novelraw Chapter 247: Favoritism
Chapter 247: Favoritism
"They got into a fight in the cabin below the deck. After the conflict, the other crew members pulled Xi Ge out. Isabel hasn't let anyone else in either, so she should still be alone in the cabin."
"I see, I'll go talk to her."
"Let me go with you, I'll apologize to her while I'm at it."
However, after hearing this, Fisher shook his head. He glanced at the crew member who had been reprimanded by Pakhz and said with a smile.
"It's best if I go alone. She is definitely no match for your crew member and must have been beaten up terribly. The ladies of Naris are not as tough as the ladies of the Sardin Matriarchy, so this is also to spare her somewhat fragile pride... Don't worry, I will handle it properly."
In truth, Alajina was also worried that Isabel might embellish the story when talking to Fisher, which was why she wanted to go see her together with him. She didn't want this to create a rift between herself and Fisher.
But looking at the Fisher before her, she suddenly found herself not believing that Fisher would easily trust anything just because of a few words from someone else. She believed he had his own ability to judge; she should trust him.
Thus, she nodded, stayed where she was without following him, and only said.
"Alright, I will wait for you here."
Fisher waved his hand and walked into the cabin beneath the deck. The corridor below the ship was not wide, and the walls and doors on both sides were all made of iron plates. Near the stairs linking to the deck, Old Jack and the three squirrel-kin girls who were constantly peeking inside stood at the door of the room.Old Jack, with a lit cigarette dangling from his mouth, fully puckered his lips toward the direction of the room for Fisher, indicating that Isabel was inside.
However, Fisher didn't respond immediately. Instead, he looked at the cigarette in his mouth and asked, somewhat puzzled.
"What brand of cigarette is that? It smells really weird, where did you get it?"
"Some damned brand from the Northern Border, I'm not sure either, but it does the trick... Pakhz gave it to me, if you want some, go ask her."
Hearing how Old Jack referred to Pakhz without honorifics, Fisher's expression turned a bit strange. The thought he originally had of asking that person for a cigarette simultaneously vanished without a trace. He patted Old Jack on the shoulder with an ambiguous meaning and knocked on the closed cabin door under his questioning gaze.
"Knock knock..."
"Can I come in?"
Fisher asked aloud, but it was completely quiet inside with no response at all.
After waiting for a second, he didn't wait any longer and pushed the door open directly. Fortunately, the door wasn't locked; otherwise, he would have had to break it down.
The space inside the cabin was quite spacious. This cabin was originally used as a dining hall for the crew's group meals. Even though it wasn't mealtime, the fruits Fisher and Pakhz had collected on the island earlier were stored in another small compartment in the corner of this cabin, frozen by the ice blocks generated by the Ice Prince.
But at this very moment, smashed fruits were scattered messily all over the outside of the compartment. Even the tables and chairs bolted to the floor of the room bore scrape marks from collisions. Clearly, they had gotten into a conflict while moving supplies.
Fisher's brow twitched slightly. Then he turned his head and, in front of the wall near the door, saw Isabel huddled into a ball, hugging her knees.
At this moment, she had buried her cheeks against the front of her thighs, her long blonde hair cascading down to obscure some of her face. However, through the slight gaps in her parted blonde hair, Fisher could still see distinct bruises on the sliver of exposed cheek.
"Isabel."
Hearing Fisher's voice, her body trembled, but she still didn't lift her head, remaining in that posture.
"Teacher Fisher."
After confirming that her condition was alright, Fisher walked over, sat down beside her, and asked.
"What happened? How did you end up fighting with the others?"
Isabel didn't respond. She merely gently pinched her pants. It wasn't until the force of her fingers gradually deepened that she suddenly asked Fisher a question instead.
"Teacher Fisher, do you hate my older sister, Elizabeth?"
Fisher hadn't expected her to suddenly ask this question. He fell silent for a moment, then leaned against the wall behind him just like her, and replied.
"I hate her, and yet I don't hate her. But the parts that I resent and the parts that I don't are entirely different. This is a matter filled with endless contradictions; even I cannot break free from this entanglement..."
He didn't look at Isabel; he merely stared at the crushed fruit scattered everywhere on the dining hall floor.
"Your older sister is undoubtedly a ruthless person. She can mercilessly raise her butcher's knife against both lives and enemies, and she will resort to any means necessary to achieve her goals. This should be the reason why I resent her."
"If I had never fallen in love with her, if she hadn't faced my blade with all her defenses dropped when I fled from her side back then, if she could have developed resentment toward me as well because of my negligence over the years... perhaps I wouldn't have these contradictory concerns today... When all is said and done, she reserved all of her tenderness for me and you. And someone who enjoys favoritism has no right to speak of objectivity and justice."
