Chapter 32
Chapter 32
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: #6 Nursing (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Elric began groaning as he looked over the documents.
Tiria watched him quietly.
From a quick glance, they appeared to be related to the year-end settlement.
As it was a settlement, the documents were likely summarized overall, but their importance went without saying.
Suddenly, Tiria felt uneasy.
It wasn't that she didn't trust Elric, but what if he, inexperienced with such matters, made even a single mistake with the numbers? The cleanup would be several times harder.
She might even have to redo the work multiple times.
As her anxiety grew, Tiria's body gradually leaned toward Elric.
That was the moment.
"Ah, ahem! I'll handle it myself!"
Elric covered the documents with his arm.
He looked just like a child trying to hide side dishes at the dinner table.
Why did he seem that way, despite his large build and unmistakably masculine features?
"...I haven't taught you the settlement yet."
"I've learned enough so far. I'll figure it out!"
"Are you confident?"
Her scraping tone was the kind Tiria often used when instructing.
She wasn't aware of it herself, but it carried a subtle aura that intimidated others.
Cold sweat beaded on Elric's forehead.
Tiria narrowed her eyes.
"It's fine to put off the work. It's fine to be slow. But mistakes are not acceptable. These are important documents."
"Th-that is..."
"I asked if you're confident."
Elric couldn't bring himself to say yes and shook his head.
But it wasn't complete surrender.
"Still, no. Let me try it first and only ask about the parts I don't understand. You need rest, my Lady."
Tiria froze in place.
*Again...*
He called her "my Lady."
Such small gestures touched her heart, making her lose the will to press him further.
Tiria let out a sigh and nodded.
"...Ask about anything you don't know."
"Got it!"
Elric nodded vigorously with a confident expression.
He then turned his gaze back to the documents.
"...Then, can I ask about just one thing first?"
He immediately started with the questions.
Tiria had so much she wanted to say, but thinking she needed to build his confidence, she held back.
However, after just five minutes of answering, he asked another, and this continued for an hour, pushing her patience to the limit.
In the end, Tiria spoke up.
"If that's how it's going to be, then let me just..."
"Ahem!"
"..."
What was she to do with his damn stubbornness?
Tiria fell deep into thought.
*
Despite the incidents, Elric gradually grew accustomed to handling things alone.
Over those few days, all Tiria did was answer his increasingly infrequent questions or steal glances at him while pretending to look out the window.
It had to be that way.
Elric had forbidden everything else.
A few representative anecdotes came to mind.
"I'd like to at least read a book..."
"No. Looking at letters will make your head hurt."
She'd requested her hobby of reading, but it was refused.
"Then embroidery..."
"Concentrating will strain your head."
Even her pastime of embroidery was banned.
"Just a bit of fresh air outside..."
"Do you want your cold to get worse?"
Even a few minutes of fresh air was prohibited—who even thought that would worsen a cold?
Tiria finally realized something.
Elric saw her as a delicate glass figurine that would shatter at the slightest touch.
It was nice that he worried, but being treated purely as someone who needed constant care wasn't pleasant.
More than that, he acted childish himself—how could he treat her like a child?
Countless thoughts crossed her mind about his behavior, but in the end, Tiria said none of them aloud.
It wasn't all bad, after all.
Take the current situation, for example.
"Your fever's finally coming down."
He was pressing his hand to her forehead.
At such close range, he smiled just for her.
Once, she'd dreamed of this as something unrealizable; later, as something that would never happen. Now that it was real, a gentle happiness enveloped her.
When she confirmed his tawny eyes holding her image, a sharp thrill pierced her chest.
At such times, Tiria had to struggle to keep her melting expression in check.
As long as their hands touched, she endured that torment, yet prayed this moment wouldn't end—her own foolishness made her chuckle wryly.
Their time together growing longer was so satisfying.
"How's your condition?"
"I think I can work now."
"No, you can't."
"But I..."
