Temar’s gaze moved slowly over Coco.
Brother, are you in a bad mood?
His stiff, hardened mouth opened at last.
“That won’t be possible. Ren is my... he has to come with me.”
It felt like my brother had almost said something else.
Still, I’m happy! He actually said I had to go with him!
Coco whipped around and frowned at me.
“Hey! Didn’t you say when you woke up that you’d be fine on your own? Just because you can move doesn’t mean you should be. Do you have any idea how far it is from here to the capital? With stamina like yours, you’ll pass out in no time.”
“Mind your own business.”
I turned my eyes away.
Ugh. This is embarrassing.
It was only because I thought I’d be too much of a burden. If my brother was going to say he’d leave me behind first, I didn’t want to hear it! So I just said it first, like I was getting ahead of him! I always want to go with my brother.
But saying that out loud would be humiliating...!
“...Is there something wrong with Ren’s body?”
Luman, who had been listening quietly, rubbed at his brow and asked.
He was smiling, but somehow his face looked terrifying!
No, why are you asking that like that? So creepy!
A little nervous, I glanced over at Coco. Her purple eyes were full of irritation. She uncrossed her arms and let out a sigh.
“You...”
“Ren.”
My brother covered my mouth.
Both he and Luman were staring at Coco with serious faces. She let out a breath like she couldn’t believe this.
“You’re asking because you seriously don’t know?”
“Coco, you—!”
“Ren, don’t be rude. Don’t shout.”
“......”
For a second, Coco looked a little sorry.
Whatever. I know yelling in the middle of a conversation is bad manners too.
“Ren isn’t a Hero like you people.”
“I know.”
“So I don’t [N O V E L I G H T] get why you insist on dragging along a kid who’s already frail as hell.”
“Is Ren... very frail? Compared to ordinary people?”
“Hah. What kind of brother doesn’t even know that?”
Coco narrowed her eyes and glared at him. The sarcasm in it was completely sincere. Like she’d been dying to say this for a long time!
My brother’s jaw twitched. I think a vein might’ve stood out too...!
No, but why’d she have to add the frail part...? And why are you mouthing off to my brother? What if he gets mad?
Still, thank God, that was all she said before shutting up.
At least it looked like she wasn’t planning to bring up the herbs I carried around, or whether I had some illness or not. If I looked at Coco right now, I felt like I might actually thank her, so I just stared at my brother’s worn-out shoes.
Damn it. The leather shoes I bought him... they’re probably still shoved in storage.
That stung.
“Temar. I think leaving Ren behind might be fine. You two seem awfully close.”
“......”
What the hell!?
I almost snapped. Coco’s mouth twisted too.
At Luman’s slick tone, my brother shot him a murderous look. After verbally lashing Luman with just his eyes, Brother Temar turned to Priest Kirky and the physicians.
“Is he frailer than what would be considered normal?”
“Well. I guess you could say that. But it’s not bad.”
Priest Kirky tilted his head.
“And the ‘Aras’ that make up his body are very pure!”
“Oh, Ren. I knew from the moment I first saw you that you were unusual.”
Luman said it like it was some kind of compliment, then looked at my face and started laughing to himself again.
No, seriously, are you insane? Lately you keep laughing out of nowhere!
I grumbled inwardly.
“Aras” was the general name for that sort of force that governed the vitality of life.
Yeah. The old apothecary had said things like that too.
I think he explained it in detail once, but I was little, so I barely remembered any of it.
Good. Very good, Priest Kirky. Keep saying nice things! Then my brother will feel better about taking me with him!
“Ah, he’s a little unu— Aagh! Lady Coco! Why—”
I sucked in a breath.
Because even though I’d been staring down near my feet, I still saw it!
Coco stomped hard on Priest Kirky’s foot!
She’d obviously done it to shut him up. Thank you, Coco... and my most lukewarm condolences to Priest Kirky’s foot.
When I cautiously lifted my head, Coco had already moved on to glaring down the physicians.
“Well, he is frail, but it isn’t severe.”
“As long as he doesn’t suffer any outside injury, it shouldn’t be too much strain.”
The physicians answered one after another.
What? Why’s he looking at me like that again?
I didn’t even want to get into a staring match, so I dropped my eyes.
The young physician my brother had brought kept looking at me.
It’s annoying. I hate it! Stop staring!
If my brother wasn’t here, I would’ve thrown myself right into him already! Fuck!
Holding my temper down, I clenched my hand tight.
