CHAPTER 25………………………………………
His ash-gray hair was messy, but if it were just a little tidied up, his face would probably be better than most noblemen.
“Why aren’t you answering?”
“Do I really have to?”
“Yes. I’m curious.”
April’s voice, haughty to the extreme, made Allen sigh inwardly.
He was only doing this because Vernis had told him to get closer to April, but ideally, he didn’t want to be involved with her at all.
“You’re the one who saved me when I was about to die, Vernis-nim.”
The memory of fleeing the temple, ready to face death, was still vivid as if it had happened yesterday.
His biggest wish was simply to survive, but even if he died, it wouldn’t have mattered.
Allen had no intention of dying in the temple.
If he had died there…
It was a thought he didn’t want to entertain.
“You were about to die?”
“Yes.”
There was no need to straightforwardly explain that he was from the temple.
He remembered running for a long time after escaping, wandering in the mountains until he collapsed. It was Irina who found him then.
“…Please… save me…”
Seeing a wounded man collapsed in the mountains might have startled someone, but Irina showed no sign of surprise.
She had only looked at him silently, thinking briefly, before acting.
And when he opened his eyes, he was in the place that was now used as a shop.
He remembered how shocked he had been to realize that someone with divine power had healed him.
“Just thinking about that person makes you smile?”
“…What?”
Allen paused at April’s question.
“Smile? What do you mean?”
“I mean you.”
April looked at him with an incredulous smile and poked her own lips with her finger.
“You smiled.”
“….”
“Vernis, you weren’t thinking about that person, were you?”
It was inevitable.
To Allen, Irina was nothing less than salvation itself.
He had been told that the extent of divine power varied for each person and could heal different ranges, but having been healed by Irina, he could say for certain:
Irina could completely heal April.
She could straighten twisted bones and reattach severed tendons.
Allen had gone through plenty of hardships in the temple and had experienced divine power several times, but he had never encountered such a vast amount before.
Why isn’t she healing me?
Whether it was a problem between Irina and April or something involving the Duke Rize family, Allen had no way of knowing.
“The more I hear, the more curious I get.”
He was curious, yes, but the reason didn’t matter.
Since Irina had saved his life, he was ready to risk it for her.
“What do you mean?”
“You almost died, right? What happened that almost killed you?”
For that question, Allen could only remain silent.
It wasn’t a matter of whether he could answer—he didn’t want anyone else to know.
Allen had grown up in the temple orphanage.
In the temple, that meant:
“This is something you don’t need to know.”
It also meant he had been subjected to human experimentation.
“What happened that almost killed you?”
April’s question dug into painful memories.
Only those affiliated with the temple knew how cruel it really was.
Most citizens would not know how ruthlessly orphanage children were used in experiments to produce a single drug, or how they were treated like playthings.
The temple’s guards were strict, and orphans weren’t given the means to survive independently.
Orphans were subjected to various experiments.
They were used for drug tests and had injuries inflicted intentionally for experimental purposes.
Few actually died during experiments, as the priests maintained a small amount of life-sustaining divine power.
It was a Sisyphus-like existence.
Like rolling a stone up a mountain, knowing it would fall again.
Allen’s hands hesitated as he worked on making the painkillers April would consume.
Even when wounds were inflicted deliberately, the children were given copious amounts of painkillers, so they didn’t feel much pain.
Because of this, many became addicted to drugs.
Haunted by temple nightmares, Allen’s hands began to shake.
“…Just this once.”
Even knowing he shouldn’t, his hands kept going to the ingredients for the painkillers.
He still remembered the hallucinations the painkillers caused and the sensation of floating weightlessly without pain.
Although his body had been fully healed by Irina, he knew what pleasure drugs had once given him.
The foggy mind, the nightmares gone, the feeling of letting himself drift in water—he remembered it all.
“…This time, really… just this once.”
Allen’s breathing grew heavier.
He had seen how the drugs were made during temple experiments and had heard the priests talk about it.
He was about to roll the remaining herb into a leaf when…
“Stop.”
The rough yet strong white hand stopped him.
Allen, unable to lift his head at the familiar voice behind him, broke into a cold sweat.
“Irina, Allen.”
Her usually indifferent voice was now cold as ice, stiff and rigid.
Trembling, Allen slowly turned.
His pale face was reflected in her sunset-colored eyes, which had gone icy.
“Irina-nim…”
It was Irina.
“Are you trying to get addicted again?”
If it was this bad now, he must have made it several times even while she wasn’t around.
“No, you’re mistaken.”
“….”
“I just… haven’t been able to sleep lately… that’s all.”
Tears started filling his red eyes.
Because of the crimson color, Allen’s tears reminded her of molten lava, and the droplets falling made her think of sparks landing.
Sighing heavily at his crying, she said:
“Why are you even doing this…? If you’re going to, just stop.”
Divine power could heal everything physically but could not fix mental scars, something she felt strongly when looking at Allen.
His nightmares, his behavior like this…
“Getting addicted and then being healed by divine power works once or twice… beyond that, I can’t help you.”
“Irina-nim.”
“If you keep acting like this, I can’t keep you around with all the risks involved.”
She couldn’t guarantee that an addicted Allen wouldn’t act impulsively again, nor that it wouldn’t alert the temple.
“Irina-nim, I’m sorry. This… this will never happen again.”
His face begged her to overlook it just this once, hands clutching hers.
“Please… just this once.”
Watching Allen’s desperate expression, she felt a headache coming.
Sigh… what should I do?
Should she trust him one more time or not?
“Irina-nim, please.”
She couldn’t understand why he insisted on staying so close.
When they first met, he had tried to run away from her despite his pain.
She still remembered Allen struggling, shouting about someone following him.
The once untamable Allen had gradually been tamed through treatment, which she found somewhat cute…
“No second chance, Allen.”
“….”
“This is the last time I’ll overlook it.”
Normally, she might have ignored it, but now that Barak and April were involved, she couldn’t.
“If you even try touching the drugs again, it’s best you leave.”
She threw the leaf he had clenched into the nearby trash bin.
“I won’t take on the risk of you again.”
Although his skill in making medicine was valuable, now that she had returned to the ducal family and her role as a daughter, she couldn’t earn money by making drugs.
Allen, tense, nodded deeply. He seemed grateful for one last chance.
“I’ll make sure this never happens again. Thank you for trusting me…”
Why did he still want to stay here?
He hadn’t earned much, but enough to settle in a small countryside town near the capital.
“Right. So how’s April’s condition?”
“Much improved. She’s practicing walking with her staff, and other than being scolded by Irina-nim about when she’ll come to check, there’s nothing else…”
So, nothing really bad.
