Night had fallen deep, and the Count's Mansion once again settled into silence beneath its magical wards. At the desk in his room, Leon repeatedly studied the thin booklet Elisa had given him, its pages bathed in the gentle glow of a magical lamp. They were covered in intricate diagrams of how Spiritual Power flowed, alongside dense annotations detailing breathing rhythms during meditation, how to guide one's thoughts, and the obstacles one might encounter.
Just reading and understanding the basics left his head throbbing. It took far more mental effort than the drinking and carousing in the original owner's memories. But a sense of novelty and curiosity unlike anything he had felt before kept him working through it, word by word.
The events of the day remained vivid in his mind. The stirring of his spiritual nebula, the Elemental Spirits' aloofness, and those strange, shadowy channels... It all made him realize that the path of magic was anything but easy. But the possibilities it held far surpassed those of simple knightly aura.
"Spiritual Power is the foundation..." Leon rubbed his aching brow and murmured the book's main point. "It takes steady effort over time. There's no rushing it."
He tried sitting cross-legged as the book instructed, with his palms turned upward, and entered meditation again. With the experience he'd gained that day and more specific instructions, he settled down faster this time and "saw" the slowly rotating, dark-golden nebula. Carefully guiding his thoughts along the simplest route in the diagrams, he tried to move the nebula and produce more stable, longer-lasting "ripples."
The process was still difficult. His Spiritual Power was like a wild horse that refused to be tamed; the slightest misstep sent it scattering out of control. He managed to keep it up for less than twenty minutes before a wave of intense mental fatigue washed over him. He had no choice but to end his meditation, his forehead slick with fine beads of sweat.
"At this rate, it'll take forever to make any progress..." Leon sighed, discouraged. According to the book, a beginner who could maintain stable meditation for half an hour was already doing well. Significantly increasing one's Spiritual Power took years of hard work. He didn't have that kind of time to waste. The Imperial Capital was rife with undercurrents, and his reputation as a "young rascal" and his status as Hohenzollern's heir meant he was sitting on a powder keg. Without power, he might not be so lucky the next time he had to duel someone.
Just then, the faint sound of familiar footsteps came from the hallway. They drew nearer and finally stopped outside his door. Elisa had finished her evening lessons and returned.
A thought stirred in Leon's mind, then surfaced before he could stop it. Elisa's cool fragrance had calmed him during the day and made it easier to enter meditation. So what about at night...? What if he got closer? Could the requiem-like aura of her "Tranquil Body" help his Spiritual Power gather and grow even more effectively?
Once the thought appeared, it spread like a weed. The original owner had crept over every night out of fear of the dark and dependence on her. But now Leon had found a much more "respectable" excuse—to cultivate!
"Can't turn down a free perk..." Leon licked his slightly dry lips. The lingering sense of propriety and restraint he'd gained from studying that day was instantly diluted by the temptation of the idea. Besides, after their Shared Bath last night, Elisa's attitude seemed to have softened a little. Maybe asking to "share a bed" wouldn't be so hard for her to accept now?
He took a deep breath, suppressing his unease and a hint of guilt. Using someone else's talent to cultivate seemed a little unethical, but his desire to grow stronger overwhelmed everything else. He tiptoed to the door and pressed his ear against it, listening to the adjoining door open and close to make sure Elisa had returned to her room.
After waiting a few minutes, he figured she had washed up and was getting ready to rest. Only then did Leon slip out of his room like a thief and creep up to Elisa's door. He hesitated, but in the end, he followed the original owner's habit: instead of knocking, he eased the door open just a crack and slipped inside.
Only the dim magical bedside lamp was lit, casting a hazy, warm glow. Elisa was already lying in bed with her back to the door, tucked under a soft down comforter. She seemed to be asleep. Her distinctive scent, cool and fresh with a hint of fragrance, was stronger and more soothing than it had been during the day. It seemed almost tangible as it drifted through the room.
Leon's heart began to beat a little faster. Holding his breath, he took off his outer clothes, leaving on only his thin sleepwear. Carefully lifting a corner of the comforter, he slipped in and slowly edged closer to Elisa's back, taking care not to make a sound.
When he finally wrapped his arms around that warm, soft body again and buried his face in her fragrant hair, an indescribable sense of comfort and security enveloped him. The mental fatigue and agitation from the day's cultivation washed away like a gentle tide.
But this time, Leon wasn't there just to sleep. Fighting the urge to drift off at once, he began to meditate right there in that position!
He adjusted himself into a relatively comfortable pose, still holding Elisa from behind, then closed his eyes and began guiding his Spiritual Power according to the method in the booklet.
