Theo headed straight for Margon, as if he couldn’t care less about me or Kallen.
His cold gray eyes raked Margon up and down.
“Seeing you standing, you must be fine.”
Margon flicked a furtive glance at me and sat back down in the chair.
Then he set the short knife I’d given him on the floor. With his only remaining hand, he even rolled up his trouser hem.
“...What are you doing.”
An incredulous line burst out of me.
Not just anyone—he was the brother of the man who cut off your arm. Why are you being that obedient?
“How about getting up?”
“I’m fine. It’s hard, though.”
“Good. The swelling in your ankle has gone down a lot, too.”
The two of them started treating him as if I were invisible.
Theo sat in front of Margon and set down the box he’d brought.
With a clear click, the box opened. Inside were a small jar, fresh bandages, and a syringe.
The syringe’s slender glass ampoule held a clear liquid of unknown identity.
“It’ll be hard for you to walk fast right now. A splint would be good.”
After mentioning a splint, Theo’s hand went for the syringe.
In that instant, my body moved on instinct.
I kicked the box Theo had brought; its contents scattered everywhere with a clatter.
Then I stomped the syringe without hesitation. The thin glass crunched and broke easily, and the liquid inside seeped out.
Theo sprang to his feet, face flushed red with agitation.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
“What trick are you pulling. How do you inject that into Margon when you don’t even know what it is.”
“Ha. A simple therapeutic. A drug that makes new flesh grow.”
“And how am I supposed to trust that, you bastard who looks exactly like Jed.”
Theo came right up to my face and glared like he meant to kill me. I met his eyes without backing down.
Up close, he looked exactly like Jed, but the impression was subtly different.
Jed with the edges sanded down, maybe.
But those gray eyes were still insufferable.
We were in a stare-down with sparks flying when Margon spoke in a shrinking voice.
“Um... Ceryl, it’s all right. Theo’s been treating me this whole time.”
“How would you know whether it’s treatment or not. Do you believe that?”
“It really is treatment. Thanks to him, even where the arm was cut new flesh has grown, and most of the wounds have nearly healed.”
I turned the same fire-lit stare straight onto Margon.
His brown hair twitched; he averted his gaze. Even so, he kept defending Theo.
“He may be Jed’s brother... but he’s someone we can trust. He kept me alive.”
When Margon took his side, Theo, now full of himself, tipped up his chin.
“You heard him, didn’t you? Where did you learn to go around kicking without warning? No manners.”
In a scene that made me want to grab the back of my neck, an arrow of anger shot out.
“Margon, are you taking this bastard’s side right now? He’s Jed’s brother.”
“That’s true, but...”
“He’s the brother of the bastard who cut off your arm. And that bastard abducted me twice and tried to kill me.”
Margon couldn’t bring himself to answer. He clamped his mouth shut, eyes rolling in confusion.
Him, him! A little slow but a good kid! A fool who thinks only of me, and he takes this bastard’s side in front of me? How the hell did he butter him up?
“I’m not Jed. Everything you said is what Jed did; it has nothing to do with me.”
Theo enunciated the reasonable line, and again lifted his chin.
He was taller than me, so the natural downward gaze made my teeth grind.
Even if they’re brothers, they’re different people—I should separate them. But those eyes exactly like Jed’s made it hard.
“Hoo... fine. Got it.”
I stepped back a pace and forced down the surge of excitement.
How many times already today—I pressed my brow and steadied my breath.
And to organize the sentences drifting in my head, I spoke them out loud. Thoughts grew clearer once outside the mouth.
“Jed is the one who cut Margon’s arm and abducted me. You treated Margon.”
Calm down. Stay calm.
Get Kallen and Margon out of here safely. Focus on that for now.
With my head quickly cooled, I looked back at Theo. He was crouched on the floor, picking up the things I’d scattered.
“Tsk. I figured an Aylos would be well educated. I must have expected too much.”
By Margon’s chair lay the short knife.
I grabbed it without delay and moved behind Theo.
“Oh—Ceryl!”
Before Margon could stop me, I seized Theo by the hair and set the short knife to his throat.
That he was Jed’s brother was unexpected, but lucky.
Theo was the item I’d been looking for.
“Ugh, let go...!”
“You’re the physician here, right?”
His neck bent back, he gasped, yet Theo glared wide-eyed. He didn’t seem afraid of the blade at his throat.
