Chapter 22
22
Chapter 6. More Like a Rehearsal (1)
The next day. The twins didn't come, but Raven visited.
"AHAHAHAHA!"
"......You're laughing too much......"
"I'll make you a patient, AHAHAHA!"
I said it thinking it would make him laugh, but still.
"Ah, my stomach, it hurts…. Heuk, keuheuk…."
"Anyone who hears will think I'm a Bully."
"You are bullying me, aren't you? I'm suffering from laughing."
Raven finally calmed down after laughing for a while longer. The corners of his mouth, which had been turned up, wouldn't come down. Then, as if he couldn't take it anymore, he slammed his forehead on the table again. His shoulders trembled.
You're really breaking character. Weren't you the cool and indifferent type?
'I was trying to make you laugh because you looked strangely gloomy, but you're laughing too much, so it's a little unpleasant.'
This is the heart of a child. It's okay, I am young.
If a 3-year-old said they were going to build a hospital, it would generally be funny, but I really thought I could do it, so I brought it up. Are you laughing because you think I can't?
I pouted and glanced at Raven.
He was still handsome, so he was great eye candy. His smiling face was much better to look at than his gloomy face, so I decided to forgive Raven's excessive rudeness in laughing.
'In the first place, there's nothing I can do even if I don't forgive him.'
I buried the reality that didn't need to be faced.
Raven came to see me after a few days.
He said he wanted to come see me right away the next day, but he had been busy with work in the meantime. I thought, what kind of busy work could a child who was only 8 years old, a first grader in elementary school in my previous life, have? But I forgot that he was a prince.
'The prince is busy even when he's young.'
His cheeks, which should have been plump, were gaunt, and his eyes, which should have been shining innocently, were filled with fatigue and pessimism that didn't suit his age.
"What's so funny?"
"Those twins are funny."
"Ah, it wasn't me…?"
"What's funny about you?"
I felt embarrassed. I thought you were laughing at me, so I was a little angry.
Raven looked at my face and smiled, saying.
"You were upset because you thought I was laughing at you?"
"Yeah, a little…."
"There's no way I would laugh at you."
Oh. I'm a little touched….
"You're mine."
I almost fell for it. Of course.
I'm great = What I have is also great = So you're also great……?
As expected of a prince, even his way of thinking was confident.
It's a little annoying that arrogance suits him so well.
"Well, you can even heal Shifters, so you'll be able to do well even if you open a hospital. But to avoid the Temple's fault-finding, it would be better to learn magic."
"Ah, I can't."
"Huh?"
"I don't have enough Mana."
"You?"
"I have to collect it for 10 years to use magic…."
"……."
Raven's expression turned strange.
What, am I too incompetent for your liking? I felt spiteful for no reason and gathered Clay on my hand, kneading it. There was still nothing that this Clay couldn't heal. It's easy to say, but do you know how amazing that is?
I can't use magic! I just can't use magic.
"Wasn't your ability magic?"
Raven said.
"Yeah, Mother said it wasn't. Didn't Raven know?"
"I didn't know. I just thought you were using magic innately. Like a talent that manifests before learning. That's what it was like when I first picked you up, and after knowing your origins, I thought it was natural since you were the daughter of that duchess. I thought that magic that manifests without spells might work on Shifters too. I had no choice but to guess since I had never seen it accurately."
Raven frowned. It was strange that he was too smart and mature for an 8-year-old.
'Is this really not a second life…. What kind of 8-year-old is this?'
Is it thanks to his position as a prince and his education?
Perhaps this world is one where you have to become an adult earlier than in my previous life. In my previous life, 20 was the standard for adulthood, but even in the Joseon Dynasty, people married and had children earlier. Standards were different in every world.
Even so, Raven was still too smart. I wonder if I look like that to other people too.
Raven, who had been pondering for a moment, smiled and said.
"Then I'll have to be your first customer."
"It's just a dream for the future. It's still far away."
"Consider me an exception. I'm special."
"……Because you're a prince?"
"What does that have to do with it?"
Raven asked back, as if he was dumbfounded.
"I'm your savior and your first friend. I'm special."
"When were we friends? I'm younger."
"I can make you my younger sibling."
"I don't want that."
"I knew you'd say that."
"……."
"Then there's only friendship left."
"……."
"I'm losing 5 years, but I'll let it slide."
I didn't know you could say you wanted to be friends in such a hateful way. From another point of view, it was a very admirable talent for words.
"Is there anyone around you who's sick?"
"There is."
"There are priests and Magicians, right?"
"No one could cure them."
"……Then maybe I can't either……?"
So far, there had been no cases where I couldn't cure with Clay, but I still didn't know the exact abilities of this Clay.
