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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title:
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“If you only turn to stone by making eye contact, then couldn’t you just avoid eye contact? Couldn’t he take off the blindfold then?”
“Oh? Hmm, that’s true, but Master Aselt…”
Ella’s voice trailed off, a rare occurrence for her.
Just when Mabel wondered if she was hiding something, Ella subtly changed the subject.
“And, well, if Master Aselt walks around without his blindfold, the servants sometimes get scared~”
“Ah…”
But conversely, it meant the boy was considerate enough of the Grand Ducal Family to endure the pain.
Sophia had destroyed the Grand Ducal Family that Aselt loved so much.
Aselt must still despise Sophia intensely.
“But aren’t you scared, Lady Mabel~? Of Master Aselt~”
“Me? Uh, well… honestly, he is a bit scary.”
Because Aselt was a villain.
And considering his intimidating presence, he didn’t seem to like her either.
But still…
“I feel bad for him.”
“You feel bad~?”
Ella adjusted her posture and repeated the question, as if surprised.
At the other’s attentive posture, Mabel felt unnecessarily embarrassed and scratched her cheek as she spoke.
“Yes. He could choose not to care if people are afraid, but he’s covering his eyes, isn’t he?”
“…Oh my~”
Ella murmured in admiration.
At the same time, Ella’s gaze deepened slightly.
Aside from their concern for Aselt, everyone else somewhat took his sacrifice for granted.
Because Aselt was a Basilisk Beastman, and he possessed such abilities.
Therefore, some people even turned their blame towards Aselt, saying *he* was the one who needed to be careful.
“Master Aselt… he’s truly brave.”
“Really~? Why do you think that, my Lady~?”
“Well… if it were me, I think I’d just stay in my room. If I had that kind of ability, and people were afraid of me even if I didn’t do anything…”
Mabel, head bowed, mumbled as she fiddled with her warm cup of milk.
“He’d have no choice but to be hurt.”
If she hadn’t been holding the cup, she probably would have torn at her nails again, the ones Ella had so carefully manicured for her.
“He’s being treated like… a monster.”
Saying it out loud, she felt that Aselt and she were a little alike.
The Ghost Princess, ignored by people, and the Monster Master, feared by people.
‘I… I was so afraid of being treated as if I didn’t exist that I ended up hiding away instead.’
But Aselt wasn’t like that.
He appeared before people, wearing a blindfold to the point where his skin was chafed and raw.
Those who haven’t experienced it wouldn’t know.
How lonely and frightening it is when people avoid you.
So, it was definitely an act that required immense courage.
And above all…
“His severe facial injuries are because he wears the blindfold for a long time, right?”
“Ah, yes~ that’s right~ Master Aselt doesn’t even take off his blindfold when he’s alone~”
She added that that’s why the servants had made such a fuss when Mabel reached for his blindfold.
Carefully omitting the story about his rampage.
“Even though it must hurt a lot?”
“It’s something very precious he received from His Grand Ducal Highness, so that’s probably why~”
Ella answered lightly, but Mabel’s thoughts were a little different.
It didn’t feel like that was the only reason.
Rather, if it was so precious, wouldn’t he try to handle it so it wouldn’t get blood on it?
Mabel looked at her own hand holding the cup.
Before coming to the Esclid Grand Ducal Castle, Mabel would sometimes deliberately injure herself to confirm she was truly alive.
Tears would well up, and still no one paid attention, but even so.
Only by doing so could she feel her existence in this world and breathe freely.
‘Perhaps Aselt’s injuries are something similar?’
He might be feeling the pain from the wounds as a form of permission.
Permission to be next to people… that kind of permission.
Of course, Mabel wasn’t Aselt, so she didn’t know his true feelings.
“My Lady~ you want to say that Master Aselt is considerate of the Grand Ducal Family, don’t you~?”
“Yes…”
Mabel gave a small nod and then drank her milk.
Ella gazed at Mabel’s hands, lost in thought.
Mabel’s hands, which had been severely chapped and neglected to the point of discoloration, had softened in just a few days.
A child’s skin easily gets hurt but also heals quickly.
But Aselt’s eyes were always stained with chafed, raw wounds.
Moreover, for the past few days, Aselt hadn’t even come to the dining room, perhaps because of Mabel.
Yet, Aselt’s eyes, which she saw today, were red.
