“Who—who on earth told you something like that, Young Master?”
I held my feelings back as best I could so as not to frighten the child, but my hands were still shaking.
If only Jayden had been taking his medicine all this time. If only he’d kept taking it steadily!
He would never have been so sick a few days ago.
And before that, and before that, he wouldn’t have suffered so badly either.
I remembered the countless records of seizures and high fevers, over and over, in his medical file.
He must have suffered so much all that time.
With no fever medicine working, tormented by that horrible fever, he must have cried alone so many times.
Thinking that he’d never needed to go through any of that pain made me feel as if my heart were being torn to shreds.
Before anything about Dragonbloods, Jayden was just a child. Only six years old.
And yet who on earth had poured such cruel words onto this boy?
The feelings I’d been pressing down kept churning inside me.
Somehow swallowing my sorrow and anger, I placed my hands on both of Jayden’s shoulders.
At the same time, I looked at the child quietly.
“…”
Jayden’s lips trembled, as if he didn’t know what to say.
He couldn’t easily meet my eyes, but soon he murmured, his eyes wet:
“…If you’re disappointed in me, you don’t have to come anymore.”
But what Jayden said only tore at my heart even more.
“…If you’re disappointed in me, you don’t have to come anymore.”
Biting his lip hard to hold back his tears, Jayden snapped it out. Beyond his blurry vision, he could see Viola’s stiff expression.
Fear gripped him.
…I made Viola angry.
She was a kind woman who hadn’t gotten angry even when he’d hurt her.
Viola, who always smiled so warmly it was almost foolish.
It was truly the first time he’d seen her with a face like this.
But Jayden soon resigned himself. In a way, it was only natural.
Not only had he lied, he’d even stubbornly insisted he didn’t need medicine.
It’s because I’m pathetic after all… That’s why she’s sick of me.
His heart ached as if it were a dry rag being wrung out.
He was the one who’d pushed her away so hard. And yet, now that he thought Viola really hated him, he couldn’t understand himself why it made him so sad.
Even now.
If I held on to Viola now, would she let me?
She’s kind, so she might give me one last chance.
Even if she wouldn’t, there was nothing he could do about it. Because this was the only way Jayden knew.
But the words that came out of his mouth were the exact opposite of what was in his heart.
“I don’t need you. Just leave someone like me alone. You must not even want to look at me, so you don’t have to force yourself to come…!”
But at that very moment, like a miracle, warmth wrapped snugly around Jayden once again.
“No, no. I’ve never been disappointed in you, Young Master.”
“Th-then…”
You won’t leave me?
When Jayden worked up the courage to add it, the answer came back as if there were no need to even think about it.
“Of course not. Where would I go and leave you behind?”
Relief made him feel as though his legs might give out. Held in her arms, Jayden clutched her clothes as tightly as if they were a lifeline.
Viola met the child’s eyes and spoke gently.
“Listen to me carefully. Before you’re a Dragonblood, Young Master, you’re just a person.”
“…A person?”
It was hard to understand.
Jayden had been a Dragonblood since birth, and that was what everyone called him. But Viola nodded and added:
“Some people are tall, and some people are short. Some people have black hair, and some have brown. But Young Master, my hair is pink.”
She pointed at her own hair and smiled.
“It isn’t a common color. So does that mean I’m not a person, because I’m different from everyone else?”
Jayden shook his head frantically.
“Of course you’re a person, Viola. That’s just a trait.”
But so what? It was hard to understand why Viola was saying this.
But Viola said the next words as though they were the most obvious thing in the world.
“That’s right. Being a Dragonblood is just a trait like that, too.”
“…What?”
“You’re just a person, Young Master. And a very cute and lovable one at that.”
Words he’d never heard in his life.
His instructor, and all the physicians he’d met so far—every one of them had treated him as a Dragonblood before they ever saw him.
But why is it only Viola who…
Jayden forced open eyes so swollen from crying that they would hardly open. He wanted to see what kind of expression Viola was making.
When he finally met her eyes, they were, beyond any doubt, nothing but straight and true. As though not a single grain of a lie was mixed into any of it.
…
He wanted to say something, but his throat was so tight the words wouldn’t come. Jayden’s lips were only moving soundlessly when—
“Young Master. When I’m sick, I take medicine right away. Does that make me a weak person?”
“No! You’re not weak, Viola!”
Jayden cried out in a rush. How could there be such a stupid question in the world?
Viola was absolutely not weak.
If anything, she was… strong.
Upright and good. Stronger than anyone Jayden had ever seen.
Her body might be weak, sure. How is she going to manage with arms this skinny?
Even so, she was undoubtedly a strong person.
“But you said taking medicine makes you weak.”
“B-but that’s not true for you!”
“Then it’s the same for you, Young Master. Taking medicine doesn’t make you weak.”
“…Huh?”
“It’s just treatment. Anyone who’s sick needs to be treated.”
Adding that quietly, she gently stroked the back of Jayden’s hand.
“So from now on, you’ll take your medicine properly for me, won’t you?”
A clear voice. Jayden hesitated to answer.
Could he really believe what she said? It was far too sweet a story to swallow whole right away.
But…
Just this once, he wanted to be honest.
At last, Jayden nodded.
“Okay…”
Only then did she seem relieved, and she smiled at him again.
After soothing Jayden, who stayed confused to the very end, I left the bedroom with a heavy heart.
A runt. Taking medicine makes you weak.
How is that something that should come out of a child’s mouth?
I didn’t know who had said those things, but just let me find out. I really wasn’t going to let it go.
…But what if this wasn’t a problem with just one person?
My head is pounding.
Maybe it was only natural for Jayden to think that way.
People fundamentally thought of Dragonbloods as special beings, and feared them.
But just because it was natural didn’t make it right.
I can’t leave it like this.
So I went straight to Cain’s study and reported what had happened today.
“So, to sum up, Jayden hasn’t been taking his medicine all this time?”
“Yes, that’s right. He’s a child, so it could simply be that he dislikes medicine, but…”
I took a breath and added, with emphasis:
“I don’t think that’s it.”
It was only a guess for now, but there was a big difference between saying it and not saying it.
“I’ll look into it.”
Thankfully, Cain took it seriously.
“Thank you for telling me.”
“Not at all. It’s only what I should do.”
Cain reached for the bell as if to call Conrad right away.
“Well then, I’ll be going…”
At the natural signal that I was dismissed, I let out a breath of relief and was about to turn away. At that moment—
“Wait.”
His eyes met mine, and instead of ringing the bell, Cain got up from his seat and came straight toward me.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
He came right up close and caught my shoulder as I was about to leave, turning me back around.
Ah…? At the sudden turn of events, my mouth fell open before I knew it.
Our faces were far too close.
Wh-why is he doing this? But there was no need to ask; the question was answered soon enough.
“Your tongue is blue. Don’t tell me you’ve taken poison?”
