Withered Flowers Bloom Again (4)
"If I hadn't, you would have killed me and gone after Baekseol and Nihala next."
...Th-that... no one can know for sure...
She could say whatever she liked, but she knew it herself. Back then, Scarlet had been a full-blown war-addicted madwoman. Now that she no longer had eyes to witness the horrors of battle or a tongue to taste blood, her addiction had been cured by force.
"Anyway, treatment first."
I'm a vampire, you know? What kind of treatment do you think they do in a Holy Kingdom...
"I know that much. For something simple, I can handle it myself. I'll treat you in the infirmary. The nuns are busy enough dealing with people in worse shape than you."
No thanks. I'm not lending my body to a bastard like you, so get lost.
"Your opinion isn't my problem."
Blood was pooling past the pants of the woman who sat collapsed on the ground, glaring at me. For all her talk, she looked ready to pass out any second. Vampires might possess recovery far beyond a human's, but she was only a half. Leave her like this and she might actually die.
"So... where was the infirmary again..."
Let go!! Put me down!! You dog of a—
The racket started up in my head again, so I blocked it out.
I hauled the endlessly whining Scarlet over my shoulder and carried her into the infirmary. The priest who was supposed to be stationed there was nowhere to be found—busy with other medical support, no doubt—so I dumped her on an empty bed and assessed her condition.
"Hmm... full-body fractures and contusions, ruptured organs, second-degree burns. Spine's broken too."
[There also appears to be damage to her reproductive organs. Why aren't you mentioning that?]
...And how exactly am I supposed to bring that up. It'll heal on its own while I treat everything else.
However crude Yoru's comments were, Scarlet was still a woman. Some things deserved a little discretion.
Touch me and I'll kill you. Look at me and I'll kill you. I'll just kill you.
Though her eyes were wrapped in red bandages—how was she even looking at me?
Snip— snip—
Ignoring her, I fetched scissors and cut away the blood-caked clothes. Beneath them lay pale skin that did not match the scars scoring it—and, layered over those, the fresh wounds of a thorough thrashing.
Ah, for fuck's sake... I should just bite my tongue and—oh. Right. I don't have a tongue.
"Then maybe don't stick your tongue out mid-fight."
Then how the hell is a vampire supposed to suck blood, you piece of shit.
As I recalled it, she hadn't even been drinking blood—she'd just been sticking her tongue out—but saying that would only earn me another magic blockade, so I swallowed the remark.
"This is going to hurt a bit."
Can't hurt worse than when you cut my tongue out, you son of a bitch.
"..."
How did she always have to get the last word?
Crack— grind—
"...Nngh..."
I realigned the broken bones, gripped her waist, and used impact magic to set the spine. For all her bravado, Scarlet couldn't hide the pain; a moan slipped free. No matter how many times you set bones, the pain never got easier to take.
Once the bones were in place, the rest was straightforward. I splinted them in the correct orientation, wrapped bandages, applied ointment to the worst burns, and poured mana into the ruptured organs to stimulate her recovery.
"That should do it."
Die. Go somewhere and drop dead. Fuck... fuuuck...
"Sigh... Fine. I'm leaving."
Staying any longer would only fill my head with more curses, so I pulled a blanket over her and started for the door.
W-wait...
"What."
Ch-change my bandage for me.
"What? I already wrapped all the bandages."
Not those, you idiot. The ones over my eyes. The medicine's starting to wear off.
"Medicine?"
Ugh, are you going to keep asking questions? Just do what you're told for once.
"..."
Tell her you'd do it and she said not to; refuse and she ordered you to. I never knew which beat I was supposed to dance to.
Here. These are the sealing bandages that keep the eyeballs you so kindly cut out from running wild. Cut them to size and wrap them.
"...Fine. Whatever."
Click— click—
I raised the bed so she could sit upright, then peeled the blood-stiffened bandages from her face.
"..."
A scar ran from the outer corner of her left eye, across the bridge of her brow, and all the way to the outer corner of her right.
What, you bastard. Feeling guilty now that you're looking at it? Forget it and just wrap the damn bandages.
