Chapter 6
Chapter 6
First Meeting (5)
There’s a saying called the butterfly effect.
I never imagined that a small flutter in the forest last night would bring about this kind of aftermath.
A peaceful morning.
What knocked on my window wasn’t the refreshing chirping of birds.
It was the thick, fishy stench of a predator at the top of the food chain climbing over my window frame.
"Ian! Don’t die, Ian!"
The door burst open as if it would break, and Kara rushed in.
"Ian! Are you here? Please take this!"
The moment the door opened, I saw Kara with dark circles hanging down to her chin.
In her hands was a grotesque box filled with bottles of pitch-black liquid.
"...What is this? Terrorism this early in the morning?"
"It’s eel extract. Not just any eel—premium stuff made from bull eels caught in the mountain rapids! I stayed up all night using the forge heat to boil even the bones down, so drink this and regain your strength!"
The moment the box lid opened, the air in the room became contaminated.
The color was abyssal black.
The smell was like boiled swamp mud.
Drinking this wouldn’t give me strength—it would sever my ties with the living world.
"Kara, I’m really fine—"
"Ian... you don’t have to say anything. I saw everything yesterday in the forest."
"No, what did you even—"
"Shh! Be quiet. That witch might be listening from somewhere."
Kara’s eyes were filled with deep sympathy.
I had no idea what kind of monstrous narrative my acting from yesterday had turned into inside her head.
"That noble lady... no, that witch. Even after what she did to you! I saw it all. The miserable sight of you rolling on the ground begging for your life! How harshly that silver-haired witch treats you...!"
She wiped her tears and forcibly shoved a bowl into my hands.
"No, even so, this is—"
"You don’t have to say anything! Don’t force a smile! It’s breaking my heart!"
I stepped back.
It was fine that she saw me as a pitiful boy, but I never imagined the side effect would be forced eel extract consumption.
"Ah..."
They say life looks like a comedy from afar but a tragedy up close.
This is exactly that.
"Kara! What is that disgusting smell you’re spreading in front of Ian’s house?!"
At that moment, Millie, the florist’s daughter, appeared holding flowers and something else.
In her hands were bright bouquets and sweet-smelling imported sweets, completely contrasting Kara’s eel extract.
"Ugh... what is that? It smells worse than a rotting sewer! Kara! What are you trying to feed our fragile Ian? He’s already weak, and you’re giving him something so barbaric!"
"Barbaric? This strengthens muscles and bones—"
"What Ian needs isn’t muscles, it’s rest! Look at his complexion! He’s pale like paper!"
Millie cupped my cheeks, almost in tears.
I was just tired from sparring late into the night with Yuki.
"Millie, move if you don’t understand! This isn’t the time to talk about rest. Ian... our Ian is dying!"
At Kara’s shout, Millie’s face instantly turned pale.
"Ian! Dying? What’s wrong with you?"
Kara dragged Millie to a corner and began recounting her wildly exaggerated version of yesterday’s events.
"I saw it! Early yesterday morning, Lady Yuki pinned Ian against a tree and threatened him with a sword! Ian was crying and begging her to stop, with his shirt buttons undone!"
Even I, who was there, wondered if that really happened.
But Millie’s face filled with horror.
"...His buttons undone? Begging?"
"Yes! And the noble lady looked at him like a predatory beast and threatened, ‘Next time I’ll bring a real sword!’"
The basket in Millie’s hands fell to the ground.
"Lady Yuki... she came here to recuperate looking all pretty, but she actually has a sadistic hobby of torturing beautiful boys?!"
"Exactly! Ian was crying and begging for his life, but she said, ‘You can’t leave until I’m satisfied!’"
"Oh my... oh my!! No wonder Ian’s been looking so pale lately!"
Flames ignited in Millie’s eyes.
Though she usually scolded Kara for being foolish, in the face of this “truth,” they instantly formed an alliance.
"Don’t worry, Ian. Kara and I have joined forces. We’ve formed the ‘Ian Protection Squad’ to protect you from that witch!"
I instinctively rubbed my face.
The world was going in a strange direction.
