The Doctor Cured The Villainess And Ran Away-Chapter 60: Clairvoyance (1)

"Ice Ball, Mana Wall."

A magic circle instantly drawn from Ashella's staff manifested mystery into reality.

Mana, which had been no more than a flowing current, turned into ice and shot toward the target, and became a shield to protect the caster.

—Pababak!

Ashella's offensive spell struck the training scarecrow in rapid succession.

Watching the scene, Seymour stroked his beard and nodded.

"You're getting quite used to rapid casting. As I thought, the freezing-type spells suit your nature better than fire or lightning. Focus on improving the precision of this school of magic."

"Yes, Master."

Ashella wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Would you like to rest? Your attending physician advised taking a break once every hour."

"I’ll go just a little longer."

—Kwa-kwang!

Ashella continued her practice. Right now, she needed to refine her skills even a little more.

She absolutely could not lose to Georg.

From the beginning, whether it was that side or this one, the duel was one where losing meant losing everything.

No matter that it was a clash between heirs—there was no way the Emperor would favor a merciless killer.

Georg might not go so far as to actually take her life unless cornered to the extreme, but her attending physician was a different story.

He was filled with the intent to kill Ras.

In this duel, she had to completely overpower him.

Fortunately, Seymour was on her side—as a mage.

"You called it a duel trial, didn’t you. I won’t watch my disciple lose to some sword-swinging thug."

Seymour raised his left hand and cast a spell.

The sword and shield held by the scarecrow popped off and clattered to the ground.

"A disarming spell. Second tier. Essential when you have to fight on the frontlines alone. Now that I think about it, Ashella, I haven’t taught you many practical combat spells, have I?"

"I can create an opening. But there’s not enough time to only cast attack and defense. Even if I buy time, if I can’t get the next spell out first, I’ll be the one hit."

"‘I’ll be the one hit,’ huh. Are you actually worried that your partner will be the one hit?"

Ashella hesitated at Seymour’s sharp-eyed question.

"Well, I mean... If the Young Lord gets hit, then it’s my turn next."

"Haha, back in the day, you’d have thrown him in as bait and spent that time preparing a large-scale spell instead, wouldn’t you?"

"That’s one strategy. But the risk is high. If it fails, there's no fallback."

Just the fact that she was even considering the possibility of her spell missing or failing—that alone was an uncharacteristic mindset for Ashella.

Seymour, entertained by her recent changes, approached her and quietly said,

"Shall I tell you a secret? This is a trick I’ve never shared with anyone."

"Really?"

"Indeed. Aren’t you curious how I cast spells so quickly?"

"I’m dying to know. Master, you just twitch your fingers and the formation’s already omitted and the spell’s cast."

"I store my spells."

"Store... them?"

Hearing the unfamiliar term, Ashella tilted her head.

"More precisely, I memorize the spells perfectly. No matter how familiar a spell is, the form of the circle, the scale, the mana quantity—it changes slightly each time, doesn’t it?"

"Yes, it does."

"When a spell becomes perfectly consistent, you can input it through physical reflex. You don’t think when you dodge a ball flying at your face, do you?"

"You’re saying if I train a specific action, my body will automatically cast the spell?"

"Exactly. In my experience, the best method was to curl the second joint of a specific finger."

Seymour held out his left hand. With a small cough, he bent his ring finger slightly.

Then—whoosh! Without warning, the sky opened, and a flock of doves burst out, scattering and flying off in different directions.

"Hmm, I meant to summon a storm spirit... Must be the nest’s shifted location."

"You stored a summon?"

"Not just that. By combining which fingers I curl, I can store hundreds of spells."

"What if you accidentally cast one in daily life?"

"You can prepare a preliminary action. In my case, I always cough once first."

"I see."

Ashella crisply crossed her arms beneath her chest, curling her left ring finger as she practiced the disarming spell.

"It looks cool, but if I lose an arm, I won’t be able to use it."

"That is a drawback, yes."

Ashella continued training the spells she intended to use in the duel.

Even after Seymour’s lesson ended, she didn’t stop.

She reviewed what she had learned today and repeated the drills.

She tried applying the spell-storing technique Seymour had taught her, but it wasn’t easy. Of course, no one could expect a human's reflexes to form overnight.

“Hoo.”

Tired from repetition, Ashella decided to take a break, just as Ras had advised.

Her idea of rest was practicing magic she liked.

While other princes and princesses might take to riding or hunting as hobbies, Ashella found her greatest joy in using magic.

Especially lately—there was a spell she couldn’t wait to cast.

"Clairvoyance."

A fifth-tier spell—one that ordinary humans couldn’t even hope to reach.

Aside from basic utility spells, the branches of magic were vast and varied.

The most fundamental was elemental magic, but even within elements, there were countless sub-branches. Most mages, at best, mastered three branches in their entire lives.

Clairvoyance was part of the time-based branch. Even Seymour hadn’t mastered it, so he had only been able to guide her through books.

It was still too difficult for Ashella, so she was stuck in the practice phase.

"Maybe if I try installing the base circle in a higher dimension..."

She tried interpreting and reconstructing the spell circle her own way.

Five layers was too difficult. Her circle only reached 128 sides instead of a perfect circle.

Ashella had always loved how spell circles spun wildly once mana was infused.

—Fwaaaah!

"Huh?"

Usually, this was where the clairvoyance spell would fail to connect—but today, the initial activation succeeded.

Ashella’s vision, hearing, and all senses abruptly shifted.

She was briefly flustered, but soon realized—

She had successfully cast Clairvoyance.

Her body remained where it was. But she couldn’t move at will. Even her breath was being taken by some other will.

‘This is...’

It was a place she recognized.

