Unlike the other knights, moved by her heartfelt concern, Eugene couldn’t say a word for a moment.
Eugene knew it too. How hideous this scar was. And at the same time, that it wasn’t any kind of badge of honor at all.
More precisely, he couldn’t not know it. To him, this was nothing short of a nightmare to begin with.
The day of the northern expedition, the massive monster he’d faced. Every time he looked at the scar, the pain of that day came vividly back to life.
Ghastly teeth tearing through his skin. And the wretched miasma that carved into his flesh in an instant, as if devouring his body from within.
It had been the most horrific pain he’d felt in his life. Agony that felt like being cut apart with knives, every inch of his body, had left him unable to keep his senses.
He’d always been proud of having weathered everything life could throw at him. And yet Eugene had felt true terror for the first time that day.
Thankfully, Cain had struck down the monster in that moment, and Eugene had been able to keep his life.
But surviving didn’t mean everything was resolved.
Even after receiving treatment with holy power, thanks to Vice Commander Ernst’s help, that nightmarish mark had never disappeared.
Of course, even this much is something to be grateful for.
Holy power was an extremely precious force, and the Temple was fiercely reluctant to share their power with ordinary people.
Thanks to Ernst, a wielder of holy power, it was pure good fortune that things had ended with a scar this size, rather than losing the arm entirely.
Even that much was a luxury someone like him, a commoner, shouldn’t have been able to enjoy at all.
But whenever the scar throbbed now and then, there was no helping the terror of that day rising back up.
So Eugene had made a habit of calling that mark a badge of honor. People would look pained when they heard it, then soon laugh it off, calling him remarkable.
But…
Viola alone had been different.
As if she’d seen straight through those words as a hollow rationalization, her expression had only grown darker.
Her drooping eyes and welling gaze, as if she herself had been the one hurt, filled Eugene’s vision completely.
Seeing that, a bitter taste lingered in his mouth.
He should have pretended nothing was wrong more convincingly.
Erasing the scar had never been possible anyway.
He felt guilty, thinking he’d made Viola worry over something that couldn’t be helped, for nothing.
I’ll have to hide it better from now on, so this doesn’t happen again. Eugene resolved this, watching her carefully.
An awkwardness settled over the air.
Eugene couldn’t find any words to say. Viola was the same. She only took Craig aside and treated his forearm in silence.
But it was then.
Having finished the treatment, she suddenly sprang to her feet.
“…This won’t do after all.”
“Pardon? Miss Viola?”
“I’ll be going somewhere for just an hour! No getting hurt while I’m gone! Understood?”
Without giving the knights any time to answer, Viola turned and ran off out of the training grounds.
Was this really the same woman whose big eyes had been welling up just seconds before?
Her retreating figure, feet moving nimbly as she ran, truly did look like a flying squirrel.
And so, an hour later.
Having apparently rushed there and back in a great hurry, Viola panted, catching her breath for a long while.
Then she set down, with a thud, the heavy bags she’d been carrying, loaded up in both arms.
“You should have had us fetch that…! It must have been heavy.”
“No, huff, huff… I’m fine! I have this much strength in me too!”
However she’d managed to carry all this here with such a small frame, she hid her exhaustion and smiled softly. Then, wiping the sweat from her brow, she waved a hand.
“More importantly… could everyone gather over here for a moment?”
At Eugene’s signal, the training knights came crowding together. Meanwhile, Viola opened the bag and pulled out an array of medicine containers, one after another.
“I know you’ll all keep brushing off every little injury as nothing. But please, everyone. From now on, use even a little of this.”
She went on, chattering away.
“This purple tin is good for anything from small scrapes to abrasions. I’ll give you disinfectant along with it, so use it right away whenever you get hurt outside, without fail!”
When the knights nodded, she pulled out a yellow tin of ointment this time.
“And this one, I just went and made in a hurry at the dispensary… it’s a special ointment for scars and calluses, good for skin regeneration.”
She shook the ointment confidently.
“Old scars will take some time to fade, but… it works well applied right away when a callus splits open! Like Sir Allen’s, over there.”
“…Pardon?”
At the sudden mention of his name, Allen, standing at the back, looked up with a start. Known throughout the order for being tight-lipped, he never let his pain show.
“How did you know?”
