I’m Not Doing This With A Friend – Chapter 112

Author: Nikss

The butler asked in a suppressed voice, his whole body quivering with humiliation.

“So when do you think you’ll be able to make the cure?”

‘…Wow, you put up with this?’

He must have been really desperate.

“With the magic I have, I can enchant my hair and that’s it. I’m no different from a normal, non-magical person.”

I listened to his elaboration with one ear and let it slip out the other.

So what to do about this? I felt a shallow pang of sympathy for the lack of a strand, but…

After all, I wasn’t obligated to do anything about it.

Besides…

With my hands on his shoulders, I lifted my gaze. Then shook my head sharply and said flatly.

“Butler, if there were such a thing, there would be no bald men in the world.”

Unless they shaved their heads on purpose for fashion.

The Empire’s magical technology was highly advanced. An endless array of spells to make the imagination come to life.

Even a dismembered person could be restored to a normal body with enough magic and divine power.

But such great magic and divine power could not, ironically, prevent genetic hair loss.

I gazed at his head with mild sympathy.

“There’s no such thing as a cure for hair loss, not even in the distant future.”

‘Do you get it now?’

This clueless, bad-tempered bald guy.

🍃

It’s been a week since the Duchess shared a room with the Duke.

During that time, I heard that the Duke hadn’t come out for meals and was working frantically in his office.

Worried, I secretly planned a time to meet with the Duke.

“We should have come earlier…”

But I couldn’t, because the Duchess and Carson had their eyes on me.

Together, the two of them worked to prevent the Duke from seeing me.

As I later learned from a servant, the Duke was very much against taking me as his daughter-in-law.

The rumor seems to have spread a bit strangely, but I knew the Duke’s actions were for my good.

He once told me that I was too good for Carson to marry.

“I never thought it was true…”

Then it was likely that the reason for using different chambers had something to do with me.

I shook my head and knocked cautiously on the door to his office.

These days, they say he rarely slept.

So I sneaked out at dawn to visit the Duke. This would be the best time to meet without being seen by Carson and the Duchess.

“Mister, it’s me.”

The knock on the door was immediately answered from inside, where the silence was deafening.

The door slid open automatically.

“Come in.”

Thinking that magic was convenient, I stepped inside.

I let out a sigh when I saw the Duke. I hadn’t seen the Duke in a week, and he looked exhausted. He looked like half his soul had been sucked out of him.

I hastened over and took his papers and pen from him.

“Mister, I don’t think this is the time to work. Put down your pen and get some rest. You look pretty bad.”

“Yeah, you’re right, I’m tired.”

“I’m glad to hear it, then get up and go to your bedroom…”

“But what’s the point of going to the bedroom, Sylvia’s not there. I’d rather be working than feeling so miserable.”

Biting down hard on my lip, I said, “Mister…”

I knew he was struggling, but seeing it in front of me made me feel guilty.

“I’m sorry, I’ll be leaving the manor in the near future, so please hang in there.”

The fight was caused by me in the first place, and it would all be resolved once I left.

The Duke’s eyes glowed with anger at my words.

“Where are you going? It is a fact that will not change, that you will receive the name of Lysianthus in one form or another.”

I stared at the Duke, my mouth tightly shut.

Then, as if he thought I was frightened, he spoke in a soothing voice.

“If you make it clear that you have no feelings for Carson, Sylvia will eventually give up on taking you as a daughter-in-law.”

I suddenly questioned, “Why would you fight with the woman you love so much to have me as your daughter?”

The reason he wanted me as his daughter in the first place was because I gave him good advice on how to improve his relationship with the Duchess.

“If you and Carson were on the same page, I would not be so opposed to taking you as a daughter-in-law.”

The Duke’s large hand rested nonchalantly on top of my head.

“But since you say you do not like Carson, I am against it.”

Well, it’s my word against yours.

The Duke’s slight remark made me feel a brief flutter of emotion.

But it didn’t last long, because…

I hadn’t exactly said I wanted to be his daughter.

‘Where’s that important part of my wishes, Mister?’

It was then.

‘Leen.’

Carson’s voice echoed in my head again. I jerked my head up, frowning at the sound of his voice, which sounded like it was jammed with noisemakers.

“Oh, come on.”

Then the Duke’s voice came flying in.

“What’s the matter, Leen? What ails you?”

