If I couldn’t bear children, that alone would be an eyesore, but if it could be passed on to Gerald, he’d be so startled that he’d obviously kick me out.
Understanding what I meant, Raven’s lips twitched and his eyes gleamed playfully.
“I understand perfectly. Now then, are you actually in any pain anywhere? His Grace is quite worried, wondering if he shouldn’t have given you the potion. He is not usually the type to worry about others like that.”
Hearing about Rastan from someone else, especially a close aide, felt different somehow.
“Is that so? The man I know is very gentle and considerate.”
At that moment, Raven’s eyes stretched sideways like a Tibetan fox’s.
He looked like he had a lot to say, but after parting his lips a few times, he seemed to give up, squeezed his eyes shut briefly, and shook his head.
“Given the situation where you need to see His Grace in a favorable light, this Raven will refrain from speaking.”
As his close aide, he probably knew everything about Rastan wanting a contract marriage as well.
“Don’t worry. I know very well that His Grace is a good person.”
At that, Raven visibly let out a sigh of relief and then spoke earnestly.
“T-That is right, isn’t it? For you, my Lady, he would even give up his li- no, his heart, so I would really appreciate it if you would look kindly upon him…!”
‘That much?’
Despite his pretty face, Raven seemed to have a surprisingly over-the-top personality.
“Haha, I don’t know why I should look kindly upon him, but for now, I will do my best to get along well. As good friends.”
At that, unmistakable traces of regret and disappointment surfaced simultaneously on Raven’s and Ris’s faces.
But they didn’t say anything more about it, and we perfectly synchronized our story about my fake illness.
***
A short while later, Raven sat facing Helga and Gerald in the reception room, his expression dark.
With his face full of concern, he lowered his voice gravely.
“I asked to see you because there is something important I need to tell you regarding Lady Krone’s condition.”
“W-What is it?”
Knowing that Evelyn had been hacking up coughs and staying in her room for several days, Helga and Gerald focused on Raven’s words with anxious eyes.
“I believe the lady is suffering from… Kenil disease.”
Casually assigning a name to a disease that didn’t even exist, he calmly recited the symptoms Evelyn had explained earlier.
The more they listened, the paler Gerald’s and Helga’s faces became.
In the end, Helga asked in a trembling voice.
“T-Then… even if that disease is completely cured, she might not be able to have children…?”
As expected, what they were worried about wasn’t her health, but whether she could bear children.
With a heavy expression, Raven adjusted his lensless monocle and drove the nail in.
“Yes, with a very high probability. Ah, and there is something even more important. This disease is contagious and can spread to everyone living in the same household.”
“W-What…?!”
At that, Helga’s face turned a sickly green. Clutching her son’s hand tightly beside her, she asked,
“That disease… can it be transmitted to men as well?”
Raven nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“That is correct. So if you are considering heirs, you must be extremely careful about this disease. As for me, I have no plans for marriage, so I was able to examine her today without any issues.”
Clatter!
The teacup in Helga’s hand fell to the floor and shattered.
As if he had expected this, Raven rose from his seat with a faint smile that was almost imperceptible.
“Since it would be difficult for the patient to relocate, if you are concerned, I would recommend that the healthy individuals move to an annex and stay there. With that, I will be taking my leave.”
Leaving behind the two of them as their hands began to tremble, Raven exited the mansion with a refreshed expression.
***
The aftermath of Raven, that is, this fake doctor’s visit, was tremendous.
Helga and Gerald made a huge fuss and, just as Raven had said, moved their living quarters to a small, shabby annex.
In truth, they probably wanted to move me instead, but even the idea of me coming out of my room must have terrified them. It likely felt as though the entire main building where I stayed was already contaminated.
All the servants were frightened as well and moved to the annex, so people were packed tightly into the narrow building.
Thanks to that, Ris and I were able to leave my room for the first time in a while and stroll around the main building as comfortably as if we had rented the whole place to ourselves.
I flopped down onto the sofa in the reception room.
“Ah, it’s really comfortable using this place with just you and me. It almost makes me not want to leave this mansion.”