A miracle happened!
Usually, it took all his concentration just to enter a meditative state. Now, it came as naturally as water flowing downhill! His consciousness sank into the dark-golden spiritual nebula almost instantly. What's more, the nebula rotated more steadily and smoothly than ever before! Guiding his thoughts took far less effort, as if invisible hands were soothing his restless Spiritual Power and straightening out its chaotic "ripples"!
Even more astonishing, he could clearly "feel" that the colored motes of elemental energy that had ignored him before seemed to grow much more "docile" in the presence of Elisa's requiem-like aura! They still didn't approach him on their own, but their resistance had clearly weakened. One or two blue motes of water and green motes of wind even began hovering and darting about curiously at the edge of his Spiritual Sense!
His cultivation speed had more than doubled!
Leon was overjoyed! This was a cultivation accelerator! No, it was a divine treasure! For anyone practicing magic, Elisa's "Tranquil Body" was an incomparable boon!
He greedily breathed in the cool, magical fragrance and immersed himself completely in meditation. His Spiritual Power still grew slowly, but the clear improvement in its consolidation and refinement—several times faster than usual—left him entranced. He could even feel his Spiritual Power's tendrils growing denser and keener.
Time flew as he focused on cultivating. Leon was completely swept up in the exhilaration of this high-speed "cultivation." He forgot his fatigue, forgot the time, and even forgot... that he was holding someone.
Elisa hadn't been asleep at all.
She had woken up as soon as Leon had crept in like a cat sneaking off with a fish. At first, she assumed his fear of the dark had flared up again and he had come to mooch off her as a "sleeping pill." The little bit of goodwill she had felt after his decent behavior that day faded, replaced by familiar exasperation and resignation. She couldn't be bothered to deal with him. As usual, she'd simply treat him like a human body pillow and endure it until morning.
But she soon sensed something was wrong.
Leon was breathing unusually slowly and rhythmically behind her. Though he was pressed against her, he wasn't making any inappropriate moves. Instead, he seemed to radiate... a strange focus and calm. He didn't seem to be sleeping. Was he... meditating deeply?
He was meditating? While holding her?
That realization left Elisa utterly stunned. Her violet eyes opened in the darkness, wide with disbelief.
She knew perfectly well how her own "Tranquil Body" could help stabilize Spiritual Power. Her teacher, Margaret, had once told her that her presence was a great boon to mages. But she'd never imagined that Leon—the libertine who had once treated her aura as nothing more than a sleep aid—would use it to support his cultivation.
And judging by the faint but unmistakable Spiritual Power fluctuations coming from behind her, which were growing more concentrated and active, it seemed... to be working rather well.
An incredibly complicated, indescribable emotion spread through Elisa. She felt a trace of displeasure at being used as a "tool," but more than that, she felt absurdity—and a faint stirring she didn't want to admit to, even to herself.
Leon really did seem different from before. He wasn't just seeking her out to sleep anymore. He was trying to... grow stronger? And in a way she'd never imagined.
She lay still in silence, neither moving nor calling him out. She could feel how completely absorbed Leon was in cultivating. She could even vaguely sense his once-fickle, restless Spiritual Power growing denser at a slow but unmistakable pace.
The night passed in silence.
When the first hint of dawn touched the horizon, Leon finally emerged from that thoroughly satisfying state of cultivation. He didn't feel tired at all. Instead, he felt clear-headed and invigorated, as if he'd had his fill of something nourishing! The progress he'd made that night was probably worth several days of ordinary effort!
He sighed with satisfaction and instinctively tightened his arms around the "human cultivation accelerator" in his embrace. He rubbed his cheek contentedly against her fragrant hair, then fell into a deep sleep—this time, real, restful sleep.
Feeling his even, steady breathing behind her and his unmistakably affectionate, satisfied cuddle, Elisa's body stiffened almost imperceptibly. In the darkness, she lightly bit her lower lip, a faint blush flashing across her face.
This guy... really knew how to push his luck.
But in the end, she only let out the faintest sigh and closed her eyes again. The light outside gradually brightened, illuminating the two of them asleep in each other's arms. The atmosphere was strange, yet carried an inexplicable sense of... harmony.
In his sleep, the corners of Leon's mouth lifted into an unconscious smile. He had found a shortcut to gaining a foothold in this world, and the shortcut seemed... pretty comfortable.
Amid a jumble of thoughts, Elisa drifted back into a light doze. She was beginning to think that this sudden "fiancé" might be far more troublesome than she'd imagined... and far more interesting, too.
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