The Princess

"Martine, are you all right?"

"F-Father...?"

When Alexis-sama called out to her, she opened her eyes slightly and spoke in a hoarse voice.

Martine-sama was probably about my age. She was a girl with blond hair and pale pink eyes. She had grown so thin and haggard that it was hard to tell now, but she was probably an incredibly cute girl.

If she was the same age as me, she was probably about nine. To think she was suffering from an illness at that age...

Her breathing was labored, and even moving her body slightly seemed extremely painful. She probably couldn't eat much, either. There was food like bread porridge on the table, but she had barely eaten any.

The room was filled with the smell of medicinal herbs, so the apothecary must have been doing his best, but apparently it hadn't had much effect.

I wonder what illness this is... For now, maybe I can find out by covering her whole body with healing magic and examining her.

"Leon-kun, can you save my daughter, Martine?"

Alexis-sama asked me that in a voice trembling slightly with tears.

"Yes. I don't know yet, but I'll do everything I can."

"Yes. You're our last hope. I'm counting on you to take care of Martine."

Alexis-sama said that and gave me his seat. I moved the chair closer to the bed and sat down.

"Martine-sama, I'm going to use healing magic now, so please relax your entire body."

When I said that, I felt like Martine-sama gave a slight nod.

All right! I steeled myself and used healing magic.

Once I covered Martine-sama's whole body with healing magic, I realized there were many harmful things inside her. This reaction was different from Alban-san's, so it didn't feel like a virus. It felt like there were abnormal cells. Could it be cancer?

And... they're moving?

The abnormal cells seemed to be moving along with the flow of her blood. No, maybe the abnormal cells were located along her blood vessels?

I wasn't sure, but this meant it was a blood disease, right? Hmm, I didn't know enough about medicine to tell. If I had gone to medical school, I could have made better use of this ability!

Well, I didn't need to diagnose the illness now. I just needed to cure it. I steeled myself once more.

All I had to do was remove all these abnormal cells or return them to normal, right? I kept pouring healing magic into her while imagining everything returning to normal.

Ugh... This is consuming a tremendous amount of magic power...

As I thought, my image was too vague. But I couldn't study medicine now, so I had no choice but to rely on sheer magic power.

I was right on the edge of running out, but since her body was small, maybe I'd manage...

I desperately held on to my fading consciousness and continued pouring magic power into her.

I don't know how much time passed. It felt like hours to me, but in reality, perhaps only a few minutes had gone by.

At last, the treatment was finished. When I checked, there didn't seem to be anything wrong anywhere.

I cured her... Thank goodness.

Just as I felt relieved, my vision went dark and I lost consciousness.

Huh? Where am I?

When I woke up, I saw an extraordinarily ornate ceiling. Hadn't I been staying at the ducal household...?

No! I had treated her and then lost consciousness!

What happened? Had I succeeded?

I panicked and sat up abruptly. I was still in Martine-sama's room.

I had been laid on a sofa, and Alexis-sama and Richard-sama were sitting on the sofa across from me.

"Leon-kun, are you awake?"

"You suddenly lost consciousness, so we were surprised. We thought you had probably run out of magic power, so we laid you down. Are you all right?"

"Y-yes. I'm fine now! More importantly, how is Martine-sama? I think I managed to cure her completely, but..."

"Martine is still asleep. After you lost consciousness, I talked with her for a little while, and she soon fell asleep. But she said her body felt much better, so I think she must have recovered."

Thank goodness. I finally felt as though the tension had left me.

"Leon, thank you. I could never thank you enough. Is there anything you want? If it's within my power, I'll do everything I can to grant it."

"Thank you."

It was difficult to answer on the spur of the moment... What was it? What did I want most right now...?

I wanted a convenient mansion equipped with magic tools, but I could obtain that myself eventually.

More than anything, I wanted status and power to protect myself and my family. My abilities seemed to make me an outlier in this world, after all.

"Um... If possible, I'd like status and power to protect myself and my family. I heard nobles and other countries may target me because of my abilities."

I said that and glanced at Alexis-sama, who looked extremely surprised.

Had I asked for too much? Maybe I should have asked for a reasonable amount of money instead.

As I flustered and started to open my mouth to change my request, Alexis-sama spoke.

"I was only a little surprised because what you said was far too unlike something a child would say. You don't need to panic."

Alexis-sama said that with a wry smile.

"I will grant your wish as much as I can. However, you cannot be granted noble status until you graduate from the Royal Academy, so that will have to wait. As for power, I will arrange shadow guards for you and your family, Leon, so you have nothing to worry about."

Thank goodness! That put me at ease. I could take care of myself somehow, but I had been worried that my family might be taken hostage.

For now, I could relax.

"Thank you very much!"

At that point, we heard a sound from the direction of the bed.

Had Martine-sama woken up? His Majesty immediately hurried over to her.

"Martine, are you awake?"

"F-Fa...?"

Her voice was so hoarse that she couldn't get it out properly. His Majesty gave her some water. She seemed able to drink it, slowly but surely.

"Father, even though I was in pain all the time, I don't hurt anymore. I don't feel sick, and my body doesn't feel heavy, either."

Martine-sama said that, looking puzzled. She didn't seem recovered enough to sit up by herself yet, but once she could eat again, she'd probably return to normal soon. Thank goodness.

"Martine, thank goodness... Leon here cured your illness."

"Leon...?"

Their gazes turned toward me.

