Reenacting the Unsolved Case: And Thus, Death Smirks

"I care more about you than my own body, Lady Mary. If you know it's dangerous, please make a life contract with me before we reach the mansion. Otherwise, I won't be able to serve as your substitute."

"Life contract... is that like a substitution pact? I've seen something similar in other worlds."

The shinigami questioned Kaito, and he affirmed in his thoughts. At this moment, Mary remained perfectly still—time was clearly stopped. Moreover, Kaito found his own body couldn't move either.

It seemed only conversation was permitted regarding actions with her.

Life contract–the initial pact a magician forms with their servant. The servant takes on any effects that would impact the magician's body. This includes not just injuries but curses and even death. While the servant's death nullifies it, the magician can also release the contract themselves.

However, this act exposes the magician to danger, so ordinary magicians never sever the life contract with their servants. Additionally, if the servant and the magician become separated by more than a certain distance, the substitution becomes impossible. That's why magicians always keep their servants close.

"So that's why you never suspected your fellow servants. Since the servant would die before their magician could be killed."

As the shinigami said, Kaito had never suspected the servants. His relationship with Mary was rare, and there was a possibility that servants might resent their magicians.

Still, bound by the life contract, servants would die first. Even if they tried to kill their master, the effect would rebound on themselves.

"Absolutely not!! As your master, I forbid it. The life contract might be the very cause of your poor health. If we put any more strain on your body, you could die..."

Mary's face looked ready to cry, and Kaito couldn't say anything more.

Kaito's illness was similar to a curse. He absorbed excessive amounts of external magical power. Yet this magical power never enabled him to use magic himself.

Magical power varied in nature, and for Kaito's body, it was nothing but poison. If he could use magic, he could expend the power, but being unable to do so meant the poison just accumulated.

Mary managed to keep him going by extracting some of his magical power into her own body. But even for her, the compatibility wasn't good–after absorbing it, her own health would suffer.

Kaito's death came because the magician who took him in couldn't–or wouldn't–absorb his magic. They saw no need to sacrifice themselves for a servant.

"Besides... if another magician would treat Kaito, I'm willing to give up my inheritance rights. I won't participate in any conflicts."

But Mary never returned to Kaito. Could her words have been doubted as lies? Or perhaps the magicians, suspicious of where loyalties might lie, had disposed of her.

"...Lady Mary. Please don't tell the other magicians that. They're likely to suspect you of lying and become suspicious. Please call me by my old number instead of my name. It becomes troublesome when they judge someone different from themselves as foreign. Please!!"

Because Kaito knew about the incident, he warned her to be cautious, even though he knew it was futile. Though reality couldn't be changed, it seemed he intended not just to find the culprit in this simulated world but also to save Mary.