"So, to me, rather than saying I resent her or don't resent her, it's more accurate to say that I resent myself. I resent how much I owe her, and I resent that I didn't discover her mistakes sooner."
Isabel pressed her lips together tightly. Crystal-clear teardrops slid down her cheeks one by one until they fell to the floor.
"I-I am the same. Over these past few days, I often dreamt about how my sister raised her sword and murdered my older brother, our father, and the others... about how hideously their expressions looked as they stared at me. But then sometimes, I frequently recall how she stayed constantly by my bedside when I had a fever, how she encouraged me to go to university to read and learn, how she encouraged me to make friends with non-nobles and go play together with them..."
"I keep thinking: what would I have become if I didn't have my sister? Would I have been as happy as before, as ignorant of everything as before?"
"Teacher Fisher, in the eyes of most scholars and magicians in Naris, you are an extremely talented person; in my eyes, you are a towering mountain that one can only hope to look up to. Yet even though you are such an outstanding person, and even though my older brother and the others achieved far less than you, they looked down on you intensely..."
"What you don't know is: back when my sister announced that legendary 'Universal Request' to the entire school during the Griffin Race, just how angry my royal father and older brother were. It was as if my sister was their personal property, as if doing that had made them lose face. To whom they wanted to marry my sister and I off to, and what they intended to exchange us for... I knew absolutely nothing about any of it."
"I was merely shielded from so much unseen filth by my sister's silhouette, so I truly did not know what my sister and I actually were to my royal father, and to Gedrin..."
Fisher's gaze went somewhat blank, seemingly recalling the Elizabeth from years ago who stood before the entire school and announced that "Universal Request" with a gentle smile—that Eldest Princess who seemed of boundless glory.
A Naris orphan with neither father nor mother, a penniless poor boy, yet he had gained the favor of a nation's princess. This simply fulfilled all the preconditions for a standard tragedy in a theatrical play.
But Elizabeth did not believe in tragedies. To her, rules and formulas were merely shackles. So, she used her own will to forcibly twist and destroy the train tracks that led toward tragedy.
Just as Fisher had said, one who enjoys favoritism is unworthy of speaking about objectivity and justice. This was precisely the source of his contradictory thoughts.
"So... I too am only, only resenting myself, resenting that I can't do anything at all."
"Actually, earlier, they... those women from the matriarchy merely made a few teasing remarks. It was just... it was about my family, which is why I grabbed her and hit her as if I had lost control. It was completely... completely unnecessary. It was simply because I wanted to vent the depression in my heart too much; it was my fault."
She sniffled and then raised her face. At this moment, a huge patch of her beautiful cheek was completely swollen; her right cheek was at least a full circle larger than her left one. Her left eye was completely covered in bruises and couldn't be opened at all, only barely squinting through a slit to look at Fisher.
Clearly, a frail lady from Naris would definitely be no match for a soldier of the Sardin Matriarchy, let alone this ever-fragile jewel of Gedrin.
The other person only got scratched twice on the face and was completely fine, while Isabel was nearly beaten into a pig's head. And this was the result of being pulled apart by the other crew members the moment it started. If they had exchanged a few more blows, Isabel would likely have been dismantled whole.
Fisher's dazed expression as he stared at her face made the tears fall from Isabel's eyes even harder. Feeling somewhat distressed, she covered her face, but immediately touched her swollen wounds from the beating, which hurt so much she gasped in cold air while sniffling. It was a miserable sight beyond words.
"Wuu wuu... Teacher Fisher, stop looking, it really hurts."
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Fisher took out a jar from his coat. Inside was a considerable amount of powder ground from magic materials; this was even scrounged off that wealthy woman Valentiina.
"Stop crying, I'll carve a healing magic onto you a little later, and you'll be fine by tomorrow morning."
"Really?"
"I am a student of Grand Mage Helson, and the youngest senior member of the Naris Magic Association. Do you think what I'm saying is true or not?"
Watching the way Isabel nodded foolishly after being beaten up made Fisher want to laugh a little. He shook his head and stood up, walking toward the cabin door.
"Alright, I'll help you carve the magic later. As for right now, I presume this beating has woken you up, making you realize just how unable you are to withstand a single blow. If you want to accomplish more things and not resent yourself later, then work hard. After all, both of us currently have a lot of room for improvement, don't we?"
It was unclear whether Fisher's last sentence was directed at himself or at Isabel. After finishing, he thought for a second and surprisingly couldn't come up with an answer, so he had no choice but to say a sentence with a much clearer direction to Isabel.
"Also, if you know you were wrong, go find that crew member you hit and apologize."
Isabel pursed her lips pitifully. Although her face hurt terribly, she still nodded and said,
"Mhm!"