The Male Lead's Sickly Aide Is My Type - Chapter 36
Translator and Editor: Nana and Nabi
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Chapter 36
He reflexively reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a small glass bottle. His trembling hand opened the cap as he tilted the bottle. Three round and white pills fell onto his palm.
Without hesitation, he swallowed them, but the pain did not subside easily.
After enduring the pain and struggle for a long time, he had to swallow one more pill. As the pain gradually subsided, a somber reality pierced his chest instead of the pain.
How long had it been since he increased from two pills to three? Was it two months ago?
He knew that no painkiller could alleviate the pain, and the doctor had warned him that it would be dangerous to consume more than five pills at once. Still, at this rate, the day he would have to take five pills was not too far away.
One fortunate thing was that the Ashite Flower Festival was also not far off. He could simply pretend to go to his hometown to the Duke.
Lately, the Duke had regarded him with suspicion, so he would let him go without saying a word.
And as for the Princess… what should he say to her? If he said he was going to his hometown, she would widen her eyes and ask what was going on. At that time, how should he answer?
What should he say to not worry the Princess?
‘… It’s a pointless thought.’
This was also a problem not worth considering.
Who was Carinne? She was the Princess of the Second Duchy. She was a person from a different world than himself, a commoner with no background.
Such a Princess would not sincerely mourn his departure. The emotions the Princess would feel at best were the regret of seeing an acquaintance leave, nothing more or less. Rather than being sad, she would forget about him completely after a few days.
So, it was right for him to forget about the Princess as well. He should let her live her own life, and he should follow his own destiny.
As he thought so, Archen tried to erase Carinne’s face that came to mind, but as always, no matter how hard he tried, her radiant smile remained vivid and wouldn’t let go of him.
He crumbled slowly, as he always did.
Sliding down the wall, he buried his face in his hands and closed his eyes.
If he had pretended not to know anything, he knew the reaction she would have shown. There could be countless possibilities, yet among them, she would not have shown the reaction he desired. Reality was not a fairy tale, after all.
Everything had been nothing but his imagination.
When Archen was young, his hobby was reading. It wasn’t that he loved books, but rather that he didn’t have anything else to do.
Growing up in a remote orphanage in the countryside, there were no fancy playgrounds or toys. However, when the nearby library closed down, people donated books to the orphanage, so there was an abundance of books.
Given the circumstances, reading was the best way for Archen to pass the time.
He was a quiet boy who enjoyed reading, but his position at the orphanage was just that, and no one paid much attention to him.
That was, until that day came.
“Hey, you don’t have a mom or dad?”
It was the boy who usually took charge in the orphanage, he interrupted Archen, who was quietly reading in a corner.
“I’m different from kids like you. I’m only here while my mom works.
He continued.
Unlike the other children, that boy had a mother, and sometimes, she came to visit the orphanage. The boy would often boast about it to the other children, who looked up to him but also envied him.
However, Archen, the quiet boy who only read books, was an exception. In his eyes, there was no significant difference between that boy and the others. The boy also knew this well. He wanted to provoke Archen by approaching him for no reason.
“My mom is different from yours. She didn’t abandon me.”
The boy declared, expecting him to get angry or flustered. He thought that orphan children would be sub-par compared to others and mocked him.
However, contrary to the boy’s expectations, Archen remained composed.
“If that’s what you want to believe.”
Archen replied calmly.
“When did your mom last come here?”
“Well…”
The boy hesitated, unable to answer immediately.
In reality, his own mother’s visits to the orphanage had been decreasing. The last time the boy saw his mother was three months ago, but he tried to put on a brave face and shouted.
“Anyway, I’m different from you!”
“Believe what you want. Whether you think you’re different from me or not, it doesn’t matter.”
Archen replied indifferently and turned his attention back to his book.
‘The Story of Panetone’ was a book he had recently been reading.
The boy felt ignored and disregarded. He snatched the book Archen was reading and threw it, then forcefully pushed him, making him stagger weakly.
“I’m different from you!”
Seeing Archen fall and unable to speak, the boy felt satisfied and turned away, thinking that he wouldn’t be ignored for a while. It was at that moment, with a flash of light, that the boy was sent flying and crashed into the ground.
The boy hit his head on the ground and lost consciousness.
Archen stood there, looking at his palm with a dazed expression. As the other children who had witnessed the commotion called the head teacher, he found himself confined to a cell and forced to endure solitary confinement and hunger.
In the orphanage, it was common for children to get injured during fights. No one paid much attention, as they were used to it, except for one person.
She was a woman known by the nickname of ‘the smiling face’ for her always kind demeanor towards the children. She went to visit him, who was locked up in the cell, after hearing the circumstances from the children who had witnessed the incident.
“What did you do to that boy?”
“I just pushed him back because he pushed me first. I didn’t push him hard, just a little…”
“According to someone, a white light came from your hand.”
“That… I don’t know why the light came from my hand.”
He really had no idea why light came from his hand.
“Arcenas, in my opinion, you have talent.”
She held his hands and looked into his eyes.