It meant he hadn’t removed his blindfold even when he was alone.
‘Perhaps, just as Lady Mabel said, Master Aselt was truly waiting for us to approach him.’
The thought that their consideration might have actually isolated the child made Ella’s heart ache deeply.
In the past, Sigmund had coincidentally encountered two children while on a raid to clear out an illegal trading ring dealing in Beastfolk within the Grand Duchy.
Aselt, a legendary Basilisk Beastman.
Kellik, a wild Red Fox Beastman.
Though Sigmund had previously undertaken several charitable endeavors for Beastfolk, he had never adopted any.
Yet, for some reason, he suddenly took the two children in as his disciples.
The two children Ella first encountered at that time were deeply wounded.
‘Both in body and in spirit.’
But what pained Ella most was not the children’s indifferent manner of licking their scabbed wounds, but rather their longing eyes that still sought out people despite everything.
The children had been so deeply hurt by humans, yet they still yearned for human connection.
‘All this time, we’ve been isolating such children under the guise of being considerate.’
Ella, who had been lost in thought for a moment, spoke in a quiet voice.
“Lady Mabel, perhaps… perhaps I, too, was afraid of Master Aselt.”
“What?”
Ella’s tone, which always sounded like a song, turned serious.
“Actually, I knew why Master Aselt insisted on wearing the blindfold. There was an incident, you see.”
Ella briefly recounted the rampage incident she had carefully omitted earlier.
“Given what happened, I should have reassured Master Aselt even more… but I didn’t. I didn’t approach him, thinking I was being considerate. Deep down, I might have even been relieved to keep my distance.”
Ella’s slender, squinted eyes opened a little wider, and her dark pupils welled with a troubled expression.
“Without thinking about what Master Aselt might be thinking, what he might feel, what his mood might be…”
“Oh, oh…”
Mabel was at a loss, caught in the suddenly somber atmosphere.
Then she put down her milk cup on the table and reached out to pat Ella.
“Lady Mabel…?”
Ella’s eyes widened a little more at Mabel’s clumsy comfort.
Mabel said nothing, just quietly patted Ella, comforting her.
She couldn’t say things like “it’s okay” because she wasn’t Aselt.
Ella received Mabel’s small pats for a long time before finally closing her eyes.
“Well then, Lady Mabel~ how about we~”
Ella, having regained her composure, spoke in a singing voice and smiled sweetly.
“Next time we see Master Aselt~ we’ll avoid eye contact, so how about we ask him to take off his blindfold~?”
A smile spread across Mabel’s face, which had been a little stiff, at Ella’s smile.
Mabel replied with a wide smile, milk still on her lips.
“Yes!”
***
There was nothing problematic about Mabel and Ella’s conversation.
However, the place where the two were conversing was a common room, used like a living room.
A place where people frequently passed by and the door was always open.
It was not a suitable place for private conversations.
Therefore, it couldn’t be said that Aselt had ‘eavesdropped’ on their conversation.
“…”
Aselt hadn’t intended to listen in from the start either.
As he was passing by, he overheard Ella’s question.
“—But aren’t you scared, Lady Mabel~? Of Master Aselt~”
He had told her not to speak of it, but it seemed she was worried enough about that child to disobey him.
Aselt, one corner of his mouth twisting wryly, was about to continue on his way.
“—Me? Uh… well. Honestly, he is a bit scary.”
Of course.
It was Mabel, who had been so terrified upon seeing him, so he expected that answer.
However, what followed was something he hadn’t expected.
“—I feel bad for him.”
“—My Lady~ you want to say that Master Aselt is considerate of the Grand Ducal Family, don’t you~?”
“—Yes…”
It was the first time.
Someone had understood his thoughts.
The sensation of his fingertips warming lasted only a moment before Aselt clenched his fist.
‘But why did it have to be *you*?’
Mabel Ashilonia, the child was the daughter of Sophia Ashilonia.
Aselt’s pride was wounded by that.
That of all people, the daughter of the thief who had dared to betray Sigmund and flee, was the first to understand his heart.
‘And she’s scared of me because I’m ugly.’
If she was going to discriminate based on appearance, wouldn’t it be better to discriminate based on species?
Aselt, his mouth twisting, soon left the spot.
Because of this, Aselt never heard about his rampage.
