Chapter 126
“Why that person?”
“I needed his help.”
I smiled brightly and sat up in bed. I didn’t want to lie down because the bed was damp from the water I had sprinkled to simulate cold sweats.
“More importantly, let’s look at Norman’s leg. Is it badly hurt?”
“I-I’m fine. Cadin looked at it.”
Norman waved his hands dismissively and smiled broadly. But soon his eyes welled up with tears, and he clutched the hem of his shirt, hanging his head low.
“It’s because of me… we were late, so why are you being so kind to meee…”
“Huh? Well, we’re friends, so of course I’m worried.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry Normaaaan, waaaaaah…”
Suddenly he burst into loud sobs mid-sentence. Since I had no talent for comforting crying people, I just blinked in confusion, and as his wailing grew even louder, I finally managed to say something.
“I-I’m fine, so please don’t cry.”
“Hic, Normaaaan…!”
Small Norman pushed Cadin aside and ran toward me. While I was having the stupid thought of ‘Wasn’t his leg injured?’, Norman leaped into my arms.
“Ack!”
To be precise, he fell toward me with a scream. In any case, I awkwardly spread my arms to catch him, but Luwen, who had slipped in between us, lightly caught small Norman and set him upright.
“Your leg is injured. Be careful.”
He didn’t forget to add a warning. Thanks to that, I quietly lowered my arms that had nowhere to go from behind Luwen’s back.
“Waaaaaah…”
I tugged slightly at Luwen’s collar and asked.
“What happened?”
“Well…”
As it turned out, Eliuna grows in deep forests, and only near stagnant springs. But the water couldn’t be too clean either, so they spent a lot of time finding a spring that met the conditions.
‘That’s why Linder couldn’t find it.’
After discovering the spring, the group split up to search for Eliuna. While Luwen was on guard against threatening animals or monsters, the three guys scattered.
“We agreed to meet back at the spring, but Norman didn’t return.”
“You have no idea how anxious we were looking for this kid.”
Nadian added an explanation while vigorously messing up small Norman’s hair.
“After searching, we found Norman who had fallen down a slope and couldn’t climb back up.”
“Is that when you hurt your leg?”
“Y-yeah… I found Eliuna and, in my excitement, I hurried and tripped over a tree root. It’s because I acted stupidly that we were late.”
Small Norman still had tears welling up in his eyes.
“When I saw that No-Norman was missing… I was really, really scared… but thank goodness, really thank goodnesss…”
Oh dear. He’s going to cry again. With tears ready to pour out again as if he had reloaded, I smiled earnestly and praised small Norman.
“You must have had a hard time.”
“Don’t even mention it. It wasn’t even out of the forest yet, the sun had set, it was hard to move quickly because we couldn’t see ahead, and Luwen kept hurrying us. I thought I was going to die.”
At Nadian’s grumbling, I looked at Luwen, who turned his head away in embarrassment.
“That’s not all. After leaving the forest, we kept running. Even when we told him to go ahead without us, he wouldn’t listen.”
Nadian, who had been grinning at him, excitedly tattled to me as if reporting.
“He said if anything happened to us, Norman would be sad. But because he was worried about Norman, he kept yelling at us to run without resting. I thought I was going to die running!”
“…My legs are still trembling.”
Cadin chimed in, shaking his head. I wonder how much he pressured them for even the reticent Cadin to add something.
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Hey, no need to be sorry. This will all be memories later. By the way, don’t your rashes hurt? There are quite a lot, do you want to look in a mirror?”
Thanks to Nadian’s joking, the gloomy atmosphere lifted.
“No, it’s fine. Why would I want to see that?”
Looking at Luwen’s expression, it seemed quite serious. It seemed better not to look, as it would only make me worry unnecessarily.
“It seems you don’t need to take Red Farin.”
Hmm, so you figured it out.
“It’s a poison, but couldn’t I take just a little bit? I think it would be better if I had a fever too.”
“Let’s just use hot wet towels. I’ll go prepare them.”
That doesn’t seem like it would work… Luwen didn’t want to discuss the Red Farin issue further, so after stating his opinion, he left. It was a firm refusal that seemed unlikely to be persuaded.