"Martine-sama, it's nice to meet you. My name is Leon."

"Are you the one who cured my illness?"

"Yes. I cured you with healing magic."

"Thank you so much. I was in so much pain. I feel much better now."

Martine-sama smiled as she said that, then her expression turned slightly puzzled.

"But what do you mean by 'with healing magic'...?"

"Martine, Leon possesses a special power that allows him to cure illnesses with healing magic. But if people learn about this power, it will cause trouble, so can you keep it a secret?"

Martine-sama thought for a while, then quietly nodded.

"Understood. Leon is my lifesaver, after all. I'll keep Leon's secret."

The princess really did seem mature for her age. She had such a refined air.

"Um... So Leon can cure illnesses, right?"

"Yes, but why do you ask?"

"Then could you teach me healing magic!?"

Martine-sama asked me that with sparkling eyes. Huh? What was going on? How did we suddenly get onto this subject?

Or rather, it seemed like that refined atmosphere from earlier had completely vanished...

As I stood there utterly bewildered, Alexis-sama was somehow agreeing with her too.

"That might be a good idea. Martine has a magic-power capacity of five and the healing attribute."

"Yes! I want to be able to cure sick people, too!"

"Leon, could you teach Martine magic?"

Huh? Before I knew it, I was going to be teaching Martine-sama magic!?

How did this happen...? Well, I didn't mind teaching her, but she probably didn't have enough magic power, so there was no guarantee she'd manage it. In fact, it was more likely she wouldn't.

"Um, I don't mind teaching her, but there's a good chance she won't be able to do it, you know?"

"Yes, I understand that. Leon, you're special. But if there's a chance, I'd like you to teach her. Martine is eager to learn, too."

Martine-sama's hopeful gaze pierced me again and again. There was no way I could refuse...

"Yes. If that's all right with you, I'll teach her."

"Really!? Thank you, Leon."

Martine-sama's face blossomed into a radiant smile.

S-she's... cute...

I couldn't help thinking that, but I quickly shook my head to banish the thought. What was I thinking, finding a nine-year-old child cute!? Wait, I'm nine too, so maybe it's all right...?

While I was flustered by those thoughts, Alexis-sama and Richard-sama were already discussing what to do next.

"Even if you're going to teach her magic, bringing Leon to the Royal Palace would attract far too much attention. What should we do?"

"Hmm, you're right... What about teaching her at the Townsend ducal household?"

"At our residence?"

"Yes. Leon can go to the Townsend ducal household without a problem, can't he? Then we can have Martine go to the ducal household, too."

Could the First Princess really go out that often?

"Unless we have some reason, it would seem strange for Martine-sama to come to our residence so frequently..."

"Hmm, how about using the excuse that she's going to have Catherine teach her magic?"

"That could work. Catherine is highly skilled in healing magic, but normally Catherine would come to the Royal Palace..."

"I see... Then bring Leon along as Catherine's attendant. There are male attendants who aren't responsible for personal care, aren't there?"

"Yes, that should work."

Somehow, it seemed they had decided I would be coming to the Royal Palace without even including me in the discussion...

Well, I didn't mind.

"Then, Leon, could you pose as Catherine's attendant and come teach Martine magic?"

"Of course."

"Leon, I look forward to working with you."

"Yes, Martine-sama."

"Then, once Martine has recovered, we will have Leon come to the Royal Palace. Richard, please discuss this with Catherine as well."

"Yes. Catherine will be delighted to hear that she can meet Martine-sama."

With that, the discussion came to an end for the time being. Next, we discussed what to do from here.

Apparently, very few people in general knew that Martine-sama had been ill. However, almost everyone who worked in the North Palace seemed to know.

As for the servants who were not assigned to Martine-sama, it would apparently be enough to tell them that she had recovered thanks to the apothecary's treatment. But the servants and knights assigned to Martine-sama, as well as the apothecary, would not be convinced.

"I think we'll have no choice but to tell the servants and knights assigned to Martine, as well as the apothecary, the truth and ask them to keep it secret. They're all trustworthy people, aren't they?"

"However, that would make it very likely the truth would leak from somewhere. Rather than tell them anything definite, wouldn't it be better to have Martine-sama say that she suddenly recovered when she woke up tomorrow? Then it would simply be considered a miracle. No one would think that healing magic could cure an illness."

"Is that how it works? It's true that we think Leon did something because we know about his ability, but people who don't know about it would never imagine that healing magic could cure an illness."

Indeed, even if Martine-sama had recovered by tomorrow morning, no one would think it was the child of Richard-sama's attendant who had cured her.

"Then, Martine, could you pretend that you haven't recovered until tomorrow morning? When you wake up tomorrow, say that you went to sleep and woke up feeling better."

"Yes, I can do that, but my condition was so bad that anyone could tell I might die at any moment. They would find it strange if I recovered overnight."

"That's true, but even if they find it strange, they won't know who cured you. We only need to keep Leon's involvement hidden until he graduates from the Royal Academy, so this will buy us time."

"I understand. Then tomorrow morning, I'll say that I went to sleep and woke up cured."

"Yes, please do. I'll come to your room again tomorrow."

Alexis-sama said that and gently stroked Martine-sama's head.

"Well then, let's leave soon. See you later, Martine."

"Martine-sama, I'm so glad you've recovered. I hope to see you again in good health."

"Martine-sama, I look forward to seeing you again when you are well."

With those words, the three of us left the room.