Chapter 174
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 174
Nice assist. I gave Pudding a mental thumbs-up. I couldn’t just let the doctor go. If I let him leave without any precautions, he might head straight to the Temple.
Not that I had any intention of letting someone who could treat Gabriel leave in the first place, but nipping a potential problem in the bud like this… isn't this exactly what the Duke would do? I guess blood really does tell. I’ve ended up resembling him in the strangest ways.
I grabbed the young doctor's shoulder in a tight grip. At my touch, he flinched in terror. So he was scared of me. Good. Let’s keep it that way. It had been a while since I’d shown my villainous side, so I decided to lean into it.
"What is your name?"
I had heard their introductions earlier, but Kalmia was the only name that had stuck. When I asked again, the young doctor gritted his teeth and replied.
"...Hyssop."
"Right, Hyssop."
I put my weight into my hand, pressing down on his shoulder. I squeezed hard enough to make his knees buckle, but not so hard that he would actually collapse. Then, I stared into his eyes, as if trying to pierce right through them.
Hyssop froze, utterly paralyzed with fear. He couldn't even lower his head, his body rigid. He began to tremble violently, shaking like a leaf in the wind.
"Are you planning to run to the Temple and report that Gabriel, the Commander of the Pararos Knights, is here at Duke Hosaquin's Estate?"
"...No, I am not."
"No? But didn't you just confess with your own mouth that you were going to run and tell?"
"Wh-when did I ever say that I would...!"
"You said so just now. 'You want me to deliver the final blow when they're already calling us heretics? Especially now, in the middle of a pagan massacre? I don't want to die.' How strange. You're terrified of being branded a heretic and killed, yet you aren't afraid of me?"
I repeated his exact words back to him in a flat, monotone voice, adding a threat at the end. All the color drained from Hyssop’s face.
"We are the only ones who know Sir Gabriel is here. Unless someone talks, how would the Temple ever find out, let alone brand you a heretic and kill you?"
"I had absolutely no intention of doing that! I'm not like those bastards who sell their patients' privacy!" Hyssop sounded genuinely indignant.
From the sound of it, there really were doctors who treated their patients' conditions as commodities to be sold. No doubt they fed information to the Temple under the guise of reporting heresy. Hyssop clearly despised such people, so his anger at being lumped in with them was understandable. I knew well enough that he was innocent.
After all, he was a doctor the Duke had personally arranged for, and he had kept Lady Agera's affairs a secret.
"But how can I believe that when there is no trust between us?"
Still, I couldn't let someone who knew Gabriel had escaped the dungeon—and worse, that holy water didn't work on him—roam free. At the very least, Hyssop wouldn't be leaving until Gabriel recovered or Bishop Marik fell.
"You brought us here against our will...!"
"Let's get our facts straight. It was my grandfather who brought you here. Besides, I gave a clear warning before opening that door, and you were the one who chose to stay."
Hyssop was left speechless. It was true; I had warned them. Even if he felt wronged, there was nothing he could do.
"If you want to leave, then save Sir Gabriel. No matter what."
Hyssop clamped his mouth shut. He had realized that the fastest way out of the Duke's estate was to cure his patient.
"...What if I try to pull something on the Commander?"
"I don't trust you personally, Hyssop, but I trust your pride as a healer. I doubt you would play petty tricks on a patient."
Of course, this wasn't so much trust in Hyssop as it was trust in the Duke who had hired him. There was no way the Duke would have let anyone with impure intentions near Lady Agera live.
Hearing that I didn't trust him as a person but trusted him as a doctor, Hyssop made a strange face—a scowl warring with the twitching corners of his mouth. Finally, he nodded.
"If... if I manage to cure the Commander, will you ap-ap-apologize to me...?"
"I will give you my gratitude instead of an apology."
"...Very well, then."
He hardly deserved an apology from me. Hyssop seemed satisfied enough with the promise of gratitude and backed down.
Turning away from me, he began to examine Gabriel, as if determined to focus solely on his work. Kalmia, who had handed the reins to Hyssop like passing a baton, approached me. She didn't seem to find me scary at all, even after witnessing our exchange.
"You did well to tame Hyssop," she said, sidling up to me like a sycophant. "He might not look it, but Hyssop is the most skilled among us."
That was surprising. Cliché-wise, I had assumed either the eccentric Kalmia or the elderly doctor would possess the greatest medical knowledge.
"Otherwise, how could someone so young stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us?"
I was skeptical at first, but watching him work proved Kalmia right. Hyssop was highly skilled, with a particular knack for compounding herbal medicines.
I could see why the Temple had hounded him, calling him a heretic. To them, his custom-made medicines must have looked like a direct challenge to holy water—the grace only God could bestow. It threatened to crack the myth that only divine power could truly heal.
Thanks to the three of them working through the night, Gabriel's fever finally broke by the next morning.
Now that I could breathe a sigh of relief, it was time to face the people I had been avoiding by using Gabriel as an excuse: Lady Agera, who had asked to see me, and Mavka, who had reportedly spent all of yesterday rolling on the floor and wailing.
