Anyone could see that it meant for Hail to step aside for a moment.

Hail hesitated as if he was a little concerned about leaving only me and Jack, but in the end, he turned around with heavy steps.

Of course, he didn’t forget to give instructions before leaving.

“If you need me, please call out loudly. The team leader has sensitive ears, so it would be best if there’s no need for that.”

“Don’t worry.”

According to the literature, elves are peaceful beings who never attack their opponents first.

‘If he knew about elves, he wouldn’t have such worries.’

With that thought, I shrugged my shoulders. Hail let out a deep sigh as if the ground would collapse.

“I’m not worried about you, my lady. I’m worried about Sir Jack. A man crazy with jealousy is scary.”

“Do you have any reason to be jealous of me?”

“Not me… Aish, no. The involved parties don’t know, but only I know. Only me.”

“…?”

I couldn’t understand what Hail was saying at all.

Hail left the restaurant without further explanation. I turned to Jack as if asking if he understood what it meant, and Jack shrugged his shoulders.

“Should I call you ‘my lady’ too?”

“Just call me ‘Mage.'”

“Yes, Mage.”

Although I told him to call me that, facing Jack who readily called me ‘Mage,’ I felt a strange sense of being touched.

‘Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever been treated like a mage.’

Isn’t my life becoming a bit strange?

I worked hard to become a mage and was even recognized as an archmage, but I couldn’t receive the proper treatment.

Unlike me, who was lost in thought, Jack immediately brought up the main point he wanted to ask me.

“You said you can see the curse. Then, can you possibly break it?”

That’s why he sent Hail out. It was to have a sensitive conversation.

Jack’s expression was only gentle, but he couldn’t hide the desperation in his eyes.

I bit my lip.

‘He’s living among humans because of this situation. It’s not his own will.’

I looked down at Jack’s torso again.

I could see the flow of mana like a thin smoke swirling around his body, as if white frost had fallen.

‘Curse.’

I thought it might be a curse because the shape attached to Jack didn’t look natural, and it seemed to be true.

‘I understand that feeling a little too.’

Although it’s not a curse, I also have to stick by Cedar’s side against my will due to all my mana disappearing.

‘Of course, Cedar isn’t a bad person, and staying here isn’t so unpleasant that I can’t bear it.’

Still, how many people would like it if it’s not their own will?

That’s why I felt sorry for the elf in front of me.

I sincerely wanted to help him return to his homeland.

However, even if it was before I lost my mana, I probably wouldn’t have been able to solve the curse placed on him.

My specialty is magic that deals with space-time, and I don’t know much about curses.

But there is one mage by my side who has the ability to interfere with curses.

“It’s not my specialty, but I know someone who can do it. It’s a child like my younger brother named Grisha.”

Grisha’s research topic is the effect of mana on the human body. His minor is mana circuit studies.

‘Whether it’s a curse or magic, it’s the same in the end that it’s made of mana. Just like interfering with magic, it should be possible to interfere with curses.’

Even if it’s difficult to completely break it, couldn’t there be a way to at least fix it from aggressively hovering around him like that?

At my words, Jack’s eyes sparkled like stars. His pale face quickly flushed red with excitement.

“Such good news! I want to meet that person right away!”

As if he hadn’t found a clue to break the curse for a very long time, Jack’s face turned bright red and he rejoiced even at the smallest hope.

I also wanted to introduce Grisha to him right away, but unfortunately, I couldn’t only give him good news.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know where Grisha is. You know I was in a coma for a long time, right? The information I know about Grisha is only until before I lost consciousness.”

“Ah.”

Jack’s complexion darkened. It’s not like I gave him hope and then took it away! I quickly added.

“But we’ll be able to meet soon. He promised to come see me around the time I woke up. Grisha is a child who keeps his promises well, so don’t worry.”

“I see!”

My heart was also pounding along with him as his complexion kept changing with every word.

That’s how important this matter is to Jack!

“Still, don’t have too much expectation…”

“I’m satisfied just by having hope.”

“Grisha is the best mage I know! Both in skills and personality!”

“Wow, that’s something to look forward to.”

“…”

What am I doing right now?

I held my forehead, feeling a sense of doubt rushing in as I repeated my words back and forth.