Yuki’s mansion, office.
Yuki frowned at the noise coming from outside.
"My lady. The village girls are protesting at the front gate. They say you’ve been calling Ian out every night to torture him."
At the maid’s report, Yuki’s eyebrow twitched.
"Torture...? Me?"
"Yes. A girl named Kara claims she saw you hitting Ian with a sword in the forest yesterday."
Yuki stared blankly for a moment, then a strange smile formed on her lips.
"Hehe... torture, is it? So the rumor is that I’m tormenting him?"
She looked out the window, staring at her slender white fingers.
The more the villagers misunderstood, the more it felt like the ‘secret’ between her and Ian grew stronger.
"Good. No need to clear up that misunderstanding."
Putting on her outerwear, Yuki stepped outside.
At the front gate, Kara holding a bowl of eel extract and Millie leading the protest stood facing her.
"What is all this noise so early in the morning?"
Her icy voice cut through the air as she approached, lightly tapping a whip against her palm.
At her voice, Kara shouted while gripping the eel extract.
"Lady! Stop tormenting Ian! No matter how noble you are, treating a man like that is the worst!"
Yuki narrowed her eyes.
She glanced at me, then seemed to understand the situation and smiled beautifully—almost cruelly.
"Tormenting him? I’ve only seen this boy for the first time since the boar incident. Isn’t that right, Ian?"
At Yuki’s shameless attitude, even Millie joined in.
"That’s a lie! Lady! Let Ian go right now! And tell us what you’ve been doing in the forest every night—right here!"
"Ah, it seems you’ve found out."
Wait, my lady? Why are you admitting it there?
"Ian. Was I a bit harsh yesterday? But your reactions were so... enjoyable that I might have gotten carried away."
"W-what... what?!"
At Millie’s shout, Yuki lifted her chin arrogantly.
Then, she deliberately took out Ian’s handkerchief from her pocket—the one dropped during yesterday’s spar—and pretended to wipe her lips with it.
"What do you mean what? We’ve simply been spending time together that’s far more... intense than you can imagine."
"...!!"
Silence fell over the square.
“Intense time” meant training between master and student, but in the girls’ minds, countless wild fantasies exploded.
"Y-you witch...!"
"Ian is my teacher... no, my personal sandbag. It’s not a matter for commoners like you to interfere in."
After adding fuel to the fire, Yuki glanced at me.
Then, for some reason, she stared at the eel extract in Kara’s hand before grabbing my wrist and pulling me along.
"Ian, let’s go. I’ll invite you to my mansion."
"It’s daytime, my lady. People are watching—"
"It doesn’t matter. The rumors have already spread."
This girl is enjoying this.
More than her reputation falling as a villain, she was pleased to have a reason to monopolize me.
Yuki leaned close to my ear and whispered.
"The village girls are making a fuss about saving you. What do you think? Do you want to be saved? Or do you want to keep being ‘tortured’ by me?"
Her eyes were full of amusement.
Looking at Kara holding the eel extract and Millie sobbing, I thought—
Being with Yuki is still better than this.
I quietly took Yuki’s hand and entered the mansion.
From behind, Kara’s desperate shout echoed.
"Ian—!! Come back alive! Tomorrow I’ll make black goat extract for you—!!"
Starting with Kara’s cry, Millie collapsed on the spot and declared dramatically.
"This is war. Starting tomorrow, we’re going on an indefinite hunger strike in front of the lady’s mansion! We won’t eat a single meal until Ian is returned!"
Beside her, Kara, somehow already preparing a black goat, muttered,
"Ian, just wait a little. If eel extract doesn’t work, this black goat will save you..."
At the mansion entrance, one line I casually said to Yuki—later relayed by a maid—pushed the misunderstanding to its peak.
"My lady. What is it today?"
I had only been asking about lunch after training.
But to Kara and Millie, it sounded different.
"Ian... that poor boy. How used to suffering must he be to ask about torture first..."
"How horrible! Ian, just hold on a little longer... we’ll definitely save you!!"
In the imagination of the Protection Squad, I had already become a tragic martyr suffering under whips and torture.