Summoned by a Pretend Villainess

17. Self-healing ability

"How dark."
Mona pouted at the Grand Duke's reply. She nudged her wounded arm to him, urging him to continue what he was doing.
The Grand Duke raised his eyebrows at the act but said nothing and followed.
In his thoughts, he was relieved that somehow, she was still acting the same toward him. If one would ask, Kyden preferred her mannerless and unrestrained attitude.
"Isn't that how second names are supposed to be? After your magic?"
"So, you're admitting that the darkness was cast by you?"
"I never denied it."
Kyden finished bandaging her. She pulled her arm and examined it. Mona could feel the stinging gaze of the Grand Duke. She knew he had so many questions. But she wasn't ready to answer them now. Besides, she too hasn't found an answer yet.
"How did you come here? Did someone send you?" Kyden asked instead of probing her about her magic.
Something that Mona felt grateful for. The Grand Duke probably sensed her unwillingness to answer his incoming questions.
"Hm. High priest Yunis." Mona answered, smiling at him.
"The Oracle?"
"Yes. He pushed me to a portal and, tada! I was here." She explained with her hand gesture. But Kyden glared at her instead.
"It'll bleed again if you keep moving it recklessly."
"Wow. Your grace, you're openly worrying for me now." She pointed out while grinning.
To which the Grand Duke only slapped with his unbothered face. He stood and watched his knights doing their duties.
Then he spoke afterward.
"I won't ask you about your magic, Miss Mona. But you have to tell me what happened back there." He said while observing the area. His eyes stopped at the place where bunches of crimson leaves remained.
He then shifted his gaze towards her. Mona was actually tracing the Grand Duke's field of sight, so when she saw him staring at the leaves, she immediately understood what he wanted to know.
"...a demon."
Only after a while did Mona start to speak. The Grand Duke remained standing in front of her.
Mona sighed deeply and told him what happened. But she deliberately left out the feelings she felt and her weird ability.
"So, you're saying you defeated a demon, and that demon turned into that pile of leaves?"
Nodding, she answered. "Exactly."
"How?" Kyden asked again. Doubt was evident in his voice.
"Ehem. I may look like this, your grace, but I've had my share of defeating holy knights at the holy nation."
"How."
"I swung my sword and kaboom! Darkness enveloped the demon and she died!"
Kyden frowned at her exaggerated storytelling but actually found it very silly.
"Well, she managed to grab onto me while I was killing her, that's why I'm wounded."
The Grand Duke was speechless. Mona could imagine his thoughts swirling above his head. It made her chuckle.
The Grand Duke always has a cold and unbothered face, so Mona finds him adorable whenever he shows a bit of profound emotions.
She laughed inside at her thoughts.
"Your grace, you're adorable."
The Grand Duke glared at her. His thoughts were on a mess and there she was talking nonsense, is what he thought. He thought of what she said again and knew her story wasn't complete. But he can't bring her to speak of it when she obviously did not want to tell him.
Kyden thought that if it was in the dungeon during an interrogation of a criminal, he might have done cruel things to make them speak.
But not to her. Who probably had already experienced that situation.
"I have to report this to His Majesty." He announced afterward.
"Are you going to take me?"
"Do you want to?"
Mona immediately shook her head. She doesn't want to go back to the palace and face the king again.
Not for fear of anything, but simply because of her unwillingness to act overly polite and mannered in the face of the royals. Sometimes, using formal words and showing etiquette has become a pain in her ass.
That's also the reason why she feels comfortable in the Grand Duke's presence.
With him, she doesn't have to be refined, or graceful, and speak formally with politeness.
"I see."
The Grand Duke replied and turned his back on her. He approached the man who called Mona a relative, the marquess, and spoke with him.
Ending up alone on that corner, Mona surveyed her surroundings. Curious glances are thrown at her from everywhere. But every time they would meet her eyes, they would immediately peep away.
She laughed inwardly at the presence she held to them. It seems that everyone still sees her as Luna, the 'evil witch'.
'If they only knew...' She thought instead.
