At the unexpected words, Jayden looked toward where the voice had come from. The woman he’d thought had gone off to be treated was, for some reason, standing right there.
“What?”
“The young master was trying to catch me. I just fell, that’s all.”
In a voice that didn’t waver in the slightest, for some reason, she was covering for him.
Jayden wasn’t the only one thrown by Viola’s lie.
At the unexpected words, Cain too stopped where he was.
…Why?
Why tell a lie like that? He’d already seen everything plainly.
Even if he hadn’t been there from the start, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t tell what had happened.
Jayden had shoved Viola.
Whether it had been a mistake made in simple panic or not, whether there had been malice in it or not—none of that mattered anymore.
Either way, Jayden was the one who’d broken the vase, and the one who’d knocked Viola down onto it.
And the responsibility for letting Jayden do such a thing lay with him, the boy’s guardian.
Cain had every intention of correcting Jayden’s temper, no matter what anyone said. One accident like this was enough.
But at that very moment—
Trust me.
Viola secretly mouthed the words so only he could see, then smiled brightly.
An expression so calm and kind that she didn’t look injured at all.
Blood was dripping from her arm, and yet she was smiling gently, as if she weren’t the least bit angry with Jayden.
It made even less sense to him. She’d throw herself in harm’s way to shield a stranger she’d only met today?
Before he knew it, Cain had drawn back his presence. The color began returning at once to Jayden’s face, which had gone white as chalk.
Once again, she mouthed something.
Thank you.
Her sprout-green eyes curved prettily as she looked at him.
This wasn’t what he’d intended. But he’d become curious about what she would do. Before he realized it, Cain was letting her have her way.
And so was Jayden.
“Young Master. It’s dangerous here, so would you come over this way first?”
Though Jayden kept glancing warily at the adults, he obediently did as she said. He was so docile that no one would have believed he was the same child who’d been rampaging a moment ago.
“Your Grace the Duke, I think the young master needs treatment first. Would you mind waiting somewhere else for a little while? Sir Conrad too.”
As if spellbound by her gentle voice, Cain and Conrad naturally stepped outside.
Soon the door slid shut.
“Just a moment, Young Master. Let me take your temperature first.”
The woman’s soft, friendly voice came through the door.
Cain stood blankly in front of it.
“…”
“I’m sorry, Your Grace. It was my carelessness that got Miss Viola hurt.”
“Quiet, for now.”
Ordinarily he might have given Conrad a sharp word or two, but right now the aide’s words weren’t even registering.
Only the woman’s smile went on drifting around in his head.
As Viola had asked, he left the corridor with Conrad.
Jayden had let Viola take hold of him and gone along obediently, but his chest was prickling so badly that he could hardly lift his head.
His lowered gaze caught on the woman’s left sleeve.
In contrast to her neat blouse, the sleeve was in tatters and stained with bright red blood. He didn’t have to look closely to see she’d been badly hurt.
“Young Master, may I have a look at you?”
“…”
Jayden didn’t answer, but he didn’t resist, either.
She seemed to take that as the permission it effectively was, and began examining him thoroughly from head to toe. Then, at some point, she looked at his palm and her eyes went round.
“Oh no. I was afraid of this. Some of the glass must have scattered onto the rug, too.”
“…”
“It must sting a lot. Don’t worry. I’ll treat it right away so it won’t hurt.”
The woman immediately bent her head low and threw herself into treating the wound.
She carefully removed the shards and disinfected it. Having applied ointment and wrapped a bandage around it, she finally raised her head.
At the same time, she gently curled up the corners of her mouth.
“How was that? Didn’t hurt a bit, did it? I’m an expert at this sort of thing.”
There was more than calm in her voice; there was even a touch of playfulness.
Jayden simply couldn’t understand what he was seeing.
As wounds went, it was nothing but a ridiculously trivial scratch.
He might have Tamutar disease, but he was still a Dragonblood.
A cut like this was obviously nothing.
You’re the one who got hurt worse. And you got hurt because of me.
So why does this woman keep smiling like that?
The prickling in his chest ached like a dry rag being wrung out.
But contrary to what he felt, sharp words came flying out.
“Are you stupid?”
“Pardon?”
The woman tilted her head as if she had no idea what he meant.
