The First Examination

“Take it off.”

Lucian flinched without realizing it.

Then his gaze landed on Shana’s belongings, and understanding dawned.

A metal measuring tape warmed in advance so it wouldn’t feel cold.

A thermometer. Syringes for blood tests. Items Shana had laid out neatly on the desk for ease of use.

Even so, his fluster didn’t fade. Rare beads of cold sweat formed as Lucian spoke.

“Take it off? Why?”

“To do a physical examination.”

“…Right.”

“Hm?”

Lucian slowly shook his head.

He’d almost misunderstood her words in a very different way.

‘What am I, some dog in heat.’

He let out a self-deprecating chuckle. There was no need to rush. They had plenty of time.

Shana eyed him suspiciously.

“I’ll say this in advance. If your physical condition isn’t good, we can’t proceed with the experiment.”

“Got it.”

“…Alright. Take your clothes off and sit on that chair, Lucian.”

In truth, Lucian’s assumption was still only half wrong.

Shana wasn’t planning to do only a routine checkup.

This was an opportunity countless researchers would have drooled over.

She intended to carefully and thoroughly study the physical differences between someone with Mana Rejection Syndrome and an ordinary person.

But Lucian only fidgeted with his collar instead of undressing.

Now Shana started to suspect something.

“Lucian, are you not feeling well today?”

“It’s not that…It might look bad. I thought you might not like it.”

‘That’s it?’

Shana crossed her arms.

“That doesn’t matter at all. You’re just a test subject.”

“Haha. A test subject, sure. Then excuse me.”

Contrary to his hesitation, Lucian began undressing without restraint.

His neatly worn uniform coat came off first.

Then the white shirt beneath it. He started undoing the buttons one by one.

Through the opening of his collar, his body came into view.

Defined muscles, like silver sculpted into clean lines.

She’d thought he was rather lean when clothed, but he was far more solid than expected.

Broad shoulders narrowing down to a slim waist. God truly was unfair.

But soon, something else caught Shana’s eye.

Scars. Scars crisscrossed his entire body. They hadn’t been there during their Academy days.

Some were still tinged red.

Shana swallowed.

“What are these scars from?”

“It’s nothing. They’re all healed.”

“From fighting monsters?”

“That too. But mostly from mana going berserk.”

Ordinarily, a noble would have to pour out every drop of mana they had to leave marks on their body.

But those with Mana Rejection Syndrome were different.

For them, mana itself was danger and pain.

Every use of mana could leave traces behind.

In Lucian’s case, these scars were those traces.

They looked like marks left by a beast’s claws.

Shana spoke in a shaken voice.

“You didn’t have scars like these back at the Academy.”

“The magic I used back then was different. It doesn’t hurt now.”

Academy training had been conducted under strict safety measures.

It was nothing like a battlefield where high-output attack magic was unleashed constantly.

Shana forgot her original intention of studying his body. Before she realized it, her hands were tracing over him.

The largest scar ran diagonally across his chest.

It lay barely a hand’s width from his heart. It was closer to a wound than a scar, its redness still vivid.

“This could’ve been fatal.”

Her pale hand trembled slightly. Seeing that, Lucian deliberately brushed it off.

“Everyone’s like that on the battlefield, Shana. It wasn’t more dangerous for me than for anyone else.”

She always felt pity when examining a patient’s body. But this time, the shock was far greater.

This wasn’t just hearing that her childhood friend had gone to war. She was being forced to fully confront how close he had come to death.

“So you came straight here after being worked this hard on the battlefield? To become a test subject?”

“Well…For the Empire, it couldn’t be helped.”

Lucian hurriedly produced an excuse.

“Really?”

Shana nodded as if she accepted it, but her thoughts were elsewhere.

‘To grind a person down like this…Patriotism really is terrifying.’

For Shana, who valued money more than the Empire, it was hard to understand.

She looked at Lucian’s awkward smile, then spoke.

“…Alright. I’ll check your heart rate first.”

She retied the loose strings of her gown and flipped an hourglass upside down.

To count one full minute. One hand went to Lucian’s wrist, the other to the space between his neck and jaw.

For a fleeting moment, a strange thought crossed her mind.

That she might not be able to feel anything through all those scars.

But his pulse beat steadily, unmistakably alive. She felt oddly relieved.

As she counted silently, Shana leaned closer without noticing. Focused solely on getting an accurate reading.

Only Lucian noticed.

For the first time, he regretted coming to see her in the morning.

Her gown had begun to part slightly. First, the line of her neck. Then glimpses of her chest and the soft curve of her body.

The moment he became aware of it, Lucian lowered his gaze.

To suppress the heat rising in him, he forced a light laugh.

“Your hands are colder than I expected…Want me to warm them for you?”

“Shh. Don’t talk, I’ll lose count.”

Even as she spoke, Shana didn’t miss a beat, continuing to feel his pulse.

Lucian asked again, his voice lower this time.

“How is it?”

At last, Shana pulled back.

“It’s a bit fast, but within normal range.”

“Really?”

Lucian grinned broadly, teeth showing.

