Chapter 33
The temple corridors were quiet. The only people hurrying back and forth were the temple clergy and the families of patients. Aside from them, there were only people like me who had been discharged.
Either way, there was little reason for it to be noisy. Friends or relatives who had come to meet discharged patients might make a little commotion, but temples were places where silence was expected.
Unless one was exceptionally oblivious, people usually reunited after leaving the temple.
I had completed the discharge formalities, but no one had come to meet me.
Because Celine had left.
Compared to sparring with Seria or subjugating magical beasts, my injuries were minor. I had been scheduled to complete the discharge procedures today, and Celine had come after hearing the news.
But after ending things like that, it seemed there would be an icy tension between Celine and me for a while.
Thinking of her made my thoughts even more complicated. I scratched my head vigorously.
Until the very end, Celine had pleaded as though she were the one who had been wronged.
“I only talked behind her back a little. Everyone does that! I never told anyone to bully her. I just said she was kind of unpleasant!”
“That might have been what set it off……”
“Then how many people do you think get ostracized at the academy every day?”
At Celine’s chilly voice, all I could do was click my tongue and turn away. She was still grinding her teeth, apparently furious.
So backbiting really was that commonplace in the world of women. It was something I had no way of knowing.
“It’s that bitch’s own fault that she’s isolated and friendless! She’s been that way for years. But who bullied her so blatantly? No matter how you look at it, does it make sense for low-ranking nobles to dig into House Yurdina’s family affairs?”
“……Then?”
“Obviously, a high-ranking noble is behind it, you idiot!”
Celine stamped her feet, huffing in frustration. So she probably was not the ringleader after all.
Even so, I could only let out a deep sigh. Even if there was someone else behind it all, that did not justify Celine’s actions.
“……But you did make Seria’s image worse.”
Celine clamped her mouth shut at that. She abruptly turned her head away, as though she did not want to answer.
“She’s already a girl who gets hated because people misunderstand her. Was it really okay for you to do that too?”
“Hmph.” Celine snorted. But since she kept her arms folded and avoided my gaze, she seemed to regret it in her own way.
Still, it was not too late. She had not brought up Seria’s family, nor had she actively participated in the bullying.
She had merely talked behind Seria’s back and damaged her image. That alone was a serious mistake, but it was not some terrible sin beyond forgiveness.
Considering Seria’s naturally lonely disposition, there was a good chance she would accept Celine’s apology if Celine opened her heart and honestly apologized. Besides, Seria probably needed a friend her own age.
Imagining such a beautiful future, I tried to reason with Celine.
“Celine, let’s apologize to Seria.”
Celine said nothing. She jerked her head away.
But I knew she was wavering. My tone grew gentler so that I would not hurt her pride.
“Seria’s actually a pretty good person once you get to know her. If you two even became friends through this……”
“……Absolutely not. I hate her.”
Her voice was firm and cold.
My voice cut off at her unexpected response. Unable to understand why Celine hated Seria so much, I stared at her in puzzlement.
Celine’s body trembled, and then she approached me, pointing a finger at me.
“If it were you, oppa, could you become friends with a bitch who shoots an arrow at game I’ve already marked?!”
“……What?”
“Oh, seriously!”
When I gave her sudden metaphor a blank look, Celine burst out in a voice filled with irritation.
Was that a metaphor unique to House Haster? The Haster family’s roots were supposedly in a famous line of hunters, so it was a fairly reasonable deduction.
Celine looked furious as she tried to leave the ward. I at least attempted to call her back.
“Where are you going, Cel……”
“I don’t know! Don’t follow me!”
Her shout came back before I could finish speaking, and I clamped my mouth shut.
Celine seemed to be extremely angry. At times like this, it was best to say nothing and wait until her anger subsided.
After slamming the ward door open and leaving, Celine inexplicably stuck her head back inside one last time.
She warned me once more.
“I told you not to follow me!”
“……? Yeah, I was planning to.”
Since I had not even intended to follow her in the first place, my response was immediate.
But my baffled answer seemed to make her even angrier, and she let out a furious shout.
“……Fuck off, you idiot!”
And with that, Celine left. I still could not understand why she had gotten so angry at the end.
I merely remembered something Reto had once told me: a woman’s heart was like a well, and the things inside it appeared distorted.
Reto had told me that although one could roughly infer the scenery within, it was not an exact reflection of reality.
In other words, a woman’s heart was impossible to understand.
I gave up on understanding Celine’s feelings, finished my lonely discharge formalities, and trudged away feeling wretched.
My steps came to a stop in front of a ward.
This was the intensive care ward, where critically ill patients were kept. I had been a patient here several times myself, especially lately.
And one of my friends was hospitalized here.
After hesitating for a moment, I finally steeled myself and entered the ward. When I carefully opened the door, I found a pale-faced girl lying there.
She was a girl with beautiful, reddish hair. Her skin was so fair that it was hard to believe she came from a commoner’s family, and her eyelids always curved gently.
But now, she was nothing more than a corpse with only breath left in her.
A middle-aged man who had been sleeping soundly in a chair that doubled as a bed suddenly opened his eyes, sensing someone nearby.
