(Orlax's POV)
Alice's newly red eye stared at me curiously, trying to understand the figure standing before her.
She removed her hand from my face as I started to step back, ready to leave.
"Wait."
I didn't turn to her, but I remained standing near the door, listening.
"Thank you for allowing me to see again. I am truly grateful for your kindness. How can I repay this great debt?"
"There's no need. I've already received my reward."
There were two reasons why I helped Alice: first, to have the Grand Duke on my side, and second, to have Alice's ability under my control.
And there was one small, other reason—I wanted at least one person to know what kind of person I really was.
When Alice touched my face earlier, she must have uncovered a lot about me—maybe even things I didn't know about myself.
Perhaps, because of this desire, I wanted to help her so much that I gave her my right eye.
In the end, I am human too—I wanted at least one person in my life to understand me.
After ignoring the confused Alice behind me, I opened the door and was greeted by the girl's family, who remained lying on the bed.
As soon as Armanthur saw me, he approached while carrying the sleeping sera in his arms.
"Your Majesty, how is she? How is my daughter?"
I didn't answer immediately. Instead, I carefully took the sleeping sera from his arms and held her gently.
"Go and see for yourself."
After saying those words, they all rushed into the room.
I heard the sound of crying behind me, but I ignored it all and continued on my way outside.
I found Alex talking about something with Leonardo, the head servant of House Zephyrius.
When they saw me, they bowed in greeting, and Alex went to fetch the car.
I remained standing silently beside Leonardo until I heard footsteps approaching from behind.
"Your Majesty, please wait."
Armanthur came running from behind and spoke with a tone filled with gratitude and appreciation.
"Thank you for your sacrifice, Your Majesty, for allowing my daughter to see the world again. I swear I will do my utmost to repay this debt."
"We had an agreement, Grand Duke, and I have fulfilled my part. Only your part remains."
"Of course, Your Majesty. After the coronation ceremony, an engagement party will be held. As for the wedding date, you may discuss it with Alice."
"That's good. Also, inform Alice that she may see me whenever she wishes, and you all are welcome as well. Just don't let me see your wife—I don't know what I might do."
"I will inform her. Thank you once again."
After waving my hand at him, I entered the car, closed the door, and asked Alex to drive.
As I was lost in thought, gazing at the city, I felt movement in my arms and looked down at sera, who was beginning to wake up.
"Papa."
As soon as she saw me, she hugged me tightly, clinging to my neck firmly.
"Alright, alright, I'm here, don't worry."
'I'm sorry, sera, for making you cry today. And I apologize for what will happen to you in the future because you are my daughter. But I swear to you, one day, you will walk the streets with confidence, and instead of receiving looks of hatred and disgust, everyone will look at you with love and gratitude. That is my promise to you.'
This was my first promise in life, and as soon as I spoke it, a blue screen appeared before me.
[Trait Activated: Loyalty]
[Loyalty: You will always keep your promises and never betray those you trust, regardless of circumstances and challenges. Thanks to this trait, you gain the skill {Loyalty scale}.]
'It seems this only reassures me further.'
I comforted sera until we reached the palace, then entered my room after asking Alex for food.
After finishing our meal, sera fell asleep, so I asked the maid Lyra to take care of her and headed to the training grounds.
'It's been several days since I trained. I feel a little restless.'
I arrived at my personal training grounds and headed to the storage area.
I took out two rings from the storage and returned to the field.
After placing the rings on my arms, I tapped them with my finger and felt my body become slightly heavier.
I continued tapping until it became difficult to move.
Several particles appeared before me, and the Dark Moon Sword materialized in my hands. I began swinging the sword in different stances.
I transitioned from an overhead strike to a thrust, then started practicing defensive movements until the sword fell from my hands, too heavy to lift.
In my previous life, it would have been impossible for me to train with such intensity and not give up.
But thanks to my traits [Patience] and [Cold Blooded], this has become easier for me, and with the help of old Orlax's memories, I gradually got used to it.
After finishing sword training, I sat cross-legged and began meditating on mana.
I removed the bracelets from my wrists and started levitating them with control magic.
I continued doing this until all the mana in my body was depleted.
When I finished, I dragged my exhausted body back to my room, quickly showered, and threw myself onto the bed beside the sleeping sera.
Fatigue overtook me, and I fell asleep swiftly.
As the sun rose in the morning and its light fell on my face through the window, I woke up slowly and turned to see sera bouncing on the bed, urging me to wake up.
As soon as she saw me awake, she threw herself joyfully into my arms, and I looked at her in bewilderment.
'Is this girl stupid? Doesn't she have the [Genius] trait like me? When I was her age, I never did things like this.'
After dismissing the thought of sending sera to the hospital to check her mental state, I sent a message to Alex, asking him to come to my room.
I ordered him to prepare breakfast for sera and informed him that I would only eat one meal every three days.
I also asked him to bring me something to cover my right eye, which I had kept closed all this time.
The reason for my decision to stop eating regularly was that I wanted to rely on mana to nourish my eye so that it would become an artifact. I decided to eat only one meal every three days because I simply liked food.
After a while, Alex entered the room with Lyra, who carried a tray of food, and handed me a black cloth.
"Alex, are you mocking me right now?"
"I wouldn't dare, Your Majesty."
"Then what does this mean?"
"I don't understand, Your Majesty. What do you mean?"
I held up the black eye patch that Alex had given me and looked at him slightly annoyed.
"A black eye patch—seriously? Do you think I'm some kind of pirate?"
"If that's what you mean, Your Majesty, don't worry, there's a pink one too. Would you like me to get it for you?"
"Stop, stop. Keep the black one. Don't bring the pink one."
After surrendering to my fate, I put it on in silence.