The Villainous Family Loves Me Too Much!

The princess smiled gently and softly stroked Gebino’s head.

It was at that moment. From somewhere, a small pebble flew and grazed the princess’s forehead.

“Ouch!”

The stone thrown towards Gebino had narrowly missed.

“Your Highness!”

“Who dares to harm the princess! Capture them immediately!”

The princess’s attendants hurriedly moved to take action, but the princess raised her hand to stop them.

“I’m fine, so please stop.”

A middle-aged woman who seemed to be a maid lowered her head in embarrassment.

“It’s my fault, Your Highness. I will take responsibility.”

As blood trickled down the princess’s forehead, the attendants began to murmur in agitation.

“No, anyway, I learned basic healing during today’s training.”

A faint light emanated from the princess’s right hand, which she casually raised, and she gently smiled as she touched her injured forehead.

“Let me give it a try as part of my training.”

Her healing ability, which she had learned today, was incredibly impressive. The wounds, and even the blood, disappeared instantly.

“Wow!”

Gebino, amazed, exclaimed, and the princess spoke to him.

“Young knight, grow up well and protect me. Today, I will protect you.”

For this very reason, he had lived his life protecting the princess. To protect her and the world she lived in.

‘It might not be possible anymore… Your Highness.’

His vision began to blur, and he started to feel pain throughout his body. The hands that had been severed by the demon, as well as the surging blood, gradually consumed Gebino’s consciousness.

“It was a good dream…”

The cold surface of the cave floor reminded him that he was returning to reality.

All that remained was death. Yet, the illusion of the princess still lingered before his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness… I will go first…”

Even thinking that the illusion of the princess appeared before him until his death was unbearably bitter.

But something was strange.

The illusion of the princess, with Gebino dying before her, was not mourning his death but rather twisting her mouth.

“Since you’re perfectly fine, get up right now, young knight.”

“I’m not a little kid anymore, Your Highness.”

As the past episode with Gebino was revealed in the prophecy, I learned that the cute little knight I had known was actually Gebino.

Thanks to that, we became close friends.

“Don’t treat me like a little kid.”

Unlike before, Gebino seemed to be crawling up a bit, probably because of his mood.

After learning the contents of the prophetic book, the Archduke quickly located the cave where Gebino was based on past search records.

But when we reached the cave, Gebino was already in critical condition.

Both his hands, which had served as conduits for divine power, had been severed, and his body and soul were separated, trapped in an endless cycle of past memories.

The only thing more in danger than the severed hand was Gebino’s soul.

If it continued to be trapped in memories, it could never return to its original body.

However, the reconstruction of the soul, not the dismantling, was impossible with any kind of magic.

At that moment, there was only one person who could save Gebino. Princess Karena, who possessed the Power of Light to freely traverse time and space.

I was the only one who could manipulate the Light, as my ability wasn’t restricted.

-Please allow me to use the Power of Light, Lucian.

Since my abilities were forbidden, the Archduke would bear all the responsibility after using them.

The Archduke nodded without hesitation.

-Just save him.

After the battle in the cave, Gebino received treatment for his injured hands and recuperated at Archduke Kenoch’s estate.

“You saved me again, Your Highness.”

While playfully teasing each other and engaging in friendly banter, we took a leisurely stroll during our exercise.

“Why are you acting so embarrassingly?”

“I haven’t had a chance to express my gratitude sincerely. I truly appreciate it.”

Suddenly, Gebino knelt down and greeted me not as a priestess but as a knight, in a formal manner.

“As a knight, not a priestess, I want to express my gratitude to you, Your Highness.”

Even adding a playful ending.

I had known from the start that he was handsome, like a work of art carved from stone. But seeing him smile in the sunlight like this, Gebino was an absolute masterpiece, not falling behind the Archduke.

‘If you are appointed as a knight, you’ll be followed by the aristocratic young ladies. Won’t you?’

No, since he was a priest, dating was impossible.

There were many aspects of this world’s rules that I didn’t understand. A saint could get married, but a priest with similar abilities couldn’t.

Perhaps it was a measure to strengthen the Empire’s authority by weakening the divine power that could threaten it. But… I didn’t understand it.

“It was fortunate that the cave was filled with black stones. Thanks to that, the use of abilities wasn’t detected at the imperial palace.”

Of course, I didn’t know that and used my abilities.

But luckily, due to the black stones filling the cave, the energy from my abilities that I had used didn’t leak outside.

The black stones here, created by the magical power emitted by the demon, were only found in the demon’s habitat and couldn’t be obtained elsewhere. The toxicity of regular black stones could be purified if appropriately treated and used for various purposes, such as medicines and agricultural chemicals.

However, the black stones here had a toxicity more than twenty times greater than those obtained from elsewhere, so they were currently being researched in the Felosite Magic Research Institute, which had obtained a small amount.

‘Maybe the demon that attacked Gebino is the same powerful demon mentioned in the prophecy.’

The powerful demon that was planning to turn this story into a sad ending by killing me. Perhaps the reason it was mentioned in the prophecy was because it had dealt with Gebino’s death.

Unfortunately, the prophecy didn’t provide me with precise information. Even Gebino’s death was only mentioned as ‘dying while fighting a demon in a cave.’

“How’s your hand?”

“I’m fine, Your Highness. It might take some time to fully recover.”

Gebino’s severed hand was still not completely healed.

In fact, treating the deep wound was relatively easy. However, reattaching a completely severed body part wasn’t a simple task, even for Felosite’s magicians.

Ah! There might be one way.

“That hand, there might be a way to heal it quickly.”

* * *

“Your Highness, are you saying that Jonathan has manifested divine power?”

Gebino’s eyes sparkled with interest when the topic of divine power came up, as if he might be a priest.

“Finally, a priest has been born in the Kenoch family!”

“I’m not a saint, so I hope Sir Augusto will confirm it properly. But maybe instead of a priest…”

This was my first plan to prepare for the downfall of Felosite.

“He might become a combat healer. Jonathan.”

There was not a single specialized healer on the continent right now.

Fortunately, with magic alone, various types of treatment could be performed smoothly, but it wasn’t a fundamental treatment that would eliminate the root causes, so it could sometimes become poisonous.

If the most powerful healer in history appeared in such turbulent times, and moreover, from the Count Kenoch family, my maternal lineage!

To turn Jonathan into the best healer, there was no better teacher than the priest of the Julius Altar, who was currently in the same place.

“Please draw out Jonathan’s divine power, Gebino.”

I decided to take full advantage of the fact that Gebino and the Archduke could only read a summary of the prophecy.

I embellished the content I already knew from the original work as if I had discovered it from the prophecy.

“So, does that mean the little Jonathan will become the best healer on the continent?”

This news was immediately conveyed to Gebino as well as to the Archduke.

“That’s right. In the version where you destroyed the Empire, Jonathan was on your side. And according to the current prophecy, he didn’t become a healer until after the downfall.”

“Then we must raise Jonathan as a healer before Felosite falls.”

If you pretend, act like that.

The Archduke immediately understood my intentions without the need for detailed explanations.

I showed the Archduke a chart summarizing the contents of the prophecy and explained the important facts one by one.

“So, let’s leave the task of raising Jonathan as a healer to Gebino for now.”

Fortunately, the Archduke didn’t seem to have any significant doubts about how I knew this information.

“But there’s one thing.”

As I was about to leave the office with the luggage I had brought, the Archduke stared at the parchment with the chart and slowly spoke.

“It seems that the method you told me last time is not written here.”