The White Wind Sings (3)
The White Wind Sings (3)
#63
"Do-yun, Do-yun, Do-yun, Do-yun~ How long has it been! Where on earth have you been all this time?"
".................."
"Who's that guy?"
"He's with Lady Rubel?"
"Why is a man coming into the lecture hall?"
"Shh, the professor is watching."
The professor teaching at the blackboard spoke coldly.
"Quiet, back there."
Elysia, of course, paid absolutely no attention whatsoever.
"Do-yun~ Over here!"
Please, just be quiet...
The stares pouring in from every direction stung. Eyes brimming with curiosity, openly contemptuous gazes, looks of sheer disbelief...
Just as that barrage of emotions was about to skewer me, I heard Rubel's low voice.
"Eyes front."
At Rubel's stern command, far more intimidating than the professor's, most of those eyes reluctantly swivelled back toward the blackboard.
Rubel let out a very short sigh, then gestured to me with a flick of her hand. Over there — go stand as far away from Elysia as possible.
I had a feeling that ignoring her would land me in serious, irreversible trouble, so I headed for a back-row seat as far from the silver-haired girl as I could get.
Rubel walked over and sat down directly in front of me.
Well, fortunately, nothing much else happened after that.
Aside from the fact that Elysia's fervent gaze aimed in my direction distracted me for the entire lecture.
To be honest, I didn't understand a single word of the content.
All I did was watch a professor babble what sounded like an alien language while students copied it down.
I just passed the time worrying about pointless things — like how even if I studied here for ten years, my brain probably still couldn't manage to become a mage.
***
"That concludes today's lecture."
With those words, the professor who had been teaching up front left the lecture hall.
And in that instant,
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!!!!
Elysia charged right up to me.
"Give me Do-yun!"
"............"
The entire lecture hall felt like it had frozen solid.
I learned for the first time today that a room made of warm wood could turn this icy cold.
Silence.
The other apprentices staring at the three of us all looked like they had things they desperately wanted to say,
but, conscious of Rubel's presence, they stayed frozen in place like statues.
Elysia clasped her hands together tightly and her small lips started moving.
"Give me Do-yun. I saw him first!"
Since when am I yours.
Rubel shot back icily.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because it's a bother."
"That's your reason?"
"Is there a reason it can't be?"
Elysia puffed out her cheeks enormously and protested.
"Do-yun is someone I had my eye on first. I even ran experiments on him! And I haven't been able to check the results for ages, so something terrible might have happened. So give him to me."
"I'll handle that myself. Stay out of it."
A razor-sharp rejection.
Moisture immediately began welling up in Elysia's amber eyes.
Mm.
I had intended to keep my mouth shut and stay out of it,
but seeing the girl's face on the verge of tears made my resolve crumble for no good reason.
Well, helping out just this once probably wouldn't hurt.
Rubel didn't seem particularly keen on dragging me around everywhere anyway.
"... Lady Rubel, may I say one thing?"
"You're already saying it."
Guess I'll just go for it.
"Please allow her to monitor the progress of the experiment Lady Elysia has been conducting. Wouldn't it be far more convenient for you, Lady Rubel, to leave me in Elysia's care rather than personally escorting me around?"
A bold proposal.
Would she actually accept it?
The red-eyed woman looked down at me wordlessly for a moment, then let out a short sigh.
"Starting tomorrow, you can take him around."
"Huh?"
"I'm too annoyed to deal with it, so you handle dragging him around. Got it?"
With that, the woman called Elysia, whose mouth had frozen wide open, glanced back at her once, gave a short wave of her hand, and followed Rubel out of the lecture hall.
Behind me, what sounded like a tremendous uproar erupted, but honestly, it wasn't my problem.
"... That was unexpected. I didn't think you'd agree so easily."
The woman walking ahead replied without so much as a glance my way.
"I just made a rational choice. Taking you around myself is more bothersome."
So coldly pragmatic.
