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Chapter 15
Edmund was flustered—and if only slightly, he even felt afraid.
Surely she can’t hear this crazed pounding of my heart, right?
And at that moment, he realized something strange.
Afraid? What on earth was he afraid of?
He was a boy who hadn’t even feared the uncle who had shoved him straight into hell.
While the boy stood there in confusion, the girl who had come right up to him brushed his ear with her soft hair and warm breath.
When her slender fingers grazed the back of his neck, his skin tingled in a strangely electric way.
Edmund froze like a pillar of salt and squeezed his eyes shut.
And then—
“…There, all done!”
“…?”
When nothing happened, Edmund, puzzled and oddly disappointed, cautiously opened just one eye.
A few steps away, he saw Cassia smiling at him.
She shrugged and complained lightly.
“Why do you tense up like I’m about to do something awful to you?”
“W-W-W… what did you do?!”
Cassia pointed at the back of Edmund’s neck.
There, tied over the boy’s shirt, was a red ribbon.
The ribbon now looked neater and prettier than before.
Cassia explained,
“The ribbon was crooked. So I retied it.”
“……”
Edmund was confused.
All the girl had done was fix his ribbon. That was all. And she had explained it plainly.
Then why did he feel like this?
It was as if some enormous invisible hand had lifted him into the air, shaken him violently, and then hurled him back down.
Relief, embarrassment, happiness—and… regret?
What am I regretting? What could I possibly be regretting?
The question he hurled at the back of his own head yielded no answer.
I was a bit flustered.
What’s wrong with him?
All I did was walk up and retie his crooked ribbon.
But he squeezed his eyes shut like a kid about to be hit…
When I pointed that out, his face turned so red it looked like it might explode.
“Why? Are you feeling sick somewhere?”
Worried he might have a fever, I reached out and placed a hand on his forehead.
The boy visibly flinched.
It reminded me of when I’d first met Edmund.
Back then too, when I hugged him while Moretti was beating him, he flinched just like this.
There was no way he hadn’t been hurt. It wouldn’t be strange for him to be left with trauma.
Feeling newly sorry for him, I clicked my tongue. And strangely enough, his forehead felt quite warm.
“Your forehead’s hot. Do you have a fever?”
“N-N-No!”
“What? Did you catch a cold or something? Your voice sounds kind of weird too.”
“I said no!”
“Then why is your face so red and hot?”
At that, Edmund shouted sharply,
“T-That’s because I was startled and angry!”
“Why were you startled and angry?”
Come to think of it, whenever he got angry, his face did tend to redden easily.
Especially when he was looking at me…
I thought we’d finally grown a bit closer, but maybe that was just my imagination.
I felt a little dejected.
Then Edmund shouted as he stepped backward,
“I thought you were grabbing me by the collar!”
“……”
By the collar?
Now that I thought about it, that did make sense.
After losing his parents, he’d been abused by nearly every adult around him—he was a kid with trauma from abuse.
I’d seen abused children at the orphanage a few times, so I’d prided myself on understanding and being considerate.
And yet, I hadn’t thought of this.
I reflected sincerely.
“I’m sorry, Edmund.”
“…Huh?”
The boy’s eyes looked like those of a startled rabbit.
Come to think of it, rabbits are timid and fragile animals.
No matter that Edmund would one day become the final boss of the future—right now, he was just a thirteen-year-old child.
At present, Edmund was exactly like a rabbit: delicate and easily shaken.
He needs to be protected!
I took a step back from Edmund and raised both hands to reassure him.
I have no intention of grabbing your collar or hitting you!
“I’ll be more careful from now on.”
“Careful… about what?”
“I should’ve thought about the fact that you might get scared. And right now, you can’t completely trust me either.”
“T-That’s…!”
“It’s okay. You don’t have to be scared.”
“I’m not scared! Not scared at all!”
Looking at the child putting on a brave front, I felt sorry for him…
And took another step back.
