IBMDF 06

Chapter 06

I set the tray I had brought onto the counter and turned to leave, when a man called out and stopped me.

Amid the noise of the busy kitchen servants, I heard footsteps approaching me.

“You. Open your mouth and say ‘ah’ for a second.”

“…Pardon?”

“Not ‘pardon’—I said open your mouth and go ‘ah.’”

Before I could even understand what he meant, a hand suddenly grabbed my mouth and tried to force it open.

“Mmph!”

“I said open your mouth!”

“Mmmphhh!”

What kind of situation is this now?

I struggled desperately, trying to shove the man away.

But he was so strong that I couldn’t even shake off his hand.

“…That’s strange. Someone definitely stole some food.”

After peering inside my mouth, the man muttered in confusion and finally withdrew his hand.

I grimaced and spat out the salty taste lingering on my tongue.

Ptui, ptui. Seriously!

“If that’s not it, then why are the dishes clean?”

Ignoring my reaction, the man muttered again before abruptly interrogating me.

“Tell the truth! You secretly stole the young master’s meal, didn’t you?”

No, what on earth is this man talking about?

“If you have eyes, then you should’ve seen it too! The young master hasn’t touched his food for ages and always sent it back untouched! But today the dishes came back completely empty?”

At his words, I reached out and felt the dishes I’d brought down earlier.

The plates from Kallios’s room were indeed spotless.

In fact, ever since I started working for the duke’s household, I had never once seen Kallios eat properly.

He practically skipped every meal, and when hunger became unbearable, he only filled his stomach with simple things like an apple or a piece of bread.

No, but does that mean you accuse people like this? Maybe he was just starving today and finally ate!

I was about to argue back with an irritated expression when someone nearby interrupted.

“Hey, Harrison! There’s no point questioning that maid. She’s blind.”

“Blind?”

The man repeated the word in surprise.

Then I felt air swishing across my face.

Apparently, he waved his hand back and forth in front of my eyes before speaking.

“It’s true? Tch, bad luck.”

He brushed off his hands.

“Guess she didn’t steal anything. She probably tripped and spilled it all somewhere.”

The man called Harrison reached his own conclusion, then picked up the empty dishes with a clatter and walked away.

As if I wasn’t even worth talking to further.

“……”

Sadly, treatment like this had become familiar enough to be boring.

In this world, disabilities were viewed as something like a punishment from the gods or karma for sins.

Trying to argue about unfairness usually only led to being judged or put in even worse situations.

Tch. Ptui.

I spat out the unpleasant taste still lingering in my mouth and turned away.

At this point, I really needed to brush my teeth immediately.

* * *

“Ugh… disgusting…”

After brushing my teeth hard enough to wear down my gums, I headed back up to Kallios’s room.

But before I even reached the door, a sound stopped me.

Crash!

A familiar sound—one that made my chest go cold.

No… why…

Filled with unease, I hurriedly opened the door.

“Get out! I said get out!”

Along with Kallios’s scream came the sound of something shattering.

“Y-Young master!”

And another voice was trying to calm him down.

It was a man’s voice I’d never heard before.

I rushed inside.

“Young master! Please calm down!”

Everything was chaos.

Just a little while ago, Kallios had been calm enough to tease me—so what had happened that he was now rampaging like this?

Suddenly, a heavy thud echoed through the room, followed by a man crying out in pain.

Something Kallios threw had clearly struck him directly.

Hurried footsteps began approaching the doorway where I stood.

The man, staggering while feeling along the walls as though searching for an exit, bumped into several things before finally reaching me.

Before I could move aside, he crashed into me and fell to the floor.

“W-Who are you?”

he asked in a flustered voice.

“I’m the maid attending Young Master Kallios. What happened? Don’t tell me… you opened the curtains?”

I demanded sharply.

The man answered, startled.

“C-Curtains? No! I’m just a servant who came to deliver a letter addressed to the young master!”

A letter?

“What kind of letter made him this angry? He was fine just earlier.”

“That’s…”

The servant caught his breath and explained.

“It’s news from the young master’s academy. They said that if he continues not attending school, they’ll have no choice but to expel him…”

The academy? Expulsion?

The moment I heard those words, something from the original story surfaced faintly in my memory.

Right. Kallios had to leave the Imperial Academy because of his madness disease.

And after that, he never returned.

For nobles, the Imperial Academy held enormous significance.

Graduation was practically a rite of passage before inheriting a title, and the relationships built there often became political factions among nobles.

That was why, after Kallios first fell ill, Duke Rebanion had secretly pulled strings to prevent his son from being expelled.

He couldn’t bear to admit that his only son had contracted such a cursed illness.

So he desperately tried to cure him and restore him to how he used to be.

However, even after half a year, Kallios’s condition didn’t improve—it only worsened.

Only then did the duke have no choice but to accept reality.

That his only son’s illness might never be cured.

And that he needed to quickly find another heir to replace him.

In the process, Kallios was naturally pushed outside the duke’s attention.

Which meant—

The letter that servant had brought was practically a signal announcing that the duke had, in effect, given up on curing his son.

“I don’t need it! All of you, get out!”

From the darkness came more furious shouting as objects flew through the room.

The sounds of things breaking echoed everywhere.

Kallios was drowning in despair more fiercely than ever before.

For the young Duke of Rebanion—whose future had once seemed guaranteed—it was a reality far too cruel to accept.

“Young master!”

Avoiding the flying objects, I crawled toward him.

“Young master, calm down!”

“Get away from me!”

Kallios shouted savagely.

But I ignored him and reached out, fumbling until I grabbed his sleeve.

I expected him to violently shake off my hand.

But he didn’t.

Instead, all his movements stopped.

Then, like someone who had given up on everything, he slowly collapsed to the floor.

“It’s over… Everything’s over…”

His voice was empty as he forced out the words.

“…I can’t go outside anymore… not even one step… not a single step…”

Muttering like someone whose soul had left him, Kallios eventually fell silent.

A bad feeling crept over me.

“Young master?”

I grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

No answer came.

“Young master? Young master!”

I shouted toward the servant slumped outside the door.

“Please bring a doctor! Hurry!”

* * *

There was once a time when colorful worlds stretched before my eyes too.

That was in my life before transmigrating.

The high blue sky.

Landscapes covered in lush greenery, or blanketed in white snow.

The faces of family and friends.

Back then, seeing all those things every day had been completely ordinary.

Until the year I turned twenty, when a sudden accident robbed me of sight in both eyes.

That accident overturned my life entirely.

Why did this have to happen to me? What am I supposed to do now?

Crushed by despair that crashed over me like waves, I couldn’t leave the house for over half a year.

“Are you really going to keep not eating? Mom can make you something.”

“I’m not hungry.”

It only took an instant for my personality to change completely.

“You have to eat, even if you force yourself.”

“I’m not hungry.”