[CHAPTER 78]
Biterion Parker opened a portal and arrived in the garden.
Caliph, who had been sitting on the couch in the reception room, stood up immediately upon seeing Biterion through the window to move to another location.
Then Magia, who had been pacing beside him, called out to Caliph with a distressed look.
“Sir Renox, the physician will be here soon.”
It was Magia who sent a telegram to the doctor from the Ocean Agency on behalf of Caliph, who stubbornly refused to go to the hospital.
His bloodied shoulders and hand injuries could be endured, but his left arm, with broken bones threatening to pierce the skin, was unbearable to look at.
Yet Caliph remained fiercely obstinate.
Even with his face pale as a corpse from severe injuries, he was intent on putting his own well-being second.
“Is there a secure place inside the mansion?”
Caliph asked while crossing the reception room. Magia followed him with a grim expression.
“Thanks to Duchess Motenson’s special attention, every part of this house is safe. It’s prepared against external intrusion, and nothing said inside can leak outside.”
At that moment, Pavbread came out of the kitchen, busy.
“Sir Renox!”
He carried a tray with teacups, and a pungent smell rose along with the steam.
“This is a tea mixed with herbs to ease pain and potions to prevent infection. If there’s no time to visit the hospital, at least have this for now.”
However, Caliph ignored him and opened the front door to leave.
It had been raining without pause for hours. The heavy, damp air lingered inside.
“It seems the rainy season has come,” Magia said, tightening her indoor shawl with a sigh.
As servants attending to their superior, neither Magia nor Pavbread could imagine what was happening, yet the tense atmosphere was unmistakable.
Through the rain-specked window, they could see Caliph crossing the garden. Speaking with Biterion seemed more urgent to him than tending to his broken bones.
Magia and Pavbread, left at the entrance, sighed simultaneously and looked at each other. Their worried expressions mirrored each other like a reflection in a mirror.
“I don’t even know what’s going on. It’s maddening,” Magia clicked her tongue, and Pavbread looked down at the teacup in his hands with a dark expression.
To both Magia and Pavbread, Caliph had been their devoted superior for a long time.
Even though he was now living away with Mayna, seeing him sharpen his focus despite such injuries still made their hearts ache.
“I wonder how the young lady is doing.”
Pavbread muttered while looking up the stairs, worried.
“Sir Taker said he would help her bathe, so she’s probably drying off and resting now.”
“What illness was it again?”
Recalling her previous two hospitalizations, Pavbread asked, and Magia added a brief explanation of the condition she had heard at the time.
Neither of them had heard of Awakening Pain, so they assumed Mayna’s previous condition had simply recurred.
“Perhaps from getting wet in the rain, her fever was raging. I worry about her.”
“We should check the food storage.”
“Shall we find herbs to reduce the fever?”
Magia nodded as Pavbread agreed.
“Yes. Let’s go quickly.”
She pushed Pavbread up the stairs with her palm, muttering as she clicked her tongue.
“I still don’t understand why he forbids us from calling a doctor.”
Caliph had strictly ordered that neither she nor Mayna see a physician.
“I’ll go up first,” Magia said, hurrying up the stairs.
Pavbread also walked quickly toward the kitchen.
* * *
At the same time, Caliph headed to the annex with Biterion.
Passing through a rear garden beautifully landscaped with palm and flowering trees, they reached a building that looked like a resort hotel.
When they pushed the door open, a fire burned in the middle of the darkened reception room.
Biterion, having removed his rain-soaked robe, collapsed into a rocking chair in the center, looking as familiar as if he had visited several times before.
Caliph’s face twitched involuntarily at Biterion’s casual attitude, as if he were the husband of the house—or Mayna’s husband.
“As you mentioned, I was on my way back from the Ocean Agency.”
Relief, perhaps. At the critical moment, Biterion immediately brought up the main point.
Caliph twisted slightly to avoid his broken arm touching the furniture and sat across from him.
Horrific pain surged like waves, but seeing a doctor was impossible for now.
Until he confirmed that Duchess Motenson was not involved in this matter today.
“So, what’s the conclusion?”
A few hours earlier, Caliph had learned that a black magic preventing mana usage had been placed in Bellate Plaza immediately after the Spiculum attack. He had instructed Biterion after putting Mayna in a carriage.
“Go to the Ocean Agency immediately. Check on Banze Motenson and report back to me.”
It was to verify if she really had sent assassination weapons.
This might have been unexpected to Biterion, but his reaction showed otherwise.
“You suspect Duchess Motenson. No one else is known to handle Spiculum.”
“Good. I hate long explanations.”
“I’ll go to the agency and return here as soon as I confirm. Sir, please take the young lady home before coming back.”
“No. We’ll see her at Mayna’s house.”
“Is there a reason?”
“Do I have to explain everything?”
“Please do.”
“I want to see how her house looks without me.”
“…Yes?”
“I’m curious how beautifully they’ve arranged it without me.”
“…”
“Agreed?”
“Yes.”
Due to the urgent situation, they exchanged slightly stiff glances.
After returning from the agency, Biterion looked even sterner than before.
“Duchess Motenson is at the hospital.”
“Hospital?” Caliph asked, surprised. Biterion nodded slowly.
“It seems it was almost the same time as the Spiculum attack. She was attacked by assailants while handling agency matters in Tan.”
As head of one of the top five agencies in the empire and a member of the association, she lived under threats far exceeding ordinary advanced espers.
For her safety, at least five attendants accompanied her at all times.
“Fortunately, she survived, but she hasn’t regained consciousness.”
Biterion reported Banze’s condition calmly, then surveyed Caliph’s battered body.
“Until the truth is uncovered, you cannot go to the hospital. If someone is targeting the young lady or Sir Renox, the hospital could be the most dangerous place.”
Caliph’s expression shifted slightly. With eyes sharp as instincts, he carefully observed Biterion’s face.
Biterion Parker. Living incognito as a prince, he seemed to know the ins and outs of espers’ affairs as if he had been active for much longer.
“Impressive,” Caliph said, leaning back loosely.
Since the gate opened, the empire had been in tense balance, with the royal family, the Esper Association, and various agencies keeping watch over each other.
Even the national hospital, despite its slogan of protecting citizens’ lives, operated according to separate interests.
If someone were targeting Mayna, Caliph, or Biterion, any of them could be killed by spies disguised as doctors in hospitals.
“Can you endure it?” Biterion asked, concern in his voice.
“Do you have a trustworthy healer?”
