IRLDM 21

Chapter : 21

Roll, Roll

Clatter.

Evening. Having returned to the mansion, Rowell sat in the dining room, absentmindedly lifting and setting down her fork over and over. When she glanced up slightly, she saw Leon eating with a blank expression.

Unlike her restless self, Leon looked perfectly calm. Rowell watched him quietly cutting his meat for a long while, then suddenly recalled what had happened when they entered the mansion earlier.

Just as she had stepped down from the carriage, she had run into Leon as he was entering the mansion.

“Where have you been?”

She had wanted to ask him casually, as part of everyday conversation. But at that moment, Leon’s earlier words—telling her not to concern herself—rose in her mind, and no sound came out of her mouth.

While Rowell stood there saying nothing, Leon merely cast her a dry glance and passed by her.

And so, from that moment until now, not a single word had been exchanged between them.

“……”

The heavy silence dragged on. Rowell found it hard to endure. With so many unresolved matters piling up, silence was of no help at all.

Besides, I even got splashed with water today because of Lord Leon. I should be allowed to say at least this much.

Thinking so, she finally couldn’t hold back any longer and opened her mouth.

“About the scar on your shoulder.”

Leon’s eyes snapped sharply toward her. Rowell flinched slightly, but she steadied herself and continued.

“I found the right medicinal herbs. They’ll help slow the spread of the wound. We can treat it simply for now, and later at the temple—”

“How many times do I have to tell you before you understand?”

Leon cut her off.

“I told you not to concern yourself. Is meddling in other people’s business your hobby?”

His face held a well-mixed expression of anger and irritation. Soon after, Leon clicked his tongue and stood up. The chair scraped back with an unpleasant sound.

“……”

So Rowell was left sitting there, dazed, in the dining room filled only with the sound of the ticking clock. She remained frozen in the exact posture she’d had, fork still in hand, utterly alone and silent.

A moment later, something fell. A short thud—the sound of her fork hitting the floor, and perhaps the sound of her patience snapping.

Bang!

What followed happened in an instant.

Rowell suddenly appeared in front of Leon, who had been heading back to his room, and before Leon realized it, he was trapped within the wall formed by one of her arms. It hadn’t even been three minutes since he’d left his seat.

Caught off guard by the sudden displacement and the rapid turn of events, Leon missed a beat in his breathing and froze in surprise.

“Clause Three of the contract: both ‘Party A’ and ‘Party B’ must faithfully fulfill all their obligations.”

“What?”

“Did you forget that we’re under contract?”

“What are you—”

“Yes, fine, I’ll apologize for suddenly bringing up your wound and poking into it. But that doesn’t mean you get to push me away like this!”

Rowell fired off her words right in front of Leon’s face—no, she shouted them.

“I have a duty to look after your health! Did you forget that we made a promise to each other?”

Faced with the barrage, Leon stopped moving altogether and simply stared at Rowell with a stunned expression.

“So… don’t push me away.”

With that, Rowell lifted only her eyes and stared deeply into Leon’s.

“……”

“You’re going to take the herbs. Or you’re not.”

Catching the brief tremor in Leon’s eyes, Rowell spoke in a half-threatening tone.

“Well—”

“Yes?”

“…I’ll take them.”

At last receiving a satisfactory answer, Rowell withdrew the arm that had trapped him and smiled brightly.

“Good. Then I’ll brew the herbs after dinner and bring them to you.”

She pulled her upper body away from Leon, her raised lips still curved in a pleased smile.

“I may not look it, but I’ve heard a lot about medicinal herbs from all sorts of places.”

She added this while looking at Leon, who was still dazed.

“Then I’ll go finish my meal.”

After that, Rowell walked back to the dining room on her own two feet. Light-hearted in her steps, she didn’t even realize that she had naturally used an order just moments ago.

There can’t be any situation where Lord Leon becomes too weak to fulfill the contract.

Her mind was full of other thoughts.

“……”

Meanwhile, Leon stood staring at the spot where Rowell had been, eyes fixed on the floor, caught for a long while by the echo of her voice in his head.

“…Ha.”

Only after some time did Leon remember how to breathe evenly again.

“That’s not as painful as you think.”

That night, sitting on the edge of the bed, Leon finished the medicine, set the cup down, and spoke with a sigh mixed in.

“Huh?”

“It doesn’t hurt enough for you to look at me like the world’s about to end.”

Only then did Rowell realize she had been staring far too intensely at Leon’s shoulder. She leaned back, but it was still hard to believe that it didn’t hurt.

Sure enough, her narrowed eyes quickly took on an expression that clearly said, Liar.

“It’s true. I’m constitutionally less sensitive to pain than most people. It’s something that often happens to those whose mana manifests late.”

“Often?”

“Yes, often. If you don’t believe me, go ask the young lady of the Heinstein family. A family like Heinstein would’ve had private tutors since childhood. She must’ve heard all sorts of things back then.”

“She was physically weak, so she couldn’t properly learn magic. That’s why she surprisingly doesn’t know much about it.”

