Chapter 71
“Get out of my sight right now.”
Renoa had issued an order to get out.
Manumission.
The goal Rion had carried ever since he fell into this world.
To break free from the shackles of slavery and seize his freedom.
The master who had held that leash had announced his release with his own mouth.
If he turned around and left without looking back right now, it would be over. The moment he stepped out the door, he would be free.
But Rion's feet did not budge at all, as if rooted to the floor.
Instead of feeling light as though he might fly away, his body only grew tense.
The feeling that came at the moment that should have been joyous was neither exultation nor relief, but a bitter, faintly metallic aftertaste lingering in her mouth.
That person who had shone so arrogantly.
That ruthless woman who, despite the label of bastard child, had clawed her way up from the bottom and finally secured her place.
The fact that she had collapsed so miserably scraped harshly at his insides.
“…….”
A mana core eaten away by poison.
There wasn't a single person she could rely on.
If he turned away now, Renoa would truly be finished.
It was obvious she wouldn't even be able to endure tomorrow morning with a clear mind.
Whether it was really all right to leave her like this and go, all sorts of stray thoughts fought fiercely in Rion's head.
“Can't you hear me when I tell you to get lost?”
The blade-like order to leave sliced through the air once more.
After a long hesitation, Rion…
“…Understood. Thank you for everything.”
turned around.
There was no point in staying by her side now.
His footsteps faded away, and soon after, the sound of the door opening and closing rang out.
What remained after that was only silence.
***
Renoa lay collapsed on the bed like a corpse, breathing only.
The meal the maids had left beyond the door went cold without her touching it. She hadn't even had a sip of water.
Her whole body alternated between burning like a furnace and shivering with bone-deep chills because her mana core was being gnawed away by poison.
Yet even as her flesh withered away, Renoa did nothing.
She had no interest whatsoever in the antidote Iscalon had mentioned.
Because the fact that the one she had trusted had deceived her had dried up every last bit of life left in her.
An overwhelming lethargy ruled her, so severe that she felt no desire at all, not even anger.
A hazy, clouded vision.
Beyond it, blurred patches of light seeped in.
They repeatedly flared white enough to sting her eyes, reddened into sunset hues, then darkened into black, over and over again without end.
The only flow of time Renoa could feel: day and night taking turns.
“…….”
Then, one day, over the blackness that could have been either the ceiling or her eyelids, a person's face faintly appeared.
Rion.
Where on earth was he now, and what was he doing?
It was the freedom he had wanted so badly. By now he would have long since left the city.
Since he had broken the shackles of slavery and gone out, he must be savoring true freedom for the first time in his life.
Even as a slave he had shone brilliantly, so he would surely reach heights she could never even imagine.
Feelings like betrayal or regret did not rise within her. After all, this was the result of her own hand cutting him off and driving him away.
Rather, she thought it was fortunate.
Because he wouldn't have to see this wretched sight of her rotting away like a corpse.
Because she didn't want him to see it.
Days of hunger and pain had completely shattered Renoa's sense of reality.
Consciousness sinking endlessly beneath a distant surface. A single shadow rippled at the end of her clouded vision.
A familiar, irritating figure, one that had left her to enjoy freedom, stood tall in the corner of the room.
It was an illusion.
Her swirling thoughts must have tangled with her losing grasp on consciousness and formed a crude hallucination.
But Renoa couldn't take her eyes off that silhouette.
“Ri……on.”
A feeble voice, as if it might break at any moment, slipped out.
Toward the illusion that seemed ready to scatter like mist, Renoa unknowingly reached out a hand into the air.
But her body had already long since been exhausted.
Her fingertips, reaching through empty air, bent limply, and her body, losing its balance, toppled helplessly off the bed.
The instant she sensed she would crash straight onto the cold floor.
-Thump.
Something gently caught her falling upper body.
Renoa's worn-out consciousness couldn't immediately make sense of the situation.
It took quite some time before she realized what had wrapped itself around her.
A familiar outline filled the center of her blurred vision.
And then a voice reached her ears.
“Just how much am I supposed to suffer before you're satisfied?”
“…….”
She didn't even have the strength to be surprised.
Only a thin breath escaped through her cracked lips.
The tension that had been tightly strangling her finally reached its limit.
Wrapped in a familiar scent and warmth, Renoa's vision went black.
***
Distant voices drifted through her dazed ears. The sleep pressing down on her consciousness slowly lifted.
Renoa struggled to force her leaden eyelids open.
Her blurred pupils gradually came into focus. Through them, the familiar side profile of someone came into view.
“The emergency treatment is complete. I've temporarily suppressed the poison spreading through her body, and her depleted strength has also recovered somewhat.”