“Why are you helping me? I hurt you. Are you some kind of carefree idiot…!”
When you’re the one who’s such a mess.
Every time he looked at the woman’s forearm, a stabbing guilt tormented him. His head hurt. His chest felt tight, and the world seemed to be spinning before his eyes.
Jayden squeezed his eyes shut. What answer had he even been hoping for, asking such a stupid question?
He was regretting it and about to turn his face away when—
Ah. She let out a short sigh, as if she finally understood, and spoke as though it were still nothing at all.
“Well, that’s only natural, isn’t it?”
At the puzzling words, Jayden looked into the woman’s eyes again.
“Because you’re a child, Young Master.”
And I’m a grown-up.
She added that briefly, and at the same moment smiled as brightly as a new sprout just breaking through the earth on a spring day.
“…”
Even after hearing her answer, he still didn’t understand any of it. He was already six—too old to be called a child.
And he wasn’t an ordinary person, but a Dragonblood… There was no way this woman didn’t know that.
Ugh. Jayden was about to ask again, but he shut his mouth. A sudden wave of dizziness had come over him.
“It’s all right. Just lie still for now.”
At a voice as soft as a lullaby, Jayden’s eyes slid closed before he knew it.
The cool back of the woman’s hand touched his burning forehead, then drew away.
“Your fever is very high. I’ll give you something to bring it down, so take it and get a good sleep. You’ll feel much better.”
Jayden hated medicine. He never wanted to take anything for a fever.
But at that soft, quiet voice, the boy swallowed the liquid that slipped into his mouth without thinking.
Far from bitter, it had a sweet taste he didn’t mind all that much, but the woman in front of him bothered him.
She must be stupid after all.
It won’t work anyway. Medicine doesn’t work on me at all.
But he didn’t say that out loud. The exhaustion washing over him was pulling him further and further away.
And so Jayden fell into a deep sleep. The first sound sleep he’d had in a long time.
Phew. Things have finally settled down.
At the sight of Jayden at last sleeping soundly, I could finally relax.
That had been truly hair-raising back there.
I’d come to help, and the moment I arrived, everything had gone to pieces.
Still, I had no regrets.
I’d checked on Jayden’s condition, just as I’d meant to. And gotten him to take the fever medicine.
If Jayden had fallen onto that vase earlier and gotten hurt, it would have been a real catastrophe. Thankfully, there’d been no serious harm done.
I got a little hurt myself, but this much is nothing. I’m used to it.
It wasn’t the first time, or the second. Something like this would heal quickly with a little medicine.
When I quietly got up so as not to wake the child, the shards of the vase that hadn’t yet been cleaned up caught my eye.
Holding my breath, I tidied up the mess.
A little time passed, and when I went back to Jayden, his forehead, which had been burning like a coal, had returned to a normal temperature.
Thank goodness. The fever medicine works well on him.
I’d taken care to make it in advance with his being a Dragonblood in mind, and I was relieved it had worked.
But it worked a lot faster than I expected, didn’t it?
Barely fifteen minutes had passed, and his fever had already dropped this much.
The medicines I made had always been unusually effective. Even though I used the same recipes as everyone else.
But for that to hold true even for a Dragonblood…
One way or another, it was hardly a bad thing, so I decided to simply be glad of it.
After a moment, I looked down at the child’s face. His brow was furrowed as if he were having a bad dream. He seemed to be feeling guilty, too.
Come to think of it, he looked really sorry earlier, too.
Was that why his face was all scrunched up?
It weighed on my heart, so I gently pressed with my fingers to smooth out the tension, and only then did the child’s expression turn peaceful.
Ordinarily, I’d have scolded him sharply for all of it right away. But just for today, I’d decided not to. That was why I’d stopped Cain earlier, too.
What a sick child needed most urgently was treatment, not discipline.
The health of children always came first.
Jayden seemed to be sorry, so once he’s better, we can talk about it properly then.
When that time came, I’d have to be careful not to frighten him or back him into a corner for no reason.
I tucked the blanket around the soundly sleeping child one more time. Now I just had to go out and tell Cain what had happened, and I’d be done.
I sorted my thoughts for a moment, then carefully got to my feet, and at that very moment—
Bang!
Shattering the stillness of the quiet room, the door was flung open.
“Oh, oh, Young Master!”
