Chapter 79

Sep 05, 2023

After drawing the curtains, Cassis left Roxana’s room.

“Brother!” Sylvia pounced on him excitedly as if she had been waiting for him to emerge. “Is she awake? May I go see her?”

As Sylvia asked about Roxana, her voice was noticeably full of energy and curiosity. But in truth, she had been like that ever since hearing from Cassis how the lovely Agrece had helped him escape three years ago.

“Perhaps later, Sylvia. She’s still sleeping.”

Sylvia looked disappointed, but only for a moment. Soon a large grin took the place of the frown on her face as a new idea came to her. “In that case, I’ll prepare a bouquet of flowers for her as a welcoming gift.”

Cassis gazed at his younger sister warmly as he imagined how wonderful it would be to see Roxana smile just as brightly one day.

* * *

“Haa...” I exhaled deeply from the very pit of my stomach. As I soaked in warm bath water, I could feel myself relax and my tired body heal.

I had been asleep for most of the carriage ride, and up until only moments prior to my bath, so I struggled to comprehend why I was still so tired. At the time, I couldn’t think of a good explanation. The important thing, and what surprised me, was that I had never slept for so long in my life. I even wondered if my body was trying to make up for all the lost sleep.

I dangled my arms over the edge of the tub and lowered my eyelids slowly. I was glad to be alone without the servants fussing over me. Then I suddenly began to laugh at myself since despite being someone who had no regrets about dying at any moment, I was experiencing quite a bit of joy from that simple bath. The bathroom was as large and clean as the room I had woken up in. A delicate scent wafted into the air from the bathwater.

Its floral scent reminded me of Sylvia.

* * *

“Oh! You’re finally up!”

Sylvia had looked at me with a huge smile spreading across her face. It was a smile so guileless that it truly took me by surprise. As she stepped lightly toward me, I was reminded of a flitting, dancing bird.

“How do you like these flowers?”

The question had been so out of the blue, but I simply beheld her kind, welcoming eyes that twinkled like stars.

“Cassis said you were sleeping so I was going to just leave them in front of your door.”

I gazed down at her as she continued to speak in her birdlike, singsong trill.

“It’s always nice waking up to beautiful flowers, don’t you think?” Sylvia said.

Her face seemed to lack even the slightest trace of a shadow. Everything she said, her every mannerism, they were all so amiable and kind that it immediately gave the impression of being in the company of an old acquaintance.

“I went to the garden to pick the prettiest ones there, but then I considered who I’d be giving them to... To be honest, it made me a little sad and a little discouraged knowing that as beautiful as they are, they would pale in comparison to you.”

Sylvia was far more outgoing and adorable than I had imagined. I couldn’t help but continue to stare.

“So I spent a long time worrying whether these would be good enough for you...”

Then Sylvia’s ringing voice suddenly became quiet. She seemed to have realized something.

“Ah! I’m so sorry.”

There was audible flustered embarrassment in her voice.

“I should have introduced myself first instead of babbling on like that.”

She seemed worried that she may have upset me, but she couldn’t have been further from the truth.

“Um... Do you know who I am?”

Of course I did. I had already seen her at the goodwill gathering. But even if I hadn’t, I would have recognized she was related to Cassis by her silver locks and golden eyes.

“I was also at the gathering in Yggdr—”

“Sylvia,” I said.

Her name seemed to have sprung from my mouth on its own. I noticed Sylvia pause for a moment upon hearing me finally speak, but really only just for a moment. Then she stared at me again with an even bigger smile than when she had first stepped into my room.

* * *

I stared up at the bathroom ceiling in silence as a feeling that I was struggling to pin down seemed to envelope me.

Sylvia’s bright and innocent smile kept returning to my thoughts. I assumed it was probably because it was in such extreme contrast to the novel version of her who by that point in the story had completely abandoned any semblance to some charming, innocent youth. Her character was meant to be without hope or dreams.

As is expected of a heroine in a gothic, orgy romance, she was meant to lose not only her innocence, but her sparkle. Thus, it only makes sense that she vows blood vengeance on the Agreces once she learns they killed her brother. That was why meeting this effervescent, carefree Sylvia was quite strange for me. It was the same as when I found myself in slight awe of the adult Cassis.