“It’d still be better to leave him behind.”
That was all Coco added, sounding reluctant.
“No. Ren is coming with me.”
“Well, if that’s what his guardian says, then I suppose that settles it! Lady Coco, please give up already! You’ve got this adorable Kirky, don’t you? I’ll be Ren’s replacement and be your friend instead, Lady Coco!”
“For the love of God, shut. the hell. up, Kirky!”
Kirky just kept smiling brightly.
Mm. Coco has it rough too.
Still, she has people who stay by her side like that. That’s a relief.
Things were hard in the forest, but in this huge castle, it looked like Coco had plenty of people on her side.
That gray-haired man Hugh, too—the one who threw himself off the cliff to save her.
And there was that knight Seton with the scary face, and Priest Kirky too. Even the maids in the castle all seemed to like the duke’s daughter.
That was a relief.
Coco’s eyes met mine. She turned her head away with an odd expression. What? How was I looking at you that made you turn away?!
Anyway! If things are like that, then I can leave here without worrying, and I’ll go with my brother too! Bye, Coco!
“I don’t like this.”
That was what Coco said.
In the end—naturally—the decision was that I’d leave with my brother. Hell yes! Though... did we really need Coco’s permission? Hm. We could’ve just taken off anyway.
“Now then, look here. Around the wound...”
The physician attached to Coco’s family explained in detail how to wrap the bandages and how I had to take my medicine.
While looking only at my brother!
No, shouldn’t you be explaining this to me? I’m the one it’s about!
“Ren! You need to focus! The one giving the blessing matters, but the one receiving it matters too!”
“O-okay!”
Kirky gave me all kinds of little blessings one after another. Bursts of light popped all over the place. Under my brother’s stern gaze, I had to bite my lip and swallow everything I wanted to say!
Priest Kirky! I’m not some monster, so do you really need to splash this much holy water on me?
Coco, stop him, please...
Coco saw the desperate look in my eyes and... made it worse by telling him to dump all the holy water he had on me.
Who the hell bathes a person in holy water?!
Like it grows on trees! And in the middle of all that chaos, the young physician suddenly spoke.
It was the guy who’d been staring at me this whole time.
If you’ve got something to say, then spit it out already!
When Coco frowned and told him to talk, the physician hesitantly fumbled something out of his pocket.
What is that?
It was a small cloth pouch.
“Uh...”
The physician kept dragging it out, and his eyes were shining.
And they were fixed on me.
No, why do you keep looking at me like that?!
At this point I wasn’t even just irritated anymore—it was driving me crazy because I wanted to know!
“It’s this herb, you see. Where did you get it...?”
“......”
“......”
Why the hell is that coming up here?
What the physician had taken out was... my herb.
Fuck, where did he get that? Don’t tell me from my bundle...?
I clamped my mouth shut because I felt like I was about to yell.
“Where did you get that?”
Coco snatched the herb right out of the physician’s hand and asked sharply.
“I-I told you before... I think it must’ve fallen out of a pocket or something, and I picked it up.”
The physician hunched in on himself and watched everyone’s reactions.
“What is it that has everyone acting like this?”
Luman sounded curious.
“Ah! It’s nothing much, really. It’s just a very rare herb.”
“An herb? What illness is it used for?”
“It’s not really the kind of herb you use for illness. It doesn’t have much effect, it’s just rare and hard to get.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Luman seemed to lose interest.
I, on the other hand, felt all the strength drain right out of my body.
That physician didn’t know anything about this herb.
Just from staring at his mouth without even breathing properly, I felt completely wrung out. I wanted to collapse back onto the bed and lie there catching my breath right now.
But if I did that, my brother might change his mind and leave me behind.
I didn’t want to make a scene for no reason and turn this into a bigger problem, so I held it in.
It felt like Coco was looking at me like I was pathetic.
“So why did you suddenly bring it up?”
“Ah! I was wondering if maybe you carried it around because it had some other effect I didn’t know about. And where you got it too...”
As he said that, the physician looked at me.
His shoulders were hunched like he was tense all over, but his eyes were gleaming with curiosity and scholarly interest!
So that’s why he kept staring at me earlier...
I felt bad for misunderstanding him, but I was still annoyed. Of course I was grateful—he’d given emergency treatment and saved me and the others—but...
that herb was tied to the most sensitive part of me. The last thing I wanted was for anyone to notice it.
I glared at the physician’s hand.
“It’s not like that at all. It just smells nice, so I drink it as tea.”
