MHWDTS 10

Chapter 10

“I came expecting to see a suffering patient, but his life seems far too comfortable for that.”

「Other than his memories, everything else is perfectly fine. Even the injury on his head has healed properly.」

“Hm….”

Avoiding the sudden light, Hagenti curled his body inward and rolled onto his side. The crease left on his cheek by the pillow was proof enough of just how sweetly he had been sleeping.

“Tree frog… where’re you going…?”

「He talks in his sleep quite a lot.」

Carefully making sure not to wake him, Shasha quietly lowered the canopy curtains again. Windsor slowly shook his head in disbelief before lowering his voice.

“I’ll tell you this before you ask: there is no magic capable of restoring memories. And even if such magic did exist, any spell that interferes with the human brain carries terrible side effects, so it is strictly forbidden even among magicians.”

「The doctor said his memories would gradually return with time. Is there no way to speed up the process?」

“Is it truly that difficult? Though I suppose taking care of a seven-year-old can’t be easy.”

That wasn’t the reason.

Shasha wrote the word “divorce” in her notebook, then immediately crossed it out with two lines before turning the page.

「There’s something my husband and I absolutely must resolve, but in his current state it’s impossible.」

“Hurrying the return of his memories…. Well, it’s not as though there are absolutely no methods we could try.”

Was this what made magicians different?

Hope and anxiety crossed simultaneously through Shasha’s chest.

After slightly lifting the canopy to inspect Hagenti’s condition more closely, Windsor turned back toward her and asked:

“Have you ever heard of shock therapy?”

Shock therapy.

A treatment method that used intense stimulation to improve a patient’s condition.

Of course she had heard of it. She had even briefly studied it at the Academy. Since August enrolled in every medical-related course offered there, she had unwillingly followed him into several classes.

At the time, she had only studied for the sake of passing exams, and so much time had passed that she barely remembered the details anymore. Even so, Shasha couldn’t help questioning the current situation.

‘…Is this really right?’

Was shock therapy… normally this crude?

Standing before a marble bathtub filled with ice-cold water, Hagenti trembled violently with only a towel wrapped around his waist.

Even in the height of midsummer, he rarely exposed much bare skin, and aside from the few obligatory nights they had shared after their wedding ceremony, he had never slept beside Shasha. So despite being his wife, it had been a very long time since she had seen him half-naked.

But…

Maybe because he had recently been eating five full meals a day and taking naps?

Perhaps it was just her imagination, but Hagenti somehow seemed even larger than before. He had already been built like a bear, yet somehow his physique had become even more impressive.

Then suddenly Shasha realized she had been staring fixedly at his lower abdomen and quickly jerked her head away in horror.

Good heavens, Alexandra. No matter what his body looks like, he’s still seven years old.

What on earth was she thinking while looking at a sick person…?

Shasha hurriedly covered her burning ears with her hair.

“S-Shasha….”

Hagenti gathered his pale feet together, the veins visible against the skin, and looked at her pleadingly for help. Excited fairies gathered around him one after another, eagerly anticipating whatever entertaining chaos might unfold next.

“If I-I go in there… won’t I freeze into a snowman and die…?”

“You won’t die.”

The answer was firm and absolute.

“Humans are not so fragile that they’d die from something like this.”

Sitting with his legs stretched out on a stool while casually eating almonds, Windsor looked more like someone vacationing at a resort.

As though he had never radiated gloom at all, he had adapted perfectly to the mansion in only a single day and wandered around freely. In Shasha’s opinion, it wasn’t so much that he had a free-spirited personality—it was more that he simply had no understanding whatsoever of how to care about other people’s reactions.

Regardless of his circumstances, he still looked like a child on the outside, so Shasha had secretly hoped he and Hagenti might get along.

But what a foolish misunderstanding that had been.

Though their appearances seemed similar in age, Hagenti found Windsor terrifying, almost as though he were a monster, because of the mature way he acted.

Just from a few short words, Hagenti had immediately shrunk into himself, unable to utter a sound the way he normally did around Shasha. Seeing that, Shasha felt strangely unsettled, as though a tiny hole had opened in her chest.

