Night fell, draping the bustling Imperial Capital Sacrifice in a cloak of quiet. Inside Count Strauss's Mansion, without the faint sounds of servants bustling about to prepare for Elisa's Coming-of-Age Ceremony, everything seemed unusually still. Leon was alone in Elisa's bedroom, filled with its cool, delicate fragrance, and felt a touch of unprecedented... emptiness.
After dinner, Elisa had gone straight to her private meditation room on the top floor of the Magic Tower for her evening practice. It was an unbreakable habit, especially on the eve of her Coming-of-Age Ceremony. She needed to be in peak mental condition for tomorrow's ritual and any energy reactions that might occur. In the vast room, only Leon remained, along with the faint, elusive trace of Elisa's unique cool fragrance, which seemed to permeate every inch of the space.
Leon sat idly on the cushioned bench by the window, unconsciously tapping his fingers on the armrest. Tomorrow's Coming-of-Age Ceremony weighed on him like a boulder. Though he had prepared his gift, he knew it was only his ticket in. The real test was whether he could maintain his precarious "fiancé" image under the scrutiny of so many eyes. Anxiety gnawed at him like tiny insects.
I can't just sit around waiting... Leon took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He remembered the dormant mass of magic power inside him, which faintly resonated with Elisa's aura. It was the only hidden advantage he had right now. Though Elisa had judged the bracelet to be a "sleeping stone," that resonance was undeniably real. Perhaps he could try to guide and strengthen this power by meditating in earnest? Even if progress was slow, it would be better than doing nothing.
With that thought, he stood and crossed to the thick wool rug in the middle of the room. He sat cross-legged, imitating Elisa's posture during meditation as best he could. He tried to recall the rudimentary method of focusing Spiritual Power he'd read about in Fundamentals of Magical Mechanics in the Magic Tower's library, along with the vague impressions left by the "introduction to meditation" books he'd read earlier.
"Relax your body... empty your mind... feel the energy around you... guide the magic power within..." he murmured, trying to enter the right state.
But the ideal was far removed from the frustrating reality.
When he closed his eyes, he found no empty darkness. Instead, all kinds of distracting thoughts came rushing in: the possible provocations at tomorrow's banquet, Victor's icy stare, Eleanor's mocking smile, Aunt Margaret's all-seeing gaze, and Captain Hans's merciless scolding... The images spun through his mind like a revolving lantern, making it impossible to focus.
He tried to force the distractions away and concentrate on his lower abdomen—roughly where the dantian should be?—to sense the so-called "source of magic power." The process was dull and painful. He could vaguely sense the mass of cool energy inside him, but it was like a fish at the bottom of a deep pool: slippery and impossible to catch. His Spiritual Power was like an old, ragged fishing net. When he cast it, he either caught nothing or snagged only a few insignificant strands of energy, which vanished as soon as he applied the slightest pressure.
Progress was so slow it was despairing. As the minutes passed, Leon's backside went numb and his lower back began to ache, yet his magic power showed almost no signs of growing or becoming more docile. Forcing himself to concentrate only gave him a headache. It was worlds apart from the sight of magic power naturally flowing around Elisa like liquid mercury as she meditated, resonating harmoniously with the elements of the world.
"Damn it... Why is this so hard..." Leon opened his eyes in frustration, a sheen of sweat already beading on his forehead. He felt like a fool trying to move a boulder with a wooden stick, getting nowhere.
Just then, a night breeze slipped through the window, which hadn't been fully shut. It carried the delicate scent of night-blooming jasmine from the courtyard, but also brought the cool fragrance unique to Elisa, lingering on the bed and in the air, more clearly to his nose.
The scent was as crisp as a pine forest after snowfall and as distant as winter plum blossoms beneath the moon. It had an indescribably calming effect. Leon couldn't help taking a deep breath.
Something strange happened.
The instant the cool fragrance filled his lungs, the magic power inside him, which had been as immovable as a boulder, gave an extremely faint twitch! It was as if a tiny pebble had dropped into a sleeping lake, sending out a ripple so slight it was almost impossible to notice. The cool energy seemed... a little more docile? The connection to his Spiritual Power also seemed to grow clearer for a fleeting moment.