‘Above all, I couldn’t even tell Grisha in advance. I know he won’t refuse if I ask, but still, it’s clearly Grisha who will be treating him, so I’m not sure if I should be the one to step forward like this.’

As I was groaning, Jack stared at me intently.

After making an expression with an unreadable meaning for a while, he bowed his head with a faint smile.

“If he cures my illness, I’ll tell you one way to solve your problem. Of course, even if I don’t tell you, it seems like you’re instinctively solving it well on your own.”

At his words, I blinked my eyes.

“My problem?”

What could my problem be?

‘For now, I just want to reduce these damn vegetables a bit.’

It would be nice if he could tell Cedar that I don’t have to eat vegetables anymore.

That’s when I was having such a silly thought.

Jack casually uttered with a gentle smile, as if spitting it out.

“Mana depletion. Am I right?”

“…!!”

I opened my eyes wide. He winked and tapped his eyelids with his fingers.

“My eyes are good too, though not as much as yours.”

“That’s…”

I am an archmage. The only archmage in this empire.

It’s not a trivial matter for such a great mage to lose their mana.

‘Above all, my life is being threatened right now.’

I, who cannot use magic, am even worse than an ordinary person.

I can’t even run faster than a turtle. As Cedar said, my physical strength is also pathetic.

‘If Diana finds out about this, she will immediately try to kill me.’

As I was chewing my lips, Jack smiled warmly and spoke in a gentle tone.

“Don’t worry. I will keep your secret. Is it a secret from the team leader as well?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

I was worried that he would ask if I really needed to keep it a secret from Cedar, but fortunately, Jack just nodded once and didn’t bring up that topic anymore.

“Then I will be waiting for your younger brother to return home as soon as possible.”

“Uh, um…”

Jack turned his body to leave the restaurant but stopped and looked back at me.

Without knowing, my hand was tightly grasping the hem of his clothes.

I gulped down my dry saliva. So, what did he say just now?

He said he would tell me a way to solve my problem.

“Mana depletion, can it be solved?”

I had actually given up.

No matter how many magic circles I drew and tried, only a very very small amount of mana, like an ant’s tear, would gather.

I thought I couldn’t go back to how I was before.

Jack’s gaze turned to me.

In his round eyes, there was a blonde-haired woman who looked very desperate. It was me.

“Yes, it can be solved.”

“…!”

Leaving those words behind, he left the restaurant.

Left alone in the restaurant, facing a plate piled with vegetables, I pressed down on my pounding heart.

Even though I knew Cedar would come back, inspect my plate, and nag at me, I couldn’t pick up the fork.

‘I can become a mage again like before.’

My heart kept getting excited. I closed my eyes tightly.

‘What on earth is an elf?’

Hail, who had left the restaurant first, tilted his head.

He couldn’t understand most of the conversation between the two, but he figured out one thing.

They were having a serious conversation about something.

‘So I had no choice but to step aside.’

Still.

Hail kept walking a few steps with a reluctant expression, looking back, then walking a few steps again, repeating the process.

‘Aish, I don’t know if it’s okay to leave the two of them alone like this.’

Hail scratched his head furiously. What he said to Jack and Nelly was all sincere.

He wasn’t worried that Jack would do something bad to Nelly.

How long had Jack stayed in the Blue Dragon Knights as a healer?

Hail thought that if Jack wasn’t human, he must be an angel.

And it was the same for Nelly.

His lady, who didn’t fit the grand title of archmage, was naive and frustrating, but she wasn’t someone who would hurt others.

So his concern wasn’t about the two of them, but entirely because of Cedar.

More precisely, because of his jealousy!

‘If he finds out that they talked alone, team leader will definitely roast Sir Jack out of jealousy.’

Hail bit his nails.

‘I had no idea team leader would act like that either.’

When Cedar first said he would marry Nelly, all sorts of dirty rumors circulated in high society.

What’s the reason for marrying a woman who fell into a coma?

Is there something wrong with his personality?

Every time, the person who stepped up and claimed, “It’s true love!” was Hail.

After my lady woke up, how happy he was to confirm that his claim was true.

‘But I didn’t know this would happen back then!’

Cedar was standing in front of the entrance, looking down at the garden.