On this point at least, she seemed to take after Risie a bit...
"From tomorrow, you'll be with that woman. Once your daily schedule is over, come to the infirmary entrance. I'll only call on you on days when I have separate experiments to run on you."
At that, I stopped walking without thinking.
"So that means I can head back to the mansion now?"
Rubel finally halted her steps and half-turned around.
"You seem to be misunderstanding something. I never said today's business was finished."
"Pardon?"
"Huh?"
"Mother told you to visit House Rosenheim, didn't she? She'll have already contacted them by now."
Ah.
"Follow me. Don't make me repeat myself."
"Ah, yes."
#64
Apparently, not every Count House held territory on the prime land of Arcanum.
After leaving the Academy and walking for quite some time, buildings resembling an ancient castle began coming into view in the distance.
It was the Rosenheim family mansion.
True to its alias, Rosenheim of the Verdant Garden, the mansion — with dark green ivy crawling thickly over its pale stonework — looked exactly like a castle from an old fairy tale, long abandoned deep in the forest.
It couldn't have been that long since Arcanum revealed itself to the present era.
And yet it somehow looked even more ancient than that.
As I was thinking this while approaching the mansion's main gate,
a servant who looked like a deeply wrinkled old grandmother was already bowing her hunched back in greeting.
"Young Lady of Valenor, we have been expecting you."
"I came to see the Head of House."
At Rubel's words, the servant replied courteously.
"My apologies, but Lady Sione Rosenheim has said she must step away for an urgent outing and will be gone for approximately one hour."
Rubel's brow furrowed.
"She's not here?"
"No. However, the message sent by Countess Valenor has already been relayed. On behalf of the Head of House, Young Lady Lily will be receiving you first."
Lily?
Ah.
That girl they said they weren't even sure had grown pubic hair yet—
Damn. Risie's way of talking has rubbed off on me.
Anyway, this was probably about Rosenheim's heir, who hadn't even enrolled in the Academy yet.
"The dinner hour has arrived, so we shall escort you to the dining hall."
Oh!
I was already starving to death anyway.
***
***
***
Having skipped both breakfast and lunch and walked around all day, my stomach was about to stick to my backbone.
When we entered the dining hall, lavish dishes the likes of which I had never seen in my life were filling the table.
But how exactly was I supposed to eat any of this?
My arms wouldn't move.
While I was fretting over that, light footsteps echoed from beyond the corridor.
Pat-pat-pat-pat.
I turned my head without thinking and looked down the corridor.
And froze—
Rubel's head stopped turning at the exact same moment as mine.
The figure entering the dining hall—
......was a child.
Even being generous, she didn't look like a high schooler in modern terms, let alone a middle schooler — just a little kid.
Who was it?
It couldn't be Lily.
Wasn't Lily supposed to be the one healing my memories...
Maybe a child raised by the servants?
Hair as white as snow and blue eyes.
The doll-like, tiny, adorable young girl opened her small mouth.
"Hello!!!!"
***
***
***
Right as that bright, high-pitched voice rang in my ears, I turned my head to look at Rubel and saw she was wearing an equally flustered expression.
If there were a scale for measuring surprise and bewilderment via Rubel's facial expressions,
what I witnessed yesterday — her own mother's vulgar creampie verification — would probably clock in at a 10 out of 10.
Her current expression was roughly at a 9 on that scale.
In other words, she was fucking shocked.
No way.
"Allow me to make introductions. This is Young Lady Lily Rosenheim."
"............"
"............"
This little girl?
The one who's supposed to restore my memories?
As Rubel and I failed to hide our dumbfounded expressions, the child called Lily beamed brightly and puffed out her chest.
"A face I've never seen before! I'm Lily Rosenheim!"
"............"
"... M-may I ask how old you are, Young Lady?"
The young girl spread all ten fingers wide without a moment's hesitation.
"Lily is ten!"
#65
The dinner began in earnest.
Though there were only three people eating.