“By the way, was it a bad idea to tell Luwen what Red Farin is?”
Nadian asked in a lowered voice.
“Huh? No, not necessarily. Why?”
“When I said it was a poisonous herb, his expression turned bad. Like he was going to kill… no, beat someone up.”
I wonder if I should thank him for toning it down, considering Luwen’s image.
“He looked so angry that we followed him reluctantly. We were afraid you two might fight. But in front of you, he doesn’t show it?”
“That’s because he has a kind personality. He was probably just surprised to hear about poisonous herbs.”
“You’re the only one in the entire academy who would call him kind.”
Nadian contorted his face while digging in his ear as if he had heard something unbelievable. At that reaction, I just smiled ambiguously. I didn’t want to explain how kind and gentle Luwen was. It was enough that I knew.
‘…Though I think I might dislike it if he acted kindly to people other than me.’
The moment I imagined Luwen leaving me behind and taking extreme care of others, my mood soured.
‘It’s a scene I’ll have to watch someday.’
How am I like this already? I barely managed to swallow the sigh that almost escaped.
* * *
“Your Highness, Escardo is here. May I enter?”
“Come in.”
The 1st Prince turned his head toward Alteo, who was fanning himself while all dressed up.
“You come back later.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Alteo, thinking of the imperial etiquette he had learned from Fei in crash courses, elegantly bowed and stepped backward. After leaving a certain distance, he turned and walked carefully to ensure his footsteps made no sound.
‘Is this person Adrian’s father?’
The necklaces hanging on his short neck looked very heavy. Not just necklaces, but he was wearing so many accessories that they made noisy jingling sounds with every step. It seemed like one could notice the Count from far away when he walked.
‘His Highness is rather modest in comparison, is it okay for his subordinate to be like that?’
Alteo thought that if he were of higher status than the Count, he would have torn off all those noisy accessories, as he left the room. Only then could he properly straighten his back.
‘Anyway, the fact that the Count came alone means the fake illness worked? Against those professors?’
He had directly heard the order to bring Fei while standing nearby. However, having properly caught the 1st Prince’s eye, he had no time to go warn him.
While anxiously worrying about being blamed for this incident, yet remaining faithful to the Prince of higher status, he suddenly heard that the young master had fallen ill. Intuitively, he thought that clever young master had pulled another trick.
‘He’s really exceptional when it comes to cunning.’
He wanted to go see how it was done out of curiosity, but because the 1st Prince’s attendant approached, he had to postpone it.
Meanwhile, Count Escardo, who had entered the room, reported what he had seen and heard to the 1st Prince.
“Norman’s illness is real. The medical department professors examined him but couldn’t determine the exact cause.”
“When will he recover?”
The Count swallowed nervously.
“That… they say it’s currently unknown.”
“His face?”
“It was beautiful. Especially the combination of purple eyes and black hair was exquisite. Even with the rashes making it unsightly, I can say his appearance was top-tier among all those I’ve dealt with.”
The 1st Prince, reclining on a long chair, snickered.
“You say that because you’ve never actually seen Duke Vinter and his son. People from that family are generally unlucky, but their appearance is undeniably beautiful to the point no one can dispute it.”
The 1st Prince slowly licked his lips as if regretting a feast he couldn’t eat.
“But since he has status, he’s of no use to us. In contrast, Norman is an orphan without any relatives, so if he disappears, there won’t be any problems.”
The 1st Prince recalled the report he had received from the Count a few days ago. Though he couldn’t see the face properly due to limited movement, he had said there was a silver-haired nobleman wandering inside the mansion.
‘I confirmed they’re not the same person, so I could have played with him as I pleased. What a shame.’
If he had a bit more time to stay, he would have been willing to wait until the boy recovered.
However, while he was away, he received a message that the 2nd Prince was planning to accompany the Emperor on an incognito tour. And unfortunately, it included areas with unreported mines, so he had no choice but to shorten his schedule here. He had to follow the Emperor’s incognito tour.
It would be foolish to throw away his important cards just to take a mere commoner.
“The house is being prepared according to schedule, right?”
“Don’t worry.”
Seeing the Count’s malicious smile, the 1st Prince nodded with satisfaction.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
