The Flower of Separation

Those footsteps that did not belong to Jorah belonged to a man, a tall one with strong mana. Lillian exhaled deeply, the more qualities she lists in her head the more she can confirm who it was. It is normal for her brother not to want to see her. If he has truly been alive the last few years then he must have heard everything.

Brother has always disliked her methods, but back then she was not as extreme. Now that he has learned how cruel she can actually get, it is normal for him to resent her.

Her thoughts broke off when Lucas made her lay back down.

"You should get some more sleep."

"If I sleep, will you go?"

Lucas sighed. "If I do that your mana will go crazy again."

At those words Lillian laughed. "That is true."

This really does feel strange though. Her entire body felt cold, and her head felt heavy. This is the first time she is feeling this weak in so long. The last time she was this weak, when was it-?

'Lili. Don't worry, just rest up. Big brother is here.'

Right, it was when her brother was still around. She rarely got sick back then too. But when she did, it would cause her to be bedridden for awhile. Aaron would always rush over whenever her brother was too busy with work. Those two fussed and cared for her too much.

Is that why she pushed Aaron away and did something like that? Aaron ran away because of her. If she did not kill that woman he would have remained by her. She would not have had to carry the burden alone.

However if he did remain with her, then she would not have grown up to be so strong. Aaron would never have allowed her to do anything dangerous, he would have shielded her from harm.

"Does it not bother you?" Lillian mumbled.

"What does?"

"Taking care of me, isn't it a bother?"

Back then Aaron and her brother had a lot of work to do as the respective heirs to their household. But whenever she became sick, they would drop all their work and stay with her. There was a time where she overheard father and brother arguing about her.

Brother insisted that he had to stay by her side and father kept insisting that 'My daughter is not that weak, and if she truly is I will kill her myself.' Brother would stand by the door and guard it carefully, he only ever went away when Aaron was around. Brother must have taken father's words seriously.

Their father is capable of doing that. So whenever she got sick after her brother vanished, she would hide away in the magician tower. She would have to look after herself and it was difficult. But it was better than staying at home.

When one of her other siblings got sick, father would drag them out of their room and toss them outside the manor.

'With my condition it was far too risky, so I hid away in the magician tower.'

"If I was going to complain I would have done so a long time ago. Also, I'm your magician. If I don't look after you, who else would?"

"I see."

"But you know, do you need anything else?" Lucas looked around the room. "I decorated this place since the last time you said it is uncomfortable for you to stay in such a dreary place, but is that all?"

Lillian rolled her eyes. "You have been looking after me for so long, but you still do not know the first thing about taking care of people?"

"This is because I normally use magic to deal with everything."

"You're not going to do that now?"

"Unless your mana flares up, I will make your fever go down using normal methods."

'It is rare for Lucas to be saving mana like this. Normally he would say that he has plenty of mana and it does not matter how much he uses.'

Perhaps he is worried about Stuart Robert. That man does seem to be dangerous. But at the end of the day, the truly dangerous ones are her father and Eric.

"Lucas, is there something wrong with me?" Lillian decided to ask him up front. "This is not the first time I am getting such a bad fever. The weather is getting warmer these days so I do not think that is the reason."

"It's because of the contract you made with those damned spider lilies." Lucas' eyes twitched annoyed. "I told you so many times to read the terms of agreement carefully before you sign anything. But you just carelessly formed a contract with them."

"So it's to do with my familiar?"

"For a certain amount of time your body will become weak and depleted of strength. These creatures tend to feed on blood normally, but when they are overused they tend to feed on their master's soul, or chip away at their mana."

When they are overused huh? Lillian paused in mid-thought. Now that she thought about it carefully, it does seem like she has had to use these creatures a lot more.

'With great power comes large sacrifices.' It was something her brother often used to say.

"Before I could explain these terms to you, you already formed the pact." Lucas sighed. "Your so troublesome. Even if you want strength, you should use your head."

"I did use it, and figured I can use these creatures to my advantage."

If she contracted with a dragon familiar, it would not be special. It would not have attracted her father's attention. Not that she particularly wanted it. But, she needed to win him over so she would be in charge of the security for the hunt.

"I learned a lot during the hunt. That forest is not just used for the torture game every month."

Since she was in charge of the security for the hunt she could use her familiars to scope out the forest without drawing suspicion.

"The fact that dragon god wandered in, must mean that there is something special there." Lucas agreed.

"Because I had to help the Empress, it was difficult to find it. But, there was a large area where there was no mana at all. I think if we look into that we will find something."

"That does seem strange-" Lucas suddenly paused in mid-sentence. His eyes twitched annoyed. "Hey, you are supposed to be resting!"

'I wondered how long it would take him to realize. I should stop messing with him, he is genuinely concerned for my health.' She wondered when Lucas stopped saying she was interesting whenever she got sick. When did he start showing those concerned eyes.

This is no good, both of them are becoming weak.

*Unedited*