Unbothered, Shana gave the next instruction.

“Next, waist measurement.”

“Uh…”

She wrapped the tape lightly around his waist, almost like a brief embrace.

Lucian seemed ticklish; his body tensed instinctively. Already firm, it now felt downright rigid.

As she deliberately stepped back and reeled in the tape, she let it brush along his body.

If she couldn’t do anything else, this was the only revenge she could take.

With an inward sigh, she said,

“Last is blood draw.”

Shana deftly tied a band around one of Lucian’s arms.

She retrieved a clean syringe from the drawer.

After tapping his arm lightly, she inserted the needle.

“Just a prick.”

Red liquid was drawn smoothly into the syringe.

Despite his title as a war hero, Lucian exaggerated a pained expression.

“Ow…Shasha, I think I’m getting dizzy. Maybe I should rest—”

“Nonsense. This isn’t even half the usual amount.”

She transferred the blood into a vial and placed it into a testing kit.

All of it contained dried, ground medicinal herbs. She planned to assess his condition based on color reactions.

“That’s the end of the exam, Lucian. You seem to be in good health.”

“This feels familiar, Shasha.”

“It’s not your first time having an exam like this.”

“…With who?”

“You know. Undressing, checking things. Did you think I’d prescribe medicine without confirming anything?”

“Who did you do it with? Were there men too?”

Lucian asked urgently.

“You’re interested in the strangest things. I’ve done it with people like Charles from the neighboring district, or Marcus.”

“How old is Charles? And Marcus?”

“Why does that matter?”

Shana let out a small laugh and began cleaning up the tools. Charles was a thirteen-year-old boy. Marcus was a seventy-five-year-old man.

But that was patient confidentiality. Even the heir of a grand ducal house didn’t get to know everything.

Lucian followed her closely.

“It matters.”

“It doesn’t.”

“If it doesn’t, then you can tell me.”

Ignoring whatever was going on in his head, Shana headed for the cabinet.

Just as he was about to press her again, he noticed the bottle in her hand.

A scar-removal salve.

Lucian’s eyes widened slightly.

Shana spoke seriously.

“It’s medicine to fade scars. Stay still.”

Lucian stiffened for a moment, then obediently closed his eyes.

He’d suffered from skin conditions as a child. Shana applying medicine like this wasn’t new.

Just something from a long time ago. That was why it wasn’t her fault that she was now conscious of his body.

‘Growing up all big and strong in the ducal house, eating all the good food. That’s cheating.’

Shana grumbled internally, her own small stature a sore point.

Still, she applied the white cream carefully so it would absorb properly.

“With this many scars, I’ll run out of medicine.”

“…I didn’t think you’d care about my scars.”

“Oh? You thought I was that cold?”

Her expression soured.

Lucian hurried to explain.

“I didn’t reply to your letters…So I thought you didn’t care about me anymore.”

‘So the letters did reach him.’

He really had ignored her on purpose.

“I’m not doing this because you’re my friend. I’m doing it because you’re a hero.”

Even at her sharp retort, the smile on Lucian’s lips didn’t fade. If anything, he looked pleased.

Shana spoke irritably.

“Anyway, if you keep applying it, the scars will fade. Have your aide handle the rest.”

She was about to hand him the remaining bottles, then stopped.

“Two silver per bottle.”

“…You’re selling it?”

“I don’t run a business by digging gold out of the ground.”

“I’ll take ten.”

As expected of high nobility. No sense of money.

‘That was ten times the market price.’

Humming internally, Shana said,

“I’ll bring ten.”

‘Did I always stack them this high?’

Shana was a genius apothecary, but she had one fatal flaw.

She was terrible at organizing.

That was why countless bottles were piled on the upper shelves.

She knew exactly where everything was.

The problem was reaching it.

“Ugh…”

She stretched to grab the bottles.

Her slender ankles and calves trembled noticeably.

Anyone could see how unstable she looked.

Lucian spoke up.

“Shana, wait. I’ll just—”

“No, I know where it is. Ah, found it—huh?”

At that moment, as she pulled one bottle free, the others tilted.

Then they came crashing down.

“…Oh?”

Several shattered, slick liquid spilling across the floor.

“Ah!”

“Shana!”

Her foot slipped on the fallen bottles.

Losing balance, she grabbed Lucian instinctively.

Thump.

“……?”

When she opened her eyes, she was sitting on Lucian’s lap.

More precisely, her back against his chest, her hips resting on his thigh.

“Shana, are you okay?”

Unaware of anything else, Lucian was only concerned about her injuries.

Shana’s face flushed crimson in an instant. She tried to get up quickly to escape the embarrassment—

Then froze.

‘…What is that?’

She felt something unmistakable. A hard presence impossible to hide even through fabric.

Her body registered it before her mind did, making her thoughts short-circuit.

“Ah… this…”

Lucian’s troubled voice sounded behind her.

“I’m sorry, Shasha. I didn’t mean to.”

Even when she closed her eyes, her mind filled in the details vividly.

‘Why is it already… like this?’

Even a rough estimate told her one thing. It was far too big.