“I told you—I’m not a physician!”
“That’s not important. Is there any physician here besides you?”
I pressed the edge in close. A blade this sharp drew a thin cut just by touching skin.
Only then did Theo flinch and answer meekly.
“...No. I’m the only one who can treat people.”
“Then you’re a very valuable asset.”
It was the same in the world I’d lived in, but in a fantasy world physicians were treated as even more precious.
Medicine wasn’t widely spread, so most treatment was replaced by smearing on herbs.
Nothing special in modern medicine—but handling a syringe here meant you were high-grade medical labor.
“Stand up and lead. We’re going to the first floor.”
“What?”
“Do you think you’re the only ones who can take hostages?”
We couldn’t smash through the Dragon Hunters entrenched on the first floor by force.
We could hide in any room and wait for the men to leave their posts, but who knew how long that would take.
It had been morning when we fell into the trap, and sunset was already glowing outside the window. Half a day had passed.
It was only a matter of time before Varen realized I was gone and found the tower.
We had to get out before Varen walked into the trap Jed had laid.
“Thanks for coming on your own two feet, Theo. You’re exactly the kind of bastard I was looking for.”
And as a hostage, a physician was an excellent choice.
Even Dragon Hunters, as brainless as they were, wouldn’t let such high-grade labor die.
Besides, the hunters were on Jed’s payroll. The employer’s blood brother—Theo—was the perfect hostage.
“Up. For the record, I hate saying things twice.”
At my voice gone cold, Theo let out a long sigh. Even so, he staggered to his feet.
“I also hate repeating myself. How many times do I have to say I’m not a physician. I’m an alchemist.”
“An alchemist?”
The unfamiliar word snagged my ear.
An alchemist was a profession that never appeared in the original novel.
“It’s a rare profession. Since the end products are similar, people often mistake us for phys—”
“Then can you make gold out of rocks?”
“What absurd nonsense!”
In a world where dragons fly and mages strut around, I’d figured it might be possible.
“Alchemy is the study that turns chaos into order and crosses the boundary between life and death!”
“I get it, so—”
“We draw life from fire and make flowers bloom out of ash. What I do is bottle the workings of the world in little glass vials!”
He’s not normal either.
It felt like I’d just listened to something deflating, but I tightened my grip on the short knife.
It didn’t matter much if Theo wasn’t a physician.
It didn’t change that he could treat people, or that he was Jed’s brother.
“Yes, yes. Great alchemist. You’re going to clear a path for us.”
“Ugh, wait. Let’s talk. You’ve taken the wrong hostage.”
“Damn, you talk a lot. Of course you’d be Jed’s brother.”
I flicked my eyes to Kallen, who’d been flinching ever since I took up the knife.
“Kallen, find something to gag this bastard.”
“Y-Yes!”
Tense at the mere sight of the short knife, Kallen sprinted to the bed and tore the blanket with her bare hands to make a gag.
Theo quickly raised both hands. A gesture of surrender.
“Talk—let’s talk, please? I’m not a suitable hostage. In fact I’m practically a hostage myself!”
“Yeah right. What kind of lunatic would take his own blood brother hostage...”
Wait. If it’s that lunatic Jed, he would.
As my words trailed off, Theo seized the opening and rushed his indictment.
“Strictly speaking, I’m closer to a pawn. If I die by someone else’s hand, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) the one who’ll be happiest is Jed.”
“...Why Jed? He’s your brother.”
“Fights between brothers over the head-of-house seat are common. You’re a noble—you know that.”
Hmm. That tracks.
Especially since Jed was a man mad for honor. A guy like that wouldn’t see blood; the crown mattered.
Theo didn’t miss the gap and turned his head. He hesitated at the blade on his neck, but, undaunted by the cut, looked at me.
“I’ll get you out of here. I know a safe route that doesn’t go through the first floor.”
Sweet words to hear. But I wasn’t falling for such lines anymore.
Jed’s tongue had played me more than once.
I kept the knife up and met Theo’s eyes.
“How do I believe that?”
“On one condition.”
“Knew it. Say it.”
His gray eyes suddenly grew deep. It was more chilling than eyes slick with killing intent or greed.
“Kidnap me.”
“What?”
“Ceryl Aylos, I’ve been waiting only for you.”
“......”
Ah, fuck.
What is it with the men in this world.