「What if his health worsens? He’s already become physically weaker as it is.」

“You said there’s something you absolutely must resolve with your husband, yet you still have room to worry about that? Don’t show weakness. If the guardian hesitates, the child wavers too. It may be a crude method, but perhaps it will work.”

While they spoke, Hagenti cautiously dipped one foot into the bathtub before immediately screaming:

“Aaaagh!”

Even hiccupping from fear, he clutched desperately at Shasha’s arm and whined.

“Shasha, I can’t do it…. Do I really have to go in there? Why are we even doing this in the first place?!”

His face turned as red as a tomato as he shouted at the top of his lungs. He even used the phrase “in the first place”—apparently his vocabulary improved during emergencies.

Windsor was right.

Showing weakness would only make Hagenti even more fearful.

Suppressing her guilt, Shasha resolutely opened her notebook.

「They said this might help you return to being twenty-seven. Think of it as a kind of treatment.」

“What? I don’t want to become twenty-seven again! O-of course it’s really boring, and I miss my sisters, but… b-but I still don’t want to go back! I won’t! Ah, no! Stop pushing me! Don’t push me!”

The moment Shasha placed a hand against his chest and tried nudging him toward the bathtub, Hagenti began shrieking loudly like a cornered animal.

Oh, God. Is this what a seven-year-old’s scream sounds like…?

For a moment Shasha genuinely thought her right eardrum might burst. Absentmindedly rubbing the ear now ringing loudly, she flipped her notebook around again.

「Hagenti, you have to go back to normal. Just stay in for five minu—」

“I said I don’t want to!”

Smack.

The notebook flew across the room.

“Who even is that guy to make me do this?! Why does everyone keep forcing me when I said I hate it?! I already take my medicine three times a day and listen to the doctor properly, so why do I have to do this too? And nobody even gives me strawberry-flavored medicine! Nobody said I’d have to do something like this!”

Breathing hard, Hagenti expressed his misery with his entire body. Though Shasha flinched at his furious shouting, strangely enough, she wasn’t afraid.

The notebook he had slapped away lay pitifully near the doorway. Having lost any means to argue back, Shasha could only stand awkwardly while blinking her doe-like eyes helplessly.

Perhaps because she didn’t comfort him, Hagenti became even more upset. Finally throwing a full tantrum, he plopped heavily onto the floor.

“I’m not going in. I’m not doing it. Shasha always does whatever she wants!”

Then he buried his face between his knees and completely refused to speak further.

Watching the situation while using Shasha like a chess piece at the front lines, Windsor clicked his tongue.

“Seeing him like this, he really is a patient after all.”

What should I do?

Shasha shot him a desperate pleading look. But Windsor merely shook his head before rising slowly while holding his back like a true old man.

Even though Shasha wasn’t particularly tall, he still had to stand on tiptoe to whisper into her ear.

“He’s your husband. Unless his memories return, the treatment must continue. Are you planning to indulge those tantrums every single time? For the future’s sake, you’d best find a solution quickly.”

The answer drew a firm line.

Other people’s affairs are their own; mine are mine.

In fact, Windsor resembled exactly the sort of adult Shasha once imagined a younger Hagenti might become, making her swallow dryly.

Thunk.

As the bathroom door closed behind Windsor after he left, the fairies who hadn’t managed to enter immediately booed noisily from outside like protesters.

Find a solution, he said.

Easy for him to say. Shasha was trying her best to get along peacefully with Hagenti somehow, but she herself had never handled a child before either.

And it was at the exact moment she stood there lost in helpless confusion—

Sniff.

‘H-Hagenti…?’

Sniff.

Shasha froze instantly and looked down.

Hagenti still hadn’t moved from his curled-up position. But she definitely hadn’t imagined the sound.

‘Hagenti… are you crying?’

Gathering her skirt carefully, Shasha cautiously sat down beside him.

And just as she suspected, large tears were steadily dripping down Hagenti’s cheeks one by one like falling beads.