"I don't know exactly what I can do. What if you get your hopes up and then get disappointed?"
"Consider it a rehearsal. You can think of it lightly."
"...I have to ask Mother and Dad too."
"That's probably the trickiest problem. So, you mean you'll do it if you have the Duke and Duchess's permission?"
"Ah."
Is that how it's going to be?
"Well…… Because we're friends. I'll make an exception for you."
"I appreciate that."
Raven smiled brightly.
'He looks like a kid when he smiles.'
I felt like I had been tricked somehow, but seeing that smile, my childishly sulky heart melted away. If I could heal a sick person, it would be a good thing, and in order to open a hospital and receive patients in the future, I had to know in detail what I could do with this Clay.
Above all, if the reason why Raven, who I hadn't seen many times but was always confident, was gloomy was because that person was sick, I wanted to do what I could.
'Because he's really my savior.'
You only said hateful things like I'm yours and you picked me up, so I couldn't honestly say thank you, but if Raven hadn't picked me up, I wouldn't have met my current parents.
"Then let's go to the Duke and Duchess."
"Huh? Right away?"
"When are you going to go then?"
Raven got up from his chair and looked at me. His eyes seemed to say, what are you doing not getting up quickly?
"J-Just a moment…."
"……?"
"……Raven."
I, who was gauging the floor with my dangling feet, raised both arms high.
"……Let me down…."
"Keup."
Don't laugh, you bad guy.
***
Honestly, I thought my parents would refuse.
But even after Raven finished speaking, my parents didn't say anything for a long time.
Seeing my parents, who were so overprotective that they wouldn't even let me meet strangers, hesitating, the 'sick person' Raven mentioned must be someone my parents knew too.
Then I can't just stand still.
Bbyok, bbyobyok, bbyok!
I approached my parents, making sounds that still wouldn't let me get serious.
"Dad, I want to do it."
"Shana?"
"I want to try. Huh? Mother."
"Shana, Mother is against it."
When I started to pester them, I got a refusal instead of silence.
"As I said before, we don't know what your ability takes in return. Mother can never allow anything that might be dangerous for Shana."
"But!"
"Shana."
"I'm okay!"
"We don't know. You're still young, so it might not show, but the burden might be building up in your body!"
"No! This is it!"
I spread my hands wide and gathered Clay on my palms. As I increased the purity, a subtle light gathered visibly. Mother shouted sharply.
"Shana!"
"It's not dangerous. I'm okay."
Mother's face hardened.
"It gathers in the warm thing flowing in my body. It's not hard."
"……."
"It's nothing. But I can heal the sick."
"……."
"Then it's better not to be sick…."
"Shana, you, maybe…."
Mother bit her lip.
"How can you be so kind…."
"I'm going to make money with this when I grow up!"
"Huh?"
"I'll make a lot of money! I'll buy delicious things for Mother and Dad!"
I'll give you a luxurious life! I grabbed the hem of Mother's skirt and looked up, shouting that I would do my best to be a good daughter. Honestly, if I can cure external wounds, internal injuries, and diseases, isn't my future incredibly promising?
Raven smiled briefly and said.
"Shana, no matter how much money you make, you probably won't make as much as the Wentworth family's wealth, will you?"
"T-That's different!"
I-It's different. Of course, it's different.
"Duke, and Duchess. Shana said she wants to build a hospital."
"Shana does?"
"She wants to heal sick people with her own power. That's her dream for the future."
Through Raven's mouth, my materialistic dream for the future sounded very admirable and commendable. What is it.
'It was a plan to live comfortably by taking advantage of a lucky innate ability, two cheap workers, and rich parents…?'
Honestly, wasn't it a somewhat, silver spoon's privileged plan…? I was dumbfounded and looked at Raven, and he smiled faintly, curving his golden eyes.
He definitely has a second life.
"Shana. My kind daughter!"
"Are you going to buy me delicious things? Mother can eat anything Shana buys, even poison!"
Would I give you poison….
"Shana, Dad too! Anything Shana gives me is good. Yes, our daughter wants to do it! You have to do everything you want to do!"
"That's right, we can't keep her locked up in the mansion forever."
"We have to keep the fact that she can heal Shifters a secret though."
"We can somehow deceive the Temple's eyes. No, honestly, even if they know, what……."
"I was trying to hide it because they might try to take her away as a Saintess."
What? Saintess?
'There's such a thing?'
Mother picked me up. Every time I was held by Mother, I was amazed by her slender arms. She hugged me tightly and said.
"We'll protect you so the Temple can't dare to talk nonsense."
When Mother said it, it was incredibly persuasive.
Father kissed my forehead lightly and said.
"Shana, do what you want to do. We'll protect you."
Father, your eyes are subtly turning. Scary.
