentions.
‘If I hadn’t selected Ras...’
Would this scene have co to pass?
The Moonlight Palace still... flows according to Mother’s will.
‘Then where is Ras?’
The mont Ashella wondered that—
Bang!
The drawing room door burst open and a young man with ssy hair stumbled in holding a liquor bottle.
"Hey, when your fiancé shows up, isn’t it proper to greet your husband first? Huh?!"
His face was beet red with drunkenness.
Seeing him babble nonsense in broad daylight, Ashella couldn’t help but let out a quiet laugh.
"Ras! We have an honored guest! Get out this instant!"
"Ha—how long do you think I’ll just sit around obeying Father’s orders... huh?! You’ll see, when that girl becos emperor, huh? I’ll be like, you know, so real high-and-mighty guy or whatever!"
"Guards, remove Ras imdiately!"
Tanya dragged the drunken Ras out.
He couldn’t even stand properly. Pathetic.
Watching him, Ashella felt a slow bloom of delight rising from the depths of her chest.
‘Ras, you really ought to be grateful to .’
If I hadn’t selected you, you’d still be rotting away as the Marquisate’s disgrace.
I’m the one who made you into sothing resembling a person.
I really wish you could’ve seen this scene.
"I’m sorry you had to see that disgraceful display. We’ll compensate you for the matter of the physician—"
—Fwoosh!
With the short spell finished, Ashella’s vision returned to normal.
She gently curled her fingers into a fist.
"Hmm... it wasn’t a perfect casting."
A perfected Clairvoyance spell allowed one to view multiple possibilities at once, to roughly designate the ti and place one wanted to see.
Its purpose was, above all, to gather political leverage for succession.
But—
"Ras, you pathetic man."
Ashella decided she needed to find a way to record the scenes shown by Clairvoyance into a crystal.
If he had seen that just now, he’d turn obedient like Max.
Having finished her pleasant hobby ti, Ashella returned to live practice in preparation for the Duel Trial.
***
Because of the trial by duel, my schedule had gotten quite hectic.
Sword training with Tanya, checking on Asella’s condition, brewing dicine and injection solutions.
And on top of that, there was one more thing I had to do.
I headed toward the annex of the Imperial Clinic.
The annex was the inpatient ward.
It wasn’t for commoners—only royalty were permitted to use it.
Right now, there was one external patient admitted.
Needless to say, it was the Duke of the West.
I stood in front of the guarded patient room and knocked on the doorfra.
Bishop Alberich, who had been tending to the Duke inside, ca out with a deep scowl.
“What business do you have here? His Grace the Duke is under the care of the Mokhwigung. By His Majesty’s decree.”
“I know. I just want to check on his condition.”
“I told you I’m in charge! Are you trying to ddle again with your so-called folk redies?”
“This is dicine.”
“It’s the sa damn—!”
“Excuse , are you Doctor Gotberg by any chance?”
A voice ca from inside the room. Alberich could no longer block my way and reluctantly stepped aside.
When I entered, the Duke was lying on the bed with a visibly gaunt face.
As soon as he saw , he smiled warmly.
“So it was you, Doctor. I’d hoped to see you. I heard sothing grave happened.”
“Haha, nothing too serious. How’s your condition?”
“Much improved, thanks to you. If it weren’t for your intervention, I’d be in the ground already. It was a deadly black magic curse. The mont I drank the wine, I felt death crawl right up my throat.”
“You’ve endured a lot. Here’s a prescription and so dicine that should help with the aftereffects. If you follow it, your recovery will be quicker.”
I handed him the prescription.
It included ingredients useful for detoxification and recomnded light exercises.
I warned him to take the dicine only if his condition worsened.
“Thank you. If it’s your guidance, I’ll follow it without question.
Please convey my deepest apologies to Her Highness—I haven’t had the chance to thank her personally.”
“I’ll pass it along.”
The Duke, I judged, could now be safely left in the healers’ care.
Ignoring Alberich, who was still grumbling about folk redies, I left the room.
Poison is a vile tool—it ruins the body of soone perfectly healthy.
Maybe Georg should experience it firsthand.
Might make him reflect a little.
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