Chapter 182
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 182
"My body..."
Gabriel tried to move on instinct, only to gasp. To his surprise, his limbs moved exactly as he willed them to. He widened his eyes and stared at Pudding.
"How did you do this? Didn't you say healing was impossible?"
"Does this look like healing to you?"
"...It's not?"
Gabriel flexed his fingers, clenching and unclenching his fist. They moved without any trouble. Yet, just as Pudding had pointed out, the scars from his injuries remained exactly as they were.
He had suspected there might be another way, but what kind of trick was this?
"Just how..."
Pudding replied, "Do you know what a puppet is? That's what your body is like right now. I've attached invisible strings to your limbs, but their ends are connected to your mind. They move according to your will, so it only looks like you're healed at a glance."
It was nothing more than a trick.
A puppet...
Gabriel carefully tried to stand. His ankle buckled, and he collapsed with a thud. He staggered like a newborn fawn.
"It's... quite difficult to move."
"Did you think it would be easy?" Pudding sneered, looking down at the fallen Gabriel. "You have ten days left—actually, the sun will be up soon, so make that nine. I've attached the strings, so you'd better get used to controlling them."
*
As expected, a good night's sleep cleared my head. I wanted to kick my blankets in embarrassment over the pathetic display I’d put on yesterday, but with Canna right there, I had to settle for screaming internally.
"My lady, did you sleep well?"
Canna helped me out of bed, her eyes even warmer than usual. Her gaze was so incredibly gentle—as if asking, Are you feeling better now?—that I wanted to crawl right back under the covers. Avoiding her eyes, I looked around for Pudding.
"Where is Pudding?"
"Lord Pudding is with Sir Gabriel."
My stomach churned the instant his name left her lips. The memory of last night's embarrassing confession choked me. They must have gotten quite close, I noted idly.
If I was this mortified in front of Canna, I might actually look for a mouse hole to crawl into the moment I faced Gabriel. Then again, considering my history of being defeated by ‘The Rat,’ there were bound to be plenty of mouse holes in the duke's estate.
"Is Sir Gabriel awake?"
"Ah, yes. He has been awake since early this morning."
He's injured, so why couldn't he just sleep in? Feeling a lump in my throat, I sipped the tea Canna handed me and steeled myself. Okay, let's just be shameless. I have nothing to be embarrassed about. Act natural. Repeating this mantra, I stood up.
"He hasn't had breakfast yet, has he?"
"Pardon? Ah, yes. Not yet."
"Then I shall have breakfast with Sir Gabriel."
"Yes, my lady. I will have it prepared."
Canna left to fetch the meal from the kitchen. Since Gabriel hadn't been able to eat properly in the dungeon, he would need something easy to digest, like soup. And since his hands didn't work... I'd have to feed him. I couldn't just let a patient starve. It couldn't be helped, right?
Throughout the short walk to the room next door, I kept brainwashing myself. I have absolutely no ulterior motives. Feeding him is no different from what I've been doing all along. It's just like throwing bait to a fish in my aquarium. The fish is sick now, so I'm putting in a little more effort. That's all.
"Come in."
A voice answered my light knock. Before I could even turn the handle, the door swung open. Pudding had opened it the moment he heard my voice.
"Lady Evangeline!"
I patted Pudding's head as he greeted me with a bright smile. I had told him to sleep in another room yesterday, so he must have stayed with Gabriel instead. My poor cat was suffering so much because of his useless master. Passing him, I looked into the room.
"...Sir Gabriel?"
I doubted my eyes the moment I saw him standing there, looking perfectly neat and tidy.
I blinked, but the scene didn't change. Am I still dreaming? Since I couldn't exactly slap myself, I bit the inside of my cheek. I must have bitten too hard, because a sharp pain flared and the metallic taste of blood washed over my tongue. This wasn't a dream.
"My lady."
Gabriel, dressed immaculately in his knight's uniform, strode toward me. There wasn't a single wobble in his gait. He greeted me with a polite nod.
"Did you have pleasant dreams last night?"
Last night? As in, the night I succumbed to my emotions and ranted to him about things I should have kept in a diary? I was so shocked that the embarrassment didn't even register. If that really happened last night, how on earth was Gabriel walking around perfectly fine after just one night?
Seriously, is this not a dream? How could he be moving so normally?
Holy water didn't work on Gabriel. I knew this better than anyone, having tried to heal him multiple times. Feeling my pupils tremble, I narrowed my eyes to hide my agitation. "Are you feeling all right?"
Did he swap with Rico again? No, if that were the case, he wouldn't know about last night. Besides, Gabriel wasn't the type to blab about things that would embarrass others. And if it were Rico, I would have noticed immediately. No matter how many times I scrutinized him, the person standing before me was definitely Gabriel.
"Thanks to your concern, my lady."
My question hadn't been out of pure concern; it was a demand for an explanation. Yet all I got was a polite thank you. That's not what I'm asking!
I whipped my head toward Pudding, who surely knew the answer.
"How did he manage this in a single day? Tougher than a weed, this bastard..." Pudding muttered, staring at Gabriel in disgust. The moment our eyes met, however, he startled and quickly put on a docile smile.
"Pudding?"
"Yes, Lady Evangeline?"
It was a pure, innocent smile that seemed completely devoid of malice, but somehow it felt suspicious. Surely Pudding isn't controlling him with telekinesis? I knew Pudding was an outstanding shaman, but looking at Gabriel now, you wouldn't even be able to tell he was injured. Just how delicate could that control be?