“What you did was magic. You have the talent to become a mage.”
He couldn’t understand the teacher’s words.
…Suddenly, he had the talent to become a mage?
“But I’m an orphan.”
“That has nothing to do with it. If you work hard, you can become and do anything.”
He still had a puzzled expression. The teacher suddenly remembered the book he had been carrying around recently.
“Do you know the Story of Panetone? That girl lived in a terribly poor house with her sick grandmother. However, she didn’t give up and worked hard to get medicine to cure her grandmother’s illness and ended up marrying the prince. Like Panetone, if you work hard, you can achieve anything.”
His eyes brightened as he understood the meaning of her words.
“For example… you could become an imperial mage.”
From that moment on, his dream was to become an imperial mage. While the other children played, he learned basic subjects from the teacher, devoured all the books in the orphanage to gain knowledge, and studied harder than anyone else when he entered school.
The teacher actively supported him. She made efforts for him to enter school and planned for him to take the entrance exam for the Royal Academy after graduating.
After passing the entrance exam with the highest score, he used all the money he had to support his tuition. He made every effort to live up to his professors’ expectations, stayed up all night memorizing textbooks and related materials, studied magical theory, and didn’t neglect practical exercises.
Despite being the only commoner among the nobles attending the academy, he endured the bullying from his peers and the disdain from the professors without caring.
He believed that all the hardships and challenges he faced were just temporary trials on his path to achieving his dream, just like Panetone’s journey to get medicine and fight the dragon in order to save her grandma.
He believed that if he overcame difficulties and adversity, happiness would be granted to him, just as Panetone cured her grandmother’s illness and married the prince.
With outstanding scores in every exam, he never missed being the top student of his year. He successfully graduated from the academy with flying colors, and on the day of the graduation ceremony, he went to thank his teacher.
By that time, his teacher had become the director of the orphanage. She was genuinely proud of the young man he had become and blessed his future. He was filled with confidence and applied to become an imperial mage.
Nevertheless, at that moment, fate began to toy with him as if it had been waiting for this moment. He received perfect scores in both theory and practical exams, but he was rejected due to lack of experience.
Around the same time, his fellow graduates from the academy effortlessly passed the application process, and he once again felt the barrier of social status. In the end, he considered it another step in his journey towards success and applied to become an aide in the First Duchy instead.
Recognizing his abilities, he was easily appointed as an aide by Duke Lucas, and that was when it started.
The pain he felt in his chest every time he used magic.
There was a common illness among mages called ‘magical leakage,’ and as long as one took the medicine properly, there were no issues, so he didn’t pay much attention to the pain. Besides, he didn’t have the luxury to worry about such trivial matters. Being an aide in the First Duchy was already a demanding position.
After three years, he believed he had accumulated enough experience and applied once again to become an imperial mage. On the day of the exam, despite doubling his dosage of medicine, he still felt pain.
It was only then that he realized something was seriously wrong and underwent a thorough examination at the Magical Research Institute.
Exactly one month later, he received a fatal diagnosis.
Magical leakage. It was a disease where the incomplete magical core constantly leaked magic, eventually leading to death.
Normally, if an ordinary person had this disease from birth, they would not survive beyond the age of six, although Archenas was different. He possessed an immense amount of magic comparable to that of ancient dragons, which allowed him to survive until now.
What was the use of it?
With less than three years left to live and unable to use magic due to pain, he fell into despair but eventually overcame it. The results of the imperial mage examination had not yet been announced.
However, if he became an imperial mage in the palace, he needed to use magic. He would surely suffer from the fading magical power, but if it meant fulfilling his long-cherished dream, he was willing to endure the pain and live until the end.
Again, fate was not on his side. The day after receiving a terminal diagnosis, he was once again notified of rejection due to lack of experience.
After that, he went to the orphanage to bid his final farewell to his teacher. The village was completely empty. He wandered through the overgrown bushes and found the orphanage turned into a dilapidated building.
“A contagious disease broke out in the village, and everyone left. The orphanage director stayed alone, taking care of the sick, but eventually, the director also fell ill and died. That was about two years ago. If it’s the grave, it should be somewhere over there.”
Listening to the words of a villager from a neighboring village, he found a small unmarked grave. There wasn’t even a headstone.
He knelt in front of it.
“If you work hard, you can become and do anything.”
No, it wasn’t like that, teacher.
“Like Panetone, if you work hard, you can achieve anything. For example… you could become an imperial mage.”
The reality was different from fairy tales.
It was not unrelated to him being an orphan, and working hard doesn’t bring happiness.
Teacher, what should he do now? In the abandoned cemetery where no one came, he put his hands over his face and wept. She didn’t give him any answer.
The grass growing on the grave swayed weakly in the wind.
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Andi
Wow, I wondered if Achen had a little mermaid thing going on from the cryptic hints but I didn’t expect such a heartbreaking story. So he just left to go die in the original story. And everyone, practically absolutely everyone, forgot about him. WHAT THE HECK AUTHOR!?
Mangagirl4
😭😭😭