Leon froze. In disbelief, he took several more deep breaths, focusing even harder on what he felt.
That was right! It wasn't his imagination!
When he deliberately breathed in and focused on Elisa's lingering scent in the air, concentrating his Spiritual Power seemed a little easier, and the activity of the magic power inside him seemed to rise by the tiniest degree! The effect was incredibly slight, nowhere near the subtle nourishment he'd felt when sleeping in Elisa's arms. But compared to his earlier meditation, which had been all willpower and almost entirely ineffective, the difference was like night and day!
The discovery set Leon's heart pounding! A rush of emotions rose within him: excitement, absurdity, and a hint of... unspeakable shame.
Could Elisa's scent... act as a meditation booster for him? Or was it some kind of catalyst that soothed and guided the unusual magic power inside him?
It was ridiculous! And so... perverted!
Leon's face turned scarlet. He thought of the original owner's lecherous thoughts and behavior. Was he really going to follow the same crooked path, relying on a woman's scent to cultivate? If word got out, his title of Shame of the North might have to be upgraded to "Scum of the Continent"!
However, reason quickly overpowered his pitiful sense of shame. In this world where the strong preyed on the weak, staying alive and gaining power came first! Moral scruples and meaningless pride were worthless next to survival! If there was a "shortcut," no matter how shameful, it was better than making no progress and waiting to die!
"Anyway... no one will know..." Leon reassured himself, his gaze growing firm, even carrying a hint of reckless resignation.
He hesitated no longer and closed his eyes again. This time, however, he didn't force himself to become "serene." Instead, he adjusted his breathing and deliberately drew in deep breaths of the cool fragrance filling the room. He imagined the scent as a guiding thread, using it carefully to touch and soothe the restless, unruly mass of magic power inside him.
The process remained slow and difficult, but it was a little smoother than his previous attempt at "hard meditation." The magic power was no longer so "slippery," and its affinity with his Spiritual Power seemed to have improved by an imperceptible degree. He could even vaguely feel the cool energy moving through him, very slowly and along some indistinct path. The flow was intermittent, but it was a breakthrough from nothing to something!
Time passed in silence. Leon was completely immersed in this strange state of "scented meditation," forgetting the ache in his body and his worries about tomorrow. Like a fledgling trying to fly, he clumsily but persistently used this unexpected "wind," trying to master his tender wings.
He didn't know how long it had been before the distant chimes outside, marking the approach of dawn, finally roused him from that uncanny state. He slowly opened his eyes. Though he felt mentally exhausted, his gaze was unusually bright.
He examined himself carefully. The amount of magic power inside him didn't seem to have increased much, but the sense of stagnation and dispersion had eased a little. The energy seemed... a little more "obedient"? Most importantly, he'd found a potentially effective way to cultivate!
Leon stood, stretched his stiff body, and walked to the bed. Looking at the empty bed, still bearing traces of Elisa's scent, he felt deeply conflicted.
Relying on his fiancée's scent to cultivate magic... What kind of situation was this?!
And yet the corner of his mouth curled up despite himself, forming an helpless smile that held a trace of hope.
"Looks like... I'll have to find a way to 'sneak into her bed' more often..." he muttered self-mockingly, then hurriedly shook his head and cast aside the absurd thought. For now, the most important thing was to get through tomorrow's Coming-of-Age Ceremony.
He walked to the window and watched the eastern horizon grow pale. A new day was about to begin, and with it the first true public test he had to face.
Unbeknownst to him, the dull gray bracelet on his left wrist had changed after that strange meditation guided by Elisa's scent. The faint, starlike glimmer within it seemed to have brightened just a little. It was as though some dormant mechanism was being activated, ever so slowly, by that unique interaction of energies...
Leon took a deep breath of the crisp air before dawn and turned to leave Elisa's room. In the faint light of morning, his departing figure seemed a little less dejected than before, and carried an ineffable hint of... resolve and secret anticipation.
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