He’s handsome…
Back when I’d lived as the adopted daughter of the Devereux marquisate, I’d had the chance to attend banquets now and then, though not often.
But I’d never once seen a face this beautiful, like something carved from stone.
A sharp, straight nose. A jaw cut like a man’s should be. Even his deep-set eyes. Every part of it came together in a way that felt unreal.
For a moment, I wondered whether he might be a character from the original story, but it didn’t seem likely. The novel never mentioned a black-haired, black-eyed man like this.
Still, admiring his looks wasn’t something I could do at ease — there was something about him, an aura that felt hard to approach.
A feeling that stole the breath from me without my meaning it to. Had I made a mistake, speaking to him? Right as the regret was catching up to me—
Huh?
A gust of wind carried a faint, coppery scent of blood past my nose.
An odd smell, somehow different from human blood. Where had I smelled this before? Surely…
“Ah! Just a moment!”
The instant the familiarity finally clicked into place, I grabbed hold of him urgently.
“Don’t tell me — is this monster blood?”
“And if it is?”
The man answered as unbothered as if he’d just confirmed that one plus one equals two. His indifference made my eyes go wide despite myself.
“Then this is no time to be standing around! You have a little cut right here on the back of your hand…!”
This was no time to stand there dazed. If monster blood soaked into a wound, the flesh would rot!
Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any other serious injuries on his body, but that was no reason to relax. If blood seeped into that small cut on his hand, it would be a real problem.
Quick, I need disinfectant, and ointment…
The man’s terrifying presence from a moment ago was the last thing on my mind now. I blocked his path so he couldn’t leave and hurriedly pulled what I needed out of my bag.
But unlike me, in my hurry, the man himself didn’t seem to grasp the seriousness of it at all. On top of that, he kept trying to pull his hand back.
He’s not some clueless child — he’s a grown man!
The nagging poured out of me before I could stop it.
“Tsk! Hold still, please. What were you thinking, letting monster blood get in there like that! Are you worried it’ll hurt? If the wound festers, it’ll hurt a lot worse later. And crying about it then won’t do you any good.”
“Who said anything about crying. Don’t bother. It wouldn’t do much for me anyway—”
I fixed him with the sternest look I could manage. This look alone was usually enough to make every child in my village behave.
And, sure enough.
“…Heh.”
The man let out a short, disbelieving laugh and, seeming to give up, let me tend to his hand without further protest. Though something in his eyes seemed to be asking, what on earth is this woman.
This is no time to be worrying about that, anyway.
I couldn’t let this chance slip by. Just like I did with the more stubborn children back home, I finished the treatment quickly, before he could even register the sting.
Mm, good. That’s a relief.
I let go of the hand I’d been holding, and he glanced down at the back of it, seeming to sense something was off.
“Not bad, right? I made that ointment myself.”
“Yourself?”
“Yes, I’m a pharmacist.”
In the short time we’d spent talking, the slightly swollen wound had already gone down. The pain would have eased too, surely.
The man kept examining the back of his hand, still looking taken aback.
A proud little smile crept onto my face without my meaning it to. Honestly, I do take some pride in my medicine.
My remedies had always had an unusually strong healing effect, ever since I could remember.
Was that a bit too nosy of me, though?
Now that I’d calmed down, the embarrassment was catching up with me, late.
Stopping a grown man in the street like that, as if he were a child.
Ugh. But it can’t be helped. Occupational hazard.
I’d never been able to just walk past an injured person, but it had gotten worse lately.
All because of the children in the village.
If it hurts, say it hurts, ask me to treat it!
If only they’d just say so honestly. But the kids always hid it. And then it would flare up worse for no reason!
So somewhere along the way, I’d developed this reflex where I couldn’t ignore anyone hurt…
Though the man himself looks completely unbothered.
I glanced up at his face for a moment. Even with monster blood soaked all over his robe, he looked perfectly composed.
A monster hunter, then, probably?
I’d heard the area around Winterwald had far more monsters than the capital. The original story had episodes about it too — stories of the ducal knights, or the Duke himself, putting down monsters.
This man was probably one of those people as well.
Once I thought of it that way, his unusual presence from earlier made sense.
Well then, as an upstanding citizen of the empire, I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
“Here, take this! It works really well.”
“I’ll compensate you.”
I held out the ointment I’d been gripping, and the man immediately reached into his robe for something.
“You don’t need to pay me for something like this. Forget it — just be more careful not to get hurt next time.”
“I’m not fond of owing debts.”
Over one little tin of ointment, a debt? I waved both hands.
“Really, it’s fine. You do this for a living, don’t you? Clearing out monsters?”
The man paused, then nodded. Just as I’d guessed.
