Absolutely, Positively Breaking This Engagement

A mana potion.

The elixir that bestows magical ability upon humans.

With the vials before me, I ran one final check through my body.

“As expected……”

Everything else was a wreck, but the heart was absurdly, almost offensively robust.

And it wasn’t just strong — it was watchful.

This heart had been patrolling the body, alert to even the faintest trace of magic anywhere in my system.

“The moment any magic enters the body, the heart drinks it up. Greedy thing.”

An ordinary person wouldn’t even know what they were looking at — and even if they did, they wouldn’t dare touch it.

But I knew exactly what this was.

“I’ll figure out why it’s in this body later.”

I tipped the mana potion into my mouth and closed my eyes.

Gulp.

The instant the magic passed down my throat — my heart lurched into a violent gallop.

Blood rushed faster, and the heart threw itself into a frenzy trying to absorb the incoming magic.

But I concentrated my telekinesis, my psychic power, inward.

My telekinesis was currently strong enough to move books and small objects.

I turned it inside myself.

The blood flowing through my veins, the magic moving with it — I seized all of it and held on.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The heart beat harder and harder, straining like a vacuum pulling at full power, trying to drink down the magic I was refusing to release.

“……”

Every breath was a struggle.

But the moment I exhaled and let go, it would all be for nothing.

I focused harder and held firm.

This was fishing.

The heart — starving and frantic for the magic I was dangling — began to beat faster still.

Thud, thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

It was hammering so hard I half expected it to give out entirely, but I kept my grip on the magic.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Then, with a heavy lurch — it stopped.

“……”

The pain of it edged toward unconsciousness.

But only for a moment.

Then the heartbeat returned.

Normal. Steady.

Fwoooosh!

As the heart started again, magic erupted through every part of my body at once.

All the mana potions Rigen had consumed before.

Every drop the heart had hoarded was flooding out.

“……ugh, ugh, nnngh.”

I could breathe now.

But a tremendous force of magic was rioting through my body, and that was its own kind of agony.

Like being stabbed by needles from the inside, everywhere at once.

I held my focus.

If I lost my grip now, the magic would overwhelm this frail body and hemorrhage out.

The magic moving through my bloodstream had to be anchored — bound tightly into this weakened frame.

The surge of magic, wave after wave, reshaped the thin veins as it passed through them — carving new channels, reinforcing what was there.

Crown to cheek, throat to shoulder, chest to abdomen……

Magic moved through every part of me.

Down to the tips of my toes, back up through the hollows behind my knees, through the perineum, pooling in the lower and middle cores, then returning to the heart.

“Haaaaah……”

A long, slow exhale.

The first stage of expansion was complete.

But I wasn’t done.

I tipped the second mana potion and swallowed it.

Thud!

Fresh magic flooding in — and the heart, newly normalized, lurched again.

The old habit was still there. Still hungry.

But now magic was flowing richly through every vessel in my body.

I focused on controlling it all at once.

I didn’t bother fighting the heart’s pull this time.

Instead, I let it take what it wanted — and drew the same amount back out.

The heart’s absorption, now weakened, gave up the magic without a fight.

Thud! Thud!

The harder the heart strained to consume, the faster the magic cycled through my body.

The channels that had been carved open were refined further, growing precise and clean.

“Hah, haaaaaah……”

Thud, thud……

The heart seemed to understand at last that it could no longer absorb the magic, no matter how hard it tried.

The beating slowed.

Adapting to a body that had fundamentally changed.

“Nngh, nnnghh……”

Now magic flowed fully and freely throughout me.

I opened my eyes and let out a long breath.

“There we go……”

That was an ordeal.

Endure the heart hammering like it wanted to burst through my ribs, carry out the internal expansion, and on top of all that, manage the flood of magic the heart had been hoarding for years — all at the same time.

Two layers of pain. Three.

“I couldn’t have done this without the psychic abilities……”

I thought with satisfaction as I tried to call magic to my fingertips — and the room tilted sideways.

“Oh, wait……”

My vision spun a full hundred and eighty degrees.

Right. Too much strain on a body this fragile.

I blacked out.

In the haze of fading consciousness, old memories surfaced.

Being reborn in Karakas, finding my teacher, learning under him…… I had looked out at the world and felt something sink in my chest.

This world was harsh and barren.

Under the dominion of the Seven Sin God, everyone and everything suffered.