I wanted a moment to mentally prepare myself, but the instant I stepped out of Gabriel's room, I ran right into Mavka standing in front of my door.
Hazel hung her head with a look of sheer dismay. Ah, of course. Gabriel's room was right next to mine. Mavka had been glaring at his door with a venom that didn't suit her age, but the moment she spotted me, she rushed forward.
"Mavka!" Hazel cried, unable to stop her.
"You took my mom, didn't you, Lady Rohanson!" Mavka shrieked, beating her tiny fists against me. I felt bad for the sobbing child, but her blows were like cotton balls; they didn't hurt at all. I carried her into my room, still clinging to me.
"...Where is Mom? Mom...!"
As she cried out sorrowfully for Rico, I couldn't very well explain that her mother was locked in a dungeon in Gabriel's place.
"Give me back my mom... Please give Mavka's mom back..."
Her blows gradually weakened until she was just clutching the hem of my dress, hanging on and sobbing her heart out. Pudding watched the crying child with disgust.
"Should I erase her memories?" he asked. "If she's going to be this sad, wouldn't it be better if she didn't remember at all?"
...Oblivion was a blessing.
I was momentarily tempted by his suggestion, but I shook my head. I didn't want to deceive Mavka any further. She was the very reason I had chosen to remain at the Duke's estate. Yet, ironically, she had become the most miserable person in this mansion. I was agonizing over how to compensate for her mother's absence—and whether such a thing was even possible—when a small lump rustled inside Pudding's coat and leaped toward Mavka. It was the rat transformed from Rico's finger.
Sensing something, I stopped Pudding as he tried to subdue it. The rat tilted its head, then nudged Mavka's leg.
"A rat?"
Having no good memories of rats, Mavka shrank back in fear and clung to me, wanting to be held. But when the rat spoke, her eyes went wide.
"...Ma... vka..."
"...Mom!"
The voice coming from the rat was unmistakably Rico's. She had said it could serve as a telephone, and indeed, it allowed for real-time communication. Perhaps because it was a part of her body, she even seemed to share its field of vision.
Mavka looked at the rat and didn't doubt for a second that it was her mother. I couldn't tell if it was just a child's imagination or if Rico was using her ability on Mavka, much like how Lady Agera had perceived the rat as Amaranth.
The rat climbed up Mavka's body and settled on her shoulder. Then, it whispered a secret into her ear.
"Mavka. You mustn't trouble Lady Rohanson. You see, Mom is hiding for a very secret mission."
"A secret mission?"
"Yes. Just like what you did before."
She seemed to be referring to the time someone from the Temple had approached Mavka to leak information about the Duke's estate. Mavka fell for Rico's words hook, line, and sinker.
"So, you shouldn't cry just because Mom isn't here. If you cry, Mom will worry, and the secret mission might fail."
"The secret mission must never fail..." Mavka stopped crying and sniffled as she replied. "Then, what should Mavka do so Mom's secret mission succeeds?"
"I shouldn't cry, and I have to listen to Lady Rohanson!"
"That's right. You know it well. Good girl, my beloved daughter."
At Rico's whispering, Mavka smiled like sunshine. But none of the adults watching the scene—myself included—could bring themselves to smile.
The rat wiped away Mavka's tears with its tiny paws. Its fur became soaked with her teardrops, making it look like a drowned rat.
"Then when is Mom coming back?"
The smooth, silver-tongued responses came to a grinding halt. Rico hesitated, and I answered instead.
"She'll be back after you sleep for ten nights."
Mavka spread both of her hands wide and held them out to me, asking if the number ten meant all the fingers on both her hands.
"That's right. Just like your ten fingers."
Rico, who had gone off to die, didn't seem to understand why I would say she was coming back. She was probably glaring at me with resentment, thinking I was giving her daughter false hope.
The rat on Mavka's shoulder scurried down and tried to climb up onto me.
"Where do you think you're going?" Pudding scowled and grabbed the rat by the scruff of its neck. As the rat squeaked, he sighed, placed it on his palm, and brought it close to my ear. The rat whispered softly.
"You shouldn't have lied."
A lie, huh... I watched Mavka, who was so busy folding her fingers to count that she hadn't even noticed the rat leaving her shoulder, and changed the subject.
"Lady Agera's memories have returned."
"...Lady Agera? Is that true?"
"Yes. I haven't seen her yet, but my grandfather said so. It must be true."
"Then..." Rico's voice trailed off, filled with anticipation.
"As long as Lady Agera remembers you, there's no risk of you losing control to the rat. Which means you don't have to die."
Of course, this was my own unilateral decision, made without consulting the Duke.
"..."
Rico was speechless. First I had tried to kill her, then I had pushed her into the jaws of death, and now I was telling her to survive. From her perspective, my fickle whims must have made me seem like her worst enemy.
"I will come back for you, so hang in there, Rico."
Instead of speaking, Rico nodded through the rat. I couldn't tell what she was thinking.
Just then, the door burst open. Before Canna could even scold the intruder for not knocking, Hyssop cried out, his eyes shining.
"Lady Rohanson! Sir Gabriel has opened his eyes!"