“Then just take it as a small token of thanks. Honestly, my village was in danger from monsters just a few months back too.”
Things had settled down recently, but over the past three years, monster waves had come with unusual frequency.
Without people like him clearing them out, we wouldn’t have been able to live so safely.
I pressed the tin of ointment back into his hand and smiled a little.
“We’re always grateful for what you do. Thank you.”
“…Are you from another region?”
“Oh, yes! I have some business around here.”
“Such as?”
“Um, job hunting, I suppose you could call it?”
Of course, that was just a convenient little lie.
“Oh, right — would you happen to know the way to the duke’s residence?”
“Up that hill over there.”
I looked up in the direction he nodded toward and saw a mansion as massive as a castle. Wow. A gasp of admiration slipped out of me without my meaning it to.
The man gave a small nod.
What an odd man.
He seemed unfriendly on the surface, and yet he answered every question I asked.
Of course, the strangest part of all was his eerie composure.
Covered in monster blood like that, and completely unbothered.
Even for a monster hunter, most people would be at least a little shaken.
Oh, right. I’d almost forgotten the most important part.
“Don’t ever go treating even a small wound lightly! If it gets infected, it can rot. This time you got lucky, but next time it really could turn serious!”
I put on the fiercest expression I could manage.
But—
“Ha.”
The man only quirked one corner of his mouth up, as if amused.
Hm. That had been my secret weapon, sort of. Guess it wasn’t very scary after all. The kids back home always behaved when I did that… Well, I suppose it wouldn’t work on a grown man.
Ugh, but there’s no need to laugh about it.
I’d been fairly serious about it, too.
Setting my embarrassment aside, I gave him one last farewell.
“Anyway, take care!”
The man had started to walk off when he paused, as if something had just occurred to him.
“…I hear the duke’s residence will be hiring a physician soon.”
Huh?
Before I could even ask what he meant, the man left that one brief line behind and disappeared, quickly.
I stood rooted to the spot for a long while, turning his words over in my mind.
I’d been racking my brain over how to meet Cain, and…
This was it — this was my chance!
By the time the man had walked some distance away, he murmured, quietly, to himself.
“How curious.”
For a simple ointment to have that strong an effect.
He looked down at his own hand.
The man — no, Cain — was the head of House Asheln.
Overwhelming power and near-astronomical wealth, to rival even the imperial family. A house with strength enough to stand alongside the throne.
But the single greatest trait of House Asheln was its dragon blood.
They were the only bloodline in the empire descended from dragons, their very constitution different from an ordinary person’s, down to the root.
Which meant that ordinary medicine had no effect at all on members of his family.
Even the imperial court’s own physicians would struggle to produce an effect this strong.
Just who is she, exactly?
Never dreaming that he was watching her, she seemed utterly absorbed in taking in the sights of the city.
Her curly pink hair swayed this way and that in the wind.
“…Heh.”
Looking at her again, she really was an odd woman.
The way she hadn’t flinched at the sight of him, for one thing.
The way she’d even handled him like some unruly child…
It couldn’t be explained away as simple cheerfulness alone.
Cain looked down at the back of his hand again. The small cut from before had healed completely.
Even accounting for the dragon blood’s own recovery, that still wasn’t ordinary.
It nagged at him, in more ways than one. Before he knew it, his eyes had drifted back to her on their own.
Cain told himself it was because of her skill.
Best to bring her to the estate right away. It would help Jayden.
Even setting his ailing nephew aside, the ointment alone was already reason enough to bring her into the ducal residence.
Cain had just made up his mind and was about to approach her when—
“What’s up, Melody! Did you come find me with your aunt?”
“Uu-uu!”
A small child came bounding over, tumbling this way and that, and threw herself straight into the woman’s arms.
…Her little sister?
They’re the spitting image of each other.
Right down to the pink hair and the sprout-green eyes, as if pressed from the same mold.
Cain came to a stop, his steps toward the woman halting.
I’ve already had word sent. She’ll come.
He watched the two of them for a moment longer before heading home.
And so, he arrived back at the ducal residence.
His aide Conrad hurried over to meet him.
“Your Grace! You’ve returned!”
Cain handed over the robe he’d been wearing. It was a habit of his, something he wore while hunting monsters, partly to stretch his legs.
The moment he undid the enchanted device that disguised him, his hair turned to shimmering silver in an instant. His black eyes bled into red.
An already inhuman beauty, made all the more unreal. One would think Conrad would be used to it by now, and yet, for a moment, he still looked up at his lord with something like reverence in his eyes.
But true to his cold dragon blood, Cain said nothing in reply and simply headed for his study. Then, right at the threshold, he stopped short.
“My lord? Is something the matter?”
“Put up a notice. We’re hiring a physician.”
