Morgan pressed her hand against her waist, where the dagger had pierced her. Though the bleeding had stopped, and the wound was beginning to heal on the outside, the pain remained searing. Moreover, the irritating voice inside her head continued to torment her.
This couldn't go on!
Morgan gritted her teeth, her cold eyes filled with thought. The constant mental anguish made it hard to think clearly. She had to find a way to gradually eliminate that annoying voice, or else, what difference was there between her current state and being dead?
Though she didn't want to, she had no choice but to use special methods to alleviate her situation.
She hoped she wouldn't run into any problems during this time.
Morgan first cast a healing spell on her abdomen, speeding up the recovery of her wound. Once she confirmed that the injury was no longer life-threatening, she placed her hand on her forehead. Now came the most critical part—creating a simulated personality, temporarily placing her original personality deep within her soul.
As long as she didn't face any extreme stimuli or life-threatening danger, her conscious mind and soul could slowly wear down the curse. She hoped this process wouldn't take too long. Even if this state was used to fight the curse, it would be much more effective than her usual method of struggling against it for a day or two.
Morgan certainly hadn't come to this decision lightly. She'd considered everything. Since she had been saved, it meant she wasn't in any immediate danger, and the person who saved her didn't seem to have hostile intentions.
And that boy... Whatever his reasons, she was safe for now.
Moreover, after creating the simulated personality, although she might make some basic mistakes in common sense, and her character might differ from her original self, she believed she could still distinguish between the good and the hostile.
Simulating the personality didn't mean her strength would decrease. On the contrary, given the circumstances, allowing the simulated personality to act while her thoughts and consciousness remained free from the curse would make her stronger than she was now.
For now, she decided to trust this boy, who was possibly related to her in some way. At least it felt safer to follow someone like him than to let the simulated personality act on its own.
The magical array enveloped Morgan's head, as if writing a sequence of fairy-like symbols. The array flashed, and soon, a simple simulated personality was created over her soul and consciousness.
This personality was both Morgan and not Morgan, more like a tortured shadow of herself—without self-awareness, only able to think based on the mindset Morgan had provided.
Her eyes, once filled with a bit of sorrow and helplessness, suddenly became colder, even showing a hint of dullness.
"Ah, you're awake?"
Melusine, holding breakfast in her hands, entered the carriage. She looked up and saw the black-clad woman sitting inside, her long golden hair cascading over her shoulders, her dull eyes coldly staring at her. She looked almost like a finely crafted doll.
Melusine furrowed her brow slightly. She felt something was different about the magus before her compared to when she first saw her.
However, despite her confusion, Melusine ultimately deferred to Aslan. She turned to him, who was grilling meat, her tone tinged with a slight sarcasm. "Aslan, the female you saved is awake."
Aslan sighed and put down the meat. "Don't misunderstand. She and I are, in some sense, related. Besides, whether I can learn magic and improve myself enough to help you... that depends on her mood."
In truth, Morgan hadn't been Aslan's first choice as a magic teacher. Based on what he knew about Morgan in normal human history, she wasn't a particularly open-minded magus. She could even be called ruthless. Moreover, she would later become a key figure in the Arthurian legend.
The more he interacted with such figures, the more likely he was to become entangled in the huge changes to come.
Aslan didn't want to get involved in the Arthurian legend. After all, he still had many years ahead of him. He could wait for the end of the legend and then spread his name across the island and continent. By then, his chances of being targeted by the suppression forces would be much lower.
However, meeting Morgan had caused Aslan's thoughts to change. Now that he was involved in this world, he knew any small action would influence the original timeline. Instead of letting the world deviate while he wasn't paying attention, he decided to intervene himself and maintain the original course of events.
Had he not trusted his instincts, Morgan would have died here, and he would have regretted it forever.
Although Aslan hadn't initially considered Morgan as a teacher, he had to admit her abilities were extraordinary. Just from her creation of Mordred—an artificial being with its own thoughts and soul—her magical prowess was unmatched by anyone he knew.
Now that he had saved Morgan, once the news spread, he would likely be on the blacklists of many magi. But, given that he had saved her, he felt he could at least learn something about magic from her.
"You're awake? How do you feel?"
Morgan lifted her head, and as if following a sequence, she began to assess how she should respond. However, the simulated personality, though modeled after her, was still direct in its speech.
"Uther's bastard child," she said, "I don't like owing anyone favors. If you want something, you can ask, but I doubt you're foolish enough to anger me."
Hearing this, Aslan was stunned. Was Morgan really this kind of person? And who was Uther's bastard child?