And so I had stood against them.

Because I had ambition.

A desire to live better, to build something better. A vision of the nation I wanted to create.

Somewhere within the memories of gathering allies and fighting enemies in pursuit of that empire — a different scene appeared without warning.

A wide, unhurried shot of a distant landscape.

Three figures running through a field where golden grain swayed in the wind.

A broad-shouldered young man in the lead, laughing with open energy. A girl sprinting freely beside him.

Then my perspective lurched and flipped.

A view of two backs, pulling away.

Pushing with everything I had to keep up — every last drop of effort — but it wasn’t enough.

Both of them were already drawing on magic naturally, effortlessly. I had none at all, not a single drop……

But if I showed how tired I was, how much I was struggling — they might just leave me behind.

They might not want to play with me again.

The fear of that kept me running. Running.

Until I fell.

The two of them were already far ahead. They didn’t notice.

Their laughter only grew more distant.

I tried to get up, but my ankle screamed with pain.

I knew, instinctively, I couldn’t run anymore.

The despair of it settled in.

Then footsteps approached — someone coming toward me as I lay there, unable to rise properly.

I tried to look back and see who it was——

“……”

My eyes opened.

A wooden ceiling, rough and plain.

Not the imperial palace. The youngest son’s bedroom.

“Haaah……”

Had that been a memory belonging to the original owner of this body? Rigen’s memory?

Having lived and died twice over, I carried memories from Earth and from Emperor Sirik both.

That had always led me to believe that memories were stored in the soul.

But this……

“So memories in the soul and memories in the brain exist separately?”

I murmured to myself, sitting up — then stopped.

Beside the bed, sitting in a chair, was Amelia.

She was wearing her usual maid’s uniform — white patterns on black — and she had fallen asleep sitting upright.

The beastwoman who always wore such a composed, impassive expression was showing a face drawn with exhaustion.

“……”

I was still watching her when Amelia’s eyes opened immediately.

Wolf beastpeople had sharp senses, after all.

“Did I wake you?”

“……”

Amelia looked at me without answering.

A green aura.

Relief — and an undercurrent of quiet reproach in her gaze.

I glanced around and realized it was broad daylight.

“Oh no — don’t tell me I passed out again.”

“Five days.”

“Last time it was ten. That’s progress.”

“……”

Even my joke landed without a reaction. Amelia just kept watching me in silence.

Then, at last.

“Young Master.”

“Uh oh. That sounds like you’re about to scold me. Did I do something wrong again, Mom?”

“……How much more are you going to make me worry?”

Not working on her.

Amelia’s quiet lament caught me off guard.

I had felt it from the beginning — it was the emotion lingering in this body.

The original Rigen had apparently had a particular weakness for Amelia.

Which made sense. Someone who had carried you on her back since childhood, equal parts older sister and mother — it would be strange if you could be careless with her.

I clapped my hands together with exaggerated flair.

“Right! The hard part’s over. Smooth sailing from here.”

“I thought things had been getting better lately…… and then you suddenly collapsed. Do you have any idea how frightened I was? The whole house was in an uproar. The physician said he had absolutely no explanation. The count was worried. Even the young master Roderic was.”

“Well, that’s……”

In my emperor days, I had been lectured endlessly about preserving the imperial body. The whole empire would weep if the sovereign fell ill, they always said.

But what Amelia was saying now was different.

She wasn’t worried about a title or a throne. She was worried about me — just me.

“You don’t have to worry anymore. I’m stronger now. Look.”

Snap!

I summoned magic to my hand.

The red shimmer that gathered at my fingertips deepened — shifted to orange — then settled into yellow.

Yellow. Third rank.

Third rank at twenty — that was no small achievement.

Even Emperor Sirik had only been at second rank at this age.

“No one’s going to be knocking me around anymore. Job offers will probably start pouring in. Third rank at twenty!”

“……”

But Amelia didn’t spare a glance at the magic in my hand.

She just kept looking at me, steady and quiet.

“……Shouldn’t you be reacting? Someone who couldn’t produce a single drop of magic is suddenly at a high rank — isn’t that where you gasp and look impressed?”

“Is that more important than your health?”

Amelia said it plainly, and then continued.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re weak or strong, Young Master. I already know you’re someone who holds kindness for others and a genuine love for the natural world.”

“……”

I let the magic go out.

