We moved Lebert to the sofa instead of the bed. Janice had fussed that she had changed the bedsheets just this afternoon.
Laid out on the huge, gaudy sofa, Lebert looked even smaller.
His bony arm dropped limply over the edge. I set the fallen arm back properly on the sofa and told Janice to bring a basin of warm water.
Once Janice had prepared the basin and towels, she brought a blanket for Lebert to lie under and a change of clothes as well.
In the meantime, I listened to Cho tell me how she had brought Lebert in.
It hadn’t been a hard job, but it hadn’t been an easy one either, so I expected Cho to ask for an extra fee.
But once she had said all she had to say, Cho only watched Janice move about in silence.
Janice wiped Lebert down with practiced hands. Her touch was kind, but her mouth was not.
“He’s filthy. Did you pick him out of a trash heap? Oh my, this blood isn’t his. Blood in little spatters… was he mixed up in a murder case?”
Every time Janice found bloodstains or filth on Lebert’s body, her imagination took flight.
“Is she always this noisy?”
“She’s overexcited right now. Normally… she isn’t, really.”
Sorry, Janice. I wavered just then.
Because lately, so many things have happened around us that get you worked up. It had been ages since I’d seen you quiet.
“She works neatly, though.”
“That’s Janice’s strength. She works better when she’s excited. Maybe three times as efficiently?”
According to a paper I had once read, excitement helped blood circulation, which cleared the mind and sped up one’s work.
“She needs a jolt now and then, then.”
I nodded at Cho’s words. While Cho and I chatted, Lebert was made spotless.
Thin as he was, Lebert was a man taller than Janice, so how had she even managed to change his clothes? She was remarkable, all the same.
“The drug should be wearing off about now.”
The moment Cho said it, Lebert’s fingers twitched. I went to the sofa and shook his body.
“Lebert, are you conscious? If you’re awake, open your eyes.”
“Aaah…”
A thin groan escaped him. A rather agonized groan.
“Lebert!”
His face pale and drawn, his lashes quivering, and on top of it a groan of pain.
“Does something hurt…”
“…Hungry.”
Lebert’s eyes snapped open. They met mine, since I had thrust my face close to examine him.
“Something tasty. Smells good.”
His eyes flashed. The moment I met those mad eyes, he pulled me in. His red lips parted.
His fangs looked as big as fists. Sensing the pain about to come, I hunched my shoulders.
“Aaaaaaaaah.”
Janice screamed.
Dallas, the house physician of House Irenber, scowled and gripped the wrist of Janice, who was trying to pull her arm away.
“Stop making a fuss.”
At Dallas’s stern words, Janice jumped.
“A fuss? Can’t you see this? The clear teeth marks?”
Janice dangled her bandaged hand back and forth.
“I see them. Very well, in fact. Still, it is not enough to warrant such screaming. No blood was drawn. For a bite wound from an animal, this is very mild. But is there an animal in the mansion that bites people?”
Dallas asked, diagnosing Janice’s condition with great composure.
“Judging by the wound alone, it appears to be a fairly large animal. I don’t know what kind, but it must be caught and put down at once. An animal that has bitten a person once will keep biting.”
Lebert, who had been sitting meekly to one side, flinched. Because the animal that had bitten Janice was none other than Lebert.
This is how it had happened.
Waking from the drug, Lebert had been terribly hungry, and just then my room held the dinner Janice had brought in.
Lebert caught the smell of food and mistook it for food right in front of him. And by instinct, he grabbed whatever was in front of him without a second thought.
That had been me.
Janice saw Lebert pull me in and open his mouth wide, and just before I could be bitten, she thrust her own arm in front of his mouth. And Lebert bit Janice’s arm.
He had chewed it so thoroughly and so happily that the teeth marks were smeared, and Dallas could not tell whether they were a person’s teeth or an animal’s.
“I’ll take care of it, Dallas. More importantly, is there anything she should watch out for?”
I asked quickly, before Dallas could grow suspicious.
“She must be careful about water touching it. But it will be hard for a maid to keep from getting wet, so she will have a rough time of it.”
Having finished bandaging, Dallas packed up his house-call bag. I had been about to ask Dallas whether he had found any information regarding Cassion’s illness, but I let it go. Now that I had Lebert, there was no need to trouble Dallas any further.
“Watch that the wound does not worsen.”
He gave Janice detailed instructions and tucked his bag under his arm. Dallas bowed politely to me and left the room.
The door closed, and Lebert, watching Janice’s face, sat up. At that, Janice instinctively stepped in front of me.