She’d been here before—before the cold of winter ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) had completely faded.

The Marquisate of Gotberg.

"Ashella, get a hold of yourself."

A voice warning her from the side. It was Empress Camilla.

Ashella quietly let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

Clairvoyance showed one among many possible outcomes.

A future that might have been. A moment that could come.

"We're deeply grateful for all you’ve done. Please remain in good health."

Her attending physician bowed deeply and left for the Marquisate.

Ashella was momentarily surprised—but quickly tilted her head in confusion.

The physician wasn’t wearing a doctor’s robe, but formal dress.

It was a face she recognized from the finalist list of the royal selection.

Gis. That had been his name.

This meant the physician had been dismissed from duty.

Like any other healer, he had been of no use to Ashella.

"I apologize, Your Highness."

The Marquis of Gotberg bowed his head in apology.

Now that the top talent of his territory’s training center had been exposed as incompetent, he owed Camilla a debt.

"My Lord Marquis. Regrettably, that physician was such an inept failure he was even expelled from the Imperial Clinic. He couldn’t even measure Ashella’s mana circuit."

"Hmm..."

"This incident is a grave loss to the Moonlight Palace. Some form of compensation will be necessary."

"...If it's within my means."

"Still no sign of the Lady’s Saintess Revelation?"

"That is..."

"In that case, I’d prefer she be housed at the Moonlight Palace going forward."

Camilla used the physician matter as leverage to take the upper hand over the Marquisate.

It may not have been her original plan, but she’d been waiting for an opportunity like this all along.

Ashella, who had seen Camilla exploit her for all kinds of gain, could easily read her intentions.

‘If I hadn’t selected Ras...’

Would this scene have come to pass?

The Moonlight Palace still... flows according to Mother’s will.

‘Then where is Ras?’

The moment Ashella wondered that—

Bang!

The drawing room door burst open and a young man with messy hair stumbled in holding a liquor bottle.

"Hey, when your fiancé shows up, isn’t it proper to greet your husband first? Huh?!"

His face was beet red with drunkenness.

Seeing him babble nonsense in broad daylight, Ashella couldn’t help but let out a quiet laugh.

"Ras! We have an honored guest! Get out this instant!"

"Ha—how long do you think I’ll just sit around obeying Father’s orders... huh?! You’ll see, when that girl becomes emperor, huh? I’ll be like, you know, some real high-and-mighty guy or whatever!"

"Guards, remove Ras immediately!"

Tanya dragged the drunken Ras out.

He couldn’t even stand properly. Pathetic.

Watching him, Ashella felt a slow bloom of delight rising from the depths of her chest.

‘Ras, you really ought to be grateful to me.’

If I hadn’t selected you, you’d still be rotting away as the Marquisate’s disgrace.

I’m the one who made you into something resembling a person.

I really wish you could’ve seen this scene.

"I’m sorry you had to see that disgraceful display. We’ll compensate you for the matter of the physician—"

—Fwoosh!

With the short spell finished, Ashella’s vision returned to normal.

She gently curled her fingers into a fist.

"Hmm... it wasn’t a perfect casting."

A perfected Clairvoyance spell allowed one to view multiple possibilities at once, to roughly designate the time and place one wanted to see.

Its purpose was, above all, to gather political leverage for succession.

But—

"Ras, you pathetic man."

Ashella decided she needed to find a way to record the scenes shown by Clairvoyance into a crystal.

If he had seen that just now, he’d turn obedient like Max.

Having finished her pleasant hobby time, Ashella returned to live practice in preparation for the Duel Trial.

***

Because of the trial by duel, my schedule had gotten quite hectic.

Sword training with Tanya, checking on Asella’s condition, brewing medicine and injection solutions.

And on top of that, there was one more thing I had to do.

I headed toward the annex of the Imperial Clinic.

The annex was the inpatient ward.

It wasn’t for commoners—only royalty were permitted to use it.

Right now, there was one external patient admitted.

Needless to say, it was the Duke of the West.

I stood in front of the guarded patient room and knocked on the doorframe.

Bishop Alberich, who had been tending to the Duke inside, came out with a deep scowl.

“What business do you have here? His Grace the Duke is under the care of the Mokhwigung. By His Majesty’s decree.”

“I know. I just want to check on his condition.”

“I told you I’m in charge! Are you trying to meddle again with your so-called folk remedies?”

“This is medicine.”

“It’s the same damn—!”

“Excuse me, are you Doctor Gotberg by any chance?”

A voice came from inside the room. Alberich could no longer block my way and reluctantly stepped aside.

When I entered, the Duke was lying on the bed with a visibly gaunt face.

As soon as he saw me, he smiled warmly.

“So it was you, Doctor. I’d hoped to see you. I heard something grave happened.”

“Haha, nothing too serious. How’s your condition?”

“Much improved, thanks to you. If it weren’t for your intervention, I’d be in the ground already. It was a deadly black magic curse. The moment I drank the wine, I felt death crawl right up my throat.”

“You’ve endured a lot. Here’s a prescription and some medicine that should help with the aftereffects. If you follow it, your recovery will be quicker.”

I handed him the prescription.

It included ingredients useful for detoxification and recommended light exercises.

I warned him to take the medicine only if his condition worsened.

“Thank you. If it’s your guidance, I’ll follow it without question.

Please convey my deepest apologies to Her Highness—I haven’t had the chance to thank her personally.”

“I’ll pass it along.”

The Duke, I judged, could now be safely left in the healers’ care.

Ignoring Alberich, who was still grumbling about folk remedies, I left the room.

Poison is a vile tool—it ruins the body of someone perfectly healthy.

Maybe Georg should experience it firsthand.

Might make him reflect a little.