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Chapter 9
“Are you scared? There’s no need to be so startled. Those two are always like that.”
Aila, the attending physician, had somehow come up beside Luciella and whispered to her.
“Huh?”
“Whether it’s a positive reaction or a negative one, Sir Cain is pretty much the only person who can get any response out of Lord Bael. From Bael’s perspective, Cain is the only guardian he’s had since he was four years old. And from Cain’s perspective, Bael is the nephew he cherishes more than anyone in the world.”
“…How did that happen?”
Luciella asked, suddenly curious.
“Well, it probably has something to do with Bael’s father dying around the same time Cain was formally brought into the family line.”
Aila gazed into space as if recalling an old memory.
“According to Cain himself…”
She smiled faintly.
“When he first received his barony and came here, the only person who actually needed him was Bael.”
“The only person who needed him…”
“After his legs were injured, Lord Bael became much more sensitive, which is why he’s like this now. But even so, they never seriously hurt each other.”
She added the last part with an exasperated expression.
I see.
So this is some twisted, tangled form of affection between them.
“What about you, Aila?”
“Me?”
Luciella nodded.
“Now that I think about it, I met Sir Cain around that same time too.”
Aila looked upward for a moment before letting out a small laugh.
“I guess… meeting those two changed the direction of my life.”
She offered no further explanation.
But that wasn’t what mattered to Luciella right now.
“Huh? Wait, are you going to step in?”
Aila’s eyes widened as she watched Luciella take a step toward the two men.
“Yes.”
Luciella answered firmly.
“We’re running out of time.”
Despite the tension filling the room, only one thought occupied her mind.
The kabocha soup she had worked so hard to make was getting cold.
As a cook, that was something she absolutely could not tolerate.
Quietly but firmly, Luciella walked between the two people facing off against one another.
“Um… how about eating first and fighting afterward?”
Instantly, the oppressive pressure dominating the room snapped apart.
Bael’s sharp gaze slowly turned toward her.
“This soup contains a lot of very, very expensive ingredients—”
“Take it away. I don’t need it.”
Bael cut her off harshly.
The boy’s fierce eyes locked onto her.
Luciella frowned.
Don’t need it?
According to whose decision?
I burned through all my mana making this.
And I carefully picked the sweetest squash too!
“I said take it away.”
Smack!
Before Luciella could respond, Bael waved his hand dismissively and knocked the tray aside.
She managed to regain her balance quickly, but the bowl tilted and soup splashed everywhere.
Nearly half of it spilled onto the tray, and yellow soup splattered across her hands and clothes.
Perhaps he hadn’t intended to go that far.
For a brief moment, Bael’s eyes trembled slightly as he looked at her hand.
But when she didn’t scream, and he realized the soup had cooled enough not to burn her, his expression returned to its usual coldness.
“What kind of disrespect is that?!”
Cain roared.
Bael continued staring back defiantly.
“I’ve had enough experiments performed on my body. If this was just another attempt to satisfy your curiosity, shouldn’t you be satisfied by now? Other than Aila, nobody has ever helped.”
The words experiment and curiosity made Cain’s face twitch.
“Just one bite.”
Suppressing his anger, Cain urged him again.
“Just one bite. I guarantee the taste.”
“As if.”
Bael shook his head without the slightest trust.
“You’ve stuffed all sorts of medicines into me and forced me to eat disgusting things.”
“Bael.”
“You think paralyzed people don’t have taste buds? I said I don’t want it, so why—”
“This time is different.”
Cain looked at Luciella’s soup.
“It has effects beyond just taste—”
“Blegh.”
At the word effects, Bael deliberately pretended to gag while staring directly at Luciella.
Wow.
Luciella bit down on her lip.
The person her mother had once considered the protagonist of the game was acting like such a brat.
It was astonishingly childish.
The problem was that Luciella herself was around the same age.
Which meant the childish taunt hurt more than she expected.
In short—
Luciella got annoyed.
“Even food made by the Bellaon family’s head chef doesn’t suit my taste, so what could a kid like her possibly— Mmph?!”
Bael’s eyes widened.
Something warm and comforting had suddenly been shoved into his mouth.
“There’s a limit to my patience. Try it before you complain.”
Holding the spoon handle sticking out of Bael’s mouth, Luciella glared at him.