The pile of crimson leaves was being put in a wooden box by a magician. The corpses of the monsters they slew were being burned on fire by the knights in the distance.
The dark smoke clouded the noon sky. And Mona could feel the heat of the blowing wind due to the fire. The pile of dead monsters is too many. So, Mona thought that it would take longer to incinerate everything.
She shifted her gaze to her bandaged arm when she felt an itch. She knew what was happening. Her wounded arm is beginning to heal itself. The new skin started to form over new tissues and began pulling it inward to make the open wound smaller. Soon, her arm will become smooth and flawless again, without any traces of being wounded.
This ability freaked her out the first time it occurred. She remembered hurting her hand from mistakenly grabbing the sword instead of the hilt when practicing, so while cleaning her hand, she saw the wound closing on its own.
The first high priest had said it was due to her divine mana. Just like the Saintess possessing a self-healing ability. But she told no one except high priest Yunis. No one knew about her wielding divine magic.
And Mona thought it would be better to keep it like that. She has already painted as a dark magic user anyway. Showing them how she was able to use both independent magic elements, and two opposing magic at that, would probably bring her bad news only.
So, she always made sure to not get hurt in front of many people, to avoid being caught.
"Does it hurt?"
Mona looked up when she heard the Grand Duke's voice.
"No. Just itchy."
Kyden just nodded and extended his arm to pull her up. Which Mona accepted.
"I'll be heading to the palace after this. Do you have somewhere you can go?"
The Grand Duke's hands are warm, which really amazes Mona because she knows Kyden possesses the ice magic element.
She shook her head at his question. And replied another, "Your grace' palm is warm."
Kyden only stared at her. His eyes seemed to be looking for something.
"Humans are warm-blooded." He responded afterward.
She just laughed at his response, and let his hand go.
"There are plenty of vacant rooms on the duchy. If you have nowhere to go, you can settle there in the meantime." He said and called out a knight wearing bluish armor. The knight unhesitatingly walked over immediately and stood by his side. "This is Captain Lionel Ferrer of the Adri Knights. Take her to the duchy with you."
The Grand Duke's last words were directed to the man he introduced to Mona.
The knight, Lionel, moved his glance to the woman in front of her. He was wondering why his master would take the woman when people did not like her. It is not that he wasn't aware of who the lady was. It has been two years since the live broadcast, and everyone might have even forgotten it. But facing the subject of the broadcast now made him remember that.
To Lionel, the woman in front of her was nothing different from that Lady Vandross. He had once seen the appearance of the noble lady, that's why he was able to tell. And to add on that, even the aura of a dark magic user is the same.
Mona bowed her head slightly at the knight who showed no shame in sizing her up openly.
"My name is Mona." She said and smiled at him faintly.
"Lionel Ferrer." He answered and bowed back. Even though he can't still bring himself to believe that this lady isn't the real one, he still treats her in a civil manner.
"Head to the duchy once everything is done here. I will be going with the marquess to the palace."
"Leave it to me, my lord."
Kyden patted the back of his captain and looked at Mona who was silently watching them.
When Mona met the Grand Duke's gaze, she smiled brightly and even wiggled her eyebrows, which Kyden found silly and shook his head.
He walked away. But not even taking five steps after, he stopped and looked back at her.
Then, like a strict father leaving his child in the care of someone, he ordered. "Behave."
Mona laughed lightly and shut her mouth quickly when she saw Lionel watching her. Then the man walked away without saying anything and gave orders to his knighthood.
At a distance, Marquess Vandross was often throwing glances at Mona. He wanted to approach her and talk more, but he also did not know what to feel, do, or say. To be facing her beloved sister but actually not, made him uncomfortable somehow. He wanted to speak more to the woman since he felt that she knew her sister even more than him.
There are a lot of things the marquess wanted to know and understand about her sister.
The Grand Duke opened a portal in front of them and stepped inside while calling out to him. He looked away from her and stepped inside the portal reluctantly.
'Surely, there are still plenty of chances to meet and speak with her', Luven thought.
He had decided. The next time he meets her, he won't feel hesitant and disoriented. He would make sure he gets to talk to her.