novelraw Chapter 82 : Chapter 82
Chapter 82 : Chapter 82
Chapter 82: Convalescence (1)
My convalescence was peaceful.
"Harad, are you all right?"
"It's going smoothly."
"I'm glad to hear that. But... is Lady Ellen really taking care of you?"
The 2nd Deputy Knights Commander, Horn, who came to visit, had a bewildered expression on his face as he looked at Ellen sitting beside the bed.
"If you're done with your business, please leave, Sir Horn."
"Yes, yes! Please take care."
Horn immediately fled.
Gullen, who had come yesterday, and Zambello, who had come the day before yesterday, were similar.
The knights would worry about me, but then they would notice Ellen sitting next to me and be startled.
It was because that collateral branch of the Serzila family was attending to me.
'If you want to call it a luxury, it's a luxury.'
It was a luxury that no one except Grand Duke Aratus could enjoy.
Since the Grand Duke was unlikely to get hurt, it was safe to say it was a luxury that only I could enjoy.
"What are you smiling about?"
"I just feel like smiling. Could you move the blanket for me? It's getting a bit hot."
Ellen obediently lifted half of the blanket covering me.
"Could you draw the curtains?"
"Yes."
"And open the window a bit."
"Yes."
"Oh dear. The dust piled up over there is making me sick."
"...Where is the dust?"
"Can't you see it?"
"..."
Ellen, squeezing her eyes shut, sublimated her anger into a sigh.
She then cleaned the invisible dust from the floor.
The feeling of looking down on her wasn't so bad.
When would I ever be able to order Elaine around like this?
This, too, must be one of the rewards of regression.
"Oh dear. Today's lunch menu isn't very good. Please bring me something else."
"...You eat anything, don't you?"
"Are you telling a patient to eat just anything?"
"..."
Ellen, clenching her teeth, brought new food.
"This wasn't made by Kubel."
"...Shut up and eat."
The spoon in Ellen's hand trembled.
It seemed poised to be shoved into my stomach, not my mouth. By piercing my belly.
"I will."
I obediently accepted the food.
It was a relationship where I shouldn't cross the line just yet.
'But why is she even taking care of me?'
Well, since she's doing it, I'm enjoying it.
"Can you see this?"
Ellen waved her palm in front of my eyes.
It was to check my regenerated left eye.
"I can see it."
When I nodded, Ellen gradually backed away. She eventually reached the wall.
"How many is this?"
"Raising your middle finger is an insult."
"Your eyesight has fully returned."
Ellen nodded with a satisfied look.
Now, most of the external wounds had healed.
Of course, they would burst if I overexerted myself a little, but even if they did, the depth wouldn't be that great.
Progress was fast thanks to the Sun's unique vitality.
However, I was still convalescing. The reason was internal injuries. The aftereffects of the white flame.
"Haven't you reached the 4th Rank?"
As a result of taking Psina's heart, I had reached the 4th Rank.
Ellen seemed to find it difficult to understand the fact that an increase in my level came with internal injuries.
"That's a separate matter."
My heart and the Sun living within it were intact.
Thanks to Psina's heart. Its condensed magic power had nurtured my Origin and protected my heart from the aftereffects.
However, the efficacy of the heart ended there.
The blood vessels throughout my body were still a mess from the aftereffects.
Magic was out of the question, and even moving was difficult. I needed time to recover.
'It still hurts.'
The white flame that had killed Psina was smaller than the white flame that had attacked Cassion's Origin.
Naturally, the aftereffects were greater in Cassion's case.
But the pain was greater now.
Unlike then, it was because the Moon's Orb had been completely consumed.
"That's why I told you not to act up if you can't use the orb."
"It was something I didn't have originally, I said. I'll say the same thing this time."
"You said you had no intention of overdoing it."
You said the one who cares most for my body is me.
I had overdone it this time as well.
"I didn't want to either. But I had to."
"For Sir Derrick and Sir Pisaro?"
It wasn't just for that.
The 5th Rank of the Ivory Tower might have escaped alive.
"Psina had to be killed."
"Why?"
"Because she's from the Otherworld."
When it came to the Otherworld, I was resolute.
Ellen couldn't understand that resoluteness.
"...Anyone would think you were a Serzila."
Even though I had only settled in Serzila for half a year.
I was as hostile to the Otherworld as Serzila was.
"Even though you're a mage yourself."
"That's an insult."
"Yes, yes. I'm sorry. Is there anything you need?"
"I'm thirsty."
Ellen poured water into a cup.
"I can drink it myself."
"Just shut up and put your lips to it. I'm doing it because I feel sorry."
Ellen personally gave me water to drink.
Her hand movements, contrary to my worries, were careful.
I thought she would shove it in.
"We need to find a way to replenish the orb's magic power quickly."
"It would be nice if we could, but there's no need to hang ourselves over it. I'm 4th Rank now."
The risk of projection had disappeared.
That alone was enough. The instances of suffering from aftereffects like this would decrease in the future.
"Are you a 4th Rank like a 5th Rank now?"
"It's possible."
The white flame would become a little easier.
In fact, what had been happening until now was absurd.
'It's a wonder I've survived so far.'
A mere 3rd Rank, using the fire of a 5th Rank.
It was a feat impossible without regression.
"4th Rank."
I muttered to myself.
The number of things I could do had indeed increased.
Even if not to the level of manifestation...
"You'll die doing that."
Ellen interjected then.
Her gaze was quite sharp. It was a sharpness she showed occasionally. She acted as if she could see right through my thoughts.
"I won't die."
"What if you really do die?"
How nice it would be if she could really see right through me.
"I will absolutely not die."
Until that happens, I had no intention of dying.
