Rather Than The Son, I’ll Take The Father - Chapter 82
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Chapter 82
The next day, I summoned Shaula.
“Let me ask you a quick question. After you were expelled from Esmeralda and until before you visited the quarry. During that period of time, where were you?”
“I had been walking around.”
I looked and stared at her. Bread crumbs remained on her lips.
“I can’t remember every single place.”
Here, a handkerchief.
After receiving the handkerchief I threw to her, I asked Shaula, who had a puzzled expression on her face, again.
“Then, I’ll ask you straight up. Have you been to the desert?”
There isn’t a desert on the continent.
But Shaula replied vaguely, as if she had guessed something, or maybe not.
“Well, I don’t really remember.”
“Really? I can’t help it.”
“…”
“Get out.”
After I dismissed Shaula, I called for Sarah and Procyon.
Although bandages were wrapped around his arms, Procyon’s condition was the best among the knights that had been slain by Shaula in the name of a duel.
Procyon heard my concerns and blinked.
“You can’t whistle?”
Procyon’s voice showed a hint of embarrassment.
Instead of being surprised by my new confession, Sarah was worried about me.
“Why whistling all of a sudden? Can I do it for you?”
“I have to do it myself.”
“That… you failed for 19 years, but can you suddenly do it today?”
Sarah, you were never this pessimistic…
Procyon taught me for nearly an hour, but my tongue never listened to its master.
With my heart broken, I asked Aedis as a last resort.
“Isn’t there some kind of magic that makes you whistle?”
“…Eve, you look like you’re going to cry. Do you miss Paimon that much?”
I licked my lips as Aedis patted my head as if to appease me.
“It’s not because I really want to see him, but as some kind of preparation. If I can’t summon Paimon when I need help in an urgent situation, the contract is useless.”
“You have me.”
“…”
“Eve, even if you turn the whole world into your enemy, I will protect you.”
I know Aedis is actually strong, but what if his words contain bluffs this time too?
When I didn’t answer, Aedis poured the tea and glanced up at me.
My expression must have been one that was on the verge of crying. He looked away from me, as if he had been possessed.
Uh uh?
“Aedis?! The tea is overflowing!”
“Ah.”
“Hands, hands! Don’t touch it with your bare hands!”
Aedis looked at the teacup overflowing with tea, even as I jumped up in surprise.
I wet the handkerchief in cold water and wrapped it around Aedis’s hand. His fingers would hurt.
Look at this! Again, it’s a bluff!
How on earth can you believe that someone will protect you even if you turn the world into your enemy when they can burn themselves with tea!
“Hold on, okay?”
I picked up the basin because I thought it would be faster to do it myself than to call a maid.
I dipped Aedis’s hand into the basin full of cold water, and checked it frequently.
I couldn’t help but be confused.
Oh, I think it’s in a worse condition than before……
Was he originally this normal?
I’ll have to see him hurt to know.
“I don’t think it will go away anytime soon. Can’t it be cured with magic?”
“…A handkerchief is enough.”
I calmly put my wet handkerchief in his hand because I was afraid he would take it away.
I looked at Aedis and my eyes widened.
“Aedis, this is not the time to blush. Getting hurt like this, and you’re still saying that you’ll protect me?”
Besides, the clothes were getting wet too.
Aedis just nodded as if he wasn’t wet.
“That’s right.”
“Look, I’m not talking about anyone.”
It was a moment of deep concern.
My husband, who I thought was the strongest in the world, is getting weaker and weaker. What should I do…?
And that handkerchief is the same color as the one I threw at Shaula. The only difference is the shape of the flower on the handkerchief.
In the end, I summoned Sarah to help and applied medicine onto Aedis’s hand.
When Aedis went to the first bell tower without telling me why, I also left the bedroom.
And as I went down the stairs, I ran into Gilbert.
…Why is he here?
My heart, which had sunk because of my worrying about Aedis, was suddenly on edge.