Viola only smiled brightly, as if she’d expected exactly this reaction.
“I saw you wince a little while gripping your sword during the sparring match earlier.”
“Ah…”
Allen’s face flushed red.
Eugene couldn’t hide his own surprise either.
He and Allen had barely exchanged a word. To think she not only remembered his name but had caught a fleeting expression of his during training?
That meant she was watching them all that closely.
It was at that moment. Viola smiled shyly.
“This might sound like a funny thing to say, coming from someone you’re protecting.”
Under her pink hair fluttering in the wind, her sprout-like eyes shone clear.
“But I truly hope none of you get hurt or fall sick.”
Declaring it in a steady voice, Viola scratched the back of her head, looking bashful.
“Ahaha, that was a little embarrassing. Anyway, everyone please line up!”
Only now, after speaking so calmly a moment ago, embarrassment seemed to catch up to her belatedly, and her pale cheeks turned a peach pink.
Fanning her face to cool the heat in it, she handed out the medicine to the knights lined up, one by one.
The knights, standing in a row, exchanged subtly excited glances with one another.
An ointment that could erase scars!
They’d pretended not to care all this time, out of a knight’s pride, but…
Even Craig, first in line, had often grumbled that his facial scar might keep him from ever getting married.
Once she’d finally finished handing the medicine out to everyone, Viola raised her voice loudly once more.
“It’s not the kind that builds up a tolerance, and if anything, it’s gentler than most medicines, so use it freely! But make sure to wash the wound first before using the purple ointment!”
Continuing her explanation, chattering away, she stressed:
“Oh, and the most important thing!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Don’t ever try to make do with these for a big wound—come straight to me right away! But are you actually listening, Sir Craig?”
Viola called out firmly to Craig, who had been chuckling to himself over the scar ointment this whole time.
“Huh, y-yes ma’am! Understood!”
“…Really? What did I just say?”
“Um…”
I knew it. He really hadn’t been listening properly after all.
Unable to answer, Craig laughed heartily to smooth things over.
“Hahaha!”
“Sir Craig!”
She scrunched up her face and gave him a stern look. It seemed to be the scariest face she could manage, meant to intimidate him.
Hup!
Not only Craig but even Eugene, watching the scene, had to desperately hold back a laugh threatening to burst out.
It really is astonishingly unintimidating!
With a soft, gentle face like that, she could scrunch her brows for a hundred days straight and still not get grown men, let alone children, to listen.
No one was ever scared of a squirrel throwing a tantrum, after all.
“This is the last thing I’ll say. Please, don’t hold back the pain! Understood, all of you?”
She stressed it once more, in a strict voice.
It wasn’t the least bit intimidating to a group of sturdy knights, but nonetheless, everyone answered energetically.
“Yes, Miss Viola!”
An answer perfectly sincere, without a shred of exaggeration. A natural result.
Because it was the warm sunlight, not the wind, that got the traveler to take off his coat.
It wasn’t long after that day that she officially became the knights’ order’s physician.
I was walking down the corridor when Conrad suddenly called out to stop me.
“Miss Viola. I’ve heard you’ve been seeing the knights’ order’s men for treatment lately.”
“Oh, yes.”
My shoulders drew in for a moment.
Did I do something out of line?
Even though I’d only been doing it in whatever spare time I had, I felt tense, as if caught doing something I shouldn’t have been.
Thankfully, he didn’t seem to be scolding me.
Conrad’s expression soon turned apologetic.
“I feel bad, since this was never part of your agreed duties to begin with.”
“No, not at all! It’s something I wanted to do anyway. There’s really no need for you to feel that way.”
I waved my hands vigorously.
There was absolutely nothing to apologize for.
If anything, every day of it had been nothing but a joy.
Melody’s so proud of me too.
Whenever I told her lately that I’d been helping the Silver Dragon Knights, her eyes would light up so brightly. I couldn’t tell you how proud that look made me feel.
But Conrad’s expression remained clouded.
“Still, it’s no easy task, is it. You’re already a busy woman with Young Master Jayden’s treatment.”
He added:
“Haa… I’m a working man too, you know? Extra duties beyond what’s assigned… and if that leads to working overtime…”
For a moment, Conrad’s eyes went as blank and glassy as a dead fish.