“It’s just…”

Should I ask the Duke what I’m experiencing?

Somehow, I felt like the Duke would know anything. In fact, there was a reason I had ignored it for so long.

If I went to see a doctor, Carson and the Duchess would be all over me, asking what’s wrong with me…

I was reluctant to confide in both of them about my symptoms, as it would prove that I was suffering from a condition referred to as serial sickness.

But Mister immediately believed me when I told him I didn’t like Carson.

I doubt he’d jump to the conclusion that I was suffering from a case of such disease.

“Actually, I’ve been experiencing a strange phenomenon for about a month now…”

“An anomaly?”

The Duke tilted his head, as if to ask me to continue.

“I’ve been hearing voices calling my name in my ear, even when I’m not trying.”

“What…?”

The Duke’s brow narrowed slightly and said, “Tell me more.”

“To be precise, it calls my name, and I recognize it as Carson’s voice.”

The Duke’s face stiffened, as if he expected something.

“And whenever you hear that voice, you vaguely recall where Carson is?”

“Yes.”

At my answer, the Duke muttered something, his expression tinged with shock and betrayal.

“Clearly, you do not like Carson…”

The Duke trailed off for a long moment, then wiped his forehead and spoke with difficulty.

“What you just said is not an anomaly, it’s a companion seal. It’s a type of enchantment.”

“…A companion seal?”

I had a very ominous feeling. I knew what it felt like just by hearing the name.

“It’s a magic that is rarely used nowadays due to its difficult conditions.”

“Can you elaborate?”

Seeing my nervous expression, the Duke cleared his throat.

“You lied to me, Leen.”

“…What?”

“The Companion’s Seal is a spell that is placed on the heart, and can only be worn by those who love each other.”

Leen’s pupils began to flutter. The words stutter out.

“There’s, uh, such, magic…?”

The Duke frowned, as if he didn’t understand my reaction.

“Rather, I wonder. Didn’t Carson give you an explanation?”

“No. I didn’t hear anything at all.”

Seeing my expression, the Duke made a strange frown.

“It’s a spell that can’t be cast unilaterally, even if you love each other. It requires the other person’s permission.”

“What do you mean, it’s a tricky spell? Tell me about the effects of the Companion’s Seal.”

“The Seal of Companionship is a high-level magic. The caster must be a mage of sufficient skill to inscribe it on a sensitive part of the heart.”

The Duke stared at me for a moment, then sighed.

“And even if it were that difficult to carve, it would require a mastery of mana to activate it.”

While I was nothing compared to a mage, it was not uncommon to find someone who could manipulate mana.

I only learned how to manipulate mana because of alchemy.

“Then what is the effect of that magic?”

“If you call out the name of the person who has your companion’s seal with mana in your voice, they will immediately know your location.”

“…Oh my.”

“It has a fancy name, the Companion Seal, but in short, it’s a sort of summoning system.”

Only after I’d heard enough of the Duke’s explanation did I feel the pieces of the puzzle come together.

“So the voice I’ve been hearing in my head all this time is Carson’s…”

“He must have been calling your name without even trying. Perhaps not even realizing that he was calling your name with mana.”

How come I couldn’t hear his voice when we were together?

‘Carson, you lunatic!’

When I’m not around, he calls my name out of habit.

No matter how much you like me, there are degrees and instances!

I finally brought up the one question I still hadn’t resolved.

“Hah, but I thought you said it was a heart-engraving spell, and the other person’s permission is required.”

The Duke looked pensive as he twiddled his thumbs.

“Think about it. Are you sure you haven’t given permission?”

To permanently imprint magic on a body, the magic circle had to be drawn directly on the body.

There was no way he could take out the actual heart and carve a magic circle into it, so he would have to draw it on the part of his body closest to the heart.

But no matter how hard I tried to think about it, I couldn’t remember permitting Carson to inscribe the spell.

Also, Carson had never put his hand near my heart…

Ah…

Crazy. No way.

That day?

Now that I think about it, I think Carson had asked me halfway through if he could cast some kind of spell.

At the time, I was so preoccupied that I just nodded.

I don’t think I was even more suspicious when Carson started casting various buffs and healing spells to replenish my running stamina.

Wait a minute…

So who have I confided in now?

…Who’s who, Carson’s father!

Realizing that, I lost my composure.