“I feel so much better not seeing those people either!”
Of course, I hadn’t started this fake illness just to live cozily here, so things still had to move forward.
I had Ris relay my words to them. She probably didn’t want to see them either, but even when I tried to speak to them directly, they wouldn’t respond, so there was no other choice.
They even refused to speak up close with Ris, who had been with me, so she had to stand about twenty meters away and shout at the top of her lungs.
“My Lady says! She wants to return to House Krone! To recuperate! She says staying here! Makes her feel like too much of a nuisance!”
Helga and Gerald, who had been eyeing Ris warily with handkerchiefs covering their noses and mouths, suddenly had their eyes light up.
Seeing their eyes widen from afar, she tightened her core and shouted even more loudly.
“She says! She will not come back! Until she is completely better!”
“Yes! Recuperation! That’s a good idea!”
Helga nodded vigorously with the brightest expression she’d worn in a long time, and Gerald couldn’t hide the way the corners of his mouth had lifted high.
***
Back in the room, Ris packed our belongings while I looked around to make sure we weren’t forgetting anything.
“I finally told them we’re leaving. I already feel so relieved.”
“Me too! And it is even better thinking about those people being stuck in that tiny annex for a few more days without knowing anything!”
“Pff. Ris, that was really a great idea.”
In reality, we would be leaving tomorrow, but we had told Helga and Gerald that we’d leave in four days, saying we needed time to prepare.
Then, as I casually looked out the window, I spotted a familiar bird.
“Oh? It’s the Rodin bird. It’s been a few days since I last saw it.”
It would appear now and then, and today it was sitting quietly on a tree branch outside the window, looking into the room.
Seeing that bird naturally made me think of Ifrit.
‘If I don’t tell Ifrit that I’m leaving, that bird will come to the front of an empty room and wait there endlessly.’
Thinking about such an intelligent and loyal creature, capable not only of delivering letters but even demanding replies, waiting endlessly in front of an empty room without knowing I had left, made me feel sorry and guilty.
And Ifrit, too, would be surprised and hurt when he found out later that I had left.
‘Right. At the very least, I should tell Ifrit that I’m leaving.’
I quickly wrote a short letter on a small piece of paper.
That I would be leaving this mansion tomorrow, and that I hadn’t yet decided on a destination.
If there was any need to contact him, I would reach out to the Pavel estate later.
When I called the Rodin bird and tied the note to its leg, it immediately flew off into the distance.
Forgetting about that, I spent the afternoon packing my things, when the doorbell attached to the first-floor entrance rang.
“Who could it be? Everyone’s hiding in the annex right now, so there shouldn’t be anyone coming to the main building.”
I leaned out the window facing the entrance and looked down, and the person standing at the door was none other than Ifrit.
‘Huh? Why is Ifrit here right now?’
He looked up this way, and when our eyes met, he softened his gentle eyes and greeted me with a look.
I was flustered, but after making eye contact, there was no way I could refuse to open the door.
When I went down to the first floor and opened it, Ifrit walked in with a relaxed, confident stride. It almost felt as if he knew there was no one else in the main building.
Of course, Ris was standing a little behind, glaring daggers at Ifrit.
I quickly stepped forward to greet him.
“What brings you here, Ifrit?”
“To see you.”
“There you go again. Seriously, what is it?”
Even though I hadn’t invited him in, he answered and naturally walked into the reception room.
“I heard you were leaving. But you didn’t say where you were going. I was startled, so I came right away.”
“Why were you startled?”
“If I don’t know where you are, how am I supposed to stay in touch with you going forward? …Honestly, I was hurt.”
His pretty grayish-brown eyes drooped downward.
“I want to get closer to you. No, at the very least, I want us to be like we were when we were kids. But it feels like you keep trying to put distance between us.”
Ifrit was a man with a tall, broad-shouldered, confident build.
And yet, strangely enough, at times like this, I always felt like I had become the bad friend who was tormenting him.
‘Is it because his face looks so gentle? He has a strange talent for stirring up a person’s sense of guilt.’
