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Chapter : 27
Good Night
Even her words seemed to convey her desperation, and he followed the reins obediently, showing no particular resistance. Still, it took about ten minutes before he could regain his balance, swaying weakly.
Alferil relied on Terencio’s presence behind her as she gradually straightened her previously hunched back and stared ahead.
The young master’s body, which was gradually heating up, felt like logs in a fireplace. The noisy wind outside and occasional low moans reached Alferil’s ears intermittently.
Then, suddenly, a voice spoke so clearly it was almost eerie:
“Alfe.”
Alferil’s trembling throat quivered as she grasped the young master’s hand again, preventing it from slipping off the reins. It wasn’t because she needed to help. She was afraid of losing sight of him.
“D-Don’t say anything right now.”
“Good night.”
Her heart dropped. Even Terencio’s right hand, which had been holding the reins alongside hers, fell limply. Her heart thrashed violently, and it felt like it might explode at any moment.
“See you later.”
The head that had been shaking behind her gently tapped and slid onto her shoulder. At that moment, Alferil felt, for the first time, a fear that froze her entire body.
She had always been one step behind life.
She had lived that way to avoid wounds she knew she would eventually receive, from anyone. Living each day as if observing someone else’s life, she felt no sadness at being hated, no pain at being glared at.
But not now.
With every roughening breath from behind, Alferil’s chest heaved. Did people who had someone precious always live like this? Enduring a life where they rejoiced and suffered with all their heart?
Tears welled up in her eyes.
They soon arrived at a shabby house shrouded in darkness. Alferil jumped off the saddle alongside Triden and, without a moment to steady her trembling legs, had to support Terencio’s collapsing body on both sides.
The street was so poor that even common cobblestones weren’t laid. They headed for the smallest hut among them.
Just before stepping inside, Triden suddenly paused at the doorway. In a situation where every second mattered, Alferil shouted urgently at the dazed man.
“Lord Lange!”
“I-I’m sorry.”
Only then did he make a loud noise and pull the doorknob open. A shadow hastily slipped along the narrow hallway connecting the few rooms inside.
Alferil widened her eyes for a moment but didn’t turn toward the shadow again, instead moving quickly. Soon, Triden, openly relieved, laid Terencio on the bed in the worn living room.
A short silence fell. Once safely inside, Alferil’s mind went blank, unsure of what she should do or could do, pacing with a white-knuckled desperation.
Triden, no calmer than her, tried to remove his bloodstained coat, then hurriedly left somewhere. Alferil began unbuttoning his shirt to check the hidden wounds.
A little later, Triden returned carrying a box filled with bandages, powdered medicine, and other medical supplies. The equipment looked expensive, completely out of place in the shabby hut.
Trembling and numb, Alferil examined Terencio’s wounds while Triden rummaged through the medical box. Everyone in the room looked pale.
“W-We should… call a doctor… now.”
Triden muttered absently as he laid out disinfectant, bandages, and other urgently needed items. Alferil lifted her bowed head to look at him.
“You must stay with him. Can you do that?”
She nodded without thinking. Triden hurried toward the door, promising that the doctor he knew could still make a house call even on a day like today, then left.
Whether that would actually happen or not seemed like words meant to reassure her, including herself. Until just moments ago, Alferil had completely forgotten that today was New Year’s Day. She closed her eyes anxiously.
Considering the possibility that no doctor might come made her vision go dark. She focused on the deep, bloodied wounds that came into view.
First, she had to stop the bleeding and disinfect the area. With trembling hands, she searched among Triden’s bottles for something that resembled disinfectant. Just as her uncooperative hands struggled, she heard the voice of a child.
“Right side.”
Alert, Alferil turned sharply toward the voice. A child, covered in clothes and rags that seemed unnatural even for winter, had hidden their body.
Instinctively, she knew the girl speaking from the corner was the shadow she had seen earlier.
“You have to use this to disinfect the wound.”
Alferil picked up the bottle the small finger indicated. To her surprise, it was indeed the disinfectant she had been looking for. She wanted to thank the girl, but the footsteps quickly ran away like a fleeting shadow.
As she pressed on Terencio’s wound, his body thrashed violently, as if he had come back to life.
“Kuh… ah, huff! Hoo, ugh.”
“L-Lord.”
She didn’t know if she was doing the right thing. She caught his rebounding body. Seeing his open eyes gave her a brief sense of relief, but soon his ragged, broken breaths filled the room.
Alferil shed tears as she tried to calm him. Noticing the wound reopening on his bent torso, she gently laid him down with her shaking hands. She had never seen Terencio’s face so contorted.
It seemed all she could do was steady his fading breath. His lips became parched.
“The doctor will come soon. I’ll hold the wound. There’s… a lot of blood.”
Terencio kept pressing his trembling hands to his forehead, squinting painfully. Seeing him shield himself from the light, Alferil quickly dimmed the small lamp.
She wrapped the loosened bandages around his upper body, attempting a crude form of hemostasis. The white bandages quickly turned bright red. She shook her head hard, brushing away tears streaming down her cheeks.
After several rounds of pouring disinfectant and tightening the bandages, she could do no more. She could do nothing, yet the young master still suffered. Alferil held their bloodstained hands together.
To share even her faint warmth, she rubbed her pale cheeks against Terencio’s hands. His breaths alternated between weakening and roughing.
When his faint voice, like a dying ember, mingled with groans, Alferil hunched her shoulders. Terencio, drenched in cold sweat, leaned on her as he struggled to speak.
“My mother…”
Every joint in his body ceased trembling. Alferil hated herself for not being able to tell him to stop speaking. She feared these might be his last words.
“My mother… was not born in Triveral.”
“……”
“In the end, because of my father… she passed away in Triveral. I still remember it.”
His voice, initially pained, grew strangely calm. Or perhaps she had imagined it. She wasn’t sure anymore.
“But it’s strange. She was a foreigner, not a noble. If he had wanted, he could have denied her as his child. Yet he created a precedent and gave me Heron Castle.”
Alferil recalled the previous Duke known to both her and the young master. Realizing their negative memories of him were similar, she felt resentment toward the Duke again.
“If I hadn’t accepted it… none of this would have happened.”
What exactly was he referring to?
Alferil understood that, though he seemed to resent his father, he was also blaming the current situation. Hesitating to speak, she instead gently caressed his cooling body. Despite her wish to comfort him, only a twisted voice escaped.
“I can’t go back to a life without your music.”
“……”
“It will be okay. You have to be okay. If not… I’ll spread the rumor that the genius pianist’s will was nothing but foolish nonsense. Even in death, I’ll make life miserable for you.”
Even as she spoke, she wanted to take back her words. Yet, staring blankly at the faint tug at Terencio’s lips, finally—bang!—the door opened and two people entered.
A doctor with a medical bag greeted them calmly.
“Are you well, miss? And you, patient? If it’s not freezing cold, lower that blanket a bit, and Triden, go get some hot water.”
