Chapter 292
After Yurik and Yesung left, the mbers temporarily staying at the inn each pretended to be busy with their own affairs.
Eva locked herself in her room saying she needed to make depleted dicines, and Dardin also rarely ca out, saying he would "gather information until His Highness the 3rd Prince returns."
Only the injured Valter and Cellinne occasionally sat across from each other downstairs for als, sharing small talk.
"Everyone seems dejected."
Cellinne muttered as she stabbed the undercooked egg yolk from lunch with her fork.
She too seed dispirited and glum.
"It must be because of Bailies."
Valter said nothing and drank down the beer in his large mug in one gulp.
If Eva saw this, she would surely jump up and down saying "Does it make sense for a patient to drink alcohol?"
But Valter, who didn't even wipe the foam scattered on his beard, only made groaning sounds.
"You seem to have no energy either, miss."
"Who could tell anyone to cheer up at a ti like this? Even when I try to talk to Eva, she just says she's busy and doesn't answer properly."
"The physician miss seems properly troubled. Oh my, what to do about this."
"Dardin's the sa, isn't he? ...Say, you know. Grandfather, how are you? Aren't you sad or anything?"
Cellinne asked carefully.
At those words, Valter rubbed his wrinkled eyes and put down his mug.
"I've been thinking about it, and I reckon this might be due to experience and years lived."
"Years lived? Experience?"
"How old is the dancer miss this year?"
"Grandfather, it's rude to ask such things!"
"That's right. Anyway, isn't the physician miss about the sa age as the dancer miss? That clever young man too."
"Probably so. I've never asked their ages. But why bring that up suddenly? Are you trying to say people don't get sad as they get older?"
"There's that too, but besides, the physician miss and the clever young man aren't from around here, are they?"
From around here.
Cellinne didn't know exactly what "around here" ant, so she held her tongue.
Valter continued as if lost in thought, stroking his wet beard with his large, rough hands.
"I first started rcenary work when I was 13. Of course, I couldn't swing a big axe like now, but I started taking commissions from then. Naturally, I've heard and seen people die in various ways many tis. Sotis I was the one doing the killing."
"Ugh."
"I was prepared to die too. The smallest error in judgnt determines life and death - that's the law of this business. Being a rcenary himself, Bailies would have realized it the mont he saw the assassin."
"Realized what?"
"That he was going to die. And he would have prepared himself ntally."
Cellinne searched her mory.
What happened at the Leng Plateau couldn't be expressed well in words, but when she closed her eyes, it ca back vividly.
The chilling sensation she felt from behind. Bailies slowly drawing his sword. Blood droplets spattering on the grass. Her own hands and feet that were only slow.
Was that really so? Like Valter said, had Bailies foreseen his own death?
"...Can all rcenaries predict death?"
"It's more intuition than prediction. No matter how uncertain the future is, you can clearly picture what will happen to your life 3 seconds later. Of course, what I said might be wrong. Anyway, he who could prove this fact isn't here with us now."
Cellinne's shoulders grew heavy again.
Having completely lost her appetite, she pushed her plate aside slightly and asked.
"Eva and Dardin must have been trendously shocked. The only person who wasn't would be Grandfather. And Young Master too."
"That's natural. The physician miss and the clever young man weren't originally people who dealt with rough business. I don't know the details of their pasts. But even I can notice that the two are quite close."
"Close? Eva and Dardin? Like, they like each other...?"
"That's not it. I suddenly can't rember the word. Hmm. Not friends. Not allies either."
After pondering for a while, Valter suddenly perked up his ears with an "oh" expression.
"Comrades. What's it called, kindred spirits? That's it!"
"Huh?"
"There's a familiarity people feel because they're similar types."
Eva and Dardin?
Of course, Cellinne knew well that both were incredibly smart unlike herself.
You couldn't help but notice from the conversations they had and how 3rd Prince Yurik treated them.
But she had never thought there was any connection between Eva and Dardin.
"Grandfather, then what kind of people do you think they are? rchants or sothing like that?"
"Personally, I think they're closer to nobility."
"No-nobility? Dardin maybe, but Eva makes no sense. Why would a noble girl follow Young Master to a place like this treating people?"
"Who knows."
"Being a physician is... it might sound strange for to say this, but isn't it too lowly for nobles? They're people who hate getting blood on their hands."
"How would I know? There must be so circumstances."
Cellinne began tugging at her pretty pink hair.
She didn't care about Dardin since she wasn't close to him. At most, they had a relationship where he nagged her about whether she was listening properly during etings.
But Eva being a noble? Eva might be a noble!
How much ti had they spent together! The ti they spent together at night with the lamp on, chatting! The personal matters she had spilled out in detail!
Had Eva not said anything then because she really was from nobility?
If not that, then why? If Eva was a noble, how should she treat Eva from now on?
Cellinne groaned and collapsed onto the dirty, scratched table.
Valter glanced at her.
"If you're that curious, why don't you go ask directly? Since you share a room with the physician miss, that might be more satisfying."
"...Uh."
"What? I can't hear well because I'm old."
"No. I said no. I don't want that."
The collapsed Cellinne mumbled.
