Having bumped into a cloaked man with eyes as blue as the sky in front of the Crimsonblade House, Rachiel was truly embarrassed. Sure, the man looked like he didn’t mind but what if he were someone else?
Despite being the town’s sweetheart, she was still trying to be careful. Men and women wouldn’t hesitate to ask for compensation just for bumping into them. If it were some perverted men, she would be in deep trouble.
She shook her head before opening the door to the house. She wanted to cry right then and there.
The Crimsonblade House had stopped supplying medicine for her brother starting from today. She was just at the healing house when the clerk at the counter announced that the medicine’s cost was changed.
It went up from the usual 1 silver coin to 5 silver coins. Rachiel couldn’t afford such a price. She worked for 4 copper coins per day for seven days a week.
If she didn’t take any break for the entire month, she would get a total of 120 copper coins. 1 bronze coin was equal to 10 copper coins, meaning that she would get around 12 bronze coins per month.
1 silver coin was then equivalent to 10 bronze. In short, her pay for the entirety of the month was around 1 silver and 20 coppers.
For the past year, she’d been paying for her brother’s medicine and the only thing left would be 20 coppers for food. That was clearly not enough.
And today they announced that the price was going up? She was angry at the clerk. At the Crimsonblade House. She knew that they were trying to take every little bit of money from her but she endured it. For Karsen.
However, the full moons were getting closer. They gave her the excuse that wolfsbane’s stock was empty and they had to import it from the Navaroth Kingdom.
It would cost the medicine’s price to go higher. But it was too suspicious. They knew about her brother’s condition. They were clearly trying to get more from her by increasing the price.
“Damn snakes!” she hissed before slamming the door shut.
She wanted something to throw. Or punch. It was a human’s instinct to act violently when their emotions were threatening to spill from the glass. She had endured everything since her parents’ death. She tried to be a strong-willed sister for her brother but at this moment, she was truly at the edge.
“Rache? Is that you?” her brother suddenly called out from his room.
Rachiel, who was on the verge of screaming her heart out, choked on her breath. She loosened her shoulders and took a deep breath. Her face was hot from the way her anger was trying to get her. She cleared her throat before walking toward her brother’s room.
“Yeah, I’m here,” she said as she opened his door. He was laying on his bed, probably startled awake. “Sorry. The wind was strong outside and the door slammed on me. Did I wake you up because of that?”
“It’s fine,” he gave her a weak smile. “I feel a lot better today, by the way. The medicine really does help.”
It was a lie. A lie that even she could see through. Karsen was trying to stay strong for her and she was trying to do the same for him. Both were liars.
Karsen’s lips were paler than it was a few days ago. Rachiel didn’t know what they’d put into his medicine but it was clearly poison.
The Crimsonblade House was directly under Erazor Crimson, a man that loathed the existence of monsters to his very core. So, it would be logical that the healing house was opposed to having Karsen living.
They were just leeching off money from her before killing her little brother. She knew that fact but she had no other choice. There was never a recorded history of someone being cured from being corrupted.
In the end, she had herself to blame by trying to make her brother suffered instead of letting him go already.
Rachiel reached out to touch her brother’s fragile hand. They’d been struggling to eat these past few weeks and he was so, so skinny. It broke her heart to see him like this.
“That’s great, so great,” she whispered with a smile. “A few more days and you’ll get better, I promise.”
Another lie.
She hugged her brother and hid her face on his shoulder. She didn’t want him to see her break down. However, the warm tears still fell on his skin, telling him that she was crying. Karsen did the same.
A long silence hung in the bedroom that day. A silence filled with the acceptance that one life would soon be gone from the world during a beautiful winter day. The only one who would feel that lost was Rachiel alone.
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