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chapter 14
Bringing Ena along was fine, but still…
Things had gone too smoothly, which made her uneasy.
Isabella’s permission essentially meant Karina’s tacit approval as well.
Why had they agreed so readily?
Did they think it was nothing more than a child’s whim?
Or did they believe that keeping Ena close would make it easier to keep an eye on her?
When Alice glanced sideways at Ena, Ena’s gaze subtly slid away.
So there really is some kind of ulterior motive.
Until the day she was safely driven out of the family (?), Alice decided she would keep Ena close and watch her carefully.
“Are you going to see him again today?”
Evan was asking whether she planned to go to the tower again.
“Yes. Today, I was thinking of taking Michael to the tower too…”
Alice shot a glance at Michael.
He met her gaze with a look that clearly said, What are you talking about?
“El?”
Evan’s expression filled with confusion.
Alice motioned for Evan to come closer, then whispered into his ear.
“I told Edwin about Michael, and he seems interested.”
“…Really?”
Evan still looked doubtful, but soon nodded.
So he needed a friend his own age after all.
If that was the reason Edwin had been especially hostile toward Evan, it made sense.
Still, Michael was more timid than he looked. Evan wasn’t sure if it was all right to send him to the tower.
“The tower? What kind of place is that?”
Michael looked at Alice with curiosity. Alice erased any hint of mischief from her face and answered plainly.
“A good place.”
“Then I’ll go.”
Michael replied without hesitation.
Ena had been left waiting in front of the tower.
Once Alice and Michael climbed up alone, Michael asked suspiciously,
“This is… a good place?”
The dimness and the strange smell made him frown deeply.
Evan had stepped out briefly for an external consultation.
Before that, he’d been worried about Michael, but Alice had loudly insisted she would take care of everything herself.
“Come this way.”
Alice stood in front of the iron door to Edwin’s room and beckoned him over.
Intimidated by the gloomy atmosphere, Michael shook his head and stepped back.
“My friend is in here. I’ll introduce you.”
“A person lives in a place like this?”
Michael looked at her skeptically. She scratched her head awkwardly.
It really didn’t look like a place where someone could live.
“Yeah. He’s been locked in here alone for a long time. So he’s probably very lonely.”
As she took out the key to unlock the door, Michael spoke.
“Who locked him up?”
Alice realized that Michael was staring at the key in her hand.
And his expression was strange.
It was a look of wariness—almost suspicion—directed at her.
Edwin was locked inside, and she was holding the key.
She immediately understood what kind of misunderstanding he was having.
From an outsider’s perspective, it was the perfect setup for one.
When she didn’t answer right away, distrust slowly filled Michael’s eyes.
Seeing that expression made her itch to tease him.
Hiding her playful intent, she spoke with a blank face.
“I locked him up.”
Michael’s green eyes widened uncontrollably.
He looked like a child who had just learned Santa’s secret.
Frozen stiff, he stammered,
“Th-that’s not true, right?”
“……”
“That—that’s a lie.”
Michael desperately wanted to believe she was joking.
Seeing that, Alice’s smile deepened.
She had planned to immediately correct herself and say it was a joke—but his reaction was more amusing than she expected.
Still, she wiped the smile away and spoke seriously.
“Why do you think that?”
“B-because… there’s no way you’d do something like that.”
“Do I really look that kind? You’re more naïve than I thought, Michael.”
If anything, her face leaned more toward mischievous than kind.
But when Michael thought of Alice, all he could recall was her smiling foolishly at him.
Leaving behind the statue-stiff Michael, Alice opened the door.
Clank.
After opening the iron door and stepping inside, she waved him over.
“Come in, Michael.”
“N-no! I-I don’t want to! You’ll lock me up too!”
Alice narrowed her eyes at him, intrigued.
“Oh? So you’re just going to run away and leave the kid inside?”
“N-no.”
Seeing how completely terrified he was, Alice began to feel a little guilty for taking the joke too far.
Still, Michael with his wide, frightened eyes looked like an adorable, wary cat.
He’s really scared.
She approached him, intending to finally tell the truth.
“I didn’t actually—”
“D-don’t come closer!”
As she stepped forward, Michael shrieked and bolted.
“Huh…?”
Alice stared blankly at the now-empty space she’d been left alone in.
“Don’t worry, Alice. We cleared up the misunderstanding.”
“And please tell him I’m sorry too.”
Michael went straight home.
Alice, who had been talking alone with Edwin, was relieved when Evan returned belatedly.
As soon as he arrived, Evan examined Edwin’s wounds at a glance.
“There’s no improvement. Is it the same even after changing the ointment?”
“Yes…”
Alice nodded, her expression dark.
She couldn’t exactly say that the treatment required divine power.
Evan, however, grew pensive as he looked at Edwin’s unhealed wounds.
Those were definitely not ordinary injuries.
Do I need to use divine power?
The human body normally regenerated wounds naturally.
But Edwin’s injuries remained unchanged, like those of a dead person.
The more Evan considered the symptoms, the more the conclusion narrowed to one.
At this point, there was no other choice.
“Lady Alice, could you wait outside for a moment?”
“Huh? All of a sudden?”
“I need to examine the wounds more closely. That will require removing his clothes…”
“Oh—okay.”
Understanding immediately, she stepped outside.
Left alone with Edwin, Evan swallowed hard.
The moment she left, he felt the temperature in the room drop sharply.
Evan slowly approached Edwin.
A chilling aura gathered in Edwin’s crimson gaze.
“If you come any closer,”
Edwin muttered in an eerily calm voice,
“you’ll die.”
“…This is for treatment.”
Evan’s reply came out stammered despite himself.
If he fainted again here, Alice would tease him about it for the rest of his life.
“Treatment?”
A strange light flickered in Edwin’s eyes.
He recalled what Alice had said before.
‘Once you get treatment later, you’ll be even prettier than you are now.’
Evan nodded, his face tense.
“Yes. Treatment. I swear it won’t harm you.”
In terms of size alone, Evan was much larger than Edwin—
the difference between an adult and a child who hadn’t even lost his baby fat.
Yet Evan couldn’t relax his guard.
Standing before Edwin always made him feel like prey facing a predator.
It was far beyond something he could dismiss as imagination.
“Haa…”
Evan let out a heavy breath.
The invisible pressure that had been tightening around them finally loosened.
A moment later, a bright light leaked out through the cracks of the closed iron door.
Alice, gazing out the tower window, didn’t notice.
Brr… it’s cold.
Though spring was near, the night air at the top of the tower was still chilly.
Imagining Edwin shivering alone in the cold made her feel uneasy.
After some time passed, the iron door opened, and Evan stepped out.
“How is Edwin?”
“He had many wounds.”
“Mmm.”
It wasn’t surprising.
Only then did Alice notice how exhausted Evan looked.
“Did I keep you too long? You should go home and rest. You must be tired from the outpatient visits…”
“That’s not the reason, but I am a bit tired.”
Evan smiled gently and nodded.
For someone who rarely showed fatigue to admit it—it must have been truly draining.
Alice urged him to head home, completely unaware of what would follow.
The next day, Evan spoke in his usual calm tone.
In his hand was the key that led to the tower.
“I will be confiscating this key.”
Because his voice was so matter-of-fact, Alice doubted her own ears.