"You really know how to talk..."
I cleaned the dried blood from her face, took the red bandages she had given me, and carefully wound them around her eyes. The moment I finished, a low hum rose from the cloth as mana began to flow through it. The first time I'd seen them, the power must already have been spent.
There. You can get lost now.
"Haa... I'm really going."
Yeah~ Not even a little sad about it~ Hurry up and leave~
What was she, a child?
If I stayed with Scarlet any longer, I was going to turn into one myself. Honoring her wishes, I stood and opened the infirmary door.
...Thanks.
"Maybe try talking that nicely more often?"
I glanced back. Scarlet was holding up her middle finger.
Yeah... that was pretty on-brand for her.
The grand cathedral was in chaos. Priests who normally never ran the corridors no matter what were racing about as if their feet were on fire. I caught one of them and asked where Violet was. Visitation was technically forbidden, but after a disaster of this scale, no one was going to care about the rules.
"Ah... Lady Lailia is currently recovering in the intensive recovery ward."
"Thank you."
The priest I'd stopped vanished without even offering the Holy Kingdom's parting blessing. That was how urgent things were.
Yoru, how is she?
[There is nothing amiss with your fiancée. The Impure and a God's Remnant repel one another rather than resonate, so there is no fear of her condition worsening.]
That was why I hadn't gone to Violet first despite the scale of the disaster. First, I trusted the Saint. Second, Yoru hadn't said a word.
[The First Wife's condition is rather important, after all.]
"......"
Surely she wouldn't actually give her blessing...?
Nursing that useless worry, I arrived at the intensive recovery ward. The atmosphere inside was like a library. Compared to the frantic cathedral outside, the hush—so complete you couldn't even hear a breath—was strangely reassuring. It gave me the baseless confidence that she was recovering smoothly, just as the name of the place promised.
Yoru, exact location?
[From where you stand, roughly forty paces forward, thirteen to the left, then another eight forward, and you shall see her.]
Forty forward, thirteen left, eight more forward. Following Yoru's directions, I found her.
Even faded, her violet hair was breathtakingly beautiful. Even with her eyes closed, the quiet charisma she radiated confirmed beyond doubt that the girl before me was Violet Lailia.
Rustle—
I brushed the hair from her face and smoothed my hand along her cheek. Her expression seemed to ease, just a little.
[Heavens... you are thoroughly smitten, aren't you.]
It's not being smitten. She's just pretty.
[That is precisely what being smitten means, child.]
I ignored Yoru and took Violet's hand, looking down at her. There were no external wounds, yet the evil god's power kept her from rising. She had been unconscious for only two days, but she already looked so much thinner.
[Oh my? She looks exactly as she did when I last saw her. What thinning?]
...Are you going to keep reading my thoughts?
[If you dislike being read, think more quietly. And really—how long were you even apart, to make such a fuss?]
This is someone who might become your mistress someday...
"I thought I might find you here, Lord Evan."
"...Saint."
A low, gentle voice cut through the recovery ward's silence. I turned. The Saint stood behind me in black clerical robes, his hair neatly parted, watching me.
"What about treating the others?"
"Things have settled enough that I came looking for you, Lord Evan. There is a matter I would like you to resolve with some urgency."
"A matter? I already killed the Impure."
Don't tell me there was something Dragon Class or higher. At that level, I couldn't handle it alone.
"It isn't that. This is a delicate subject for this place. Shall we speak in my office for a moment?"
"Fine."
I took Violet's hand one last time, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and left the recovery ward.
Whatever pressed so hard on him, the Saint walked faster than usual. He led me into his office, locked the door, and only then spoke.
"Lord Evan. Do you not find this entire situation... strange?"
"Strange... Yes. Definitely."
It was the same doubt I'd felt when the incident first broke: how had the Holy Kingdom—watched day and night by holy knights as if it were a fortress—been breached so easily? This nation lived on constant vigilance against intrusion by the Impure. What had happened made no sense.
"This is only conjecture on my part, but... I believe there may be a worshipper of an evil god within the Holy Kingdom."