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chapter 37
Of course, I did think to myself—what if the contents of this deal were truly dangerous?
But my fear didn’t really come from that.
Rather, what scared me was the feeling that the conditions Rudels had set as part of our deal might swallow me whole.
When I became downcast, Rudels glanced at me, sipped his tea with a slurp, and spoke.
“Iriel. Can you take a look at this?”
Rudels took something out of his pocket and placed it on the table.
“What is this?”
“This is the investigative authority granted to me by the King.”
He leaned in and whispered softly.
“I know you don’t really understand what kind of proposal I made to you, so I wanted to tell you part of it. After all, I’m the one who made the offer, so it’s on me if it made you uneasy.”
He snapped his fingers.
A transparent barrier formed around us.
It was probably a sound-blocking spell.
I’d heard only very high-ranking mages or witches could perform magic like this.
Before I could even be surprised, Rudels kept talking while looking straight at me.
“Of course, this has to be carried out in secret, so I’d like you to promise to maintain confidentiality.”
He winked mischievously.
“Because it’s classified.”
I nodded.
“All right. If I ever reveal this, I swear I’ll be cast into the abyssal world, where I’ll never again be able to seek knowledge.”
At that, Rudels’ expression flickered with something complicated, then he smiled faintly.
“All right, then let’s talk.”
He stroked the insignia of his investigative authority and began.
“Do you remember when you treated the poison in Louis’s hind leg?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“How far had the poison spread then? And… its strength?”
Though confused, I answered calmly.
“The poison in Lord Louis’s hind leg was quite weak. At most, it was probably just a paralytic toxin. But… if too much time had passed, it might have destroyed nerve cells and caused a limp.”
Rudels took a deep breath to steady himself.
“This isn’t just Louis’s case. It’s part of a strange phenomenon happening throughout the Beastkin Kingdom.”
My hand twitched in surprise.
“What…?”
He traced the rim of his teacup with a finger as he spoke.
“For the past year, noble children all over the Beastkin Kingdom have been poisoned by someone’s doing. Some of them couldn’t get an antidote in time, and just as you said, they ended up limping.”
“Who would do something like that…!”
I covered my mouth, horrified by this hidden reality.
Rudels met my eyes and said:
“In Louis’s case, we were lucky enough to catch the culprit. But… the problem is…”
He trailed off, letting out several sighs before clasping his hands and lowering his head.
“The culprit had the appearance of a beastkin.”
“A beastkin?”
I furrowed my brow, unable to understand.
Rudels sighed softly and added:
“What I mean is… it looked like one of those artificial humans—experiments conducted by witches long ago. They called such beings ‘test subjects.’”
My heart plummeted to the pit of my stomach.
I stared at the tea trembling in my cup, my hands shaking violently.
Reflected in the tea was a me trembling in fear.
Test subject? A test subject…?
My hair stood on end; cold sweat prickled over my skin.
It meant there was a witch behind this.
Someone who still hadn’t stopped human experimentation.
The tea in my hand rippled as my hand shook.
Seeing me, Rudels closed his eyes and said:
“And when I saw that beastkin-like test subject, I noticed its form resembled the beastkin transformations of the Merit Houses.”
“…”
“Because of this, His Majesty secretly ordered me to investigate that family. And of course, since it’s clear someone involved has magic, I’m the right man for the job.”
He looked at me heavily.
“That’s why I told you about it, Teacher Iriel.”
Each word he spoke pierced my heart.
Because I was a witch—why should I feel guilty in a situation like this? Why… why had forbidden things been done?
At times like this, I hated being a witch.
My heart ached as though bruised.
I bit the inside of my cheek lightly and looked at Rudels.
Rudels, too, seemed weighed down by complicated feelings; he pressed his lips together and just stared at me.
There was no hostility in his blue eyes.
Only a heavy, tangled emotion watching me.
We stared at each other in silence.
When the wind blew, tangling our hair together, Rudels regained composure first. He snapped his fingers, dispersing the sound-blocking barrier.
“That’s how it is.”
He dropped his gaze to the table instead of looking at me.
After sitting in silence for a while, I finally gathered my courage and asked:
“How many… have been poisoned?”
Rudels closed his eyes and said:
“In total so far, thirty. Eleven of them have been left permanently disabled.”
“My God…”
I covered my mouth and let out a deep sigh.
How many children had suffered…!
My teeth clenched involuntarily.
“Iriel.”
Rudels called my name.
“I’m truly sorry if I’ve burdened you. But you’re the only one I could think of who uses magic and has deep knowledge of poisons and antidotes.”
He lowered his head slightly.
“Will you help me?”
He asked in a voice full of desperate sincerity.
I opened my lips slightly.
“Please.”
Seeing his earnest expression, I finally opened my mouth.
“Lord Rudels. Then promise me one thing.”
He raised his head to look at me.
“Make sure I’ll never have to kill.”
I clenched my fists.
“As a healer… please don’t let me do that.”
I clasped my trembling hands and shut my eyes tightly.
As long as a witch was behind this—harming young beastkin while hiding here—I couldn’t look the other way.
I was a healer. I saved people.
Rudels lowered his head.
“I will.”
He spoke with emphasis.
“I’ll make sure you never have to abandon your duty as a healer.”
He smiled sadly as he said:
“I promise. On my name, Rudels Ifin.”
And so, our second contract was formed.
Once the words left my mouth, a strange weariness washed over me.
It felt like I had laid myself down in my own grave. My mood wavered uneasily.
Seeing me, Rudels looked at me with apologetic eyes.
“Thank you. I know it couldn’t have been an easy decision.”
His words pricked my witch’s conscience.
I smiled bitterly and drank my tea.
“Since Teacher Iriel has accepted my request, I should grant yours, too, right?”
Huh? What did that mean?
I looked at him in puzzlement. He had pulled out a dagger from somewhere and was about to cut his own arm.
Pfft!
I spat out my tea, almost choking, and flailed my hands.
“W-wait, wait!”
Rudels blinked at me in confusion.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?! What on earth are you doing!”
I screamed, snatching the dagger away from him.
Looking aggrieved, Rudels said:
“What do you think? I was going to draw blood.”
“Why would you do that?!”
“Iriel. Did you already forget? You said if I granted your request, you’d be allowed to experiment on me.”
“Right now, without even a vial for the blood?”
At that, Rudels pulled out a tiny 5ml vial from his pocket.
“I have one, of course.”
His cheerful tone made my hands tremble as I pointed at the arm he’d been about to cut.
“W-wait, that’s…?”
He beamed like a flower.
“That’s right! Blood would make the experiment more accurate, wouldn’t it?”
Then he held out his hand to me.
“Give me the dagger, Teacher.”
His one-track-mindedness made my head spin.
No, no—blood wasn’t the only way.
Shaking all over, I hid the dagger behind my back.
“N-no, you don’t have to give me blood.”
“Hm? Then how are you going to conduct the experiment? Oh, do you need a piece of my flesh—”
“Aaaah! Don’t say something so horrible! I don’t need anything like that!”
Rudels’ outrageous suggestion made me clutch my head and yell.
“Hair! Or even oral epithelial cells are fine! Just don’t do that! Why hurt yourself when there are safer ways!”
He tilted his head, smiling playfully.
“Just that? But at least 5ml of blood would—”
“Aaaah! I don’t need blood! I won’t take it! Just hair! Give me hair!”
I backed away from Rudels in panic.
Finally, he laughed and said:
“All right. Hair. I’ll give you hair. It’s our teacher’s request, after all.”
He then grabbed a handful of his own hair.
But something felt off. Why was he grabbing such a large handful?