Freshly baked bread and warm soup, dishes made from the meat of unidentifiable animals, and vegetable dishes sprinkled with all sorts of spices.
A level of haute cuisine I had never experienced in my life filled the table.
The problem was that I still couldn't move my arms.
My two once-mighty arms just hung there limply, completely drained of strength, taking up space.
How am I supposed to eat this.
Did I have to eat like a dog?
That probably wasn't an option either.
I glanced to the side and saw Rubel pick up her utensils without the slightest hesitation and begin eating as naturally as could be.
The faint scrape of metal against porcelain seemed unusually loud.
Fuck. I wanted to eat too...
There was no chance Rubel would feed me, was there...?
It honestly seemed more likely that Rubel and I would have some filthy sex while spouting every obscenity imaginable
than that she would spoon-feed me every bite herself.
When I looked at Rubel again, our eyes happened to meet.
"What?"
One short, icy word...
Ah.
It was nothing.
But I really was hungry...
All kinds of thoughts raced through my head again.
Would Rubel actually kill me if I asked her to feed me just one bite?
Even if she didn't kill me, she would at least stop treating me like a person.
Her expression had already answered the question anyway.
And asking the servants would have been awkward...
Where would I even begin explaining this?
Forget it.
I would just go hungry for a day.
The best option was to return to House Valenor and have Risie Maman feed me with an 'Ahh.'
As I resigned myself to that and stared down at the table, Lily, seated across from me, opened her eyes wide and stared intently in my direction.
"Why aren't you eating, big sis?"
Big sis... Well, she probably still knew nothing about men.
Apparently, her mother hadn't taught her about them.
"My arms won't move."
Lily looked back and forth between my face and my limp arms, then quickly made a face of realization.
"Aha!"
Had she figured it out?
Would she, at least, feed me?
As though she had noticed what I wanted,
Lily immediately hopped down from her chair and scampered over to me.
"Then Lily will feed you!"
I nodded at once.
"Thank you."
The gratitude came straight from the heart.
Was Lily a god?
Heave-ho—
Looking utterly delighted, Lily dragged the empty chair beside me closer and climbed onto it.
Then she stabbed a piece of meat with her fork and held it out in front of my mouth.
"Here, ahh—"
I obediently opened my mouth.
The meat entered my mouth.
...It was fucking delicious.
"Good, right?"
"Yes. Thank you very much."
"Right? The food at our house is delicious!"
It wasn't as if you had made it.
While I chuckled inwardly, Lily was already targeting the next dish.
This time, she tore off a piece of bread, soaked it thoroughly in the soup, and thrust it toward my mouth.
"Eat this too!"
"Ah, yes—"
"Aah—"
I opened my mouth without resistance.
But then...
"Mmph."
Wasn't that piece of bread a little big?
A much larger piece than expected went in all at once and filled my entire mouth.
As I struggled to chew it, Lily's eyes sparkled like stars, apparently convinced I was eating well.
"Big sis eats really well!"
"...Thank you."
"Then this too!"
Wait.
I hadn't swallowed yet—
"Ahh—"
In it went.
This time, vegetables joined the bread. Hot juices seeped from them and flooded my mouth.
"Mmph, mmph—"
I hurriedly chewed and swallowed.
Lily watched me with satisfaction, then became completely carried away.
"You eat so well!"
No.
I wasn't eating well. You were shoving it into me.
"Meat again this time!"
"Ah, wait—"
"Ahh—"
In it went again.
...This was force-feeding born from excessive affection.
Still, I appreciated it.
I truly did.
The only problem, separate from my gratitude, was that this ten-year-old had no consideration whatsoever for how much a human mouth could hold.
"...Stop cramming it in. You're going to choke him."
Rubel finally cut in with an icy remark.
I barely managed to swallow what was in my mouth, then coughed softly.
"Cough, cough... No. I'm fine."
I wasn't fine, though.
Even so, I truly was grateful. Lily was the only person willing to feed me instead of letting me starve in this situation.