“I won’t… bite. But where am I?”
Lebert was ashamed of having mistaken a person’s arm for food. He looked around, trying to grasp the situation. He looked just like a meerkat standing guard.
He must have been badly shaken.
“This is the Irenber mansion.”
I spoke as kindly as I could. Lebert murmured softly, “Irenber, Irenbe…”
“The ducal house of Irenber. Do you know it?”
“I… do.”
I was glad he knew of our family. If he hadn’t, I’d have had to start with an introduction to the house.
“But why am I here? I was definitely at Ma…”
Lebert broke off in mid-sentence, startled. With a frightened look, he shrank back. He had been caught dealing in the black market, so it was obvious what he must be thinking.
“Relax. I’m not going to hand you over to the city guard. For now, sit down and eat this.”
I pushed a plate of food toward Lebert. He did not lower his guard and stood rooted to the spot.
“If you sit, I’ll explain why you’re here. And while you’re sitting, eat.”
Only then did Lebert move his legs.
He perched on the very edge of the sofa. I slid the plate over so it would be easy for him to eat and set the fork where he could grab it.
“That’s my lady’s!”
Janice shot a teary glare at Lebert.
“He looks hungrier than I am. And did you write your name on the food?”
As I scolded Janice, Lebert spoke.
“I don’t touch a child’s food.”
Lebert looked away from the plate.
Judging by how his throat bobbed, he was hungry enough that his mouth was watering.
It was tremendous patience. And above all, the reason he was exercising it was peculiar.
The age gap between Lebert and me was a mere three years. And since he had gone hungry and suffered, his growth was stunted, so there wasn’t much difference between him and me, who had been well fed and raised delicately.
Of course, Lebert was taller than I was. It was only his build that… was this something I should be offended by?
And yet, because I look younger than him, he won’t eat my food?
Was he trying to protect me?
Between ordinary people, the mere feeling of being protected would be pleasant, but Lebert and I were not ordinary people. And we must never become ordinary people.
Lebert is someone I will use. At the very least, someone I will make a deal with.
“Do you think I’m weaker than you?”
“You’re smaller than me and younger…”
Lebert mumbled. He noticed the chill in my voice and shrank.
Why was he cowering before a girl small and young enough that he wanted to protect her?
Whatever the case, it was a touching thought, but being treated that way was a problem.
I wanted Lebert to fear me. Best of all, I wanted him to think I was useful to him.
“This is the ducal house of Irenber. And I am the one who will become the Head of House of Irenber. Do you understand what that means?”
Lebert’s eyes clouded with all sorts of thoughts.
“If you have questions, ask.”
“Um… can you become Head of House?”
Lebert raised a hand to point at me. But he seemed to remember belatedly that one must not carelessly point at a noble, because his finger hung awkwardly in the air and then dropped.
“Yes, I can.”
Nobody my age had ever become Head of House, not once, no matter how thoroughly you combed the kingdom’s history. I intended to be the first.
“You don’t need the details. Just know this. I have more money than you, and power too. So you don’t need to protect me. I’ll be the one protecting you.”
“Protect… me?”
Lebert’s eyes shook wide.
“That’s right. Here you can eat what you want and do what you want. There’s something you want to do, isn’t there?”
I knew what Lebert wanted to do. He wanted to make cheap, effective medicine. And he wanted to become a physician who performed proper surgery.
Because treatment that relies on magic or divine power isn’t something just anyone can receive.
Lebert looked at me, as if asking why I was asking such things. His gaze was also thick with suspicion.
I would have been suspicious too, in Lebert’s position. A kidnapper was telling the kidnapped to do whatever he wanted.
“Hmm. There’s no need to discuss anything complicated right now, nor to know it. Start by eating.”
Would he shed tears of gratitude? It would be awkward if he cried.
I was about to have Janice prepare a handkerchief. But what I heard was a completely unexpected answer.
“I don’t accept kindness with nothing in return.”
His voice was quite solemn.
I had failed to win Lebert over. The unexpected refusal drew a sigh from me first.
Nothing is ever easy.
Even so, I did not give up. From the moment I had kidnapped him, returning Lebert to where he had been was not an option.
He’s under a black-market dealer, so how could I send him back? Sending him back knowing that would be abandonment and abuse.
“Then you can give me something in return.”
If he hated getting something for nothing, then he could pay. It was a problem that could be solved with perfect simplicity. And Lebert did have something to give me.
I had never meant to run a charity for Lebert in the first place.
Perhaps because I had said it too readily, the space between Lebert’s brows narrowed.
“I have nothing… to give…”
