Chapter 11 Object of Scorn
A few days pa.s.sed since my magic went haywire. After I opened my eyes, I was plagued by a high fever for a while, but I somehow safely recovered. Dr. Safi even certified that I was all better yesterday.
According to Dr. Safi, my magic was increasing day by day, and although the medicine forcibly decreased it, it had finally reached the limit of its effectiveness. And the final straw came from forgetting to take the medicine entirely, causing the magic to go out of control and overflow from my body.
Even though it was a very serious discussion, as I thought…an adult talking seriously about magic, and it further going out of control was very embarra.s.sing. It would appear I was still a bit reluctant to accept all this talk about magic. At times like this, I realized once again that this was, indeed, another world. In my old life, I simply went through the motions every day, and nothing ever really changed. I didn’t socialize with my colleges or the higher ups, and instead I was always afraid that they were saying horrible things about me. Meeting the gaze of others was frightening. Even now, that hadn’t changed.
And speaking of which, Mich.e.l.la had also changed.
“I hope you perish soon, you vile child.”
Very obviously, she meant it spitefully. Mich.e.l.la’s words were getting more intense all the time. Plus, after my haywire magic incident, she became more brazen with her words. Disappear, perish, vile, and all I got out of it was that she despised me and that excessive magic was something to be shunned. Previously, I read a book I filched from my father’s room. A large amount of magic is usually a good thing, however, there were places that, if your magic was too large, you would be persecuted as a ‘demon’. The demons were beings that had better physical and magical abilities than humans. But, in a war 500 years ago, their numbers were decimated, and now they were something of an endangered species.
In this day and age those Demons were no longer persecuted, but among the older generations, there still seemed to those that believed they were creatures to be detested, and discriminated against them.
It was probable that Mich.e.l.la, being quite old herself, had been taught that Demons and those with excessive magic were abominations. But it’s not like I could just shrug it off even knowing that; it still hurt.
It’s not like I wanted to be born with this disorder. I didn’t ask to be born into this world. So why?
“Because of you, the Westorias living around the corner met misfortune. It’s your fault.”
And again today Mich.e.l.la was going full bore with the death wishes, continuously slandering me. I didn’t want to be the tragic heroine, so I felt I couldn’t tell my family. Not about this.
“Mich.e.l.laー, do you know where my workout clothes got off toー?”
“Your workout clothes, Young master Solis? I believe they are right over there.”
“Ooー! Thanks, Mich.e.l.la.”
“Mich.e.l.la, what’ll I do?! I burned the bacon!”
“It will be fine, Madam. For now, why don’t we have something else to eat this morning?”
“Oh yes! You’re such a big help!”
“Mich.e.l.laー?”
“Yes, yes, how can I help you?”
Mich.e.l.la was already more than a mere employee to my family. So if I said anything, this happy atmosphere would crumble. That’s why I withstood the abuse. No matter how much she looked upon me with contempt, or how many nasty words she said to me, or even when she would occasionally hit me, I could endure. …If the day ever came that I could endure no more, then I would tell my family. For now, I was still hanging in there, yeah. I just had to be more careful and not forget to take my medicine so I wouldn’t go out of control again.
I went to the washroom to clean my face. Reflected in the mirror was me, with the golden hair I got from my mother, and the purple eyes I got from my magic disorder. In my old life, I was very plain looking, but now I had transformed into a very beautiful young boy. I tried to grin, but saw it contorted my eyebrows into a figure eight, and I quickly returned to my normal expressionless face. When Mich.e.l.la was around, I shouldn’t be smiling anyway. So I would just stick with the expressionless look. It’s not like I smiled that much in my old life anyway.
With a small clap, I slapped the sides of my supple cheeks. Okay, I’m gonna work hard today too!
Thus, I made my way to the living room at a quick jog.