Rowell said this while shooting Leon a sideways glance. After a short pause, she moved her lips a few times before speaking again.

“If I ask why there’s contamination, you won’t answer, right?”

At that question, Leon’s eyes—fixed on Rowell—shifted away. In that brief moment, Rowell saw a glimmer pass through his eyes and disappear.

“Okay. I won’t ask.”

She spoke quickly, before Leon could answer. She had no right to dig any deeper anyway—it lay outside the scope of their contract.

“But! Please answer this instead.”

At her sudden words, Leon’s wandering gaze returned to her.

“Have you been sleeping properly lately?”

“What?”

“You looked like you were sleep-deprived before.”

“……”

“You haven’t been sleeping well, have you? Don’t you know that sleep is the foundation of managing your stamina?”

Leon looked at the furrowed brows now right in front of him. After staring at them for a while, he slowly opened his mouth.

“You seem to have forgotten, but I was the vice-captain of the knight order. So when it comes to stamina management, I—”

“You’re not managing it well at all. When I moved you from the tower to the mansion, you didn’t even wake up. You just slept through it.”

“That was a one-time thing. Normally, when it comes to endurance, I lose to no one.”

“You don’t even realize how dark the circles under your eyes are right now, do you?”

Rowell didn’t back down and kept pressing on.

“Hah… so what exactly are you suggesting?”

In the end, Leon raised the white flag. The hand brushing his bangs back moved sluggishly.

“You’re having trouble sleeping because you’re uncomfortable ‘sharing a bed’ with me.”

“…What?”

“I know. You’ve probably slept alone your whole life, and suddenly you have to sleep next to an unrelated woman—it’s uncomfortable. That’s why I came up with a solution. For your comfortable sleep.”

As she spoke, Rowell stood up. She rummaged through the wardrobe beside the bed, then emerged holding something.

“There are people watching, so I can’t sleep in another room. And you said you don’t like it because you worry if I sleep on the floor. I feel the same way. If you slept on the floor, I’d worry too. So let’s do this instead. I’ll sleep like this.”

Suddenly, Rowell wrapped the thin blanket she was holding tightly around herself, rolling herself up, then threw herself onto the bed.

“This way, I won’t touch you, and you won’t touch me. We’re both safe from each other, right?”

“No, what in the—”

Leon looked down at Rowell, who was lying on the bed curled up like a scroll. The action gave him a strangely familiar sense of déjà vu. Because of that, he genuinely wondered whether she was joking or serious.

“Just think of it as a rolled-up roll cake lying next to you. Then you’ll be able to sleep without worrying.”

Of course, seeing Rowell’s sparkling eyes and proud expression, it seemed she was completely serious.

A moment later, she closed her eyes, clearly determined to sleep like that—and as always, she fell asleep quickly.

“What kind of kid is this, seriously…”

A hollow laugh escaped Leon’s lips.

The next morning, as soon as day broke, Rowell headed to the knight order headquarters to keep her promise. It had been a one-sided appointment made by a knight named Agnes she’d met in the market district, but Rowell had planned to visit the headquarters eventually anyway, so she thought it was good timing.

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

When Rowell finished her account, Agnes Ranistan spoke gently with a smiling gaze. On the desk, Rowell’s words had been neatly transcribed onto paper in clean handwriting.

Only then did Rowell relax and look around. The reception room of the knight order headquarters was furnished with modest, unostentatious furniture. Aside from the decorative swords mounted here and there, it looked like an ordinary reception room.

“Um, by any chance, did you also go to investigate Lady Heinstein?”

As she looked around, Rowell suddenly remembered that the true first witness had been Aria, not herself, and asked.

“No. We had many things we wanted to ask her as well, but we heard her health isn’t good. They say she hasn’t left the house since the incident.”

At that answer, Rowell unconsciously bit her lip.

“She’s sick…”

It was possible. Aria had always been physically weak, so the shock of the incident might have worsened her condition.

But…

It didn’t quite sit right to accept it so simply. Because of that, various worries began to surface on Rowell’s face.

“You don’t need to worry so much.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s true that this is the first time demons have attacked so close to the capital. But we are reinforcing our forces accordingly, so there’s no need for concern.”

Agnes spoke as if soothing her, having interpreted the emotions on Rowell’s face differently. She probably thought Rowell was simply afraid of the demons and offered reassurance in her own way.

“…Yes.”

At the misplaced comfort, Rowell lifted the corners of her mouth politely. What she was worried about wasn’t a demon invasion, but Aria herself—but she didn’t bother correcting her.

“You don’t need to worry.”

Inside the carriage on the way home, Rowell mulled over Agnes’s words.

“I’ve heard that from the other knights over and over again, too.”

In every regression so far, the knights had always told Aria the same thing: not to worry, that they would protect her.

But Aria’s death and regression had happened seven times now. Naturally, Rowell—who had always been there beside her listening—could no longer trust the knights’ words.

That’s why I have to try harder.

Watching the trees rush past outside, Rowell clenched the fist resting on her lap tightly.