"I'm Not Doing This for Him"

Sean's injuries should have been severe, in theory.

Not because he'd taken a direct hit from Zajik's puppet, but because of Forbidden Meditation.

Casting the Truth Maze had consumed at least seventy or eighty lakcs of mana, and he'd kept pouring it out without pause. That power—dozens of times greater than what a Tier Two mage could wield—meant that cells in his body, previously insignificant, had been undergoing autophagy by the tens of times over.

It was terrifying.

Sean couldn't calculate exactly how many cells in his body would die from this Forbidden Meditation, but he was certain it wouldn't be a small number. At the very least, he should have lost a great deal of weight, becoming emaciated, like a slave who'd been imprisoned for years and starved. In a more serious case, he might have even looked old or lost some bodily functions.

But in reality, Sean's body hadn't changed much.

He was certainly tired, with the feeling that he'd pushed himself too hard, but he didn't feel at all as weak as someone with anemia or a high fever, as described in The Beginning of Forbidden Spells.

He'd noticed this when he harnessed the forbidden power to kill Quill.

His body seemed unusual. It could, to some extent, exempt him from the cost of using forbidden spells. That matched what Elvily had told him in his dream, so he'd dared to go all out and come to Floris Hospital to help Elvily and the others.

Sean could tell that Elvily seemed to have misunderstood something.

But he didn't think he needed to explain.

A famous, handsome writer had once said, "What makes life so fascinating is that it's full of all kinds of uncertainty, and that uncertainty often comes from one beautiful misunderstanding after another."

He had to admit, Miss Flame Crow's embrace was very comfortable.

Just like in his dream, a girl's chest was warm, fragrant, and soft.

Now that Quill was dead and the hospital was out of danger, he needed to rest. He might as well have a nice, peaceful nap in his sister-in-law's arms.

By the time he woke again, it was already September 4.

"Oh, you're awake?"

A gentle older-sister-like voice sounded by his ear. Sean opened his eyes and saw Iris sitting on a chair beside the bed. Then he noticed the calendar on the cabinet and couldn't help staring. "The fourth?"

"Have I been asleep that long?"

It was a high-end hospital room, with spotless walls and plenty of sunlight, but he was certain it wasn't Floris Hospital.

"Only three days. That's not long at all," Iris said with a smile.

Based on the injuries Sean had "shown," he shouldn't have woken up without lying there for at least ten days to half a month. Three days was already an astonishingly short time, which showed that Sean's physical condition was far superior to that of an ordinary person.

But she'd guessed that night that his injuries weren't serious, so she wasn't all that surprised. What astonished her more was the fact that his injuries weren't serious in the first place.

A Tier One... No, he was Tier Two now. Leaving aside the bewildering speed of his progress, how had a Tier Two mage survived an attack from a Tier Five puppet with only minor injuries?

Iris was curious.

"Where's Elvily?" Sean noticed that he still had an IV in his hand and couldn't move around much, so he tried to settle into his "patient" role and asked about the girl.

"She went to get your medicine," Iris replied. At the mention of Elvily, a knowing smile appeared on her face. "You just woke up and you're already asking for her, Mr. Sean. Don't tell me you really have a thing for Miss Flame Crow?"

Sean gave a light cough. "Nothing like that. I'm like this with all my friends."

"Is that so?" Iris tilted her head. "I should count as one of Mr. Sean's friends, shouldn't I? How come you've never shown any concern for me?"

Sean: "..."

He thought for a moment, then put on a concerned expression. "How have you been these past few days, Miss Iris? Have you eaten? How many meals a day? Was the food good? What did you eat? Sweet or savory? Did they put in a lot of chili? Did you brush your teeth afterward? What brand of toothpaste did you use..."

"That's enough, that's enough. Stop." Iris was torn between exasperation and laughter. "Is this how you show concern for your friends?"

Was that concern?

It sounded like he was just struggling to find something to talk about.

Sean calmly replied, "That's how straight guys are."

"If that's true, all I can say is that you're very convincing." Iris meant the previous topic—whether Sean was interested in Elvily and trying to get the girl's attention. She smiled. "Do you know what Elvily's been doing for you these past few days?"

Sean: "Hm?"

"Let's hear it."

"There's quite a lot. Let me count."

Iris ticked the items off on her fingers. "First, she called in an emergency helicopter and flew you to this secret hospital overnight."

"Second, she didn't care that the doctor was resting. She dragged him out of bed to examine you."

"Then she brought in the best priest here to treat you, and used her personal connections to have the best medicine in the world airlifted from Klim State. The bottle you're hooked up to now is one of those."

"She also arranged for a special food delivery service, a nutritionist, and an alchemist who could brew potions to repair your body... To put it this way, even when she herself was gravely injured and near death, she didn't get this kind of treatment for herself. No one else has ever gotten it, either. You're the first."

Sean's eyes crinkled with delight.

So his sister-in-law really did care about him that much?

"Iris, who are you talking to?"

As the two of them chatted, Elvily frowned and pushed open the door. Thinking someone else was there, she'd told them not to disturb Sean without her permission. But when she came in with a plate of alchemical potions, she found that Sean had already woken up and sat up in bed.

Her pretty brows relaxed at once, and she exclaimed in delight, "Sean, you're awake?"

Then she realized she might have sounded a little too excited, so she lowered her voice and added coolly, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just woke up. There wasn't time," Iris answered for Sean with a smile. "I was telling him how busy you've been for his sake these past few days. You're practically worn out."

Elvily: "?"

She turned and saw the warmth and gratitude on Sean's face. Her heart suddenly fluttered, and she hurriedly explained, "Busy? What have I been busy with?"

Neither Iris nor Sean said a word. They just looked at the special restorative potion in her hand.

Elvily continued to defend herself. "I wasn't doing any of this for him. The helicopter, the doctor, the medicine... It was all just to test our emergency treatment plan. There was no other reason."

"Fine, fine. If you say so," Iris replied, not bothering to argue. She gave Elvily a knowing wink. "I'm going to the restroom. You two talk."

Elvily glared at her. "Sit down and hold it."

Iris: "..."

Sean: "..."

It wasn't as though they were talking about anything scandalous. Elvily didn't need Iris to leave them some so-called "alone time." She gave a soft snort, walked over to the bedside table, and set down the plate. Then she picked up a bottle of potion and instinctively reached to feed it to Sean.

Sean thought his sister-in-law had a surprisingly caring side. He eagerly opened his mouth, but Elvily suddenly remembered that he was awake now. She grabbed the hand without the IV and put the potion in it.

"Drink it yourself."

Sean: "..."

Iris laughed beside them.

Sean had no choice but to do it himself, while wondering whether he should pretend to be sick for a few more days.

As he drank the potion—it was bitter, with a little kick, and tasted a bit like absinthe—he changed the subject and asked the girl, "How did things at the hospital turn out?"

Elvily calmed her quickening heartbeat and replied, "Pretty well. We rescued almost everyone."

Aside from those who had already died and some who'd been brainwashed and tried to infiltrate their group as spies, the other patients had all been brought to the hospital. They'd been fed food containing Withered Leaf Grass for a long time, and a lot of toxins had built up in their bodies. They were now receiving treatment.

"Did you go to the morgue?" Sean asked.

He was worried about Chris's body.

Iris nodded. "We did."

She'd gone herself. She'd wanted to lay those innocent, pitiful mages to rest, but...

"The morgue was empty."

Iris said, "Zajik had moved all the bodies away beforehand."

Sean: "?"