By Zephyria 
Secret Base
The birthday banquet was over, and all the festivals had ended.
Fortunately, there were no major events to worry about after that, so I spent the whole day lazing around in bed, focusing on recovery.
“Have you experienced any Mana depletion recently? There are traces of Internal injury, but with enough rest, you should recover quickly.”
I visited a doctor and a Wizard for a thorough examination from head to toe, but my condition wasn’t as bad as it seemed, considering I had vomited blood.
It seemed that Aska staying up all night to watch over me had been effective. Doing that dozens of times a day was worth it. Aska somehow knew, like a ghost, whenever I felt even a little pain and forced an agreement.
He always asked, even without listening for an answer. Eventually, it just became funny, so I told him to just do it from now on without asking.
It was strange to ask such questions about whether it was okay to do it when it was for treatment purposes anyway. Doctors don’t ask for permission every time they treat a patient.
“Shall I show you something amazing?”
Aska asked while we were reading a book about ancient monsters together. When I turned my head, I saw that all four corners of the book were folded into triangles, as if he had already grown tired of it.
“Amazing thing, what?”
As I sighed, Aska held up his index finger in front of my eyes. The fingertip was slightly pink, with more blood than the skin. Then, suddenly, his small, round nail began to stretch upwards, like a sprout growing.
“……?”
His nail grew in front of my eyes like a blade.
“What is this?”
Surprised, I asked, and Aska shrugged.
“I don’t know.”
“If you don’t know, who does?”
“I don’t know, me either. It just grows. I can shrink it back too.”
As soon as he said that, his long nail shrank back to its original size. It’s not a rubber band, what is this?
“Shall I show you something else amazing?”
“Again?”
What else is he going to show me? It was even scary, but I was also curious, so I turned my body completely towards Aska.
Seeing my interest, Aska smiled and made his index fingernail grow long again. Then he swiped the back of his hand. It didn’t seem like he put much force into it, but the skin split open.
Before I could be surprised by the sudden self-harm, a question came to mind first. Even though I could see the deep gash, there was no blood.
“Why isn’t there any blood?”
“Shall I make it bleed?”
“What?”
Then, drops of blood emerged from the gap and floated into the air.
“…….”
It was a familiar scene somehow. The amount was a bit different, but it was similar to when a person was dried up and turned into powder. Back then, a larger amount of blood was squeezed out and swirled in the air…
“Can you control blood?”
“Maybe?”
“How did you know you could do this?”
Can you use it without knowing? Like instinct?
As I tilted my head, Aska shrugged again.
“I don’t know. It just suddenly worked?”
“Did it suddenly pop into your head?”
“When you make a wound, a little bit gets on the knife, right? I was thinking it was such a waste, and then it suddenly worked.”
What is he talking about? Even after hearing it, it was hard to understand.
More than that, maybe it’s because the Sealing Magic is being undone, but his strange abilities are increasing day by day. Even after searching through books, there was no one with abilities similar to Aska’s.
Could he be a newly emerged type of monster?
While I was thinking such serious thoughts, Aska suddenly crossed his arms in an X shape, spread his fingers wide, and made a strange noise.
“Yap.”
With a whoosh, all ten fingernails grew long. The color of the sharpest tips was a dark red, and they looked very sharp at first glance.
I pulled my shoulders back and frowned.
“What are you doing, dangerously.”
Aska’s gaze turned to me. I thought a mischievous look was forming on his face, and then he reached out his seductive hand towards me.
“Don’t.”
“Scared?”
“It’s not that I’m scared, it’s that I’m worried you’ll get hurt. Don’t.”
As I said, recalling that his skin had split open just from a slight touch earlier, Aska jumped up. Then he raised both hands as if a four-legged beast was raising its front paws to threaten.
“Scary, right?”
“…….”
In a fleeting moment, I wondered whether I should indulge in that childish act or not, but his long fingernails touched the bookshelf. As if surprised by something touching him with a thud, Aska shrugged and hunched his shoulders.
At that moment, four sharp scars remained on the bookshelf, as if it had been clawed. The moment I saw the unrealistically large marks, my mouth opened involuntarily.
Seeing the diagonally cut bookshelf falling to the side, I unknowingly grabbed Aska’s arm and pulled him towards me.
With a crash, the huge bookshelf fell to the side, and the ruined books fell down in a mess. When I raised my head, crouching while hugging Aska, I saw the floor in a chaotic state, with the bookshelf broken and the books torn apart.
“…….”
“…….”
I was numb, as if I had lost touch with reality, and just stared blankly. Not only the bookshelf was clawed, but the nail marks were also left on the wall.
Should I be glad that the wall wasn’t cut?
“I, I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Aska, who had been spaced out, belatedly came to his senses, as if he hadn’t expected this either. A sigh escaped me at his excuse.
“I told you not to do it because it’s dangerous, right?”
“No, I was just… playing around…”
Still, knowing that he had done something wrong, he mumbled dejectedly. Listening to him continue to make excuses, I took Aska’s hand and carefully examined it.
The wound he had made himself earlier had already healed, and not even a small trace remained. His fingernails, which had been sharply long just a moment ago, were short and round as if it had been a lie.
As I was quietly looking at his light pink fingernails, I heard a knock and a voice calling me.
“Kyle-nim.”
Since I couldn’t read any more books in such a place anyway, I helped Aska up and said.
“Go to your room first. Don’t wander off anywhere else.”
“Are you going to read in the room?”
Aska asked, holding in his arms the book that he had folded into triangles earlier.
“Go and read that. If you find an explanation that seems similar to you, put a bookmark or something in it.”
“Aren’t you coming?”
“I’ll go in a little while.”
At my words, Aska stepped onto the windowsill and said.
“Bring something to eat when you come.”
He jumped down without even hearing my answer. I glanced down, but I couldn’t see where he had gone in that short time.
“Come in.”
As I said, closing the window, Asella came in. He looked at the messy state of the study and paused for a moment, speechless, before asking a beat later.
“Are you alright?”
I nodded.
“Why?”
“I came to inform you that the Greenhouse has been completed.”
Come to think of it, I remembered telling them to build a Greenhouse a couple of months ago. I had completely forgotten about it, but it seemed to have been progressing well in the meantime.
“Set aside everything from there to there separately. Replace the damaged ones, and if there aren’t any, make a copy.”
I said, roughly pointing to the scattered books.
“Understood. And the person you asked for earlier has arrived and is waiting in the reception room without windows.”
Perhaps because of my words to bring him in secretly, he seemed to have taken him to such a place without being specifically ordered. I was about to go straight to my room, but I turned around and said to Asella.
“Let’s go.”
Asella led me to a relatively secluded place. It was within my castle, but I didn’t even know there was such a place. I didn’t need to be this cautious…
Of course, I had told them to bring him quietly, but I suddenly felt like I was secretly doing something bad.
I opened the door and went inside, and a person wearing a Robe from head to toe turned around, startled. Then he hurriedly knelt on the floor and lowered his head.
“Greetings to His Highness the Prince.”
And he carefully lowered his hood. It was a woman with dark reddish-brown hair piled high.
“You’ve heard the story, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s begin.”
“Understood.”
While she nervously took off her Robe, I went to the sofa and sat down.