Chapter 331 -: 330 Handy spell.

A long, relieved sigh escaped Rosalina’s lips. She had finally done it. The spell wasn’t anywhere near as refined or powerful as the ones she normally wielded. Compared to the countless spells she had mastered over the years, this one was crude, incomplete and filled with flaws that only she could notice. Yet none of that mattered. It accomplished the one purpose she had desperately chased throughout the entire night. It could save Julius from the pain. Turning her head toward him, the small sense of accomplishment in her heart quickly vanished. His face remained twisted in agony, every muscle trembling uncontrollably as sweat soaked his clothes and dripped onto the wooden floor beneath him. His breathing came in ragged gasps, and every few moments another painful groan escaped his lips before his entire body convulsed once more. Watching him suffer like this filled her chest with an ache she couldn’t properly describe. It wasn’t pity, nor was it simply sadness. It hurt. Seeing him endure pain she could neither stop nor lessen made her feel strangely powerless. Rosalina slowly raised one hand toward him before quietly speaking the incantation she had created. Every word flowed from her lips with deliberate precision, weaving together the structure of the spell exactly as she had envisioned it during her meditation. As the final line left her mouth, mana gathered before her palm, condensing into a translucent magic circle. Then she softly uttered the spell’s name. The incantation immediately materialised. "...Handy Spell." A faint blue magic circle hovered quietly in the air between them. However, the moment Rosalina looked at it, she couldn’t help letting out another sigh. Just as she had expected... It was a complete mess. The countless runes covering the circle were scattered without any proper order. Some overlapped each other while others were positioned at awkward angles, disrupting the flow of mana throughout the entire structure. The spell existed, but only barely. Attempting to activate it in this condition would almost certainly cause the mana pathways to collapse before completion, resulting in a backlash severe enough to injure the caster. Reaching forward with her index finger, Rosalina gently touched the first rune. It shifted slightly. One by one, she carefully rearranged every symbol, correcting their positions with the patience of someone solving an impossibly complicated puzzle. This was one of the greatest difficulties involved in creating entirely new spells. When a spell caster imagined a new spell, everything existed only as theory inside their mind. They could visualise the runes, estimate the required mana flow and predict the rules necessary for the spell to function, but those were merely assumptions. Only after the incantation materialised into an actual spell circle could they finally observe whether those assumptions had been correct. Only then could they manually adjust every flaw. A single misplaced rune could completely alter the spell’s behaviour. An incorrectly connected mana pathway could destabilise the entire circle. If left unfixed, the spell would simply fail before rebounding onto its creator. That was precisely why almost nobody dared use newly created spells in the middle of battle. Without repeatedly refining the spell through countless attempts, casting it under life-and-death circumstances was no different from gambling with one’s own life. Rosalina slowly inhaled before continuing her work. Her fingers moved from rune to rune with unwavering concentration, adjusting their positions, altering their connections and carefully guiding the mana channels until they flowed exactly as she intended. Every correction strengthened the spell slightly, bringing it closer to the image she had envisioned during meditation. Time quietly slipped away. Rosalina had long since stopped paying attention. Throughout the entire process, Julius’s agonising screams only became more unbearable. His body remained trapped in a strange state between consciousness and unconsciousness. His tightly shut eyes never opened, as though his mind had sunk into darkness, yet his body still reacted instinctively to every wave of pain. Broken cries escaped his throat again and again while his muscles convulsed violently, unable to escape the relentless repayment demanded by Event Horizon. Every scream drove another needle through Rosalina’s heart. She wanted nothing more than to free him from that suffering. Finally... The last rune slid into place, the entire circle stabilised. The chaotic arrangement disappeared, replaced by perfectly aligned symbols that pulsed rhythmically as mana flowed through every pathway without obstruction. Rosalina slowly lowered her hand before allowing herself a faint smile. She had succeeded, she had truly created a new spell. Its principle wasn’t particularly complicated. Rather than healing Julius’s body, the spell would temporarily sever the connection between his consciousness and his physical senses. It wouldn’t damage his soul, nor would it interfere with the natural functions of his body. Instead, it would place his mind into an artificially induced, dreamless slumber while his body continued enduring the repayment demanded by Event Horizon. In simple terms...his injuries would continue worsening. But he would no longer experience the pain..As she gazed at the completed spell, countless memories surfaced within her mind. Ever since childhood, nearly everything she had been taught revolved around one purpose. Killing...the human body. No... The body of every living creature. She had been forced to memorise countless anatomical diagrams, learning exactly where to strike to end a life in the shortest amount of time. The heart. The brain. The arteries hidden beneath layers of flesh. Every vital organ had been engraved into her memory until identifying the quickest method of killing became second nature. She had also been taught how to inflict suffering. How to prolong pain..how to break both body and mind without granting the mercy of death. Her family hadn’t wanted a daughter, they had wanted a weapon. A perfect killing machine that obeyed every command without question. Had Julius never entered her life...perhaps they would have succeeded. Perhaps she really would have become exactly what they desired. Though...even then...the first people she would have killed would have been them. A small smile appeared on her lips. Now things were different, she wasn’t alone anymore, she had someone worth protecting, someone worth becoming stronger for. Many years ago... She had already fallen in love with Julius. Back then, however, those feelings had remained buried deep within her heart. She never confessed them. From everything she had observed while growing up, Julius had always seemed distant. Despite being surrounded by people who genuinely cared about him, he rarely showed much emotion on the surface. He carried himself with quiet composure and never appeared interested in romance or relationships. Because of that...she convinced herself there was no point confessing. Then everything changed. Rosalina had entered the Royal Arcane Academy a full year before Julius. When news spread that he would soon arrive in Agarta, she secretly visited the Hayes Mansion from a distance simply to catch a glimpse of him. He looked exactly the same as always, calm and unreadable. For nearly a week he remained inside the estate, but she never gathered the courage to approach him. Besides...Alfred was there. Trying to avoid the perception of someone like Alfred was nearly impossible, so she patiently waited for Julius to begin attending the academy instead. What happened afterwards...she still couldn’t believe even now. The very first thing Julius did after arriving wasn’t attending classes. It wasn’t greeting the professors, it wasn’t introducing himself to the students. Instead...he walked straight toward her. Then knelt before everyone. His voice had echoed throughout the courtyard with complete confidence. "Marry me, Rose." Even now, remembering that moment made her ears grow warm. Her mind had gone completely blank. She had genuinely wondered whether she was dreaming. If she hadn’t secretly pinched her own hand beneath her sleeve, she might have remained frozen there forever, unable to distinguish reality from fantasy. Back then... The dream had felt impossibly distant. Yet now...she spent almost every day beside him. If the younger version of herself could witness this moment, she probably wouldn’t believe it. A quiet chuckle escaped Rosalina’s lips. Slowly leaning forward, she gently rested her palm against Julius’s chest, feeling the weak but steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her fingers. "...Get well soon, Julius."