"Rest."
Elric's smile deepened.
What he said next was utterly sweet.
"No moment has made me realize more than now how much you've suffered for me. I feel guilty about it. That's why I'm doing this. See it as my apology."
There were questions she wanted to ask.
*Is it really just guilt?*
*Are there no other feelings for me?*
*Why do you smile at me so warmly?*
She rehearsed them one by one, then erased them.
Instead of embarrassing words, she spoke a bit stiffly.
"Then at least let me read a book now."
"Hmm... As long as it's not too difficult. What do you want to read?"
"There's a brown-covered book on the second shelf from the top. Could you get it?"
Elric fetched the book.
*"Compendium of Plants."*
"Yes."
Tiria took the book and stroked the cover.
Having read it for over eighteen years, it was worn everywhere from her touch.
"Hmm, don't read too long. It's about time for bed."
As he said, it was growing dark outside.
Tiria nodded.
"You go rest. I'll read a little and sleep."
"Alright. See you tomorrow."
Only after Elric left the room did Tiria open the book.
No matter where she opened it, the content was familiar, so her hand flipped the pages without hesitation.
If asked why she reread what she already knew, Tiria's answer was simple.
It wasn't about memorizing the content—it was about reliving the memory of first reading it.
*-If you don't know, study!*
She gradually sank into the memory.
*
It was a life with nothing good about it.
Even now, it was mostly filled with unpleasant things, but at eight years old, Tiria lived in such misfortune that she couldn't even grasp why she was alive.
There was one reason.
Her small world of House Weibin was far too harsh.
If asked to recall that era of House Weibin, only one thing came to Tiria's mind.
*Smack!*
"How can you fail even at this!"
Corporal punishment.
"I clearly told you to master it by today. Lady Weibin, did you really study hard?!"
Tiria remembered that era of House Weibin through corporal punishment.
"Present your calves!"
"...Yes."
Tiria had received etiquette lessons since she could walk alone.
The teacher was a countess renowned in that field, and her parents had paid a fortune to hire her, so they expected Tiria to make it worth the cost.
Tiria still remembered her father's words.
"Acquire the dignity of a noble. To marry into a good family, you must never hold a book."
Tiria didn't know why she had to marry into a good family.
She didn't know why she couldn't open her mouth wide while eating, why she had to mind her gait, or why she couldn't raise her voice.
From a very young age, she'd heard such things, so she thought it natural.
She only realized later, as an adult, that those days were abuse—so it's obvious what the young Tiria did.
"I'm sorry..."
Tiria always had to apologize.
For food on her lips, for running around, for nodding off in the morning, for not going straight to sleep at night.
That day was the same.
Tiria hadn't kept up with the countess's etiquette lessons and received punishment on her calves.
The difference from usual was that it didn't end there.
"Your progress is slow, Lady."
The countess complained to her parents that she was behind her peers, bruising their pride.
They happened to be drunk. And they were the petty sort who couldn't utter a word against the countess.
The incident happened after the countess left.
"You can't even do that much! After all we've invested!"
*Smack!*
At eight, Tiria was struck in the face for the first time.
It wasn't just once or twice.
She remembered at least ten blows.
"Why! Why don't you understand our feelings!"
The slaps were brutal, the voice savage, the large frame intimidating.
As always, Tiria apologized.
"I'm sorry!"
But even clinging and crying didn't stop the violent hands.
That day, her face swelled like a steamed bun, unrecognizable, and she spent the night in pain and fear.
That's why, perhaps.
She broke the strict order never to leave the mansion and sneaked out.
Probably to seek help from someone.
"Hnng..."
Tiria limped out of the mansion on calves swollen from the switch.
With her bruised, steamed-bun face, she wept into the street.
Elric was the boy she met exactly that day.
"What's this ugly kid?"
Now, she lived every day groaning in love for him, but
"Wow... Can a person look like that?"
In hindsight, Elric's first impression was the worst.