“…”
Bael stared back with blazing eyes.
Luciella returned the look without backing down.
Gulp.
As they glared at one another, a few drops of soup slid down Bael’s throat.
The next moment, his eyes changed.
Like ice melting beneath sunlight, the coldness in them slowly softened.
His jaw moved slightly.
His fierce blue eyes gradually widened in surprise.
“It’s… sweet.”
“Of course it is. I made it with premium squash.”
“It’s not just sweet. There’s something deeper…”
Bael took the spoon from her hand.
Then he took another bite.
And another.
Crunch.
This time, he bit into the bread.
The crispy crust cracked beneath his teeth, followed by the soft, chewy interior.
Instinctively, Bael closed his eyes and savored the texture.
Clink.
The hand holding the spoon moved faster and faster.
His eyes grew wider and wider.
Watching him, Aila and Cain stood frozen in place as though they had seen a ghost.
“Lord Bael… is eating on his own.”
“…I can’t believe it even while seeing it with my own eyes.”
In no time at all, the bowl was completely empty.
“What did you feed me?”
Bael muttered.
“The taste is one thing, but my body…”
He clenched both hands tightly.
Several seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
Frowning, he focused again and exerted force somewhere in his body.
Twitch.
“Oh my!”
Aila was the first to notice.
“Lord Bael, your leg…!”
Twitch.
Again.
There was no mistake.
For the briefest moment, Bael’s supposedly paralyzed leg moved.
Cain stared blankly.
Could it be true?
Did it really work?
Had the miracle he had spent years searching for actually existed all along?
Just what is this child…?
His gaze shifted toward Luciella.
But she wasn’t looking at Bael’s leg.
She was staring somewhere else.
Specifically—
above Bael’s head.
“…”
Luciella quietly examined the status window she had summoned once more.
Ah.
So that’s what it was.
The buff could strengthen his leg muscles.
But the true cause was…
Thud.
Suddenly, the world around Luciella tilted.
No.
It wasn’t the world.
It was her body.
It seemed the fifty-minute limit had finally run out.
“…!”
“Huh?!”
Cain and Bael hurriedly caught her, but her body had already gone limp.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you? Did you faint? Your complexion—”
Bael’s eyes immediately sharpened as he looked at Cain.
“Uncle, what happened to her? Don’t tell me you did this?”
“That’s not it! She fainted when I first met her as well, but I was certain she had recovered her strength—”
“Why would you bring someone who had just collapsed before?”
Cain bit his lip.
Bael was right.
Thinking back, he had rushed things.
He should have let her rest for at least a week before bringing her here.
“What was her condition when she arrived at the kitchen?”
Aila asked while placing a hand on Luciella’s forehead.
“She seemed fine. She suddenly became pale after she finished cooking, though…”
Cain let out a sigh filled with guilt.
“Was it because of the cooking?”
Bael’s eyes wavered.
Looking closely, Luciella seemed unusually small and fragile.
Even more so than Bael himself, who had spent years unable to leave his room because of illness.
She was even dirty and disheveled.
Did she skip bathing after arriving and immediately start cooking for me?
And then faint because of it?
The heavenly taste still lingered in his mouth.
It felt as though someone had poured their entire energy and sincerity into that meal.
Without realizing it, Bael gently brushed Luciella’s forehead.
“Huh?”
At that moment, he felt movement in the hand he was holding.
His eyes widened.
Looking down, he saw half-open green eyes staring blankly back at him.
She wasn’t fully awake.
The noise had merely dragged part of her consciousness back.
“You… idiot. Did Uncle threaten you? Doing something so stupid…”
“Be quiet.”
Luciella muttered weakly through her haze.
“Listen carefully.”
“What… what am I supposed to listen to?”
Without thinking, Bael leaned down until his ear was right beside her lips.
He flinched slightly at the closeness but didn’t move away.
“You.”
Luciella spoke.
“Toxins have built up inside your body.”
Aila’s eyes widened.
“If you don’t detoxify them, it’ll become a serious problem.”
“This isn’t something cooking can solve.”
She struggled to continue.
“At least… not with cooking alone.”
“What are you—”
“Sorry.”
Having finished speaking, Luciella completely lost consciousness.
And fainted.