"Pudding, did you help Sir Gabriel?"
I was asking if he was assisting him with telekinesis, but Pudding just shook his head.
"His wounds aren't healed. I just thought it would be uncomfortable for him to lie around like a corpse, so I did something so he could move. That bastard Gabriel... I mean, Sir Gabriel will be able to move as he wishes."
So it wasn't the telekinesis I had imagined. He used another method? Some secret technique passed down among the beastkin? Pudding explained how Gabriel was moving, but I tuned out the complicated parts, only catching the word "puppet."
So he really was moving through some alternative method rather than his own physical strength. It would be best if his wounds healed, but since holy water didn't work, the fact that Gabriel could move of his own accord was something to be incredibly grateful for.
"Patient, are you aw—ake...?"
Of all times, the door burst open. Hyssop stepped into the room, saw Gabriel standing there perfectly fine, and dropped the flowerpot in his hands with a crash.
Putting aside why on earth he had brought a flowerpot in the first place, I had absolutely no idea how to explain this. Why did he come in without knocking?!
"Ah, Mr. Hyssop," Gabriel called out awkwardly.
Hyssop rubbed his eyes, denying reality. "...Am I not awake yet? I'm seeing things." He laughed hollowly and took a step back. Seeing Gabriel—on whom holy water didn't work—standing perfectly fine in just one day, he seemed to have instinctively realized he had witnessed something he shouldn't have.
"My lady, I brought breakfast."
He seemed to be looking for an escape route, but Canna blocked his path from behind as she carried in the breakfast tray. She had unintentionally cornered him.
"Oh? Um, what is going on here?"
As expected of my Canna, she tilted her head with a bright smile, showing not a single hint of panic. It was adorable to me, but to Hyssop, she must have looked like terror incarnate. He stared at Canna with a pale, terrified face, but Canna was equally bewildered to see someone trembling over a shattered flowerpot. I felt the need to sort this out.
"Canna, I'm sorry since you just got here, but could you bring some cleaning tools?"
"Yes, my lady. I'll be right back."
Canna set the breakfast tray on the table and hurried out. I then turned my gaze to Hyssop. The moment our eyes met, he let out a loud hiccup.
"Hyssop."
"...Hic... Y-Yes!"
"First, come inside."
I told him to come inside in case he tried to run, but Hyssop immediately dropped to his knees and shuffled forward on them until he was right in front of me. No, who told you to kneel?! Why is he doing things I didn't even ask him to do?
Was it a mistake to have threatened him a little, fearing he might run off and expose Gabriel to Bishop Marik?
Hyssop, pale as a ghost, looked ready to prostrate himself right onto the dirt and shattered shards. I quickly urged him to clean up the floor instead if he was going to do that. Having survived among the people of the Rohanson mansion—who cried for mercy if I so much as breathed—I had learned how to handle these situations. If I tried to be kind to clear up the misunderstanding, he would only find it more terrifying. It was better to just put him to work.
"..."
When is Canna coming back?
Standing there silently, staring down at Hyssop as he cleaned up the broken pot by himself, made me look like a total bully. But if I offered to help, he would probably freak out and beg me not to, and I couldn't ask anyone else. Gabriel, the patient, was out of the question. Pudding had turned back into a cat the moment Hyssop walked in, so he was out, too. And with Hyssop right here, Pudding couldn't use magic.
Let's look on the bright side. Hyssop was the one who broke the pot, so he was just taking responsibility for his own mistake. Who told him to open the door without knocking? And why bring a cumbersome flowerpot in the first place? Hyssop brought this entirely on himself. I was absolutely not bullying him.
Hyssop first rescued the plant from the pile of dirt and shattered shards. His touch was incredibly gentle.
A sudden curiosity struck me. I had assumed he brought it for decoration, but seeing him handle it so preciously made me wonder. I didn't know the first thing about plants, but could it be some kind of medicinal herb?
"What kind of plant is that?"
"I-I'll clean it up right away!"
I was asking about the species, but Hyssop must have thought I was rushing him. He fumbled in his panic and sliced his hand on a sharp shard.
Ah, I made him bleed just by talking to him.
"You should be careful. What if you act so carelessly that it leaves a scar?"
"I will never, ever tell the temple! Please, just spare my life!"
See? I try to show some concern, and he gets even more terrified. Come to think of it, maybe this wasn't even because of the "villainess" setting, but just my natural constitution. Maybe I was born with an exceptionally intimidating aura.
"If you keep your mouth shut, you won't get hurt."
Of course, I meant that I would keep my mouth shut about this. I'll keep quiet, so just don't get yourself hurt.
But Hyssop took it as a threat, turning even paler and nodding vigorously.
"Y-Yes, ma'am..."
He was utterly defeated. Withered like a dying leaf, he silently swept up the floor. Well, keeping quiet was fine, but I had asked what kind of plant it was. Shouldn't he at least answer that?
If I asked nicely again, he would only go off on another terrified tangent. I decided to take a more roundabout approach.
"Hyssop, if you hadn't brought that flowerpot, none of this would have happened. This is entirely your fault."
I deliberately adopted a mocking tone to provoke him. I wanted an answer, even if I had to resort to this.
Sure enough, Hyssop raised his voice as if to protest. "T-This... there's a reason for this!"
"Indeed. Why did you bring it?"
Hyssop clenched his fists in frustration, only to cut his hand on a shard once more.
No, seriously, just tell me why you brought it and what kind of plant it is!