Only then did Edmund seem to notice, and he asked suspiciously,
“Why do you keep backing away?”
“…Maintaining an appropriate distance?”
I quickly took several more steps back.
“I’ll be careful not to get too close to you from now on! So you really don’t have to worry at all!”
Continuing to retreat, I eventually left Edmund behind and returned to my room.
Rabbits are fragile, so they need protecting!
Cassia waved with a smile and quickly walked away.
Left alone, Edmund realized what had happened a beat too late.
“Does she seriously believe that I’m afraid of her?”
And that wasn’t the only problem.
Just now, Cassia had clearly said this:
From now on… she wouldn’t come close.
For some reason, it felt as though his head and body were turning cold, like someone had poured ice water over the crown of his head.
The boy desperately tried to deny reality.
“No way… that can’t be… surely not…”
And the next day, Edmund learned what it meant to be devoured by “surely not.”
The next morning.
Edmund encountered a situation he had never experienced since Cassia arrived at the villa.
Instead of Cassia, a middle-aged woman brought in the trolley with his meal.
That woman was definitely…
“Cassia’s nanny, isn’t she?”
“Yes, that’s correct, Young Duke.”
The nanny, while looking somewhat displeased at Edmund, politely set down the trolley.
“Our lady isn’t feeling well today, so she asked me to bring the meal in her place. She specifically told me to make sure you eat everything—”
“She’s unwell? Is she sick somewhere?”
The boy’s question was urgent.
The nanny answered, puzzled,
“Yes. Ever since the marriage, our lady has been steadily losing weight, so we were already worried…”
She let out a small sigh.
Hearing that, Edmund realized something anew.
Now that I think about it, Cassia does seem to be getting thinner.
When they first met, her face had looked healthier than it did now.
Compared to then, Cassia was clearly thinner.
Edmund was swept up in an emotion he hadn’t felt since his parents passed away.
What’s wrong with her? If she’s losing weight, could it be a serious illness?
Anxiety made it impossible to focus on anything.
There was no way he could feel hungry.
Cassia’s nanny asked,
“Young Duke? Aren’t you going to eat?”
Her words grated on his ears, and Edmund openly snapped at her.
“You say you’re Cassia’s nanny—then why are you here instead of staying with your sick mistress?”
If she was a nanny Cassia had brought from her family home, could she be like the other employees of this villa?
Edmund glared at the nanny with sharp suspicion.
The nanny replied, flustered,
“Didn’t I just tell you? Our lady personally instructed me. She told me to make sure you eat your meal properly.”
“……”
For a brief moment, the nanny doubted her own eyes.
Just now… didn’t the corner of the young duke’s mouth lift ever so slightly?
But it had been so fleeting that Edmund’s expression immediately returned to normal, and the nanny assumed she’d imagined it.
She muttered softly,
“So please eat quickly. That way I can return sooner and take care of my lady.”
Despite having just openly suspected her, Edmund oddly said nothing about the nanny’s rude tone.
Instead, he quickly and neatly finished his meal.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
And as she bowed and turned to return to Cassia—
The nanny found herself in an awkward situation.
“Why are you following me?”
“…I’m not following you. We just happen to be going the same way.”
She had no response to that.
Strangely enough, the direction Edmund was heading matched her destination exactly.
In the end, they arrived together in front of Cassia’s bedroom.
Just as the nanny was about to say something to Edmund—
The bedroom door opened first, and the room’s owner rushed out.
“My lady—no, Madam!”
“Nanny! And… Edmund?”
Cassia, who came rushing out, didn’t look like a sick person at all.
And the moment she noticed Edmund’s presence, she deftly took a step back without stumbling.
Smoothly, naturally, she widened the distance between herself and Edmund.
“…?”
Only after similar incidents repeated dozens of times over the next two or three days did Edmund finally accept the reality he wanted to deny.
“I’ll be careful not to get too close to you from now on! So you really don’t have to worry at all!”
Cassia was keeping her word—perfectly.