"I don't like that Eva might be a noble, but I also don't like prying when Eva has no intention of telling ."
"My goodness. Why do you think that way?"
"Well of course, Grandfather! When I ask, Eva might panic and lie, and then I'd feel bad too! And also, also-"
Cellinne, who had jerked her head up, rambled incoherently.
But her words strangely lost strength and trailed off.
After mumbling like that for a while, her true feelings finally spilled from her lips.
"...I don't want to force Eva to speak when she's not ready to talk because of ."
Everyone beside His Highness the 3rd Prince had their circumstances.
She recalled when she t Yurik at the border between Vanaheim and Aquilonia.
The Rom people she loved were masters of stories and dance.
Just as stories passed from mouth to mouth, dances remained only as fantasies.
Rom too must freely co and go like the wind without putting down roots in one place.
Even if countless people craved Rom's beauty, enchanting dances, and stories that made them forget thousands of nights, when Rom wanted to leave, they had to leave.
That was their privilege and right.
But sotis the hardships experienced by those wandering the continent exceeded imagination.
The main cause was the beauty they were born with.
Because of this, Rom had to suffer regardless of age or gender, and she was no exception.
So Eva probably wasn't much different.
"I'll wait until Eva tells after all."
Right. This was the better way.
The first friend she made after coming to Aquilonia was special to her too.
And Cellinne didn't want that friend's feelings to be hurt.
So she had to wait.
Until Eva opened her heart to her too.
Valter looked at Cellinne who had beco sulky after saying that, then laughed heartily and patted her head.
"Do that then. The dancer miss has such a kind heart."
"It's because it's Eva. If it were Dardin, I wouldn't have worried about it like this."
"That's right. Ah, I have a good idea. How about helping the physician miss before the Prin- I an, Young Master returns?"
"What? I don't know much about that stuff. Don't you need to study a lot to make dicine?"
"There are various things besides mixing dicines, aren't there? How about going to the market to buy herbs? There would be a lot to carry, so it would be good if the dancer miss helped then."
"That... I could do that too. Right, I'm stronger than Eva!"
"That's right, that's right. I'll also try to keep the clever young man from interfering. When you're depressed, staying only in your room makes it worse. I should drag the young man out too. Hmm? How about it?"
"Grandfather's the best!"
"Then let's go up together!"
"Great!"
Cellinne squealed and stood up. Even she thought Valter's plan seed good.
Experience really couldn't be ignored.
* * *
Eva was collecting herb juice that dripped down one drop at a ti through clean cotton cloth.
Dark green and pale yellow powders were neatly piled on paper,
And silver asuring spoons and silver rods for mixing dicines were tidily placed on the desk.
Anesthetics, painkillers, hemostatics, antidotes, coagulants. And it would be good to have more cloth to apply disinfectant.
But how much would it cost to prepare all this?
With His Highness the 3rd Prince away, was it awkward to request a budget from Dardin?
While Eva was pacing around the room full of bitter slls, a light knock was heard.
What she saw through the crack of the opened door was Cellinne, who sohow resembled a whimpering puppy.
"Eva, are you busy...?"
"A little. Do you need so dicine?"
"No, you know I'm healthy. I was wondering if there's anything I could help with."
"I'll gratefully accept the thought. I need to replenish the dicines that Grandfather Valter and Yesung used up."
"Uh-huh. Got it."
Cellinne's cute expression beca glum, but she didn't leave the room right away.
Eva was curious why Cellinne was fidgeting like that and not leaving.
Was there sothing she wanted to consult about?
Ah, perhaps.
"Cellinne, shall we get so fresh air together?"
Eva thought Cellinne seed to want to confide sothing sad and depressing to her again.
That made sense. Cellinne had seen Bailies die from closer than she had.
She might have received a bigger ntal shock than the others.
As the only physician, Eva had a duty to protect them from not only physical injuries but also ntal wounds.
At Eva's suggestion made with such thoughts, Cellinne's eyes widened and she nodded repeatedly.
"Then shall we go out to get so fresh air and buy herbs? Don't you need anything else?"
"There are things I need, but it would cost quite a bit, so I was going to propose it when Young Master returns-"
"Money? You don't have money? Wait a mont."
Cellinne suddenly disappeared.
When Eva slightly opened the door to peek outside,
She saw Cellinne running up to the upper floor where the male mbers were staying.
Soon, faint banging sounds echoed in the quiet corridor. And so incomprehensible conversation.
Soon what seed to be Cellinne's voice got louder, and the thick voice there was... wait, why was Grandfather Valter's voice heard from there?
When Cellinne and Grandfather Valter seed to protest vigorously, Dardin also seed to shout.
And shortly after, Cellinne ca bouncing down the stairs with much lighter steps.
In her hand was a small pouch.
From how heavy it looked, she had successfully extorted it from Dardin.
Watching Cellinne deliberately shake the money pouch with a pretty face while looking at her, Eva finally laughed with a snort.
"Alright, let's go. Let's go."
The two leaving the inn together looked particularly affectionate.
Cellinne clinging to Eva with linked arms, and Eva holding a paper with things to buy in one hand.
Behind those two, faint jingling bell sounds were ringing.
User Comments
0 comments from readers