Then, as soon as he saw me, he was startled and immediately rose, trying to prostrate himself on the floor.
“Oh, young master……”
“No, no, please don’t, sir.”
I was already accustomed to being treated that way. I naturally stopped him, then silently looked down at the face of the girl lying in bed.
The girl sleeping soundly was named Emma.
She was a third-year student in the Alchemy Department, and the bushy-haired man keeping watch beside her was her father.
How such a lovely daughter could have been born to a father who looked so much like a bandit remained a mystery, however.
I chatted with Emma’s father. We talked about various things.
How kind a student Emma had been, how much her friends loved her, and what had recently happened at the academy.
With every word he heard, Emma’s father had to dab away the tears at the corners of his eyes. He must have been unbearably proud of his daughter, while suffering over the fact that she could not even regain consciousness.
Carefully, I asked about Emma’s condition.
“How has Emma been lately……”
“They say her life isn’t in danger.”
It was fortunate, but the man’s voice remained heavy.
I could immediately guess what condition Emma was in from those words.
Her life was not in danger, but she was not improving either.
She was in a state where no one knew when she would regain consciousness. It was little different from a death sentence.
No matter how thoroughly the academy took responsibility for accidents that occurred while its students were enrolled, it could not provide a free hospital bed indefinitely.
In a few years at most, the academy would ask Emma to leave the ward.
If that happened, Emma would no longer be able to survive. Her father was merely an herbalist; there was no way he could afford the cost of the intensive care Emma required at the temple.
A deferred death. Was that all it was? My tongue felt parched.
Emma’s father gave a hollow smile.
“If only this father had been a little more capable……”
“It isn’t your fault, sir.”
As the man’s voice began to break with sobs, I could only offer that stock consolation.
It was after a few more words had passed between us that Emma’s father suddenly bowed his head to me, as though he had just remembered something.
“Come to think of it, I heard that you dealt with the magical beast that attacked Emma, young master……”
Startled by his thanks, I hurriedly waved my hand. If one considered the matter carefully, I was partly responsible for the incident in which Emma had been attacked. It was not something I deserved thanks for.
At best, it was just an act of self-consolation, wasn’t it? A flustered voice escaped my lips.
“No, no. It’s not that. It was just that bastard……”
It had picked up Emma’s bloodstained clothes and spat them out.
I couldn’t bear that, I had been about to say, but I clamped my mouth shut.
Friends could joke about things like that among themselves. It was the way of those who lived while carrying death on their backs. I, Reto, and Celine might all meet death someday.
That was why we even forced ourselves to laugh while talking about tragedy, as though what had happened were nothing important. But that was a courtesy shared only by those prepared to face death.
Emma’s father was an herbalist. I couldn’t possibly remind him of what had happened when Emma was attacked.
So I could only leave behind a brief excuse.
“……It attacked me, so I only fought back. Things just turned out that way; I wasn’t actively seeking revenge. It isn’t something you need to thank me for.”
Even then, Emma’s father kept his head bowed. He thanked me over and over, then said,
“Even so, this inadequate father truly owes you a debt of gratitude. Goodness, I ought to give you something……”
“It’s all right. I’ll say it again: it isn’t something you need to thank me for.”
It was only several minutes later, after I had repeatedly declined, that Emma’s father finally gave in.
He sighed and spoke in a subdued voice.
“You truly are mature, young master.”
I gave a bitter smile at that. Mature? I still felt like nothing more than a child.
Regardless of my thoughts, the countryman continued his assessment of me. His voice was thick with regret, almost like a lament.
“Emma was like that too. Ever since she was little, whenever a problem arose, she tried to solve it somehow on her own. Then she never expected any reward, as though she had merely done what anyone would.”
“……I see.”
Thinking back, Emma seemed to have been that kind of person too.
Whenever I asked her for help, she would eventually help me, even after scolding me a few times first.
At times like that, she had seemed truly mature. She was different from someone like me, who could not even properly comfort the father of a friend who might lose his child.
But the man’s next words made me flinch.
“Please don’t live like that, young master.”
“……What?”
Taken aback, I lifted my gaze from the floor. The countryman was looking at me with desperate eyes.
His eyes were filled with sincerity.
“You mustn’t live that way, young master. When something is difficult, share it, and tell your secrets to friends you can trust. That way, that way, when something happens……”
The countryman’s voice grew wet again. His head drooped. Tears trickled down his cheeks. Now he was sobbing without a sound.
“The people around you wouldn’t be this miserable, nghh… wouldn’t they……”
By coincidence, that advice overlapped with my current situation to some extent.
So I could not answer carelessly. Responding to sincere advice with empty words would have been discourteous.
I thought about it for a long time. After remaining silent for quite a while, I finally gave a short, simple answer.
“……I’ll engrave it in my heart.”
The few sheets of paper tucked inside my clothes felt especially heavy today.
A love letter from the future. Wasn’t that my greatest concern and most difficult problem at the moment? I chewed on my lip repeatedly as I agonized over it.
There was only one problem facing me at present: protecting the future written in this letter and preventing any further loss of life.
To do that, I needed at least one companion with whom I could share the secret.
*
And the next day, I found myself facing one more problem.
Seria had started acting a little strangely.