The robed mage physician stood up, gathering his bag.
“However, her body is fundamentally weakened. You'll need to start with liquid food and force something down her, even if you have to do it by hand.”
“Understood. Thank you.”
“Then I'll take my leave. I pray that the young lady recovers soon.”
The doctor gave a respectful bow and left the room.
Back at the bed, Rion met the eyes of Renoa, who had just come to her senses.
“Are you awake?”
“Ri…on……?”
“Yes. I'm Rion, the young lady's slave.”
“Why…… are you here…?”
“Curious? Then get up and have a glass of water.”
Rion flashed his usual sly smile. He approached the bed and tried to help Renoa up.
Renoa weakly pushed him away with her powerless hand.
She forced out words that refused to come out properly.
“Stop messing around…. Answer me properly.”
“No water, no answer. The choice is yours, my lady.”
“…….”
Renoa didn't even have the strength to bicker with Rion.
She tried to raise her upper body from the bed, but even that wouldn't obey her. In the end, she sat up with Rion's support.
Rion brought the glass of water to her lips.
“Come on. Say ah.”
“Don't act up…. I can drink it myself.”
Renoa snatched the glass from Rion's hand.
She had tried to drink water, nothing special, but her body, neglected for several days, betrayed its owner as if in revenge.
Tremble, tremble, tremble.
The fingers gripping the handle twitched violently.
Before it even reached her lips, the glass shook violently and spilled water everywhere.
In the end, she couldn't manage even a single sip properly.
“Oh dear.”
A short, exaggerated sigh.
Rion took back the glass from Renoa's trembling grasp.
“So your clothes matter more than your own parched body, is that it? Truly a noble temperament befitting a young lady. Someone like me, a slave, couldn't possibly keep up.”
“…….”
Though he was openly mocking her, Renoa could do nothing but press her lips together in humiliation.
In the meantime, Rion refilled the glass and brought it back.
Realizing that in her current condition she couldn't even drink water on her own, Renoa reluctantly parted her lips.
A faint curve of satisfaction appeared at Rion's mouth. He slowly tilted the glass.
Renoa swallowed the water gulp after gulp, like a baby bird being fed by its mother.
Her mouth and throat, parched like a desert, eagerly took in the moisture as if they had found an oasis.
Only after she had finished the entire glass did Rion let go.
“That's enough. So tell me why you're here.”
“Before that, just a moment.”
Rion hurried out of the room and came back. In his hands was a bowl.
It was soup, softly steaming. He scooped up an appropriate amount with a spoon and brought it to Renoa's lips.
“Please eat first. If you try to fill an empty stomach with only liquid, you'll get sick.”
“Answer me first…”
“Come on. Say ah.”
Once again, the one-sided command came down.
Renoa glared fiercely at him, but Rion didn't even twitch an eyebrow, as if he found her ridiculous.
Instead, he tapped her lower lip with the tip of the spoon.
“Aren't you going to eat?”
Renoa pressed her lips tightly shut.
This time, she resolved not to get dragged along by that arrogant man's pace.
But once again, her body paid no mind to its owner's paltry pride.
-Rumble.
In the taut silence, a thoroughly primal and honest sound rang out.
The savory aroma of the warmly heated soup had stirred the stomach of Renoa, who had gone hungry for days.
“……!”
The moment she realized the sound had come from her own belly, Renoa hurriedly wrapped both arms around it, but it was already too late.
-Rumble-rumble.
Hunger sounds rang out one after another.
A hot flush spread across her previously ashen cheeks.
Watching her silently, Rion's lips stretched into a broader grin.
“For someone saying that, your body is awfully honest.”
“Shut up…….”
“You won't eat? I won't stop you. I'll just sit here and listen to your song.”
Renoa didn't need to be told what that "song" was a roundabout way of referring to the sounds coming from her stomach.
She wanted nothing more than to smack that face right then and there, but tragically her hand could only claw at the bedsheets.
In the end, even her last shred of pride knelt before humiliation.
Renoa slowly parted her lips, her eyes reddening.
“If you'd just done as I said from the beginning, you wouldn't have had to blush like this. Honestly, you make such a fuss over nothing.”
Rion slipped the spoon into Renoa's mouth.
He fed her the soup little by little, slowly, so her stomach wouldn't be shocked by food for the first time in ages.
After a bite or two like that, Renoa turned her head away.
“That's enough.”
“No. You have to finish all of this. The doctor said you need to eat well to recover.”
Renoa shook her head and firmly refused.
“Stop messing around and answer me properly. Why are you here? You definitely left.”
“Left? Me?”
“…What?”
Rion gave Renoa, who still hadn't grasped the situation, a bright smile.
“I've been here from the very beginning, you know?”