Lily turned toward Rubel with an extremely aggrieved expression.
"Lily is doing a good job!"
"A good job? I can't tell whether you're feeding him or stuffing him."
"This big sis said it was okay too!"
Her blue eyes instantly locked onto me.
I kept my mouth shut for a very brief moment, then cautiously nodded.
"...Yes. I'm eating gratefully."
At that, Lily immediately beamed again.
"See!"
She even raised her chin in victory, looking every bit the child she was.
Rubel let out a quiet sigh and reached for her water glass, apparently deciding that saying anything more would only tire her out.
She set the glass down and spoke with studied indifference.
"By the way."
Those two words slightly weighed down the air in the banquet hall.
Rubel's red eyes faced forward.
"Can this child really treat him?"
The question probably wasn't directed at Lily.
I thought it was aimed more at the servants waiting around the banquet hall—and at the master of Rosenheim, who had yet to show herself.
Lily merely blinked, fork still in hand.
"Treat him?"
"Yes. This slave's memories."
Rubel gestured toward me with her chin.
"That's why we came here. Yet the only person who appeared was a ten-year-old child. Don't you think we deserve an explanation?"
The banquet hall fell silent for a moment.
Just as one of the servants approached from behind and cautiously began to speak—
"I will explain."
A warm, gentle woman's voice flowed into the banquet hall.
Every gaze turned toward the door at once.
***
***
***
The woman standing in the doorway looked as though she belonged in this enormous old castle more than anyone else could.
She had snow-white hair and green eyes that resembled Lily's except for their color.
Though she wasn't dressed particularly extravagantly, the very place where Rosenheim's master stood carried a presence that naturally dominated the entire room.
Lily cried out in delight.
"Mom!"
Ah.
So that woman was...
Sione Rosenheim.
Rosenheim of the Verdant Garden.
Sione slowly entered the banquet hall. She looked first at Lily, who sat pressed against my side holding a fork, and then at me, sitting obediently in front of her.
The faintest smile formed on her lips.
"How amusing."
After gently stroking Lily's head, Sione turned her gaze toward Rubel.
"Forgive my lateness, young lady of Valenor. Something required my attention."
Rubel skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point.
She was remarkably bold. She must have had tremendous faith in her mother's influence.
"Then tell us now. Can Lily truly restore this slave's memories?"
Sione was silent for a moment.
With one hand resting on Lily's shoulder, she spoke quietly.
"Lily is still young. It will be another ten years before her Unique Magic fully blossoms. Even after that, she will need a long period of training."
Her voice remained calm.
"So the Lily of the present cannot directly interfere with that child's memories."
As expected.
Rubel and I both looked as though we understood at once.
Rubel immediately cut to the conclusion.
"Then this trip was pointless..."
"No."
Sione's green eyes quietly shifted to her daughter.
"If the Lily of the present cannot do it, you need only meet a better Lily."
For a moment, the banquet hall went silent.
Rubel's brow furrowed.
"...What do you mean?"
Sione did not answer immediately.
Instead, she brushed her fingertips once down Lily's shoulder beside me.
It was a touch that seemed to regard both the small child before her and someone who had yet to arrive here.
Then she spoke as casually as could be.
"Lily from twenty years in the future should be able to restore the memories of the child you brought without much difficulty."
What had I just heard?
Even Rubel looked briefly lost for words.
Lily only stared with rounded eyes, fork still in hand.
"Me, twenty years from now?"
Sione smiled faintly.
"Yes. By then, restoring his memories should be more than within your ability."
No.
Hold on.
What exactly would be more than within her ability?
Why did she say that as though it were perfectly obvious?
Surely she wasn't telling us to wait twenty whole years from this moment.
Before Rubel or I could ask anything, Sione fixed her gaze on me again.
Clear, cold green eyes.
"Finish your meal."
She quietly added,
"Restoring this man's memories will not take as long as you think."