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—Knock, knock.
As always, Jonah knocked on the slightly decayed door.
“…Welcome… Wh-what happened to you!?”
“Huh…?”
The moment Günter opened the door to greet him, his eyes widened and he rushed over.
Jonah had no idea what he was talking about.
“Good grief… your eyes are so swollen from crying…”
“Ah…”
Only when Günter grabbed both his shoulders with a worried look did Jonah finally realize.
He had come straight here after crying in that room, so his face must look terrible.
“I-I’m sorry…”
“There’s no need to apologize. Come inside.”
Invited by Günter, Jonah stepped into the building.
But today, instead of the usual examination room, he was led to a small parlor.
“Here, please.”
“…Thank you.”
What was offered to him was a cup of warm tea.
When Jonah took a sip—
“It’s so sweet…!”
“Haha… I put in plenty of honey.”
Seeing Jonah finally show a childlike smile, Günter’s face softened.
“Now… what happened?”
“Um… w-well…”
Sitting across from him and asked directly, Jonah’s eyes darted around.
No matter how much Günter had once been the family’s personal physician, he couldn’t casually talk about the succession.
Jonah fidgeted with his fingers nervously.
“E-ehehe… Actually, I got scolded during today’s sword training…”
He forced an awkward smile and lied.
“I see… But it has only been a little less than four years since you became able to move your body like this, Lord Jonatan. I’m sure you’ll improve at swordsmanship someday.”
“…Thank you.”
Even knowing it was just consolation, Jonah nodded happily.
He understood perfectly well that such a future would never come.
Still, Günter’s kindness in trying to comfort him warmed Jonah’s heart.
“Ah, r-right. Could we do the examination soon? And… the test results I forgot to ask about last time…”
“…………………………”
The moment Jonah said that, Günter’s face twisted as if he had bitten into something bitter.
Maybe the test results weren’t good—Jonah thought.
Günter kept looking at Jonah, then looking away.
He clearly wanted to say something, but something was holding him back.
“Mr. Günter, no matter what the results are, it’s all right. Please tell me.”
Without ancient magic, he would still be bedridden—nothing would change that.
Thinking it couldn’t possibly get any worse, Jonah spoke lightly.
“…Let us go to the examination room.”
Having made up his mind, Günter stood and led Jonah to the examination room.
His face carried a look of grim resolve.
“Before I tell you the test results—are you aware of your condition, Lord Jonatan?”
“Yes. Because I have more mana than normal people, that’s why I can’t move my body properly…”
“That is essentially correct.”
Günter flipped open a book and showed Jonah a page with diagrams and explanations of human anatomy.
“From birth, you possess far more mana than an ordinary person, and because of that, your body is constantly being damaged.”
Jonah’s illness was called “Mana Overabundance.”
Normally, humans can only contain a limited amount of mana within their bodies, but in Jonah’s case, the quantity far exceeded that of a normal person.
As a result, the excess mana continuously destroyed his bodily tissues and nervous system faster than his natural healing could repair them, rendering him unable to move.
And that was not all.
The continual destruction of tissues and nerves naturally came with immense pain.
The medicine Günter prescribed dulled the pain now, but it was still not something a child should have to endure.
Yet Jonah never showed it—not only because he had grown used to it, but because he didn’t want Duke Langheim, his family, or the servants to abandon him if they saw how much he suffered.
From a very young age, Jonah had always suppressed his feelings and pain like this.
“Right now the medicine eases the pain and assists the body’s repair, but unfortunately… we can no longer suppress it any further.”
“Th-that means…”
Jonah definitely recalled things that matched Günter’s words.
The pain that had always been there had grown much worse lately; on bad days he ran high fevers and vomited.
And sometimes, there was dark blood mixed in with the vomit.
“…I will be direct. Please brace yourself.”
“Eh…?”
Biting his lip, Günter looked at Jonah with a pained expression and said—
“If things continue like this… Lord Jonatan, you have at most one year left to live.”
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