There was the faintest glimmer of moisture at the corners of Amelia’s eyes, and I found I couldn’t say anything at all.

……I felt, truly and completely, like a wayward child.

“I’m sorry for worrying you. It won’t happen again.”

“I don’t believe that. You’ve made that promise before. More times than I can count.”

“I mean it this time. I’m sorry, Amelia. I’ll be more careful. And if there’s ever any chance I might collapse, I’ll warn you in advance.”

I worked in a light joke with the apology. Amelia let out a long, slow sigh.

“I was genuinely frightened this time. If this keeps happening, I’m going to go to an early grave.”

“Well — you’ve been working so hard. Maybe take a holiday and get some rest?”

“I can’t. There’s no telling what kind of trouble you’ll get into the moment I’m gone.”

Amelia dried the corner of her eye and rose.

“I’ll send word to the count that you’ve woken. I’ll prepare a bath and a change of clothes.”

“Thank you.”

Once Amelia left, I let a smile settle onto my face.

“Not bad at all.”

Having someone who worried about me this genuinely — about me, not a throne or a title.

Just me.

Not bad at all.

The count’s study.

The count received me from his chair.

“How are you feeling? The physician said he couldn’t make heads or tails of it……”

“I’m fine. I won’t trouble you like this again. I’m sorry, Father.”

I bowed properly.

Amelia had asked me to, and the count’s face had been carrying real worry — I couldn’t do otherwise.

The count nodded and spoke.

“The young lady of Marquis Crocell will be arriving in three days.”

“What’s she coming for?”

I asked because I genuinely didn’t know, and the count looked at me like I’d grown a second head.

“You don’t know? Your fiancée is coming to see you — not me.”

“……Pardon?”

I blinked.

This foolish body had a fiancée?

Absurd — but understandable, when I thought about it.

Twenty years old in Karakas was already fully adult by any measure. And noble families bound themselves together through marriage, building alliances and accumulating influence.

Of course Rigen had a fiancée.

“I sent word that you were in poor health…… but apparently she was already nearby and has decided to stop by.”

“Why couldn’t she just keep going wherever she was headed?”

The count clicked his tongue.

“She’s not coming with good intentions, either. I know that much because the son of Marquis Burzak is traveling with her.”

“An uninvited extra. Can I send it back?”

“This is a family matter, not a marketplace transaction.”

The count sighed and explained, in the tone of a parent spelling things out for a child who knew nothing of the world.

Strangely, I didn’t find it unpleasant, so I listened.

“The reason Marquis Crocell agreed to betroth his daughter to you was because we’re one of the twelve houses. But we’re the weakest of the twelve. He was already hedging his bets — and it seems the son of Marquis Burzak has taken a liking to the young lady in the meantime.”

“So the marquis’s boy wants to marry my fiancée?”

“Mm. Try to phrase it more appropriately. He apparently wishes to marry her.”

The count frowned, but held up two letters.

“Her letter arrived, and right on its heels came one from Marquis Burzak.”

“Is it a threat? Break off the engagement or you’ll make our days very warm?”

“More or less.”

In terms of noble rank, a marquis outranked an count.

But House Librata was one of the twelve families qualified to contend for the second imperial throne.

We couldn’t simply be brushed aside by sheer rank alone.

It was a situation where neither side held a clear advantage.

The count’s expression was one of undisguised headache.

“Marquis Burzak controls the territory right next door to us, and he’s considerably powerful. This has gotten complicated.”

“Simple solution — just break the engagement……”

As if I’d agree to an engagement now, of all times.

I was about to say it on reflex, then caught myself.

“No. That’s not right.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“I’ll break the engagement and squeeze out as much as possible while I’m at it.”

“What?”

The count stared at me in disbelief, but I said it with full conviction.

“I’ll extract a consolation payment in exchange for letting her go. Oh — I can keep all of it, can’t I? I have living expenses to think about.”

“……”

“When someone wants you to part ways with their son, they always come with money. I intend to get quite a lot of it.”

The count looked at me like he wasn’t sure whether to be appalled or amused, then said,

“Are you serious? The young lady of House Crocell is said to be remarkably beautiful.”

“Absolutely! Without question! With complete and utter certainty! I am breaking this engagement!”

An engagement now? Marriage?

I had done more than my fill of that as emperor.

I was staying single — free to do nothing, spend everything, and live entirely as I pleased!

Break the engagement and get rich!