* * *
After I started my convalescence.
Kubel and Shura tended to visit every day.
In the morning and at noon, Kubel came alone, and in the evening, Shura came along.
The reason Kubel came to visit three times a day was simple.
It was because Ellen did not leave my side. Kubel ran errands for Ellen's meals.
"I said I was fine."
"I didn't say anything."
"So what."
"...?"
She's not a child.
'No. At twenty, she's closer to being a child.'
Anyway, Kubel's visits were not forced.
If Ellen hadn't volunteered, Kubel would have been in charge of my nursing.
Kubel was feeling sorry and indebted.
Thanks to that, Ellen's lunchbox was always full of meat.
"Thank you, Kubel."
Ellen sat on a chair, tucked Shura into her embrace, and picked up her lunchbox.
That was her charging time.
"How are you today?"
"Better than yesterday."
I said, showing him a flame.
The mass was more substantial than I thought.
Fifteen days had already passed since Psina's death.
My intact heart and the Sun, which had reached 4th Rank, were sending me more vitality than before.
"I'll probably be all better in three or four days."
Even now, there was no problem with my daily life.
If asked to go to the Boundary, I could. I was just killing time in bed because my caregiver was so strict.
"That's a relief. Is there anything I can help with?"
"It's fine. What is there for a patient to do?"
"Have you had dinner?"
"The maid will bring it. Or you can give me anything. You know. I eat anything well."
At that, Ellen buried Shura in her chest and glared at me as if to kill me.
"Well, I suppose so. You eat... things like that."
"What things?"
"Shura doesn't need to know. It's something bad."
Ellen stroked Shura's back.
She had softened her words because of Shura.
Ellen was displeased with the fact that I had eaten a heart.
"It would have been a big problem if I hadn't eaten it. I repeat, Kubel. It's all thanks to you."
Psina's heart.
Kubel was the only one who had noticed my intention.
Ellen's eyes narrowed.
She couldn't say anything. If it weren't for Kubel, I would have died.
At that time, I absolutely had to eat the heart.
"But is it okay to just eat things like that? There's a woman who dislikes it."
There is someone who dislikes me eating hearts. That person is a woman.
Both Ellen and Kubel knew this fact.
"Well, she probably dislikes it less than me dying."
It's not like it's the first time.
I said it nonchalantly.
At that, Ellen's displeased attitude softened slightly.
"True. Otherwise, she'd be a crazy woman."
"She is a crazy woman."
When I agreed, Ellen buried her face in her lunchbox again.
Kubel nodded with a satisfied look.
It was when Ellen had finished her lunchbox.
Cassion, who opened the door and entered, had a bewildered expression.
"...So Lady Ellen is really taking care of you."
I let out a hollow laugh.
Every knight who came threw those words at me.
It seemed Ellen's status was higher than he thought.
A collateral branch is still a collateral branch, I suppose.
"More importantly, Harad."
Cassion suddenly glared at me.
"Tell me honestly. You, were you a 5th Rank who lied about your age?"
"...?"
"I know there are some 5th Ranks who act all old and then pretend to be young. Was that you?"
"Are you crazy?"
I looked at Cassion with a pathetic expression.
"Please stop with the ignorant talk. If that were the case, you wouldn't be here."
If I were 5th Rank, Cassion would have died in the Sanctuary of Fire.
"There's no other explanation."
"What can't be explained? You lost to me too, so the Ivory Tower is nothing."
"..."
"Are you trying to raise your own value by praising me?"
Cassion, as if I had hit the mark, avoided my gaze.
"I'm glad you're alive, Harad."
"It's already too late."
This was Cassion's first visit.
It wasn't because he was disappointed that I had lived, but because he was busy. The 2nd and 6th Knights, who were now managing the tunnels, could not let their guard down.
"By the way, Harad, do you happen to know where the Grand Heir is?"
I inadvertently turned my gaze to Ellen.
Ellen, who was playing with Shura, flinched slightly.
"Why the Grand Heir?"
"They say he's been nowhere to be seen lately. Has it been fifteen days already? So there are many who are worried."
It has been fifteen days.
Ellen had been eating and sleeping here all that time.
"I thought you might know. You're close, aren't you?"
"Are we close?"
The concept of being close was relative.
Compared to my past life, we were still a long way off, but I think we have gotten somewhat closer.
However, the distinction had to be clear.
I was close with Ellen, not with Elaine.
"If you're not close, who is? You're the only person the Grand Heir would call a friend."
"That's true. Ugh."
"What's wrong?"
"I don't think I've fully recovered yet."
I suddenly let out a groan and slipped under the covers.
It should have been hot, but it wasn't.
"Sir Cassion."
There was a person in the room who had grown cold.
"Yes, Lady Ellen."
"Get out."
"Pardon?"
"We don't know where the Grand Heir is, so get out."
"Yes!"
Cassion promptly left the room.
I peeked my face out and asked.
"Am I your only friend too?"
And then I slipped back under the covers.
* * *
1st Knights Commander Toremot came to visit a few hours after that.
After Kubel and Shura had gone back, and when Ellen was lying on the bedding on the floor.
"I was going to ask you to come with me to report to His Grace the Grand Duke..."
Toremot, who had entered the room with a majestic air, stopped in his tracks.
Like the other knights, he was flustered to see Ellen.
"Did I perhaps interrupt something?"
"You're the first one to ask that question."
"I'll come back later. How many hours will it take?"
The passionate Toremot was also fervent in his rudeness.
"..."
Ellen's face also looked flushed.
"The room is quite warm."
Ellen chased Toremot out as well.
Indeed, the status of the collateral branch was greater than I had thought.