The Werewolf King's Bride

(From Blue's Perspective)

"She has a fever," Doctor Bernard said after checking Sapphire.

Doctor Bernard was a middle-aged man with a short beard. But he did not look his age at all. If it was not for Ruby, who had told me all about him beforehand, I would not have thought that he was more than twenty-five. He had snow-white hair that matched his pale skin. Even his eyes were silver, kind of whitish.

I had sent him a letter in advance informing him that I would be dropping by. But he was surprised that I was so concerned about a cat. I had noticed it before too- here, most people did not have any pets and behaved as if we were not supposed to have them.

"I had a feeling this was going to be the case as well. She hasn't been eating much lately, after all. She even turned down milk. That's her favorite food. She has been sleeping a lot and looked quite weak all the time."

"Did she vomit?"

"No... She did not. She just has been too calm these days and rejected her food."

"Ah, I see... She has a fever without a doubt. So, I'll give her some medication. Please make sure she gets them on a regular basis," he said. "She must stay hydrated at all times. I'll recheck the temperature in two days.

I'll give her something stronger if the fever doesn't go away."

"Yes, thank you," I said.

"Your Highness does not have to thank me. I am grateful that I could be of help to Your Highness," he bowed.

We did not stay with Doctor Bernard much longer. Ava hated needles, and there were far too many of them on his table. As a result, we left even earlier than planned.

"Doctor Bernard frightens me every time. I mean, he's 46 years old, but look at his face..." Perita grumbled. "There isn't a single wrinkle on his face. How can someone age in such a way?"

"I kinda want to age like that as well," I mumbled.

"Blue, are we going to the magic tower now?"

"Yes," I nodded. "Do your legs hurt? Perita can carry you..."

I could have offered to carry her myself, but Dem had warned me not to do so. Ava was not that heavy, but he kept telling me not to even attempt to carry her.

"No, I am fine," she said, shaking her head a bit. "It's just too sunny today."

Ava had not yet reached the age where she could wear temperature-regulating clothing. It was designed for people over the age of ten. Children were not suitable for using it because the mana used in it may hurt their bodies if they did not have mana within them.

The quantity of mana utilized to create temperature regulating clothing was very small, thus it did not harm individuals over the age of ten. Even this small amount of mana, however, was hazardous to children under the age of ten.

"Let's go to the magic tower quickly then. We can rest there," I said.

Luc opened the door of the magic tower pretty quickly, surprising me. I assumed he was still sleeping. He got a long vacation. But right now, he looked pretty tired. It was as if he had been awake all night.

"Wow... Can't say I am not surprised," I said.

"It's because of you!" he said loudly. "Ah, the little lady is here as well."

"Let us in. I need to talk to you."

Luc brought us to the chamber where I sat every time I visited the magic tower. As usual, I had brought cookies for him. Perita was carrying them.

"You have the cat with you... What happened to it?"

"Use 'she'. She is a girl," I said. "Well, she has a fever. I have come straight here after visiting Doctor Bernard. The fever is not that bad for now. So, we are hoping she will get better soon."

"Ah, I see. You appear to be closer to this cat than you are to your husband. She has to get better."

"Jeez, stop blabbering..."

It would be easy to converse with Luc if there was only Perita in the room. But Ava was also present. And what I was going to talk about, she was not supposed to hear about it. I brought her here since she was feeling down. It was a rash decision. But now I needed to send her away for a bit.

"Ava," I said. "I need to talk to Luc for a moment. Can I rely on you to take care of Sapphire for me?"

"Can I?" she asked, her eyes shining with curiosity.

"Of course, I think you can take care of her properly. She might wake up if we talk too much in front of her. Can you take her to another room? Perita will go with you as well," I said.

"Hm, okay! I will take care of her. Don't worry, Bl... Aunt."

She was not supposed to call me by my name in the presence of others. Only the people who were really close to us were okay. But Ava did not know that Luc was among our close friends' circle.

"Good girl," I said as I placed Sapphire in her arms who was not sleeping but was not fully awake either. "Perita, take care of them and take her to another room."

"The room ahead of this one is good. Take her there," Luc said.

After Perita took Ava away, Luc looked straight at me. He had bags under his eyes like he did not sleep in days.

"So, what's the matter?" he asked. "It's about the full moon, right?"

"Yeah... The full moon is too near. And well, we actually... have not done it since then."

"It's been three weeks," he said.

I gave a nod. "He said he is not planning on doing it any time soon. Perhaps he thinks that I don't remember that the full moon is near. He hasn't mentioned anything about it as well. I think he is planning on taking the same potion again that you gave him last time. It still hurts him, right?"

"That's true. But it's a bit less."

"I know perfectly well what you mean by 'a bit less'. But I don't want him to suffer like that. So, I am gonna ask you for help," I said.

"What help? Though I have an idea of what you are going to ask me, since I don't think it's a good idea, I will just wait for you to say it."

"You know the dark mage who Dem had prepared to awaken my power, don't you?"

"I do... He is actually the duke of Ataraxia..."

"What? The duke?" I exclaimed.

Why would the Duke of Ataraxia help us? More importantly, I had no idea that the duke of Ataraxia was a dark mage.

"Yeah... Well, you should be shocked. A dark mage can be anyone. They can blend in easily since they can hide their power better so you would not even know that they are dark mages. You see, dark mages can't turn into werewolves, just like normal mages. And the duke of Ataraxia has not turned into a wolf ever as well with the excuse of being too good with a sword to ever need to turn."

"But if he is a dark mage, it means he is much stronger than Alphas... Then why isn't he trying to...?"

"I know. Dark mages, like normal mages, have a power range based on the quantity of mana they have within themselves. There are three ranges for regular mages. The magical tower's masters are from the first range." "

If we consider the entire body to be one hundred percent, the mages in the first range have eighty percent mana in them. The second ranged mages have more than fifty percent but less than seventy percent mana; whereas the third ranged werewolves have less than fifty percent mana. Dark mages, on the other hand, are far too powerful."

"As a result, their division is different. They are classified into five ranges. The quantity of mana in the fifth range is less than twenty percent; the amount of mana in the fourth range is less than thirty percent but more than twenty percent, and the amount of mana in the third range is less than sixty percent but more than thirty percent.

The amount of mana in the second range is less than eighty percent but greater than sixty percent. And the amount of mana in the first ranged ones is... more than ninety-five percent."

"That's quite a lot... You should realize that the potency of black mana diminishes with each generation. Most dark mages are now in the fourth or fifth range. So, they don't have enough power to take over other werewolves, which they would have done already if they could. But they are still not welcomed. So, they hide their power and live as normal werewolves."

"I see... Then can you let me meet him?"

"Meet who? The Duke of Ataraxia?" he asked.

"Yeah... Please, I need to meet him and get him to..."

"I know. Awaken your power just a bit so you can use the medicines of the werewolves. I mean, you need to take the pregnancy-preventing pills after all. And that's when you can help Demetrius on the full moon night."