TPCFE 13

Chapter 13

It was the same at the lord’s castle.

Even when the work she was given was grueling, she couldn’t endure it unless she immersed herself in something with almost obsessive focus.

That terrible sense of isolation, as though she had been left behind and cut off from the rest of the world—the feeling that everyone else’s world was moving forward while she alone remained frozen in place—was something she understood all too well.

“But if you keep doing that, you’ll make yourself sick.”

That didn’t mean she could allow Bael to lose control, either.

His eyes widened in surprise.

“So…”

Luciela trailed off as she pulled a small bottle from her pocket.

“If you feel that way again, eat this.”

She took out a small, round piece of chocolate from the bottle and popped it directly into Bael’s mouth.

“If you need more, tell me. I’ll keep giving you flavors that make it impossible not to concentrate.”

And without even waiting for his answer, she left the room.

“……”

Bael’s eyes unconsciously followed Luciela’s retreating figure.

Her hair, the color of sunlight that had already disappeared, lingered in his vision like an afterimage.

Left alone, Bael stared blankly ahead before slowly moving his lips.

The moment his teeth touched it, the paper-thin chocolate shell coating the outside shattered pleasantly with a crisp crack.

Soft caramel syrup gushed out through the broken shell, followed by the crunchy texture of roasted nuts. Layer after layer of flavor washed over his tongue like waves.

It was exactly the taste and texture he liked.

At the same time, because it was a food he had never tasted before, it felt astonishingly new.

She must have put quite a lot of effort into making this.

For the person who would eat it.

For him, of all people.

Bael bit down hard on his lip and squeezed his eyes shut.

So that was it.

A new food. A new flavor.

Being left alone in this place and slowly freezing in place had been unbearably painful.

He hated the thought of his own world being the only one where time had stopped and stagnated more than he hated death itself.

Crunch.

Bael bit down on the remaining piece of chocolate in his mouth once more.

What now enveloped the tip of his tongue was an entirely new sensation that had seeped into his locked-away world.

He thought he understood.

Why mornings hadn’t seemed quite as dreadful these past few days.

Why his heart had dropped the instant Luciela said she wouldn’t come.

Luciela was the only person in years to push something new into Bael’s closed-off world.

Because of her, his world, which had been firmly frozen in place, had begun to creak and move little by little.

It was change.

And a very small, fragile thread of hope.

“…You’ve gotten fat.”

“Cough!”

At Luciela’s words, Bael spat out the water he had been holding in his mouth.

He had never heard anything so humiliating in his entire life.

Not even his cousin Theo, whom he hated, nor his father, Uncle Osburn, had ever hurled such an insult directly to his face.

“What… What did you just…”

“You look like you’ve gained weight lately.”

“…What nonsense are you talking about?”

Bael looked down at his body with a reddened face, and Luciela shook her head before adding,

“No, I don’t mean you’ve gotten chubby. I mean you look healthier than before.”

“Healthier?”

“You’re still much too thin, so you need to gain more weight. But your collarbones aren’t sticking out as much as before, and your arms look a little thicker, too.”

So that was what she meant.

She didn’t mean that he had become unpleasantly plump, but that he had finally started putting on a normal amount of flesh.

Bael finally relaxed his furrowed expression.

“See? Your body got healthier once you cut back on your training.”

Luciela was right.

After limiting his swordsmanship training to twice a day, his stamina had actually begun to improve.

“I still haven’t found the fundamental reason, though…”

Luciela’s expression soon darkened, and the sensitive Bael noticed her gaze and looked toward his legs.

Seeing that, Luciela pressed a hand to her temple.

It was fortunate that his vitality had recovered, but the fundamental problem hadn’t been solved at all.

The status window was still displaying an indifferent warning.

[Symptom: Toxins flowing throughout the entire body.]

If the source of the poison is not removed, death is guaranteed.

She scanned the room once again.

She had probably done this several hundred times already.

There was nothing wrong with this room. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it was filled with objects that had all been confirmed to be harmless.

“Cough!”

Luciela coughed without thinking.

Her eyes naturally turned toward the window.

Was the air… stuffy?

Come to think of it, it had been like this every time she came here.

The small window was so high that Luciela couldn’t reach it, and it was almost always closed.

It probably had nothing to do with the toxins, but still, shouldn’t the room be ventilated?

“The window… cough, is it always kept closed?”

Instead of answering, Bael turned his head away.

Luciela tilted her head and poured herself a glass of water from the bottle beside her to stop herself from coughing.

“…Huh?”

Her coughing stopped, but the water was lukewarm.

The other rooms were kept cool.

Only then did she remember something strange.

She had never once seen a servant in this room.

She knew that it was tucked away in a secluded corner and that people rarely came down this gloomy hallway, but even so, if this was a room where the master of the household lived, she should have encountered his assigned servant at least a few times.

Yet she had never seen anyone.

“Bael, this room…”

“Servants hardly ever come. I prefer it that way.”

Bael answered as though he knew what she was thinking.

“They come about once every two days, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Once every two days?”

This was the room where a direct descendant of the head of the household lived.

Wouldn’t it be normal for servants to come in and out at least twenty times a day?

And since Bael couldn’t use his legs, shouldn’t they be checking on him even more often?

Luciela turned her head again and looked at the small table beside the bed.

The glass he had used the previous day was still sitting there, untouched.

“Are you… being neglected?”

“I told you, I don’t need them. It’s better if they don’t come.”

Bael gave a short answer before adding after a moment,

“There was a bit of a commotion last time. I’m trying to avoid clashing with Uncle Osburn whenever possible. But he’s the one who manages the household employees.”

“Even so…”

Step. Step.

Just as Luciela was about to say something, footsteps echoed from the hallway.

Bael’s expression seemed displeased.

Click.

The person who opened the door without knocking was a servant of about seventeen or eighteen years old. He had red hair, freckles, and narrow, snake-like eyes.

“Lord Bael? I came to look for something.”

The boy skipped even the basic etiquette expected of a servant, not bothering to greet him as he casually opened the wardrobe and pulled out a cloak.

“Isn’t this one of the cloaks the Duke gave each of his grandsons a long time ago? The one Theo has is worn out, so he told me to borrow this one. Besides…”

The boy’s gaze traveled up and down Bael’s body.

It was an insolent look that practically said, It’s not like you need it anyway.

Bael’s expression stiffened, but he said nothing.

If anything, Luciela was the one who couldn’t believe her eyes.

Wow. What an asshole.

“Huh? You’re that cook?”

The boy casually draped the cloak over his shoulders, then suddenly noticed Luciela and reached out to grab her hand.