I don’t think I need to know the useless reason why Gilbert was here. I passed Gilbert, trying to forcibly calm my nerves that were on edge.
He didn’t hold on to me. He just stared at me until I passed.
However, the unexpected meeting did not end there.
Less than five minutes later, I ran into a woman with wild dog vibes.
“Your Grace!”
……Is the Cyclamen castle that small?
Shaula giggled as if she couldn’t even see me trembling.
“Seeing each other again? Is this fate?”
“……”
Fate is not a word to be used at times like this.
I turned away without saying a word, and Shaula followed behind closely.
“Your Grace, let’s go play. Not at a village, but at the foot of a mountain.”
“Why would I go with the person who didn’t even reveal the exact place she left me at last time?”
“It’s different from that time! Let’s go play, huh?”
I glared at Shaula with squinted eyes.
“Since you might bury me this time, of course I would really want to go with you, right?”
Shaula never said she was sorry, and she didn’t even notice me.
Still, she persevered and followed me.
“…Do you have anything to do?”
“No?”
“Then, why don’t you go to the hospital and see the knights you knocked down?”
“Are you kidding? No concern should be given to weak bastards.”
Shaula yawned loudly. But she didn’t mean to upset me.
It’s just natural for her.
She has a personality that makes it uncomfortable for her to mix with people, so she never learned formality or manners in the first place, and she did not feel the need to learn it.
Shaula’s hair, a mixture of blue and gray, was fluffy, like a beast’s mane.
Her greatsword was roughly covered with a rag-like cloth, but its vicious force was not obscured in the slightest.
I don’t know what she’s thinking about, following me around.
She doesn’t know how to hide it anyway, so even if she made up a hidden plan, she’ll soon reveal it with her words and actions.
I tilted my head slightly.
“Still, Procyon followed you by calling you sister.”
“Ah, Procyon is a good boy. He’s boring.”
All of a sudden, Shaula laughed so hard and then came close to me.
“You know what? Your Grace smells good. Like honey.”
“If you wash your hands every day, you will smell like that.”
“I don’t wash well, but it’s not like that.”
…What?
Just before I was able to tell her to go to the bathroom immediately, Shaula stopped in front of me.
Shaula’s huge shadow covered me.
As I stopped, she put her nose on my shoulder and sniffed rudely.
“It fades as time goes by, but it’s certain. It’s the first scent I’ve ever smelled. It’s as if you’re not human… Your Grace, did you hit me just now?”
Even though I slapped her head with all my might, Shaula only looked as if a feather had fallen on her and stepped back.
Damn, my hands are the ones tingling.
I coldly hardened my face and ordered.
“Now, take ten steps back.”
Although she grumbled, she did as she was told.
Then I spoke again.
“You say I don’t smell like a human?”
“It’s more than when we first met, but I’m sure it’s the reason why I strangely don’t want to harm you.”
“…”
Aedis once said that I had a certain scent.
[-You have a very unique scent. A sweet, strangely familiar scent.]
I was thinking that it was the effect of drinking the blood of a beast.
But it’s been a while since I last drank blood, and they still smell it?
Shaula responded that she felt sorry for my coldness.
“I don’t normally get stuck with anyone like this, right? No, I like you because you smell sweet, but that’s an additional thing, and I have to say that I like your personality a lot more.”
Shaula’d eyebrows drooped.
It looked like a wild animal that had escaped from the prey it had been trying to corner.
Ughhh, Aedis told me I like dogs more than cats. I guess it was true.
We didn’t get along much as I also had something to figure out from Shaula.
It was doubtful whether she would open her mouth, which she had previously not done, just because we went out once, but I decided to try.
“Okay. Let’s go play.”
“As expected, Your-”
“However, we’ll follow my wishes.”
Shaula immediately showed her disappointment.
“Your Grace, you continue to kill me today.”
“If you don’t like it, don’t.”
“No! I’ll go!”
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