My initial impression of her from the gathering was that of a mature young woman, but it was more than apparent that she was still just a girl. But then caused me to remember that she was also the same age as Jeremy.

“Haa...”

I sunk my head into the water and let my thoughts scatter like the bubbles on the water’s surface.

* * *

When I had finally finished with my bath and stepped out, the sun had set already. I felt a bit drowsy from having been in the hot water for so long. The servants had shown up almost immediately after I emerged to ask if I needed any help dressing. I had turned them away but came to regret my decision almost immediately.

I threw a gown over my shoulder and staggered toward the sofa in my room. I had only meant to close my eyes for a moment, but when I opened them again someone was carrying me to my bed.

“Hey... Come clean, mister.” My voice came out in a husky tone as I was deliriously sleepy. “Did you do something to me without telling me?”

Even then I knew I was rambling nonsense, but I couldn’t stop myself. “I mean... Constantly sleeping like this isn’t normal. Did you do something to me so I can’t run away?”

Besides, there was also the chance that he really was forcing some sort of drowsiness effect on me in his effort to help my health improve. His answer was almost pedantic like he was talking down to a low achiever.

“It probably just means that your body needs that much more rest.”

I turned my gaze away from him before giving my next in a more demanding tone. “Put me down. I’ve slept enough for today.”

But instead of doing as I instructed on the spot, Cassis turned around and carried me back to the sofa. I found myself wondering just how much time had actually elapsed since I left for my bath. As I recalled, Sylvia had said she would wait for me in the adjoining room.

“Where’s your sister?”

“I already told her to go back.”

As I had suspected, a good amount of time must have passed if she had left already. In truth, I was actually relieved that she hadn’t wasted any more time waiting for me. Not that it would’ve been my fault since she was the one who offered to wait for me. Even so, I decided to apologize to her the next time I saw her because I could have also just told her not to wait.

“You must be hungry. How about I have the servants bring some food?” he said.

But before I had even had a chance to respond, Cassis began to make the arrangements. He appeared to be worried that if given the choice, I would say no. But by then I had learned from experience that saying I wasn’t hungry made no difference to him.

“Are we at the Pedelian compound?” I asked in a way that was akin to asking what time it was. He, in turn, was curt in his answer.

“You’ve guessed right.”

As he wanted, I ended up having a late supper, but as I still didn’t have much of an appetite, I spent more time playing with the utensils than eating.

“You know... Your sister seemed rather glad to see me,” I said.

“Yes, I noticed that as well.”

His eyes appeared to soften at the mention of his sister. On the edge of the table, the bouquet of flowers she had given me lay just as I had left them. I glanced at them and wondered what Cassis had told Sylvia about me. It really was quite impressive how he had somehow turned his sister, who was quite literally Pedelian royalty, into my loudest cheerleader.

I had agreed to come to the Blue clan’s territory not for some specific purpose or reason, but simply because it really hadn’t mattered to me where I ended up. I never had a destination in mind, nor any particular desire for one, so the Pedelians’ compound was as good a place as any for me to pass my last days in this fiction’s world. Although I was there after tagging along with Cassis, I didn’t see it as my final stop. And truth be told, had someone else and besides him asked that I follow them on that fateful day, I think I might have done so.

“It’s rather quiet in this building. I haven’t sensed much movement or many people around either,” I said.

“Right, there aren’t since it’s the annex building for guests.”

As I had guessed, he hadn’t dared to take me into the main castle. I had concluded that there were likely two reasons for him to want to keep me out of sight. Firstly, so others would maintain a safe distance in case I lost control of my poison again. Or secondly, to keep any controversy about an Agrece being in their compound to a minimum.

Cassis had openly ignored the impression I left on the Pedelian knights on the journey, but that was while we were still traveling. I gathered that being back in his home territory meant that even Cassis had to be more careful and discreet. I turned my focus back to him as I wondered what might be going through his mind. He, in turn, was frowning at me.