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chapter 25
After calling Maxton’s name, Teor didn’t say a word until Maxton was dragged away by the knights.
I realized for the first time today that calling someone’s name in a terrifying voice and then remaining silent is far scarier than any threat of death.
Even the people around me seemed intimidated by Teor.
“Let’s start treatment.”
He held my hand and led me toward the back of the barracks. Behind him, I heard the hushed voice of some young lord whispering anxiously, wondering if Maxton might be silently killed, and the surrounding area went utterly quiet.
Once inside the private barracks of the Eterjan family, I couldn’t help but exclaim “Wow” at the spacious, comfortable interior. It was far larger and more pleasant than the common barracks.
During the hunting festival, there was a large communal barracks for all participants, and behind that were private barracks for the royal family, archdukes, and dukes.
The Empire enforced strict distinctions based on rank.
It was precisely because of this that those holding a marquis title desperately sought a duke title—there were simply too many privileges they didn’t receive otherwise.
“No one else can enter here, so you can be at ease and receive treatment,” Teor said, helping me onto a sofa.
Huh? Wasn’t he going to treat me himself?
Noticing the question in my expression, Teor explained:
“It would be better for you to use your healing ability than for me to apply medicine.”
Well, that’s true…
“Then turn your back.”
I told him to look away. Using dark magic for healing required making black caterpillars crawl on my cheek, and for some reason, I didn’t want Teor to see that.
As I prepared to heal with dark magic, the image of Sister Pere foaming at Maxton flashed in my mind.
“Ah, maybe it’s better to just use medicine,” I muttered.
Healing with dark magic would fix everything perfectly, but if I wanted Maxton to suffer for slapping me, it was better to leave the swelling as it was.
Teor frowned.
“I will make him pay for what he did under the name of the Eterjan family. You should heal yourself.”
“Wait, you’re staking your family name on punishing him?”
“It just means you don’t need to worry about handling him. Now, heal yourself.”
I hesitated for a moment, but decided leaving my cheek swollen would catch Sister Pere’s attention, so I shook my head.
“No, I’ll stay like this.”
“Why?”
Before I could answer, Teor furrowed his brows in concern.
I looked at him for a moment, then told the truth:
“Because I want to see Sister Pere get angry at this face.”
“……?”
He had no idea what I meant, so I explained with a serious expression:
“I want to watch Maxton—the one who slapped me—get scolded by my sister. Do you understand?”
“……I don’t understand. Why would you do that?”
“Don’t you know how pretty my sister looks when she’s angry?”
“Excuse me?”
I described how her sharp nose crinkled and her expression became fiercer, and that I couldn’t heal my cheek yet because I wanted to keep seeing it.
“I really don’t understand.”
Teor still couldn’t grasp my reasoning, even with my detailed explanation.
“You’re too young. You don’t know how happy it is when someone you like gets angry on your behalf.”
“I am two years older than Elinea. And I can’t understand enduring pain just to see someone get angry for you.”
“But according to Imperial law, two years’ difference still means you undergo the adult ceremony together.”
At my words, one of Teor’s eyebrows twitched.
“Well, when you have someone you like, you’ll understand how happy it is to see them angry for you.”
“I might understand if they hurt themselves for me, but just getting angry doesn’t make me endure my pain.”
Teor explained that others would think the same way.
“You are in pain. Your body trembles every time you speak.”
He lightly tapped his own cheek with his finger as he continued.
“If it were me, I’d treat the wound first to ease the pain. Even after healing, the fact that you were slapped by that bastard who can’t be punished enough won’t disappear.”
Slapped once, and he calls Maxton a bastard who can’t be punished enough…
I stared at Teor, then sighed lightly.
“It’s not that painful, so I’ll just use medicine instead of dark magic.”
Teor’s brows furrowed fiercely.
“What on earth are you….”
He seemed ready to scold me, but then sighed and strode toward a drawer.
He brought out a medicine box and sat beside me, opening it.
“It’s quite swollen. Even with medicine, the pain won’t subside quickly.”
“It’s fine. I can endure it.”
As I said that, Teor applied the ointment to my cheek, sighing in frustration.
“I don’t understand why you won’t heal yourself when you have the ability. I never thought it would be this frustrating that my dark-element healing is useless.”
“Oh, so you wanted healing powers? Since when?”
I was slightly surprised. In the original story, Teor hadn’t used his powers effectively, so it was odd that he now wanted healing.
But hearing him say, “From today,” made me feel… strange.
That meant he wanted healing powers because of me, because he cared about my injured cheek.
My face grew warm every time his hand brushed mine while applying ointment.
This feeling was… complicated.
I tried to calm my racing heart and swallowed dryly.
Teor’s appearance and manner were exactly my type, and yet my heart kept fluttering toward him, despite knowing he was a secondary male lead who would end up loving Caroline.
This was definitely a bad sign. I resolved to quickly regain control of my feelings.
Since Sister Pere’s path must be preserved, the Crown Prince Lloyd and Caroline must never end up together.
Therefore, it would be better for Caroline to end up with Teor, the secondary male lead.
Even if, for now, we wore matching custom hunting outfits with identical embroidery.
The hunting outfits that Teor and I wore had been designed by the Duke’s designer, Endiveon, giving them a slightly different feel from Lloyd and Sister Pere’s.
Initially, we had planned to go to the tailor in town to get matching outfits, but Sister Pere summoned both of us to the Duke’s residence, scolding us for using someone else’s designer unnecessarily.
Though designed by a single Endiveon, the outfits for our couple and for Sister Pere’s couple were clearly different.
Sister Pere and Lloyd’s outfits were elegant and refined, while Teor’s and mine were simple, clean, and mirrored Teor’s usual uniform style.
Endiveon added small embroidery from Teor’s outfit across my outfit to make it look cohesive, making it obvious to anyone that we were a pair.
“All done.”
Teor closed the ointment box. I nodded in thanks.
“Thank you.”
He stared at me for a moment, then, frowning, asked:
“Can you manage the hunting grounds? If not, you can stay here and rest…”
“Oh, nonsense. Just because I got slapped on the cheek, I’m not going to skip the hunting festival.”
There was no way I would miss the chance to see Sister Pere capture ten fire-element monsters up close.
Sitting up energetically, I said to Teor:
“Let’s go. I’ll take down ten monsters for you!”
As I strode toward the barracks entrance, Teor followed, muttering quietly:
“I told you before, I’m two years older, Elinea.”
